tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69263515537361114052024-03-12T19:29:45.160-07:00Pilar's Life & DogsPilar Kuhn, her life, her projects, and her dogs - road trips, dog shows, auditions, rehearsals, performances, pet ownership advice, politics pertaining to pet ownership and animal welfare (not animal rights).Pilar Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08887886089794745239noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926351553736111405.post-66412194636698853182011-01-03T14:20:00.000-08:002011-01-03T15:02:27.886-08:00A new year. A new blog. 2011... here I come!<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">For those of you who have been following me and the pups on Facebook and Twitter, you know that 2010 was quite a year! Here's a monthly summary of events:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">January - The dog show year started and I prepared for February.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">February - I drove cross-country to meet up with my then-boyfriend Rod in Indianapolis for a dog show. We got engaged.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">March - I turned 35.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">April - I traveled to Houston to sing the National Anthem at my first National Rotating Scottish Terrier Specialty. </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">May - Rod met my brother and sister-in-law at my brother's annual (and delayed so we could attend) Crawfish Boil</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">June - Rod and I met up in Boston for an intense weekend of pre-marital counseling.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">July - Rod moved from Ohio to California. In one night I went from being single with one dog to having a permanent roommate and 4 dogs. Our friend showed up for a dog show and we then had 6 dogs and 3 humans. It was "no longer single" baptism by fire, so to speak. And life has never been the same since. And for the better! I also went back to work at AMCI for 2 week contracts at a time for 2 1/2 months.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">August - Wedding crunch time. And I worked.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">September - Major wedding crunch time. Garrison earned his Grand Championship and solidified his invitation to the Eukanuba National Championship. And I worked. </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">October - we got married. (See previous blog)</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">November - we honeymooned in Cabo and we got another Bouvier puppy. (See previous blog)</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">December - Eukanuba Dog Show, local wedding reception, I worked as the hostess and emcee at Dreamforce.com in San Fran while we had a house guest and her 2 dogs and Rod finished Nickel. He's now a Champion and Rod's first champion finished from the bred-by-exhibitor class. Rod asked for help to seek Gov. Schwarzenegger's nomination to the California Medical Board. Christmas was spent at my parents' house in San Ramon. And New Year's Eve and Day was spent at Casa Fairview with our pups. WHEW!!!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And now we're in 2011. So buckle up. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">What does this year hold in store for the Kuhn/Ott Clan?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Rod's working. And we're continuously grateful for his job and that his boss allowed him to keep his job and work remotely from California. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Rod's also focusing on finishing Lara. She'll be 2 years old in March, has 5 points toward her championship, and some good judges are coming up in the first quarter of this year. We're hoping to finish her by June or July so that we can breed her in the fall. We've been looking at some stud dogs for her and we'll let the world know who the lucky guy is once we know we have pups on the way. But that isn't until the end of 2011! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Rod will also step into the Bouvier show ring this year with Danica. It'll be fun to watch the two of them out there as newbies together. :-) </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Garrison and I start our show year off this coming weekend in Palm Springs. Rod and I have planned out various shows we would like to attend through March and are awaiting judging panels to determine what we do after the first quarter of this year. Our goal is to have Garrison in the Top 20 Competition at our Bouvier National and also to stay in the top 20 nationally to get another invitation to Eukanuba. Depending on the judging panel for Westminster, we might plan that journey for February 2012. It's hopefully going to be a full year of campaigning the boy. And... I can't believe my baby boy will be 4 in March. WOW time flies!!! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Sportz Dawgz - what am I going to do with my dog toys that have been sitting idly while our economy has been in a major recession? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I'll continue to try to sell the toys to individuals and vendors alike. I'd like to be able to order smaller and more durable toys and some slightly different designs, but it all takes $$$. We could apply to get some colleges and universities licensing that are free (they are the smaller schools) but then we'd have to have money to get products made that are branded with those schools' logos. The business plan has never changed. The goal has never changed. I don't quit easily. I hope our economy continues to recover and this biz can start up again. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Emilie's Musical Journeys - what's up with Episode 1? Will there be more episodes? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">With new media outlets taking off all over, things look better and better to get EMJ out there and available to more people once we have Episode 1 completed. It's lacking the animation segment. I've been exploring some "alternative" methods to animation and it's on my list of Things To Do in 2011. I've been contemplating doing some basic podcasts or webcasts regarding music and culture surrounding episode content ideas as another way to get the show "out there". We'll see. But I'm still at it. And 2011 could be a banner year for EMJ!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">La la la... is that me singing? Why yes! It is! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">My friend Duke Guillaume and I have been talking for the past year about doing a collaborative album of American Jazz Standards. Well... now is the time. Rod's move and our wedding/honeymoon/reception took up half the year and required a lot of focus. I confess. But now that we're in 2011, it's time to start on a new album project. I haven't done an album project since "Gershwin, Porter & Pilar" 10 years ago. Tooooooo long. We're going about this project in a new way and we hope it works. We're going to post our project on Kickstarter.com and anyone who donates a minimum of $10 will get a free download of the album once it's completed. Basically... it's like pre-selling our album. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Who is Duke Guillaume? He is an incredible saxophonist who leads the Metropolitan Big Band in NYC. He and his family have been musicians their whole lives. So Duke will co-produce the album. He'll be in charge of getting all the tracks laid down with the musicians he knows can bang these out (and bang them out EXTREMELY WELL!) in no time and then I'll travel to NYC to record the vocals. He'll master the tracks and... voila. We're gonna have our first collaboration album! Want to know more or pre-buy an album? I'll post a separate blog about how to go about donating to our project. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I am also hoping to re-join the Angel City Chorale for the spring session. I had to withdraw last year due to too many life conflicts, but hopefully this year will work out for me to sing with them again.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Anything else? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Yeah. There is. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I am planning on working with John Ruby on commercial auditions and techniques more in hopes of getting more auditions and representation and, of course, BOOKING on-camera commercials. I'm also hoping to get a voiceover agent again. I've been submitting myself for various auditions (again, we didn't have these kind of tools available to us artists when I first got started in this wacky world of entertaiment), but more ways to get more auditions to book more gigs is always preferred! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I'm considering starting a new podcast/webcast regarding "normal people" questions about dogs and dog shows and stuff. I realize many times that friends of mine that aren't involved in the dog show world don't know what the heck I'm talking about half the time. So... why not use my sense of humor to try to bring a little "normal" light to the wacky world that is not far from the portrayal in the comedy "Best In Show"? If you like this idea, post a question and I'll put it in a podcast! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Can we possibly put anything more into planning for 2011? I'm sure we can... but don't get any hopes up about news of 2-legged additions or anything. Rod and I agreed to wait at least a year after we got married before we started trying to have some critters of the human kind. Remember... one can always sell or place puppies... but kids? They're like boogers. Once ya get 'em on your finger, it's impossible to flick 'em off. ;-) </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">The short version of this blog (too late) is that I'm excited about all of the potential this year brings about. And I hope that it's a great year for you and yours and thank you for reading and following the happenings of our wacky lives! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Cheers,</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Pilar</span><br /></span>Pilar Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08887886089794745239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926351553736111405.post-9360370672973242972010-11-22T21:06:00.001-08:002010-11-23T14:34:34.677-08:00My first post as a married woman!<span style="font-family:verdana;">Quite a lot has happened since my last post which was 28 days before I was married.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Well... now I've been married for 43 days. And being married ROCKS! At least... my being married to Rod ROCKS!!!! When we got the link to the plethora of pictures our amazing and awesome photographer Mike <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Shuaib</span> (Michael Lawrence Photography) sent us, we had to share with as many of our friends and family as possible.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Our wedding was blessed with talented people - including multiple photographers. I can't thank John <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Stamatakos</span> and Bruce Crouch (Bruce Allen Photography) enough for not only taking photos, but for sharing them with us and our friends and family! I laughed when som</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">eone commented, "Wow, that John guy sure took a lot of photos of your maid of honor. I bet he had the hots for her!" Well, uh... yeah. She's his fiance. :-) </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I'm not sure what all to detail in this particular blog, so I'll try </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">to highlight the massive events over the past few months.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Our wedding was incredible and everything that I'd </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">always dreamed of. Getting married on the Farm was a lifetime dream of mine - but it wasn't just about the location. </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">It was about the love and family and down-to-earth-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">ness</span> that I've always loved about my time spent at the Farm. And we had that. </span><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/TOv6JM50OtI/AAAAAAAAAEE/sPn9_WeeWw8/s1600/DSC_8920.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 268px; height: 238px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/TOv6JM50OtI/AAAAAAAAAEE/sPn9_WeeWw8/s400/DSC_8920.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542798802399017682" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">The weather was amazing. Our friends and family ARE amazing. We had the best time EVER getting ready for our wedding. We even had a few hours "free" to bathe dogs before the BBQ on Friday night. I didn't get to groom Garrison like I would have if we were going into the show ring and without any <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Bouvier</span> show people present at our wedding, I couldn't rely upon anyone to "show prep" him so he would be "photo ready" the way I like him to be photographed, but he was a happy boy and was enthralled with the sheep in the pastures and the fields of cows. And Nickel just LOVED running with Garrison and acted as a happy and carefree Scottie - it was awesome and so much fun!!!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I loved spending time with Rod's mom Marilyn during the weekend. How could I not? She gave birth to 7 boys... one of them being my husband... and a mother's love of her son runs deep. Only once when I said, "Hey Marilyn! I'm marrying your son Rod and I'm terribly excited about being his wife," did she say, "You better be!" We had a short conversation about his first marriage and I'm thankful that she told me that she sees how happy we are and how much I genuinely love him and that makes her happy. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Our wedding day was just lovely. The weather was gorgeous. I had to "just be" and not produce my wedding any more and trust the people who were "in charge" of making sure things were as we discussed... or made their own executive decisions about where things should go or what should be done with such-and-such. And I had already said, "I trust you all. I'm going to be a bride on Sunday, so do what you all think is best. You are all smart and capable and I've given the parameters... so fill 'em in."</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/TOwO462wJsI/AAAAAAAAAEM/4ZfGMppvrsI/s1600/DSC_9064.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/TOwO462wJsI/AAAAAAAAAEM/4ZfGMppvrsI/s320/DSC_9064.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542821612420605634" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And WOW! The Walton Farm looked stunning. It was as if I'd always dreamed of and imagined. It was down home yet classy. It was elegant but not pretentious. The food was top notch. The wine... well... we knew the wine would be amazing because we bought it from the Rabbit Ridge Winery! Our audio and lighting guys did a nice job. The DJ was OK. Fair is fair - if someone had given me a list of songs preferred, I would have worked them around my schedule of "what to do during a reception". I did perform a "Voice of God" announcement about the bride and groom's first dance at my own wedding... and what made me laugh even more is that no one except my (new) husband, maid of honor and the best man Rodger knew it was me. People thought, "Wow... that DJ has a great <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">pre</span>-recorded voice to announce the first dance!" (Ahem... to all of those reading who hire <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">voiceover</span> talent - take note!)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">What made both me and Rod laugh and smile the most were the gaggle of kids that were like our viewing entourage. When our first dance was announced, they all grabbed chairs and hauled them over to the dance floor to watch. And... later in the evening after I sang Happy Birthday to several birthday folks - one including my father... who gave his only daughter away on his 69<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">th</span> birthday - we danced to "C is for Cookie" with all of the kiddos. Rod and I had a blast! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">We got to say goodbye to our pups before we left for our wedding night. They were all happy to see us... and I had changed out of my wedding dress so I wasn't worried about paw prints. My maid of honor Katina and her fiance John gave us great peace of mind knowing they were taking care of our beloved 4 legged critters until we showed up to the Davie School Inn the next morning.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Our wedding night B&B cabin wasn't far from the farm at all. And the most meaningful thing about our wedding night was the moment when we got down on our knees and prayed to God to thank Him for our marriage... for the gift of marriage... and to honor our lives and bodies together as we went forward as man and wife. And that's it for the details that I'm gonna share about our wedding night. :-) </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">For those of you that saw pictures from <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Shuaib</span>, you know that the day after our wedding took some time, but well deserved with photos that captured us, our love, our recent <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">nuptials</span> and.... our dogs. </span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/TOwQZI_V1II/AAAAAAAAAEU/OD-w-PLRMok/s1600/PilarRodDogs.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/TOwQZI_V1II/AAAAAAAAAEU/OD-w-PLRMok/s320/PilarRodDogs.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542823265482167426" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Our schlep back to California wasn't too shabby. We chose to stop in different cities on the way back so that Rod could work from the car and we could spend a few hours at the Grand Canyon before we returned since Rod had never been to the Grand Canyon. He has now! And we took a lot of pictures of Fuzzy <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Gman</span> along the South Rim Trail path where Emilie and I traversed 3 1/2 years prior when Garrison was born. </span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/TOwRGZ9EqoI/AAAAAAAAAEc/aDmh4vmSXLY/s1600/PA130039.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/TOwRGZ9EqoI/AAAAAAAAAEc/aDmh4vmSXLY/s320/PA130039.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542824043130169986" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Since our return, we realized we slept a total of 5 nights in our own bed in the month of October. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">We went to the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Cabrillo</span> dog shows in Del Mar, CA as soon as we got back. Nickel picked up 2 more points toward his championship but that was all that really stuck out for us there. Then we drove up north to the Del Valle shows. Lara picked up 4 points by going Winner's Bitch at a Specialty on Saturday and an all-breed show on Sunday. Rod showed her at the specialty and I showed her the next day and it was a really good feeling to beat <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Bergit</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Coady</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Kabel</span> and Amy Rutherford with our girl. Lara is starting to come into her own and they were nice wins. Pretty much as nice as winning breed in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Bouvier</span> ring over top handlers and dogs. Especially since I haven't been showing Scotties very long. My first "trial by fire" was Indianapolis the weekend Rod and I got engaged - February 2010. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I had to fly home to work my last year as the Voice of Goddess for Maria <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Shriver's</span> Women's Conference in Long Beach - a gig I have enjoyed for the last 5-6 years. The most frustrating part about this year's event, however, was that Michelle Obama was a speaker during the morning and we were in total lock-down for hours. I couldn't go to the bathroom without having to go all the way around the auditorium, go through metal detectors, and work my way through the audience to get back stage again. I posted to Twitter that I should have packed my lunch and worn Depends. As soon as she left... I could pee as often as I liked. I preferred to pee as often as I liked IN the restroom. Just saying. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I then flew back up to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">NoCal</span> and Rod and I drove up to Portland for the National <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Bouvier</span> Specialty. Lord have mercy... Garrison was more than full of pent up energy. Rain didn't allow him to run at the park and chase his ball in San Ramon. I flew back to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">SoCal</span> and Rod had to work during the day and he didn't take <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Gman</span> to the park after he was done working. I had an overzealous boy puppy. And he forgot that he's won groups and that we've beaten top dogs and handlers around the country on the day of our National Specialty. Yup. He thought we were doing our best impression of the Calgary Stampede. Romping. Jumping. Galloping. Nipping at my jacket. Rolling around on his back. Total embarrassment. His sister, on the other hand, went Best Opposite for her 2<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">nd</span> time at our National Specialty. We were proud of family. I just wasn't wanting to be dubbed "Comic Relief" but Garrison obviously felt that we needed it. He was probably right in the long term and in hindsight.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">So we got back to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">SoCal</span>. And we had (wait for it....... ) a full week before we left again!!!! Yes... it's true. We were home for a full week before we left for our honeymoon to the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">Baja</span> peninsula and spent 8 nights/9 days at the Coral <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">Baja</span> resort near San Jose <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">del</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">Cabo</span> - north of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">Cabo</span> San Lucas. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">But we had to throw in a dog show before we left. Oh yes. We did. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Garrison showed the best he's shown all year long - no joke. He went Best Opposite to his sister on Saturday and thankfully he won the breed on Sunday. We didn't get a group placing, but we weren't expecting to given the group judge and inside word we received. I just wanted him to show well... and he did. That's all that mattered. And a breed win after months of a dry spell!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Honeymoon. This <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">warrants</span> a blog of its own. However, here are some pictures of fun times as newlyweds. :-)</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/TOwUvyyMUwI/AAAAAAAAAEk/czQlAImM1Zg/s1600/PB100074.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/TOwUvyyMUwI/AAAAAAAAAEk/czQlAImM1Zg/s320/PB100074.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542828052704940802" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/TOwXH_ipvCI/AAAAAAAAAEs/iL7Z9ImiAO0/s1600/IMG_4398.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/TOwXH_ipvCI/AAAAAAAAAEs/iL7Z9ImiAO0/s320/IMG_4398.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542830667469536290" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/TOw8dewvN1I/AAAAAAAAAE0/WWTuk9nusso/s1600/PB120117.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/TOw8dewvN1I/AAAAAAAAAE0/WWTuk9nusso/s320/PB120117.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542871718557595474" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/TOw9pXwa7lI/AAAAAAAAAE8/SHaoMFfl0AI/s1600/PB120126.JPG"><br /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/TOw-jkEKzCI/AAAAAAAAAFE/Uo-1dX6z9O0/s1600/DSC_3225.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/TOw-jkEKzCI/AAAAAAAAAFE/Uo-1dX6z9O0/s320/DSC_3225.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542874022083742754" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/TOw-kMrrs9I/AAAAAAAAAFM/mGnuua_hErg/s1600/PB120151.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/TOw-kMrrs9I/AAAAAAAAAFM/mGnuua_hErg/s320/PB120151.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542874032986895314" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/TOw_fAFEGXI/AAAAAAAAAFU/WC53Dl0eeYE/s1600/PB130004.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/TOw_fAFEGXI/AAAAAAAAAFU/WC53Dl0eeYE/s320/PB130004.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542875043215972722" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/TOw_fnEZRgI/AAAAAAAAAFc/Khe6-X7bdEM/s1600/PB150041.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/TOw_fnEZRgI/AAAAAAAAAFc/Khe6-X7bdEM/s320/PB150041.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542875053682148866" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And we got home from an amazing honeymoon. Our dogs were MORE than happy to see us. We were MORE than happy to see them! And then we went off and looked at a puppy that we had been approached about while up in Portland. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">She's nice. She's sweet. She has qualities that we want to incorporate into our <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">Bouvier</span> breeding program.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">So we have a new puppy. Her registered name is <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">Vanleighof's</span> Victory Lap. Her call name is Danica (for Danica Patrick). I think we're certifiably crazy to bring a new puppy into our house right after we get back from getting married and having our honeymoon... but at the same time... is there ever a good time to bring in a new dog to a house or to have a baby? No there is not. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">We just hope that Rod can sell his house sooner than later so that we can buy a place while it is still a buyer's market. Our pups all enjoy the day with us and it takes time, but we make it work, so that they all get individual time and love and attention and training... but we need a little more space. Including closet space! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">So Husband-o-mine and I are spending our first Thanksgiving as a married couple at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">Casa</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">Fairview</span> with our pups. Then we greet canine and human friends for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">Eukanuba</span> weekend... and... OH YEAH...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">We're having a wedding reception for local friends on Friday, December 3rd. I confess I laughed when a dear girlfriend asked if we were staying somewhere on Friday night and if she needed to take care of all of the dogs that night. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Nope. We spent enough time away from our pups on our wedding night and during our honeymoon. We aren't imposing that on anyone! We're heading home afterward... and happily, mind you. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I love being married and I'm glad that events of my life (and Rod's) happened as they did so that when our relationship developed as it did... we were open, willing, and ready to be married. I've had a few friends ask me if I'm scared being married and I laughed out loud. This is the first time in my life that I've never felt a twinge of fear about being married... but not just being married. Being married to Rod. When it's the right relationship... there is no fear. We made a commitment to God and to one another and we intend on keeping that. And that means being real... communicating... and working at our relationship until we're dead. I didn't go through all that I have endured just to go through the motions of getting married. Why do that? It's easier to stay single! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">When I met Rod... being single and living my life all by myself suddenly didn't make sense anymore. And to be emotionally open, malleable and willing to share my life as is is one of the hardest things I thought I'd ever do until I met Rod. He respects and <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_35">appreciates</span> me for me... and I feel the same way about him. Every day is a joy and feels like "home" when we're together. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">It is an honor and a privilege to be Rod's wife. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And we have a new Bouvier puppy.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And all of it makes me laugh and get happy warm tingly butterflies of happiness. :-) </span>Pilar Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08887886089794745239noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926351553736111405.post-28678258652111322542010-09-12T23:39:00.000-07:002010-09-12T23:53:08.631-07:00How life changes<span style="font-family: verdana;">We're now 28 days away from getting married and wow, how life changes. Two and a half months ago I didn't think I'd end up writing this blog and yet I find myself saying silently, "Really? Truly? You didn't? Yeah, right."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">You see... Rod flew off to New Jersey today for the AKC Fall Delegate meeting today. He'll be gone until Tuesday. It's a short time for him to be gone. No big deal. But I must say that I have gotten very used to having him around all the time.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">There are certain perks that will come about from our relationship after we're married, so I don't want some of you to think that I'm missing something basic and animalistic - I miss the sheer presence and companionship of this wonderful man I look forward to calling "husband" in 4 weeks. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">One of the things I find comical with Rod not being around for less than 24 hours is that all 4 dogs don't seem to mess around with me. They have a total blast. They are all cuddly and cozy and they actually get super goofy and play. And this isn't actually abnormal behavior when Rod's around. But I truly think we're prepared for having 2-legged children because I find that our dogs know they can be goofy and silly and non-serious with Rod and with me? I have rules and regulations and they must be kept or you will not be happy. If you abide by the simplest of rules (for dogs it's called not peeing or pooping in my house and being polite and not biting off fingers when getting a cookie) then life is awesome all the time.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Don't get me wrong, folks. Rod doesn't put up with crap behavior either. But with the two of us in a house, it's a different dynamic. And I find that our dogs run to Rod as if he'll be the same goofy and "I didn't realize I was doing it wrong" sorta partner in crime. Except he's not. The few times some events have happened either from the Bouvier or the Scotties or both, Rod has put his foot down. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">There's just something about his demeanor that makes them think he might be more willing to play than to discipline. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">No matter what, I loved having Nickel Pickle (aka the Piddler and the ONLY dog not on my black list today) curl up on my lap or by my feet multiple times today. Yes, he barked at Grandmommy every time she made a weird noise or coughed or sneezed, but I guess he is alerting us all to that foreign noise. When I make noises like that now, he gives me a half-cocked look as if to say, "Seriously? I know it's you! But if you tell me it isn't, I'll get 'em!" </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Every day I fall more and more in love with our Scotties - even when they "try" me. Every day I appreciate the personality of the herding breeds and especially the Bouvier that reasons out things. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">And with every passing minute I fall more and more in love with the man I'm going to marry in 28 days because I never thought I'd find someone who was as passionate about the same things in life with a similar sense of humor and the same commitment to communication so that we can work - and all I hear is that successful relationships are WORK - on our marriage and family life. But man it makes things easier when you both step out with a similar ideology and are just as excited to be partners and parents because of recognizing that the mindsets toward all of life are like-minded.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Enough for now. I don't know if I'll get more written before I get married, but let this be known - I am soooooooooo excited to be getting married next month! I NEVER thought I'd be getting married. It always freaked me out and made me wonder if I could actually go through with it. And now? I have never doubted being married to Rod, being his wife and a mother to our children. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">It's a new journey. Totally untraveled by both of us. But equally exciting. WOWZA!!!!</span>Pilar Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08887886089794745239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926351553736111405.post-33348331644187969132010-07-13T15:20:00.000-07:002010-07-13T15:22:11.728-07:00Do you know the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) is a terrorist group?<span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) is an extreme animal rights organization that is classified as a terrorist group by the FBI. ALF identifies its main bases of operation as Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States; all told, it is currently active in about twenty countries worldwide. ALF's self-defined mission is "to effectively allocate resources (time and money) to reduce animal suffering in the world." Toward this end, ALF states that it "carries out direct action against animal abuse in the form of rescuing animals and causing financial loss to animal exploiters, usually through the damage and destruction of property." Counted among these "exploiters" are hunters, fishers, butchers, factory farmers, restaurateurs, and those who use animals to entertain the public (in zoos, circuses, and rodeos). The fur, meat, egg, and dairy industries are also viewed as major offenders, as are scientists and technicians involved in laboratory animal testing. All of these pursuits, charges ALF, "profit from the misery and exploitation of animals." In ALF's estimation, the use of animals as sources of food, clothing, entertainment, or scientific knowledge is immoral and should be prevented by any means necessary. <br /><br />ALF candidly acknowledges that in its quest to force "animal abuse companies" out of business, it takes "illegal actions ... to bring about animal liberation." Adds ALF, "These are usually one of two things: rescuing animals from laboratories or other places of abuse, or inflicting economic damage on animal abusers." Economic damage is generally inflicted by means of theft, vandalism, arson, and sabotage. Because these activities are unlawful, ALF activists work anonymously, generally in cells of two to five people but sometimes alone. ALF has no formal hierarchy, central organization, leaders, newsletter, or official membership rolls. "Anyone who carries out direct action according to ALF guidelines," its website explains, "is a member of the ALF." The lone lifestyle stipulation is that in order to be recognized and supported by ALF, an individual must be either a vegetarian or a vegan.<br /><br />And very recently...<br /><br /></span><h1 style="line-height: 125%;" id="ctl00_ctl00_ContentModulesPlaceHolder_litSectionName"><a target="_blank" href="http://cbs4denver.com/investigates/sheepskin.factory.alf.2.1753886.html">Colorado & Denver News</a> </h1><br /><br /><span class="cbstv_attribution" style="padding-right: 4px;">GLENDALE, Colo. (CBS4) ― </span> <div id="ctl00_ctl00_ContentModulesPlaceHolder_ContentModule_68755_divRealtedCol" class="cbstv_related_col"> <dl class="cbstv_article_images cbstv_img_border"><div style="display: block;" class="cbstvs_slideshow" id="img_0"> <dt> <img id="ctl00_ctl00_ContentModulesPlaceHolder_ContentModule_68755_rptRelatedImages_ctl01_imgThumbnail" title="Click to zoom." class="cbstv_cursor_pointer popup_clicker" myindex="0" src="http://llnw.image.cbslocal.com/19/2010/05/04/175x131/surveillance.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; height: 131px; width: 175px;" /> <span id="ctl00_ctl00_ContentModulesPlaceHolder_ContentModule_68755_rptRelatedImages_ctl01_txtEnlargeImage" class="cbstv_click_enlarge popup_clicker" myindex="0">Click to enlarge</span><div class="cbstv_slider_paging"><span style="float: left;">1 of 3</span></div> </dt> <dd> An image of the possible arsonist <p class="cbstv_attribution"> </p> </dd> </div><div class="cbstvs_slideshow" id="img_1"> <dt> <img id="ctl00_ctl00_ContentModulesPlaceHolder_ContentModule_68755_rptRelatedImages_ctl02_imgThumbnail" title="Click to zoom." class="cbstv_cursor_pointer popup_clicker" myindex="1" src="http://llnw.image.cbslocal.com/19/2010/04/30/175x131/fire.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; height: 131px; width: 175px;" /> <span id="ctl00_ctl00_ContentModulesPlaceHolder_ContentModule_68755_rptRelatedImages_ctl02_txtEnlargeImage" class="cbstv_click_enlarge popup_clicker" myindex="1">Click to enlarge</span><div class="cbstv_slider_paging"><span style="float: left;">2 of 3</span></div> </dt> <dd> An image of the fire early Friday morning <p class="cbstv_attribution"> CBS </p> </dd> </div><div class="cbstvs_slideshow" id="img_2"> <dt> <img id="ctl00_ctl00_ContentModulesPlaceHolder_ContentModule_68755_rptRelatedImages_ctl03_imgThumbnail" title="Click to zoom." class="cbstv_cursor_pointer popup_clicker" myindex="2" src="http://llnw.image.cbslocal.com/19/2009/01/29/175x131/cbs4investigates.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; height: 131px; width: 175px;" /> <span id="ctl00_ctl00_ContentModulesPlaceHolder_ContentModule_68755_rptRelatedImages_ctl03_txtEnlargeImage" class="cbstv_click_enlarge popup_clicker" myindex="2">Click to enlarge</span><div class="cbstv_slider_paging"><span style="float: left;">3 of 3</span></div> </dt> <dd> Visit the <a href="http://cbs4denver.com/investigates">CBS4 Investigates section</a>. <p class="cbstv_attribution"> </p> </dd> </div></dl> <div id="ctl00_ctl00_ContentModulesPlaceHolder_ContentModule_68755_divEnlargeImage" class="jqmWindow jqmID5" style="width: 350px; margin-left: -175px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> <div class="cbstv_enlarge_image"> <h3> <p class="cbstv_close_win"> <a href="http://cbs4denver.com/ContentModules/Story/#" id="ctl00_ctl00_ContentModulesPlaceHolder_ContentModule_68755_lnkCloseEnlargeImage" style="cursor: pointer;" class="jq_closeEnlarge">Close</a> <img id="ctl00_ctl00_ContentModulesPlaceHolder_ContentModule_68755_Image1" class="jq_closeEnlarge" src="http://llnw.static.cbslocal.com/Themes/CBS/_resources/img/ico016x014close_modal.gif" style="border-width: 0px;" align="bottom" /></p> </h3> <div id="ctl00_ctl00_ContentModulesPlaceHolder_ContentModule_68755_divEmail" class="cbstv_enlarge_image_content"> <table class="cbstv_enlarge_image" style="width: 320px;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr> <td align="center"> <div id="divEnlargeImageIcon"> </div> <br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="cbstv_enlarge_image_descrip"> <span id="captionEnlargeImage"></span> <br /> <p class="cbstv_attribution"> <span id="sourceEnlargeImage"></span> </p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <div class="cbstv_slider_paging"> <span style="float: left;" id="txtSlider">numSlides of totalImages</span> </div> </div> </div> <input name="ctl00$ctl00$ContentModulesPlaceHolder$ContentModule_68755$hdnImageInfo" id="ctl00_ctl00_ContentModulesPlaceHolder_ContentModule_68755_hdnImageInfo" value="[{"ImageSource":"","ImageUrl":"http://llnw.image.cbslocal.com/19/2010/05/04/320x240/surveillance.jpg","ImageCaption":"An image of the possible arsonist"},{"ImageSource":"CBS","ImageUrl":"http://llnw.image.cbslocal.com/19/2010/04/30/320x240/fire.jpg","ImageCaption":"An image of the fire early Friday morning"},{"ImageSource":"","ImageUrl":"http://llnw.image.cbslocal.com/19/2009/01/29/320x240/cbs4investigates.jpg","ImageCaption":"Visit the \u003ca href=\"http://cbs4denver.com/investigates\"\u003eCBS4 Investigates section\u003c/a\u003e."}]" type="hidden"> </div> <div class="cbstv_module_wrap_pad"> <h3 class="cbstv_section_head"> Related Stories</h3> <ul class="cbstv_linklist"><li> <a href="http://cbs4denver.com/local/sheepskin.factory.glendale.2.1666196.html">Sheepskin Factory In Glendale Destroyed By Fire</a><br /> <span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">(5/1/2010)</span> </li><li> <a href="http://cbs4denver.com/local/sheepskin.factory.glendale.2.1673505.html">Police Seek Arsonist Responsible For Glendale Fire</a><br /> <span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">(5/4/2010)</span> </li></ul> </div> </div> Authorities are investigating whether a fire at The Sheepskin Factory in Glendale is tied to an animal rights group<br /><br />The fire gutted the business causing $500,000 in damage in late April. The building was located along Colorado Boulevard. It didn't take long for investigators to label this arson, but now, more than a month after the blaze, a claim of responsibility came from someone calling himself ALF Lone Wolf.<br /><br />"… was done in defense and retaliation for all the innocent animals that have died cruelly at the hands of human oppressors," ALF Lone Wolf posted on a website called Bite Back, which is aligned with the Animal Liberation Front (ALF).<br /><br />"They're already blaming themselves," Israel Dominguez with The Sheepskin Factory said.<br /><br />The store is now operating in temporary quarters. Dominguez strongly denied the business is involved in cruelty to animals.<br /><br />"They're grown, they're fed, they're well taken care of. I think they are eventually going to die for edible reasons," Dominguez said.<br /><br />The posing was the latest in a long string of actions listed involving attacks against businesses around the world.<br /><br />Police are taking the claim of responsibility very seriously.<br /><br />"I consider it to be a very solid lead that we are going to follow up very closely; probably one of our more serious leads in the case thus far," Glendale Police Chief Victor Ross said.<br /><br />The person they believe was responsible was caught on a security camera just before the fire broke out and now the Animal Liberation Front claims it was involved.<br /><br />"We've enlisted the assistance of the ATF and federal agencies, and we have not stopped investigating the case," Ross said.<br /><br />The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) investigated the fire scene and has offered a $10,000 reward in this case.<br /><br />"We've just received that information recently so what we have is we're looking into that to corroborate that information," ATF Special Agent in Charge Marvin Richardson said.<br /><br />"From the beginning that's kind of our initial thoughts of who was responsible for this," said Helena Livaditis, the owner's daughter. "I've always been hoping we could find some type of information on someone who would want to destroy a family business of 30 years."<br /><br />ALF is aligned with the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) whose members were convicted in the 1998 Vail lodge arson.Pilar Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08887886089794745239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926351553736111405.post-44564246772044459222010-07-01T23:03:00.000-07:002010-07-01T23:07:04.553-07:00My rant against puppy mills<span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-style: italic;">In response to a posting on Facebook by Humane Watch regarding a news report about Puppy Mill legislation being postponed until 2011 and one woman's comment that she hated puppy mills, this is what I posted:</span><br /><br />The best way to put an end to puppy mills is to educate people about the various breeds and their personalities and jobs and not try to increase demand to reduce supplies. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">A responsible breeder breeds no more than 1-2 litters a year and makes sure the puppy buyers understand what it truly means to own one of those puppies. And they try to stay in</span> <span class="text_exposed_show" style="font-family:verdana;">touch with the buyers and be willing and able to take the puppies back if the home doesn't work out no matter what the age of the pup.<br /><br />If the breeder has a breed that is more easily placed in homes (say a labrador breeder or yorkie breeder), I feel that the same ethics should apply. I know many who breed those breeds and they are just as strict and adhere to ethics as my Scottie and Bouvier household. Unfortunately, there are many out there that give "popular breeds" and breeders a very bad rep.<br /><br />We should try to re-direct the "CostCo Mentality" of "Same or similar product for Less" or "Craigslist Mentality" of "Sorta Like what I wanted but for less" ideology behind getting pets if we want to make sure we have healthy pets and the Lifetime Guarantee Terms and Conditions are in the animal's favor. "I want a Lab but I don't want to pay x-amount of dollars for one" is what keeps puppy mills in business. Shame on us humans for being cheap and looking for a bargain on living beings!!!!<br /><br />I detest puppy mills, as well. The biggest challenge is when we have to fight for the right to have successful breeding programs that might, at times, have the same # of animals that define "puppy mill" when it may be a responsible breeder's home or kennel. I won't go into the mathematics, but a responsible breeder could fringe on "puppy mill" definition one or two times a year based on when females in the same pack come into season. Are you a woman? Work or live around other women? Ever experience the timing of menstruation with your colleagues? The same happens in dogs and cats.<br /><br /><span>That is why we fight for the laws that the HSUS tries to push ahead and put limitations on the # of animals on property. A couple bitches that came into season near each other and had healthy litters at the same time, a few horses, cats, a few male dogs... suddenly without ever harming one animal's life, you're now breaking the law if the HSUS passes laws in your state and the local authorities could seize your lactating bitch, puppies, and every critter on your property. No thanks. Make folks adhere to already-in-place-local-law</span><wbr><span class="word_break"></span>s to insure that we reduce the # of puppy mills and breeding of unwanted pets in our country.<br /><br />I, too, detest puppy mills. But I do support responsible breeders if we're to continue to have pets in the United States.</span>Pilar Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08887886089794745239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926351553736111405.post-53231403614221352622010-06-06T23:44:00.000-07:002010-06-07T00:38:31.386-07:00"All of the above"Well, I realized that today encompassed just about every aspect of why I created this blog to begin with. So? Yes... I'm blogging about it! WHOO HOOO!!<br /><br />I woke up this morning at 5am to get ready for the 2nd day at the Kennel Club of Pasadena dog show. My friend Danielle and I hit the hay early because we had enjoyed some red wine with dinner last night at the Overland Café and her Parson Russell Terrier Indy slept with me last night. It was really sweet having a little bed buddy to curl up in the curve of my knee while Gman the Bouvier slept in his favorite corner. <br /><br />Danielle's English Springer Spaniel bitch Maddie slept with Danielle. Gotta share the doggie night time sleeping love! <br /><br />It all felt way too early (probably because it was!) but it was a Dog Show Morning. <br /><br />Thankfully it was nice and cool for showing Bouviers in the morning. Garrison showed well, but we walked from the ring with nothing to flaunt except for our good sportsmanship and team work. While we were in the ring, however, the sun broke through the clouds and the day started to get hotter than yesterday. We went back to our tent/set-up area. And I got a text message.<br /><br />My friend Amy asked if I could help show a Belgian Tervuren today. I didn't have anything else do to, so I said, "Yes." <br /><br />A very sweet, but nervous boy, Odie and I worked together for a short while before he had to show and I loved watching his eyes go from nervous and a little wider than usual to softening and settling. He and I went into the ring and won his class and it was also automatically Winners Dog - there were only 2 dogs in the "Open" class today. So we waited for the Breed class. Before we went into the Breed class to compete for Best of Winners, one of the gals that cares for Odie said, "If he goes Best of Winners he'll get a cross over major - no pressure." I said, "Nope... none." Because that's the last thing this dog would need is to feel any pressure at all. He needed to have fun, enjoy his time out there and be at ease. <br /><br />He did a really nice job, gave me great ears as I baited him from my pretend pocket and freestacked beautifully. And my new friend Odie was awarded Best of Winners and got a cross-over major today! He got 3 ribbons, a major and a picture to prove it! Whoo hooo!!!<br /><br />After our picture was taken, I offered to walk him back to his set up and make sure he had nice shade and ample water. I squatted down to say goodbye and sweet Odie gave me one kiss on my face. Yes... this boy had a good dog show experience today that that, much more than the ribbons and points, was the best outcome of all. <br /><br />I went over to the Scottie ring to watch my second breed. Things didn't go quite as hoped for Susan and her dog McCartney. She got Best Opposite to Gabriel's "special"... and I went back over to my set up to get cash because my stomach was rumbling. I hadn't eaten all morning and the coffee from AM/PM was long, long gone from my tummy. I grabbed my cash, my chair, and my water and headed off to ring 1 & 2 to watch Old English Sheepdogs (OES) and eat my beef kabob plate. <br /><br />The food vendor at this show had food that was worthy of the $7.00. Truly. And a rare find when you end the day and feel satiated and don't have buyers remorse later... both in your wallet and in your restroom. :-D <br /><br />I sat and watched my friend Amy show her cute OES bitch Abby and win Best Opposite. Yippee!!! And I stayed to watch German Shepherds. <br /><br />My colleague JR Alcantar and I visited shortly about what happened earlier in the day with Bouviers and then he had to get his German Shepherd Dogs (GSD) ready for their ring. <br /><br />Biding my time and enjoying the shade, I heard JR call my name. Apparently he had 2 class bitches and needed me to go in on a bitch I helped him show in Apple Valley back in early March. With a tummy full of beef kabob and sunglasses on my face, I said, "OK." I got the armband number from JR, picked up a few more rubber bands, put on the armband and walked over to Chola's owners. They handed over their dog and trusted me with her care and performance in the ring because JR told them to. <br /><br />Now then... folks... showing German Shepherds vs. any other breed is a world apart. I have a huge appreciation for this breed now that I've spent more time around them and moved with them in an open field and in a show ring. HOLY COW! They are stunning and beautiful and they truly float around the ring and they MOVE. In fact... you would probably be better off putting on in-line skates and a safety helmet when showing them. <br /><br />It was a tough class today for Best of Breed and competition for Best of Winners. Yesterday, Steve Cabral's GSD special won the breed AND won the group. A very nice boy and it's wonderful being in a ring of truly nice dogs. The judge had both Winners Dog and Winners Bitch (me and Chola) move together. I loved moving with Chola around the ring. She was light in my hand and floating across the ground. Her owners could be proud of her performance regardless of the outcome. And then... the judge went back and forth between the two male specials. They both moved beautifully. Then the judge pointed to JR and pulled him out front. Then she pointed to me with Chola and pulled us out as Best of Winners and Best Opposite Sex. The Group 1 winner from yesterday got the Dog Select.<br /><br />And that was that. <br /><br />I got to hand over 2 ribbons and a medallion to Chola's owner Mary who was just as happy as a clam (but not a clam in the Gulf of Mexico... I'll spare you my own thoughts about the oil spill right now)... and what a day! <br /><br />And it was soooooooo hot. I had to muster up the energy to pack up and head home. It was rough. Truly. I had two kool koat type blankets on Garrison who was sitting in front of my friend's fan as I packed up our tent and dog show gack. I knew the pathway would be hot to our car, but fortunately we were really close to the entry of the show area. <br /><br />We had the air blasting all the way home. And I exited La Brea Ave. South... and went, "Oh! Tonight I have to take La Brea North to the Next Stage because I'm in the 9:30pm performance of 'Dark Side of the Moon'!" <br /><br />So the dog show day was over. Garrison was exhausted and happy to be in his house and in front of another fan. He filled his tummy up with yummy kibble and cottage cheese and venison and sweet potato... and I took a short nap because I needed to recharge before putting on my actress hat. <br /><br />Earlier this week, Chris Berube contacted me and asked if I could fill in for my role of "Mom" in "Dark Side of the Moon" and being in town... and having the time... and itching to be back on stage... I had said, "YES!" And tonight was the night. <br /><br />I watched the Celtics beat the Lakers, grabbed my make-up and my dress and took off for the theater so I could watch some of the 8pm show. I hadn't performed "Dark Side" since last fall... and I don't forget things easily, but I would feel better knowing that I had watched the show and refreshed my memory. <br /><br />The 8pm cast did a FANTASTIC JOB!!!! I was really impressed with them and I found myself missing my own cast. I made such wonderful friends doing that show and now here I was again at the Next Stage... that same familiar smell... the same excitement from fellow actors performing one of the most original stage productions EVER... and I was about to be on that stage, too.<br /><br />It felt like home. And that felt awesome.<br /><br />I was so proud of the 8pm cast and their show was over and I had to get ready for the 9:30 show. My friend Lemar Harris would be my Magistrate... and I was so excited. Lemar is the kind of guy that takes his job seriously with the best sense of humor... and working with him is never work. It's a pleasure and a delight and a privilege. <br /><br />And Chris... my dear director Chris... knows how to put together amazing shows and brings out the best in casts that care about performing. He doesn't mess around. If you don't want to be a part of something he's producing and directing.... fare thee well and best of luck to you. But if you put in what you SHOULD when he gives you a shot at doing SOMETHING in this town? You'll get more out of it than you could ever imagine. <br /><br />The Next Stage isn't a large theater, but it's intimate and it's FUN. Chris knows how to use the space and I find that he allows his audiences to use their own imaginations rather than telling them what they have to see and think about what's being performed in his theater space. <br /><br />And we use ALL the space. Front, back, above and below. <br /><br />It was opening night for this cast. NO PRESSURE. Sheesh. And they did a great job. A really wonderful and great job. And I had a blast. And I felt my heart swell with pride and happiness because it's been a year since I first auditioned for Chris at The Next Stage... and I consider myself incredibly lucky to be a part of a theater company that is always working... always busy... and always giving actors a shot in this wacky town.<br /><br />Driving home, I called my parents and my father answered. He loves Pink Floyd and loved the performance of "Dark Side" he saw last fall. We chatted about my love of theater... my excitement about the next stage production Chris and I talked about last weekend and tonight... and then the dog show results... and then.... wedding stuff. My father and I talked about all of the major life changes that are barreling toward me and Rod and I once again felt my heart swell because they are such good and wonderful changes.<br /><br />I am so impressed with the man I am marrying. He is a good, honest and hard working man and none of what we're going through is easy, but somehow it feels easy because we're a team. Rod and I have been a team since our relationship really solidified last year and we knew this wasn't a "fly by night" relationship. This was something real and solid and with every passing day we talk about what we're facing and we're constantly in agreement with how we want to tackle life's challenges. Knowing that we are teammates in this thing called LIFE is really incredible. The things we're dealing with - the life stresses - are seemingly easier because we're supportive of each other. I always hoped and prayed that's how my relationship with my spouse would be... but to see how God has blessed us and put us in each others lives at this juncture and how we are supportive of each other.... WOW. And I think that's where I'll leave all of this. WOW.<br /><br />In order to wrap up this blog that encompasses dogs, dog showing, performing and my wedding (which is 125 days away), I've poured a glass of red wine. And I'll probably pour another before I go to sleep, but before that 2nd glass is poured... thank you for reading because I'm enjoying my post-performance high - no drug can ever re-create the on-stage rush.Pilar Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08887886089794745239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926351553736111405.post-31232519865508924742010-05-25T11:26:00.000-07:002010-05-25T11:57:19.403-07:00Bridezilla? Not really...<span style="font-family:verdana;">Well... the wedding is 138 days away. That basically means it's 4 months and about a week and some change away. And all is on track. With a tiny hiccup yesterday that felt like a severe case of heart burn for about half an hour.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Getting married this fall wasn't "out of the blue". Rod and I had been talking about our futures for quite some time, but I had said I would not do any wedding planning at all until it was official and the ring was on the finger. We know... February 11th it was all official. BUT... working in the special events world since I was in college had my producer brain in a bit of a state of quandry. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">October is a very popular month... and southern Illinois is quite busy at that time of year, too. I didn't want to lose out on holding rooms for wedding guests just because I wasn't sure WHEN we'd be officially engaged.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Just so you guys know... Rod and I spoke and agreed that I would make room reservations right after the beginning of the year. So the pending engagement wasn't a surprise - I knew it was coming - but I didn't know WHEN or HOW Rod would propose. If you're reading this blog, you have quite possibly read the "engagement" blog. I'll spare you any more details. Besides... with the mention of Bridezilla in the title of this blog, you are probably reading and wondering, "WHERE IS BRIDEZILLA?!?!?" </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">In January when I called the various Bed and Breakfasts in southern Illinois, I had one credit card my father had told me to use to make the reservations. And this card expires in August of this year - 08/10 - as one would tell any vendor asking for the expiration date.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">No problem. Or so I thought.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I had one B&B email me and say that the card I gave them expired before our wedding date, so she wanted another card to keep the rooms for us. I emailed back and said I wouldn't have another card until about a month before the current one expires (which is normal practice for all credit card companies and banks to do, right?) and that was that. All the other B&Bs were fine with me calling as we got closer to that expiration date to update info. I thought this one was, too.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">In February or March, I received an email from our Wedding Central B&B The Davie School Inn and Andrea the owner mentioned that at one of their association meetings some of the folks had mentioned the same concern - we had used a card that would expire before our wedding date... what should they do? Thankfully I've known Andrea for quite some time and she said that it shouldn't be a problem... we'd be traveling out to Anna this summer for tastings and I had promised to update them with a new card as that date approached. Thank you advocate Andrea! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">But I had mentioned this to my father and he decided that I should use a different credit card for "all things wedding". The card arrives. It expires June 2011. WAY past our wedding date. No problem-o. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">So yesterday I started calling the B&Bs that I had posted on our wedding website to update the credit card information like I had promised. I don't know why I chose to start with this one particular B&B... but I did. And I was told that our rooms had not been held because I had used an expired credit card to hold the rooms and that she had never heard back from me with an updated card.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I confess that I felt my blood boil more rapidly than lava spewing out of the Icelandic volcano that no one knows how to pronounce unless you're FROM Iceland. And I let the proprietor know my displeasure. Extreme displeasure. Anger. Livid, blood boiling, major disappointment and ready to suck the marrow out of her bones displeasure. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Anna's a small town. Maybe 5,000 people total. And I am excited to be helping out the local economy by having our wedding there and encouraging our guests to spend a delightful weekend there at the B&Bs and hoping they enjoy the experience of traveling to southern Illinois for our wedding. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">This B&B had 4 rooms available. Now there was only 1 room available. I said I would not encourage my guests to call and ask for the ONE room. We haven't even sent out the official invitations yet! But several of our friends and family have made reservations for October. How fortunate are those B&B owners? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">When I was told AGAIN that I had used an invalid credit card to make my reservation, my fact drilling brain kicked into high gear. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">1) Is a card that expires in August of this year invalid in January of this year - 8 months prior to the expiration date? NO IT IS NOT.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">2) If I took the time to reserve rooms in January for an October wedding when I wasn't even officially engaged yet, do you think that I would want to use a card that was invalid? NO I WOULD NOT.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">3) Could I still be using that card to charge things for the wedding as of today? YES. How about up to August 31, 2010? YOU BET YOUR SWEET BIPPY!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">4) Do credit card companies send out replacement cards 8 months before they expire? NO THEY DO NOT.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">So when I was apologized to again, I said, "What would make this right for me is to let those people know who you gave MY rooms to that you made a mistake and you give me my rooms back."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">No... she couldn't do that... because they had used valid credit cards.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">That was it. I was DONE with this conversation. Almost.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">"If you aren't willing to honor what we had agreed upon on January 8th of this year and you insist on telling me that my VALID credit card was INVALID, I hope that you remember this situation the next time someone chooses to have a wedding in southern Illinois and has people traveling from all over the world and takes the time and effort and due diligence to hold rooms for guests WAY in advance KNOWING that the card will expire and KNOWING that there are cancellation policies that we agreed to and you don't make another wedding party have to deal with this kind of unprofessional situation. As a small business owner, shame on you. Good bye."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Then I called the remaining B&Bs and everyone else was surprised I was calling in May with an updated card. They had held my rooms. They knew I'd be calling them. They are excited for our wedding. And they knew exactly who I had dealt with regarding my situation on the first call. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Whew. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">My steaming nostrils cooled down and my gnashing teeth and scratching nails retracted. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I wasn't asking for something off-the-charts obnoxious or demanding unrealistic expectations of this B&B. I was merely expecting that our agreement was honored. And it wasn't. And I was upset. Obviously.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Bridezilla? No. Not really. But we still have 138 days to go. Heh heh heh...<br /></span>Pilar Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08887886089794745239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926351553736111405.post-56201077506869216812010-05-12T07:11:00.000-07:002010-05-12T18:46:51.390-07:00Mid May? What happened to April?<span style="font-family:verdana;">Today is Wednesday - Hump Day - and I commented on a friend's post on Facebook that my month doesn't stop until the end of the month... so can we just make this Hump Month for me? And then it dawned on me... HOLY SMOKES! May is almost half over... the year is almost half over... my wedding planning is almost half over... WOW.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">April was really busy for me: </span> <ul style="font-family: verdana;"><li>Garrison and I competed in several dog shows in California and Arizona. </li><li>My mom flew to Phoenix to spend time with me and cheer me and Gman on in the show ring. </li><li>My mom drove back to LA with me so we could do wedding shopping and such. </li><li>We visited Parker's Lighthouse in Long Beach to consider it as the location for our December wedding reception. </li><li>I flew to Houston, Texas to attend my first National Rotating Specialty for Scotties and was given "Astronaut Scottie". </li><li>Our Southern California Bouvier des Flandres Club had its 30th annual specialty. </li><li>My friend Jeannette (who was the judge for our specialty) stayed at my house. </li><li>Gman the Bouvier, Astronaut Scottie, Jeannette and I had a photo-filled Monday on Rodeo Drive.</li><li>I flew to Haltom City, Texas to attend my first Birthday Crawfish Boil hosted by my brother and sister-in-law.</li><li>Rod met my brother and sister-in-law and niece and nephew.</li></ul><span style="font-family:verdana;">May hasn't slowed down. And it's not slowing down. Until the end of June. For a</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">bout a weekend. Ma</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">ybe.</span><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S-q6ECQzpUI/AAAAAAAAAC0/QkqeeLmFTd8/s1600/P4020010.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S-q6ECQzpUI/AAAAAAAAAC0/QkqeeLmFTd8/s320/P4020010.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470389275884496194" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Another hotel stay - this one with friends both human and hounds - over a dog show weekend.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S-q7fRaGfWI/AAAAAAAAADE/lGeyK9IalUk/s1600/P4110017.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S-q7fRaGfWI/AAAAAAAAADE/lGeyK9IalUk/s320/P4110017.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470390843318107490" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">My mom (aka Grandmommy) and Garrison at Cardinal Stadium in Phoenix.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S-q8SbhIw2I/AAAAAAAAADM/IpHHXPaJ2ZQ/s1600/P4150025.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S-q8SbhIw2I/AAAAAAAAADM/IpHHXPaJ2ZQ/s320/P4150025.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470391722205299554" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Shopping for wedding stuff in downtown LA with my mom.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S-q6qEigm3I/AAAAAAAAAC8/E2gIJ66393I/s1600/P4160027.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S-q6qEigm3I/AAAAAAAAAC8/E2gIJ66393I/s320/P4160027.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470389929330645874" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Rod and Nickel at the National Rotating Scottie Specialty in Houston.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S-q91ptobOI/AAAAAAAAADU/lu_lllVbU7g/s1600/P4230058.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S-q91ptobOI/AAAAAAAAADU/lu_lllVbU7g/s320/P4230058.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470393426822851810" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >Gman the Bouvier at the SCBdFC Specialty themed "Bouvi-lei". We didn't compete.</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" > We worked.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S-q_jf3KI6I/AAAAAAAAADk/DnUGFwGWf-M/s1600/P4250068.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S-q_jf3KI6I/AAAAAAAAADk/DnUGFwGWf-M/s320/P4250068.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470395313964065698" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >Gman and Astronaut Scottie hanging at Urth Caffé in Beverly Hills.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S-tZAJsQc3I/AAAAAAAAADs/dXLLAC47LLg/s1600/P4300035.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S-tZAJsQc3I/AAAAAAAAADs/dXLLAC47LLg/s320/P4300035.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470564031508018034" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >Uncle Rod, Sadie and Marc with crawfish poking sticks.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S-tZrPbVzCI/AAAAAAAAAD0/zOrj8L73ICw/s1600/P5010047.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S-tZrPbVzCI/AAAAAAAAAD0/zOrj8L73ICw/s320/P5010047.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470564771782052898" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: verdana; font-style: italic;">The boys standing around drinking beer and staring at a boiling bucket of water. With some crawfish in it.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span><br /></div>Pilar Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08887886089794745239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926351553736111405.post-44654779709023111922010-04-14T10:32:00.000-07:002010-04-14T10:36:38.904-07:00Kathy Grosso's letter to the Riverside Press Enterprise<div style="font-family:verdana;"> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color:black;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Kathy Grosso wrote this letter to the Riverside Press Enterprise after an article was run regarding the "egg abuse" video recently produced by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). Cross-posted with permission.</span><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color:black;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color:black;">Dear P. J. Huffstutter:</span></span></p> </div> <div style="font-family:verdana;"> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color:black;"> </span></span></p> </div> <div style="font-family:verdana;"> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color:black;">Since you have opened the door on the subject of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), I thought it might be appropriate to fill you in on some interesting side notes. </span></span></p> </div> <div style="font-family:verdana;"> </div> <div style="font-family:verdana;"> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color:black;"> </span></span></p> </div> <div style="font-family:verdana;"> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color:black;"> HSUS is a well-oiled political machine, that is not what it appears to be. There is little doubt that It is closely aligned with </span><span style="color:black;">the so-called “animal rights” activists, a fanatical group whose consuming goal is to eliminate the meat industry (they believe that everyone should be vegetarians), all pet ownership, circus animals, dairy farms, horse breeding stables, chicken ranches, dog shows, etc. In that regard, they are incrementally pushing for mandatory spay and neuter legislation, one city at a time, forcing pet owners to neuter or spay their pets. Pet lovers need to consider where they will obtain their next pets, if these people get their way, and all dogs and cats are ultimately incapable of reproducing. Their euthanasia statistics have often been undocumented and/or grossly overstated. In fact, some shelters have been reported to have “imported” small dogs from other places, states and even countries, to satisfy the demand for such pets. Much of the euthanasia numbers actually pertains to cats, very old or sick dogs, and those with temperament issues, which make them unacceptable for adoption.</span><span style="color:black;"></span></span></p> </div> <div style="font-family:verdana;"> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color:black;"> </span></span></p> </div> <div style="font-family:verdana;"> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color:black;">The general public should be </span><span style="color:black;">aware that <strong>less than 1% of HSUS’ total income, generated by well-intended animal lovers, is actually spent on animals.</strong> The rest pays for lobbyists, self-promotion, advertising and management salaries. As an example, Wayne Pacelle, their reigning President, earns nearly $230,000.00 per year. Despite the implications of their emotional TV commercials, they do not operate ANY animal shelters. (Please do not confuse this organization with local Humane Societies, which are, hopefully, what they seem to be and are separate from HSUS.) HSUS has been known to take credit for animal rescues that either never happened (in </span><span style="color:black;">Haiti</span><span style="color:black;">), or in which they never participated. As an example, your attention is directed to the following web site: <a target="_blank" href="http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/12/04/hsus-fund-raising-pitch-raises-hackles/" title="http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/12/04/hsus-fund-raising-pitch-raises-hackles/"><span style="color:purple;">http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/12/04/hsus-fund-raising-pitch-raises-hackles/</span></a>. </span></span></p> </div> <div style="font-family:verdana;"> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color:black;"> </span></span></p> </div> <div style="font-family:verdana;"> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color:black;">In addition, HSUS is under investigation by IRS, as a result of their outrageously lopsided financial reports, jeopardizing their current tax-exempt status as a non-profit.</span></span></p> </div> <div style="font-family:verdana;"> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color:black;"> </span></span></p> </div> <div face="verdana"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color:black;">FELD Ent., the parent company of Ringling Bros. Circus, filed suit in February against HSUS under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. This occurred after the HSUS suit against Feld Ent., for animal cruelty, was thrown out of court. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color:black;"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color:black;">One additional side note: a Federal Judge, Charles Simpson, recently handed down a decision in </span><span style="color:black;">Kentucky</span><span style="color:black;">, which essentially says that animals are “personal property”, meaning they cannot be legally seized by any public entity for failure to license, spay, neuter, microchip or vaccinate without due process of law. This landmark decision lends strength to the belief of many animal owners, that these decisions should be made between pet owners and their veterinarians, not by politicians and animal “activists”, who are often well-meaning celebrities duped into making huge financial contributions. It also means that should such seizures occur, those who perpetrate them can be sued personally and individually by the animals’ owners. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color:black;"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color:black;">Just food for thought……..</span><span style="color:black;"></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color:black;"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color:black;">Kathleen Grosso</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color:black;">Banning, CA</span></span></p> </div>Pilar Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08887886089794745239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926351553736111405.post-74463556510851480242010-04-09T21:35:00.000-07:002010-04-09T21:56:25.836-07:00Another Dog Show, but the coolest venue EVER!!<span style="font-family:verdana;">Well, I suppose the premium and judging program for the Kachina Kennel Club and Arrowhead Kennel Club dog shows said it... and I read it... but today when I drove to the dog show, it was one of those "moments" where you think, "REALLY!?!?" </span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />Oh yes, friends. Garrison and I are exhibiting this weekend INSIDE the University of Phoenix Stadium. The coolest feeling ever is to be down on the ground looking up and seeing the empty seats, players names surrounding the stadium, and I swear once or twice today I heard the first few notes of the NFL theme song. OH wait. That was just me singing it.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">:-)<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">It is soooooooo cool!!!!!!!! Garrison put on his pre-game face on this morning and would have enjoyed playing ball inside... but no, no. We can't steal Kurt Warner's historic late-career thunder! </span>;-)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S8ADWhi6hSI/AAAAAAAAACk/nHQ9ces6WLQ/s1600/Gman_Cardinal_Stadium.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S8ADWhi6hSI/AAAAAAAAACk/nHQ9ces6WLQ/s400/Gman_Cardinal_Stadium.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5458366433869858082" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I learned today that the actual football field is natural and artificial grass with a built in irrigation system... and the ENTIRE FIELD is on a track that pushes into the stadium... or outside. No... Arizona Cardinal fans, don't worry. When #33 goes down on the field this season, he's not gonna get up saying, "Man... do you smell dog pee?" The entire football field has been rolled outside. The dog show is on the concrete that resides underneath the incredible field.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">I'm not necessarily a Cardinals fan... but I am a football fan... and a sports fan... and obviously a dog lover... which is why I created Sportz Dawgz two years ago. I like to look at this weekend being one step closer to getting my dog world and my dog toy world integrated into the sports world.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">www.sportzdawgz.com</span> <br /></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><div style="text-align: left;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S8AEQRT99nI/AAAAAAAAACs/e4tN3dGupX0/s1600/Sportz_Dawgz_Logo.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 78px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S8AEQRT99nI/AAAAAAAAACs/e4tN3dGupX0/s400/Sportz_Dawgz_Logo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5458367425944614514" border="0" /></a><br /></div><span style="font-family:verdana;">The venue itself is new to both me and the Gman, but he was ecstatic to see </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">his friends Gina and KayCee Klang (Briard folks that we set up with in Tucson a few weeks ago) and then, oh happy day, Grandmommy flew into town! His cute little nub wiggle-waggled non-stop when he saw Grandmommy at the airport curbside and he showered her with special Gman kisses. He has chosen to sleep on her bed and next to her bed tonight. </span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />So we're looking forward to showing again tomorrow INSIDE University of Phoenix Stadium (aka Cardinals Stadium), having Grandmommy around, talking about wedding stuff and possibly enjoying more Mexican food! </span>Pilar Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08887886089794745239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926351553736111405.post-86156825978069018252010-04-07T18:24:00.000-07:002010-04-07T18:32:43.280-07:00Workout Song Lists<span style="text-decoration: underline; font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The most recent workout song list from today, April 7 is:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bullet The Blue Sky - U2</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">911 Is A Joke - Duran Duran</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Music - Madonna</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Just Keep Goin' On - Eric Bibb & Needed Time</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">I Don't Want Your Love (album version) - Duran Duran</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Pulcinella: Allegro- Gnora Cediteme - Claudio Abbado; London Symphony Orchestra</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Best Friend - The English Beat</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">French Rat Race - The Double Six of Pairs</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Drive - Bobby McFerrin</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">She's Got You - LeAnn Rimes</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hold On - Allison Fraser (From "The Secret Garden")</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Cherry, Cherry - Neil Diamond</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair) - Scott McKenzie</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hold Me Now - Thompson Twins</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Chelsea Rodgers - Prince</span>Pilar Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08887886089794745239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926351553736111405.post-47620023214768934632010-04-07T08:06:00.000-07:002010-04-07T14:00:28.813-07:00The man in the uniform<span style="font-family:verdana;">Yesterday I took Garrison to the park to have some awesome play time - one of our favorite things to do together. Last week I was fortunate to have a couple days of work from my former employer and it cut into our park time greatly, but I figured Garrison would appreciate me buying him dog food in the long run. At least I hope so... even though his puppy antics and ball bouncing in the house made it seem like the end of the world was upon him day after day.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">One day last week I had some "down" time around lunch so I took Garrison to the park for a short play stint. As I stood in the grass throwing his beloved ball over and over, I could feel myself relaxing and enjoying the moment. For the last several years I have thought that this park time was necessary for Garrison to burn off energy, play, burn off more energy, practice herding skills, burn off even more energy, listen to me and then sleep later in the day and not chew my shoes. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">The shoe chewing was a nervous puppy behavior and Mr. Chew Chew Shoe lost that nickname around December of 2008. He was actually caught in the act by a friend who gently told him, "No, Garrison. We don't chew shoes." I was told that he looked up at her with a quizzical expression, but since that day no shoe has lost its demise due to Garrison chompings. But I digress. Back to the park and ball playing.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Last week while I was enjoying this relaxing ball-throwing and happy puppy time at the park, I noticed some "workers" watching Garrison. I'm used to him getting lots of attention and stares and I admit that it's quite impressive and an amazing sight to see this large hairy dog fly across the field, stop the ball, and run back to a shady spot to sit before bringing me the ball again and hitting his own personal "repeat" button. So I didn't think much of it last week.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Yesterday we went during our normal morning time. No children were playing on the play structures. No other people were in the park. No one was playing tennis. The park was there for the Gman (or so he likes to believe every single day). The same man who walk/jogs with weights several times a week shuffled by. A car drove by and slowed down to stare at Garrison. And then I noticed a person in a blue shirt with badges sewn on standing by the fence over my left shoulder. They were on the outer side of the fence and just stood there. Then I noticed another man walk up. I wasn't sure who they were or what they were doing at the park... especially since they were in "uniform" and just watching Garrison. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Now then... I'm used to city workers at the park regularly. There is a Water Utilities building and a port-o-potty that gets quite a lot of use from them. I'm sad to say that I am aware of these things... but I keep my eyes open and observe things even if it looks like I'm not. Awareness is our best defense in life.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And I was aware of these men at the park staring at Garrison. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I was also aware of the precise moment when one of them decided to start walking over to us. I called Garrison over and he was solidly focused on his ball which I held in my hand... with his leash in my other hand. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">"Excuse me... but I can't help but stare at your dog. I saw him last week and was so impressed. May I take his picture? My daughter loves dogs and she would not believe this."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">"Oh sure."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Garrison stood still for the picture, but wanted his ball to be thrown again.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">"Wow... he really likes having his picture taken, doesn't he?" (The man has no idea that Garrison has his picture taken on average once a day.)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And then the normal conversation took place. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">What kind of dog is he? How much does he weigh? What is the breed name again? Where are they from? What were they bred to do? Are they good with kids? Who does his grooming? Does it require a lot of grooming? Do you really do it yourself? Wow he's so fast. May I pet him? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">The man was from the Department of Water Utilities. He has a German Shepherd/Husky mix. The dog sheds. A lot. His daughter loves dogs. He was so excited to see us there today because he was intrigued with him last week. What an impressive dog.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">I agree. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Oh... and the Dept of Water Utilities is different than the Department of Water and Power. </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">And I am thankful that Garrison is a very well behaved dog used to the "pup-a-razzi". </span>Pilar Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08887886089794745239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926351553736111405.post-2678255170584020472010-03-19T08:29:00.000-07:002010-03-19T08:30:03.359-07:00Found THE dress!<span style="font-family:verdana;">Well... it was bound to happen. I was going to go dress shopping at some point sooner than later... but I never thought I'd find THE dress the first time out shopping.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I know that many people say, "Oh the first dress you try on... that's IT." </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">That was not so in my case.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I thought I would spend a week or two going to the gym religiously before heading up north to the Bay area so that my mom and I could go dress shopping after a 4</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">-day dog show cluster. Well, my parents got to finally take a vacation and went to Florida... and then my niece and nephew have their birthday on March 19th so Grandmommy wanted to fly to go see them... and then I decided to go to Tucson instead of Vallejo for a dog show... and the sale at David's Bridal was gonna end before my mom could get down here... SOOOOO....</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> My mom told me that as much as she wanted to be with me when trying on dresses and possibly finding THE dress, she wanted me to actually go shopping and possibly find THE dress... because we were in that critical "get the dress while you have time for alterations and changes" time frame. I've been told 6 months is the critical date and well... as a project manager/producer person? That's a critical date I don't want to have to get to!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">So on Tuesday, March 9th I called my friend Annika and asked if she could go with me... and since I wasn't going to have to wait for my mom's schedule to work with my schedule, I decided that going to the gym for two weeks and THEN shopping wasn't necessary because I'll be going to the gym LOTS between now and October 10th. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Annika didn't answer. I left a voicemail at home and on her cell phone. Annika has an adorable 9 month old baby so she's kinda busy most of the time. :-)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Wednesday came around. I was starting to get that "wedding dress shopping" focus and couldn't shake the obsession of going shopping and figuring out what kind of dress I might want and finally trying something on. I called Annika again. And got her voicemail. Again. *sigh* Her baby really is cute.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">But I wanted to go shopping on Thursday, March 11th. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">So I called my friend Jen and asked if she could go with me and Thursday was the day. She would take a slightly long lunch and meet me at David's Bridal in Torrance at noon. WHOO HOO!!! I was going wedding dress shopping! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And the morning of March 11th, Annika called! She would love to go - it would be an honor for her - and she'd have to bring her baby. Hooray! Annika and Evan the Baby and Jen helping me with wedding dress shopping!!! This was gonna be fun.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Annika picked me up at 11:30am and the three of us (because Evan was in the baby seat, ya know) drove down to Torrance. She knew right where it was because it's next to a Babies R Us. How convenient for our day of fun! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">David's Bridal only had one consultant that morning and she was already assisting another bride. (That sounded weird to me... bride. Hmmm... oh wait... that's me, too.) So we looked at the appointment book (how was I to know I should have made an appointment?) and 2:30 was our time slot. That would be problematic for Jen since that would be way past her lunch hour. Fortunately for her, she had been stuck in a meeting so I texted to let her know not to come. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Annika and I decided to stroll through Babies R Us so she could look at a few things and then we went to TGI Friday's for lunch. I didn't eat TOO much because I was going to be putting myself in many gowns and didn't want to look like a pooch belly, but we ate and it was yummy and we went back to David's Bridal.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">The consultants (we had more than one in the store now) were busy so I glanced through bridesmaid dresses and found a style I thought would look gorgeous on Katina my Maid of Honor and I kept going toward dresses that were a deep rich red apple color. I took a snapshot of the dress hanging up and then texted her the style so she could give her two cents and then we noticed a woman scanning our area looking like I might be her next assignment.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Oksana came over and introduced herself and asked me some questions about when I was getting married, where, what time of day, indoor/outdoor and did I have any dress preferences. I pulled out a printout of "My Favorites" and told her that these had caught my eye while I was doing some web surfing, but my mind was open and I trusted her judgement on what might look good on me. Some dresses she said might not be available because they were being discontinued, but she felt that she had a decent place to start for me so that I could start to figure out what I liked and didn't like.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">She escorted me to a dressing room, handed me a corset, a slip, and told me to go pick out a pair of shoes that would be about the height I would be wearing on my wedding day... and I did... and I went into the dressing room and started sausaging myself. GEEZ those items really suck ya in! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Oksana showed up with two dresses... one in ivory and one in white. Apparently they were both on my list. The first dress in ivory was pretty. Simple. And if I were cast in something that was set in the 1920's or '30's... I could see myself in that dress. But not in ivory. It wasn't doing much for me. NEXT!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">The next dress was white and had rouching on the side. I had NO idea what the heck ROUCHING was until I started trying on these dresses. I don't watch Project Runway (well... I did watch part of the first season because a co-worker was on the show) so this rouching term was new to me. I called it "gathered". That's the wrong term, folks. It's rouching. I got it now. ROUCHING. And the rouching looked pretty and fit my hourglass figure well. But the dress was plain and too simple. Time to try on something else... in white.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Oksana came back with another dress... one of the least favorites on my list, but it was there because it had sleeves. The dress didn't look right. There was something about it... it just didn't look right. Annika couldn't put her finger on it either. As Annika and I stood there pondering, Oksana came back with a few more dresses and looked at us and at me in the dress. She said, "This dress? No. And it's not you. It's the dress. Trust me. It doesn't look good on anybody... not even the mannequin." </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">You gotta hand it to her... she was bringing over dresses I thought I liked based on pictures but she knew that I needed to try some things on to get a better idea of what I wanted in a wedding dress. I'd never done this before and it's different for every bride - I've been shopping with a few friends in my time... and it really is a personal experience. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Up until this time I had said NO STRAPLESS DRESSES! I don't like them nor do I like the way they fit my body. I don't have a lot to hold 'em up in front and my rear does it's own job filling 'em out but I think I look imbalanced in some of those styles... so I had just said no no no to strapless dresses. Oksana then said, "You know... we can add sleeves to any strapless dress." Oh? Really? Hmmm... that just opened up the market! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">There was a pretty dress on a mannequin in the front... why don't we try that one on. And it shot to the to of the list. Yes, it was in ivory, but it was available in white so I was able to look past it. It had beading... cup sleeves... a light and soft appearing skirt. It was pretty. It wasn't THE dress... but we were getting closer. Something with more beading, please. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">She brought out two more dresses. One was NOT right. Silver beading... too vintage looking for my tastes... and it was a pretty quick "Nope" on that one. Then the 6th dress. White. Rouching. Beads. And the kind of a dress that I walked out of the dressing room and said, "Wow... this is a pretty dress."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">It felt more like what I was thinking... but it still wasn't THE dress... but it was a REALLY nice dress. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And then it was time to try on dress #7. Unfortunately for you readers, I'm not sharing as much detail on these dresses because my fiance reads these and THE dress is going to be a big surprise for him on our wedding day (205 days to go, by the way). He knows I have a dress... he knows it's white... and he knows it's not going to be strapless. So do you. Because you just read it. And you've been reading. Oh well... back to dress #7. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Dress #7 wasn't in my size... it was a size bigger... but Oksana thought I should try this one on. It was along the same lines as dress #4 and dress #6. She helped me into the gown (I always aimed for her arm and felt like I was diving every time I tried on a dress) and used hanger clips to pin the back to tighten it up. And I opened the door and walked out... and as I saw myself emerge from the dressing room... I knew this was THE dress. It looked stunning. It made me look tiny. It made me look like a princess. It made me look like a bride... and not a bride in a movie that was marrying some character... it looked like ME. But I wasn't going to make an emotional decision. Not me. Oh no. I was going to be practical! Even though Annika looked up at me and said, "Oh Pilar... I think this is the one." I said, "I do too."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">So we had narrowed down this search to Dress #6 and Dress #7. I decided it was time to complete these pictures and make the decision. I mean... what if Dress #7 looked like crap after a veil was added on? It could happen. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I put on a petticoat that filled out the dresses a touch more and Oksana did the entire veil presentation... long veil... elbow veil... blusher veil... comb... tiara... head band.... egads. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I put my hair up and when the veils were put on my head and I was in Dress #6... I just stared in the mirrors. I was getting married and this moment was not about the guests... the food... the flowers... the music.... it was about me. And I'm not comfortable with things being all about me. Just read my posts on Facebook sometime... how many of them are about me vs. my dogs? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">So now it was time to slip back into Dress #7. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And this time... with my hair up... the petticoat underneath... and the veils... I knew. Well, actually... I started to tear up and get all emotional and junk. Annika did, too, and it hit me that this was THE dress. This is THE dress I'm wearing on October 10th as I walk down the aisle on my Aunt Barb's farm to marry the most wonderful man who loves me for me and asked me to marry him and share lives and have a family and care for one another and support one another. This is THE dress that little girls dream of wearing some day and hope and pray to find a man that is worthy of her love and devotion. This is THE dress that my father will see me in as he escorts me down the aisle and kisses me and hands me over to Rod in his approval of this man taking his only daughter as his wife. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Thankfully, October 10th will not just be "all about me", but it will be all about me and Rod and our commitment to one another and the start of our lives as man and wife. And I'll be wearing THE dress that's perfect for me. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And I'll be wearing it again the next day for pictures around the farm... and on December 3rd at our Los Angeles reception... and then that might be it. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Y'all will have to wait until October 10th to see THE dress. Just like Rod. </span>Pilar Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08887886089794745239noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926351553736111405.post-49338596507748449192010-03-03T07:01:00.000-08:002010-03-03T17:06:28.444-08:00The Humane Society of the US is NOT a Pet-Shelter "Umbrella Group"<span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >Friends, one of my "causes" is to support animal welfare... NOT animal rights. Over the last several years here in California, we have had many anti-pet legislation bills introduced in our state government and it has taken quite a task force to educate our state senators and congressmen. The article below was forwarded to me this morning and if you're reading or following my blog, I appreciate you reading it.<br /><br />Also, last week as I was driving from Pueblo to Albuquerque, Patti Strand of the National Animal Interest Alliance (NAIA) called me and told me that the NAIA had a campaign and funds to put toward some videos and some billboards. Last summer I flew to Portland to meet with Patti and her husband Rod (what a great name for a husband!) in person to discuss their need for a face and voice for their organization. I told them I would put my face and voice out there for their organization and it took them some time to raise funds and solidify their plans. </span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >The desired outcome? Informing the public that we're in danger of having no more pets if the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) continues to operate as a non-profit group that has over 125 million in operating dollars TAX EXEMPT that they use for 30 staff lawyers and oodles of lobbying.</span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >In most states where mandatory spay/neuter laws are being introduced at state levels there are laws already in place at local government levels. Many state senators in California have spoken out that these bills keep showing up in their offices, but they don't belong there. They belong with the local governments.</span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >The HSUS is at the helm of supporting state senators and congressmen who author these bills. They fund their campaigns to keep them in office so the state senators and congressmen will push forward the HSUS agenda. </span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >That's not putting kibble in shelter bowls and funding veterinary care for animals that are truly in need.</span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >Educate yourself about the HSUS and PETA.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >Nationwide Poll: Seven out of Ten Americans Wrongly Believe the Humane Society of the United States is a Pet-Shelter "Umbrella Group"</span><br /></span><p><b><i>Consumer Group Reminds Americans that Less than One Percent of Donations to HSUS Benefit Local Pet Shelters</i></b></p> <p><span class="xn-location">WASHINGTON</span>, <span class="xn-chron">March 2</span> /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Seventy-one percent of Americans questioned in a new opinion poll wrongly believe the Humane Society of <span class="xn-location">the United States</span> (HSUS) is an "umbrella group" for America's local humane societies. Sixty-three percent incorrectly think their local "humane society" is affiliated with HSUS. And fifty-nine percent falsely believe HSUS "contributes most of its money" to local organizations that care for cats and dogs.</p> <p>The poll, which sampled the opinions of 1,008 Americans, was commissioned by the nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) and conducted by Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) of <span class="xn-location">Princeton, New Jersey</span>.</p> <p>"These numbers indicate that Americans don't really know what the Humane Society of <span class="xn-location">the United States</span> is all about," said CCF Director of Research <span class="xn-person">David Martosko</span>. "HSUS intentionally uses those sad dogs and cats in its TV infomercials as props in an animal rights fundraising shell game. Meanwhile, thousands of American pet shelters are underfunded and struggling." Martosko blogs about HSUS at <a target="_blank" href="http://www.humanewatch.org/">www.HumaneWatch.org</a>. </p> <p>According to the federal income tax return filed by HSUS for the tax year 2008, less than one-half of one percent (0.5%) of the organization's budget consisted of grants to hands-on pet shelters. HSUS does not run a single shelter for dogs or cats anywhere, and it is not affiliated with any local "humane society" organizations.</p> <p>Martosko continued: "This poll indicates that most Americans think HSUS is a worthy charity. But very few Americans understand what HSUS really is—a super-rich lobbying group that puts more money into its executive pensions than in the hands of local humane societies."</p> <p><b>Survey Methodology</b></p> <p>The survey of 1,008 adults nationwide was conducted by telephone <span class="xn-chron">between February 25 and February 28, 2010</span> by Opinion Research Corporation. The margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points.</p> <p>Questions: </p> <p>I'm going to read you the names of several nonprofit organizations. For each one, please tell me if you are very familiar, somewhat familiar or totally unfamiliar with the organization.</p> <p>The Humane Society of <span class="xn-location">the United States</span>: 79% familiar ("very"/"somewhat" net)</p> <p>I'm going to read you several statements. For each one, please tell me if you think the statement is true or false.</p> <p>71% "TRUE": The Humane Society of <span class="xn-location">the United States</span> is an umbrella group that represents thousands of local humane societies all across America.</p> <p>63% "TRUE": My local humane society or pet shelter is AFFILIATED with the Humane Society of <span class="xn-location">the United States</span>.</p> <p>59% "TRUE": The Humane Society of <span class="xn-location">the United States</span> contributes most of its money to local organizations that care for dogs and cats.</p> <p>48% "TRUE": My local humane society or pet shelter receives financial support from the Humane Society of <span class="xn-location">the United States</span>.</p> <p>(Tax records filed by HSUS show that all four statements are false.)</p> <p><b>To learn more about the Humane Society of <span class="xn-location">the United States</span>, visit </b><a target="_blank" href="http://www.humanewatch.org/"><b>www.HumaneWatch.org</b></a><b>. To arrange an interview, call <span class="xn-person">Allison Miller</span> at 202-463-7112.</b></p> <p><i>The Center for Consumer Freedom is a nonprofit watchdog organization that informs the public about the activities of tax-exempt activist groups. It is supported by American consumers, business organizations, and foundations.</i></p> <p>SOURCE Center for Consumer Freedom</p>RELATED LINKS<br /><a title="Link to http://www.consumerfreedom.com" target="_blank" href="http://www.consumerfreedom.com/">http://www.consumerfreedom.com</a><br /><a title="Link to http://humanewatch.org/" target="_blank" href="http://humanewatch.org/">http://humanewatch.org/</a>Pilar Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08887886089794745239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926351553736111405.post-57972397618877008682010-02-25T21:39:00.000-08:002010-02-25T21:45:59.972-08:00Home, Sweet Home<span style="font-family:verdana;">Garrison and I departed Stephen and Nicole Smith's house in Albuquerque this morning at 7:45am. We drove all the way back to Casa Fairview... and it took us 820 miles and 13 hours.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I decided to head south and drive near Phoenix rather than stay on I-40 and I'm really glad we did. The drive was beautiful. We drove down the 17 and saw Sedona off in yonder distance. Then Garmina took us over on the 74 ... the Carefree Highway and we drove parallel to the 10 for quite a ways, but it was gorgeous, historic and GREEN. All of the rain the southwest has received in the first few months of the year had brought a beautiful green hue to the land. Add into that visual mix the iron rich red soil and the sights were stunning.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">However, I'm a tired woman. Garrison is a zonked pup. We're glad to be home for less than 24 hours since we take off to San Diego tomorrow in order to compete in the Silver Bay Kennel Club dog show and decorate/man the Meet the Breed booth with volunteers.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Oh.... and Go USA - what a great showing in the Vancouver Winter Olympics so far!</span>Pilar Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08887886089794745239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926351553736111405.post-32106836913522676632010-02-22T17:08:00.000-08:002010-02-22T23:04:33.285-08:00Mini-ponies or sheep? Gman doesn't care.<span style="font-family:verdana;">Katina, her dog Macy, the Gman and I traipsed across the road this morning to go and visit "Pony" (aka Shadow). Shadow will be 29 years old in April and Katina has had him 26 years and the Pony and I also go way back to when Katina and I first became friends. I used to come up and visit for weeks on end and Katina and I would show horses together.<br /><br />Katina's always had dogs and she encouraged me to get a Bouvier 12 years ago knowing so many different breeds and knowing my personality. I am forever grateful for her insight into pups and Pilar.<br /><br />Because of the various dogs Katina's had in her life, Shadow is VERY used to having dogs around. And generally in life, Shadow isn't phased by much. He's an amazing equine and I was so excited for Garrison to meet him today. Garrison had never met a horse or pony before, only sheep. Because of his instinct, I chose to keep Gman on his leash for this introduction.... just in case. Just in case.<br /><br />Katina and Pony have had a very successful and long relationship and when she yells out his name Pony comes a-trotting. Gman was intrigued by Shadow and knew it was a smell he hadn't smelled up close before... and was slightly intimidated by the size of this new beast. After it was all said and done, the Gman loved meeting Shadow. Gman loved tasting Shadow's grain. Gman kissed him and sniffed him but stayed wary of Shadow. He was a new beast and opinionated when Garrison got too close to his grain bucket. Garrison backed off much like a pup backs off from an older dog keeping pack order. Garrison IS the size of a mini-pony, after all.<br /><br />Now then... every once in a while, Garrison would pull me away from Shadow to inspect the other horses in the pasture eating hay. Garrison saw them from afar and the horses would notice him, but were more intrigued by the new bales of hay Tom the pasture owner provides.<br /><br />"Hmmm... those beasts look much bigger than me. I think I'll keep my distance. For now. Maybe."<br /><br />Garrison kept walking around Shadow and was happy to be out in a field. Macy knows these pastures like the back of her paws and does not have a strong herding instinct. She would rather run and chase and sniff out holes that might have rodents than chase horses. But girls can be rather vixen-ish and girls know that they can often get boys into trouble.<br /><br />Katina had planned on treating me to a massage (aka "a little slice of heaven") so we couldn't stay at the pasture nor take a long pasture walk. I also wasn't too keen on having Mr. Show Pony The Gman get all muddy and junk while sploshing through melting snow and ice from the system that blew through this past weekend. But we had a nice open area and we were walking back toward the pasture gate. I let Garrison off of his leash for a quick romp in the open space.<br /><br />Macy wasn't ready to leave. Not just yet. She wanted to show Garrison the mini-ponies in a smaller pasture and enticed him into a high-speed game of chase.<br /><br />At first Garrison didn't see the mini-ponies around the smaller barn. He was having a blast chasing Macy and running at full speed stretching his legs after days and days of road tripping and dog showing and keeping calm and composed. His Happy Puppy grin was blazing across his face as Macy ran around and around and headed back down the small hill toward the mini-pony barn.<br /><br />And then... Gman caught a whiff and a sight of the mini-ponies. I saw that look in his eyes and the curiosity and excitement whaft over his body in a flash and my heart jumped into my throat. Katina said, "Ummm... I don't think there's a hole in the gate in that lane that he can crawl under....."<br /><br />And Garrison proved her wrong.<br /><br />Then Katina said, "Ummm... I don't think there's a hole in the fence into that pasture..."<br /><br />And, again, Garrison proved her wrong.<br /><br />I knew in that moment that all hell was going to break loose and I was very uncertain of the outcome. <br /><br />The ponies had seen Garrison, but they were used to having some dogs around. This, however, was not just a dog. This was a Southern California Grey Bear Dog beast-like wolf looking thing and they were intrigued, too.<br /><br />We couldn't see Garrison as he sploshed through the muddy creek. (So much for keeping Mr. Show Pony The Gman clean. UGH.) And then... I heard it. The high pitched bark of all Happy Puppy-ness that I've heard many, many times when working sheep.<br /><br />The one bark. The one high pitched bark made me cuss out loud and cued in my head the music from <em>The Man From Snowy River -</em> the exciting wild horse chase music. That... and the screeching violins from <em>Psycho</em>.<br /><br />All of this was happening in a matter of seconds. Macy thought it was hysterical and wondered if she could go off and chase Garrison. She decided against it.<br /><br />Katina was up and over the first gate and I was in hot pursuit as I watched from afar as Garrison went on a HUGE "go by" as the 4 mini-ponies were running full speed ahead... and Garrison was right on their hooves.<br /><br />Would the horses run into the wire fencing?<br /><br />Would the horses kick Garrison and hurt him?<br /><br />How big was the pasture and would Garrison ever calm down and bring the herd back to me?<br /><br />Would this herding dog of mine in a huge pasture with only 4 animals to round up EVER listen to me?<br /><br />Grrr... I know I don't have a herding title on this dog yet because he gets too excited with small-sized flocks (or herds, as today proved). There weren't 40-100 horses to round up. Oh no. The 30 or so regular sized horses were in the OTHER pasture. There were only 4 mini-ponies and they were close to the size of sheep and Garrison wasn't intimidated by them.<br /><br />I watched the ponies turn back down the fence line and he got in between them and the wire fence. He was turning them back to the paddock as I called his name. Something happened. Garrison rolled over twice in the field and never missed a step in staying on the ponies. The ponies jumped the muddy creek. Garrison sailed over the muddy creek and corraled the ponies back into their paddock. He was right in the midst of them pushing them through the gate. No ponies were kicking... just shoving. Garrison was no longer barking or yipping or moving swiftly. No. He was channeling his up-close-and-personal experience with 30 sheep at Judy Vanderford's Sylmar ranch and keeping the ponies off of the fence and was about to run and block the gate when I yelled, "LIE DOWN!" Miraculously, Garrison HEARD me and dropped to the ground. Katina was able to put her hands on his neck and get ahold of his collar.<br /><br />Legs and undercarriage caked with muddy snow and more than likely manure. However, no signs of blood, rips, tears, scratches, kicks or trauma to dog or ponies. Our hearts started to settle back down to a normal rate.<br /><br />Gman was panting hard and heavy and had that look on his face like, "Did you see me show off my herding skills? Did you see that I brought them back? Did you see how fast I was going?"<br /><br />"Garrison... that is NOT showing off your herding skills. That was being stupid and immature."<br /><br />"Mom... I didn't do anything wrong. I was doing my job! I did a great job! I brought them back to you! They weren't in their paddock and they took off in the pasture and I brought them back. Did you see? Huh? Did you?!?!"<br /><br />Auntie Katina said, "Boy I hope Tom didn't see that one. Here ponies... have a carrot. Thanks for playing 'sheep' with the Gman today."<br /><br />And the ponies, wondering why they had to settle for mere carrots when they clearly deserved grain or fritos or something, were breathing slightly heavier than normal. They seemed to look at Garrison as if to say, "Dude... next time don't scare us like that and we can all get along. We're not sheep."<br /><br />And Pony? Well, Shadow watched the entire incident and simply snorted at Garrison as he went back into his pasture with the big horses. He didn't have time for Garrison's little herding dog games.<br /><br />So... Garrison had to spend the rest of the afternoon inside his crate while the muddy snow melted. I figured I would assess the grooming situation once I got home from my massage. Thankfully it wasn't nearly as horrific as it first appeared. The boy doesn't even smell and four human noses confirmed that this evening.<br /><br />Katina had planned in advance to treat me to a 2 hour massage with Tim Duffy at The Knead Place in Olathe and after our cardiac stress test at the pasture, it was much needed and by far the best massage I've ever had.<br /><br />Thanks, Garrison, for making it that much more worth while!<br /><br />P.S. There were no videos of this incident since the entire thing happened in a matter of minutes and dog/pony management required all hands on deck and we weren't angling for the 5 o'clock news Top Story.<br /><br />P. P. S. Pictures of the "crime scene" will come later once I've had a chance to download the pictures and insert them.</span>Pilar Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08887886089794745239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926351553736111405.post-12106562324286222092010-02-21T08:46:00.000-08:002010-02-21T09:16:30.375-08:00Iowa - the hot spot of American TourismWhen Garrison and I have a little bit more time on our hands at one of our friends' houses OR we get to our own home with time OR we're in a hotel with available WiFi, I'll post all of Gman's Tweets. He's had a great time and I'm amazed at his Tweeting capabilities from the road. What a dog.<br /><br />In the meantime, we left our lovely Rod (my fiance! Holy Crap-a-doodle... I'm engaged!!!) in Ohio and drove over to Iowa. It wasn't a bad drive... just a tad long. It wasn't the distance, really... it was the reality that I was driving in the WRONG DIRECTION. Rod was in Ohio. We were driving west. All the way out I was driving east and the anticipation of seeing Rod and the Scotties made every mile pass faster. Now that we've started the drive back west without Rod and no Scotties... it makes the drives loooong. <br /><br />Our Motel 6 North was not a bad stay, but it was a boring and bland stay. Parking was a pain because so many people were there for the dog show and snow tends to take up parking spaces and obscure parking space lines, so parking spaces were limited. And this particular Motel 6 didn't have any available wi-fi. It made for a boring time and difficulties in updating wedding websites and blogging. Oh the digital age. I do think I'm a tad addicted. <br /><br />Due to weather and snow and such hitting Iowa when we were approximately 40 miles from Des Moines, our trip took about half an hour longer than anticipated. And due to my lack of desire to drive away and leave Rod in Ohio while I was schlepping back to California, I forgot Garrison's food bin at Rod's house. SO the beloved ball, lost in a snow drift somewhere in Rod's front yard (or the neighbor's depending on where Gman lost it) and his dry kibble was still in Ohio. We had to get food for the boy dog.<br /><br />Rod took to the internet and found that Natural Balance is only sold at PetCo in Des Moines... and there were only two stores in the entire town. Egads! We had to get to one of them no matter where it was in relation to our Motel 6! I was watching the miles and the time on Garmina and it was going to be really close to closing time. I decided to call PetCo (where the pets go) and ask what time they closed. <br /><br />Sure enough... 9pm. It was 8:45. I asked the manager if she could stay a few minutes so that I could buy food for Garrison OR if she could run my card for my purchase and leave the food outside the door since I would be there in approximately 20-25 minutes due to weather.<br /><br />We made it there at 9:03 and they were waiting outside for us. Cash register still open... our food on the counter... wrong food roll, so the clerk went and got the correct size and WHEW. Garrison had food. He would live. I wouldn't be in his dog house.<br /><br />Then we schlepped to Motel 6. <br /><br />Somehow the request for a ground floor room didn't register from the "central reservation center" to the actual motel. We had an upper floor. No parking. It was pretty crummy. Then we found out that there was no wifi at this Motel 6. HARUMPH. <br /><br />The next morning I decided we should get to the show grounds fairly early in order to find a grooming space. OH geez. There was a cattle show going on at the same time. I loved it. Gman loved it and would have rather gone off to herd cattle than play show dog... but he had to stay clean. Herding had to be for another day. <br /><br />Inside the 4H Building at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, there was no grooming space. We befriended a gentleman who had a Bernese Mountain Dog and sidled up next to his set up... outside the lines...along a wall... and close to an electrical outlet. WHEW.<br /><br />It's a small show, but some nice dogs were there. Garrison and I went into our ring to show to a judge we'd never shown to before - Paul Willhauk from Massachusetts. I was thankful when he pointed to me and said, "You're my best of breed!" Yippee!!! Garrison and I had to stay for the groups (darn), but we didn't make the cut, so no extra ribbons for us. We found out that the woman who won the group with her OES (Old English Sheepdog) is REALLY well known around these parts and is VERY hard to beat. That's life when out of your own back yard... which is a highly competitive back yard... with people like Larry Fenner, Susie and Jorge Olivera, J.R. Alcantar, Valeri Nunes-Atkinson and Gabriel Rangal (he just won Westminster with his Scottie bitch Sadie). Those are the regular players I compete against all the time in SoCal. <br /><br />So I'm sitting in Panera Bread because they have free wifi... and good food... and yummy coffee... and The Gman and I don't show until 1:55pm today. Hopefully we'll win the breed again today and have a shot in the group... but today is another day... another dog show...<br /><br />And we drive to Kansas City tonight after we're done to spend 2 nights with my best friend Katina! Yippee!!!! Before we set out on our Road Trip, it was going to be a chance to see Katina my best friend... but it has turned into a chance to see Katina my best friend AND my Maid of Honor! <br /><br />Holy Crap-a-doodle... I'm engaged! <br /><br />Time to go show my dog... and celebrate a sport that introduced me to the love of my life - Rod.<br /><br />I'm done being sappy and sentimental. <br /><br />Happy Puppy - Check.<br /><br />Game Face - Check.<br /><br />Best of Breed? Still open.Pilar Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08887886089794745239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926351553736111405.post-26414734282468982202010-02-16T05:53:00.000-08:002010-02-16T08:02:14.169-08:00Scouviers Forever!<span style="font-family:verdana;">When I met Rod, my brother started teasing me about what would happen if things were to get serious and Rod and I were to get married and have Scotties and Bouviers in the same household... would we wend up with Scouviers? The answer was and always will be a resoundin</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">g NO, but this is my brother you're talking about... and once he latches on to something that has endless teasing potential, he makes the most of it. So for the past year, I've had pictures, movi</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">es, Bollywood subtitles, pow</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">erpoint animations, Star Trek Yourself videos all about Garrison and future breedings... and all of Matt's antics end with "Scouviers Forever." </span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />We</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">dnesday, February 10th the Gman and I drove from Tulsa, OK to Indi</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">anapolis, IN. We arrived at our hotel about 30 minutes before Rod arrived, so I had time to get my car unloaded, wash off a day of driving 650 miles, and reorganize my car for going to the show grounds to unload and be ready for 4 days of dog showing.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">I knew when Rod arrived because Garrison barked at the tap-tap at the door, but I wondered why Rod didn't open up the door with his own key. I saw as soon as I opened the door it was because he didn't have any available hands - he had a dozen red roses in his hands (well, one was in his mouth). That is what kicked off our weekend in Indianapolis together and what a treat to have such beautiful red roses to look at all weekend long! Rod had said when we were making plans for Indy that it </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">would be really hard to have flowers delivered to a dog show. I figured if pizzas can get delivered to obscure places successfully... so can flowers... but leave it to my ro</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">mantic man to have flowers at the onset so I could enjoy them all weekend long! </span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />Garrison met the two Scotties L</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">ara and Grizzle and they were BFFs right off the bat. Garrison was having a blast herding them around the hotel room and they weren't quite sure about him at first, but realized that he's a lot of fun to play with... so all was well in the doggy world. </span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">Rod an</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">d I loaded up the cars with our dog showing junk and took off t</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">o the Indianapolis Fair Grounds. Thankfully Rod's friend Marcia Dawson who lives in Indy had set aside space for a bunch of us so we were able to unload and get things settled inside the grooming and showing building. Garrison had to potty, however, and this snow thing was still all too new to him. We are forever grateful to a handler who had s</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">et up an ex-pen (short for exercise pen to you non-dog show people) and her dogs had worn the snow down to where there was a small tuft of grass sticking up. That's all the Gman needed...</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> and he lightened his load. WHEW. What a relief! And then? It dawned on him that this snow stuff might be FUN! He started romping and frolicking in the snow an</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">d burrowed his head in the snow making himself look a lot like the pirate Davey Jones in </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >Pirates of the Carribean</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> - oh boy. Now if he'll just be OK pottying on the snow every time because I didn't think there would be much available grass tufts at our hotel. Just a lot of yellow snow.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />And remember folks, DON'T EAT YELLOW SNOW!!! (My public service announcement for this blog.)</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />Driving across states and time zones threw me off and I kept thinking we were finishing up around 9pm, but it was really 10pm. We pulled into the Texas </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Roadhouse for a steak dinne</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">r and thankfully they were open until 10:30pm... because it was 10:21pm! For those of you who didn't know this... Indiana is in the eastern time zone, not the central. The steak was good, the honey butter o</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">n the rolls was good, the wine we were drinking was yummy and the company was awesome. Rod and I were both so happy with huge smiles on our faces enjoying the company and I was doing little mini-b</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">ooth dances because I was so happy. I also think I was having a slight sugar rush from the honey butter. And I was excited to be dog showing with Rod - we met at the Eukanuba Dog Show in Long Beach, CA in December 2008... it's a hobby and sport we enjoy... and we have a lot of fun. </span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />So Thursday morning, February 11th we are up and at</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> 'em walking dogs and hoping they potty. Garrison was WAY too enthralled with the Scotties to do anything other than make more yellow snow (Don't eat yellow snow!!) and he also hadn't eaten a regular meal in a few me</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">als. I was going to have to bathe and dry the Gman once we got to the show grounds and do a little extra grooming since we'd been on the road for 6 days since our last bath and gr</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">oom job at Casa Fairview and... we were only taking one car, so we had to load up all the pups and dog show junk we were schlepping back and forth with enough time to get everything done before ou</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">r late ring times. Thankfully, Bouviers and Scotties weren't showing until around 11am - 12:45pm all 4 days so we had time to get up, take care of dogs, get coffee, figure out what we're doing, watch judges, etc. </span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />In addition to the roses, Rod had arrived with a very cute gi</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">ft bag with Scotties on it (no surprise there!) so he decided to bring the bag ove</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">r and told me there were a couple gifts in there for me... and a couple cards. Rod has a wonderful ability to find funny and rom</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">antic (but not cheesy) cards and has always given me more than one card for holidays or my birthday... and sometimes for no re</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">ason at all. I found this out about him last year at Valentine's when he sent a box to my house in Long Beach and there were three different cards and three different wrapped presents. </span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">The first present was a glass heart box - appropriate for Valentine's and not over the top romantic so I wasn't gonna freak out about this new guy friend of mine sending me stuff for a "lover's holiday according to Hallmark". The next package was a pumice stone that Rod uses when he strips Scottie coats and said that I could try it out on Garrison's coat or just use it on my feet - practical, utilitarian, and appropriate since we were swapping grooming stories and techniques... and funny that it was also something I could use for my own feet if so desired. And the third box... well, when I shook it I thought, "Oh no. He sent me red hots or heart candies with those sayings on them... and I don't eat stuff like that. Oh well....." and then I opened it. It was</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> a lovely bottle of Advil! He had heard me talk about frustrations at work and headaches and such and I had said at </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">one point that I loved Advil/Ibuprofren more than Tylenol... so that's what he gave me that first V</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">alentine's in 2009. </span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />So this Thursday morning, he had two wrapped boxes and two cards in the cute Scottie gift bag. He handed me one of the boxes and one of the cards. I laughed when I read the card... and I laughed when I opened the box. It was a glass </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S3q3PNqXhXI/AAAAAAAAAA4/IfPF7p7J9zM/s1600-h/P2150002.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 246px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S3q3PNqXhXI/AAAAAAAAAA4/IfPF7p7J9zM/s320/P2150002.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438860971996579186" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">heart box, but this y</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">ear it was filled with Ad</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">vil! </span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">And then there was the other c</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">ard and the other box. I asked if he wanted me to open the other box now or wait... since </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">we did have 4 days of the Valentine weekend to be with each other... and I also happened to have some gifts to give him over the 4 days. He said, "Well, why don't you wait on that one then." So I did and continued getting ready for Dog Show Day #1.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />I had decided to wear one of my new suits my mom bought me last month - a goldish jacket and black skirt - and I set it on top of the garment bag. I was making </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">sure I had all the other things I needed - hose, shoes, etc. But I wasn't sure what jewelry to wear with this new suit of mine. As I stared at the suit and had that ponderous look on my face, Rod asked, "What's the matter, hon?" I said, "</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Oh... nothing. I just don't know what jewelry I have to wear with this suit." </span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">Rod's eyes lit up and he said, "I</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> have the perfect thing to go with that suit. Hang on."</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">He reached into the very cute Scottie gift bag and pulled out the other wrapped box that I had decided to wait to open and walked over to me.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">He said, "Here... I think you should open this now."</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">So here I was holding this wrapped box... thinking about what jewelry to wear with my suit... and I thought, "Aww... he's so sweet to have earrings or something for me to wear." </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">So I removed the red wrapping paper and exposed the small white box. I removed the lid and inside was a velvet jewelry box. I took out the box and when I was expecting earrings of some sort, I opened the box and it was NOT a pair of earrings. </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S3q4nZANkDI/AAAAAAAAABA/muTqbJhCBvY/s1600-h/P2150013.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S3q4nZANkDI/AAAAAAAAABA/muTqbJhCBvY/s320/P2150013.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438862486869479474" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">Oh no. It was a gorgeous white gold ring with a 1 carat round solitaire paired with a simple, but</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> exquisite diamond encrusted band. I said, "Oh my. Oh goodness!" </span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Rod took the solitaire out of the box, got down on o</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">ne knee, loo</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">ked up at me with his</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> twinkling blue eyes an</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">d said, "Pilar, wil</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">l you marry me?" </span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">I bent down, cupped his face in my hands and said, "Yes... yes, I'll marry you." And we kissed as he stood up. He then put the ring on my finger - a perfect fit - 5 3/4. And we kissed again. </span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />And... the story of our lives to be... Garrison jumped up on both of us and gave us a huge bear hug and the Scotties squeaked from their crates. The pups wer</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">e celebrating our new engagement! </span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />I did make my status on Facebook say "I'M ENGAGED!" before we left the room to get to the show... and I started texting friends left and right... and on our way to the show we called my parents. Now mind you, it's 9am in Indianapolis... it's 6am in San Ramon. My mom answered the phone.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">"Hello?"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">"Good morning, Mom!"</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />"Yes... it most certainly is morning... it's like 6am."</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />"I know... but I didn't think you'd mind me calling this early to let you know that I'm engaged. Rod asked me to marry him this morning and I said, 'yes'!"</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />You could hear the shutters on my mom's eyelids fly op</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">en!</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S3q5h0zR7SI/AAAAAAAAABI/htqu4z0wDq0/s1600-h/P2150016.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 206px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S3q5h0zR7SI/AAAAAAAAABI/htqu4z0wDq0/s320/P2150016.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438863490763844898" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">"Oh that is just so wonderful! We love him so much! How exciting!!"</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">My father ha</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">d also picked up the phone to hear the news. Their phones announce who's calling, so he knew it was me calling... and I gu</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">ess he figured if I was calling that ea</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">rly in the morn</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">ing that something good must have happened. Come to fin</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">d out... Rod had called my father the night before while driving over from Ohio to ask him for my hand in marriage. My father gave us his blessings. </span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />So we spent all day Thursday fielding texts, phone calls, Facebook posts and getting congratulations from all of our friends and family. </span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">We celebrated our engagement by having a late lunch at Red Robin and then going to see a later showing of Avatar in 3D. I couldn't stop looking down at my hand and seeing that beautiful ring that my fiance chose to display our love and commitment to one another.<br /><br />When we woke up the next morning, Rod looked at me and </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">said,</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> "I asked you to marry me yesterday and you said, 'Yes!'" Indeed I did.<br /><br />And then we got to spend the rest of the weekend enjoying our engagement... talking about plans a little bit... getting our heads wrapped around all of the changes that are going to take place this year... </span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And for those of you who are wondering... we're getting married on Sunday, October 10th, 2010. There are may reasons behind that date.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />1) I've always wanted to get married in early October. I love that time of year.<br />2) October 10th is my father's birthday.<br />3) Our anniversary will be 10.10.10<br />4) Last year on October 10, 2009 both Nickel and Garrison won the breed for the first time. Garrison also won his first Group - a very special day indeed!</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />We're getting married in southern Illinois at the Walton Farm.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S3q_zigMvkI/AAAAAAAAABQ/vZtdpSc3tOo/s1600-h/downthelane0008.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S3q_zigMvkI/AAAAAAAAABQ/vZtdpSc3tOo/s320/downthelane0008.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438870392159387202" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">This farm means so much to me, my family and our extended family. Steeped in his</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">tory and functioning since 1864, the farm has been a dairy farm, fruit farm and most recently a sheep farm. There aren't many sheep left due to my Aunt Barb and Paw getting older, but there are still a few sheep in the barn. We might bring some of the old flock back to have in the pastures during our wedding.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S3rAz4GNEsI/AAAAAAAAABY/Nu0J1SAWIxE/s1600-h/sheep0002.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S3rAz4GNEsI/AAAAAAAAABY/Nu0J1SAWIxE/s320/sheep0002.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438871497467564738" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">My "Aunt Barb" is more like my blood aunt than my two r</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">eal life blood aunts and she's family because of the United States Air Force Academy. Her first husband graduated from the United States Air Force Academy - class of 1964 - and was best friend's with Kris Mineau (also USAFA '64) and Kris Mineau was my father's first student as a T-38 pilot instructor. My father Jim Kuhn graduated from the USAFA in 1963.<br /><br />Unfortunately, her first husband David Dieffenbach died in a plane crash during a normal flying mission while stationed at Edwards Air Force Base in the early 70's. She moved back to the farm shortly thereafter. And then she married Marland Throgmorton in the fall of 1989 and they celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary last year! Her full life's story is amazing and she has endured many trials and tribulations, but that is part of what makes her so strong and faithful to God and I could go on and on about her!<br /><br />Once Colonel Kris Mineau retired from the Air Force, he went to seminary school in Massacusetts and he will be officiating our wedding!<br /><br />It's truly going to be a family affair and we're so excited about spending a wonderful time with friends and family in one of the most special places I've ever been and love as if it were my own. We lovingly call it "The Farm".<br /><br />And my brother's campaign of "Scouviers Forever" has had a good run. </span>Pilar Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08887886089794745239noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926351553736111405.post-72746895071359086882010-02-14T04:48:00.000-08:002010-02-14T05:14:08.839-08:00So much has happened. And I've been busy!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S3f3EFmYQ_I/AAAAAAAAAAw/0teUoes4LqA/s1600-h/P2130076.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SRVeZbcWXHc/S3f3EFmYQ_I/AAAAAAAAAAw/0teUoes4LqA/s320/P2130076.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438086724667851762" border="0" /></a><br />Well, I don't have much time to type much because we're still in Indianapolis and dog showing. I'm sure many of you want more details about this thing called "my engagement". It's still rather surreal, but very exciting!<br /><br />I will post a longer blog either later tonight once we get to Ohio or tomorrow morning once I'm at home with 5 Scotties and the Gman while Rod is off at work.<br /><br />Short story is... I'm engaged!<br /><br /><br /><br />The Scotties and the Bouvier are having a blast playing non-stop in the hotel room.<br /><br />We had judge changes Thursday and Friday which wasn't what we wanted, but the massive east coast blizzard kept some judges away. Garrison's shown well the last 2 days but was VERY squirrely the first day. We were empty handed the first two days and were "Best Opposite Sex" yesterday. Today is another day. A different dog show. We'll see how things go today.<br /><br />We have to load up and get out of our hotel this morning before going to the show grounds, so I promise to share a lot more later!Pilar Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08887886089794745239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926351553736111405.post-81412919280233799172010-02-09T13:17:00.000-08:002010-02-09T14:32:51.249-08:00Super Bowl Sunday in ABQ<span style="font-family:verdana;">We took a couple of lefts while in Albuquerque and ended up at Steve Smith's house. Steve and I have known each other for 32 years. We met because our families attended First United Methodist Church in Carrollton, Texas and to this day, I wear a necklace his mother gave me when I made the American Choral Director's National Jr. High Honor Choir. It's a James Avery silver cross with a music note in the middle. Not EVERY day, but it is in my jewelry box and I still wear it 22 years later.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Steve and his wife Nicole, their daughters Izzy and Shyla Kay and their dogs Baxter and Schatzie were amazing hosts. The Gman was THRILLED to have another dog close to his size to wrestle with. Both boys wore smiles on their faces all day long! Schatzie hid. She was intimidated until the next morning when I had Schatzie curled up in my legs under the covers, Garrison on top and Baxter on the floor in the doorway of the guest room.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Steve and Nicole are total foodies... and the menu was AMAZING! Steve bought several cheeses from Whole Foods and sliced them into small pieces so that they could be eaten alone OR paired with a grape on top of fig spread and different types of crackers or wafers. Home made guacamole - DELISH! Queso - YUM! And the main course? Sliders with green chili and cheese on Hawaiian bread and home made potato salad. Oh.... and wine. Of course. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">While we watched an excellent game between the Colts and the Saints, the girls were playing with princess stickers and reading princess books. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">It was awesome catching up with Steve and Nicole and we're looking forward to spending another night with them on our way home from our Road Trip. Steve texted the next day and told me that Baxter was sulking all day and night on Monday because his buddy the Gman wasn't there to play with. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">We left Albuquerque around 9am and I could tell that the storm that started in CA over the weekend was still moving across the country. Yes... this storm has continued to escort us across the country. But I-40 was easy and clear. Only a few snow flurries. And hardly any traffic.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">We saw lots of fun things along the way, though. Garrison tweeted about most of them while we were driving. One of the funniest things we saw was a huge billboard that said, "Top of Texas Catholic Superstore". WHAT?!? I guess if you're looking for bulk rosaries or priestware or plastic bobble head Marys or Jesuses... or maybe even Jesus action figures... that's the place. Who the heck knows, but if any of you Catholic readers out there are interested, there is a Top Of Texas Catholic Superstore near Amarillo, Texas.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">It was an uneventful day of driving... just long. And we made it to Tulsa.</span>Pilar Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08887886089794745239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926351553736111405.post-41860323348541883692010-02-08T20:38:00.000-08:002010-02-08T21:46:21.206-08:005 States down...<span style="font-family: verdana;">Garrison and I are safely in Tulsa, OK. I didn't get a chance to blog the last few days because once we left our house, we've been busy! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Saturday morning we were up very early with rain STILL falling, but we had to load up the car and this was departure day! All of the last minute to-dos drive me crazy. Put out any remaining trash. Wash dishes. Wipe down counters. Clear off kitchen table. Write up Casa Fairview care-taking directions. Make sure EVERYTHING is loaded in the car. Ugh.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Garrison knows when we're heading out somewhere... and not just for coffee and potential park time. And that throws him all off. So he didn't eat breakfast and hopped up in the car during one of my loading moments and stayed there. He refuses to be left behind. Ever since he was 4 months old, he would happily sit in the front of the car... doors wide open for up to an hour... just so that he wouldn't be left behind. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">I had everything loaded and took off. Said goodbye to my AM/PM coffee friends while getting my cheap coffee, drove through Del Taco for the egg and cheese breakfast burrito and got on the highway, all the while my brain flitting through the packing and planning ahead for the duration of our trip. OH CRAP-A-DOODLE!!! I forgot the kibble bin. No kibble for the Gman. Not acceptable. I got off the freeway and had to return to Casa Fairview. Ugh.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">I knew I'd feel better knowing the boy had his regular kibble. But I also knew this would make us late to our Valentine Fun Match. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Rain + Los Angeles drivers = lots of traffic early on Saturday morning. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Our Fun Match was out in Menifee and it took me almost 3 hours to get there. 90 miles. 3 hours. UGH. But it was a great event because of the indoor location at the Briarcliff Pet Resort. We had a nice turnout and it's always fun to see so many Bouviers around each other. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Our match ended, we had our board meeting, and the Gman and I set out for our big ole massive road trip-o-rama. Garmina wanted us to take the 10 through Phoenix on our way to Flagstaff and I told her she was crazy. She didn't say anything other than, "Recalculating." I called my father (aka The Navigator). </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The question: "Why would Garmina want to send me through Phoenix to get to Flagstaff?" </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The answer: "It's only about 15 miles further going through Phoenix."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The next question: "Why do I not want to give up my original plan of going through Barstow and I-40?"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The answer: "I don't know. But I do know that via Phoenix you'll have about 10 miles of potential winter weather driving. Via Barstow you'll have about 30 miles of potential winter weather driving."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">I decided to drive to Flagstaff via Barstow. The drive was easy going. Of course there was some rain along the way - it had lingered over my house for a day and a half and was finally moving on.... to Flagstaff and beyond. And as elevations get higher rain turns to..... snow. But I hadn't seen any snow. When Garmina was telling me I had 35 miles to go before my exit in Flagstaff, I hit a patch of fog. My mom called to see how the drive was going. I told her I had fog... and things were fine. We hung up quickly because I wanted to keep 2 hands on the wheel. 5 miles had passed by. And I noticed snow on the side of the road. Then there was snow ON the road. LOTS of snow. The remaining 30 miles had me thankful that I lived in Chicago for 4 years. Driving in snow and inclement winter weather is much like riding a bike. You don't forget.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">And when I finally arrived in Flagstaff, I called my father to let him know I arrived safely... and he was right. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Garrison wasn't sure about the whole "snow" thing when he jumped out of the car. He had such a confused look on his face! He wanted to check it out some more... kinda. He also wanted to pounce and play in our hotel room. After a little romping, tuggling, and then cuddling on the bed with all 4 paws in the air, the Gman settled in front of the door for the night. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The next morning, I awoke to people talking about how they didn't know how to drive in snow and they should have ordered pizza the night before in order to have a box to scrape snow off of their cars. Our Honda Element had about 6 inches of snow on top! It blew off as we set out on our next segment to Albuquerque.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The drive to Albuquerque was pretty painless. As I started to approach my exit, the storm that had escorted me since California was greeting me in New Mexico as well. Snow, sleet and rain pelted us for the last 15 miles to our exit. It wasn't nearly as intense as Flagstaff, though.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">And voila... we were in Albuquerque to watch the Super Bowl with Steve Smith and his family! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(to be continued...)</span>Pilar Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08887886089794745239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926351553736111405.post-4262704429355030632010-02-05T08:42:00.000-08:002010-02-05T16:27:00.989-08:00It's raining. Ugh.<span style="font-family:verdana;">Well, it's Friday morning, the day before we leave on our February Road Trip (Road Trippin' across the USA... in my Honda Element with my Bouvier!) and it's raining in L.A. WHAT? AGAIN?? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">That means no park time for The Gman and a delay in his bathing, drying and grooming in preparation for being a clean and welcome house guest and a show pony in Indianapolis. Rain delays. They aren't just for baseball games anymore.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">We do have new tires on the Element thanks to a generous gift from my parents. That took 3 hours yesterday which I wasn't anticipating, but it did hold me captive at Coco's for 3 hours so I have half of my tax prep completed. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And then I got a surprise text from one of Rod's sisters-in-law Sara. She is married to Rod's youngest brother Doug. Sara and Doug and their two small children Cort and Lyla are all out here in LA LA Land because Sara is at a conference/workshop for furthering education or something that has a really nice official title. Hopefully she'll read this blog and post a comment to share what the official title/purpose of her trip is. Heh heh. Interactive blogging to keep Pilar's facts straight. LOVE it. Sara is currently teaching 7th grade in Wichita, Kansas and is one of 7 teachers from her district that have flown to Los Angeles to present what they are doing in their district. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">We met up at the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel and then walked over to the California Pizza Kitchen. Great place for kids to get pizza and pasta... and the adults to have beer, wine and good food.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Doug gets a door prize for being the first Ott brother of Rod's that I've met! One brother met... 5 more to go. And the parents. Eventually. (I'll think of what the door prize will be, Doug, and the next time I see you, I'll bestow you with your gift. Sara should also get one for having the job that brought you all out here and she is the first Ott family member to text me.... besides Rod, of course.)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Doug also has excellent coloring skills.Lyla put him to the task last night. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">What a treat to be able to meet some of Rod's family in Los Angeles! I'm so glad it worked out!!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And now we must continue with our day of schlepping laundry down the rainy stairwell to wash and dry and start packing our suitcase... clean the house some more... and prepare Casa Fairview for our 3 week absence. Thank goodness the previous residents will be checking on the house while we're gone. God bless good neighbors! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And Garrison is bumming because of the rain. Poor, poor puppy. I bet he gets over it really soon.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Road Trippin' across the USA.... in my Honda Element with my Bouvier!!! :-D</span>Pilar Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08887886089794745239noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926351553736111405.post-37321044782996432882010-02-04T08:11:00.001-08:002010-02-04T08:40:20.671-08:00T-minus 2 days - February Road Trip!<span style="font-family: verdana;">It's Thursday morning and I've been up since 6:45am... mostly thanks to Garrison licking my face and encouraging me to get up and start the day. We have an 11am appointment to get a new set of tires on the car and it's Trash Day, so I had to clean out any unpleasant items from the fridge... or items that would end up scaring the neighbors before we return. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">I laugh at Garrison whenever I move the bins in and out. You see, he hates the sound of OTHER people moving their bins, hates loud sustained booming noises at any time, not just before 9am (challenging your movie trivia knowledge), yet he loves to "work" and will follow right along me when I'm moving OUR bins. I figure he is channeling his cart-pulling ancestors or merely herding the bins making sure they don't get out of line or away from me. The happy and silly smile on his face when I call him off of the bins as he trots back to the driveway cracks me up. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">We have a lot to get done today and tomorrow before we drive away Saturday morning.... early. We are fulfilling our SoCal Bouvier Club obligations by spending the morning and early afternoon in Menifee at our Valentine Fun Match before driving to Flagstaff.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Oh... and we'll be hitting 12 states on this road trip:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">California (duh!)</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Arizona</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">New Mexico</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Texas</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Oklahoma</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Missouri</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Illinois</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Indiana</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ohio</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Iowa</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Kansas</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Colorado</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">In Garrison's first 3 years of life (his 3rd birthday is March 16th - coming up soon!) he has been to more states than Emilie ever made. She was a western kinda pup (CA, AZ, NM, CO, UT, NV) with one trip to Texas thrown in there. How she loved road trips. Garrison was born in California, but made the trip with me and Miss Em to Albuquerque in 2008. He and I flew to Oregon last July and went to a friend's house in Washington State and then we were off on the East Coast this past fall - Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">He'll have been in 20 states by the time we get back from our February Road Trip - not too shabby for the boy pup!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">I just hope that road conditions don't get nasty while we're driving 2/3 across the country. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Well, we have many more things to do today - morning ritual these days consists of going to AM/PM for "cheap ass coffee", sometimes getting an egg and cheese burrito from Del Taco (400 calories) and hitting up the park so that Garrison can chase his beloved ball and burn off Happy Puppy energy. We also have that whole laundry thing to get done, house cleaning, tax prep 2009, show pony bath, dry and groom job (tomorrow) and various assorted chores before launching the mobile dog crate (aka The Honda Element) Saturday morning. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">And I have to accomplish this week's goal of hitting the gym 5 days in a row. So far, we've made it Monday through Wednesday... so add two more trips to the gym in the above mix.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">I can't believe it's already Thursday!! WHOOO HOOO!!! By this time next week I'll be with my awesome boyfriend, a couple of his Scotties and we'll be dog showing in Indianapolis! How fun!!!!!</span>Pilar Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08887886089794745239noreply@blogger.com0