Oregon

We went to Oregon last week. I was on Spring break and there was a Daisy Peel camp that same week. So my husband went with me and we made a vacation of it. Probably what I should have done was took private lessons and then my husband wouldn't have spent 3 days by himself. But oh well, live and learn.
We flew out  last Saturday. It took most of the day since we  flew out of Atlanta. It took about 4 hours to drive to Atlanta and then flew for 5 hours.

(Im assuming this is Mt. Hood. I don't know what mountain was in the back ground)
So we got to the hotel at 10pm.  Sunday we woke up early and drove to the Coast. I knew Sunday was going to be the warmest day (70 degrees), so a beach day it was. We went to Cannon Beach.  This is what we first saw when driving up.

We found parking and it was a cute little beach town.

This beach was beautiful!!

 

 

 

Lots of people were taking pictures of these birds. I don't know if they were special or not but I took pictures too. LOL

This dead tree was beautiful! It was sitting on top of all these black rocks. So cool.

This beach was very quite in the morning but was filling up quickly by afternoon.  So many dogs every where. I was glad when we left. I think we walked 10 miles that day.  On the way home we stopped at a rest area. It had a trail as part of it. So we walked some more.

Everything is soooooo green. All the trees wear coats.

Everything was just beautiful. Full of color. I just kept taking pictures but it just didn't capture how wonderful it was.

The whole week we hiked, climbed over rocks and trees, ran agility.  Where did I fall and hurt myself?  At the rest stop. LOL, Yup.  I was walking and the square sidewalk pieces weren't level. The one in front was up about 2 inches and I tripped and fell.  I skinned my hands and knees. Ouch!

The hotel we stayed at was very nice. It was a block from the river.

There was a walking path that was about 2 miles long, one way. You could see Mt. Hood from the river.

The path lead around the marina.

This duck decided that the river wasn't good enough, he would rather swim in his own pool.

After contacting a couple people who's blogs I read, I got the suggestion to go  hiking at the Eagle Creek trail.  So the next day , that's where we went. That was after we walked the 4 mile path by the river.

You start out walking close to the river and slowly the river gets father and father  down .

Some parts of the trail was wide but some were narrow.

 

Some narrow parts of the path had metal wire railings to hold on to.  We didn't see many people going up the trail but coming back down, lots of people and dogs started coming. Good thing we went early. Anyway, it was kind of unnerving  when you had to pass someone on the narrow paths. I seemed to be the person  who always had to be on the outside of the path, near the edge, when passing.  All I could think of was, "What if this person is a wacko, and just pushes me off the edge?". LOL

I kept trying to take pictures of the river, so you could see how far away it had dropped down but it just doesn't really show you.

 

 

The trees here are soooo tall. Ive never seen trees this tall before.

Here was one of the first waterfalls you come across.

Its was just so pretty and green on everything.

 

 

 

 

We finally get to the lower  part of the falls.

This place was magical.  Around the corner was a huge waterfall. I took my shoes off and tried to brave through the cold water to get around the corner. Nope, I couldn't do it. The water was so cold, it was painful and I had to retreat.

 

This lady is leaning to try to get a picture of the waterfall around the corner.  It gives you perspective of how big the place is.

 

 

 

This small waterfall was behind us if forward is where the lady is standing.  This waterfall flows into the really pretty green water.

 

 

 

 

 

Then we hike back up the side of the mountain and to see the top of the waterfall that was around the corner. It was a steep hike too.

 

 

Cool!!

 

 

It was a wonderful hike.

 

 

 

On the way home, over the bridge, I took this shot.

 

 

Our Trial

Our club took pictures of anyone who is an instructor, to hang on the  club's wall. This was ours.
Next Miley. So after two rounds of antibiotics, she still has blood in her urine and she is still getting me up at night.  On Monday they did a bladder tap to get a sterile urine sample. As of yesterday the sample hadn't grown anything. They will continue to see if anything grows for 72 hours. But they said we need to start investigation other reasons for the blood and frequency of having to go to the bathroom. So Friday she will have a ultrasound of her bladder to rule out cancer and stones (that may not have been picked up on xray). Keep your fingers crossed of stones and not cancer. Update:  no  growth after 3 days of the urine culture.  They did the ultrasound. No growths in the bladder  but there is "sludge". Could be blood clots or crystals. The tried to ultrasound her kidneys. The problem was, they could only find one kidney and it was really small. Not sure how confident I am in their ability to US.  Its a pretty hard thing to learn, IMO.   Im thinking of going to a specialist to get some answers.  So they put Miley on another round of antibiotics to see if that will help calm everything down and get her to sleep through the night.

Our club had their agility this past weekend.  I keep debating if Im going to stay on the committee.  Its just a lot of work and just becomes over whelming.  To be there working from 7am to 7pm is just exhausting. By the last  day, Im just over the whole thing.  In good news I went to the "Pain Clinic" to see if they could help control my pain better.  So he switched me to the patch  of pain medication. (not like the heavy duty ones people with cancer pain need).  Anyway, its made a huge difference. No more ups and downs  of pain/no pain when taking pills.  No more achiness all over. The only negative right now is Im pretty tired.  Hopefully that will get better.

The trial went ok.  We did manage to get some Q's. We got our last Novice FAST Q for that title. We got another Ex standard Q on a pretty tough course. Two T2B Qs and I think that's it.  On Friday we were having a beautiful Standard run and she flew off the teeter. Ugh.  So we left the ring. (I stopped writing this and meant to get back to it sooner and now can remember my train of thought. LOL)

Sunday we had a beautiful T2B run.  I got both the front crosses in that I wanted.  I have to be able to get there sooner to show motion in the direction that I want to go. Im usually late so when she sees me, I haven't finished  my cross to get me moving in the correct direction.



So after a really nice T2B run, I messed up the next two.  In standard, there was a tunnel right after the dogwalk, I knew that was going to be a problem. She flew across the dogwalk, and I just wasn't quick enough. Im watching my dog run, thinking, darn she looks awesome.  LOL, and  I watch her go right into the tunnel.  Oops.  Then she had several wrong tunnel entrances for standard and jumpers.  Not sure what that is about.

Here was the jumpers course.

So many dogs when #6, 7 and then 13.  Everyone keeps telling me to run faster. Guess what, that isn't the problem. You can see in the video, that Im in front of my dog running fast.  Its takes more than that. She takes #6, the off course jump and straight into the wrong end of the tunnel. Ack.  Then at the end, after the weaves, she slips and falls. I hear her land behind me and could tell she fell. Darn it.  I worked so hard with the stupid freaking watering of the rings and it just wasn't good enough. I was just so beaten down by the whole footing of the rings. So frustrating. To work so hard to make it right and it just never was.



Tomorrow off to Oregon!!!!!

Trial weekend

I went to another trial this weekend. I drove with a friend since it was a 4 hour drive after work Friday. I figured it would be easier to drive with someone then by myself.  I think we got there around 10pm on Friday night.  Im still having trouble sleeping. I think I only slept 3 hours Friday night. Miley barked a lot too.  The hotel was packed. In fact there were 3 or 4 hotels right together and all of them were packed. So people yelling down the halls at 1am and doors slamming. Ugh!   The next morning I had a bad headache. By the time I go to the trial it became a migraine. Ive had at least 6 migraines in the last two weeks since starting that new medication.  Anyway I was pretty miserable at the trial. Really, I would have just driven home if I hadn't been with a friend.  Lou offered to come get me but I didn't want him to drive all that way.

The trial site is nice. I like the astro turf that was on the agility field.  Miley didn't like that pebbles that were around the ring on the one side. We had to walk through it from the car to the ring. There were a bunch of gated areas to let you dogs run around off leash but no real place to "go for a walk" with your dog.  Miley had problems adjusting to the turf. Im not sure if she didn't like it or if something was wrong.  I don't have the course map for the jumpers run. When I looked at my map, it was Friday's map. Hmmm.
Miley was slow and jumping weird so my timing was off.



I asked a fried of mine and he said sometimes it takes a bit for dogs to get use to running on this surface if they hadn't run on it before.  She seemed to speed up at the end.

Java had a great run, until the end when I fall behind and she didn't know where to go. So she missed the last jump.  She ran 5.6 yards per second. Whoohoo!!



Next was standard.  Miley looked much better running standard.

 

 

I messed up Java's run. I did a rear cross on the flat into the weaves. I thought she was to wide to get the entry so I stopped. ugh. She got the entry and then pulled out because I stopped. Darn it.



We were done pretty early.  They have a pond there that you can do dock diving. So my friend let her Yorkies swim.  They are awesome little dogs. After that we went back to the hotel.  My migraine was gone but I just was wiped out.  I did sleep that night.  But still had a headache all day on Sunday. What the heck???  I didn't take any of that new medication Sunday. I felt like I need sleep and maybe that medication is causing the headaches.

It was suppose to rain Sunday but we got lucky and it didn't rain until we were done with our runs and headed home.  We parked farther up the hill so Miley didn't have to walk through the pebbles to get the the ring.  Yay!!   Miley seemed better today. She played with Java in the gated area. 

I walked this course and everything seemed ok.   But then when it was time to run, the sun had come up.  It wasn't high enough yet for the roof to block the sun.  So when I turned after the table, I saw the sun coming in right at the triple. I knew it was going to be a problem.

Those big shadows coming in front of the jump were going to be hard on Miley. But it was to late, we were already running to it.  ( lots of dogs dropped the triple or hit it but it bounced but didn't come down)  Miley took off way to early. It looks like she thought the dark shadow on the ground was part of the jump. So she didn't clear the jump. Plus she slams on the breaks right in front of the chute. Big shadow there too.



Java was having a great run before she flew off the teeter. Both my dogs had trouble getting in the chute. Not sure if the shadow in front of the chute caused some problems or what. They didn't have problems Saturday.



Next was jumpers.

Miley ran nicely. She still looks a little off to me.


Miley Qed and took 2nd place.

I messed up Java's run. I don't know how I just ran the course correctly with Miley and then mess it up with Java. And it wasn't a long wait between runs either.  You can see my arm come up after jump 2, to start to front cross. I wasn't to front cross until after jump 3. I realize it in time but now Im not where Im suppose to be. So she pushed to far and has to come and and drops the bar.  Then Im late with my cues on both tunnels so she takes the wrong end. Ugh!! I have to remember to cue her before she takes off for the jump before the tunnel. You can see she is already committed when she takes that jump. Ugh!!  I really messed it up and it wasn't a hard course at all. Ack!!



For some weird reason my ipad taped this run upside down.  Lucky there was an app I could down load it to fix it.

Anyway I probably wouldn't drive 4 hours to the trial again. I like the agility ring but its just to far and no place to walk my dogs.
I woke up with another headache at 4am this morning. It turned into a migraine and I had to call in sick to work. I hope I don't have a headache tomorrow. Im thinking of just taking a migraine pill before bed to prevent it.
I made a rehab appointment to have Miley checked on Wednesday just to make sure nothing is wrong.

The weekend

This weekend our club had an agility show and go.  My yard is still very moist but the club's field is very dry.  We've been trying to get the pump working to run the sprinklers without success yet.  The pump is working but not pulling any water up from the pond.  It needs to be primed but we couldn't get the cap off to pour the water down to prime the pump.  So anyway, the grass is dry.  It was almost Miley's turn and I got her out and warmed her up. Then I put her over the practice jump. She slipped and fell on her shoulder and face, then came up lame on her right rear. She wouldn't even put her leg on the ground at all. Ack!!!  I was so upset. I just wanted to put my dogs in the car and go home. Except I said I would help build the courses and set bars.  Miley was only lame about 1 minute. I massaged her and felt her all over. She seemed ok.  I walked her a little and put her back in the car. No agility for her.  I took her out every hour and walked her around. She seemed ok.  She hasn't done anything since Saturday. I haven't seen any off loading of weight. I hope she is ok.   I did run Java. I wet her feet down before running her. She seemed ok. No slipping. I thought I ran her well but two different  people said to me I need to get a slower dog that I can run. How weird is that? I thought I had done well.  I want more than just to Q with my dog. I want her to run fast and read sends so I can get else where on course.  Anyone can run a dog the runs or trots or walks at your side.  I guess I just have a different opinion of what agility is then the people who were there.  Several people told me they don't want their dog to run fast. I asked this one person if they make course time because her dog wasn't running. She said she did.  So maybe I need to change how Im teaching some of these classes.  These people don't want their dogs to run fast, just stay on course at any cost. (slow dog down to a trot)  I probably wont be able to change.
Anyway, I started new medications last Friday for my Fibromyalgia. Yea my pain is much better but now I cant sleep at all.  I have to take at least 2 Benadryl to fall asleep.  Then Miley was doing better after being on her antibiotics for her UTI.  She finished them on Friday.  Starting Monday morning at 3am, she has been waking my up to go the the bathroom again. Then I cant go back to sleep. Im taking another urine sample in tomorrow on Miley.  Maybe 10 days of antibiotics wasn't enough.  Im hoping if I just keep taking(my) the medication, the side effect of not being able to go to sleep will go away. Lets hope so.

Catching up

Im sorry I haven't been posting. Im not sure to many people are even reading anymore.   Ive been feeling depressed. Not like "cant get out of bed" depressed. Just not doing much of anything. I haven't been walking my dogs much, sad.  My fibromyalgia pain has gotten really bad.  I hate my job and I don't even know why.  They people I work with are really nice. Its just hard to sit in an office, all day by yourself, and see a bunch of kids that don't want to be at school.   And then have to deal with parents who are mad at you for stupid things. I could see if I made a mistake and you were mad but the stuff they are mad about is just dumb.   You are mad at me because I called you and said you cant send your kid to school with a blood sugar over 500 and spilling moderate ketones. You should at  least call me and give me a heads up so I cant help your child. Not let me find out on my own. And now you are snippy with me on the phone when I call??  I just don't get it. I didnt do anything wrong.  Its stuff like that all day long.   So then I find Im depressed by the time I leave there.  I eat lunch alone. Then my husband works out of town , so Im alone at home too. Its just all getting to me.  I went to the doctor this morning and told her we need to change something because Im miserable.  So she added a medication and will see if my pain gets better. I keep thinking how am I going to hike in Oregon next month if I cant even walk 4 miles at the parks without going into severe pain. I want to have a life and do the things I enjoy, not just exist.

I took theses pictures yesterday at the park. This cracked me up. I think this house was for birds. But I guess the squirrels felt it would make a good home.

Then this bird pecking holes in the bird house.

Took Miley back to the ophthalmologist.  They couldn't find anything wrong, or why she is squinting so much. So back to the old medication , Optimune and recheck in two months.  She is better but I feel like she isn't opening her eye completely, but not really squinting.

Last weekend we went to  the trial just on Sunday.  It was a nice day.  Sunny and warm.  Miley Qed in T2B but I messed up Java's run.   But she had nice teeters, you had to do it twice. 

Miley almost double Qed.  One dropped bar. Ugh.  Oh well, I would rather have one dropped bar then not be able to run her at all. 





Java had nice runs.  We got the wrong entrance to the tunnel, I should have layered that jump instead of going it. It pushed her right into the wrong tunnel entrance.  But she got the opening which was getting more dogs.  And she finally got her first excellent jumpers Q.

Sandy Beach

It was really sunny and warm this weekend. Yay, finally!!  Its been raining since Wednesday and poured all day Friday. I was suppose to go to an outside trial on Saturday but I knew the field would be a mess pass on past experience , so I knew I wouldn't be going on Saturday.  Instead I went to the beach that was on Lake Murray.  I lake level is really high so there wasn't as much beach as there usually is but the dogs didn't care.

Poor Miley is having trouble with her left eye . Saturday she started squinting again and then a lot on Sunday. So Im going to call this morning and get an appointment.

Trial follow up, day one.

I went to a trial last weekend. It seem like forever ago.  Ive had ipad problems, Internet problems and agility problems.  I've spent all week trying to do my Daisy Peel homework.  I went Tuesday to the field.  There were three sequences. I figured staying in the weave poles, while I peeled away, would be the problem. Nope, neither dog could read a rear cross at the tunnel. They both kept turning the wrong way. Ugh!! So I worked on it for 2 days. Then  I went to the field again. This time neither dog could stay in the weaves, get weave pole entries or read the rear cross at the tunnel. Ack!! Then I went today and it finally came together. Today was last day to turn in homework. (Java still had one weave pole entry problem) 
Next ,I saved all my videos from the trial on my computer but it makes it hard to transfer to youtube. So I will just do day one today. I had to have my ipad swiped clean and start over. So no videos on it.

I went up Friday afternoon so I could do the UKI trial that was running after the AKC trial. I wanted to practice with Java in the ring. Start lines and teeters and 2o/2o on the dogwalk.  Didn't work out to well, except she did have nice startline stays.

Miley ran a Master series jumpers. The first three dogs that ran, went off course. Hmm.  The dirt was soft, which is nice to run in but made big holes after lots of dogs ran. I noticed it but didn't really register in my brain. So when I ran with Miley, she took a jump and Im pretty sure she fell in a hole.



So after that, every time I walked the course , for the next few days, I went around filling all the holes with my feet and mashing it down. People probably thought I had a problem. I know its hard to get the dirt right at trials. People have complained about the dirt at our trial but Ive never had my dog take a spill like this at our trial.

Here was the excellent Jumpers course.

 

I should  have read #3 as a lateral send, so I could get ahead of Java. But I didn't so I got behind and she didn't know where to go taking #5 and had to guess. She guessed wrong. After that we were good.  You can see how much she is slipping on course.

 

 

Here was the T2B course.

 

I didn't know how to run this. I went with 3 front crosses in the opening. I walked it with rears but that didn't feel right. So I went with the fronts even though I knew I wouldn't make it. I didn't, and Java had to tell me about it. Ugh. We managed to stay on course even with that big mess.

 

 

The next day she had an awesome Excellent standard run.  She had the best teeter she has ever had at a trial.  Didn't do a 2o/2o on the dogwalk at all. LOL 



Ill try to do Miley stuff tomorrow.  She had some trouble with bars. Ugh.