Happy Birthday, Diamond! (and other roving news)

Happy Birthday Diamond! She was 1yr old on Feb 20, and she was pretty -much being born the same day Norm finished his Championship.









We all had a good time at the party and Norman loves wearing a party hat!

We now are the proud owners of  a 1982 Airstream 280 Motorhome! . We had to close our inflatable business and Frank is working in Nashville during the week for an architectural firm and living in the Airstream. I am staying here with dogs, kids, and elderly parents (MIL in basement, mine next door). I think our Airstream looks a lot like the one NASA used since 1985 for the Shuttle Astronauts' transport: (but we have nice blue awnings)

 I fell in love with the Airstream in about 1975 o a class field trip to Huntsville Space Center where the original Mobile Quarantine Facility was on Display:

Now they have moved it to somewhere near DC , so they replaced it with the Apollo 12 one. Not as cool.

And then , of course on Feb 20th...NASA celebrated its 50th Anniv of John Glenn's orbital Flight....so I guess Feb 20 was a big day for everybody (especially for John Glenn who still alive at 90 to enjoy it all)

So there you have it: dogs...Airstreams....NASA...all tied together somehow. Kinda weird, huh?

A Visit to St. Nick

Last Sunday, we ventured to Lenox Square Mall in ATL for Santa Photos. This Santa is normally for humans only, but they let pets join the fun for two Sunday evenings in December.As you can see by the photos, Di and Norm were excellent Cardigan ambassadors...one lady even knew what breed they were because she had owned a Pem! A Christmas Miracle! The only bummer was that Frank had his iphone stolen. Tis the season, I guess. 

Is it coming a flood soon, or what??

   
Hello, this is Norman and they made me model this orange jacket. I do not know why but they said they were selling some of these Fido Floats on ebay and needed a model. The one I am wearing was too small. I think it would fit Diamond better,but she is with The Boss. She used to be my boss.

    I am also supposed to tell you that Diamond was RWB Friday at the MD shows, whatever that means! Oh yeah...and I think I am going to try Lure Coursing in a couple of weeks if the weather will cooperate. I am going to be Commander Canine for Halloween (that's marvin the martian's dog). Mom will have to make the costume, though. Maybe it won't be too scratchy! I will post a picture of that!

The Remnants of a Good Time

This is the look of satisfaction after shredding the pillow on the sofa. She was only by herself for a few minutes. Norm says he had nothing to do with it!

Baby Steps and Norm's Visit to Grandpa!

Diamond participated in her first cluster of shows this past weekend... We came home with a couple of blue ribbons, and lots of new experiences for a barely 6 month old puppy. She had fun and is starting to learn how to be a show dog. Right now she is at Camp Cheryl  and she is entered a couple of days at Lexington this weekend. Super-congrats to Norm's sis Rosie for her 4pt major on Sunday, and to Tommy (ScoutxChase pup) for back to back majors in the ATL this weekend. It was all quite exciting to watch!

Here is Emily, Frank, Norman, and my dad in his room in rehab. Norman did well for his first experience in such a place. He got to meet some of the other patients/residents too!

 Norman is going to get to play therapy dog tomorrow (though he isn't yet certified or anything)...my dad is in rehab after a nasty blood infection and they told us that it was OK to bring our doggies. I am sure this will be a good thing for man and beast alike. Norm is so sad and lost without his little Di-Di!! I will have to post pics of this visit to the rehab/nursing facility too! I have since added the photo above! Norm and my daddy were very happy to see each other!

Did I do that???

Hello, it's Diamond. They say I was bad and ate the purple Ikea bench. Was I really bad??

It's gonna be a bright (bright) sunshiny day!

Wow. It was a little over 70 degrees in the ATL Metro today! We got outside and enjoyed it while it lasts. Norman climbed the Shuttle Tower (swingset) for a better view, and I even coaxed  him down the slide a couple of times. Oh yeah, and I did manage to brush about 3 handfuls of undercoat out of him while we were outside too. What a beautiful day!

How Norm got his groove back.

Drawn by my 5yr old Emily

Drawn by my 7 year old Sarah.

The snow/ice finally softened enough for proper frapping to resume.Norman was very happy! The girls were out of school due to the ice for an ENTIRE week. They found lots of fun things to do, including drawing Norman. I thought their interpretations were pretty cute! Oh yeah....we got Norman 1yr ago on MLK Day! Happy Anniversary Norman! You are a very good boy.
y.

Well...

This is very belated... here is the official show pic of Norman with handler Cheryl Mika in Atl from August 29 when he was WD and Bos for 5pts. I tried to retouch the bkgd a bit and added the BOS ribbon to Judge Bolus' hand as it was not in the orig. photo. I think that Norman looks very much like his dad "tex" (grangefield Rob Roy) in this picture... well except Tex is red...On a sad note, out 12yr old male kitty was mauled and killed in my mother's garage last Sunday. Dasher died in my arms. It was just awful, and we are still looking for the dogs.The terrible irony here is that Dasher just loved dogs (well our dogs...NICE dogs).Norman is still looking for his buddy.On a happier note... Norman is entered in both Atlanta cluster shows the last two weeks of October. Seven shows in nine days. He will be one tired puppy!

MAJOR NEWS!

Norman went WD and BOS for a 5pt Major under judge David Bolus at the Conyers Kennel Club Show in Atlanta on Sunday! A BIG BIG thanks to handler Cheryl Mika for offering to groom and handle him for us on Sunday. He just loved her! Thanks also to Laura for handling him in the breed ring while Cheryl handled Scout. Norm now has 8 points, and will be 1yr old on Sept 2. It was a fun show (close to home), and winning is a pretty good thing too. BTW, we all got to meet Chase and sign his book too. The girls were so excited about his autograph book that they went home and made one for Norman. They are so funny.

Observing the Pass-over

*********Seem to be getting passed-over alot these days.... we are finally back home after going to Greenville (awesome show!) and New Orleans (well at least the air was really working well!) The New Orleans show is a great example of the need for the 2 shows in one day format...only about 600 entries each day. Norman looked great in Greenville. He was the youngest dog there in a fairly large (well it was a major), so I didn't feel like he got much of a glance. But the judges really liked him. I think we had Carmen Battaglia the first day and he said he had a great topline. And they always like his head. He a got a little gift sunday in Greenville for best breed puppy (dinky purina bag) Then we get to New Orleans and the judge said he had a little hump in his topline. Can things change that fast (less than a week) with an 11 month old dog?

Anyway... he was rwd both days in New Orleans. On Friday, we had two judge substitutions. The orig judge's flight was late, so they bumped us back an hour, they they got another judge but she was in conflict with two of the other dogs because they are in her training club. So...they find another local judge BUT he is not approved for cardis or herding breeds of any kind. He actually got into the ring and asked the ring steward if cardis were a table breed. Bad sign. He poked and prodded Norman on the table in a very odd manner and then Norman was nuts so I knew we were finished at that point. He was better when he went back into the ring so we did get reserve.

We start conformation classes tonight so maybe frank and Norm can sharpen some needed skills before the Atlanta Shows at the end of the month. Hope to see you there! I made a bunch of pics of group and Best in Show Thursday in New Orleans with my new lens. To take a look go to my FaceBook album here.

Thanks for the Goodies!

A big thanks to Janet, Spencer, and Scout for the "Paw it Forward" goodies! Norman was excited to get mail! And the Cardi Decal will look fab on the Element too! Soooo....the first two people to post on this blog get Paw it Forward goodies from Norman and me. It might take me about 10 days to get something out...we leave thurs for the Greenville shows and then come home and leave the other direction for New Orleans on Wed. for the show at the Pontchartrain Center.

Norm, the HAM on the 4th.

Well here are the pics from the July 4th Weekend! Norm loved being in the parade, being petted by the boy scouts, and riding the float. (That was on the 3rd) ON the 4th we enjoyed some steaks on the grill and fireworks. I was amazed that Norm didn't really mind the fireworks, and we had some pretty big loud ones! The only time he barked was when other dogs in the neighborhood started barking. GOOD BOY, Norman! Please take a look at the short vid clip from the parade that I posted to youtube.

The Cover Boy

Norman will be the doggie cover boy for this coupon magazine that we advertise in (here locally). He is REALLY wearing the little hat! (But he is photoshopped onto Sarah's lap.) The pic of the girls is from last yrs 4th of July. I think this cover took about 10-12 pictures to make one cover photo. Maybe we should change our mascot from an eagle to a cardi!

Norman will also be riding our company float with me and the girls at the 4th of July Parade (on the 3Rd). I will have pictures and maybe even some video so stay tuned!

Hello...Norman reporting here...

Hello, it's Norman reporting. I am writing this because my mom has laryngitis. Just daddy and me went to the show in Perry GA on thursday and friday. We saw lots of nice people that petted me, and we saw lots of dogs too. We got to trot around the ring twice on thursday and friday and I got a purple and white ribbon both days. Daddy says this was called "reserve" The boy that got the purple ribbon was a pretty brindle dog who was a little older than me. Mommy said that dog got a ribbon at the Nationals a few weeks ago. I wanted to play with him. I also wanted to play with the judges while I was on the table. Is this wrong? I am just trying to be friendly. I also talked to a very nice man who petted me from something called The Delta Society, and he said that I needed to be something called a therapy dog. If this means that I can play with people and they can pet me, I am all for it!

Official Show Pics, Montgomery AL

Norm:WD for Fri 4-23 and Sun 4-25 in Montgomery Ala. The photographer was in a really big hurry, esp Sunday, it seemed to me. Frank in headed to the Perry GA show for Thurs and Fri this week . I hope Norm takes more hair with him to Perry than he leaves on my floor.

What Came in the Mail Today...

Norm's first official show pic arrived today...so of course I had to scan it and post it here. Pictured L to R are Judge Pat Hastings, Norman, and Frank (my husband). Then OF COURSE I had to mess with it...wondering what it would look like with a less-distracting background...so here is my version too! Anyhow, we're off to Montgomery for the show Friday, and Laura is showing him Saturday and Sunday along with Rosie ( THANK YOU!). We'll come back down Sunday to watch them and pick him up.