Oh MY. I just saw that it has been well over a year since my last blog post.
There IS an explanation.
Right after my last blog post, we hit an internet frustration wall. At the time, we were using a certain, not to be named satellite internet service. It was well over $100 per month, it was slow, and....it was extremely limited. There is this thing called a "Fair Access Policy". I can't remember how many whatever-a-bytes you get, but once you exceed that...forget about it! They slow you down to the point that email won't load.
Well, it had happened again. In a fit of annoyance, we cancelled our service. Ruh Roh. We all used our phones as our only access for a while. It is shocking how many FaceBook posts you can miss by just using your phone. Not to mention, my phone screen is what....2' by 4"? (iPhone 4). Yeah...I can only read that when my eyes aren't dry from sleeping, tired from the day and the sun is high overhead. Toooooooo tiny for old eyes!
Non-access period lasted until maybe March. In Jan I started teaching Anesthesia to our Vet Tech students. Sometime during that time I crisply informed my husband that I would NEVER teach another class without internet access (grades and assignments are posted online). And since I will continue teaching...access must be found.
Enter HughesNet. We tried everything that Verizon and US Cellular had to offer. Our house is in a little valley, and apparently that is the kiss of death to county internet. But I must say, HughesNet has far exceeded my expectation for speed. And though we are still limited by a Fair Access Policy, we have only reached the limit once, and I could still read email when we were SLOWED.
In the meantime...I actually forgot that I had started a blog. Seriously. Sigh. What an idiot.
But...I digress. 2013 has been full of ups and downs. We had expected and lost our first grandchild. It was a devastating experience for everyone, particularly my daughter and her husband. I won't bore you with details, but suffice it to say, my heart is open to those that have been through it.
Stevie and I have been to classes on and off. We went to obedience classes, and then started agility. Stevie is what I term a PANSY. Don't get me wrong, that Pansy has my heart inside and out. That dog worries about EVERYTHING. It can be a training challenge. For both of us.
I can feel her stress by the way she takes treats. In fact, in one obedience class, she snagged the cuticle on my thumb so hard that I yanked my hand away, TOWERED over my lil pansy and boomed...THAT HURT!
She hit the floor, groveled miserably while I fumbled for a way to help her recover and we both felt like so much poo poo.
Poor poor lil fish.
My thumb bled, and it took me six months to grow out the mark in the nail. And yet, while my action may have felt justified, it was not a useful training technique for a Pansy.
Since the Thumb Incident, Stevie and I have been actively seeking out opportunities to happily face the world full of worrisome things.
We continued agility classes at CACM in Muscatine until recently no more classes at our level are being offered. We also have taken agility classes from Laura Knoll at QCDC, and I will say, Stevie seems more comfortable there. May be that the ambient noise level is lower, who knows. However, there she can hold stays and we made pretty solid progress on her obstacle performance and basic handling. YAY! Laura is a fine teacher, and I am sure that helps us in no small way as well. (insert smiley face)
Last May I also tore a meniscus in my left knee. It happened at work, so is a workman's comp case, which I guess isn't the tragedy I thought it was (I hate to be a recordable injury, since I am married to the guy who was a safety director for like...20 years!) but is a nightmare from an attempt to get things resolved in a timely manner. For a variety of reasons, surgery is now scheduled for November 21. ARGH!
I have missed a LOT of classes babying this dumb knee. But I do what I can, and feel pretty darn bad for myself when I can't do what I want. I know that Stevie and I would be closer to ready for trialing if not for the injury. But onward we go. She is my shadow and my constant companion, and she loves me in spite of myself. How can I not have that lil fish face in my heart?
Today, we hopped in the care with our friend Mary and her corgi pup Roxanne. We went to a pretty busy farmers market and trained.
It was a certified blast. Stevie was an amazing girl, including accepting treats from total strangers, doing some lovely stays (did not break ONE!) and generally had a glorious time.
Hopefully, it will translate into a little longer lead out in agility, and a little bit more distance on stays in obedience. Regardless, I am reveling in the successes of this morning. And planning on repeating the exercise next Saturday! What a great training opportunity!
Oh...and she got a new collar. How could anything be better than that? :D And yes, life is good even if one is a Pansy.
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