Rain, Rain GO AWAY!

Seriously now! I know we are in a drought and I should be thankful for the rain( and I am ) but it's getting a little ridiculous around here. Too many plans have had to be canceled thanks to the wet stuff and I am getting a little tired of it. Plus I feel like there is mold and green ickies growing everywhere and I can't keep my kitchen floor clean( Thanks Reilly :) ) .....

... it's Spring and that's how it goes... but I have some VERY important outdoor activities coming up and I don't want them to be ruined.

Plus I have enough on my plate on a daily basis with the crackhead, without adding 4 days of ugly, " we can't go outside" weather on top of it.

Last night he was a NIGHTMARE at agility class and I have the scars to prove it. Apparently Reilly thought that it would amuse him to constantly bite me while running around the agility course. You know they say the best thing is to ignore this kind of behavior, but it's not that easy if you are getting chunks taken out of you as you run around. He wasn't being mean or malicious about it, he's just a mouthy boy and that's how he expresses himself. Should this continue this week, you will see his freedom of expression get squashed fast!

That is, if we get to have class - depending on the weather.

What a Weekend!

WOW! What a weekend we had! Saturday started out with agility class - where I was a totally idiot and couldn't remember a course to save my life! Then moved on to lunch with an old HS friend and concluded with a Southern Living party and dinner with friends.

Sunday was exhausting but wonderful! I took Reilly to his second agility trial and he was a total rockstar! When I got there I was seriously considering pulling out and not running at all - it was being held in a HUGE open field. There were some barriers around the sides and back but NOTHING at all in the front - just vast openness..... Um, not good with a dog that can run 300 miles and hour and be gone in an instant!

BUT my wonderful agility friends convinced me that it would be fine and that they would be there to run interferance in case of a break for freedom. DH was there too, and the hope would be that Reilly would run right to him.

Our first class was Jumpers and he was fantastic! We came in 5th out of 6, but the best part was we didn't get a big E for elimination!! We would have scored higher, but Reilly went into the wrong tunnel. I was able to call him out before he completed the tunnel, but we lost points for that.

The second class was Regulars which is all the obstacles in Agility. He was trucking around the course like a veteran - until the last 2 jumps. He came off the teeter and took off running for his daddy who was standing at the edge of the ring. I was too far behind him to get him back and since there was no barrier in front, there was nothing to stop the run. But that's fine. We got an E, but I was so proud of him for getting that far.

Then the last class was rough. He was getting tired - as we all were. He did the first 5 obstacles then made my greatest fear come to life - he took off running out of the ring. He circled around the left side of the ring towards the road. I just yelled "Somebody PLEASE catch my dog!" - indicating to the crowd that it was fine to grab him, I wasn't going to try to complete the course.

So Doug and my classmates started over to try to get him back - he circled back around, peed on a tree and ran back into the ring like "ok, I just needed a break, but I am back! Let's go!". At that point I just grabbed him and told the judge "Thank you, we're done"! But I was still all smiles because he was just awesome!

We had a good day overall. One of my classmates Q'd and won all of her classes and also won the High Point Novice award. Another Q'd and won one class and the third got 2 seconds and a fourth. So a great day overall.

DH and I were exhausted, but we barely had enough time to get home, eat a quick sandwich and then get ready to go and see Spamalot. That was a really good show. I am so glad we went.

WHEW! That was our weekend in a nutshell! :)

Yummy Soup!

We've had some really nasty weekends this year in GA - rainy and cold, or snowy and icky and last weekend was no exception. After spending the day driving around helping a friend look for apartments the DH and I were exhausted. I mentioned to him that I was going to make soup for dinner - nice hot comfort food, yet easy to make. I was thinking Chicken Noodle soup - Angela's famous recipe - but he wanted Lemon Chicken Soup.

DH and I grew up in FL near a large Greek Orthodox population. We were always noshing on Greek salads, yummy bread and lemon chicken soup. So I got on the internet to search for a yummy recipe and I found this one. I cheated a bit when making it because we were so tired. I used Boil in Bag rice and just got an already cooked rotisserie chicken from Publix.

But let me say this - it was GOOOD! I don't have pics like Angela, because we scarfed it all up! Seriously though, it was very good and we had enough left over to freeze for later consumption.

I just served it with sourdough bread and butter on the side, and it hit the spot!

And The Result of the Agility Trial?

A big E :)... but that's ok. Reilly did his absolute best and in our eyes was a SUPERSTAR! I could not have asked for anything more from him at all.

So our whole weekend was a mess - the painters came on Friday and I sent Reilly to daycare. They left on Friday evening, while we were out, and left the place a mess. Their ladders and everything were EVERYWHERE. This threw poor Reilly just totally out of whack.

I was counting on agility class on Sat morning to get us out of the house while the painters finished up. But because of the horrible rain, class got cancelled. We ended up holed up in the bedroom. The stress was too much for poor Reilly and he got sick - throwing up and everything. When the painters left, he was finally able to relax a little bit and catch some sleep.

Sunday we woke bright and early to continuing rain, which was supposed to turn to snow. And it did, but that was later.

It was FREEZING at the trial - just bone chilling cold.... we got there at 7 and the trial started at 8. Thankfully DH and a friend brought coffee for all of us. Reilly seemed a bit stressed at the trial, but that was to be expected. I walked him around some, but due to the ever present rain, we couldn't really venture out for long. Oh, and we had an admirer! Someone came up and started gushing about how much Reilly looked like her dog. So she went off to get her dog and well, she did look somewhat like Reilly. She was older, and shorter and well a bit heavier, but I could see the resemblance. She was very sweet and we chatted for a few minutes.

It came out time to run and well, he did his best. Part if it, looking back, was definitely my fault- I wasn't in place when he unexpectedly started his run and I pulled him off the second tunnel. He proceeded to tour the ring for his admiring fans, but not at his usual breakneck speed. He was just kind of checking the place out. Which was fine, I expected that. And, after all that, he came back to me, I got him under control, we went through the last tunnel and out the gate where the DH was meeting us with tons of treats and LOTS of praise. So he was an AWESOME dog!!!

But the highlight of the day was when our friend came with his 2 little girls. They all had tshirts - and they even had one made for me and Doug. Mine said "Reilly's mom" in crystals, Doug's said "GO Reilly", our friend's said " Go Santos"( we joke that Reilly looks like Santa's Little Helper from the Simpsons) and it said something very clever on the back, which I can't remember. The girls( 3 and 6) were VERY cute in their shirts which said "Go Reilly" and " I Love Reilly". I thought it was awesome of them to come out in the cold and wet to watch us go for 30 seconds.... and to make the shirts. If I get their permission to post the pictures with their children in it, I will so you can see the shirts.

Our next trial is on March 22nd( I hope, I just sent the entry in). We have tickets to Spamalot that day, but hopefully it will move quickly and we'll get to do both of our runs. If not, that's fine too.

Oh and DH didn't get any pics bc the camera battery was dead :(....

And the one comment I heard at the trial was how fast Reilly was. I asked the DH if he was really fast( I can't tell I see him all the time) and he said, yes, VERY fast and he was only running 1/2 speed. WOW.