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Friday, January 08, 2010

Bored now!


The BIG snow hit the UK this week. I have been stuck in the house now for 3 days and we had no electric and no INTERNET for one of those days! Dennis was very resourceful and got the caravan generator out to fire up a space heater for us as I was worried it was going to get too cold for Pax. We also fired up the caravan and were able to put the cold food in the caravan refrig. The frozen food went into bags and into the snow!

Sadly all my agility classes have been cancelled and I cannot train the pups at all. Boo hoo! But really I cannot complain as this is so unusual for us here in England and we used to have to put up with the snow and ice in New York for the entire winter. That said, at least when in snowed in NY you could still travel once they cleared the roads. Here in the southeast of England they don't do snow plows and salt. They are just not prepared as it is an unusual occurrence. So it can be very dangerous to head out and I am keeping any driving to a minimum. On the positive side it has been so peaceful and quiet without cars driving by on the road in front of our house. Heaven!

Dennis actually had to shut down the factory for 2 days. They finally opened today but only after a few hardworking employees (including Dennis) came in and shovelled snow all day yesterday just to try and clear an area to park. They only had ONE snow shovel between them and the rest had to shovel with garden spades. Folks in the US probably could not imagine a factory not being able to even hire a snow plow but they don't have them here.




The other crazy thing is that yesterday after he left the factory he stopped at the supermarket only to find out that it was practically empty! No milk or bread to be found! Crazy!

We did have a chance to play in the snow and build a snowman but I am bored now! The pups love it and Itzy will whine at the door just to get me to let her out to play. Strangely, before the snow, we received a pirate chest in the post. Not just any pirate chest but a pirate chest that may be used in a Crufts Freestyle routine in the main ring. Don't fall off your chairs; it is not me that will be doing a Crufts Freestyle routine. Johanna and Soda will be at Crufts this year representing Denmark in the International Freestyle Competition. So she bought this pirate chest on Ebay and sent it to me until she can come get it at the end of the month. I just cannot let a pirate chest hang around doing nothing so Zaz and Itz got to play. The first photo is funny to me because Pax got tired of hearing the pups carrying on and getting the attention and she just wandered into the photo.



Zaz is so cute! But, please, when is her coat going to come back? She looks like a little tiny waif with no hair. Itz is just now going through the same major coat shed and pretty soon the two of them will be totally bald.




Just to keep me motivated; here is a little clip of Zaz and Itz weaving just after Christmas. Luckily we took the little video clips because we were just trying out a new camera (which we returned). I am glad now as it gives me something to look back on over the next few weeks of no training! They were getting the idea and I am glad I waited to introduce weaves until they were ready to progress quickly. After watching the video, I wasn't happy with the way they slipped on the patio slabs, so I moved the weaves back into the grass. Since they are little girls, as long as we did not do too much work in one area, we could keep the mud down now that the ground is frozen. Of course all that was before the snow! Now all training has come to a halt. I look forward to the thaw!

I have two questions..Why do I use the same praise all the time?! and Why did I not fix that one weave pole that was tilting?! LOL Enjoy!



Tidy!

6 comments:

Ann Marie said...

Thanks for the great laugh this morning Bernadette!!! We got 26 inches of snow here in New York a couple days before Christmas and NOTHING came to a halt. The picture of Dennis and his crew with the garden spades is priceless! I think even Florida handles a snow storm better. HAHAHA!!!!

Rosie Ison said...

They look really fab Bernadette, bit its made me totally inadequate !!

I only have one pup to train and Fozzie in no-where near straight line weaving !! I guess I have been concentrating too much onhis dogwalk contact. weaves are normally my strong point when training youngsters.

Helen said...

Bernadette REALLY !!!! it hasn't stopped snowing here since before Christmas and the temp never goes above freezing so it's still all here. Fortunately the wind has blown a clear place in the rings on top of the hill so weave poles and low jumps are possible. A couple of times a week we drive 40miles to the AOC building to get in some real work.

Anonymous said...

Hello !

Sounds like I should southest England to the list when I achieve the retirement, when they do not expect snow.
Bt it sounds terrible empty shops and no electricity.
Here n Germany we are waiting for "Daisy" + her snow.
Electric Power I hope is no problem with an power house near by.
For heating we have fuel.
For Training our club uses during winter a riding hall. Is there no one near you you can use?

Hoping for sunshine and 15-25C

Margit

Anonymous said...

Weaving looking good, Zavvi losing coat too not that you'd notice, fluufy girlie! didn't know you were a Gavin & Stacy fan!!

Karen said...

I know .............!!!

Very clever girls with their weaving, Yazz sais she will join in after the nasty little thing she has has to have done at the end of the month :-(