Hurricane Deck

Some things just rub me the wrong way. Take for instance Terrierman's gleeful joy over the line of an article on dog shows, which had the never-before told observation regarding dog show participants as "fairly overweight, and eat too many funnel cakes, and dress in a way that would kill any chance of a social life were they actually in high school." Correct me if I am wrong, but with the current obesity epidemic doesn’t that describe most of the population of the United States? I find that there are many more submissions of obesity and questionable style on peopleofwalmart.com rather than the popular Facebook page Dog Show Fashion Police. Ann Rairigh, handler of this year’s Eukanuba winner, is known for her style and flair – and that is just one of the many I could name. I’ve rarely seen Wal-Mart style garb on any dog show competitor, but then again, maybe that is because I actually attend dog shows. Oh, I should say I attend AKC and UKC dog shows. I also attend

I found a new toy, and its name is PhotoStage Slideshow Producer. That, coupled with some really cool free music sites is going to take up some of my time, I think. Be prepared to be bombarded with ridiculous videos that I will be insanely proud of! That's just a short clip I made very quickly this morning - I will work on fading in and out and sound not cutting out later! I think that the "old time" video format lends itself well to some silent film type words being flashed on the screen, but I will work on that later. Enjoy!

I have 2 full time jobs and a project job that I took here recently, so I haven’t had much time to myself much less to write! I do, however, always have a camera handy. These shots are from the last 2 days – a small insight into my world. The furniture re-arrangement makes for optimal observance spots for those on squirrel patrol. American Goldfinches. I never tire of taking pictures of them! I love listening to the banter of the House Finches. They have decided that no more than 4 can be to a feeder so it is entertaining to watch their territory disputes. Dance of the finches as recorded in snow. The first 6 months of 2012, mapped out. My new dog show bag! This bad boy is on rollers even. LOOK at the inside of this thing! Lots of room for all of my stuff. Well, not all of it - there is still more to add but at least I have room. My dogs love to remind me why I work - this makes the two jobs worth it! I love looking down and seeing them resting contentedly. Back to work for me! Bedtim

The recent cold weather has brought a huge amount of birds to my feeder - and I am so excited about it! Since the raising of the feeder, I have gone through 15 pounds of mixed birdseed (milo, millet, sunflowers and cracked corn), 35 pounds of black sunflower seeds, 8 blocks of suet, and not even a bag of thistle. I was not really all that happy to find that no birds partook of the thistle seed from the feeder that I had bought, so I moved it from my T-feeder to my porch - figuring that I might as well leave it there just in case - thankfully I did! I can now add another species to my list - the American Goldfinch! A group on the ground Hi there! What brings you to town? I love how pretty they are! There were 5 at the feeder when I went to take a picture - only this one was brave enough to stay. This is what the males in my pictures will look like come summer - what a transformation! In my quick research, I found that these birds feed exclusively on seeds and grains and will not eat ins

I've heard of dogs before with false pregnancies and how far they can actually take it.

I have been into birding now since I have moved into the Jackalope House. A friend of mine has been part of Cornell University's Project FeederWatch for a few years now and talked about how much she loved counting the birds. I thought I wouldn't be interested, but then I got the feeder up and I was hooked on identifying and counting birds! For a small fee, they send you a neat poster with paintings of lots of different birds and some helpful information on how to do counts. I have learned to identify many different kinds of birds as well as to keep a camera handy for when one comes by that I can't identify. I LOVE WhatBird's search engine. It does have some limitations though - it took me forever to find out that the cute little black and white bird that I kept seeing and could never get a picture of was a Dark Eyed Junco - fortunately they put pictures of birds up and the ones I was seeing were different from the painting that they featured. It really helped me ident

Sometimes I get into discussions with people about dog structure and really, really, it makes me want to beat my head against a wall. However, those always make me publish those words and pictures that have been rattling around in my head for a while. Case in point – someone posted on a board that they thought that a high toe on a dog was a “cosmetic fault.” My opinion on this is fairly solid – NO! A high toe is a STRUCTUAL fault. Someone then posted that they wanted “proof.” Ah, here we go. The boondoggle of proof! Studies! Someone, somewhere, somehow agreeing or disagreeing with my point! The unfortunate thing is that it really isn’t to be found. Our Proof wanter found a website in which a couple had a Staffordshire Terrier with a high toe, and they readily admitted that the high toe caused issues with her gait, but then concluded that it was just a cosmetic issue. Hmm, really? The document can be found here , you can look at the pictures and read it for yourself. (Don't use the

2011 was definately a pretty big year for the dogs at and the lady in charge of Hurricane Deck! In non-sequential order, we moved to a small house in town, but the yard is actually the same size than the one we had out in the country. In town there are squirrels to bark out, neighbors to annoy, and sidewalks to walk on even when the rest of the world is a mudpit. The dogs seem to like it here, and maybe it is because their mama is quit a bit more relaxed out on her own - oh, and they get LOTS of attention now that I am not engaged in other pursuits. Looking back: Sniper Dog turned 3 this year and is as spoiled as ever. His UKC show career is pretty much over as we turn to other pursuits. We will be hitting select AKC rings, but only the close and big shows until Rat Terriers get put in the Terrier group - then we will be hitting AKC heavily. He's got the type and a headpiece that is so outstanding that they used it for drawing the illustrated standard. Rodear earned her Grand Champ

2011 was definately a pretty big year for