The Best Laid Plans...

Duffy and I were supposed to be in Olds from Thursday through Tuesday and at the herding Instinct Test in Okotoks on Saturday.  As soon as Jolene had told me of the test I had sent in my application and fee--that was 2 months ago.  I was so excited for Duffy to try and see if he could get his certification. We had been given a start time of 12:15, right after Jolene and Kort.  Everything was going according to plan.  Then I took Duffy out for his constitutional Thursday morning before we left for Olds. After several stops for pooping (that in itself is not a good sign) our last stop produced pudding poop and I had run out of bags too!! I know from previous experience that travelling with Duffy in this state is not to be recommended--when we got back from the tracking seminar last May, I had a really, nasty mess to clean and had to hose down his crate, wash the cover, throw out the carpet and hose out the back of the truck.  Oh, yeah, and hose off Duffy too.

So we hoped we could try for Friday, if things had settled down for him.  But I knew our window of opportunity had pretty well closed because Olds and SW were under a snowfall warning.  And wouldn't you know it, by Friday morning they had close to 10 inches on the ground, there were accidents everywhere--they even had to call in personnel who were on days off--and there was black ice reported around Ponoka.  Meanwhile it rained here all day Friday, but Friday night it turned to snow and it snowed all day Saturday--wet, mushy, slushy conditions. So travel was out--I don't take chances.  If it's not a life or death situation, why turn it into one by needless travel? But we were all disappointed--I was looking forward to seeing Jolene, and meeting some of the 'sheep people'. Oh, and by the way I picked up a cold too--not a bad one, just a lot of nasal action.  So it's probably just as well that we didn't stand out in the cold and wet all day Saturday!

But the good news is that there's another test in June!! Surely there won't be snow then???? Hahaha!! And the other good news is that Jolene's Kort got his HIC certification!! Yay Korty!!  Check out Jolene's blog onecollieblogspot.com to read all about it!

But my enforced sojourn in Edmonton wasn't wasted!! Thursday afternoon I raked half of the front yard--it was hard going as the neighbor had his huge spruce tree taken down the day before and there were tons of needles and sawdust. But I am so glad the tree is finally down--it blocked a lot of light in the living room in the spring, fall, and winter, and it was blocking the light from my tomatoes along side the house.

Part way through the tree dismantling process.

Then I spent yesterday rearranging the big bookcase in the basement.  I had moved a bunch of books from upstairs to the basement and needed to find room, and get rid of other books that I had no use for anymore.  I moved all my Native History books to the basement--making way for the new pursuits in my life--dog books and homeopathy books!!

The north side of the bookcase--lots of room now for more books!!

The south side--most of the Native book collection is on the 3 shelves on the right hand side.

And today, after shovelling off the 2 inches of wet snow that accumulated overnight, Duffy and I went for a walk.  Duffy got filthy--this is the kind of weather that makes me think about getting a Smooth Collie!!

Beechmount Cemetery--soldiers' graves.

The Duffster