Who Says You Can't Teach An Old Dog New Tricks?

Porsche is a millennium baby, and will be 10 years old on December 2nd. As she has REALLY taken to the couch potato life, I decided it would be a good idea to exercise her brain and try to teach her a new trick to add to her repertoire. I'm pleased to say she caught on rather quickly:

Next, I'll see what I can do with Porsche's almost 14-year-old mother, Calli. The question will be: Can you teach an OLDER dog new tricks? It should be interesting!

Porsche is the "calendar girl" for the month of July in the 2011 Mid-Florida SSC's calendar. Thanks to the club for including her, and a special thanks to Julie Iverson for the gorgeous photo!

Kars & Valley Dog Shows

It was my pleasure this weekend at the Kars dog show, to show my good friend Julie Iverson's blue girl, Am. Ch. Homespun Allspice Silverlicious, NAJ. "Christy" took a group first from the classes on Friday and repeated the win on Saturday, to finish her championship in grand style. On Monday, it was a "threepeat", with another group first, this time under Sheltie breeder/judge Guy Jeavons (Grandgables Shelties). Congratulations, Julie! Christy and I had a blast!!

Sunbathers

The current weather here isn't great ... in fact, it's downright depressing! We had a bit of sun on Friday, but the forecasted rain for today & tomorrow seems unavoidable, so I've decided to ignore it for now! These photos have helped.

I love watching the cats on a sunny day. I always make sure to open the curtains as wide as I can in the morning, to let in as much sun as possible. I like to tell myself that they both appreciate this, but who am I kidding?






This is Josie. We got her from a nearby shelter 3 years ago, when she was around 6 months. She was a stray, and is extremely friendly. This is one of her favourite poses. She'll lay like this for quite a while, tummy exposed, wriggling around, or sometimes she'll fall asleep like this (especially when there's sun to be found!).


I snapped this picture of our old girl Trinity soaking up some rays last year. She's an American Shorthair, and came to us from Rumscott Cattery in Prince Edward Island. She will turn 9 years old in September. Trinity (affectionately known as "Stinky Winky" - it's a long story!) is a much more reserved kitty, who does everything on her own terms.

I think I'd enjoy being a cat!

Sens Game - Alfredsson's 1000th Game Celebration

On Saturday, Tomasz & I headed out to the Ottawa Senators hockey game vs. the Buffalo Sabres. It was the last Sens game of the regular season, and also a celebration of team Captain Daniel Alfredsson's 1000th NHL game. "Alfie" was drafted by the Ottawa Senators in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft, and has been with the team ever since.

I joined the roster for the night!

Everyone was given a commemorative t-shirt, which read "Daniel Alfredsson - 1000 Games" on the front, and ...

Alfredsson's nickname and number on the back.

The man of the hour.

The Sabres and the Sens during their warm up skate.

All of the Senators players were wearing jerseys with Alfredsson's name & number on them during the warm up. It made it difficult for us to keep an eye on our favourite players!

During the warm up, players putting the goalies through the paces.

Starting goalie, Pascal Leclaire.

Tonight's backup goalie, Brian Elliott, would have been my choice for the evening. He took a well deserved rest to get ready for round one of the playoffs, where we will face off against the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Alfie celebrations begin. There was a light show with large pictures of Alfie scrolling across the ice surface.

Daniel Alfredsson with Eugene Melnyk, owner of the team since 2003. There were many presentations, and Alfie made a wonderful speech, or at least he tried to, over the crowd's chants of "Alfie! Alfie! Alfie!".

Lyndon Slewidge, the official anthem singer for the Sens. He has held this position for the last 16 seasons! The Sabres' starting goalie was the 2010 Winter Olympic Games U.S. team goalie, Ryan Miller.

During the anthem, a group near us held up a huge Canada flag. It was reminiscent of the Olympics in Vancouver.

Spartacat, the Ottawa Senators mascot.


The game ended up being won by the Sabres with a score of 5-2. Although the game wasn't as exciting as we'd hoped, we were so pleased to be there for Alfredsson's celebration. We stayed until the very end, where Alfie came out onto the ice for one last time, while everyone in the stands gave him a standing ovation and chanted his name. I've never been prouder to be a Sens fan. GO SENS GO!!!

Vegas Trip - Day Three - Hoover Dam

On our last day in Vegas, we rented a car to make a trip to Hoover Dam. We could actually see the blue waters of Lake Mead while we were hiking in Red Rock Canyon NCA the day before - it's about the same driving distance from the Strip, but in the opposite direction! We really lucked out with the weather - clear skies, beautiful warm sun, and very pleasant temperatures. Once we got out of the valley and into the mountains, the scenery was gorgeous. We climbed up and down along Route 93, and made our first stop at a Lake Mead lookout point.

It was beautiful - the water was brilliant blue, and very clear. Lake Mead is the largest man-made lake in the U.S., named after Elwood Mead who oversaw the construction of the Hoover Dam.

The Hoover Dam itself was amazing. You have to see it to truly understand the colossal size of it.

The view from the top of the dam. The ledge we were looking over is in focus. I get a bit lightheaded when I look at this picture - it gives you an idea of the height of the dam. You can see the tiny white cars in the shadows at the bottom.

It was interesting to see how all of the buildings, the access tunnels, and the dam itself were built right into the rock.

A bridge is being built just south of the dam. Transport trucks and buses have not been allowed to cross the dam in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Once this bridge is completed, no through traffic will be allowed to travel across the dam, and will be using this bridge instead.

The Hoover Dam was named in honour of Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the U.S.

Boulder Basin, the beginning of Lake Mead to the north of the Hoover Dam.

How often are you able to stand in two different time zones at the same time??

Nevada time - 9:30 a.m.

Arizona time - 10:30 a.m.

Palm trees in the desert ... if I hadn't been told that they're imported from California, I wouldn't have thought about it much ... they're everywhere on the strip, and at Hoover Dam, too!

Vegas Trip - Day Two - Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area

Upon researching things to do while in Vegas, I came across a website, and many amazing reviews which suggested you can't go to Vegas without doing a guided private hike in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, with the Hike This! hiking company. Red Rock Canyon is about 30 minutes from the strip, but we were picked up and dropped off at our hotel by Hike This!, so there was no need to rent a car.

Here we are at the beginning of our "rock scrambling" hike. We were full of energy and ready to go! It was incredibly challenging at times, but we had such a great time. We'd definitely do it again, and highly recommend it to everyone.

Our guide Neil was an amazing source of information on everything Vegas. A Georgia native, he has been hiking at Red Rock for close to 20 years. Neil was definitely the friendliest person we met during our trip - very pleasant, with a great sense of humour. He was well prepared, punctual, and full of interesting facts.

One of the views from near the parking lot, where we began. The Las Vegas strip is 2100 feet above sea level. Our starting point was about 4200 feet above sea level, and our climb took us approximately 600 feet up from here.

Looking up towards our destination.

Tomasz working his way across the sandstone. The rubber soles on our shoes gripped the surface incredibly well - there were no loose rocks or sand to slide on.

This was probably one of the scariest points of the climb for me - I always thought my hands or feet would slip out of the little ledges I was hanging on to!

Phew! I was glad to get past that.

Here I am "helping" Tomasz make his way up the sandstone. Thanks Neil for the picture, and for making me look as though I knew what I was doing!!

It's amazing how the vegetation just springs up in all sorts of unexpected places. Everything is very barren and raw.

We found this rock formation very interesting. It almost looks like someone's face.

An "Old Man Cactus" in the foreground. The spiky plant in the background is an agave plant, similar to the blue agave plants found in Mexico which are used to make tequila.

A water "pothole" (called a Tinaja by Native Americans) which is like a catch basin for rainwater. This is a good source of water for area wildlife. The Vegas strip is just visible in the background of this photo.

An amazing view of the strip from one of our great vantage points.


If you click on this picture, you'll be able to see a small black box in the lower left corner of the photo. I've drawn the box around another hiker, who is down at the bottom of the peak we're on. It gives a bit of a better perspective on just how high up we were!

What goes up, must come down. We begin our descent. Climbing down was, for the most part, much easier. There were a couple of times when it seemed very steep, though.

Tomasz showing me how it's done.

It didn't matter - I still did it my way - cautiously ...

Our guide Neil just walked down this as though it was a set of stairs. Again, I was very cautious...

Almost at the bottom!

A gorgeous view of the sandstone formation we climbed. In the very center of this picture, there's a long, skinny shadow, which marks a bit of our route. That's the "set of stairs" that we walked down.

We had been aiming for Red Cap Peak, which is the highest peak in the picture above, but stopped just short of it. Our legs were very tired - I couldn't stand up or sit down easily for a few days afterwards! Now we have something to aim for next time ... and I'll be sure to add some squats to my workout routine, beforehand. :)