First Snow of 2010

And it really has been a proper snowfall, it has been unlike any amount of snow that I ever really remember seeing before apart from a vague recollection of sledging and hitting a tree when I was very young - and I'm 28 now, which is saying something...No comments please!! Though there are disadvantages, because unfortunately this country still isnt best prepared for extreme weather conditions, not just the travelling but also the getting back home once you have finally made it to the destination - so I really do feel for the emergency services who are doing a fab job, plus all of the people that may have had to travel for any length of time, it is just so scary and really dangerous.

Anyway back to last night... the snow started coming down in blizzard form about 8pm and was settling everywhere almost immediately, when we woke up this morning and looked outside I don't think it had stopped all night!! It certainly continued to settle when we took the dogs out at about 9.30pm (even though it looks like daylight in the photo, the sky was kinda creepy it was so light!) and didn't get back home til about 11pm, after a mad four-legged run around in the pristine white snow, and of course after making a HUGE snowman he was about 7ft - even taller than Alex so miles taller than me - Kiah looks tiny next to it (in her pretty Hurtta coat)!! We went for another long snowy walk this afternoon with the doggies, and apart from the snowman going on a diet I think someone had shaped his body a bit ;) he is still standing proud in the park.

...And a Very Happy New Year!!

From your celebration hosts; Princess Kiah and Prince Yahoo. As you can see they were both proudly sporting their party outfits in the form of bow ties that they wore on our New Years Eve / Engagement gatherings that took place last night!! I think a good time was had by all, with lots of drinking, eating and celebrating in style, and reminiscing over good memories of 2009 - two of the most enjoyable being Kiah winning into G5 (somewhere I never thought we would get to) and a fabulous weekend in Brussels leading to mine and Alex's engagement!

So at the beginning of a brand new year, and also a brand new decade, all four of us - two and four legged would like to wish our friends, families and everyone that takes the time to read this blog, a Very VERY happy new year moving into 2010, with good health, friendship, good luck, happiness and everything you ever wished for. Let us all look forward to a positive and enjoyable 2010!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful Christmas and got lots of lovely presents from Father Christmas this year, and had a peaceful and enjoyable break from the usual hustle and bustle of usual life, spending time with families and friends?? All four of us went down to mum's for Christmas and Boxing Day (today) and it has been lovely and relaxing just doing nothing and having the time to take the doggies for really long walks down at the sea front - this is the doggies on their Boxing day walk earlier today.

Well we all received some lovely gifts, I got given a magazine subscription, along with some funny things, a laptop case, lots of socks - always good :))), some clothes, paint shop pro for my computer. Alex got lots of nice things too - clothes, music, items for his car, aftershave, and of course the doggies got spoiled with lots of toys and treats! Overall we had a great time, back to reality now as Alex has to work up til the 31st :((( but time for me to tidy up the house and get ready for our New Years' Eve party!!

Happy Birthday Princess!!

Today is Kiah's 4th birthday, i can't believe how quickly the time has gone, it only seemed a little while that i was picking her up to come home for the very first time!! She really is the best dog for so many reasons - far too many to mention, and I owe such a lot to her over the past four years, she is just a star and there will never be another dog like her. We had a massive walk on Sunday in the snow, this is Kiah just about to do some sledging!!

Kiah and I would also like to wish her brother Chase and sisters Vienna and Chatter a very happy birthday for today as well, hope they get lots of spoiling too! So... HAPPY BIRTHDAY beautiful princess Kiah, there's a big juicy steak waiting for you for your dinner tonight!!!

Serious Snow!!

We have had some really serious amounts of snow over-night last night, not that I am complaining at all; I love snow its just amazing, fun to play in, and to throw at people ;) and it just makes everything look so pretty and clean, and I am seriously now hoping for a white Christmas too if anyone can arrange that please?!?!?! The dogs love it too, we took them over the pristine white covered park this morning and they both had a long run around (read - spaz attack) Kiah especially likes to do her funny Belgian-run-around, so they both came back tired and happy and ready for a snooze.

Lots of people hadn't taken the risk this morning to try and drive in to our work - better to be safe than sorry for one day and especially so close to Christmas - though I made it in to our local office after a careful drive in as none of the local roads had been gritted. However around lunch time the managing director phoned up the office and said that whoever was there/left could go home as a half day (thank you!!) which was just totally awesome, very excited about that!! So the doggies got another mega long walk over the park, I don't think they minded that the snow wasn't quite so pristine as it had been in the morning, I could tell they still had a great time!!

Getting Into The Christmas Spirit!

The month is running headfirst into the festive season, which I love every year without fail even if this year it is racing up rather too quickly and I'm not ready for it!!! One of my favourite parts that happens at the start of Christmas is getting all the lights and decorations up - especially the outside lights as they are just so pretty to see and look at when I get home from work. It seems to quickly be becoming a tradition to get them up approximately around the date of my birthday which is just great, possibly it is maybe a little early (6th) but who cares, they look nice, and Christmas only comes once a year and therefore I must be as festive as possible for as long as possible!!

We also have a 'mini' Christmas held with my cousins a couple of weeks beforehand - who we don't generally see on the 25th, so this year it happened over the weekend just gone and the dogs came down to mum's with us. A lot of the weekend was spent walking on the beach with the dogs which was just amazing all four of us had a great time, it was chilly but lovely and sunny - nothing resembling the rain that we had endured a couple of weeks before. It's not a very festive picture but the doggies were watching the seagulls and being photogenic in the sunset so I thought it was rather nice.

Anyway, that part of the family are more 'cat' than dog people - I think part of the issue is that a lot of people who may know one dog, is that it is a complete nutcase and has no manners - and then automatically think that all dogs are like that which just isn't the case! I like to think my poochies are well mannered, yes they are nut-cases and I wouldn't have them any other way, but they also know how to behave in polite company. Well this weekend - usually they are good - but they were the best, just absolutely perfect poochies - they even helped us unwrap some of our presents and of course each had their own little Christmas dinner too!

FCI Training Part 2

Last Sunday we had the second (out of four, two more in the new year) training sessions with Nancy to train some more FCI style courses and handling which I really enjoyed again, and so did Kiah. The main focus of this training session was to practice European style runs that contain both massive power sections and also control sections, so a need to use techniques for both power and speed yet control. For Kiah and I, it really was a step up from anything that we have ever really done/practised/competed on before. We made lots of errors mainly due to my timing which is not brilliant anyway - and of course it doesn't help especially when little Kiah mostly enjoys the fast bits of the courses and sometimes forgets that she needs to turn! However the skills needed to work spread out courses like this is something that we both need to improve on. We won't just use it for FCI but also using similar or the same handling and timing over here when Kiah is frequently miles ahead of me on a course - so I found the whole session very beneficial, thank you Nancy.