Not What I Expected

Well, I was scheduled to go to Bennington this morning to work on my business plan with a representative from the Micro Business Organization. I got a call first thing this morning apologizing because she need to postpone the appointment because she is in the process of moving her office. Oh, well. More time to work on all those questions.

Off to other chores...

It started pretty cool here this morning but by noon had warmed up nicely. I took all of the dogs out with me and we played for a while then I got down to another job that was sorely in need of doing. Gardening!! Yay!

Since I was mired in Final Portfolio at Hallmark at this time last year, I never had a chance to clean up all my perennial gardens and trim back the bushes. Then I went straight to looking at how to proceed after school. Needless to say, the overgrowth a debris has been an eyesore.

I cleaned and the dogs slept....HEY! What's wrong with this picture!? LOL I had to move them from shading themselves under the trailer every time I had to move. Taffy got to ride on the tractor with mommy because I am so paranoid after loosing our other baby puppy. She LOVED it!

I'm pretty proud that I got all the hay and horse droppings picked up from the winter when the little buggers got out and helped themselves to the hay on the trailer. Then I got two of my gardens trimmed back, raked, and weeded. Yahoo!! WAIT! What am I getting excited about? I'm going to be doing this until fall now....hmmmm.

And talk about the little black plague (that's gnats for those of you who are not native to here). They can find any orifice in a human body and fly right in. Gotta love that nasty little thing walking down the tunnel to your eardrum just out of reach of your big, fat finger. Or how about opening your mouth to speak and it flies right down your throat and then you go to coughing fits and get all kinds of embarrassed. And then there's the 'in your eye' ones. Yep, fly right in there (glasses are no protection) and get smooshed up and you can't get it out and you can't see either. I really don't like gnat season.

All-in-all it was a fine day. The dogs are sleeping in the cool house, I am relaxing with my blog, and the horses are happily eating in the paddock. Life is good!


Looking forward to this again!

New Baby Taffy

We purchased our new baby standard poodle last week. She is ten weeks old and her call name is Taffy. Her AKC name is Wyspinook Dancing With Magic of Leatherstocking. Now there's a mouth full. LOL She is a beautiful apricot with and angelic face. Don't let her fool you though. She is a spitfire. Nothing like Billy. She comes from a home that breeds pet and show line dogs. She has the 'show me' attitude which is very cute and very annoying all at the same time.

Taffy is a mamma's girl for sure. I can't move without her being right on my feet. She has stolen my husband's heart as well.

Taffy already has several nicknames like Taffer, Tafferoo, Taff, Taffdoo, beauty, little love, and so on. Whew! I'm getting too old to keep up with all of this.

Taffy is my baby but she was added to Wispynook as part of our breeding program and she will go into show as a puppy at six months.

Wispynook is my sister, Dianne's, kennel name. She has had dogs for 30 years and has been breeding and finished some of her Brittany Spaniels in the past. We found we loved the poodle breed and decided to buy puppies that we would co-own and do the show and breed thing as well as bringing them to visit the sick. It is quite a site to see us coming with five poodles.



Billy and Taffy live with me. Dianne has Billy's sister, Grace, a silver poodle a.k.a. Wispynook Amazing Grace, and a lovely chocolate name Angel, a.k.a. Wishpynook Angel Gabriel. She also owns a toy poodle named Court Jester and he sure is. If there is going to be trouble, he's in the middle of it or instigated it!


Pretty profile after grooming











DON'T LET THOSE EYES FOOL YOU!!


Couldn't you just squeeze her?

Getting Billy Ready for Show

I have been really busy geting my blue standard poodle Billy ready for the show ring. There are no show dog groomers around her so I have the wonderful opportunity to learn yet another new skill. LOL

Billy's AKC name is Wispynook's Blue Magic. He was purchased from a home that breeds poodle service dog lines. Eventually I will be getting his certification to go into nursing homes and hospitals. He already goes to the nursing home that my mom is in and brings a great deal of joy to the residents.





Still needs a bit of trimming but we're getting there!













Then out to play; which is what Billy does best!!


















He's a month older and I've trimmed him again. Picture to come later.

VPP Convention

I'm back from the VPP convention where I had a great time and learned a lot. I entered five images in the print competition and they all took ribbons. I surprised myself!





BLUE RIBBON
REGAL DOBERMAN













SPLASH




BLUE RIBBON
& JUDGE'S
CHOICE
AWARD








MAJESTIC KING
RED RIBBON



HARVEST
RED RIBBON



















FAITH & HOPE
RED RIBBON

Everyone was happy to offer advice to help me do better with my images. Thanks guys!