Archaeology

The kids were expanding their foxholes under the deck the other day, when they uncovered this:

So many questions! Was it brought in when they trucked the fill to the house site? Was it buried by an alcoholic contractor? Don't drink and build! Was it put there by a previous occupant of the house? Did they have a dog that liked to bury whiskey bottles? The truth will never be known ...

And happy birthday Nibblets!

And one year ago today, Tigger's sister Nibbles had her lovely litter. Have a great day kids! Cornerstone/Raglan dogs are da best.

Meanwhile, back in the swamp .... Behold, the birthday loofa!!

And the unsuspecting loofa is thrown to the dogs (I always feel like I'm feeding goldfish to the pirhanas)

Five minutes later ...

Birthday loofa's nightmare was not yet over. The worst was yet to come ... THE GREAT LOOFA MASSACRE OF 2011!! Oh, the HORROR!

CSI (Cat Scene Investigation) determined cause of death to be accidental de-stuffing, since the dogs all claimed to be in the bathroom at the time of the incident. 

Happy birthday babies!

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Bolt and Remy and Dory and Cooper (Nemo) and Buzz and Merlin (Boo) and Alice and Flora and Rufus (Crush) and Elliot and Bella (Cinder), happy birthday to yoooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuu! These are the most awesome babies ever. Kudos to breeder Amy Hill and parents Abby (Raglan's It Had To Be Ewe HXAs) and Tigger (GCH Cornerstone's Wonderful Thing). I can't imagine life without these beautiful kids.

Toys toys toys!

With the help of a gift card and some "Dory Bucks," I went shopping and got the kids some toys and treats.

Tigger decided he couldn't wait for me to distribute the toys:

Two on a loofa:

Three on a loofa:

Four on a loofa:

And, one on a loofa = The Victor!

And, we also got a POOL! But Tigger thinks it's a giant water dish:

Dory says, Daaaaaaad! You're supposed to wade in it!

Reggie, successfully avoiding the loofa free-for-all, shows Tigger how it's done:

Finally, they just don't make loofas like they used to:

The spoils of war

The sibs had a very nice weekend at the Marshall shows. They both showed very well, although by Sunday they were pretty tired of the 90-degree temps, and Bolt's handler (moi) went into la-la land and did not do a very good job. Bolt was BOW on Friday and won 1 point and a pretty Delft blue spoon rest. On Saturday, with his Uncle Marv at the helm, he was BOW, BOS and won his first 3-point major and two plush toys donated by BlueDog Cardigans (Auntie Penny!). Bolt gave one toy to Dory, and when they got home, Dad Tigger immediately stole them and ran off. On Sunday, Bolt was RWD and Dory was RWB to a major. PLUS, I bought them a bag of freeze-dried lamb lungs (nom and ECK) and two bottle-stuffed Skineez. It's all about the Cardis!

Here is some post-show play with the plush toys:

And Tigger says, "All chairs belong to me!" It's lightweight, recycleable, made in the USA, and only 13.99 at the farm store!

This and that

A couple of photos from the Cardi Party we attended Sunday. We're looking at starting a new Michigan Cardigan club, so Jean Brown donated her house as the site and a group of us gathered for a potluck/fun match/play on the agility equipment outing. Everyone had a great time, and we will be proceeding with our plans. And, Dory was Best in Match and brother Baby Bolt was Best Opposite! Woo hoo!

John and Kathy Hannah getting mobbed by their fan club. Ryan and the gang stayed home in the AC.

No, not a mismark, that's special guest Zephyr. There were 20 dogs in the yard, among them were four grand champions!

My brilliant idea of the week: The dog crate towels always get tangled up and it drives me nuts, so every day I untangle them. The other piece of the puzzle: Pillow shams. I never use them. I don't have enough pillows to keep some permanently "shammed," and I'm too lazy to take them off and put them on every day. So, shams + towels = towel-stuffed pillow shams as crate pads. So far, so good! 

Dory gets the retro-'60s look

Tigger inspects the final product

Finally, antler meets lawn mower. How many times have I told them, "Pick up your toys!" I admit, I was skeptical of the whole antler craze. My guys could care less about Nylabone products, and are very picky even about rawhides. But the antler was a huge hit, so much so that they spent a lot of time stealing it from each other. So, I'm hoping the Antler Guy is at the Marshall shows this weekend. He has a huge selection, and reasonable prices. Antlers, ho!

The Sibs

The win photos from Valparaiso arrived today, Dory and Bolt look very nice, I think. Something fluffered Dory's ruff up a bit in the double shot. We'll have to work on our presentation!

Thanks to Nancy Willoughby for helping with this shot. Dory BOS, Bolt BOW, both got a point. We like Judge Peggy Beisel-McIlwaine!

Dory was RWB the second day, Bolt was BOS for 1 point. That is the very sprightly Judge Francine Schwartz holding the ribbons.