Desi is home!

Dan went and picked up Desi tonight from the field trainer. I am thrilled that she is here :) Now time for a mental vacation and then she and I will continue on with her field work.

Time to begin again!

Sorry for the long hiatus in blogging. The past several months have been tough for our family, but all is on the upswing and this blog is back in business!

Stay tuned for new posts.....

She did it again!

Gracie turned in another stellar field performance and took home a fourth place ribbon from the VCOI December Walking Field Trial.

Way to go George and Miss Grace!

Desi sends lots of smoochies to her beautiful daughter :)

GM Bailout

For the record, I was not in favor of the $700 billion bailout for the financial industry. I'm also not in favor of bailing out the car industry, GM in particular. GM is a company with nearly 2 decades of mis-management. There are reports circulating that if GM fails, 2 million people will be unemployed taking $150 billion in compensation out of the economy (the study is done by an industry group, and I'm not entirely convinced I believe their numbers). But even granting that these numbers are reasonable, the study doesn't say what will happen even with a bailout. Clearly GM (and the car industry) is going to get smaller in the short term. How much smaller? I have no idea, but I'd assume 20-40% smaller, in which case, there are still going to be the knock-on effects the CAR study suggests. Given GM's track record the last couple decades, even pumping the $25 or $50 Billion into it is no sure thing to save it, long term. Remember, this is the company that brought the EV1, which single-handedly killed electric cars for at least a decade. And more recently the eyesore Pontiac Aztec.

Particularly baffling to me is Obama's support for the bailout. Of course, since he carried Michigan, and since Dems love to get union support, it's not really shocking. What I do find surprising is that no reports or analysis tie out one of his other "bold" plans for "transformational change". He wants to spend $150 billion on alternative energy over 10 years, and claims it will generate 5 million jobs. Creating 5 million new jobs in a green industry sounds great - not to mention sustainable. And it's more than DOUBLE the claimed job losses to the (environmentally dirty) automotive industry. Granted not all Joe the Car workers will simply switch over to become Joe the Alternative Energy worker, but on a macro scale, it's a trade I'd be willing to make. Maybe top-off the plan with some education credits to throw at automotive industry line workers to help switch their skill sets to help get some of those new 5 million jobs.

...and then there were two.

Yesterday we said goodbye to Sedona (aka Donut) and now it is just StarBaby and Speed along with Tru and Desi. Two girls, two boys... balance.


I will now have more time to update this blog regularly :)

A very special weekend for a very special dog....

Dan and I so very proud to announce that Gracie (Tru Miss Grace JH CGC) competed in her second field trial and took a fourth place in Open Derby with 13 starters. She then went on to WIN AMATEUR WALKING DERBY! The stake had 10 starters and gave Gracie her 2 point she can carry over for her FC.

Gracie is owned, loved and trained by George and Mary Haines. They have worked hard with Gracie and done their homework and it has paid off. Little did they know when they wanted "just a pet" that they would find a whole new world opened up to them.

Dan and I tip our hats to their hard work and dedication.

Look for Gracie at a future field trial... at 18 months old she is just about broke and will soon be running in the Gun Dog stakes.

GO GO GRACIE - We love you!

Quick Update

Quick update - Desi has a light case of mastitis that we are working on. She is fine and will recover 100%.

We will be field trialing this weekend and the puppies will be going on a vacation to their grandma's house (the woman who bred their dad).

I will post photos of our adventures on Monday!

Go Truman!

In other news, Tru placed second in a 13 dog Open Gun Dog stake up at Pine Island. Many thanks to Randy Boggs and Mark Smith. Mark handled him (and also took first with the Pointer dog Ranger). Look out Limited stakes!

The dog does just enough no to get his funding pulled...At least he placed early in the fall season - next step, winning some points!

We're absolutely thrilled!

Go Irish

Great victory for the Irish, yesterday! Would have liked to see more sustained offense, but the Irish took the Skunkbears' gifts and converted them into points.

Watching (parts) of the game with the three year old was fun. He's convinced the Irish score "Touch-Ups"! Kinda makes sense with the hand signal, in a warped sort of way.

Awwww, what a good mama!

Desi is a very good mama and I love this moment I captured. She was sleeping with her pups.

Eyes are opening!

So last night while we were recording weights, I noticed that a few of the puppy eyes are starting to open just a crack! It is super cute looking and I will try to get a photo in natural light today...


Also, they are all up on all fours learning how to walk... they look drunk!

Wanna see my new toy?

You show me yours and I will show you mine.... :)

Okay, here is mine - Ain't it cute?!?!?!?!

So I have had a Blackberry Pearl in white, but hated the short keyboard so I decided it was time to upgrade. I think I will be able to stay organized now!

This also gives be the ability to report field trial placements as soon as they are announced! How cool is that??

Will the real Rouxby please stand up?

The puppies had some visitors on Monday.... Mark and Steph came by to have some puppy time before they jetted off to Hawaii (lucky them!). They are getting one of these puppies and have decided to name her Ruby, but spelled Rouxby as a nod to Steph's NOLA roots.

So will Tru Rouxby Red please stand up??

New Child of God

Today marks a very special day. We had Oliver baptised into the Catholic Church. What a magical moment! While Ollie was being anointed with the water he was smiling and laughing, it was truly a blessed moment.

We took a ton of photos - I promise to post some tomorrow. We have out of town guests here right now.

New photos coming soon!

So after a few months my camera battery finally died. So it is on the charger and hopefully will finish charging soon and then we will have new puppy photos!