Christmas and NYE 2011

I didn't intend on having one of those "It's been a while since I posted anything..." or "Long time, no post!" type blogs. Yet, worked picked up and available time to update the blog was swallowed up by protocols, reports, risk management, testing, and meetings. I don't really do too much work on a computer once I'm home either because I'm sick of them by then. And alas, blog posts become more infrequent...

Anyway, I've got a chance right now (it being a rainy Friday and all - meaning no work will get done) to upload some pictures from Christmas. We didn't end up taking as many as we probably would have liked, and a bunch were blurry and dark (must have been the wine), but there were defintely a few keepers.

Hmmmm, let's start off with one that really captures the Christmas spirit. Family, hanging out together, after a nice meal, a few glasses of wine, two shots of chartreuse, and - of course - group karaoke and air guitar.

We got to celebrate Christmas with our cousins... and the Easter Bunny?

Looks like Crystal was on the "naughty" list this year....

And of course, no Christmas is really Christmas without the family portrait....

And a few from New Year's Eve. I call this one "The Girls"

And if we just walk onto the roof our our friend Brandon's apartment buidling, we can watch the San Francisco NYE fireworks at the Embarcadero :-) Best display of fireworks I have ever seen, even if there were a few building tops making it harder to see the lower ones...

The fireworks really were fantastic. I remember back in the days of the Granville, MA fireworks show for Fourth of July, and they were awesome. But it was like "Ooooh! That one had TWO colors!" Nowadays it's like "WOW! That's a 3D box and a smiley face!" (Sorry, I didn't get any photos of the 3D box or smiley face fireworks)...

But I did get a photo of these smiley faces that night on the roof...

Pretty soon, TRN will be turning 2,000 hits old! I look forward to posting something then too, assuming work isn't too hectic of course...

Easter Weekend Camping Trip

Crystal and I spent the weekend camping at Uvas Canyon Park in Morgan Hill with the dogs. We re-discovered this beautiful park last weekend while hiking with Tim and Becca. C and I took Sonoma there years ago when she was a puppy, and forgot about it ever since. Our hike last weekend was amazing - waterfalls, dense moss covered trees, redwoods, creeks and brooks - just great. So this weekend when we arrived for camping, we knew what to expect. And Uvas did not disappoint. It's only a 45 minute drive from our house, most of the time spent winding your way away from Hwy 101 into the deep woods just south of San Jose.

We arrive around 5:00 on Friday night, and spent that night drinking wine and eating dinner. Dinner was balsamic marinaded skirt steak and baked potatoes, both cooked over the campfire. The next day we played around the campsite and found a deserted path along Uvas Creek for the dogs to run around a bit. Tim and Becca arrived at the site Saturday night. We woke up on Easter morning and went for another walk along the creek and took a lot of photos. It seems like every single photo the dogs were in came out blurry - go figure. In the afternoon another couple (Kim and Jake) arrived at the site and we enjoyed an Easter feast. Each couple brought a portion of the dinner, and together had ham, BBQ chicken, green bean casserole, macaroni and cheese, cous cous, and rolls. Everything came out really delicious!

After dinner, we took down the tent and packed up the campsite and were home and unpacked by 5:30. All in all, it was a great weekend, extremely relaxing, and it's always refreshing to spend extended time outside. Enjoy the photos!

The four of us at the campsite.

This was right down the hill along side our campsite.  The walk down here was gorgeous.

Uvas Canyon Creek

Crystal, Tim, and Becca strollin' along.

How Easter-esque (minus the beer).

Documented evidence that Tim does, at infrequent times, act like a gentleman.

River monster.

C

More green lushy-ness.

Cool tree roots.  This is the background on my work computer for now.

C again.

I thought the water looked cool in this picture.  Taken with a slower shutter speed.

Our Easter egg coloring setup.  Well done, ladies.

Artistic genus at work.

Becca's first time coloring eggs.  Glad we were all there to watch the 'magic'.

The colorful outcome.  Even the puke colored ones look cool.

Our camping Easter feast!

Sunday's Results

Sonoma got three more "Q's" (qualifying runs), one in each for Standard, JWW, and FAST. She placed first in FAST, and second in Standard and JWW. That was a perfect 6 for 6 in terms of Q's this weekend. Sonoma achieved her Novice level in only two trials and can now compete in the Open division. This may be the average length of time to spend in Novice (Crystal and I are unsure), but we did meet a guy who has been competing with his Sheltie in the Novice division for 2 years!

By the conclusion of the trial on Sunday, we could hear people whispering Sonoma's name as we walked by, followed by more obvious pointing and staring. She's making a name for herself as an "up-and-commer". Multiple people on Saturday and Sunday came up to me to compliment Sonoma and our team. They are excited for us, and have been very willing to show their support for us. Our friends from Jumpin' Java Agility were also so helpful, showing us the ropes at the trials and keeping us informed on when our runs will be.

We are really pleased with the progress Sonoma has shown over the past year. We are excited about this journey we are beginning with our lady - and we know it makes her happy to work as a team with us. For anyone interested in agility, I would recommend it highly. It teaches the dog to be obedient, confident, and a teammate - all important qualities of a happy, healthy dog. You may think, "My dog would never do well in agility, he is too _________!" (fill in the blank with your own adjective: crazy, stubborn, stupid, nuts-o, lazy, etc). But agility helps dogs of all sorts get the positive attention they deserve from their owners as well as exercise and discipline - which helps with all types of behavioral issues.

Unfortunately, under the big cover and with the rain we had this weekend, a lot of our pictures came out blurry. We're still learning how to take good shots with our camera, but we'll get there. Hopefully in the next couple of days I'll manage to get videos of our runs this from this weekend posted. Keep your eyes out for that.

And finally, here's a picture of Sonoma with her ribbons from the two trials - not a bad start to her collection!!