Weekend Trial in Santa Rosa

It's been a while since the last update, but Crystal and I have been so busy "doing stuff" it's like there's no free time to write about it (except at work - obviously! - and that's where I'm writing this from.  Dad, are you still proud???)  Anyway, last weekend we spent the three days (Monday was off for Presidents' Day) in Santa Rosa at an AKC agility trial.  It was our first time participating in a three day trial and we had a lot of fun.  The first two days, Sonoma ran three events, and on the third she ran two.  We ended up the week with three qualifying runs out of the 8, and earned the first 24 points towards her Agility Champion title (out of 750 points!).  We have a long road ahead for sure!  Unfortunately, we forgot our camera this time, but I was at least able to get this picture with my iPhone.

We keep the dogs in their crates for a lot of the trial.  They definitely get taken out for frisbee and walks around on occasion, but spend the rest of the time relaxing in their crates.  It's especially good for West since he's just a puppy and still learning how to behave at trials.  It's also good for Sonoma since the agility dogs know they are there to perform, and can have a pretty high stress level as a result.  The crate helps them stay calm and relaxed, and not to mention warm!  It was pretty cold in the mornings - Crystal's windows were even frozen shut one morning!  I know it's nothing compared to the winter everyone's been having back East... but that's cold for us (apparently I've "lost my roots")...

This weekend our good friend Renee is in town from Seattle.  We'll be spending some time in SF, as well as wine tasting and hiking.  I'll do my best to remember the camera this weekend and hopefully we'll get some fun photos to share with everyone.

This Gorilla Prefers to Walk Upright

Crystal is slightly creeped out by gorillas because of their human-esque qualities.  They have very emotional faces with very human movements: mouth expressions, eyebrow movements, nose twitches.  Not to mention they have 10 fingers and toes... As Crystal says, "very ugly humans" - haha!!  Now take a look at this gorilla walking upright like a normal guy... this is creepy for sure...

International Rules Football vs. Jack Russell Terrier

Here's a funny video involving a game of "International Rules Football" and a Jack Russell Terrier.  I am not sure of all the rules, but it seems that the little guy is part of the game.  Why doesn't someone blow the damn whistle and pick this guy up off the field???

Moonrise

Here's a picture from yesterday when the sun was setting over the Pacific and casting red colors on the hills in Milpitas.  The moon had just started rising above the hills.  It was a very calming view after a hectic day at work.  This is a time where the thought of living somewhere other than California is far from my mind.

The other bright light in the sky is just that, a light.  Sorry for the picture quality, I only had my iPhone.

West's Agility

West has been doing very well in his puppy agility class.  He is definitely the star of the class, and is advancing through the skills faster than his "classmates".  We're really excited about his agility ability (thats fun to say!).  Here's a video of his class on Monday where he ran a sequence of jumps.  As you can see, there are no bars on the jumps, the puppies are still too young to be jumping on their joints.  Besides, at this point just getting the pups to run between the jump uprights is an accomplishment.  But watch the video and see little West run!

The video was taken at night, so it's dark, and Blogger compressed video and reduces quality, but you can see the fast puff ball running in loops at least.  Enjoy!

Also, during class our instructor Anne Kajava (who runs Jumpin' Java Agility which we train through) asked Crystal if she'd be interested in teaching private agility lessons to other students in the class.  So starting this week on Thursday, Crystal will be teaching two private lessons, one with one student and another with two students.  We think this is a really great opportunity for her to get some experience instructing and training, and will if nothing else, give her more exposure as we figure out how to make working with animals a part of her every day life!

iPad Drawings

One really fun element of the iPad are the drawing apps.  Theres this great one I've been playing around with recently and ended up with these pictures of the pets.

"West on the Water"

"Lion King"

"Sonoma Claus"

Funny Pictures of West from Vacation

Here's just a random assortment of funny photos we got of West during our trip back East.

Meeting/tasting Grandpa John.

"Can't catch me!  Whoa actually you're close!"

Batdogs.

Haha such a frantic photo.

Jumping up for the ball, flying squirrel style.

West Running Series

I think these progression shots of a game of chase and fetch are pretty funny.  West really loved being in Massachusetts for the holidays.

This first series is a game of chase with Lilly.

The second series is a game of fetch on the frozen pond:

'Memba Him?

Some of you may recognize the handsome 21 year old doing the weather in this video clip, back in 1977. He gets his "15 seconds of fame" around the 3:35 mark. I love the serious, meteorologist voice.. and turtleneck...

Video is after the still

Video

Goofy Girl

Sonoma seems to know that comedy is all about timing (and Santa hats)...

West Cartoon

I decided to draw West as a cartoon... Sonoma to follow....

Isn't he cute??

1,000th Hit!

The Relative News just crossed 1000 page views!

Here's a picture of a map showing where the hits came from - darker green means more hits... white = no hits...

I see the US is darkest, and Germany is on the map (thanks Mom and Dad).

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to visit every now and then!  Let's go 2,000!

Morrill Middle School Crossing Guards

I pass the same crossing guards on my way to work every morning.

Talk about a team sport.  The two of them right outside Morrill Middle School playing traffic defense as school children crossing the street to the goal.  They zealously march into the road from each side, raise up their quintessential red stop signs, and blow their whistles swiftly.  Once in position, they give the signal, and the students flood the road.  Pretty standard procedure one could say.

The two guards wear their pressed, standard issued uniforms each morning.  The first is a short, elder Asian man with silvery-grey hair, and a bushy mustache to match.  He stands stiff as a board and always looks stone faced, except when interacting with the other guard - an overweight, curly haired black woman.  She seems like fun.  He seems too serious.  The perfect team for chaperoning young students to school across a busy road.

While standing on the side of the road, she's constantly engaged in this back-and-forth swinging/dance motion as she nonchalantly raises her white-gloved hands about waist high.  She looks like an overgrown child trying to balance on roller skates for the first time.  She's either waving to passing cars, or dancing to music through her silly Bluetooth ear piece.  I always choose to wave back, hoping it's the former.  We're basically either friends at this point, or dance partners.

He's always glaring at drivers passing by as if each one has personally offended him by driving over the crosswalk.  He has a silly Bluetooth ear piece, also.  Maybe those, too, are standard issue.  Mr. Serious is pretty much a statue on the side of the road until that sidewalk corner starts to fill with students.  And when he feels ready, he'll just suddenly jump out in to traffic and blow his whistle.

"TWEEEEEEEET!"

And after just missing the last car through the intersection by inches, he'll stare at the back windshield as it drives past, guilt his only tool.  He's classic.

I bet they're like best friends by now.  This is at least their second year working as a team every morning to accomplish the worthy goal of getting young people safely across the street.  They even acessorize the same!  Hell, I only drive by once a day and I wave like we're friends.  But to clarify, I'm not waving to him.  He's too serious and will jump out into the crosswalk with his stop sign held high for good measure as I pass through.  And I can't afford to start my day off with that horrible stare in my rear-view mirror.

Frisbee Styles

We have two very talented disc dogs. Sonoma has demonstrated her skills in Frisbee competitions where we've swept 1st place enough times to earn the title of "sand-baggers" with the Disc Dogs of the Golden Gate organization.

You can see two videos from these competitions here and here.

We've really started to reduce the hours playing Frisbee, one, because we've taken such a big step into the world of agility, but also, two, due to us working later in the evenings and the dark arriving so early. Having said that, you'd think West would be a little less capable in the Frisbee realm, but he's got just as much ability as Sonoma! The main difference between the two is the work ethic; Sonoma runs out for the catch at 120% effort and sprints back to return the Fris at 130% effort. She truly understands that the faster she returns it to us, the faster she gets to go chase after another toss. Little West, however, will run out at 120% effort, and return at about 70% effort. He's more like "Hey... I got the Frisbee! Mmm Frisbee! Ooohh Daddy and Mommy want to play more..." where as Sonoma is like "Shit! Hurry! I just caught the frisbee - HURRY - it's been like 2 seconds and Mom and Dad don't have it yet! HURRY!! Crap, I can't run fast enough! Here! Take it! HURRY!!!! THROW IT!!!!" Her intensity level has yet to be matched by West.

See the intensity in her eye and scowl?  No joking around.  West certainly has the upper-hand when it comes to jumping, however.  Check out the height Sonoma gets in the picture below - front feet way up, back feet on the ground.  That's a "jump" in Frisbee for Sonoma...

  Now take West for example...

He's got springs!  He jumps probably about one and half times his height.  This actually creates a concern for us right now because he's so young.  Little puppy knees and growth plates are not fully developed until around a year old.  Up until then, he risks injury by jumping so hard (muscles have to work hard to lift up a body!), and from landing from such a height (all while potentially twisting in the air).  Another reason we aren't playing Frisbee as much is also because it's virtually impossible from keeping this little guy from jumping like a kangaroo.  We opt for the ball fetch session more often.

Here are a few more pics from that outing (which was after our hike at a beach at the Golden Gate Recreational Area):

"Here! Take it! HURRY!!!! THROW IT!!!!"

Red girls can't jump.

Boing!  Oops, missed the 'bee, but still got to jump!

"Shh!  I'm focused!  HURRRRRRRY!!!!"

Thanksgiving Update

Thanksgiving was another great holiday here in San Jose. The weather was beautiful, and we were able to get outside. Crystal and I decided to not make the pumpkin tiramisu - did you know the lady fingers have to soak overnight to soften??! We decided that after work on Wednesday we were too tired to cook or prepare anything, so we ordered . Thursday morning we ran to the grocery store to pick up a (delicious) coconut cream pie.

Here's a picture of Crystal's plate right before we said grace and dove in...

You'll see, moving in a clockwise direction, mashed potatoes with gravy, turkey, asparagus with bacon cheese sauce, stuffing (from in the bird and from a casserole dish), and finally garlic broccoli (not pictured are rolls and coconut cream pie). West and Sonoma also enjoyed a feast of raw turkey parts, and some cooked food as well.

On Friday, we went into San Francisco to meet up with our friends Tim and Becca and headed north to Sausalito, CA to go hiking in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The weather was amazing and the temperature was much warmer than we expected. The views in this area of the shoreline are just stunning.

Here are some pics of our hike:

West, our mountain goat...

The family.

Tim and Becca

Sonoma and the Pacific (and a ship).

Mr. West - you can see why we keep them on the harnesses during this walk.

(do the math: Ocean cliffs + 8 month old excited puppy = Potential Hazards)

Another nice picture of us. Thanks, Tim, for your fleeting moment of photography prowess.

The Boys.

We then made a stop at the Golden Gate lookout point getting a picture reminiscent of "Full House".

"Whatever happened to predictability, newsmen, the paperboy, evenin' t.v.?"