Jumping Bean

Before the snow, freezing rain, ice storm and deep freeze ...

Back in November (one of the warmest Novembers on record), we took full advantage of the great weather by working on agility foundation exercises. I worked my way up to my full jump height of 24" and worked on focus exercises in the midst of freshly fallen leaves. The jumps in the following videos vary in height from 18" to 24".

Working out a good cue/body position to signal when to go between 2 jumps rather than just taking the second jump/repeating the previous sequence.

Warming up my muscles before a jumping session.

(Always need to keep track of the camera!)

(I sometimes like to keep my rear paws at the back

of the tread which causes that squeaking noise.)

Polar Vortex? Frost Quakes?

Ice storms and Polar Vortexes and Frost Quakes? Oh, My!!!!!

"The Abominable Snowvizsla here with
Wednesday's Wacky Weather Report"

These branches provided a fun play fort until the Polar Vortex plunged us into the deep freeze.

During the power outage we went shopping to warm up. Here I am checking out the sleeping bags.

Since we didn't purchase a sleeping bag, I continued to camp out under a ton of blankets.

Thankfully, there were a few days of warmer temps that melted the ice off of the trees and power lines before we were plunged into the deep freeze known as the Polar Vortex! While trapped in the Polar Vortex, we were immensely grateful to have power and heat. With temps in the -20s and windchills in the range of -30 to -40 (risk of frostbite within 5 minutes) , I had to wear booties just to go outside for a minute or two. (Any longer than a couple of minutes and I would have needed my heavy-duty coat rather than my lumberjack shirt.) 

"Do I really have to wear these things in public?"

The arctic temps have been causing the phenomenon known as Frost Quakes - sudden, loud booms!

Here's a one minute explanation of a Polar Vortex courtesy of CNN and a brief explanation of Frost Quakes ("cryoseisms") with a cool photo of a steaming Lake Ontario courtesy of the Daily Mail UK.

The Ice Storm Cometh

Spot the Vizsla

A couple of days after the ice storm, it snowed.

Considering the extent of the damage caused by last weekend's ice storm, we were very lucky that only one of our trees toppled under the weight of the ice. Although there are hundreds of damaged trees in the immediate neighbourhood, only a few hydro lines were downed so we were without power for only 27 hours. We were very grateful to have heat in the house before the temperature plummeted to -10 and creating the potential for burst pipes (twice the worry when you have radiators). 

It is estimated that 20% of the city's tree canopy sustained damage and 40% of the power lines (enough to cross Canada twice) were affected by the storm. 

We send a HUGE and HEARTFELT THANK YOU to all of the Ontario HYDRO WORKERS and to those who traveled from other provinces and the U.S. for working round-the-clock throughout the week of Christmas in sub-zero treacherous conditions to restore power to hundreds of thousands of people.
 

Saturday's Smile

Happy First Day of Winter!

Greatly enjoying last week's super 6" snowfall!

(Today, I'm slip-sliding around in the slush caused by

the recent rain and above-freezing temps.)

 
This year, it actually looks like winter on the first day of winter!  Last year, there was no snow in sight 2012 so we had to create our own "snow" for our Christmas Greeting 2012.  The year before, there was a light dusting of snow 2011 followed by a heat wave 2011.

Wildlife Wednesday

So, yesterday, I was outside getting a brief breath of frigid fresh air
(-14c windchill) when something caught my attention.

I had no idea what it was.

I licked my nose to get a better sense of the scent.

Then, when I heard rustling in the leaves,

I leaped into action!

There it is!!!  There it is!!!

Can you see it?!?!?!

What is it?!?!?!

Didelphis virginiana
"Virginia Opossum"

North America's only marsupial is known as "Nature's Little Sanitation Engineer" because it eats almost anything: insects, snails, rodents, berries, rotting fruit, grasses, leaves, carrion, snakes, eggs, and all veggies!

Opossums are not native to cold climates but they have been surviving and thriving in Southern Ontario for approximately thirty years. Although nocturnal, in cold (and snowy) weather, they will venture out in search of food during the day.

You can read more about opossums here:

http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/FW/2ColumnSubPage/251071.html

http://opossum.craton.net/

http://opossumsocietyus.org/ 

Wednesday's Wacky Weather

One day, under a sky of sun and clouds, we were all playing in the yard when there was a sudden and unexpected flash of lightning and loud thunder claps. Since it is not safe to be outside when there is lightning, especially when the lightning and thunder occur close together, we headed for cover. As we were all running toward the house, we were pelted by hail (if the pellets bounce, it's hail) and heavy rain.
  

It was dry at the bottom of the stairs!

Diva checking out the action.

Thankfully, the downpour lasted only a few minutes. Since it is recommended that you stay indoors for at least a half hour after the last flash of lightning, we all napped before resuming our fun in the sun.

 

Last summer: drought

This summer: wacky rain and humidity

Wednesday's Work

 Bionic Bodi, the Self-Employed Vizsla, takes a trip to Sarnia

CKC Rally Novice title!

Napping with my new toy on Sunday afternoon
We were inadvertently given an Obedience rosette (wishful thinking).

A great big thank you to the most patient of judges:
Diana MacKenzie  and  Del Lunn

Kudos to the judges and all of the Sarnia KC members who worked so hard

in sweltering humidity to keep things moving along at a brisk pace.

 

GIGANTIC SPOILER ALERT !

If you believe me to be perfect and infallible, please do not proceed FORWARD.

HALT

SIT

DOWN

WALK AROUND

(do anything but read further)

270 Right
away from your screen

  if you choose to
360 Left
be prepared to

take

3 STEPS BACKWARD,

SPIRAL
out of control
and
toss your rose-coloured glasses!


Thursday Morning

In the 15 minutes I spent in the man-cave while Mom went to fill up
the vehicle and pick up bags of ice for the cooler this happened!!!

Once again, I was framed by the most evil of evil Bowser beds!!!
You see, I had to go-go and in the name of self-preservation, the evil Bowser bed decided to distract me by unzipping and spilling its contents everywhere!!!



Thursday Evening - Monday

On Friday morning, we needed to be in 3 rings at the same time so the decision was made to scratch my first Rally and Pre-Novice runs. Although they would have held up the Rally and Obedience rings and waited for us to return from the conformation ring, based on Thursday night's correction match, it did not seem fair to make the other people and dogs wait in sweltering 100% humidity for half an hour just to witness a Vizsla hell-bent and determined to perform the best imitation of a Bloodhound in recorded history. (A video clip of such has been submitted to the Academy of Canine Theatrical Arts for consideration in the category of Best Imitation of the Hallmark of Another Breed.)

Evil Bowser bed aside, filthy floors are my arch nemesis!!! My 125 million (or more) turbinates were like magnets to the mats (judging by my stellar imitation, I may actually possess closer to the 500 million turbinates of an actual Bloodhound). For some odd reason, many people suggested that my pair of you-know-whats was to blame - this I do not understand as they are nowhere near my nose (well, most of the time, anyway)!!

You know your run is not going well when you lift your nose off the floor and you hear applause! SIGH! Mea culpa, mea culpa but dang that floor was intoxicating!

On Saturday afternoon, the lightbulb finally turned on and we earned the first Rally leg with a score of 81. I will take credit for losing 9 points and only 9 points. The other 10-point loss sits squarely on the human's shoulders for becoming discombobulated with shock and disbelief when my nose came off the floor at station 5 and she led me off-course toward station 13 (good thing she immediately returned us to station 5 and got us back on course)!

I did it!  I did it!

Many thanks to Michelle Ross for helping to turn on the lightbulb by sneaking up on me and pinching my butt!!!

Perhaps if my one Pre-Novice attempt had been on Monday instead of Sunday I would have passed. As it was, my heeling pattern looked more like tracking but I performed the figure-8 reasonably well, held my sit for exam and passed the group sit (only once did I glance longingly at the floor but my nose did not fall below the level of my belly button). The recall (the only off-leash exercise of the weekend) started off with my signature full-throttle bionic leap in the air but ended up with my nose planted on the ground instead of my butt!!!

Although I know all the Rally exercises through Excellent, it was deemed unwise to move up to Advance for our 2 runs on Monday. It wasn't worth the risk of practicing more bad behaviour as the freedom of being leash-free would have provided the opportunity to explore all the nooks and crannies that were out of reach on a 6' (now 9') leash.

To be fair, on Monday, I was in the conformation ring (outdoors) within 10 minutes of finishing a Rally run ("indoors") and showed beautifully. For a young (male) dog, this, in and of itself, was a stellar accomplishment. My second Rally run of the day (and last of the weekend) was about 2 hours later and I would have had High in Class (with a 91) had I chosen not to sniff the floor during the Halt-Down-Walk Around with my elbows in the air!!!!!  
 
On Sunday and Monday, the lightbulb flickered a little (okay, maybe a lot) but at least I finished the weekend way, way, way better than I started it (and way, way, way better than anyone would have predicted on Thursday evening...Friday...Saturday morning).

Lesson Learned

To overthrow my arch nemesis, I must start training in a barn!!!!!

This is Spring?

 

8:00 a.m. on April 20th

Happy Earth Day!

Fashion Friday

Definitely raincoat weather this week!

What a week of weather: thunder and lightning, heavy rain, light rain, ice pellets, high winds and a hint of snow. The GTA was under a "weather-watch" for most of the week. Last night's ice storm caused downed branches, trees and power lines (with some fires) across many areas of the province. Lucky for us, the temperature stayed above zero so this part of the city did not receive as bad a storm as other areas. 

On Monday night, the rain was heavy and the lightning so close that I had to wait for over a half hour to go outside after I had signaled my need to go-go. 

 

I very happily wear my stylish and practical Guardian Gear raincoat
(purchased from petedge.com - available in several sizes and colours).

"Got Milk?"

Frrrrreezing Frrrrriday

I tracked in clumps of mud and grass for months.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, I experienced my first pawsicles.

I thought pawsicles were the COLDEST until I stepped outside Wednesday morning and felt the -28 windchill (the coldest the city has been in 4 years)!!! After being outside for only a few minutes, I ran into the house and quickly tore the fitted sheet off my double donut bed then burrowed under the timbit to warm up my tootsies!!!!!!

Deep Freeze Day 3:  it was -16 overnight with a windchill of -23!!!

Brrrrrrr!!!!!

I think I may have to reconsider those booties, now!!!