MAY MEANDERINGS

Here it is, May 1st. May Day in some countries. For us, just another day with the dogs! But let's go back a day, to Friday. A lovely evening at the Watts, celebrating Lynn's 60th birthday and the very first day of her long-anticipated retirement. There was laugher, tears, good food, good convsersation, some lively entertainment from Gary (and his suitcase companion) ... a wonderful evening all 'round. Lynn's daughter Heather read out a very moving and emotional tribute to her mother, revealing to us all how Lynn's return to school and change in her career had inspired her to do likewise. There were a lot of teary eyes as she shared how proud she was of Lynn. As I was leaving, Lynn passed on a pet bed to me—one that apparently neither Jake nor Carly had taken a shine to. It appears to have passed the Silky/DSH test over here, however, as per the evidence below.

Saturday started out with a long drive out to Sooke, to walk a portion of the Galloping Goose trail at the Sooke Potholes. I hadn't been there before, and we only scratched the surface of different walks we can do out there—but it was a great change of pace to go somewhere new. Our numbers were a bit fewer than normal, likely because of the distance and/or time involved to get there. Some of the dogs new to the group did very well. Thor the mastiff and Kimble the soft-coated Wheaton terrier seem to be settling in nicely with the pack. It was really quite funny to watch Gemma walk along with Thor—a true contrast in size!

Six of us then sauntered off to Colwood to have some breakfast at the Royal Roads Cafe, wolfing down a week's worth of cholesterol, I'm sure. Then off to pick up some pet supplies at Bosley's, home to drop off the girls, then out to agility practice with Zack. I decided to give him a little one-on-one work, to see if I can get his level of enthusiasm up again. He's doing nicely, and we worked on sticking his contacts with me at a distance. Not totally reliable with those yet, but he's improving and that's all you can ask for. Peni is making steady progress with all three of her troupe. Betty, Switch and Hana are all showing the benefits of Peni's lessons with France Jackson. I think that those sessions have given both the dogs and her a big infusion of confidence and direction, and it shows. And it seems to have had the same effect on Lori and Mylo.

Tomorrow, we'll likely drop in on the fun match at AVID, and put the dogs in a few runs, just to keep them on the ball. And there's still a stack of contract work to work on tomorrow as well. And the lawn should probably be mowed in between rain showers sometime in the next couple of days. I'll probably post a few pictures from today on my Flickr site before staggering off to bed. Where DOES the weekend go???