Almost the last update on the studio. The shower is now finished and looks very nice. I love the tiles and would like them in our en-suite one day. The ones we have are horrible but as usual it's a question of priorities!
We have a few more bits to do like choosing and fitting some flooring to the toilet/shower area, making the outside steps, fixing the rainwater pipes but almost there.
Oak sleepers that Andy got from the farm across the road. These will be made into steps.
Our friend Andy is good at fixing clocks and he has managed to mend our old Captain's clock. We haven't had it running since we moved here and so it's nice to have it back. It now lives in the studio and looks good against the oak doors.
The new blinds fitted very well by the 'blind' man!
That's it on the studio for now. Hopefully I will be able to report that it is completely finished in the very near future! It's hard to believe that just seven months ago we moved the greenhouse and now this stands in its place!
It's been a while since I put anything on about the studio build but that's mainly because I haven't time to blog because we've been so busy doing stuff like ..... the studio build. It's very irritating when life gets so busy that you simply don't have time to blog!
Anyway work is almost finished. We have a few bits still to do like tiling out the shower, laying a floor in the toilet/shower area, finishing off the rainwater pipes and building steps outside the two doors but I think all that will be completed quite soon.
Michael did a lot of stuff for us and we are really grateful as his workmanship is superb. He had a hard act to follow in Al but between them they have been brilliant. Andy has also done quite a few bits himself including putting up the oak above the shelf which I think looks really nice and laying the laminate flooring in the main area. Anyway, here are some pictures of the almost completed project:
The back door leading off my dog washing/log store area
The kitchen before the fridge
The kitchen with its new (black) fridge!
The wall prior to oak panelling (darn doglets get everywhere!)
and with the oak panelling (much nicer I think!)
The treatment table in place
The lounge area
Shower waiting to be tiled and for shower door to be fitted ... oh and for the shower to be fitted!
Dinky little toilet and basin!
The day we kitted it out it was so funny to see the dogs. Each one of them came in to investigate the new space. Niamh came in and got straight on the new sofa and curled up. How naughty is that!
Andy has started to use the studio for treatments and so far everyone loves it and finds it a nice relaxing space to be in.
Today the Blind Man (bad English I know but it makes us laugh) is coming to fit the blinds to the french doors and the two windows so that will be the main area complete apart from the step outside the french doors.
He is also fitting blinds to my bedroom and en-suite windows in the house. Hurrah almost three years and I'm finally getting blinds in those two rooms. I hope he can see what he's doing ;o)
Another fun but tiring weekend been and gone! This weekend was Wallingford show for us. We were booked to camp but decided it was a bit cold plus Andy thought it would be a good idea to catch up on some work and spend Sunday with Al working on the studio. Haven't done any photos on that recently but things are progressing and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Will take some pictures and do an update later in the week.
This meant driving back and forth to Newbury but I decided it was worth it. It was Zeki's first G4 show and so I was keen to try to move her up another grade as I want more challenging courses for us to run. I am very pleased to say that we achieved this goal on our first day when she won G4/5 agility. I haven't got this round on video but I was really thrilled with her. It was the best round we've done to date and I knew we couldn't have done it better. It was a slightly trickier course than we were running in the G1-3 and I really enjoyed the challenge of a start which had several ways of handling and a pull through right at the end. Good stuff! We also got 5th in G4/5 jumping and 2nd in the medium pairs with Karen and Todd.
Not such a good day with NN. She worked beautifully her G7 jumping only to be piloted over the wrong jump three from the finish (not that she knew!) and then she had one of her funny little spooky turns in the G7 agility. She was running really well but something unnerved her and she ended up falling off the see saw at speed. I put her over it again and she was fine but still looking over her shoulder at something outside the ring. She was very sniffy this weekend and whatever she was sniffing was spooking her. I resolved to get her out round the rings with a pot of food come Sunday!
Karen and Todd had a fantastic day winning both their G7 jumping and agility and getting the 2nd place in the pairs.
Here are some pictures of our wonderful little shelties and their Saturday haul:
Back we went again on Sunday morning. I decided to take little Pops with me on Sunday. She had stayed at home with Andy on Saturday and had a lovely day out in the garden but I knew she wanted to come with me on Sunday morning so she did! She had a wonderful day with a long session out by the rings killing her chippie chipmunk and a nice walk with just me and her. She was exhausted when she got home. Perfect.
I decided to have each dog out individually on Sunday and after Poppy had her time I took Niamh out with a pot of sausage. She was a bit spooky but we went to the edge of the ring where she had been frightened and played games and did tricks. She got over it and was fine for the rest of the show. She worked so well in David Isbister's lovely G7 agility and like a fool I charged at a fast weave entry (down hill) and she slipped into the second gap. Stupid handler, lovely dog. I managed to make amends in the G7 jumping where we came 3rd. She worked beautifully in both her rounds so I felt much better. I so love my Naughty Niamh and feel very upset when she is unhappy. She's such a bright funny girl and it's horrible to see her miserable.
Then it was Zeki's turn and she was awful. Screaming at the ring and lunging. I was terrified she would slip her collar. I can't use her little agility harness for walking round the rings as she can back out of it, so I decided to buy her a new harness just for socialising round the rings. I had realised that I only take her to the ring when it's her turn as she is such a handful and I need to do more work with her but chicken out of it as I'm afraid she'll get loose. She can't get loose now as she has one of these! It fits her really well and I feel very confident. It's a shame this style don't come in the same lovely colours as the original harnesses made by these people but I still managed to get pink and black! I like it because you can unclip the collar as well as the bit that goes round their tummies. It fits her much better than the original style of fleece harness where she was between sizes. This new style is almost tailor-made as they come in three sections and your dog is fitted with each element to make sure of a snug fit. Very good!
Little Zeki; what can I say. She was a star coming 2nd in G4/5 agility and then 2nd in the team Dash with our team mates Karen, Jenny and Rosie. We were beaten only by a large dog team. I was so proud of Zeki running clear in her first team; thank you girls for letting me run first.
I really enjoyed the agility class that she came 2nd in as there was some handling and it was a bit different from most of the classes we have run. It was great that Karen filmed it for me.
I can't wait for the next show!
I am also looking forward to seeing little Kizzle running. She's only done one show so far this year. She and Andy are rather rusty as they haven't competed, apart from this one show, since last September. Andy has very limited time to train at the moment due to work commitments, college and the studio build. On top of this the garden is starting to come to life so things are very busy for him. I think I might have to do a little training with Kizzle to get her back to her peak! Don't mention this to Andy, I will just sneak up the garden with her and pretend I'm throwing the ball which is part of her fitness regime as she is a rather lazy little girl on her walks most of the time!
Well, I have neglected the blog somewhat so I think it is time for a decent update on lots of different things but where to begin!
The studio build is moving along at a good pace considering the little time we have to spend on it. We being the royal we of course ;o) Yesterday Al did the first fix of electrics as all the insulation has been fitted with help from Michael. I think the plan is that this week Michael will make a start on the plaster boarding and get as far as he can so that Al can hopefully do the final fix electrics next weekend. Not sure how much Michael will be able to fit in though because they have a very important event due to happen this week - the birth of their first baby so we are wishing Ellen and Michael all the luck in the world and we look forward to meeting the new arrival very soon.
Since my last update, Poppy has been back to the vet. The specialist referred us back to Nico our own vet which is good because it's more affordable and Poppy loves it there. She is back on steroids for a couple of weeks and this is in conjunction with her new inhaler. She has one more day of steroids and then we have to go with the inhaler by itself for two weeks before going back to Nico to re-assess things. The coughing is definitely less so I hope it is working. The shock of the cost of the inhaler - yikes, £77 and then the prescription £75 which is just one month's worth of drug. Obviously we hope to get her on a lower dose if we can get it under control and I am going to try to source the drug on the internet. Nico has given me all the details and will write me a prescription when I need it. I didn't have to ask he suggested we go down that route as it's so expensive. He is such a practical and excellent vet. I know I keep saying this but it's so important to have a great vet when you have lots of animals and want to be involved in their treatment.
As already posted, today is Poppy's thirteenth birthday and she is looking amazing for her age. She is like a little spring lamb at the moment and really enjoying her walks especially as the shooting is winding down a bit. She is extremely naughty and rolls in fox muck almost every walk but I don't care as long as she's enjoying herself. The only slightly irritating thing is that when we head for home she tends to come into heel and rub her head on my leg which isn't nice as I end up covered as well as her! Bad little doglet! I took her round the rings at the Easter show on Sunday and she loved it. She was out with me for well over an hour with her little chipmunk. She kept presenting it to people to kick for her and then when she got fed up with that she was mugging people for food. Nearly everyone stopped and found something for her in their pocket. She has become very greedy in her old age! I love it!
Agility shows - are now really starting properly. We were very lucky at the weekend in that John Ward and the rest of the committee managed to get the show transferred inside. It must be a logistical nightmare for them but they did it and we all had a great time. Without that effort it would have been cancelled as the ground outside was water logged. I know it's nicer to be outside on grass but I'd rather have an indoor show than none at all so thank you to all the people involved.
Thank you to my wonderful doglets who made my weekend very special. Zeki won three Easter Eggs getting two first places and one second place. She worked like a dream and at last I'm starting to feel we are becoming a team. I can't wait to run her again. Our confidence is really starting to grow and we're beginning to perform as we can in training. Yippee. On Saturday I did both of Zeki's runs but only a couple with Niamh. My back was very painful on Saturday and I was unable to run very well. I had one of those heated belts on (kindly given to me by Elspeth) and that really helped. Leah ran Niamh in her jumping classes and got one clear and one elimination which was unfortunate. I ran in the KC qualifier but we had a pole down, even without it we wouldn't have been fast enough as the course was very quick and there were some megga runs. I felt a lot better by Sunday and decided to run my dogs. I'm glad I did as Niamh and I managed a clear in the G7 agility and I was delighted to get 7th place. It was quite a tricky course and I really enjoyed it.
Zeki and me at the Easter show - photos by Bernadette!
Kizzy and Andy competed for the first time since last September at the Easter Show. Andy really enjoyed running her again but they are a little ring rusty to say the least! Kizzy pulled off a couple of tunnels which was a shame because she was going great guns in both rounds that she did this. I think they just need ring practise to get back into the groove.
Leah got a superb clear round with Murphy in the G6 jumping coming 10th. They had a bit of a glitch on the last of three pull throughs otherwise the round was perfect. Is this the first of many; or is it Murphy's clear round for 2010 - watch this space!
Here is Zeki Beeks with her weekend haul. What a clever little girl!
Zeki with her trophies, rosettes and Easter Eggs from the Easter Celebration Show. 1st Graded 1-5 Agility (she was the fastest dog overall); 2nd Combined 1-3 Agility and 1st Graded 1-5 Jumping
The above photo was taken this Tuesday morning and note all three eggs are untouched. Andy will be the lucky recipient of this chocolate as it is a banned substance for me. I am in to week four of my healthier eating regime (trying not to call it a DIET). So far so good, a way to go but I'm getting there and feeling better for it. It's annoying that my stupid back is playing up. I think I'm going to have to go back for the facet joint injections. Haven't had them for about five years and that seems to be the longest I can go without the pain starting to come back. Damn nuisance.
Last weekend (I'm going backwards here!) we went to Downland show and had a lovely day as it was nice and sunny. It was a small/medium show so just Zeki running; we didn't win anything but both her rounds were good with just silly mistakes. We then had a nice walk on Ashdown Forest with Karen and her gang. Andy went to Newbury that day to judge the first of the UKA Masters series. He really enjoyed it as the standard was very good. It was exciting because the overall winner of each of the four height categories won £100 cash. I think I might enter one with Niamh if I am free when they are taking place. The only thing that was annoying was that it was a small KC Olympia qualifier at Downland and Kizzy had to miss out!
I really must do a training update. That will be next!
I am very late with this update as the work in this picture was completed two weeks ago in just one day as Al could only come here on the Sunday. Then we had a complete weekend off as he had other commitments so nothing more was done until this last weekend of February. I haven't taken any photos of that stage yet so I'll do another post shortly.
It's really taking shape and starting to look like a building rather than a box.
Al could only come over for one day last weekend so Andy spent some time on the Saturday fixing battens to the walls ready for Al to put the weather boarding up on the Sunday. Here are the results of their limited labour - amazing! It's really starting to take shape now and I am very glad we opted for the oak weather boarding rather than the man made version. It is particularly impressive bearing in mind that Andy is suffering from man 'flu!
Things are progressing at a really good pace thanks to the efforts of Al and his labourer, Andy. Downside of this means that we get to spend no time together at weekends but upside is that I don't feel so guilty going off and doing agility/doggie things!
This studio will be dedicated to Fox's Crunch Creams of which Al gets through many packets together with Bakewell Tarts, Soup, Pasties, Toast and numerous cups of tea.
The only job that we have had to outsource has been the flat roof which was done a week ago last Monday ready for Al to start the tiling last weekend. I think the plan for this coming weekend is to try to get the weatherboarding up on the front of the building and perhaps get the doors in place. We have decided to go for oak weatherboarding rather than the man made stuff which is completely maintenance free. I think the colours aren't what we want and will look too glaring. The oak will weather and look much nicer (I hope!) I don't really like the doors that we have but they were free so they will have to do until we can afford something nicer. The end door which will give outside access to the toilet is oak and that's what we want throughout but all in good time!
Al and Andy have worked really hard to get this far in just eight days total. They have worked through bitterly cold weather, pouring rain and in the dark. Good boys.
Oak sleepers that Andy got from the farm across the road. These will be made into steps.
Our friend Andy is good at fixing clocks and he has managed to mend our old Captain's clock. We haven't had it running since we moved here and so it's nice to have it back. It now lives in the studio and looks good against the oak doors.
The new blinds fitted very well by the 'blind' man!
That's it on the studio for now. Hopefully I will be able to report that it is completely finished in the very near future! It's hard to believe that just seven months ago we moved the greenhouse and now this stands in its place!
to this:
and finally:
