Another new Ch.

Tarea Blue Diamond Of Dune is now an AKC Champion! Congrats to owner Sherilyn Curti of Tarea on Lola's 5 point major at the supported entry in California. Lola is from the Reign x Rush breeding, co-bred by Dayl and I. Reign is Aurigan When Diamonds Reign, and Rush is Ch. Tarea Llynhill Audacious. I am hoping to get a picture of Lola soon ;)

Another puppy from this litter - Gristle aka Ch. Dunes Bluereigndrop Skihill Boy - made short work of his championship for his owner Julia Dancy in Colorado. He also got a few group placings along the way. (I had to get on my other computer to get this picture of Gristle and Julia getting a Group 2 in Oct of 2006)















Here is a picture of Aurigan When Diamonds Reign from when I was showing her. She had two 5pt majors and a single before she retired. Lola and Gristle are from her only litter.

New Ch Pic

Here he is, hot off the press.

We are in the process of planning a trip (or two) to Canada to do some showing there. Dayl lives close to the border now, and we enjoyed showing in B.C. a few years ago.

Other than that, Hunter may start some rally and/or herding. He is a super fun dog to do stuff with because he is all about having fun. It will be an new adventure for both of us.

Miss Ellyn and I will be starting handling classes soon, so that will keep us busy too. Also, I am going to *try* to help Jesse start showing.

Our next shows wont be until Albany. See you then!

It's Only Taken 10 Years...

Introducing....
New Champion Aurigan Dunes National Treasure














Hunter showed very well for me today as he got his final point toward his AKC Champion title. I didn't know whether I was going to cry, puke, pass out or pee my pants!
I thank Dayl Phillip and Pam Bennett for letting Hunter come and live with Jesse and I. Hunter is the first Cardigan I have finished on my own. A feeling that I have been patiently waiting to feel since I got Auri (Hunter's great-grandma) in 1999.
Hunter began his career in Puyallup in June '08 and finished in Puyallup in Jan of '09. Not the quickest or flashiest win record, but he was fairly consistent at getting reserve or better (and the Best of Breed wins were amazing!)














I couldn't help but take this picture of Mt. Rainier last night at sunset from the balcony of my in-laws home. It was completely cloudy and gray but somehow - from somewhere - the sun was shining through.

Made It

We successfully made it to Puyallup last night... at midnight...

We got to the exit for White Pass at mile post 68 and decided that we would wait for the road to re-open. We heard that there would be a pilot car taking people back and forth. We stopped at a restaurant and went in for some food about 9pm. There were signs up for people to take shelter at a nearby school but we thought we would just wait awhile. From where we were parked, we watched many people turn around and get back on the highway to go back south, there were people talking to the cop that guarded the north bound entrance to the highway who was telling people to either stick it out or turn around, and there were many trucks just sitting there waiting.

Between the soup/salad and our main meals a couple came up to us and asked us if we were stranded and needed to get north - low and behold they were the ones with the pilot car (which was unmarked) helping people get around I-5! Apparently, they had been helping people get around since 7pm, even though the news and all radio reports had the way blocked with no detour in place.

Jesse and I got our dinners to go and followed the pilot car east of the highway to high and dry land. We didn't actually see any bad water issues until we got back into Centralia. What a mess! Jesse and I are both from Dayton, WA which had a major 100 year flood in the mid 90s. We hadn't seen bad flooding, with our own eyes, like they have over here since then. Hotels with water more than half way up the doors, a semi truck that had water up to its doors, homes abandoned for 5 feet of water, washed out roads, and businesses and restaurants obviously not open for business any time soon.

We wrote down the detour directions in case we need to use them on the way back!

So, all in all I am glad we made the trek! Carol Edmund's dog Ace was WD/BOS today and Mirage with Mike was BW/BOW and Emily Fish's Secret was BOB. Hunter went Reserve.

See more of you tomorrow maybe???

Keep Your Fingers Crossed

We are going to attempt to make it to Puyallup - we have an alternate route planned thru the gorge and up in a round about way avoiding Centralia area... it will probably take us 10 or so hours to get there, but we have nothing better to do this weekend.
Good thing Jesse is going with me!
And we're off!

Water Water Everywhere

It is not looking good for us traveling over the mountain for the Puyallup, WA shows today. Major flooding and avalanches have basically shut down any travel from the west to east side - even going thru Oregon looks bleak as I-5 is closed at Centralia to Olympia. I am really bummed... but maybe the pass will be open tomorrow and I can at least make Saturday and/or Sunday showing.
I have a lovely cold and took a trip to the ER yesterday for heart issues, so maybe mother nature is looking out for me and telling me to stay home and get some rest!