The last day...

Tonight is the last training session before THE TEST on Sunday. Just my luck, that this falls on April Fools Day! Is hould add that for those who are not up to speed, this is Indi's obedience test. She and I are taking it for the second time round as we didn't pass it last time. I'm feeling more confident this time as I know she can do what is asked from her...last time she couldn't but I went for the experience anyway. So, for the last two weeks we have been doing practice runs for the test and she would have passed on both occasions. I'm starting to feel the pressure now...hopefully all will go OK tonight as well.

I must say though I am a little apprehensive because if she does pass she'll be in the Intermediate class - a whole new ball game entirely where it is extremely hard (I think).

Incidentally Chief is booked in to start his lessons from 11th April on a Thursday. Problem is, the class doesn't start till 8:30. Chief has normally been asleep for about two hours by then!

Intrac

Took the dogs to have their kennel cough vaccinations today. This is a vaccine that is administered through the nose. Indi was fine but the vet and I were chasing Chief around the room! He didn't like it at all! Still, it was OK in the end...

I also went over to see D & C's new house. They moved yesterday so popped round with the dawgs. Its a nice place over in Essington. The dogs had a good run round in the back garden (and a drink out the pond)!

Don David

Had an unexpected dinner invite today. R rang up and asked if I wanted to pop round for a beer. So, off I went, had a couple of Stella's then they asked if I'd like to stay for tea (obviously I did!). Had steak, chips &....something!. Was very nice, think the something was mushrooms onions and celery? The wine was Don David, now this was something special. Really, really nice. Apparently it was bought from West End Wine - a small shop just down the road. I think I'm going to have to go and get some!

We also decided to get the dogs to know each other better so we don't have to keep leaving them in if we go round each others house.

Well, the car passed its MOT - wonders will never cease! I still don't know how though as the indicator is still not working. Still its good for another couple of months. Hopefully the RAV 4 will be here in about 6 weeks. Can't wait!

Also went down to Bournemouth, was OK...nothing special...took my customers - CT. They seemed to have a good time. I didn't have a lot to drink and was able to be back on Saturday morning at 8:15. Talking of Saturday, I went over the Chase and had a good walk around. I also started to clean the grout in the kitchen floor. This has gradually started to turn brown with grime (it should be light grey). Cleaned it all off and then applied some grout protector, this should keep it looking (relatively) good.

Went over to Cannock on Saturday night. R & L cam out along with A & C. Was a good night I thought. Usual places (Bank, Bar Sport, etc). Sunday was a relatively quiet day. Did a spot more on the floor, watched the MotoGP, took the dogs for a walk and that was about it! It was nice to have a quiet couple of days though...

Plans for the weeks ahead

Thought I'd take a little bit of time to outline my plans for the upcoming few weeks. Today, I have to catch a train for the first time in years. It's only from Rugeley to Birmingham but I'm actually quite looking forward to it. The reason I'm doing this is to go and collect my car from the garage where its having its MOT. Normally my Dad would take me but he's not around today so I droped the car off last night and am fetching it back today (hope it passes)!

Tomorrow, I'm heading off to Bournemouth where I have to attend the IMC Dinner at The Wessex Hotel. I went last year and it was OK. Nothing spectacular but OK. I've got to stay the night so I'm a bit worried about Chiefy as he has been waking earlier and earlier (today it was 6:00). When he wakes he cries and whimpers and I don't think my neighbours appreciate it at that time in the morning.

Off out as well on Saturday night, L & R are supposed to be coming out for the first time in ages so it should be a good night. They were supposed to be out last week but unfortunately, their daughter was ill - the joys of kids...

Oh I should say as well that I'm seeing my solicitor on Friday. I've had to change solicitor as I was unhappy with the service I was receiving from my last one. Hopefully all seems to be progressing quite smoothly now. There've been a couple of hiccups along the way but I think we've finally managed to get things on track. The divorce petition has been issued and the financial settlement agreed. Now, it just needs documenting and signing. We should be able to do this in the next week or so with a bit of luck.

Next week I've got a relatively quiet week. The glazing company are coming to replace the patio window (again) on Monday. They came a couple of weeks ago but realised after they'd taken the window out that they'd brought the wrong size replacement with them!

D & C are moving house hopefully on the 27th so I said I'd give them a hand if I could. Problem is I'm also in Rugby in the morning so not sure what help I'll be able to offer though. Still if I can get finished early enough I'll pop over to see if I can lift some boxes etc.

I've got a week off soon as well. I'm finishing on the 5th, then returning to work on the 16th. Not a bad holiday. Officially its only a week off work but because of the Easter holidays, I am having in effect a week and a half off work. I've also got to take my parents to the airport on Easter Saturday. They're going to Mexico for a fortnight...lucky beggars!

Bloody tyres!!!!!!!!

My car's MOT is due to expire on Sunday so I've booked it in for an MOT today (Thursday). When I was on the phone to the guy at the garage he suggested that I take it to Kwik-Fit first just to check if it needed any tyres prior to the MOT. Good idea I thought...off I go to Kwik-Fit, where a fitter checked the tyres over and said 2 were fine, however 2 were borderline. As the car is leased, the lease company tends to want the tyres to be illegal before they are replaced so he suggested I come back on the following week (this week) as more would have worn down. So, I go back to Kwik-Fit on Tuesday of this week where I see another chap. He tells me that all 4 need replacing and 3 are illegal! Of course, they don't have them in stock so I have a bit of a nervous wait to see if the tyres come in to be fitted in readiness for the car's MOST today! If the tyres were that bad, why didn't the first Kwik-Fit guy pick up on this? This could all have been sorted out last week. Anyway, as it happened the tyres did come in, although I had to wait over 2 hours for them to be fitted. So much for "Kwik"-Fit!

Camera woes...

I think I've finally managed to get my camera sorted out. I currently use a Canon IXUS 750. It's very nice and easy to use but for some reason I've always struggled to get a decent picture. Anyway, I've been playing around with the settings and seem to have hit on a suitable mix of exposure, ISO, AF, etc. Hopefully some of the shots that I take should now be better!

and not to be left out...

Indi...

Chief pics

Managed to get some good pics of Chief today...hope you like them...

Richmond & PArking Wardens

Had to travel to Richmond today for work. They are renowned for their pretty much anti-car policy. They were the borough that attempted to ban 4 x 4's a while back...anyway I paid £6 to leave the car for 4 hours, however I thought it was £6 for 6 hours. I was therefore a little annoyed to find that on my return I had a nice parking ticket as I was 9 minutes over the allotted 4 hours! This will now cost me £40! Bloody parking wardens!

The Internet...continued...

Finally managed to get K & L's broadband connection working on all of their computers. The problem was that Orange use a "Livebox" as their Wireless route. This uses WEP & WPA security. This is fine for most computers but the newest laptop did not like this "dual" security standard. I changed the Livebox config to be only WEP and hey presto all worked...

If anyone reading this wants the settings then do the following:

Log into the Livebox 192.168.1.1
UN/PW = admin
Change the security settings to WEP only.

This should work...

Rugby and the Internet

Decide to take the dogs over the Chase. Went to a part of the Chase I don't normally go to but it's renowned for being a bit quieter than my usual haunts. Sure enough it was dead - not a soul around. We had a good walk and both dogs were very tired afterwards! I have to be a little bit careful with Chief that he's not walked too far. He's still only a pup really and you can damage their bone development if they are pushed too hard too soon.

Came back and then they had a nap for a while - in Indi's case, a Power nap! Went round K & L's later. They've had broadband fitted and needed some assistance in setting up their wireless connection. Managaed to get most of it working although strangely, the newest laptopn was the only one that wouldn't connect. Will have to finish it tomorrow as we then went to the pub to watch the England/Wales rugby match. Shouldn't have bothered, England lost...surprise, surprise...

Luton

Went to MTL's HQ in Luton today to have a meeting with Dan and also to talk to some International Distributors about MOST and the difficulties/benefits of employing a System Integrator to work with you to win a project. Considering these guys came from all ove the planet, they all had a pretty good grasp of English and it all seemed to go well. Cam back home about 5:30 expecting a quiet night in with the hounds but then had a text from K saying they were going out! A quick change later and out I went. Chief and Indi had a bit of a fight today. Chief thought that Indi was having more food than him so he nipped Indi's tongue. Nothing serious, he's just asserting his dominance over her. They were OK again after wards although Indi was a bit wary of him for a while.

The week so far...

Decided I'd try and update the blog a bit more often again...I seem to have slipped quite a lot of late, writing just one entry for the whole of the week which I am sure misses out on a whole heap of things that may have happened that I have since forgotten about.

On Monday, Indi, Chief and I went to view some kennels local to myself. I have a Sales Meeting to attend in a few weeks and my normal dog-sitters (my parents) are also on holiday that week. So, its off to the kennels for my furry friends. Indi has no problem with kennels, she sees it as a bit of a holiday - Chief on the other hand has a problem with them. The last time he was in them he chewed his paw, so I was anxious he should go and see them prior to me leaving them there. Anyway, all was fine. Chief seemed nice and relaxed, Indi just wanted to get in there and then! I've booked them both in anyway so hopefully all will be fine.

What else has been happening this week then? A glazing company came to replace some scratched patio doors on the house. They took all the glass out, only to discover they had bought the wrong size! Glass went back in and I'll now have to wait for them to bring the right size...

Work wise, its not been too bad. One trip up to Congleton and another to Luton tomorrow and should be another week over with. Got a busy week with work next week though. London on Monday, Widnes on Wednesday, Sutton on Thursday, then Bournemouth on Friday (and night)!

Off to dog training in a minute with Indi. Chief has to stay at home at the moment until a new class starts in April. To be honest I think he enjoys the rest!

No idea what I'm doing this weekend, I'm a bit strapped for cash at the moment so don't really mind if its a quiet one. Impending legal costs are making me try and keep my cash as much as I can as I know its only a matter of time before I'll need to pay out.

Crufts

Went and spent the day at Crufts on Friday. I normally go most years and I try and get there on the day the Malamutes are being shown. I had a good day, I met up with some people who I know and also met some people I didn't know previously. This year, there was a lot of interest in the Malamutes. It was packed at the ring when they were doing the judging. Best of Breed eventually went to CH Giving A New Royal Star De Jungla Negra. I think the dog is spanish but now owned by an Italian breeder. Anyway, he was stunning and the clear winner. He also then went on t take Best in Group and so appeared in the final 7 dogs judged for Best In Show last night. Unfortunately he didn't win, he was unsettled in the ring and cerainly didn't move as well as he had on Friday. The Best In Show went to a Tibetan Terrier called Fabulous Willy and he thoroughly deserved it.

Sellafield

Had to go to Sellafield on Tuesday for (another) exhibition. This should be my last one for a while though. Christ its a long way! I just thought up the M6, turn left at Junction 36 then along for a bit. Well, that bit was 2 and a half hours along (mainly) single carriageway roads. It reminded me of when you go to Wales or Cornwall in the summer and you're folloing a caravan for what seems like an absolute age! Anyway, I got there in the end and completed the exhibition. It wasn't worth it...

That day I had to be up at 3:30, in Sellafield for 8:30, attend the exhibition and then drive home. I finally got back at just after 7:00 having completed the best part of 400 miles.

Labels

Been doing a spot of blog maintenance...I've added labels to my posts so hopefully you should be able to sort through the posts by relevance...

A bit more about Chief...

Thought I'd write a little about Chief so we all know a little more about him...

Chief is a 9 month old male Malamute. He was bred for show and temperament. He is approximately 35 kg's at present (a trip to the vet's in the week will confirm this) and I reckon his adult weight will be somewhere around the 38-40 kg's mark. He is a wolf grey and white and has slightly longer fur than Indi, although still well within the breed standard. At the moment, one of his ear's hasn't "come up". When Malamute's are born, their ears are folded down. Normally by the time they are a few months old, their ears stick up. Chief's has yet to do that and I think at 9 months, is unlikely to now. No problem for me (or him) but he could not be shown like that I don't think. You can get some plastic inserts to put in the ear to try and encourage them up but I don't think I'll be doing that! It's likely that he has damaged it whilst he was a pup, perhaps from an over-exuberant play fight...

His KC name is Koldsnap Crakerjack, changed to also add the affix of the breeders he was sold to. He is a lovely natured lad, very gentle, placid and laid-back, pretty much the opposite of Indi - let's hope opposites attract!

My intention is to run both him and Indi on the Kickbike and perhaps a rig at some point. Maybe, if they get good, I might enter into some rallies...who knows. He's still too young to be doing any serious pulling anyway, the recommendation is to not start them until they are at least 12 months old. Unfortunately though, that will be in summer so Chief's pulling days won't start until the end of the year I suspect.

Anyway, I'll write more about Chief as we get to know him. I hope he's now found his forever home with us...

The arrival of Chief

So, a couple of weeks ago, I posted about the potential homing of Chief. Well, I'm pleased to say he's here! After we went up to see him at his breeders, he came down to us on the Saturday and Sunday and he and Indi still got along, so after a bit of thinking I decided to give it a whirl. At the time of writing, he's been here a day and they're both fast asleep in their respective kennels. On the subject of kennels, I (obviously) had to order a new kennel for Chief. After a bit of digging around I went for one from Collis Sheds. It's great! It's bigger than Indi's by a foot in width but in all fairness I don't think Chief would have fitted in a kennel the same size as Indi's - he's a big lad!

So, I picked him up yesterday morning and brought him home. I think his breeder was upset to see him go and I'm pretty sure they'll miss him a lot. However, she knows he's going to a good home and I'll do everything I can for both him and Indi.

Anyway, we arrived back at my house, I let him have a sniff round for a while and then let Indi out to see him. They both were genuinely excited to see each other so that was a good sign. We then went out for a quick mile long walk and came back and had a bit of a play around. In the afternoon, I took them both over the Chase with my Dad. My intention was to tire them out as much as possible so they'd both sleep at night. I'd already warned the neighbours that he was coming - something I thought prudent as he is not used to sleeping outside! A malamute's howl can be quite loud at 3 in the morning!

They had a bit of a spat just before bedtime, they're both finding their feet at the minute and I think it was because Indi was in Chief's kennel. Anyway, Indi was a bit wary of him after that for a while but all is OK again this morning. I had a bit of a sleepless night as I was straining to hear for any noises emanating from their direction. Suffice to say I didn't hear a peep out of them until about 6:30 where I heard Chief whinging. So far, so good...

It's been a while...

Just noticed that my last entry was 18th Feb! I'm slipping! To be honest though I've been struggling with time what with one thing and another. So, where shall I start? OK, it seems like the divorce is progressing...petition is apparently in to the courts and I should hear back from then pretty soon.

Work's been OK, completed my bout of exhibitions, well, I say completed, I've still got one more to do next week but that's only a one day event. Next week is also the start of Crufts - the world's largest dog show. I'm hoping to go on the Friday. I've booked the day off but with the arrival of a certain you-know-who, I'm just playing it by ear at the moment. I should say here that Chief has arrived. I'll write about him in a separate post though...