Happy Birthday Rowan!!!!! June 5, 2008
And Happy Birthday to Jazz & Max as well!
I can’t believe that Rowan is three… It seems like I was just flying to CA to meet Cindy and pick up my male pup….what happened!
Rowan – 10 or 11 weeks old
And at 8 weeks………gawd! The day she came home with me.
And now… what a perfect Staffy female IMO… she is so well balanced & compact – a sport model! (14 7/8 / 30!) I am so thankful to have her in my life and as my teammate in agility.
Happy Birthday, Irish Pride June 5, 2008
I have to send a belated Happy Birthday out to Irish Pride, ol’ Three Legs, Wizzle Wazzle Wuzzle….. She and he littermates, Butchie, Morg, & Yeller (did I forget someone??) had their 10TH Birthday at the end of May! Here’s to 10 more… cuz with our luck there will be 10 more years of still getting into the trash…. eating my flip flops…. and many many wizzle sessions! Ahhhhhh… gotta love these Red Dogs!
young – agility lovin’ Pride……..
Pride at 8 – she doesn’t look much different now 
maybe just a little more grey.
And I must also say Happy Birthday to Izzy – who has a birthday in the same week as Pride… and who’s Mom always reminds me about Pride’s Birthday!
The End of (this) Fitness Challenge April 21, 2008
I have now completed 12 really valuable weeks of my life (15, really… I started that diet parts 3 weeks early). For those of you not around me every day or have not read the fine print here for a while… I was on a 12 week fitness challenge with many of my fellow classmates in my agility class with Daisy Peel.
The final stats: I lost 30 #’s. I know I am running faster and the dogs are having more fun in agility. Today we talked about what we were going to eat… now that we could eat whatever we wanted. The best I could come up with was a hamburger… which I have been craving for two weeks now… but Daisy was going to have buttermilk pancakes….. yum! breakfast and a nap for me – cuz I would be in a sugar coma!
Next one will probably start after Memorial day and I will be signing up! I promised myself an IPod if I got through a second challenge and I need to keep up with this.
And although the rigor of keeping an on-line food journal and tracking my progress will not be critical… I will still maintain a good workout schedule at the “Y” and watch my food intake. I’d like to think I have altered my habits after this long go and I don’t want to go back to the way it was…. Besides! for the first time in my life I weigh less than my skinny brother! (On the left)
More recently, you can see me here in my non-dog life!: http://baristamagazine.epubxpress.com/bam1
From bunny ears to a cone :( March 31, 2008
Well – Rowan came in the house from her am trip outside on Sunday am squinting……… I took her to the vet today. The vet took one look at her eye – stained it anyway – and told me what I feared – that she had something stuck in her eye ball. It looks like dirt the size of a pin head but it’s in there and not moving. The vet looked at me and more or less said… “I know you and I know you and your relationship with your dogs. I also know what you want to do with this dog – so I am sending you to the specialist. ” I don’t think she wanted to carry the guilt if something went wrong. (and I can’t blame her for that) I guess today is just an insane day in the world… A co-workers wife had to be taken to the hospital, Rowan’s eye, and my grandfather was taken to the hospital. ugh!
Tomorrow is the appointment with Dr. Cooley – she is very good but it costs a lot. But Lynn (Anna’s host mother) works there and she was able to get us an earlier appointment tomorrow – saving the emergency fees. I hope we can go to class on Wednesday – we will just have to see how it goes!
Happy Birthday to me December 25, 2007
Dave made me a marvelous multi-course meal in celebration of my birthday. I had spend some time the week prior in Atlanta for work and didn’t really want to have a big party but I mentioned that a dinner at home with my family would be nice…. and he delivered and surprised me with this: 
I realize that the image is big… but look at that menu! It was soooo good. Many Thanks to my BF and BFF 
Love you….
The Cottage Pie…..
The Garlic Soup and Irish Hard Cider
and at the end…….. 
2007 Turkey “Smack-Down” November 27, 2007
Well…. when you get Dave and I in any sort of a competition – there is bound to be a “smack-down”.
And so the story begins… a few months ago we thought it would be a swell idea to have Thanksgiving out at the Sandpiper Beach Resort in Pacific Beach, WA
Our parents have stayed here before and love it, they allow dogs, we have stayed here and there were 4 units left enough for the 11 people we had invited for the long weekend. The planning ensued. We set up our high tech google notebook (and trained our Mom’s on how to use it… after I learned…) We had it all divvied up – Dave and I would do the Turkey and stuffing and they would take care of the rest! As the weekend got closer it became evident that Dave and I did not see eye to eye on how to make the Turkey…. “Brined Turkey… who wants to eat a salty Turkey?” Dave says. Heather responds “Dude – I do not want stuffing IN the Turkey – cook it outside if the bird.”
Then upon further consideration, after remembering the size of the ovens at Sandpiper and not coming to any sort of a “stuffing in or out” agreement, I suggested that we do two Turkeys. Well – That’s when the wheels start turning in Dave’s mind… I can see them… heck I practically HEAR them from across the room! I ask him… “Are you trying to make this into a competition?” He averts his eyes, blushes and in his best 9 year old impression says “no! – what do you mean by that??” My response…. “Oh – It’s on!” And so begins the 2008 Turkey Smack-down.
We had to make the playing field level – We started with two 10-ish# Turkeys from Sheltons – they were free range and fresh. From there we go our own way.
The Brined Bird: I was inspired by the fresh herb brine I found in the November issue of Fine Cooking. Then in combo with the Martha Stewart “cover in cheese cloth and baste with tons of butter and wine” method… a fine turkey is roasted!
The Non-Brine: Dave’s bird was apple stuffing inspired… allowing him to use cider in the rest of the recipe as well… a passion of his: http://oldtimeydave.wordpress.com. Using the same – butter and alcohol basting method – his bird turns out equally golden… if not a little more so, I will give him that. But I am still not a fan of stuffing in the bird… But that stuffing was darn good! But this was not the stuffing “smack-down” now was it?
So… who’s Turkey reined supreme? Will it be Chef Heather with her juicy and fresh herb infused turkey or will it be Chef David with his Old Timey Turkey? And the winner is:
………. the damn Ham….. no one would stop talking about that “secret family recipe” ham… “Uncle Phil’s Ham” that Huck brought. I guess in the end it all worked out OK. Our families were not forced to choose who was better. Dave and I are still speaking to each other. And we had two great Turkeys for a wonderful Thanksgiving! We certainly gave thanks for good food this weekend!
well, here goes nothing September 26, 2007
I decided that I would start a blog. Me and a billion other people – right? But I wanted to have a place to document my thoughts on training my dogs in agility and to post some of my favorite recipes that I have tried out recently! I hope you enjoy it. I hope that I do, too.
