Bear and Pila

First photo of the litter - the darker looking pups are still wet from delivery. Clicking on the photo will enlarge it.

Pila started labor last night Wednesday, January 29 at 11:45 pm (their 63rd day) -

Pups were born this afternoon - Thursday, December 30, 2010

3:30 pm - - - - one dark chocolate-brown tricolor male with a full wide collar and blaze, doubles both rear
3:45 pm - - - - one dark chocolate-brown tricolor female, no collar but a "Tinni-spot" on a white shoulder-bandana, blaze, doubles both rear
4:15 pm - - - - one dark chocolate-brown tricolor male, full collar, blaze, one double, one single
4:30 pm - - - - one dark chocolate-brown tricolor male, unusually shaped blaze, doubles both rear

Nathan Cox

David and Carolyn visited Arlington at Christmas to pay respect to Nathan's sacrifice.

Turdus migratorius

One thousand words - - - -
Red Robin in the Redbud tree, which is actually a legume and related to clovers, peas, green and yellow beans, soybeans, etc. ! Poetic, eh? Notice the seed pods, like peapods, on the Redbud.

(Click on photos to enlarge!)

Most people think that all Robins migrate south when autumn arrives but many stay here and forage on berries that persist on trees, especially fruit trees, and some shrubs, like viburnam species, during the winter. They normally don't visit bird feeders because they are not seed eaters.

Our American Robins (Turdus migratorius) are closely related to the European merle (Turdus merula) which is also a thrush. (It looks like an all black Robin.) Our common name, Robin redbreast, actually comes for the European Robin (Erithacus rubecula) which it is actually not closely related to.

We're waiting for Pila who is due any day(?) or moment(?) now.

CERFs

We passed our CERF tests this week. It was also the last week of classes at Sportsmen's. I'm going to enjoy the break! Kathy just had a litter last Friday - nine puppies. Congratulations.

Kata, CGC, CD, RN, RA, RE

Last weekend my almost nine year old Kata and my almost 70 year old self entered our first AKC agility shows in East Lansing, Michigan.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday we did Novice A Jumper With Weaves and Novice Standard. We failed to qualify twice, one JWW and one Standard, but got two legs in both JWW and Standard. She came in first twice (JWW and Standard with 100 points each) and second twice (JWW and Standard with 95 points each).

I am totally surprised; she wasn't. It was great fun but we've both been tired all week. It was three hours in the car each day. The other members of the pack stayed home alone from about 6:00 am to 8:00 pm - - with no damage or accidents. That's probably even more amazing. We have at least a month to practice some more before we enter more trials.

Bear (Bersi av Isheim) and Pila (Vinlands Piaf) are definitely expecting around the beginning of the New Year. (Thanks Eileen!!) If you are interested in a puppy, be sure to fill out the puppy application. (See button at the left.)

Trials

Some photos from last week's agility, obedience, rally trials and conformation show. (I apologize for the blurry images.)