Jam and Dog Shows

Strawberry Jam and Fresh Corn Muffins. See the sticker on the small jar? I bought 2 dozen of these for .5 cents each at a garage sale this spring.

So, I was sitting around, whining about the fact that, while Leah and Luke are out doing all kinds of fun dog show stuff down in the states, I’m sitting here with no one to show. That’s when it occurred to me that I could show Delilah. And why not? She moves beautifully, she has a great head, and while her front is less than stellar, her over all structure is still definitely finishable. So, I decided to enter her in the Hamilton Kennel Club shows, which for some odd reason take place on June 25, 26 and 27th – that’s a Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I guess they were working on the theory that some businesses were closing the 26th in honor of Canada Day, which is actually July 2st. Or something. Either way, enter we did, only to hear a lot of whining from Sean about how he’d been away for twelve days, and there I was, on almost the only day off we’d be sharing together, trotting off to a dog show.

Fine, so I’d skip Thursday, and just enter her on Saturday and Sunday. That wasn’t much better – more whining about how much stuff we really needed to get caught up on around the house, and what about grocery shopping? And lawn mowing? And were we ever going to swim together in the pool?

Fine. I skipped Friday, even after I’d paid for and entered the show. I’d just go Saturday – that’s today – instead. That’s where Delilah came in – last night, she’s outside peeing, and I notice blood on the ground. Of course she’s bleeding – the one thing that you just don’t do is bring a bitch who’s in season to a dog show, so naturally Delilah would wait until the night before the only dog show I have concrete plans to take her to and she’d start bleeding now. Not next week, now.

This morning, after a nice leisurely sleep in, I get up, check Delilah’s bottom, and discover – nothing. No blood to be seen. I know I wasn’t hallucinating – there’s still some blood stains on the back patio. I can only assume she has a low level bladder infection, which would have in no way stopped me from bringing her to the show today.

Personally, I suspect this was all a plot on Delilah’s part. She’d heard the weather for this weekend, and said to herself “Walk around outside, in the rain? For nothing but a measly piece of liver? You’ve got to be joking”.

So, I spent this morning finishing off the last batch of strawberry jam, baking corn muffins and making semolina pizza dough. Delilah and Bunny ate bits of muffin off of the floor, and traded smug looks with one another on how remarkably easy it is to get humans to do your bidding.

The jam and the muffins turned out quite nicely. The pizza dough will be turned into Stromboli for tonight’s dinner – sausage, mushroom, peppers, fresh mozzarella and home made tomato sauce.

I guess that probably does beat standing around at a dog show in the rain.

updated: while I was writing this, Andrea phoned to tell me that Luke took Winners Dog and Best of Winners today in Valparaiso IN for a 4 pt major! Go Luke!