Ok...digression from Joce...but wow!!

Ok...I just need to vent a little....arrrgggg!!! Why do I even bother?I have been thinking that often lately...but the thought comes more and more often!
This is two-fold, one is about people who bitch and complain about something that you did...and it takes them one month to discover...and the other is about differing opinions and when someone just puts an opinion out there, there always has to be someone who comes along and makes a sweeping statement!

On to the first....as I mentioned before I decided after 2 years of being ignored, unappreciated and discounted in my marriage and feeling like I was the only one making an effort to hold the marriage together that I would leave my husband. I won't go into details, as each has their view, and I feel that mine is right, but I made the decision and I moved back in with my parents. While I was here he told his family, and said things were "cool" between us, and that it shouldn't affect any of the relationships that I had with family or mutual friends. So two months later I went down to get all of my things, including my dog, and naturally no one helped my father, my nephew and I load up the moving truck. Now also in that month no one that I knew of these friends or family who were on my facebook account tried to contact me in anyway, nor did any of them call me. In fact two of his sisters "unfriended" me from facebook the day they found out about us splitting up...and one of them was very childish and made some stupid comments on my page right before she unfriended me. Ok...so what, I gave them 2 months, and the weekend that I was there, and then decided that I didn't need any extra baggage in my life...so I went through cleared up my FB friends, and got rid of many of them. So 1 month later I get a call from my soon to be ex, and he says that his niece is really upset that I unfriended her. He doesn't want to deal with her being upset, so can I fix this...Yeah I say, so I send her a friends request...she friended me...and then less than a week and a half later she unfriended me. Now I could care less...but WTF...I could deal with none of their drama in my life right now...as I have enough with no job, no money as I spent it all supporting my husband for the last 2 years, and everything else up here! Arrggg!! I am so glad that my "real" ex's family...the boy's English family has never been this petty and childish...
The second deals with people in general. I have posted recently on a group that I am on, and while the postings have in general not been that bad...someone HAD to come one and make a "sweeping" statement that something never happened where she worked..negating what someone else had had happen on two occasions. Now I have no idea if this happens...I have not checked it out...I had made a comment about being a little upset over a particular comment on an article...and this person went on to say don't read the comments, but got the location of the article completely wrong, putting it in the wrong newspaper. It is as if she was doing what she commented people do in her post.
Now I know that comments on stories upset me sometimes...but we were having a fairly decent back and forth before this post showed up...so I really got a bit upset...so much so I feel like I might leave the group for a while, or just not get emails from them for awhile! arrgg!!

Ok...I've ended the vent for the day...thank you

Happy Boxing Day...the day after Christmas....

So we have survived another Christmas! Blessed be!! I am so grateful, even though each one is getting more and more difficult to go through. My parents don't like to celebrate...they don't wan to decorate, but sometimes I think they do...and this causes some stress and strained nerves around Christmas. Then we had A up here this year, and he wanted a tree...so did I, but mom didn't want one...so we waited too long, and ended up with no tree because we ran out of time. Then dad was gone to TN to help his cousin move up here...and they got here 2 days before Christmas, so he was gone most of the time..and mom wasn't too happy about that. What fun!!
Again...we have survived....thank gods! I would love to be able to have my own place so that I could do what I want when I want it....and have the dogs have more access than they do...but right now I am grateful that I am here too. I hope that I will be able to find a job this year...fingers crossed!!
Puppies are sleeping, I am going to enter Novi this week and life is ok!!

Thank you Congress....and TX

Thanks to Congress and Tx I will still have money for about another 43 weeks. That is another 43 weeks of searching for a job, or hoping to find something to get by on!! I hope that something comes up before I run out completely...and I really really hate living on the small amount that I am getting now (although, that is so much better than the nothing I was fearing if congress hadn't passed the extension!! At least now I can afford to pay for my health insurance, my car insurance and the cell phone that I need, just in case someone decides that they want to interview me!!).  I may also be able to still occasionally show Joce, and to continue to hunt train her...which is good psychologically for me (and the hunt training is good physically too!! Good physical therapy for by continuing to heal broken ankle).

So Christmas is just around the corner, and no-one in our house, other than my youngest son is much in a Christmas mood. I did take some pictures of Joce and Math with a Santa hat on...these turned out pretty cute...

Do I have too??

Here is Math...being such a trooper...he really didn't want anything on his head!!











When I tried to take pictures of Joce....hahahaha...that was way too funny!! She wanted nothing to do with anything going on her head!!

I have  red and white bird in my mouth....

...really..it belongs in my mouth, not on my head!!



Mom...no...I don't want it on my head!!

But I finally got her...LOL...I waited until she was asleep, and then I went in for the pictures....I have found that is the way you get the pictures you want, you wait till the mighty Clumber puppy is asleep, and then you take the pictures!!!!




sleeping clumber....now to put the santa hat on and take the pictures...hahaha

the Santa hat picture...finally
...and Joce is thinking...you woke me up for this??

So I continued to snap some more pictures...

Please let me sleep....please....

I have what on my head...NO WAY...let me get it off....

...or maybe I'll just go back to sleep...ZZzzzzzz....

Earlier in the month, when we had our first snow, here is how the puppies reacted....Joce absolutely loves it, and Math does too....they romp and run and don't want to come back in!!!




My new white blanket....I likey!!!



Yumm...this white stuff taste good too...

This is the puppy that someone told me wouldn't want to go out in the snow
LOL...there are days I have trouble getting him IN!!!

....so that is what has been happening in the last week or two. The only other thing is that Math has developed a serious dog crush on my dad, and my dad has been gone for the last week, so Math is in a serious Math depression...he stands at the gate that leads to the driveway and whines...and the longer that my dad has been gone the grumpier he has gotten with Joce!!! Dad seriously needs to get back soon....LOL...Math really needs to have some man company, he isn't happy with all the women around him...LOL

Jocelyn goes to her first show...and more

So I moved up with my parents in August, and I began talking to the breeder about possibly showing Joce. When she was just 4 months old I took her to a puppy match offered by Muskegon Kennel Club, and she won her class, but came in 4th in the winners class. I asked the judge about it after, and was told something that upset me, but these are people that learning to be judges, so I talked to my friend R in GR and she said the Joce didn't have the problem that the judge mentioned.

Joce showing off her ribbons earned in the puppy match

So I decided that we would go ahead and get a small issue fixed, and then get her registration switched from limited to full registration. When I originally bought Joce, I was planning on training her for hunt tests, and it was only when I picked her up that Collette and I got on the same page about showing...I hadn't been strong enough when I was talking to her to Joce for her to understand that I really did want to show. So I in my haste to register Joce, went ahead and did it...so about 3 weeks before the show I wanted to show her in closed, I was calling around frantically trying to get everything changed over so I could enter Joce in her first show. It also didn't help matters that Collette happened to be away at the Golden Nationals about then too....lol ....timing is everything!!! So I finally got hold of Collette, got the paperwork to her and we got the co-breeder to sign off...and the AKC received it the day I had to enter her. I had been talking to this awesome lady in the AKC, and the day I needed to enter, she found that the paperwork had been received, and she pushed it through in time for me to enter Joce...she was so cool and helpful I could not have shown at our first show without her!!!!

Ok, we were entered....now I had time to panic (hahahaha). I needed to find close to wear, shoes to wear (remember, I broke my ankle last year and I need flat-no heel soles!!). My awesome mom donated the clothes, I managed to find some shirts I had worn to work, and so I went out and bought a couple of pair of shoes to wear. I met my friend R at the show site the night before we showed, set up what I could, and got a quick first grooming lesson (there is definitely more to showing a Clumber than just trimming the feet...lol). Joce and I went home, she got a bath and we went to bed. We got up Friday morning, drove back to GR and showed. We won our class (in each class there was only 1 bitch entered), and when we went into the winner's bitch ring, wonder of wonder's, Joce got reserve!!! For anyone who doesn't know about this, it means that she came in second ....beating other winning class bitches. It also means if by some chance that the dog who won was disqualified for any reason...Joce would get the points that the winning bitch got. I was so happy, because she had just turned 6 months old 2 days before that... and it is usually hard to do something like that that fast with a puppy  :-)

Joce and I waiting outside the ring

Down and back, after we have gone around once



The Judge making her decision for Winner's Bitch

Here are some pictures from the second day, where Joce went reserve again...she did this all three days...I was so proud of her!!!! Even though I am having problems trying to stack her....LOL...we are both learning!!
So we decided (actually I decided) that we needed to enter another show, so I entered Lansing, and the first week of December, off Joce, Amber (my niece) and I went, to spend the weekend in Lansing and show at MSU. R couldn't make it, and I was panicking about grooming, so luckily one of the other Clumber handler's gave me some tips Sat after we showed...Thank you Kassie...you rock!!
Once again Joce went reserve both days...of course there were only two bitches there...LOL...but on Sunday the judge did have some very nice things to say about both of our dogs!!! Amber and I had fun...I think Joce did too, as she got to sleep on the beds with Amber and I, and she has officially "graduated" from being locked up every night in her crate, to being left out most nights...(Amber took some pictures on Sat....here they are)

Me stacking Joce....getting a little better  :-)

Going around...she keeps her tail nicely up

A little distracted...so much to see for a puppy

So I really want to show her at the end of Jan. but I do not think I will be able to. I am now waiting to see if I will have any funds then...if so then I will enter her, as I think she will do well, and there is a Puppy Best in Show there, and I think we might have some chance...it would be fun, even though it is no points!!! I have officially been bit by the show bug, like my mother before me (to bad I'm not married to someone wealthy enough to pay for it...LOL). I hope I can continue showing her!!!
Here she is after a long weekend of shows....this is how she relaxes when we get home!!

I'm so tired...and your so comfy

Aww...not another picture!! Ok..I'm cute!!

I am going to visit some puppies....

I was going to visit some puppies.....and I was so excited!!! They were Clumber Spaniel puppies, and one of them might be mine....I couldn't wait to see them. I was also a bit sad still, from my two losses earlier in the year.

I will take you back a bit, to see where I ended up looking at gorgeous Clumber puppies in July. About a year ago, in fact it was Nov 8th 2009, I broke my ankle while walking my beloved Anatolian Shepherd Dog. It was a total accident, but I was out for 8 weeks...no weight at all!! 



My sweet Gaia girl

Unfortunately Gaia had to be put to sleep and I after I recovered a bit, I decided to look at a breed I had been interested in for many years.....
I found this person in MI, who has turned into an awesome friend...and she put me in contact with a breeder right around the corner from me in SC (I was living in NC at the time). So I talked to C in SC, and we agreed that I would come and visit when I got back from my 4th of July visit to MI.
 I got to SC to see the puppies, and they were adorable. She had 2 litters on the ground, and she had most of them spoken for, except for 1-2 females. Now I originally had wanted a boy, but after talking to my friend in MI, and remembering how much I loved my Gaia....so I decided that if she was birdy...which was very important to me, that I would take a chance. Man am I ever glad I did....C tested the puppies, and my little girl turned out to be the birdiest of the bunch, and she was also show quality...which made me very happy!! So I went and picked up my new girl...got some extra leads for her at the Greenville show...and drove her back home to the house where we were together 24/7.

So I got her, and had to decide on a registered name that included "Hot" in it...C had given us a list with some suggestions...but looking at her, I thought...she looks like she is a sweety...but every sweety is still a bit not evil, but mischiveous,...so the best way to say that is...."Jazzin Hot Sweet and Sour"....and yes she does live up to her name!! Her call name is Jocelyn, of Joce...or Joc...depending on my mood...LOL

Jocelyn finding her way around



Hi there...aren't I just adorable???

Tuckered out little girl taking a nap



She would drop where ever...just fall and snooze

I started teaching her to heel and "hup" (which is spanielese for sit), when I decided that I was done with my marriage, and I moved up to my parents....this also put me closer to my friend R in MI, and I could train for hunting with her....along with being back near my family!! I moved, and took some of my stuff, and then I had to go back and get my Math and the rest of my stuff in the beginning of Nov. While I was there I  had an argument with my dad (and the ex) about Math, because they both thought he would not adjust to being around snow...but as I thought...he really likes it and I now I have to drag him in at times!!
Next time Joce goes to the shows!! Sorry about the randomness of this first blog...just trying to catch you up to here...from there.