Days Of Our Weims

News & Notes for Feb.5

2010-02-06T18:20:00.000-07:00

Babs’ bunch getting bigger

Babs’ puppies are four weeks old! They all have their eyes open. They also are able to stand at eat which they do voraciously. Some of them already have a little personality showing through. One of the males is particularly precocious and vocal. Every time you pick him up he will howl for a few seconds making the cutest O with his little mouth. They all rivet their heads when you walk into the bedroom and watch in unison, especially if you have a bowl in your hands. They learn fast!

Heidi’s Ho-Ho’s Arrived

Heidi had her puppies on Jan. 19. Regrettably we lost four of the six puppies. Our vet was reassuring that there was nothing that could be done but it stings nonetheless. This has been a true reminder of no matter how responsible you are, sometimes things happen beyond your control. All of that aside, Heidi is ok and the two remaining puppies are enormously fat. Heidi took the nanny roll with Babs’ puppies to ease some of her depression. At this point she is more patient with them than their own mother. The puppies do have teeth at this point. Ow.

Getting ready for Denver and the show season

It has been a long, cold winter here in Colorado and the dogs are showing it. When I returned from Las Vegas in December several of my show dogs were chubby. It is challenging getting exercise in the winter but I have been doing my best. Katie, who needs one major, compounded this difficulty by coming into season. We have both been getting much needed exercise. Katie runs next to my bike and sometimes chases the ball. I think dog will be more fit than me when the show kicks off next week. She does not sit behind a desk all day. I thought in the spirit of not getting burnt out this year, I would only enter one dog in the Rocky Mountain Cluster. My friends know better. There are four dogs entered and I even bought a new suit. Dog show people have a sickness. I am well afflicted.

House training du jour

I’ve been getting up at 2:45 a.m. almost every night for the last four months trying to get Piper and Sully house trained. Piper (also known as Sunshine) gets the point a little too well. I have to go out into the front yard at 3 a.m. and retrieve her. I wore boots, a coat and pajamas on a 5 degree night. The stupid rabbits were everywhere, and so was the puppy. The boy, on the other hand, pooped his bed before he started crying which is what got me up in the first place. I calmly explained to him the errors of his way, more for my benefit than his.

I took the two them in for rabies vaccination and micro-chipping last week. The tech asked the standard question, “Are both puppies, healthy, do you have any concerns?” My response was, “Their problem is they are six-month-old Weimaraner puppies, time will cure that”. Piper proceeded to goose the vet and nibble on the tech with her front teeth. Sully just stood by and let her sister steal the show. He squealed like we were killing him when the vet injected the chip.

Bracco Capers

Gina is still mildly dysfunctional. She has finally got the point that we prefer our dogs to stay in the yard. I think the neighbor’s donkey is going to push her over the edge one of these days. Gina clears 5’ with barely a run at the fence. The Weimaraners are really miffed at her when she goes over. My biggest fear was they would emulate her. Instead they scold her severely when she jumps back in the yard. The Weimaraners really want her to be part of the pack but she can be a snob. She butters up to everyone who comes to the house like we don’t love her at all. Tisk. Fickle dog! I am wondering if hypnosis would work?

If you worked for me, you’d be fired

Finding homes for puppies is the most difficult aspect of raising them. I have met a lot of great people who bought puppies from us, some who have become good friends. However, there are times when my professionalism is challenged. Recently I have received phone messages to my cell phone that were obviously meant for other another breeder. Someone had written down the phone numbers and got them quite confused. My name is included in my “sorry I can’t take your call right now” message which meant they did not listen to the greeting at all. This gives me a very bad attitude when it comes to dealing with the public.

In my “real world” job, if I call the wrong person and leave a detailed personal message, I am subject to a fair amount of scrutiny. If a person cannot get the basic details of contact information correct, how are they going to listen properly when I tell them not to take their not-immune-to-anything puppy to the dog park, or how spaying and neutering too early can compromise the health of their dog? I feel like my time and effort is being disrespected on some level.

January 12, News & Notes

2010-01-13T08:45:00.000-07:00

Puppies are here!

The biggest news of the last week was the arrival of Babs’ 8 puppies. She delivered all of them handily in three hours during the morning of Thursday, Jan. 7. There are 6 boys and 2 girls. We have puppies available, namely males. Being an eternal optimist, I would like to find some show homes for a few of them but qualified pet homes are also welcome to apply. The delivery could not have gone smoother.

A quick note on numbers

Jan.7 also happened to be Dana Massey’s birthday. Dana co-owns Rio, the sire of Babs’ puppies. Happy Birthday Dana! We have had puppies born on Easter, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Memorial Day and President’s Day. Gabby came along one day short of St.Patrick’s Day. We’ll still drink in Gabby’s honor on March 17th if she doesn’t knock the beer bottle out of my hand and run off with it. The apple does not fall far from the “crazy-dog” tree.

The birth date of the puppies was not the first odd number coincidence concerning this litter. Babs was born on Dec. 12, 2006. Rio was collected on the exact same date before leaving for his new home with Pip Simmons in New Zealand. The vet tech thought this coincidence was so odd, she brought out the straws and showed me the date scribbled on the side of them in permanent ink.

The next odd numerical coincidence I would like to have: Money, dogs, and calendar dates lining up so I can make it to two Futurities in 2011. I’d better go water my money tree because the interest on my savings account is not going to get us there.

My thoughts about the Amateur Owner-Handler class

On behalf of my many friends who are new to the sport, I’ve been contemplating the pros and cons of the “new” Amateur Owner-Handler class offered by the American Kennel Club.

Anyone who knows me realizes I’ve been long opposed to classes who “label” people instead of dogs. I don’t show in the Bred-By Exhibitor class for this reason. Even though I have been showing dogs for 20 years, many of my own breeding, the BBE class seems to be a great way for me to take Reserve with a dog I’d easily win with out of Open. It is also difficult when you’re competing in BBE with breeders who are also professional handlers. If you’re not a recognizable face, the undefined nature of the Open class has its advantages.

I am making these observations from a seasoned competitor’s point of view. There are not very many things I remember from the first few times I showed a dog at 13 years old. The negative things stick with me more than anything. I remember getting mowed down by a few professional handlers on the go-around. I remember people shoving their dog up the back of my dog just to see if I was too polite to tell them to back up. I remember feeling humiliated on a number of occasions. At that point I did have the “kid” excuse. Being young can insulate you from a lot of the negativity associated with learning or growing into something. I think kids are conditioned that way to a certain extent. Learning to compete takes time and patience. Or, in the case of showing dogs, growing a very thick skin.

The AKC must have recognized a lot of people have been turned off by the sport because they've been treated poorly by other exhibitors, mowed down by professional handlers, or had a judge act very impatient towards them. Professionals, breeders and hobbyists who’ve been involved in showing dogs for a long time deal with these things as they come. After thousands of shows, one really bad day will not keep you from coming back the next. For a new exhibitor, one bad day might be the only day you see them at the show.

The Amateur Owner-Handler class gives people the opportunity to show a dog without be harassed, hurried or bothered by judges or exhibitors who find themselves less-than sportsmanlike towards newcomers. While this does single a new handler out, it also protects them to certain extent. No one wants to be accused of acting poorly towards a newcomer, especially in these lean economic times when entry fees are up and entries are down. While the majority of exhibitors and professionals are good at self-policing, extra attention towards encouraging sportsmanlike conduct can be good for everyone involved.

On a non-dog related note

I am back in school for more computer science (code code code) . If I can get an A in my C++ programming class, there’s a round on me some time in April. As usual, you can show your support through Jelly Bellies, Starbucks and Jamba Juice donations.

A New Year, A New Resolution

2009-12-28T12:46:00.002-07:00

I need to resolve to write more. I think I'll hook this up to my Facebook page and see if the RSS export works.

A trying time + more than you ever wanted to know about dog reproduction

2009-03-18T16:32:00.002-06:00

The last five days have been a whirlwind. I received a lot of questions about Minnie’s singleton puppy and c-section on Monday. I will try answering them to the best of my ability.

During the artificial insemination, if there is viable semen, we know the number of puppies is almost entirely the responsibility of the bitch. In other words, Minnie only had one viable egg. Because one puppy was produced, timing is not suspect. Frozen and fresh-extended semen has a limited viability once inseminated. 12 hours for frozen, 48 +/- for extended. Natural inseminations have about a 72 hour viability from a healthy stud. From these numbers, getting the science correct for ovulation and ripening is essential. With frozen semen, it is a little like shooting a gun from a moving train at a moving car.

There are a number of different reasons a female may fail to have a full litter. Foremost, it had been two years since we last bred Minnie. Bitches are hormonally stimulated by pregnancy. A fair demonstration would of this theory is Hazel. Her first litter, at age 3 ½ yielded 4 pups. Her second, one year later, yielded 6 puppies. Her third, another year later, yielded ten puppies. While it is imperative to rest your bitch between litters, you shouldn’t rest her too long. Their bodies don’t have to invest in parts that are not being used. Of course, this is a very individual thing. One bitch may happily have a litter of 8 at age 5 without ever having been bred. Heidi and Jane would be a good examples, both were 4-5 when they first conceived by artificial insemination. Jane had 10 puppies, Heidi had 8 puppies.

Minnie had one other litter of seven puppies in 2006. She delivered quickly, with no complications. It is a commonly known fact, when faced with a singleton, a female may not have enough hormones to properly dilate and deliver one puppy. Minnie had not started any kind of serious, labor-bearing contractions within a reasonable amount of time. There is a gray area of what is “reasonable”.

Having gone past her due date, we felt a c-section may be the best course of action to save the one viable puppy and to preserve Minnie’s health. My vet has always maintained it is better to get the puppies out via c-section than to try to induce the bitch to deliver with drugs. The longer the puppies are in the process, the more likely you are to lose them. While it seems dramatic, I can assure everyone it was likely the best solution we could provide for a delicate situation.

I wanted to be in the operating room for the surgery. My vet was very deliberate about everything he did during the procedure. I was also able to get a true canine reproduction anatomy lesson. It was not easy to see my dog knocked out and cut open. Before the surgery, I elected to have an epidural performed on Minnie for pain control. They shaved the base of her spine and gave Minnie three different injections.

The puppy popped out with standard c-section complications. She was blue, really blue. Puppies are affected by general anesthesia. She had a strong heartbeat so we had plenty to work with. Having the vet tech take the puppy and work on her ended up being the most difficult part for me. I’ve delivered many puppies who needed life-stimulating techniques, but it was out of my hands. They had a mini-oxygen mask set up along with hot towels, a needle and a bulb syringe, all which were put to good and proper use. There were no stillborn puppies, this puppy was the only one she carried. It is possible she had more at one point and reabsorbed them.

It is now Wednesday and the puppy is almost two days old. Her little feet are properly pink and she has gained 3 oz. Other than a slightly stuffy nose, she is healthy and nursing. Minnie is out of her normal mind but slowly recovering. The epidural has long worn off and pain medication has to be closely monitored so it doesn’t transfer into Minnie’s milk supply. I feel bad for my dog, she seems confused, frustrated and almost too possessive of the baby to be comfortable. She is a strong and resilient dog.

While waiting for our appointment, my mind had already raced down the road and around the corner with the worst-case-scenario. We felt a baby moving in there days before, but had not felt anything for several hours. The vet gave me the run down of possible scenarios if the litter had died. My mind rejected these possibilities, even though I’d already gone over the reality of the situation one-hundred times. I believe we were lucky we had a positive outcome.

The home stretch

2009-03-04T14:41:00.000-07:00

It is the 4th of March and we are coming into the home stretch of Minnie’s pregnancy. After going through a litter of 9 and a litter of 8 with other girls in the recent past, I can firmly say she doesn’t have anywhere close to that many puppies. My high guess would be 5. I know I said I was through guessing but speculating about litter size is a pastime! It will be fun not to have a mega-litter. My only wish is everyone is healthy and Minnie makes it through whelp without complications.

My whelping box has been delayed a few days but it should be in my hands on Sunday at the latest, or we’ll be setting up the old one. The new one should be much nicer though.

We were able to feel one of the babies kick a tiny bit last night when Minnie relaxed enough. I will be gone for a few days to a dog show. I’ll be interested to see how big (or not big) she is when I return. Her whelp date is a week from this Friday!

The Pregnant Marathoner

2009-02-27T14:24:00.003-07:00

It's day 45 of Minnie's pregnancy. She doesn't seem to be expanding as quickly as she was last week. I am done trying to second-guess the number she will end up having! She continues to be emotional and demanding over the "ordeal". As I explained to someone in a letter, "it is like a marathoner finding out she is too pregnant to run". She is in very good physical condition but even with the dog equivalent of 'abs of steel' she is getting too big to suck them all up behind her ribs.

Minnie is due on March 13th. She does not seem especially miserable at this juncture. Dog gestation is only 60 days +/- a few. Her biggest complaint comes when we will not allow her to lap the back pasture like a maniac for an hour at a time.

We are setting up the whelping room this weekend. I looking forward to seeing the little munchkins, no matter how many there are. It is still a feat of nature, as far as I am concerned, to get a dog pregnant from frozen semen!

Chocolate Memories - Start Now for Valentine's Day

2009-01-30T09:32:00.003-07:00

Ahh chocolate. Sweet brown nectar of contentment.

The experience of the best chocolate crossing my lips is now a vague memory. It was at the ill-fated 32 Bleu, not too long after it opened. The dessert was aptly named Fire Cake - chocolate with ancho-chili peppers baked into the cake and drizzled with dreamy chocolate sauce served over cinnamon ice cream. I know it sounds out-there for a chocolate dish, but it was the best blend of hot, sweet, spicy chocolate genius to arise out of the culinary-dessert deprived Colorado Springs restaurant scene.

Second on my list also derived from a now-shuttered restaurant, Wolfgang Puck in downtown Denver. The heavenly confection was a cake with a truffle baked right into the middle and served with a shot of warm Chambord. Simply magnificent.

Trying to recreate these would be futile. Between an old, uneven oven and living at 7200 feet, making anything other then flat pastries and burnt chicken is outside an achievable realm of cooking success. Restaurant-quality desserts should come with the "don't try this at home" label. It would save desperately crippled bakers out there a lot of disappointment.

If you are among the chocolate-loving elite, or simply looking to impress your sweetheart for the bevy of upcoming Hallmark-Holidays, here is a list of chocolate places on the Internet you might not be aware of. Have your pocketbook handy.

Vosges Haut-Chocolat - New York, New York

It might take a lifetime and a fortune to experience all this chocolatier has to offer. There are gourmet delights and combinations that defy logic and completely transcend traditional ideas. http://www.vosgeschocolate.com.

A choice a little further off the beaten path, but still mind-blowingly delightful is Euphoria Chocolates of Eugene, Oregon. One of my college jobs was working for Euphoria as a chocolate-shop girl and barista. Who wouldn't want an employee discount on the finest handmade truffles west of the Mississippi ?

Euphoria's chocolate truffles are made with real cream. The only downside is they have a limited shelf life and must be kept refrigerated. If you can remember a simple detail like keeping them in the icebox, your chocolate world will be expanded ten-fold when you try varieties such as Kailua & Cream, Grand Marnier and Amaretto. You can have them shipped overnight from their website. The truffles will keep for about a week before they start growing green fuzz. http://www.euphoriachocolate.com .

On one of my many trips up and down the west coast, I made a point of doing the touristy thing and stopping at Ghiardelli Square on the San Francisco Bay. In my younger, fewer-dog, delusions-of-wealth years, I thought of moving to San Francisco and living like a good urbanite. But like so many other places constantly plagued by natural disasters, sometimes visiting is just enough. They were still rebuilding from the '89 earthquake when I was there, a reminder of why living on a giant rock at the cusp of the American plains isn't so bad after all.

Ghiardelli has better cocoas and cooking chocolates, but their regular eating chocolate is nothing to laugh at. They have a small but concise collection geared toward holidays and gift giving. They aren't as ritzly packaged as Vosges and Godiva, but anything you choose should be more delightful than disappointing. At their web site http://www.ghirardelli.com, make sure to check out the Chocopedia,

If you prefer your chocolate to come with a conscience, try Endangered Species Chocolate. A percentage of sales goes towards several worthy charitable causes, not to mention the fact it is excellent chocolate. Locally you can pick it up at Wild Oats or you can order gifts assortments online at http://www.chocolatebar.com. The artwork on their chocolate bars is also attractive and they have everything from a sweet, smooth milk chocolate to dark exotic flavors such as dark-blueberry and dark-mint.

This list could become quite extensive, but I will leave my reviews at this length. Here are some additional links checking out.

http://www.dagobachocolate.com
http://www.godiva.com
http://www.guittard.com
http://www.mrchocolate.com

When opportunity knocks

2009-01-30T09:27:00.002-07:00

Today I have 12 bottles of wine headed for my house for review. This inadvertently fell in my lap through a work connection and I am looking forward to it immensely! I have written several reviews of my own selections over the last year and will type them in ASAP. It's going to be interesting! Stay tuned...

Happy New Year

2009-01-27T09:08:00.001-07:00

Getting back to long form blogging is getting more challenging. I’ve found microblogging to be easier. A friend of mine politely pointed out my laziness. I guess two-sentence blogging is a little bit of cheap substitute for story telling. After eighteen months of writing on nearly a weekly basis, I have fallen off of the

If you are interested in reading my cheap substitute, go here http://www.twitter.com/foxyweim or you can also find me on Facebook.

The month of December is thankfully over. While nothing catastrophic happened, it did constitute a few more trials than usual. First, I was gone from the 3rd until the 14th for work. I work for the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. The Wrangler National Finals Rodeo occurs during this time of the year on Las Vegas. I was one of the lucky ones. I’m not involved in set-up or tear-down. I just show up, do my job and leave.

The dogs did assert squatters rights to my bed. Apparently during my absence, Avery, Elsa, Heidi and Anna Mae all slept in my room. Elsa and Avery haven’t quite adjusted to the fact I have reclaimed the bed. Heidi is still moaning and groaning when I shove her over.

My punishment for 12 days in Las Vegas was coming home with bronchitis and a sinus infection. I hardly ever get sick, especially sick enough to warrant going to the doctor. I was sent home from work three times in the week following the WNFR and finally gave up trying to be a dedicated employee.

Heidi had her complaints about the coughing too. When I woke up in the middle of the night, it was more moaning and shoving. After being cough free for about 21 days, everyone is sleeping quietly.

I am going to bore everyone with a few reprise articles over the next few days. They were good enough, two years ago, to make it into the Freedom Publishing content pool. I guess I felt pretty good about that at the time, considering I am not a professional writer. I really want to write an article on how much Valentine’s day bites, but do not want to be the wet blanket of the bunch. Most everyone I know will be at the Denver dog show 2/14. I can’t think of a better way to spend V-day then doing one of the things I love the most. I will be wearing gray and black though. Those days of the flaming red suit are over!

It’s a hoot

2008-11-17T14:56:00.002-07:00

For years we’ve seen one perched on top of the barn on moon lit nights. We hear it swoosh in the distance and sometimes catch a Whoooo Whooooo at 2 a.m. when a dog needs to go out. Sunday morning we got to see a Great Horned Owl up close and catch a photo.

LaRita spotted him in the tree about 9 a.m. He roosted there all day, fluffing, watched the little birds dart around, and stared at me when I went out to get the newspaper.

At dusk, he left to help reduce the rabbit population. We had a fun time during the day peeking out to see if he was still there.

Days of our Weims Nov.13 : Win photos, gas prices and standard time

2008-11-13T10:49:00.004-07:00

On Tuesday I received Ruby’s win photos back from her two major in Rapid City. Click here to view the picts. I am happy to report both photos turned out. After a string of so-so win photos for outrageous prices, it was a relief. I will pass along the age-old advice for having your photo taken at a show: Look at the dog, not the camera. Hold the collar not the dog’s head, don’t jack the dog’s tail up and no dangling leashes. These simple tips will help your win photos turn out better. We are starting a new wall in the house for photos as the main “winners wall” is now full !
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For the first time in what seems like years, I filled my 40 gallon gas tank for under $75. The price at the pump was $1.86. I hate to be a conspiracy theorist, but is it not a little odd that shortly after the election gas prices drop like a rock? I realize there are economic factors I am not aware of but I am just going to throw that one on the table for contemplation. Supply and demand are easy concepts to understand and just as easy to cook!

To celebrate this development the lines at Starbucks and Jamba Juice have been a lot longer in the last week. If not gasoline then coffee…
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These dogs of ours are not adjusting to standard time at all this year. They have been getting me up at 5:30 a.m. on the dot. On the positive side, I am getting to work 45 minutes earlier which is earning me brownie points for what they’re worth. The dogs go back to bed after I get up. I get ready for work and leave. This is why they call it “a dogs’ life”. It is really funny to have them all piled in the hall way sleeping, waiting for me to come out of the bathroom. Some of them (Minnie, Anna Mae) scratch at the door until I let them in. They both like to stand under me when I am blow drying my hair – it’s warm.

Days of our Weims Nov. 4

2008-11-06T09:14:00.000-07:00

Dog people have a peculiar sense of humor. On a recent trip, four dog owners, including myself, were attempting to out-gross each other with tales of canine fecal matter, mostly relating to parasites. My wonderful Minnie Mae just had a bout of tapeworms. She likes to eat rabbits and mice, the likely culprit of infestation. My story of tapes didn’t compare to the “linguine incident”. It’ll be awhile before I can look at flat noodles quite the same. You win Cindy!
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I am still trying to figure out how Heidi opened my bedroom door in the middle of the night. She was lazy about getting to bed so I left her on the couch. I woke up several hours later with the door ajar and the dog on the bed. Not only did she get the door open, she did it without waking me up. Now if she could just learn to roll over without waking me up! I thought I may have imagined this entire episode. However, Heidi liberated herself out the front door a few days later. Thankfully our entire property is fenced.
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Old dogs, especially ones suffering from an excess of character are a never ending source of blog fodder. Avery, nearly 12 years old is deaf, partly blind and tripped over herself so badly last summer she broke three toes. Of course, that was not funny, we were quite distressed. She recovered with her general good humor. We did however, note, during this period of time, her short term memory had left her. She can’t seem to remember if she’s been in or out, had her dinner or had her peanut-butter covered pain-pills. We havebeen left wondering if it is dog senility or if we are becoming suckers when we run and get her a bite of food to get her on her way, or stand by the door letting her in and out, in and out.
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On another old-dog front, Truman has honed his water drinking skills to a fine art, even into his 11th year on the planet. Weimaraner people complain about how messy their dogs are when they drink. Truman, however, refuses to put his nose into the water bowl. He hangs his nose over the far side of the bowl, rests his teeth on the metal or ceramic, and then laps water daintily from the top. The true hilarity comes from the fact his daughter Jubilee drinks from the bowl exactly the same way. It’s an odd genetic characteristic to pass along.

1964 with mold

2008-11-06T08:55:00.002-07:00

There are several steps to becoming a wine snob. One person could take a lifetime honing the art of knowing more about the next person when it comes to vinos.

One of the must-haves on a wine snob’s resumé is drinking a wine older than yourself. This is more easily accomplished if you become a connoisseur earlier in life. I had an unusual opportunity to drink a bottle several years my senior, a 1964 Chateau La Croiz De Pez. Appellation Saint-Estèphe Contrôleé. Monsieur Guyonneau. Nolasque-Bordeáux. Don’t bother Googling it. I couldn’t find anything on the internet. It still had the original $3.99 price tag on it.

We (we meaning my wine-snob friends and myself) opened it Aug.16, 2008. Time had not been kind to the old Bordeáux. It had been improperly stored at one point and the liquid was 3” down from the top. The cork was moldy which created an interesting bouquet when we uncorked it.

Eyebrows were inquisitively raised as to whether it was drinkable.

Initially, it was slightly tannic. It sat in the decanter for 45 minutes or better. It smoothed out to a merlot-like texture though the mold had some influence, at least off the top. After mold, green olive settling into a firm oak middle and a slight cherry/orange peel finish.

It was a nice but not mind blowing experience, a pleasant surprise concerning its drinkibility. Too bad we couldn’t find any bragging rights out on the web.

The New Days Of Our Weims

2008-10-15T09:30:00.001-06:00

After six months of pouting, I am finally re-taking up the cause of blogging. The last six months brought many good stories and personal developments I should have recorded for your entertainment. I am now through contributing to my original blog which was housed at YourHub.com.

My initial motivation for blogging was to help out a fledging reverse-publishing project on ColoradoSprings.com when I still worked for them. Around January of 2008, they discontinued reverse publishing to print and I slowly lost my motivation to support a project terminated before it had a chance to turn a profit. A little while later, a massive round of layoffs eliminated most of the YourHub community journalists and gutted part of the online staff AGAIN. I would have likely been rolled out at that point if I hadn’t made my voluntary exit 8 months earlier.

I hate to speak ill of the dead (namely, the newspaper industry) but I’ve never worked for a company that so willingly sabotaged viable revenue streams. This will be my final rant about my former employer as there are far more interesting things to go on about.

If you’re curious enough to read through a whole bunch of my older stuff, you can find the YourHub Blog at this location. http://coloradosprings.yourhub.com/~amysfalconblog

I am now enabled in other multimedia capacities including Flickr and Twitter. You can follow what’s going on at the dog show, see new and old photos or just follow my text-message ramblings at the following two links.

http://www.flickr.com/foxfireweims
http://www.twitter.com/foxyweim

The two primary subjects are the dogs and my job but a few other things sneak in there occasionally. I’ve become a wine connoisseur and at the encouragement of a friend, started writing down my tasting notes. Nothing tastes better than full-bodied wine snobbery. We have also added a few chapters to “Days of our Weims” and new members to the household from our 2008 edition of dog breeding madness.