30 September 2008

I arrived at the hosue early this morning to drop off the tiles. I could see immediately that there had been more work done on the bathroom. The bath was now in the middle of the front lawn.








The old kitchen has gone and several of the new units are being fitted. I hope it will be completed before we move on Friday otherwise we will have no where to put the furniture.
The kitchen fitter has laid out all the kitchen bits and tools over the living room almost completely covering the floor.



I pulled up the horrible orange carpet from my bedroom. it was so old the foam backing turned to a dusty powder that seemed to get everywhere. the backing fell off in lumps all the way through the house making an awful mess. Even with bare floorboards the room looks much better.


I went back tonight to do some painting and there has been more progress. tiling has been started in the bathroom and more units in the kitchen

28 September 2008

Packing, Packing and more packing. this weekend has been spent packing. Just about everything we own has been dismantles and put into a box or a bag.


The dogs follow me from room to room looking worried. They know something is going on but don't know what.

I have made no end of trips to the tip. It is hard to believe we could have acquired so much rubbish in the four years since we moved. I got rid of loads of stuff last time we moved but it seems to multiply when my back is turned.
Robin has been forced to tidy up his things too.

25 October 2008

I took a few things over to the new house today. Took loads of pictures of it before the work starts on the kitchen and bathroom.

The kitchen is very seventies with mis matched units. the new one is being installed next week and will hopefully be completed before we actually move in.


The bathroom is very blue with turquoise accessories. I am sure it was very fashionable when the house was new but I am going to change it for a white suite. It is actually a lot more blue than it appears in this picture.

24 September 2008

it has been a while since my blog was updated. first of all both Ruby and Saffy came into season one after the other so we had to miss a couple of shows, and then I managed to sell the house so getting ready to move has been taking up a lot of time.

We are due to move (fingers crossed) next Friday 03/10, but there is a lot to do before hand so the Mali-blog is being temporarily converted into a moving blog.....

17 August 2008

second day at Dashin Dogs, Ruby was entered in 3 classes. She got a clear round in Grade 1 jumping and also in Grade 1-2 Agility. We did get eliminated in our other jumping class but that was totally my fault for giving the wrong signal by a jump so she back jumped it rather than going round it. I have managed to follow all the courses so far, only getting slightly lost on one course, but I am sure my handling skills will improve with experience.


We met up with lots of friends today. Janice was there with Nika and Chris with Fen. We also had a bit of a family get together as Jo and Nigel were there with Saffy's brother Cody and Laekenois half brother Pudsey, and also Ronnie who is related to Ruby and Casey. Keisha was also there and did really well getting two places in different classes.

15 August 2008

We went to Dashin Dogs, Ruby's first KC agility competition. We did two classes, first a helter skelter which was a small circle of Jumps then a larger one. Then a Jumping class. Ruby did really well getting a clear round in both classes. unfortunately she wasn't fast enough to get a place in either of them but she jumped really well, and did exactly what I asked. She really enjoyed it.

Saffy also came along and we did some training around the rings mainly working on Saffy watching the other dogs running fast without getting too over excited. She does get rather wound up by small dogs running fast, especially through tunnels.

10 August 2008

Newton Heath obedience show today. This is a nice show held in a lovely park with a river for the dogs to paddle in and loads of space to run.

Dora was drawn first in beginners, usually she likes working early but today she was rather inattentive looking around in her heelwork. Her retrieve and recall were excellent.

I only did a training round with Saffy and Ruby but they both did some nice heelwork and played well with their toys in the ring.


There was a special class for anything but a collie at this show which i netered both Ruby and Saffy in. It was based on an obedience round but the judge was looking for drive, enthusiasm and team work. We had to play with the dog up to the starting point, then put the toy away and go into heelwork in a circle, do a fast double about turn, run away from the dog and then back into heelwork. all to be fun rather than formal Saffy loved it and bounced along until we had to do an about turn near the send away which was set up with a toy at each corner. Saffy can resist anything except temptation and will steal anyone else's toys so she forgot all about heelwork and checked out all the toys chose one and then raced back to me much to the amusement of the judge and steward.
Next was a retrieve over a small hurdle. Again with extra points for enthusiasm. no formal present or finish. saffy was quite happy to jump the hurdle both ways. A lot of the dogs seemed to find this bit really difficult to understand and went round the hurdle.
When Ruby did it she preferred the hurdle to the retrieve. she hopped over the hurdle, then back and then over again, picked up the dumbell and jumped back again to me.
Then we had to do a recall with no formal present so as it usual Saffy shot towards me and crashed into my chest making me stagger backwards. i don't think she is very good for my back but she does enjoy herself. Ruby as always was much more delicate about the whole thing and trotted to me and gently leaned against me.


To my amazement Saffy scored very highly in this competition and it looked like she was going to get a place until a dog came a long at the end and pipped her at the post. She ended up seventh and as there were about 60 dogs entered in this class I was ever so pleased with her.
At lunch time I took the dogs for a walk but forgot that Dora's novice stays were at lunchtime and got back just as the finished so we didn't win any other classes. We had a very nice day though.