"What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will never fade." ~ Gertrude Jekyll

So far...

Since I last posted I have gone many miles, driving from home to Nebraska to pick up Mom so she could spend a few days with us. We drove to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to our granddaughter's high school graduation (535 graduates!).Then we drove back to Illinois and 2 days later, I drove to Nebraska to return Mom and then drove back to Illinois a day later. Once home, I had 5 days to recover before Deacon and I got in the car and headed to Wisconsin for the show in Manitowoc. We stayed with my friend Jan and her husband Dean and enjoyed hanging out with them between shows.

There were 4 days of shows but we participated in only three, skipping the Saturday show. Deacon had just turned 11 months and I did not want to tire him, so we had a day of rest and went back in the ring on Sunday. We shared a grooming space with our friend Karen and her Lhasa Sally.

The show was great for us. Deacon won all three days that we showed and on Friday won first place in the National Owner Handled Series (NOHS) Non-Sporting group. We had great judges all three days, people who obviously enjoyed judging dogs and who were great with the dogs on the exam table and considerate to the exhibitors. So, hats off and many thanks to judges Richard Lashbrook, Cindy Meyers, and Stewart Dankner.

It was great that Sally (Ginger and Jaxon's owner) came from MI to see us show and who was very gracious about helping us to and from the ring with our ringside tables. It was great to see Ginger and Jaxon in "person" again. Ginger loves me and is full of kisses for me. Jaxon tolerates me! LOL

We came home with these ribbons and 3 points. Deacon now has a total of 9 points and needs 6 for his championship.

For those who do not know what the ribbon colors represent: Blue is for first place in the dog's class, Purple is for Winners (where you get the points!); Blue and White is for Best of Winners (winning male vs winning female); the Maroon one is for Best Owner Handled; the large Pink rosette is for first place in the NOHS group.

So, after showing on Sunday, I changed into jeans and a t-shirt, packed up all the equipment and Deacon and we made the long drive back to Macomb. The ride home was easier and faster than the ride to Manitowoc. On the drive there, we came to a traffic jam that held us up for at least 45 minutes until I could creep into a place to make a U-turn and retrace my route. My GPS was confused and upset with me for a while!! You know how that is!

My next adventure happened the following Sunday. I was ready for early church and decided that I would go to the grocery store after church. Lynn had left earlier in the week for a school reunion in Iowa. I gathered some shopping bags, two audio books to return to the library depository box, a bag of plastic grocery bags to drop off at the Walmart recycling box, and my purse. I locked the door and got halfway to the car when I realized I did not have my keys! I was locked out of the house! I had no key to start the car! Worse yet, my phone was on the counter in the kitchen instead of in my purse.

"No problem," I thought. My car has a keyless entry panel so I opened the car, got all the "stuff" organized, and got into the car. My plan was to use the garage door opener to get back into the house, get my keys, and be on my way. It was a great plan that did not work! Why? Because when I used the garage door opener, it did not work. I could not believe it! I tried multiple times, getting the same result. Ha!!

Trying to be positive, I thought I'd stop a passing car or any early morning dog walker and ask for help. Nope. I guess everyone in our neighborhood was sleeping in.

So I walked and finally came to the middle of the WIU campus and thought that maybe, just maybe, the Office of Public Safety was open, even though the campus was deserted. It was!! Helpful people there put a new battery in my garage door opener and I got my first ride in a police car (front seat!!) and was taken home. I tried the garage door opener, which did not work, even with its new battery. So the officer used a credit card and opened my front door. I was so happy and grateful. (I did make it to a later church service.)

When my husband came home that afternoon and I related the saga to him, I learned why the opener did not work. He had unplugged the device on the inside of the garage and had forgotten to plug it back in. !!!!

Puppies!

Here are pictures of our current litter taken today at age 8.5 weeks.

The females:

The males:

All but one have been reserved. Let me know if you are interested.

We also have retired three of our champions who will soon be ready for new homes: Chance, Millie, and Autumn. Again, let me know if you are interested in adopting an adult Lhasa.

Notes and Photos

Lisa sent this photo of Duncan and her other Lhasa, Dresden, playing tug.

Paul sent this photo of Little One (AKA "Squirt") taking a nap after playing hard with his pal, Rusty. Rusty has been with Paul, Pam, Squirt, and Josie for 10 months.

Michelle sent this photo of Sunny sleeping and also a video of Sunny and his Shiba Inu friend Kota running full speed in a game of chase in the large yard. No wonder he was tired!

Dawn updated us about Ollie. "It was great to see you at the show on Mother's Day. We had a wonderful time...I can't believe he will be seven months old on June 1st! The time has flown by. He is doing well and is already bigger than Bailey. His favorite hobby right now is chewing on our shoes. We try to keep them where he cant get to them but forget on occasion Thankfully he hasn't done too much damage!"

An Article From The Past

Once upon a time Lhasas were such a popular breed that we had four magazines devoted to the breed in which Lhasa breeders and exhibitors advertised their winners and litters and in which articles on topics of interest or concern were published. These magazines contain much history: The Lhasa Apso Reporter, Lhasa Tales, The Lhasa Bulletin, and Lhasas Unlimited.

I saved copies of the issues of each publication. They take up a lot of room on the shelves, but I saved them because they hold so much history -- photos of Lhasas, breeders, and exhibitors; articles addressing items of interest and controversy.

Recently, I was paging through some of the magazines and the idea came to me that I could share some articles with my readers. So the following article is from the July/August 1996 issue of The Lhasa Apso Reporter.

Hint: You will probably have to zoom in once or twice to read it.