Foster Dog Update

This fall has been pretty quiet for doggies since Olds College has been taking our Chinook Winds newbies to help out in the AHT program.  For November anyway, we have only had 6 dogs come and stay.  We started the month by sitting Britta and Whisper for the weekend of November 1st.  These girls are easy peasy and the kids think it is neat to have them come and stay because they are loved by a teacher from their school and Whisper is not a greyhound.  She is a Weimerhaner!

Whisper LOVES my bed!!

Then we had Darwin come and stay.  His people had a new baby and Mom just couldn't cope with two dogs anymore.  He has moved on to a foster home in Red Deer and hopefully will find a new permanent home soon.

Darwin

Then I had Billie Blue surrendered to me.  He came from Grande Prairie where he has been living outside chained to a vari kennel for the last two months, ever since his owner moved to a new place that wouldn't let her have dogs.  Now, he is supposed to be a greyhound cross.  Maybe Billie's great, great grandpappy was a greyhound, but that is about as close as he is going to get.  He is an absolute doll and just adored Claire.  When she went downstairs to bed at night he would lay at the top of the stairs behind the gate and wait for her to come back.  I would have to convince him to call it a night and head for his kennel when I went to bed.  Billie has moved to a foster home in Edmonton to learn to be a city dog again.  We miss him!!!

Billie Blue

We also had Molly come and stay when her people went to Florida.  We like Molly, we just have to supervise her as she does not understand that she is 9 and thinks that she can run with the young dogs and then she ends up limping!  She has to be put out with Sidney and trust me, she doesn't like it one bit!!

Last, but not least we have Ava baby.  She came to stay for 2 nights before heading to her permanent home in Grande Prairie with Maggie and her family.  You may remember Maggie, she was Wanda when she was here with me.  Lucky Ava, she has a great family to call her own.

We are foster dog free and putting away some crates as our next visitors are not until Molly and Flynn come to spend Christmas with us.  Seems quiet here with only 3 dogs, but it is nice to have the break too.

It's cold out!!  Sid is in his jammies full time now.

October Wrap Up

OK, I know that it is the 21st of November so, I think that it is time that I put October to bed for 2008.

Sometime in October, Daniel went to the Profiles Art Studio and did an art project called Lino Cutting.  I had no idea what this was and it is always fun to see Daniel interact with his classmates so, I volunteered as a parent helper.

The kids were all given instructions as a group and then they took the picture

they had drawn in class and they rubbed in onto their piece of lino.

THEN they were all given these KNIVES!!!

I am actually surprised that there was no blood.  You can see that D 

is very excited about the knife!

Daniel cutting his design into his lino.

Once the design was cut into the lino they took it to the inking station and rolled ink

onto their design.

Then they rubbed the inked lino onto a piece of paper.

And voila!  You have a print made from your 

original artwork!  The kids got to make several

prints that had to stay and dry at Profiles, but they got

to take home their original lino art the same day!

Halowe'en

As you already know, Daniel decided against Trick or Treating in order to take him BJJ stripe test.  While he and I were in Edmonton, Claire and Curtis were trick or treating in town.  The school the kids go to does not allow costumes on Halowe'en.  They just watch a movie in the afternoon and call it a day.  I told the kids that this year, I wasn't buying any costumes just for them to wear for 1 hour trick or treating.  I found a great website with homeade costume ideas  and told them to pick one or come up with something on their own.  Daniel had decided that he was going to use his new blanket and go as a warrior with one of his swords he won for karate and Claire wanted to be a ghost.  Off to Walmart she and I went to look for a white sheet.  GOOD LUCK finding a white sheet for less than a ready made hallowe'en costume!!!!  So, we found this awesome fabric shower curtain.  Worked like a charm and she was a happy camper.

BJJ Belt Walk

This is what happens when you get a new belt in Behring Jiu Jitsu. I had no idea that his tradition existed, but I have since checked out many such videos on Youtube and it seems to be common occurence. Daniel can't test for his blue belt until he is 16 so, he doesn't have to worry about it for awhile.

BJJ Stripe Ceremony

Here is the video of Daniel getting his 2nd BJJ stripe from Professor Behring (left) and Professor Mike (Middle) and Professor Chris(right). Daniel was extremely happy to get that piece of white tape on his belt and he even gave up Trick or Treating on Hallowe'en to get it.

Martial Arts Update

So, Martial Arts is again back in full swing.  Daniel took most of the month of July off from the Dojo this summer and has settled into a nice 3 day, 2-3 hours each day, schedule since September.  He does karate on Tuesday and Thursday, BJJ on Tuesday and Muay Tai and Children's MMA on Wednesday.  They have introduced a FAST (Flexibility and Strength Training) class that is basically yoga on steroids that he is allowed to participate in if they are not using the kettle bells or weights.  Sensie Mike says that the vision of Daniel lifting a kettle bell over his head almost makes him poo his pants.  Lots of heavy weight lifting is not good for developing bodies either.  Daniel is a bit of a bear come Friday morning, but unless he has a tournament on Saturday, he has the weekend to recover.

On October 10th and 11th he competed in his 1st tournament of the 2008/09 season and won 1st in kata and 3rd in Continuous.  He lost his 1st fight in point after getting a by in the 1st round so that was that for point.  He was quite surprised with the 1st in kata so that was good.  He is learning a new kata, Sanchin, from Sensei Mike and I think D has all the moves down now, just has to perfect.

D with the swords that were given out as

trophies for the October tournament

The week of Hallowe'en, Arashi Do Edmonton was lucky to have Professor Behring come from Brazil to teach a few classes and test everyone that was ready for their stripes in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.  To learn more about Behring Jiu Jitsu you can look here and here.  Daniel tested for his 1st stripe when Professor Behring was here in the spring and thought that he might be ready to test for his 2nd stripe this time.  The bummer part was that testing  was to happen on HALLOWE'EN!!!  Daniel was given the option of going trick or treating or going to the south Dojo and testing for his stripe.  Keep in mind that he could have just waited until spring to test for his stripe.   He decided that he would rather have the piece of tape on his belt than candy so, Claire and Curtis went trick or treating, Daniel and I went to the BJJ test.

Professor Behring and Professor Mike doing a

demonstration in class

Daniel and Scott practicing during Professor Behring's class.

Daniel waiting for his stripe on testing night.

Professor Mike getting a stripe on his brown belt.

See, even big boys are all about the tape!

Professor Behring, Daniel and Professor Mike

Daniel Turns 11

On October 22nd, our little Daniel turned 11 years old.  That is just crazy to me!!  In 5 years he will be driving.  In 6 he will be in University(because of his October bday, D will start University at the age of 17).  WAAAAY too soon!  

To celebrate we had spinach cheese ravioli and ceasar salad for supper on his actual bday and then the following Saturday he took some of his friends swimming and then had pizza and cup cakes afterwards.

Daniel got these awesome flip flops for in his karate bag for

at tournaments and for next summer.

The Heely's Daniel got from Claire AND

the Ceasar salad!

Thanks for the photos Claire!