EHDA Closed Competition

Claire had a highland dance competition on Saturday, November 24th, 2007.  Although she was not called up for a placing (means that she didn't win 1st - 6th in any of her dances) she had a great time and got to know some of her new highland friends.  It was good to see her having fun.  Her fellow schoolmate Lauren won the aggregate in their 7-9 year old beginner group so that was very exciting!!



This is a pic of Claire (orange/green kilt) and her highland friends. Lauren is in the black/white kilt. Claire's new teacher is Miss Kathryn and she is the lady fussing with Colin's number. They are warming up for the Fling and making sure their costumes are just so. Miss Kathryn is a very detail oriented person and wants everything to be just so. At one point in the warmup, she had Claire pinned up against the wall and she was trying to get her eyebrows to lay straight. She was licking her finger and trying to smooth them out and Claire was telling her that they will not lay flat. Miss Kathryn finally gave up. Claire's eyebrows (bat wing eyebrows, we call them) are free spirits, just like her.

After the competition Claire and I had lunch at the Olive Garden and then she helped me organize and vaccinate the new doggies when they arrived. It was a good day.

This is what happens when I am home alone

This is what happens when it is -18 outside with a windchill, you don't want to clean up the house and your kids are at school so you are bored out of your tree.  You make a hat for your greyhound puppy out of the plastic Walmart bag that he was going to eat!  I think that it is very snazzy!!

I think Winter is here to Stay

Good morning. Woke up to the radio telling me that it was -18 outside. Not a good way to start the day! I think that winter is here to stay. Had to fight with Claire to get her to wear socks, but that was short lived. So, I am going to stay in today and catch up on my paperwork.

Have a great day everyone!

Daniel Passes Muay Tai Ranking Test

Last Thursday, November 15th, Daniel showed up to participate in his Muay Tai class and quickly realized that it was grading night. The class completed a brutal fitness test and then they had to complete some Muay Tai moves and Sensei Mike walked around and watched everyone and took notes.


This is everyone completing the fitness test. Daniel is on the right hand side of Sandy, in the white tank top, sort of in the center.

At the end of Class he informed everyone that not everyone had received their white ranking, but that for some, like Daniel and Sandy, it was a given! You should have seen Daniel's face! He just looked like "Hell yeah, Muay Tai expert in the house"!!!

Daniel received his white Prajied (also known as the arm band thingy) and is very proud of it. After his friend, Scott, made it small enough for him and he stood back in line, everyone applauded how great it looked and how it really showed off his guns!! Nothing will boost the confidence of a skinny 10 year old boy than the admiration of the big, tough guys in the class.


Daniel and others receiving their Prajied's from Sensei Mike


Daniel's friend, Scott, fitting his arm band



Congratulations Daniel. We are very proud of you and your dedication. Now you can kick ass and take names two ways!

Glo's Motley Crew

Well, our most recent foster is on her way to her new home and her new family in Winnipeg. I drove Leta to the airport and dropped her off this afternoon. Thank you so much to Patrick at Westjet for all your help. I look forward to meeting your greyhounds some day. Leta, or LetaLu, as we called her, was very sweet and she and Chester had a wonderful time playing in the turnout pen. They even managed to get Sidney in on the act.

Oh, she did rip Tipper's ear open, but Tipper deserved it. If you are going to be the fun police you have to be prepared to back it up!

We will miss you girl, enjoy your new life in Manitoba!

Birds of a Feather....

Well, you know the saying! These birds were in our tree today and they were making quite a racket. Thought I would share. I know, not very exciting.

Brock Myrol Memorial Karate Tournament, November 9th and 10th

This weekend Daniel competed in a karate tournament in Red Deer. The tournament was dedicated to Brock Myrol, one of the four RCMP officers killed at Mayerthorpe, AB. Brock was a member of Arashi Do Red Deer and is dearly missed by his friends and family and since it was Remembrance Day weekend, it was a fitting tribute.

Daniel competed in WKA Continuous Fighting on Friday night and won his 1st round and then lost his next two rounds, ending up 4th overall. Daniel's new Sensei, Mike, was there to watch and now knows that Daniel has to work on his conditioning. It was very good practice and now everyone knows what we have to do to get in shape for Provincials in March.

On Satuday Daniel competed in Kata and Point fighting and got 4th in Kata and 3rd in point. It was a great weekend and we got to see all our karate friends again.

I have to give a special shout out to Lexie, Kass and Amber for letting us use their house as our hotel. It was great to visit with you all and Claire had a great time hanging out with the girls on Saturday.

I have uploaded a video of Daniel's Continuous Fighting from Friday night for you all to see. Just go to www.youtube.com and search greyloverfreedom.

Veterinary Acupuncture Clinic

On Thursday, November 8th, 2007, the kids and I along with some other Chinook Winds Volunteers took part in a Veterinary Acupuncture Clinic. This clinic is to certify veterinarians in the medicine of acupuncture. They asked Chinook Winds if we would be willing to volunteer our time and our dogs so that they could use them to find the pressure points and learn the anatomy of a dog. They like to use greyhounds because they have no fat and no hair. The greyhounds we had in attendance were Molly, owned by Jim and Mary, Suzy and Moody, owned by Deb and John, Egon, owned by Sacha and Du, and Sidney and Chester, ownded by me and my foster girl, Leta.

Chester took part for the 1st 1/2 and then went to the van for some quiet time. He is much to wiggly and I should have known better than to bring an 11 month old puppy (sigh). Oh well, he will be older in the spring. All the dogs did really well and because they are retired racers and used to being handled they all stood or layed down beautifully and as requested. All the dogs were either asleep or at least laying down by the end of the clinic after having wonderful three hour dog massages!

The next clinic is in March and then the final exam is in May.


This is Suzy getting some attention while her Dad, John, looks on.


This is Sidney asleep on the floor while they are looking for all his pressure points.


Moody and her Mom, Deb, learning tons of good information.

Our 1st Official Snowfall

On the morning of November 4th, 2007 we woke up to a winter wonderland. It was predicted that the snow would fall, but you always hope they are wrong. It was pretty anyway and cold enough today for it to stick around. You can see a video on www.youtube.com of the dogs in the turnout pen enjoying a romp. Just search greyloverfreedom and enjoy! Please ignore the babytalk, I sound rediculous. This will be the last post until next week! I am FINALLY caught up!

Red Deer and District Dog Show

Saturday was spent in Red Deer atttending the Fall Dog Show. Claire and I dropped Daniel off at his friend Russell's and we headed to the Westerner Park with Chester, Leta and Katie.

We had a great time visiting our crazy dog friend and it was especially nice to see Pebbles and Sandy!


This is Pebbles (black) and Rush(brindle) sleeping together on the dog bed in front of our booth. Pebbles is proudly owned by the Hall family from Olds, Alberta and Rush is making her way to her new home in the Northwest Territories on Friday. YAY Rush!




These are "The Girls" Girl(black)is on the left. She went to her new home in Calgary on Saturday. Followed by my current foster, Leta (dark brindle). She is heading to Winnipeg to her new home next week. Katie (dark Brindle) is going to a home in Red Deer on Thursday and finally Miss Pebbles(black) who already has her forever family. Chester is in the crate behind them taking a break!



This is another picture of Rush asleep on the bed in front of the booth. If you didn't know better, you would think that she was a statue. She is just the sweetest thing and her new Mom, Kathy, is very anxious to get her home.

Daniel's Birthday Hockey Game

Daniel decided that for his 10th birthday, he wanted to attend an Edmonton Oilers hockey game. Well, tickets were a bit trickier to come by then I thought they would be so, we ended up doing the next best thing. We attended an Edmonton Oil Kings hockey game. They are the Edmonton WHL team so, they play in the same league as the Red Deer Rebels and the Brandon Wheat Kings, etc. They also play at Rexall Place, the home of the Edmonton Oilers. So, we got the atmosphere, the game and the store, just with younger players. There was even a fight so, it was almost NHL.

In the time that Daniel picked the game that he wanted to attend and the night of the game (November 1st, 2007) Curtis signed up for the Onoway Curling Club to take part in the Men's curling. On the 30th we found out that his 1st game was scheduled for November 1st so, this meant that we had an extra ticket for the hockey game. Daniel decided that he would like to ask his new bus mate if he would like to go. Bryce was, of course, eager to attend and came along with Daniel, Claire and I for an evening of entertainment. Oh, btw, we watched the Edmonton Oil Kings beat the Everett Silver Tips 3 to 1.


When we entered Rexall Place, the kids were happy to see that the game was centered around a rodeo theme to raise money for a cowboy trust fund. The kids got to rope a pretend bull and the also got to spin a roulette wheel that would either give you the chance to win a tattoo, blue hair or red hair!! Claire won blue hair and Danie, as you can see, won red hair. Bryce got the tattoo!



Just look at the delicious as well as nutritious pre-game supper that was enjoyed by everyone. I had a cup of coffee and waited for Claire to get full. She always orders too much (sigh).



Halfway through the game I was abandoned for the possible chance to appear on the Jumbotron. I enjoyed the second half all by myself. No, seriously, it was nice, I could watch the game! Alas they did not get on the Jumbotron. Oh well, next time.


A great time was had by all and we hope to go back very soon.

Happy Hallowe'en

These are the pics of our 1st Hallowe'en in Onoway!!  We got Curtis off the phone for an hour and we had a great time!  Chester got to come along as the dog.  The kids had black/orange day at school and then came home and dressed up in their costumes.  We headed into Onoway at about 6:30 pm and it was very nice and warm so they didn't have to wear their costumes over snow suits!  YAY!  They trick-or-treated for about an hour and got to see where Mrs. Johnston lives (Claire's reading teacher) and where Mr. Dunn (a grade 4 teacher) lives!  The weather was wonderful and about 7 degrees so, there were tons of people out.  It was great!





And just look at all the candy that they got!!  

Grand Opening of OES

On October 24th, 2007, the Onoway Elementary School had it's grand opening.  For those of you that don't know, Claire and Daniel started out in a brand new school, not only to them, but to all the elementary kids in Onoway!  YAY!!  On the 24th we all went and attended the opening ceremonies.  Claire was part of the choir that sang and you can see the video at www.youtube.com and search greyloverfreedom.


This is Claire sitting with the choir waiting for the ceremony to start. She is talking to her new, good friend, Emma.


This is a picture of the Great Hall that you walk into when you come through the main entrance of the school.  There are murals on each side of the hall and all the wood makes it quite spectacular.


This is Claire in her classroom.

This is Daniel standing at his desk in his classroom.  His teacher is standing behind him talking to someone.

These are goofy pics of Daniel in his locker in his classroom.  This is one of the nice things about this new school.  All the kids have their own lockers within their classrooms.


Doesn't everyone wish they could still fit in their scool locker?

Claire competes in 1st Highland Dance Competition of the Season

Claire competed in the 1st highland dance competition of the season on October 27th, 2007. She has some things to improve on such as her turnout and her hand placement and making sure that her fists are firmly planted on her hips. Minor things. She did manage to get through all her dances without any mistakes and without looking at the dancer beside her, which was great! Claire won 5th place in her Flora and she competed against 9 other dancers.

It was a good day and you can see the video of Claire doing her Sword dance at www.youtube.com and then search for Greyloverfreedom.

Trip to Profiles Art Studio

After Daniel was finished with Swimming Lessons, he and his class went to the Profiles Art Studio in St. Albert and made window clings.  They are basically plastic stained glass windows.  Everyone in class drew an image ahead of time to make their window cling out of.  Daniel drew a dragon.  I got to go along as a parent helper.  As you can see, Daniel did a great job!  It was good to get to know some of the kids in Daniel's class. Sorry this second picture is so crapy, but the small blonde woman in the middle of the pic is Daniel's teacher Mrs. Fevgverniki! No, I did not make up that name.

This is the finished product! It had to stay at the studio to dry and I understand from Daniel that the window clings have made it back to the classroom.