I get home from work late and say hi to everyone. The next thing we know, Chris' pants are covered in blood. Apparently the dogs got into a fight shortly before I got home and Berkley managed to pierce Cisco's ear -- he had blood running down from the same place on both sides of his ear. We figure out the source, I apply pressure, and the bleeding slows. I decide to call the vet since they're only open for another 20 minutes to find out how I should clean this so it doesn't get infected. They suggest we come in and have them do it and take a look.

Cisco and I head out to the vet leaving Chris behind to clean the drops of blood we're now finding on the linoleum, carpet and couch. Turns out Berkley managed to nick a vein and the ear is still bleeding. An hour later we leave with 4 stitches (2 on each side) and 14 days worth of antibiotics.

Something had been brewing between the two of them for the last week. We've had a few very tense meal times (they only ever fight over food). I don't know what has gotten into them, but hopefully it's now out of their system.

For some reason it's been a LONG week. Maybe it's that most of last weekend was spent at the Super Pet Expo. Maybe it's the time change and I haven't fully adjusted. Who knows.

I'm looking forward to the weekend. Sleeping in (well only a little since I have a 9:30 meeting tomorrow), spending some time working on the projects I want to work on, I'm supposed to see my friend Kelly (guess I should probably e-mail her and figure out a time), and maybe I can find time for a nap on Sunday....

Tonight Cisco and Berkley have their first private agility lesson. I've never done this so I don't know what to expect. I'm hoping to get some ideas for what exactly we should be working on at home. Now that the time change has happened, it's light when I get home and I have time to work them out in the yard. I'm just at a loss for what to do with them.

Have I mentioned my obsession with Flat Coats? Dawn and Eagle are in Berkley's class. She just had a litter of puppies about 2 weeks ago.

• My dogs are awesome. We were short a few dogs for a few shows, so both of mine put in a full weekend of demo-ing obstacles and full courses.
• Great Danes are beautiful dogs. There were so many of them all weekend. It was great to see
• We met two Berners. They were half brother and sister. Their names: Mason and Dixon. Love it.
• People suck. Not sure what was up on Saturday, but everyone seemed really short and not very nice.
• One of what seems to be a hot item this weekend: strollers for your little dog. Yes for $100 you too could be pushing Fido around instead of carrying him. Funny you think? There's is a whole website for just pet strollers.
• The most unusual items this weekend:
  1. The Poop Tent for those dogs that don't like to go in the rain. (Sorry Cisco, you're not getting one, you're just going to have to deal.)
  2. Poop Freeze. They were one of our sponsors and I think it was Sunday before Cameron managed to say it with a completely straight face.
  3. This Angel Wing thing, that from what I was reading allows you additional time to say good bye to your deceased pet. Warning: Link may be disturbing to some viewers.
• I had never seen a Sugar Glider before. Interesting little critters.
• We talked to someone who offers herding lessons. My friend Yvette and I might split a private lesson to see if our dogs (her Mic, and my Berkley) have any interest in it what-so-ever.
• I wish I remembered the name of the pretzel guy. His chocolate covered pretzels were most excellent.
• Apparently showing up to a pet expo with your hot tubs gets you lots of jokes when the other building at the expo center is hosting a hot tub expo.
• Another people suck comment. Why can't people clean up after their dogs?!?!? If my dogs went inside a building I'd be horrified. I watched time and time again as owners let their dogs go inside the expo center. Not only did they not attempt to correct the behavior, they just walked off and left the mess. We won't even talk about the grassy area outside the hall.

It's been a while since I've updated this. Lets see... My hair is now brown. I hadn't been happy with my last couple sets of highlights so I really didn't want to pay to have them touched up and my roots were coming in dark, so I went dark -- maybe I can get away from coloring my hair. probably not.

Last weekend Cisco qualified in Starters Pairs and Jumpers at the TAG trial in Sterling.

The first week at the new job was overwhelming. I started off the week in tears and ready to quit, but now it might be ok. I'm going to give it a chance. We'll have to wait and see how it goes.

Starting work on the family calendar this weekend. Thanks to everyone who sent in submissions.

Just some randomness:

1. Dad's visiting his mom, that's why the family website hasn't been being updated daily. I think he took along his laptop hoping to find a hot spot and be able to get on and update it occassionaly. Maybe they don't have hot spots in Oklahoma? I hope he's having a good time out there.
2. 11 days and counting until the pictures/recipies/submissions/whatever are due for the Stracensky Family Calendar. That's not a long time. So if you're sitting on your submission, better put it in the mail. Otherwise I fear we'll have the same picture of my brother eating his first birthday cake for every month. No offense Dave, but I'd love to see more of the family included! If you need my address, send me an e-mail.
3. I've got a new job! Yay! It's going to be more responsibility and back into doing what I enjoy web development! I don't start officially until the 31st of October, but they've asked if I could start working on somethings now, so my official/unofficial start date is today -- they'll count today as my first day of employment even though it's only part time for the time being. I'm thinking this will be a great opportunity, I hope I'm right.
4. Two friends lost dogs last week. My friend Kathy lost Ladybug who had gotten so weak that should could no longer get up on her own, so they had to put her down. And my friend Robyn's mom lost Pipen, a 14 year old poodle that was killed by another dog. My heart goes out to both of them.