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All posts tagged whippet

Snow Dogs!

Posted by kenleighacres on December 9, 2013
Posted in: Border Collie, Cardigan Welsh Corgi, Dog Photography, Dogs, Lab, Photography, Snow, whippet. Tagged: , , , , , , , . 5 Comments

To say we got a lot of snow on Friday would be silly!  We got more snow than we have had in the last couple of years…combined!

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Darby, my Cardigan, had a difficult time in the soft, dry, fluffiness.

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He was having fun digging through it…

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so cute with his face covered in snow.

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I love his sweet, soulful eyes.

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Kate is just disgusted by all of the cold, white stuff on the ground.  We were at -9 on Sunday morning and 0 this morning.  The critters are all doing well, but I think we will all be happy to see the warmer temps later this week.

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Rose may be the only one that is sad to see it go.

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She was even dragging her belly through it!

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Her boy is loving it too!

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Playing fetch in the snow is a favorite of theirs.

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Evidence of the under the snow retrieves she was making 😉

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A few Felt Pups got to play in the snow too.  This Greyhound was a good sport about posing in the cold stuff.

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The Newfoundland enjoyed it a bit more!

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Deuce, our Lab, was very interested in the Felt Pup…or maybe she just wanted his bumper.

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The snow makes a nice back drop for her!

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Love the snowy lips!

Paisley

…and this is how my Whippet, Paisley, is enjoying the snow.  In her jammies, on her bed, in front of the fire 🙂

Dusting off my spinning wheel

Posted by kenleighacres on May 16, 2012
Posted in: Farm Life, Fiber, Jacob Sheep, Spinning, whippet. Tagged: , , , , , . 3 Comments

It has been quite a while since I have sat at my spinning wheel and I had to dust it off – literally and figuratively 🙂

Just like riding a bike, it came right back and I was spinning away in no time at all.

I was excited to spin the roving I recently got back from being processed.

 Here are the large bags of roving – a little over 4 lbs. of each color!

I was curious to see how the different colors spun up.  I was delighted to find that all three colors were lovely to spin.

Dark brown/charcoal

White

Gray

I have small sample packs made up and available in my Etsy shop if you would like to try Jacob wool.

Always willing to lay in the sun, Paisley kept me company while I spun away.

I have now made a goal to spin once a week, no more dust on my spinning wheel!

Just in case

Posted by kenleighacres on February 29, 2012
Posted in: Farm Life, Jacob Sheep, sheep, Snow, whippet. Tagged: , , , , , . 7 Comments

Just in case we were beginning to think Spring was here, Mother nature reminded us what season we are really in…

WINTER!

This is what we woke up to this morning.  Lots of big snow flakes falling and it was sticking when I left to take my son to school, but it had all melted by the time I got home.

The robins were out looking for breakfast.

Unlike the robins who were out working for their food, these guys were looking for a free meal from the chickens, little stinkers.

The boys don’t have a cozy barn like the girls do and they weren’t too sure about the change in weather.

They were snuggled up around the tree and waiting for breakfast when I went out.

The ducks seem unphased by this wet…cold weather.

As for the rest of us, sitting inside by the fire sounds like a very good plan!

Coursing Ability Test and lots of fun!

Posted by kenleighacres on June 3, 2011
Posted in: Dog Photography, Dogs, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 3 Comments

I know blog posts are supposed to be timely and such, but does it count if it ‘feels’ like I took these pictures yesterday???

I recently took pictures at a lure coursing trial and it was the first trial held in Oregon that offered the new Coursing Ability Test  through AKC.  This event opens the world of lure coursing to all breeds of dogs instead of just sighthounds.  I am so glad AKC decided to do this because it was so much fun watching these dogs chase the plastic bunny.

Bedlington Terrier

Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever

German Shepherd

Vizsla

Husky

 and a very funny Bull Mastiff

She thought grabbing the cone at the end would be fun 🙂

Even the little dogs came out to play…

Pekingese

a tiny Chihuahua with a HUGE personality

This Doxie was my favorite 🙂

As always there were lots of sighthounds and they continue to take my breath when I watch them run!

Greyhound

Ibizan

Whippet

Pharaoh…almost catching the bunny

Rhodesian Ridgeback

All of the photos from the weekend can be seen on my That’ll Do Photography website.

A little longer than planned!

Posted by kenleighacres on March 29, 2011
Posted in: Farm Life, Felting. Tagged: , , , , . 10 Comments

My whippet, Paisley, and I headed over the mountain to attend the High Desert Wool Growers Fiber Market Day over the weekend.  The original plan was to leave Saturday morning and come home Saturday night.  When I looked at the road cameras of the passes on Friday morning, my plan changed to staying with my grandparents on Friday night and driving over from there.  Staying with them, put me an hour closer, cutting the drive time to 2 hours instead of 3.  However, that plan changed again when I looked at the weather forecast.  I didn’t want to drive over the pass in the snow in the dark, so I made reservations at a hotel and drove over Friday afternoon.  I was determined to enjoy myself and not worry about getting home until that time came. 

There aren’t very many hotel choices in Prineville, Oregon and even less when you wait until the last minute.  So I had to take what I could get.  Unfortunately, that was a room right above a bar that had a happening night life.  The building was innocent looking in the daylight.  The music was so loud, I could feel it thumping in the room!  Morning came very early!

Paisley did her best to convince me that we needed to go back to bed.

It was a wonderful show and was well attended.  I had ‘May’ with me and she displayed my nuno felted scarves nicely…

These were a new project and very fun to make.  The base is a chiffon silk scarf and the wool is finely felted on the top and through the scarf. 

I also had a lot of bags…

I wish I had had a chance to walk around and visit the other vendors, but Paisley wasn’t willing to watch the booth.

I checked the road conditions mid-day and it didn’t look good.  I really wanted to go home, but again I didn’t want to drive in the dark and the snow and ice.  After I packed everything up, I made the choice to stay in Bend and drive home in the daylight on Sunday.  All of a sudden my quick one day trip, wasn’t turning out to be so quick! 

Paisley and I enjoyed a nice, quiet stay in Bend and woke up to snow on the ground…not a good sign for driving over the pass!  It was apparent the roads weren’t going to improve much, so I left at noon and headed up the mountain.  It was much worse in my imagination.  I was glad to be home and Paisley quickly crashed on her bed in front of the fire 🙂    

Starting the Christmas projects

Posted by kenleighacres on November 21, 2010
Posted in: family. Tagged: , , , . 1 Comment

I love Etsy and I love browsing the different sections and looking for inspiration.  I recently came across Imaginative Play Toys and fell in love with her felt playhouses!  So much fun!!!  I especially like this one.  I talked to my sisters to see if they would be interested in making a couple of these for the boys.  One for my son, one for his cousin that is the same age, and a combined one for his other two cousins that are quite a bit younger.  They said ‘sure’!  I wasn’t sure if my son was getting too old for a playhouse, but those thoughts went out the window when I saw his excitement over a big box that I had that he could play in.

I bought the animal template .pdf file (they are so cute) from Imaginative Play Toys and started thinking about different themes.  We decided on a camping theme for my son, an old west theme for his cousin the same age, and a safari/jungle theme for the younger boys. 

Now came the overwhelming feelings!!!  How exactly do you layout and design a panel that is 29″ x 36″??? 

My dad has a projector that I have used in the past for big projects and it worked great for this as well.  We taped big sheets of paper to the wall and projected the individual pieces and started drawing.

These are two of the sides for my son’s.

Now the fun part, cutting each piece out and sewing them to the background!

It has been difficult for the three of us to get together at one time, so we are getting together as schedules work.  One of my sisters came over yesterday and we cut all of the side panels out, all of the roofs, and she took the animals and a bunch of felt to cut out at home. 

We had piles everywhere!!!

Luckily, we had plans for these little helpers!  My son spent the day with his grandparents and my sister’s daughter was entertained in her walker.

However, we did not have plans for these two little helpers.  Don’t they look sweet and innocent…don’t let that fool you.  This was after the wrestling match on the couch that they got in trouble for 🙂

This is my sister’s new puppy.  She is a 1/2 sister to Rose.  Paisley had a lot of fun with her.

All in all we got a lot accomplished on the playhouses and had fun.

If you are interested in making your own felt playhouse, here are a couple of really good sites…

Homemade by Jill – she offers a complete tutorial

The Crafting Chicks – lots of pictures

I will post more pictures as ours come along.

Working at Starbucks…

Posted by kenleighacres on September 19, 2009
Posted in: Felting. Tagged: , , , , , . 7 Comments

No, I have not become a barista 🙂  My son is going to school 1/2 an hour from our house and he is only ther for 2 1/2 hours, so it doesn’t make sense for me to drive home just to turn around and drive back into town.  I was a little overwhelmed with having to spend 2 1/2 hours in town doing something everyday!!!  I am quite the homebody and I enjoy my flexible schedule – I realize now that I have taken that for granted. 

I have a long list of felted items that I need to work on and my mom suggested I take my felting to Starbucks.  This made me laugh at first because I am not a coffee drinker and the idea of needle felting in a coffee shop just seemed silly. 

It took some gumption to pull my felting stuff out of my bag and start needle felting on Monday, but now I have become quite comfortable there.  The atmosphere is pleasant and they have some wonderful breakfast items.  The blueberry oat bars are awesome!!!  Here is a recipe for blueberry oat bars that the creator claims to be just as good, if not better.  I will have to make some this weekend.

I have accomplished a LOT with my block of undistracted time…

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Monday

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Tuesday

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Wednesday

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Thursday

and today I helped at my son’s school.  Along with checking stuff off my to do list, I am also educating people about wool and felting!  Several people have been quite intrigued with the process.

I am looking forward to a few days at home 🙂   

One last week of summer!

Posted by kenleighacres on September 12, 2009
Posted in: family, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , . 4 Comments

We finally made a decision in regards to what school we were going to send our son to.  The district that we are in has gone to a full day kindergarten and this is not something we were comfortable with.  5 year olds do not need to go to school all day – especially a very active little boy!  After looking and researching and talking to people we finally found a school that we are really happy about.  It is a private school at a church in Springfield.  Unlike the rest of the schools in our area they did not start this week – they start on Monday.  So we have been taking advantage of this last week of summer.

Theron Captain and Paisley

We have gone for a walk everyday.  Sometimes we both walked and sometimes he rode his bike.  I made the mistake in letting him pick the trails we took on Wednesday and we ended up going over 4 miles!!!  No problem for him, he was on his bike 🙂

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You may have noticed that there was a new dog in the picture up above.  This is Captain, he is visiting for the week and getting a lot of socialization.  He is just over a year old and has gotten a little too used to his quiet country lifestyle and REALLY loves his mom.  She would like to lure course and show him and asked if I would take him for a little while and expand his horizon.  He has settled in nicely and has a great personality – Theron has really enjoyed him.  He is going home on Sunday.

Theron at Alton

We went walking at a park in town and he had a great time ‘walking’ on water and visiting with the ducks and geese. 

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We also went to the bmx races on Thursday. 

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He can now start on the gate all by himself! 

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He had a great time and look at the trophy he won for 3rd place…

Theron and trophy

He is learning a lot about good sportsmanship and went up to the kid that won 2nd place and told him great job and in the car on the way home he was telling me that he was really happy for the other kid because he usually gets last place – WOW!!!  He has thrown a few fits in the past for not coming in first place – I am very proud of him!

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We had school orientation on Friday morning and then we headed up to my parent’s house.  My youngest sister was watching my nephews and invited us up for Theron to play with Sasha and JJ.

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They were being very silly!

Sasha and Theron

They played in the sandbox and rode bikes.  JJ went down for a nap before I got any pictures of him.

Kona

This is Kona, my sister’s 5-month-old boxer.  Her coloring is a beautiful black brindle.

Today we are headed to my friend, Lisa’s house to see her 4 week old Aussie puppies – Theron is super excited! 

Enjoy your weekend! 

A walk at the dam

Posted by kenleighacres on September 2, 2009
Posted in: Border Collie, Cardigan Welsh Corgi, Dogs, family, whippet. Tagged: , , , . 2 Comments

We usually go for a bike ride or a walk at the park several times during the week, but today we went to the dam.  It isn’t a very long walk, so we took all the dogs.  We usually take Kate and Paisley, but Darby is limited on how far he can walk so he stays home most of the time.  He is a little heavy to be carrying back to the car – been there done that 🙂 

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He loves the dogs!

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He started off walking Darby, but Darby is kind of a mama’s boy and doesn’t like to run with Theron.

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He quickly traded me for Kate and they were off. 

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There were quite a few rowing teams out on the water today.  We both thought it was really funny when they rowed by singing ‘You’ve got that lovin’ feelin’.

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The Willamette river is so pretty in this area.

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I love this picture – happy, happy, happy!

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We found a little trail that went down to the water and Darby decided the whole trip was worth it.

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I’m not sure what she was trying to do, but she would have gotten a big surprise had she jumped over the barrier – it was very DEEP!

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It was a great walk and I think we will add this into our walking rotation.  On the way back Darby tried talking me into carrying him, but he was a muddy mess, so we just took it slow.  Poor guy isn’t a youngster anymore.

They enjoyed every minute!

Posted by kenleighacres on August 14, 2009
Posted in: Dog Photography, Dogs, Lure Coursing. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

I took pictures at the Chintimini Kennel Club Lure Coursing trial this last weekend in Junction City.  The weather was perfect and it appeared that everyone had a great time – especially the dogs!

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Look at the grin on this big guy – you would think he was chasing a real rabbit instead of a plastic bag 😉

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There are always a few dogs that grab me and this was one of them at this trial.  He is a young Ibizan and he was there with his brother and sister.

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This is his sister, Dina.  They all had eyes that could penetrate right through you.  I love those ears.

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Afghans are so much fun to photograph because of all that hair.

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Both of these dogs are Salukis, the one in the foreground is a smooth.

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I absolutely love Borzoi’s.  If I was a big dog person, then this is the breed I would have.

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The whippets are so impressive to watch – they are so FAST!

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These guys were so proud of their catch.  They ran around the field playing tug of war and just enjoying the moment!

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At the end of the day, each dog that wins the Best of Breed award can come back and run against each other for Best in Field.  Here is the Whippet, Rhodesian Ridgeback, and Basenji running together.  The Whippet won both days, but that isn’t always the case.  I was personally rooting for the Greyhound on Sunday. 

To see more pictures from the weekend, go here.

This weekend I am headed south to camp and give herding dog demos at the Celtic Highland Games in Winston, OR.  I am going with my good friend Kristine and I am really looking forward to it!  We have been on numerous trips together and always have an adventure or two 😉

Enjoy your weekend!