And Its October and I'm Wrapping Up September.

A month ago, when I last posted, Grover and I were about to attend a trial where we were anticipating earning our Master Agility Champion (MACH) title. 

Grover's wall in my studio

 So the exciting news is that we did it!  We needed only 18 points going in, which for us meant we had to have 2 clean runs.  We did not have a qualifying run in standard  on Friday, so the pressure was off to get the MACH that day, but we did Q in Jumpers that afternoon, earning 11 points, which meant we needed only 7 more.  So I called Sam that night so he was on alert to be there early Saturday morning and he arrived just before our walk through for standard around 10 am .  Grover and I had a great run in standard, with the last 4 obstacles being a tunnel then 3 jumps.  When we were still clean going into that tunnel, I just knew we could do it and we did!  It was SO exciting.  When you get a MACH you and your dog get to take a victory lap around the ring and someone brings you out a bar and ribbon and the judge congratulates you and it's pretty amazing!  Everyone tells me there is no feeling like that very first MACH and I believe it.  I am so proud of my goofy little rescue Aussie.  He has been such fun and we plan to go on and see how long it takes us to get MACH 2 and maybe even 3.  

But the week prior to our MACH weekend, we had our 21st Annual Labor Day party here on the farm.  It was a very hot weekend, but I think we had one of the best labor Day weekend parties ever.  Our friends Lee and Viktorija brought along 3 families,  all of whom were international but living currently in Dayton.  Viktorija herself is from Lithuania, so the Lithuanians were well represented, but there were also a man from Nepal and 2 other people from France and a whole lot of kids.  The kids had a great time.
 One of the women from Lithuania arrived and took over the grill and cooked some wonderful food and just as it got dark, the guy from Nepal produced a guitar and he and my brother Larry took turns entertaining us on the back deck.  It really was a great time.  That was Saturday.  On Sunday, we headed up to the pond with nieces and nephews and our whole group for swimming and zip-lining and maybe a bit more partying.  It wasn't long before more people started to arrive and I think the final count at the pond that afternoon was 31 people!  SO MUCH FUN!

 It was a great weekend in all and somewhat exhausting, but I know those kids will never forget it and we will remember it for years as a great time had with great people.  Thanks to Lee and Viktorija for bringing their friends and to the rest of our neighbors for joining the fun.





 



The garden is pretty much done for the year, though there are still some roma tomatoes and a lot of peppers out there.  My friend Tari gave me some heirloom tomato plants and some were these beautiful yellow cherry tomatoes which really thrived in my herb garden.  And the tomatoes were fabulous! I ate a lot just off the vine.  I will save seeds and replant these next spring.

I think the excessive rain we had all summer and spring really hurt the garden.  I got almost no butternut squash and no pumpkins at all.  My pumpkin plants just died after the second time the garden was under water.  Maybe next year will be better.

 
Speaking of underwater, Sam has worked diligently to try to get a new bridge finished before winter.  Usually September is rather dry, but since we needed dry weather, we got lots of rain. And more rain.  Two days ago, we were finally able to get cement delivered to top the bridge with.

 It stayed nice and dry for the rest of the day, thankfully, but at 5 pm yesterday, the whole thing was once again underwater.  At least the cement had over 24 hours to set before it poured rain, but it would have been nice to have a few dry days.

Sam left early this morning to go to Newfoundland, Canada, with 5 friends to hunt moose.  He will be away for at least 10 days, which is one reason he wanted to get the cement done on the bridge.  We will be into mid-October by the time he returns home.

In other farm news, we are down to only 4 hens now.  The month of September was rough on the chickens.   There were a couple of hawks that seemed to think our chickens were some sort of free dinner buffet, and we lost 4 in about 4 days.  Measures were taken to discourage the predators and for a few days we did not lose any more, but then it started again and once again, we had to intervene on behalf of our flock.  By then we were down to 5.  And just this past weekend, the last old hen we had died of natural causes.  She was about 4, which I think is pretty much a normal lifespan.  So we are out of the egg business for now.  I will decide in the spring whether to get more chickens or not.

My mom and I took a trip last weekend to Grand Rapids, Michigan, to visit my aunt and cousins there and also to attend Artprize, a yearly 3 week long art contest in the city of Grand Rapids.  We spent one day downtown looking at art and we did some shopping as well.  It was a very nice visit.  My cousin Matt and his wife have a new baby who is about a week older than my grandson, Wilder, so I got to meet him.  Sure hope we can get those 2 kids together when they get a little older.   

That's about it on what's going on around here.  I just want to post an update on Rowdy.  We decided a couple weeks ago to talk to the vet about putting him on medication to make him more comfortable, even if it shortens his time with us.  So far, he is doing really well and much more like his old self.  He is not pain-free, but I think it is now at a tolerable level.  It makes us happy to see the spark back in his eye and to have him greet us once again when we arrive home.  I hope it lasts a while longer, but I am at the point where if he were to just pass on in his sleep, I think I would be okay with that.  I wish he could be healthy and happy and live another 20 years, but I know that isn't possible, so I will deal with it.  He is 13 1/2  now.
 


I have not had a lot of time for Fiber-y pursuits, though I did weave some kitchen towels for my cousin for her new kitchen.  They came out great.  Her new kitchen is colors of grey and these matched quite well.

I also finished a couple of tencel scarves in black and white:

I have several ongoing knitting projects, but nothing finished.  Now that fall is here, I hope to get some work done on those.

Maybe I can also get another blog post done before November.  Time will tell.