2024 Specialty, etc.

The BMDCA National Specialty is coming right up!

THIS is a link to the Specialty page.

There is a photo contest with voting for People’s Choice through March 22 — this is a way everyone can participate in the Specialty ❤️

You can vote for your favorite in each category — the contest and details for how to vote are HERE.

Jay has made a very cool and interactive schedule that will be ready to share soon; I will post the link as soon as it is live.

We have separated the schedule from the newsletter this year, with Jay managing the schedule and I will put out the newsletter each day. I assure you, my part will definitely not be as fancy!

A couple of photos of Bright Star Xeena after her bath.

Thank you, Kim, for the photos and always keeping me updated about that wonderful girl.

And here is Xeena’s sister and mom — Bright Star Capella (sitting) and Claire.

I thought maybe being hitched to Claire 🐇 would help Capella 🐢 understand that the cart could move faster without exploding 💣 It was epic — Claire just went and Capella looked stunned but had no choice but to go along. I am not sure it helped but I do see a future brace team, although I use the word “team” loosely since it will be 99.99975% Claire.

Spring Break is here and I am BUSY BUSY BUSY on the house and Specialty prep and so on. Check out the cozy space in the guest suite.

My efforts to keep cats out of the loft continue to be highly effective.

And finally — Harper B for Best Life.

Happy Sunday, Friends!

Undone

It is a good thing I do not care if my pencils line up or home renovation would make me nutty. It is not a linear or orderly process at all, and it seems like things do not actually get done — even when they are done.

Yay! The new door is in and the trim has been painted and installed — and now I need to spackle all the little nail holes and paint those, and paint around the door and decide about painting said door and then do that and then remove that black tape stuff and… and… and…

Both main floor bathrooms are done and the trim is in. I spackled nail holes yesterday and will crawl around on the floor painting today.

The new fan is lower than the old one, has a remote control, and is very cool.

That is the view from my bed, still located in the living room/bedroom/gym.

But the new ceiling lights that were to be installed a week ago were delayed and have not yet arrived — so the loft/living room/bedroom/gym is not quite officially done.

It’s an adventure — an experience — and one I am very fortunate to be having. I feel this deeply.

Another challenge is maintaining the new spaces — like the loft. It used to be the cat hang-out but with new carpeting, I relocated their Cat Club to a room in the walk-out basement.

They spent three weeks on lockdown to get used to the new space, and now have upstairs privileges again — but not the loft.

It has been a bit of trial and error.

But I finally seem to have landed on the effective placement of my elegant No Cats system, and the cats have yielded (for now — they are likely plotting).

New exterior lights were recently installed.

We have now hit a point where the remaining interior work is mostly on me — painting and the like — and we need warmer weather to work on the deck and paint the exterior doors.

So Remodel Dude is off for the next 3 - 4 weeks while we wait for it to warm up and I am looking forward (sarcasm alert) to what used to be known as Spring Break but shall henceforth be called Paint Week (like Shark Week but hopefully less bloody). That starts next Saturday.

My bedroom, however, is almost done — so close! I should finish it (I use that term loosely now) today and tomorrow. Mover Dudes are coming to help with furniture transport today — so helpful!

In the midst of all this, Specialty Prep continues. I wanted to share this video that shows Capella may have only .00025 of a draft gene but she has 110% of the working dog genes.

⭐️ Bright Star indeed.

Have a Happy Sunday and take it from me — Undone is Okay.