Staten Island Strong

New Dorp Beach, 2009

The beach we would so frequently sit on is busy with debris, yet at the very same time, left barren from the immense erosion of sand.

The field we would so frequently run in is now being used as a base for the National Guard, the American Red Cross, FEMA, and countless other relief groups.  The neighborhood blocks we would so frequently walk down have been left impassable by the endless bags of garbage - the content of people's homes, destroyed by the ocean, now left at the curb, sopping wet.  Helicopters fly in the skies overhead, starting as early as 7 AM and continuing in to the dark hours of the evening.  Cars line the roads, but most of them are not moving - some fell prey to the storm, others sit idle in a line for gas that stretches nearly a mile.  The roads are street corners are packed full with volunteers, donated clothing, spectators, residents, and the NYPD.

It's bad here.  It's really, really bad here.

Hurricane Sandy has absolutely ravaged my neighborhood.

Those who doubted this storm, those who thought the media was overhyping this storm, were proven very wrong.  Hurricane Irene, which did far more inland damage than it did coastal damage, lulled many people in our beach community in to a false sense of comfort.

Including my family.

In fact, we figured that since my grandma's house always loses power, that we'd bring her to OUR house, a half mile from the beach and in NYC's "Zone A" rather that pack up and go to her house, which is 60 feet or so above sea level, on a hill.

We were smart about one thing, though, and did have things packed up in case we had to leave at the last minute.

Aaaand.. we DID leave at the last minute.

Social media began to buzz after 7 PM on Monday night with reports of the storm surge starting to reach roads and residences.  I found out that a nearby block was under water through Facebook, and the local online news said that people were being rescued off of rooftops just 5 blocks away.

It didn't feel real until I looked out the window and saw what looked like the end of the world - the sky lighting up from transformers exploding, and a mass exodus of cars away from the streets nearer to the beach and closer to higher ground.  Police sirens blared as loud as the wind was blowing.

The final straw was when the water began pouring up my block.  I saw it between my block and the next out on the main road, and that is when I knew that we had to leave.

So, we very quickly packed up a family of four, an 80 - year old grandma, and a cat and a dog in to my dad's crossover, which he conveniently backed up on to my front lawn to avoid the floodwaters, and he drove us to higher ground.

In retrospect, it was a little stupid for us to leave, since it was entirely possible that we would not be able to get out of my neighborhood, and then would have been trapped in the floodwaters.  But, we made it to my grandma's dry, albeit pitch black, house.  My sister, the pets, and I spent the night in my grandma's spare bedroom, on the floor, listening to the wind howl, sandwiched between several layers of blankets.

Fast forward to Tuesday, when I finally arrived home.  The ocean water somehow skipped over my house and stopped dead on my front lawn. We had some damage in the basement from the sewers backing up and spewing filth all over the basement floor.  Some stuff got ruined, but nothing terribly substantial.  Nothing like the devastation experienced elsewhere in my neighborhood.  We were very lucky.

Since I arrived home after dark on Tuesday, I didn't get out to see my community until Wednesday.  It was like a movie.  Literally everyone I knew from my neighborhood was affected in some way.

There doesn't feel like there's an end in sight right now, though I know things will get better.  Already people here have made tremendous progress clearing out their houses, and Sanitation has been doing their best to get the garbage off of our streets.

I've never been one to be ashamed of the fact that I'm from Staten Island, the way some people are.  I've lived here my entire life, in this little house in New Dorp Beach, so one would hope that I like the place! But this week, I'm truly proud to be a Staten Islander.  The support people are giving to one another is amazing and will, no doubt, help us get through this time a little bit easier.

We're On A Roll!

This past weekend, Marge and I competed in two days of agility trials at one of our favorite trial sites.  Marge has not competed in a show since the beginning of August, so it was really nice to get back out in to the ring with her.

She must have felt the same way!  She qualified in three out of four of her runs, earning a Jumpers leg on Saturday and her 4th double-qualifying score on Sunday.  We were one measly off-course jump away from a perfect weekend.  This was one of our best weekends to date.

Maybe she ran so well because she was happy to hang out with her best friend, Spirit, for the entire weekend.  (I was happy to see Spirit, too, as well as her mom, as well as all of the friends who I tented with or near).

Both Jumpers runs, though they were qualifying, were somewhat unremarkable.  She had slow weaves in both, which I think might have to do with the fact that they were very early in the course (it usually takes Marge a few obstacles before she really gets going).  She picked up 5 MACH points in each of them.

Her last run of the weekend, Standard, was completely different.

She started out at her normal speed, but, after completing the #2 tunnel, shot right over the dog walk and never looked back.

During one part of the course (just before the weave poles), I felt REALLY far away from her and had to yell out my commands to her from probably a solid 15-20 feet away.

She also attacked the weaves in this run, jumping in to them so quickly that I am lucky she didn't pop out due to lack of collection. This eased my worries that her slow weaves earlier in the weekend were the result of her feeling sore or injured.

She still placed towards the bottom of the qualifiers (seems I am doomed in the 20 inch class when it comes to placements), but she matched her previous high and picked up 15 MACH points for her effort.  She is no Border Collie, but the fact that she's running more quickly and more accurately is very exciting.

Here's a video of our double-Q runs:


Our totals to date: 4 QQ's, 148 MACH points, 14 MXJ legs, 6 MX legs.

We'll be attending one day of a trial in Long Island this coming weekend.  I hope we can continue to build on our success, and add another double to the ones we've earned at each of our last three trials!

These Little Moments

Life has definitely changed the past month or so, now that I'm back in (graduate) school and things have once again gotten hopelessly busy.  It's easy to want to plop down at the end of the day and totally abandon any of the other responsibilities that I have outside of school, but think I've done a pretty decent job so far of balancing my schoolwork with my hobbies and other commitments while still finding enough time to sleep.  That, in part, is the reason for my blog absence, and I'm not sure there's much I can do about that.

Since being a brand-spankin'-new PT student comes with so many questions about how I like the program, how I'm doing with it and how much work it is, I had a person tell me a few weeks ago at an agility trial that I'll have my whole life to do agility and the other things I love - that school should be my first priority right now.  While her intentions were good in making the statement, and while I suppose school should be pretty high on the totem pole, I didn't quite like the notion of completely putting the things I love to do off until a later date.

Marge is five years old; she's still pretty young for a medium-sized dog, and some would say that she's entering the best years of her life. But the gray hairs propping up on her bumpy little chin are a reminder that she will not live forever.  (To be honest, I get a little unnerved when I look at them, even though they are still barely noticeable.)

So, in that sense, no, I won't have the rest of my life to do agility or anything else.   Marge is living her life now, and I will not deny her the joy of doing the things she loves to do because I cannot find the time to do them.

Yes, I've had to make changes, like denying both Marge and myself the fun of taking more than one overnight trip for agility (but we are still taking one this semester!).  We also haven't gone on any hikes or trips to the park, but the high number of ticks we've had here are just as responsible for that as my sore feet are. But, at minimum, I'll always make sure that she gets to go out for walks, run around in the field, go to trials, and play with her buddies.

Some snapshots of the past couple of months:

It may mean skimping on vegetative stretches of time spent on the couch (kind of like the one I'm allotting myself right now...), it may mean passing on the occasional social outing, but the story of Marge will not be put on hold.  We can't afford to let that happen.

Few Words Monday

There are so many things I can update about.. but I'm still in lazy summer mode, and can't quite think of the words to write. For now, enjoy this picture of Marge on the beach Saturday night, taking in the sunset.

We've been enjoying a laid-back summer together.  I love spending time with my good little girl.

Mourning a Friend

Goodbye, sweet K, a dog who lived and loved her life so fully until the very end.

We'll miss your courageousness and your zest for life, but are comforted in knowing that your spirit will live on forever in the mountains that you loved so dearly.

(Temper)ature

I hope I come back to this post should I ever again consider entering a summer trial at a facility that is not air conditioned.  The past few days have been brutally hot, hot, hot and I'm not sure I could ever stomach it again.

As with all AKC agility trials, I entered the July 7th and 8th trial many weeks ago, before I had any idea what the temperature would be like (though you would think that the fact that the trial was in July would have given me some indication of the possibilities!).  In the middle of last week, I realized that this trial would coincide with yet another heat wave, with triple digits and excessive heat warnings posted for Swedesboro, NJ, where the trial was located.

I strongly considered not attending the trial, but my host, my good friend who is nice enough to let me stay with her in her RV, had decided to go, after deliberating it herself and speaking to those who went down to the site earlier than we did.  They said that the building was warm, but not at all unbearable.

Since I knew we'd have cold air conditioning in the RV (as well as the car air conditioning should anything happen to the RV electric), and since we wouldn't spend a heck of a lot of time in the building, anyway, I decided to make the trip down with her.  I decided that if it was too hot on Saturday (the day forecasted to have the worst heat), that I would just skip my runs and stay in the motor home.

We made the trip down Friday night and all was well.  We arrived by about 9:30 and hooked up the RV next to my friend's cousin's RV and hung out together for a while before heading to bed.

Saturday morning, we woke up early to get ready for our runs.  It was already starting to get hot, but I was hopeful that I'd get my runs in before the worst of the heat set in.

My Standard class was first on Saturday.  I liked the course a lot and thought we would do well on it.

We did do very well, but did not qualify.  Marge came out with her rocket boosters on during this run, and she leapt the A-Frame contact and took a bar down to prevent us from receiving a qualifying score. I do think that some of whatever she was feeling was stress, but because she did her teeter and table, I wasn't too worried and was still very, very happy with the run.





We returned back to the RV to wait for my next run.  I left Marge in the air conditioning to watch my friend run with her Golden, Spirit, and then waited for my Jumpers walk through.  I walked the course, watched a few dogs run, and then returned to the RV to get my dog.

However, by the time I got to the RV, my stomach was doing flip-flops.  I had my dog leashed, my treats ready, and I was ready to go, but I literally had to take her off her leash, throw her back in the RV, and run to the bathroom.  I felt very, very, sick, and don't think I would have been able to run without taking a potty break first.

I returned to fetch my dog and made the lengthy walk to the rings.  I figured that I was still OK on time, since I usually get my dog out way too early before a run.

Turns out I was wrong.

"They were hollering for you, Sam," said one fellow competitor.  I checked with my friend, who was working the class, and indeed, I had missed my run by about 5 dogs.

They offered to put me in, but another competitor was very angry and thought that she shouldn't be made to wait for a person who wasn't there and wasn't ready.  While I would be annoyed, too, she had a HUGE attitude about it, which made me very, very upset.

She was totally unsympathetic to the fact that there could have been - and WAS, though it was unbeknownst to her - a very good reason that I was late for my run.  This is when the ugly side of agility shows up - when people are such die-hards and take themselves way too seriously, and forget that this is a hobby.  We are parading our dogs over obstacles around a dirt ring in the middle of July, for goodness sake - it is NOT life or death here.

So, after hearing this person get all snarky, I told my friend to scratch me, citing "I don't need to deal with these people's attitudes" as the reason.  The snarky woman was well within earshot and I hope she heard me.

"Marge is not running," I told the gate steward.  Then, the snarky lady had the nerve to say to me, "Why don't you run?  They put you next in the order."  I told her no, that I wouldn't be running my dog, and that it was fine.

As I walked away, I thought I heard them call for my dog's name again, so I again stated that my dog would not be running.   As it turns out, they were calling for a different dog, and the snarky lady made sure I knew it, shooting nasty glances in my direction as she snidely and slowly pronounced out the other dog's name.

I was very, very unhappy with the exchange, very, very hot from the weather, and very, very uncomfortable from whatever the heck happened to my stomach. I went back to the RV in tears, telling my dog she was a good girl and feeding her the treats she would have received had she run.  I texted Louie in an absolute rage, which prompted him to ask me if I wanted him to pick me up.  Let me tell you, I was very, very, close to taking his offer, because there was no where I wanted to be more than home.

I get very upset when I am spoken to in such a manner at agility trials and this was no exception.  It reminded me of the time recently when I volunteered and got berated by one of the head-honcho agility people for not bringing the score sheets over fast enough.  That sort of stuff makes me absolutely livid, and quite honestly, I wanted so badly to go home after missing my run and having someone act that way towards me.

My friend's cousin, who was parked next to us, came over to chat with me and calm me down, telling me to let it roll off my back and reminding me that aside from those who I choose to spend my time with, the majority of these people are NOT my friends, do not want to be, and never will be.

My stomach troubles eased that night, as I played solitaire with my friends and chatted about whacko family members, but worsened the next morning.  I spent a disproportionate amount of time in the bathroom before my first run and was afraid I wouldn't be running at all that day.

To make matters worse, I wasn't the only one with tummy troubles.  Marge had diarrhea that morning as well.  She seemed fine and I figured it was likely just from the heat, so I didn't worry too much about it.

Thankfully, my stomach calmed down enough for me to run my first course of the day, a very fun Jumpers course.

Marge started out a bit slow and then picked up her pace towards the end, qualifying for 6 MACH points and her 11th Master Jumpers leg.  I was worried in the beginning as she trotted out of the tunnel (and so was my friend, who was recording!), but Marge appeared to feel fine.




Now that we had run and qualified in Jumpers, I wanted to make every effort to run in Standard and try to pick up a QQ.  
After walking the course, I went back to the RV to get my dog and sat with her in the bleachers while we waited for our turn.  Didn't want to chance missing my run or getting yelled at again...
Unfortunately it's not on video, but Marge qualified on the course for her second QQ.  It was a fairly difficult course with some nasty, nasty off course traps (including a tunnel and a table), but because Marge wasn't moving all that quickly, we managed to avoid any mishaps along those lines.  She picked up only ONE MACH point, but that's alright - we both had bum stomachs, it was over ninety degrees, and we really need those QQs - so I was very happy!
A little while later, after Spirit qualified in Standard, we set out for home.  I couldn't wait to leave.  
I don't think either of us have fully recovered from this trip yet.  Unfortunately, Marge still has diarrhea as of tonight, so we may be putting a phone call in to the vet tomorrow. It is very, very unlikely that I will ever enter a summer trial indoors without air conditioning again.  Even with the RV air conditioning, it was just too warm.  I'm happy that I picked up the QQ, but based on how horrible I felt, I don't think I'd ever want to do that again.
We're done trialing for about 4 weeks, and then will gear up for a couple of days in August, indoors, but in air conditioning.  Our new totals: 2 QQs, 110 MACH points, 4 MX legs, and 11 MXJ legs!

Marge Turns 5

A few days ago, Marge celebrated her 5th birthday (which conveniently falls right around her Gotcha Day, June 29).

I can't believe Marge is 5 years old.  I also can't believe that she's now been in my life for 4 years, nor can I remember what life was like before I had her.

I always feel a little sad around her birthdays, since they mark the fact that she is now another year older.  I can't stand the thought of an old Marge!  Thankfully, she hasn't lost any of her youthful exuberance (though the past few weeks, her main pastime has been holding down the couch... it's too hot to do much else).

As I've done in previous years, I put together a video collage of the past year.  This year's video is the longest yet, but if you want to get a taste of how Marge spends her days, humor me and watch a couple of minutes of it :o)