It’s a three-day weekend. You might think that this would be a perfect opportunity to write a great blog, full of insight and pictures.

Ha. I’ve mostly just sat around doing the things I want to do, occasionally getting something like grocery shopping or laundry accomplished.  But as this day (and weekend) heads to a close, I am realizing that some things do need to get done before I head back to real world.

Therefore, I will attempt to entertain you with the good things that have happened this week.

Canby Library Art Show

As I mentioned last week, I have a show up at the Canby Library. This is good enough news that I felt like I should mention it again, especially since feedback has been so positive.

Acceptance to WSO Spring Show

Thursday  morning, before I went to work, I checked my email and got an exciting email. My painting “Should the Turkey Cross the Road” was accepted into the Watercolor Society of Oregon Spring Exhibition in Florence. This makes my third acceptance into a WSO show and my first into the spring show.

Key – NW1

I reported a few weeks ago that Key aced his odor recognition trial. Since then, I have been entering him in nose work trials for the spring, but I have found out that many shows have a wait list and it’s harder than I thought to get in.

I was a little flustered by this information, so I entered him in a trial that I knew had a short wait list, but was very soon. I figured we wouldn’t get in. (Note: I’m not so sure my thought process had any thought at all.) Imagine when I got the email on Wednesday that the wait list had disappeared and we got in.

So Saturday morning I got up EARLY and headed up to Centralia, WA, to take Key to a NW1 trail. This is the most advanced kind of trial, because he has to be successful at four searches in a row to get a title. I decided to look at as a fun match; Key can still be a little wild in public.

Not only did Key NAIL the show, he got the prestigious Harry Award: “The Harry Award is given to the most outstanding rescue dog that demonstrates extraordinary ability and spirit in nose work.”

So now I have a NW1 dog.

Note: This may be as high as we ever get because at NW2 he has to ignore food. I can’t imagine such a thing. Sunday our odor work instructor put out a donut at a distractor item in a container search and it was all I could do to DRAG him away from it.