Under the Old Oak Tree

Although not officially summer the temps are warming up, making dog training a daily challenge. Fortunately an old oak tree spreads its ample limbs over a wide area in the back yard. The challenge each day is to confine my obedience ring within the shade the oak tree provides. I usually train about 11am in the morning. The dogs look forward to our training time because it usually involves treats and toys. In my mind I would think they’d say to themselves, “Oh, crap. It’s too hot to do that stuff. Go away!” Amazingly the competitive spirit between them helps me. If one is in the kennel, he is jealous of the other being trained. So when it is his turn he’s willing to fork over obedience exercises I request of him in exchange for a piece of the action. It has also become apparent that one dog watching another do a certain skill set helps the younger dog to learn. Kind of like, “Oh, so that’s what she wants!” To motivate me to train I sit down in the shade with some Front and Finish articles I’ve saved over the years. It always helps to have another perspective on problems that are universal in the sport. Usually within ten minutes I get excited to try something that has worked with a more experienced trainer.
Notes from a recent training session:
Levi-start with jumping which he loves, work more on fronts with chute and close work; “Get close”-with collar old fashioned way; doing great on “around” command, doing poorly on “about turn”. Wide-lazy, used food throw as well as Sylvia Bishops’ method. Stand much better, work on stand-sit-down stays. Work on broad jump, running over/past like the old days.
Mickey-doesn’t work well in heat, start over with retrieve, be more consistent with my training; amazing-he is doing distance signals with River.

Blue Tubular Peyote Necklace

I had made a green odd count tubular peyote necklace when I still lived in Oregon. I received a lot of nice comments but several people asked if I had one in blue to sell. So recently I made this one. Sure enough, someone asked if I had one in purple. Currently I have an order in with Fire Mountain Gems for some purple/violet beads and Szarovski cystals to make one in purple. Hmm. I guess I should make one in red too. Future tubular peyote necklaces I make need to have some more variation, maybe dangles off the side and bottom or a mix of strung beads and tubular peyote. Either way this is another easy project. I used size 8 beads and some large triangle beads that I had in my stash. As luck would have it I ran out of large beads and had to order more for the last 2". Oh, well.

After this project I found instructions in the magazine Step by Step Beading for a Russian Spiral necklace. Along with netting that is easy and fun to do and opens up a lot of possibilites for variations. A new friend is asking about bead crochet necklaces and bracelets. I have done them in the past but need to gain more confidence in finishing the ends. Should I use cones or weave the ends together? I also tried to teach myself the African helix stitch and decided it was something I should save for another day. It IS beautiful so that is on my list of things to learn along with tubular Herringbone.

Dogs and Jewelry

In between dog training I've had time to do more beading. My goal is to post the results of my work along with a description of the products used.

This isn't the greatest picture but it shows some variation from a pattern (Fanfare Earrings) I saw in an issue of the magazine Step By Step Beading. I used Nymo thread size D and next time would use a smaller size. The Delicas and size 8 beads were on hand as were the 4mm Szarovski crystals (color Lt Siam) that I purchased a long time ago at the Bead Fest in Portland, Oregon. It was a fun project even if the heavier thread made it a challenge to go back through some of the beads. I used the Brick Stitch to make this.