Although Al’s 80th birthday was July 20th, we celebrated on the 25th.  Every time I put on a big party, I say never again as I just cannot control myself and tackle every project I have wanted to get done in order to make our home and grounds look beautiful.  Everything looked lovely except my nails which I hid all day as I had destroyed them with gardening and had no time to get them done.  Al kept reminding me as drove him crazy as well as myself, that he did not want a party. You could have fooled me as he just glowed when friends and family arrived to celebrate. 

A few pictures of the festivities:

 

Al and his much older brother Bill!!!

Bill will kill me!

 

From left:

Al’s son-in-law Ron, grandson Darren, Garette boyfriend of Audrey, and granddaughter Audrey 

                                            

 

 

Al and Audrey

 

 

Al’s brother bill and sister-in-law Rosie

 

Below is my brother Jerry and sister-in-law Diane  

Below are some of our dog show friends

My friend Charlotte LaRosa and I have been friends for over fifty years.  Her mother and she bred German Shepherds and when I was through college, she arranged for me to get “Lottie,” who became my first Shepherd champion. 

The weather could not have been more beautiful. Everyone seemed to have a great time!

Introducing my grand nephew, darling Fritz, who is enjoying tearing up the sunflower bouquet given to Al by a very understanding friend. Fritz was having such a good time. Fritz and his parents, my niece Annie and her husband Eric, are buying our farm.  Eric and Al have spent the last two and one half weeks putting up fence here and at the farm for a horse paddock and round pen to be ready for the return of Buttercup and a new mare called Shotzi. We saved Shotzi from the horse slaughter auction; both horses are well broken but are at a trainers for a month so that they are bombproof because Annie wants me to teach her to ride and ultimately Fritz to ride. Eric, Al, and I do ride so we will have lots of fun. Next time I will post pictures of my very special “rescue” horse Stanley–an absolutely stunning seven year old liver Chestnut registered, newly castrated, Morgan. He is the horse of my “medicare” dreams!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the best part of all:  Al and my own celebration:

July 20th is (or was as I am late in posting this) Al’s 80th birthday.  When I met Al on a blind date on January 20, 1984, I knew. After dinner having a drink, I wanted to put my head on his shoulder–the only person in the world that I ever did.  I had talked to Al on the phone for the first time two weeks before I met him; we talked about growing broccoli of all things and about his farm where we subsequently built our log ranch on the river in Delaware, Ohio, before the dogs necessitated we move to our larger farm in Marengo.  After talking to Al, I told my friends that I had met the man I was going to marry.  I was 39, successful in my career, had raised German Shepherds and was judging, doing community theatre, and enjoying my beautiful home in Columbus and the fact that my lovely mother lived with me;  in other words, I was used to doing exactly as I wanted as I had the freedom to do so.  I had ended a twelve year relationship with a  much older Middle Eastern  man because although he gave lip service to my dog involvement, he was really a control freak who little by little was reining me in.  I finally realized that I could not walk ten paces behind and ended it; I thought as used to my independence as I was and as driven in my career and dogs as I was that I would never marry or risk having another significant relationship as I could not allow myself to give up so much of me again. 

Then I met Al and married him in six weeks start to finish.  I was not going to let him go!  I asked him what first attracted him to me and he said “my moxie”–a quality that has driven him crazy ever since.  Al hated New Yorkers because he thought them brazen and pushy; I am from Brooklyn–brazen and pushy.  It took me years to figure out why I often turned Midwesterners off; only a couple of years ago did it dawn on me that Midwesterners are more laid back; not as pushy or as verbally assertive and aggressive as those of us from the East coast especially my Brooklyn. Once I figured this out, I have used being from Brooklyn as my excuse for everything!!!  Anyway, after twenty five years of marriage, we are still working out the kinks!!!  We have gone through a lot together and share the same code of ethics and hopefully incorruptible integrity.  As different as we are on the surface, we think the same way and are really made from the same cloth. Al has been my rock, my security, my refuge, and my love.  Any success that Rattlebridge has enjoyed is due to his steadfastness; I depend on him totally and would be lost without him.

Happy Birthday, Al, and many many more to come.

 

 

 

 Al the Befuddled!!!

 

 

   

 

Al with his wonderful Tia who was his girl for 16 years:

 

 

 

 

 

Below is my favorite picture of Al.  He and Ch. Rattlebridge Kathleen, ROM, were enjoying being on the water in this photo. “Katie” lived to be 14.  One of Al’s fondest memories is showing Katie to two best puppy in show wins at two old club shows beating me handling Ch. Rattlebridge Reginald each day for Best Puppy!!

 

 

 

One of our wedding pictures.

Al looks the same, but I will never be this thin again!!!

I watched with interest the grief and mourning surrounding Michael Jackson.  Musical genius, yes!  In the televised memorial service, he was extolled for breaking down the barriers between black and white. Yet, I just watched a movie entitled Cadillac Records,  in which those great black entertainers coming before him:  Muddy Waters, Etta James, Little Walter, and Chuck Berry (with his own version of the moonwalk) transitioning the blues into mainstream and then rock and roll.  Great movie!  The point is that many Afro American entertainers paved the way for Michael Jackson without all the cloudiness of character that surrounded him and his way of life.  I am making no judgements, but we often worship celebrity and not the true character and real heroic behavior of those willing to die for what they believed was the greater good.  The following piece really moved me and I feel bears featuring here:

Subject: Soldier’s comment about Michael Jackson
       This is written by a young man serving his third tour of duty in Iraq. Thought you might find his take on the Michael Jackson news – interesting.
       ____________________________

       Okay, I need to rant.

       I was just watching the news, and I caught part of a report on
Michael Jackson. As we all know, Jackson died the other day. He was an entertainer who performed for decades. He made millions, he spent  millions, and he did a lot of things that make him a villain to many  people. I understand that his death would affect a lot of people, and I  respect those people who mourn his death, but that isn’t the point of my  rant.

       Why is it that when ONE man dies, the whole of America loses
their minds with grief. When a man dies whose only contribution to the  country was to ENTERTAIN people, the American people find the need to  flock to a memorial in Hollywood, and even Congress sees the need to  hold a “moment of silence” for his passing?

       Am I missing something here? ONE man dies, and all of a sudden
he’s a freaking martyr because he entertained us for a few decades? What  about all those SOLDIERS who have died to give us freedom? All those  Soldiers who, knowing that they would be asked to fight in a war, still  raised their hands and swore to defend the Constitution and the United  States of America. Where is their moment of silence? Where are the people flocking to their graves or memorials and mourning over them  because they made the ultimate sacrifice? Why is it when a Soldier dies,  there are more people saying “good riddance,” and “thank God for IEDs?”  When did this country become so calloused to the sacrifice of GOOD MEN
and WOMEN, that they can arbitrarily blow off their deaths, and instead,  throw themselves into mourning for a “Pop Icon?”

       I think that if they are going to hold a moment of silence IN
CONGRESS for Michael Jackson, they need to hold a moment of silence for  every service member killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. They need to  PUBLICLY recognize every life that has been lost so that the American people can live their callous little lives in the luxury and freedom that WE, those that are living and those that have gone on, have provided for them. But, wait, that would take too much time, because there have been so many willing to make that sacrifice. After all, we will never make millions of dollars. We will never star in movies, or write hit songs that the world will listen too. We only shed our blood,  sweat and tears so that people can enjoy what they have.

       Remember these five words the next time you think of someone who is serving in the military;

       “So that others may live…”

I began teaching too many years ago at Miami Trace High School in Washington Court House, Ohio, where I had lived for three years with my vagabond always moving family. I taught college prep English and Theatre and directed the plays.  Although I could not stay for more than one year at Miami Trace  as I was living in a rooming house and sending all my money home to my mother and the four younger kids in the family; I needed to move back to the Columbus area and find a teaching job that paid more. However,  I loved that first year of teaching my seniors who were only four years younger than I was.  Last summer, some of my “kids” had a mini reunion a practice that has continued.  My kids have told me that I was the teacher who most touched their lives; this sentiment is worth more to me than all the wins in the dog show world.  I am honored to have touched  the lives of some of the finest and most successful adults I know.  I would love to go back and do it all over again.  Instead of going into secondary administration, I went into elementary as I hate football and basketball and high school principals must go to all games while I wanted to go to dog shows!

I am in the middle, front row. 

Well, I am now on Twitter, Lord help me.  I do not even understand the concept.  My friend Roxy Hayes bugged me about “tweeting” and is now bugging me to do Facebook.  I am too old for this.  You Tube was plenty for me  My blog does not get done on a regular basis I am so possessed by my spring frenzy of creating gardens.  I do nothing half way.  How then can I possibly keep up with the computer age!?!

My darling Wendy aka Ch. Rattlebridge Dutch Treat, ROM, slipped and did her knee in.  Her heart is still fine at 11 and 1/2 so she went through the surgery to fix it just fine.  He leg may not be a hundred percent again, but she is back to her antics and driving me nuts with her “woo,woo, woo” if any door, gate (even a see through dog gate), window separates us.  She has always been my girl and my constant companion as she does not let me out of her sight.  

 

 

 

Wendy has this tenuous relationship Emma the Cat.  Wendy thinks that Emma is very strange as the cat, whom I rescued from under a barn floor over nine years ago, is very attached to me also and does not like to share.  Emma looks down her superior feline nose at Wendy’s slavish devotion to me (how can it be slavish when I wait on Wendy hand and foot especially through her injury which she is milking for all its worth) although Emma seems to be just as devoted but just in total command. Al, of course, being the he man he is, has no use for cats, but he has lost this battle as well as all the other ones in our married life (WHY DO HUSBANDS EVEN TRY???).  Emma makes sure she crawls on his lap occasionally just so I can say to him, “don’t even think about it!!!” as he sits there steaming as little Miss Emma kneads his lap knowing full well that he wants to fling her across the room.   Until next time while I  “tweet ” away.

 

Reminder for the Last Chance Corral Rescue from slaughter!  I repeat the following:

Right now Last Chance Corral is trying to get enough money donated to rescue horses being auctioned this Friday for slaughter in Sugar Creek, Ohio. These horses are not all old and debilitated, but sometimes young and in their prime–just having the misfortune of winding up in the wrong hands. The horses that the slaughter house, located in Mexico I believe, buys and then transports to Mexico endure the horrible trip and then a more horrible death as their spinal cords are severed before the horses are killed while fully awake and unable to move.   I may not have all the details just right as I was so sick to my stomach and my heart, that I may not have caught everything that Victoria was telling me.  I caught enough though that I wanted to help save as many horses as can be saved.  Victoria needs donations by this Thursday in order to get her ducks in a row and decide which horses have the best chance of making it if Last Chance can buy them.  My check will be in the mail tomorrow.  Any amount will help but please make a donation of as much money as you are able with all your other financial obligations.  I will never sell a horse on as the thought of our poor Buttercup whom we raised from a baby being bought by someone and eventually winding up in a slaughter auction is just too much to bear.  We feel about our horses as we do about our dogs; we are responsible from birth to death.  If you can help out Victoria and the Last Chance Corral save a horse from slaughter, please do. Please let Victoria know that you read of the need on this blog.  Thank you for reading this and THANK YOU if you can help!!!!!

Send checks made out to:  LAST CHANCE CORRAL, 5350 US 33 South, Athens, Ohio 45701

As some of you may know, I have been involved a bit in horse rescue. Horses were my first love and although I have not ridden recently, horses remain an important part of my life.  When we left our farm, we began boarding our Buttercup who will soon move back to our farm as my nephew has volunteered to take care of her. Hopefully, I will start riding once more.

I spoke with Victoria, the founder of Last Chance Corral in Athens, Ohio today.  Last Chance Corral is a horse rescue; every spring, Victoria and her volunteers, make many trips to save unwanted foals because their dams are used as nurse mares to foals born of usually Thoroughbred horses who are taken immediately to be bred back without the bother of their new babies.   Last Chance Corral also rescues horses who are horrible examples of neglect, abuse, starvation.  The Website:   www.lastchancecorral.org

Once a horse is rehabilitated by Last Chance Corral, that horse is usually adopted with the stipulation that it cannot be sold on. If you will look at the Last Chance Corral website, you will see many success stories of horses who have been rehabilitated to go to loving owners.  Right now Victoria is trying to get enough money donated to rescue horses being auctioned this Friday for slaughter in Sugar Creek, Ohio. These horses are not all old and debilitated, but sometimes young and in their prime–just having the misfortune of winding up in the wrong hands. The horses that the slaughter house, located in Mexico I believe, buys and then transports to Mexico endure the horrible trip and then a more horrible death as their spinal cords are severed before the horses are killed while fully awake and unable to move.   I may not have all the details just right as I was so sick to my stomach and my heart, that I may not have caught everything that Victoria was telling me.  I caught enough though that I wanted to help save as many horses as can be saved.  Victoria needs donations by this Thursday in order to get her ducks in a row and decide which horses have the best chance of making it if Last Chance can buy them.  My check will be in the mail tomorrow.  Any amount will help but please make a donation of as much money as you are able with all your other financial obligations.  I will never sell a horse on as the thought of our poor Buttercup whom we raised from a baby being bought by someone and eventually winding up in a slaughter auction is just too much to bear.  We feel about our horses as we do about our dogs; we are responsible from birth to death.  If you can help out Victoria and the Last Chance Corral save a horse from slaughter, please do. Please let Victoria know that you read of the need on this blog.  Thank you for reading this and THANK YOU if you can help!!!!!

Send checks made out to:  LAST CHANCE CORRAL, 5350 US 33 South, Athens, Ohio 45701

 

I went to Tennessee a few weeks ago to visit with my buddy Margaret Valentine in Memphis.  We had our usual happy, relaxed time together just hanging out and going to her lovely lake house at Greer’s Ferry in Arkansas.  Our top winning Cavalier Ch. Rattlebridge Adagio lives with Margaret and I took “Gio” with me to Clarksville, Tennessee, to take  our Kelly who lived with Margaret to her new home in Clarksville, Tennessee where my brother and his wife live.  I had a great time visiting John and his wife Uni and then went on to visit Brenda Radford who was to give Kelly a new home.  Brenda had already embraced our Trixie and Gio’s mother, Ch. Rattlebridge Master Card, “Credit,” when show careers and maternal duties were over.  It almost killed me to let Credit go to a new home as I loved her dearly, but Al and I have always said to do what was best for the dog and at Brenda’s Credit would get much more attention than at home as we had quite a few other dogs at the time.  Credit and Trixie lead enchanted lives at Brenda’s.  It was wonderful seeing the girls once more. Credit is thirteen and still going strong, but I did so want to see her once more because one never knows when she will go to the rainbow bridge.  To see Credit and Adagio together once more was a very teary thrill. In the picture above, you will see Adagio, me (with my double chin, Credit, and the very elegant Brenda Radford.

Leading a queen’s life as she should, Credit loves to snooze on Brenda’s bed. Below is our Kelly who immediately made herself at home at Brenda’s by jumping into the rocker in the kitchen and staking her claim. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It has been more than a couple of weeks since I have  updated my blog and caught all up on all that is going on at Rattlebridge.  Tonight, I am afraid, will not be the night.  I just used really good two hours of productive time watching A
American Idol and am now too depressed to write much at all.  I did so want Adam Lambert to win; I feel he is a great talent and should have walked away with the title hands down, theatrical or not!  He certainly will not need the title now that he has been “discovered.”  So now it’s on to rooting for Susan Boyle in Britain’s Got Talent. I watch no reality shows but Idol and not that all the time. This year, however has been a real contest!  So now in my next posting, back to our dogs, travels, dog legislation and anything else that strikes me late at night.  Have to go to work tomorrow in my substitute principal hat.  I love being back in the traces although I am exhausted at night hence the no blogging! 

It is  very unusual for me not to post in such a long time, but my life has been crazy I have so much to say and am sorry I have not written (those of you who read this blog all the time).  I went to Memphis to visit my dear friend Margaret Valentine who co owned our number one and Best in Show and Best in Specialty Show Ch. Marshell Rattlebridge  Renoir and Ch. Rattlebridge Adagio.  We had a great time going to her gorgeous lake house in Arkansas on Greers’s Ferry which is a very large and very tranquil lake.  I learned to jet ski there last summer and while Margaret did a sedate 40 miles an hour or whatever the nautical term is, once I got my balance I was up to over 60 which is about as fast as it will go.  I was in heaven!  I came home and told Al, who used to be Commodore of our local yacht club, that I wanted a jet ski that we could keep at Alum Creek reservoir, a short distance from our home.  Needless to say I an still jet ski less.It was too early to get out the jet skis this time.  I could not get my email to work the whole time I was away; Margaret’s computer was down and I could not get my blackberry to charge so I could not get my email by syncing it to my laptop. I ABHOR technology!

On the way back from Memphis, I stopped to see my youngest brother Master Sargeant John N. Johnson (retired).  He has about twenty acres and a lovely home.  His bride, Uni, and he were busy planting fruit trees and Uni was doing the vegetable gardens.  Uni is the loveliest woman, inside and out, that I have ever met.  She and John met while he was stationed in Korea and dated for several years both going back and forth to Korea and the States.  Uni has to get her family organized before she could think about coming to the States permanently and they had to work through different cultures.  Her adult sons, one a major in the Korean army, and daughters, whose father has not been in the picture for many years, have embraced John as their father with all the respect the Korean culture has for parents.  He is thrilled they all call him Dad as he lost his own daughter several years ago at age 10.  He is thrilled to have a beautiful little granddaughter.  Back and forth to Korea and the States, the family sees each other as often as possible.  Uni has asked me to go to Korea with her the next time she goes without John; she says we will go to China and possibly India! 

I cannot be a world traveler this time of my life; I am needed at home.  Al never complained when I was trotting around the world with dogs.  So I do not complain now and am glad to be here if he needs me.

I am leaving the day after tomorrow, however, for Charleston, SC, where my very close friend Wendy Hilberts Goodman (Royal Companion Cavaliers) from the Netherlands is judging a Cavalier specialty.  Since her husband, Ben, is not  coming with her, I am going to stay with her and talk about old times. Wendy is no longer breeding or showing and I am breeding a bit but not currently showing.  She was the top kennel in the Netherlands for many years producing lovely Cavaliers.