Monday, August 29, 2011

AUG. DOG SHOW

Terri and I watched agility and conformation on Saturday at Long Sault. The SD&G (Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry Dog Association) show is our favourite. The setting is perfect - islands in the St. Lawrence Parks, show rings of green grass nestled amongst trees and close to the shore. Space for outdoor conformation, agility, obedience, and rally sessions. The weather is usually great, although tropical storm Irene brought some wind and rain on Sunday.



We saw many beautiful dogs in the show ring. The English setters were especially attractive. We saw 3 Belgian shepherds doing conformation and 4 others running agility. But some of those in agility this weekend also do conformation and vice versa, including Ben Kenobi de la Foret de Bizy who won Best in Specialty at the National Specialty Show for Belgian Shepherd Dogs this year and BasqueLaine Ewe'r Marco Polo who earned his championship and AGI titles (incl. BOB) this weekend.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

DOCTOR OZ SHOW

I don't usually watch TV before 7 PM but yesterday I was mowing grass when it started to rain so I put the mower away and flopped in front of the TV. I discovered the Dr. Oz Show. The topics were of interest to me so I stayed to watch.

WHAT I LEARNED

Stroke signs include confusion, pain in the face, headache, feeling heavy on one side, etc.

Risk of stroke ... if you check 3+ of these, you should visit your doctor:
[ ] blood pressure higher than 140/90
[ ] cholesterol ... LDL greater than 100 ... HDL less than 50 mg/dL
[ ] diabetes ... blood sugar greater than 100 mg/dL
[ ] smoker
[ ] exercise ... not exercising is a major risk
[ ] family history of stroke

Eating saturated fats increases the risk of stroke.

You need your waist size to be less than your height!

Gallbladder
-- you can get pain after eating a fatty meal
-- it produces green bile
-- it can contain stones that are tiny to very large (almost as large as the gallbladder itself)
-- do not skip meals ... a small meal helps empty the gallbladder

Cranberries - eat often
Half a cup of whole cranberries has 4 grams of effective carbohydrate, plus 2 grams of fiber
Health benefits of cranberries
* Prevention and treatment of urinary tract infections (they are antibacterial and also keep bacteria from “sticking” to the inside of the bladder and ureters).
* Similar effects in the GI tract – help prevent bacteria from causing food-borne illness.
* Similar effects in the mouth – may help prevent tooth decay by discouraging bacteria and preventing them from “sticking”.
* Prevention of the oxidation of LDL cholesterol, which may help prevent atherosclerosis.
* Improves blood vessel function in people with atherosclerosis.
* Some studies show that cranberries can either raise HDL cholesterol or lower LDL cholesterol.
* Cranberries may also have anti-cancer properties.

Found elsewhere on the web ...
These foods have the most antioxidants per serving:
-- Kidney beans, pinto beans, black beans, and red beans
-- Blueberries, blackberries, cranberries, raspberries, strawberries, and cherries
-- Cooked artichokes
-- Prunes and plums
-- Walnuts
-- Apples

Black pepper is an antioxident.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

TOYS !


Today was a super day for playing outside. Flower went out, ate some grass, spit it out, walked around the house and settled down on the deck.

Terri played with her rapidly diminishing baseball, kept unravelling it when she fetched it to me and eventually came to the small inner ball. I hid that so it wouldn't be chewed and swallowed. Her next toy of choice was a teeny blue toy fragment (below the red Kong in the photo) that's hard even for me to find in the grass. We played a long game of "find the teeny toy in the grass" until our neighbor dropped by to say hello. The toy selected for a game of catch was her new red Kong which is replacing the so-far-unrecovered black Kong hiding in the eaves.

That takes us to the present which seems to be a good time to do some mowing. Cloud cover has cooled the air quite a bit. It seems such a short time since I mowed the grass but it needs to be done again before it gets too high/long.

Friday, August 19, 2011

SHOW JUMPING


Friday, August 19 -- Ian Millar (above), son Jonathan and daughter Amy all rode in the ORS Open Welcome against many other well known riders. Details will be posted at http://www.hayesco.ca/shows.html

There were riders of all ages on horses and ponies. We enjoyed perfect weather; the evening was warm and I would have stayed outside longer but the sun set just before 8 PM :-( On the way home from the Equestrian Park, I stopped at Petsmart so Terri and I could do some shopping.


Thursday, August 11, 2011

HORSES !

There are lots of opportunities near Ottawa to see horses this month. Last week I watched dressage competitions at Centaur Riding School. This weekend there are horses at the Navan Fair August 11 to 14 AND at the first weekend of the National Capital Show Jumping Tournament August 10-14. The second weekend of show jumping events: August 17-21.


A list of fairs: