This weekend

So, this weekend was a chin show.  Got off work at 4ish Friday, came home, Kyle Lemler met me at the house, I got my chins ready, and we went out to the show.  Show was in Barneveld, WI, and due to a Badgers home game, just about everyone had problems finding hotels.  So he was staying with one of the local chin breeders, so I dropped him off at the show hall and went in search of our (Meredith, Brandon, and my) hotel room which was in Mazomanie, WI.  Found it, cute little place.  Got the chins settled, groomed the chins, and laid down.

Meredith and her husband arrived a few hours later, came in, groomed their chins, and then we got up bright and early for the show.  Well, it would have been earlier, except either the alarm didn't go off, or we all slept through it.  Sounds about right.  So we get there, get all the paperwork done, and they ask Meredith and I to help with classifying.  So that was a new experience, which I promptly made a mistake on and had to re-do part of.  It went smoothly after that.  

New judge from Colorado, took his sweet time with the chins.  My pink white got a 3rd, due to loose fur and something else, I have it written down.  Said may be baby fur, hang onto and show again, so he'll be shown again in December.  The other chin I brought with was a rescue chin from a local humane society, he got a 2nd.  Funny that, the rescue chin does better than a purposefully bred show chin.

We had lunch and dinner with the chin people and at one point I had to move my blazer, which a few people know has been having brake issues for awhile.  Well, Bill Bonnier (a chin person getting out of chin breeding) had been planning on looking at it, but due to my money situation (or lack of money, rather) because of my job, I hadn't been able to make it to his place with any money to pay him to look at it.  But he was there, and the grinding was enough for him to say, he wanted to look at it before he left.  So, he went outside and crawled under the blazer and asked, "who worked on this?"  Well, just fyi, it was Munster Marathon, and they suck.  I'm missing both hinge pins on the caliper on the passenger rear brake.  Bill said this was that they put them in, super loose, and the bolts basically walked themselves out.  The grinding was that the caliper was rubbing against the rim, and literally wearing it away.  So he said it was unsafe to drive because the wheel could lock up, blazer could flip, etc etc.  Joy.  So, he went and got a metal coat hanger from inside and his tools from his vehicle -- which he said, he had a feeling he should bring with (glad he did!!) -- and jerry rigged up the brakes so that it wouldn't grind on the way home.

Next morning, went to the show call to break down the show.  They provided eggs, bacon, orange juice, and coffee, so we had breakfast and then left.  Meredith and her husband were supposed to follow us home, in case something happened with the brakes, but Meredith wasn't feeling well, so her husband drove, and they got so far behind (and took a different road entirely) that had anything gone wrong, they wouldn't have been in the spot to notice.  But, luckily, nothing did go wrong, and I got home fine.

Had a phone call, when I got home, from someone wanting to ask questions about chins.  I guess to adopt.  Called em back, they said, oh they already picked up two guinea pigs.  WTF?!?!?!?  No one has any patience anymore.  Give me a day or so to call ya back before running off to get another animal or an animal from someone else.

Oh, also, Gypsy (aka Evil) is no longer with NWI.  She went with Jim for research.  Now, before you all get up in arms about a chin going to research, think about this.  What happens to a dog that's aggressive and bites people?  It's rehabbed, or if it can't be rehabbed (for example, if it bites without provocation for absolutely no reason), its put down.  That was Gypsy.  I couldn't even grab a toy that fell in her cage, nowhere hear her, without her turning into attach chin and lunging for my hand and repeatedly biting.  That is not a chin that should be reproducing, and that is not a chin anyone would ever adopt.  That's not even a chin that can safely be kept as a sanctuary chin, just to live out its life, because you can't fill a food bowl without being attacked.  So, rather than put down and no use of her, she will likely be used for ear research, where they will study her ears (as chinchillas have the most similar hearing to humans) to better understand how to treat ear conditions in humans.  So, she will benefit society, despite her ways.  And I will stop getting bitten.