• Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 306 other subscribers

Ch Riverbend Olathea RN AX AXJ CGC

IMG_0358.JPG

It’s official! There was never any doubt that Big O had the juice to pull off these titles, and so much more, but whether my bones would hold up was always a doubt! But we did it, largely because O is the most forgiving dog on the planet! A few shout outs are in order because we didn’t get here alone….first to my incredibly patient and supportive wife who has embraced each of my obsessions with grace, to my dear friend Pam Brand who has encouraged, supported and nudged, and of course, to the patient instructor who always calls it as she sees it, Laura Knoll

One week old…take two!

We were a little more successful with puppy pictures this evening.

Rock Island Rapids (aka Rocky)

 

Rocky

The Rock Island Rapids section of the Mississippi River began in LeClaire.  It was a very treacherous portion of the river and it required specialized river boat pilots to navigate it.  The captains would wait under the “Big Green Tree, and wait for boats to tie up and hire them for the day.  Now the lock and dam system have eliminated the need for these pilots but the mystic of these revered captains lives on in our hometown.

Faithful Pilot (aka Faith)

 

Faith

Bonfire on the Canal (aka Bonnie)

 

Bonnie

Kathy and I own a little (now destroyed by the last Mississippi River flood) cottage on the old canal system.  There is nothing we enjoy more than hanging with friends around our fire pit.  (We hope to rebuild the cottage this year, and move permanently to the river!)

Lincoln Here for the Defense

 

Lincoln

The railroad built the first bridge across the Mississippi between Davenport, IA and Rock Island, IL.  The steamboats were not able to get under it, so the steamboat companies sued the rail road.  Abraham Lincoln defended the railroad and won!  We now have “swinging” bridges that allow for all forms of transportation to move down and across the Mississippi.

 

Mississippi Rising (aka Missy)

 

Mississippi Rising (Missy)

 

Princeton Narrows (aka Prince)

 

Princeton Narrows (aka Prince)

 

The Princeton Narrows are just north of our home on the river.  It is just wide enough for two barges to pass.  I hate meeting barges in this section of the river, but it is home to a great sand bar.  Much fun and frivolity has occurred on that sand bar!

Olathea

 

Olathea

 

Olathea=beautiful place.