LostWoods Blog

Any time we head off to a show we have hopes and expectations. Our hopes might be high — this show is the one where the judges will see how magnificent our cat is and he’ll be best in show or at least final in every ring. Or they might be lower — hoping that our cat will behave for a change or he’ll get a few finals. Or we might be hoping for just one final from that rogue judge (LOL, Jim!) that likes our cat when nobody else does. Hopes are what we dream about while knowing the reality will probably be something less.

Expectations are more grounded. We go to a show knowing that one of the judges has always loved our cat and so we expect to get a final in that ring. Experience tells us that there’s rarely competition for winners ribbons so we expect our young adult to come home a Champion. We expect that he’ll be overlooked for a final because he’s immature, naked, or an open. However, expectations are never a guarantee of how things are going to go, even if they are based more on reality that our hopes might be. The judge who loves our cat inexplicably dumps him, leaving him two points short of granding at that show. An open gets an unexpected final. The naked cat is judged by someone who knows and appreciates that coat is a smaller part of what makes a NFC than his great head, resulting in a final. You just never know.

So… this past weekend was one of exceeded expectations. My weekend started with a decision on Friday to take the shorter (miles) but longer (time) route to Chehalis. It was worth every second of the extra drive time as the road wound through the beautiful Wenatchee National Forest. It’s a perfect time of year for watching the colors change in Washington. Fall has always been my favorite time of year and it will never grow old coming around a curve in the road and seeing a stand of red and orange trees caught in a blaze of sunlight.

I arrived in Chehalis and very shortly made the acquaintance of Tenobia’s new owner, Diana. She’s delightful and Nobie apparently recognized that. Instead of being nervous and shy like I expected, she explored the hotel room thoroughly and then made friends with Diana. I couldn’t ask for more.

Saturday morning I checked in at the show, got everything set up, and settled Fin and Taiba into their cage. I then checked the catalog to see if there were any other NFCs entered in the show. Much to my surprise, in kitten class I spotted LostWoods Majestic of Foresttales (formerly known as Kheldar). I knew his owner planned to show him, but she’d always shown in TICA, so I didn’t expect to see her at this show. A friend had talked her into coming so there they were! He looked wonderful — he’d grown so much! He adjusted to the show hall amazingly well and was sweet as could be. Kheldar got two finals at his first ever show — a 9th best AB kitten and a 9th best LH kitten.

I’d gone to the show expecting to take Fin to six rings, get six winners ribbons, and bring him home a Champion. And so I did. But we also brought home two rosettes — a 9th Best AB Cat and a 10th Best LH Cat. An Open (remember — a cat without a title in CFA) doesn’t get a final very often, so this was a big thrill — especially since Fin still doesn’t have that much coat. I was walking on air.

And then there’s McCoy… Brenda took him to Utah for a show this past weekend. It’s a fairly new club and a smaller show, so we were hoping for a few finals. McCoy had done pretty well at the other shows he’d been at, so that wasn’t too unrealistic a hope — in fact, you could probably say we expected a few finals. What we got was way beyond any expectations we had. McCoy finalled in 12 of 16 rings and ended up as the 2nd best kitten overall in the show. He got 5 Best Kitten awards — 2 AB, 3 LH. Check out the Show News page on my site for the full list of his finals. Way to go, Mac!!!

Miscellaneous news… Danica is still stuck back east due to weather restrictions. We’re hoping for this Friday. Talia looks ready to have babies any second. She’ll be confined to the guest room this evening after I finish cleaning in there. She’s in there a lot already, hanging out on the bed and checking out the closet. I’m sure she finds it woefully lacking, as I’ve done nothing to prepare her birthing bed yet. She’s due on Saturday. Shira is doing fine after her surgery. The same old Queen of Everything.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 9th, 2007 at 2:08 pm and is filed under NFCs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.