Finally, Merry Christmas Everyone!

Yet More Snow!

We finally managed to get them all lying in one place for a second, so that we can all appreciate Christmas. Lynn and I will take one of ourselves shortly (after I get the bedhead gone). We have another snowstorm coming so our Christmas festivities are going to be postponed until Friday, hopefully the highway will be drivable by then.

Got the kids, eco-friendly Christmas email's off, and after fussing and fighting with PayPal, I managed to get their kissmas moolah sent. BestBuy won't let you pay for something to be picked up in the store by someone else, I can see their point but it's frustrating. One good thing out of all of the fussing is I got to speak to Mark and Jonathan :)

Good news, Dad is home from the hospital and apparently is feeling much better. We'll call Rick & Anna tomorrow to speak with him.

Enjoy the dogs, we do and have a good and safe Christmas for all of you and your loved ones too.

Egads!!

We survived the latest snowstorm to hit the Maritimes, a good thing we got that snowblowing contractor signed up. It's been so cold the snowblower is frozen and we're gonna hafta start a fire in the garage to thaw it out so I can blow the other areas the big snow machine can't reach. The wind has been wicked and has frayed our flag which is a first for us. It's -21 with the windchill which makes moving around there difficult at best. We did all of our shopping on sunday to avoid the storm but then so did everyone else, took forever to check out at the stores.

Trying to get the dogs to behave for their Christmas pictures has been a pain but we'll get it done hopefully today.

K, off to put more wood on the fire...take care, have a good Christmas and stay warm!

I can't believe it

Time just flies by, it seems. We're heading towards Christmas, the tree is sitting on the living room floor waiting to be put up. Our retraining the puppy to accept his place in the pack is moving along slowly. Loki enjoys being the leader of the pack, Odo seems resigned to his place on the bottom but Jake seems a little less interested in giving up being number one dog, we'll see how it goes.

I think one of the reasons time goes by so quickly around here is because doctors appointments are spread out all over the place. It seems like hardly a week goes by one of us isn't at the doctor or the hospital. Things work differently down here, all tests and specialists are housed at the hospital in Bathurst, so we spend a lot of time going there for tests n such. But everything moves at a slow pace. Doctors go on holidays, files don't get forwarded, it can all be a little frustrating at times.

The followup to my medical adventures in Toronto continues, I have now seen the respirologist and he has determined that I have only sixty percent lung capacity. I go in for a TB test next week to see if the spots on my lungs are related to TB exposure from when I was working. Other than that they are monitoring the size of one spot on my lungs to see if it is growing or not. If it is growing they will then do a biopsy to see what is up.

We put snow tires on the truck and thanks to GM ingenuity, we no longer have the tire pressure checker function working. I guess it only works with their rims or something...oh well, just have to watch the tires.

The snow blower is tuned up, cables are tightened and only one more bolt to tighten and we are all set for the snow.

Christmas will be at the brother in-laws this year, everyone is looking forward to having a dishwasher available for the after dinner cleanup.

If I don't get back on here b4 Christmas, I hope all of you reading this have a great holiday and eat lots of goodies for me!

It was worth it!

We stayed up until 0130hrs our time to watch the end to the American election and we have no regrets, other than being exhausted and disliking Wolf Blitzer. Senator McCain gave a classy speech while admitting defeat and he did it early, cutting off any arguments for recounts etc that marred the previous election. President elect Obama, gave a great speech and used his mantra of "yes we can" in a way that a lot of preachers say "amen", good on him and hopefully good for the U.S.A. Our countries are too entwined to ignore what goes on down there. Congrats to both men for a classy end to a sometimes bitter race.

It's raining, it's pouring

They said we'd get some rain and in the last twenty four hours, they were proven right for a change. Just in time for winter, we got the deluge that we needed to water the trees for the winter and create a giant play puddle for the baby who doesn't get to the ocean as much as he would like now that the weather has turned cold.

Time just flew by

It seems like just yesterday, Garrick was arriving, a little better obviously than when Lynn had first seen him, but far from normal that's for sure. A few weeks later and a whole bunch of home cooked meals and he seems well on his way to recovery. It was a good visit, he got to see most all of his relatives including us, and he got to give Loki all the rubs that he has been missing since we left Edmonton. By the time he left the wound in his knee had finally sealed up and he could take showers without using a chair. He still gimps a bit when he remains still but I'm sure that will pass once he is back to his usual antics at home. Now all that remains is for us to get his grad pictures, that will make his grandmother happy. We all want to keep his grandmother happy :)

What's a puppy to do?

Fight over sticks

Pull down the fencing

Fight with his brother

Let his brother think he's winning

Come back for more...puppy energy!!

A walk in the woods & other doggy activities

Jake and his stick

This is what happens when a retriever retrieves and an elkhound tries to push his weight around....woo hoo! Jake wins...he's becoming king of the castle instead of the little prince

Slowly but surely

Garrick is finally out of the hospital and staying with relatives, along with Lynn. He is still having memory problems and had a large bleed out from his knee injury while at Christines. They got it under control though, and now Lynn is busy arranging his medical supplies, prescriptions, i.d., airline tickets and the like to prepare to bring him here where he can rest for a month or so until he has recovered sufficiently enough to go back to Edmonton. Our doctor here will see him for the removal of his stitches and administering his shots. The hard part will be keeping him settled and the dogs off of him. It will be nice to have him here although the circumstances could have been better.

Unwelcome news

We recently discovered why we hadn't heard from Garrick for a while, he had been attacked and robbed while in Millwoods last week. The attack left him hospitalized with little or no memory. It was his boss who eventually identified him and slowly all of us were notified. He has suffered numerous stab wounds to his legs, and they are concerned about bleeding in his head and kidneys. Lynn left yesterday to fly out to Edmonton to be with him. She emailed me saying he still looks pretty bad and she was waiting to hear from the doctor. With luck, his condition will improve and since the swelling to his head has gone down that might be a good sign. I will keep you posted as I find out more.

The fair and birthdays

The Charlo fair was everything I expected and more. It was small, which was nice, not too much walking involved, they had lots of neat stuff, plenty of home made goodies, including fresh honey and they even had a glass enclosed hive to look at. Man there were a lot of bees in there and very busily working I might add. The magician at the fair was too funny in a hometown kinda way, he had the wizards cloak and a fakir's hat and was funny in both languages. We didn't stay for the singers but what I heard of them as we were walking to the truck was very good. It was a showcase of local talent and if we could have stayed I'm sure we would have enjoyed it.

Steve's birthday bash at Mom's was good, the food (homemade chinese) was good as it always is. Lynn took a bunch of pictures, I've only included the ones with me, since I'm so shy and Lynn of course managed to avoid being in any pictures...smart don't u think?

We erected the fence and laid down topsoil to repair the damage done by the trucks when we had the patio done..hopefully we'll get some rain to help with the new growth.

Aren't I cute?

How time flies

Prior to going to Toronto, I had a hard drive failing and since returning from my extended holiday, I have been going through the process of restoring a lot of my data and that has delayed a lot of my updates here. Now that things have settled down and I have most of my data restored, things should be improving.

The asphalt was finally laid and we now have our patio back in working order which has been nice. The damage done to the lawn has been repaired for the most part. We just have to wait for some extended rain to lay down grass seed. With the upcoming storms in the Atlantic we may not have long to wait.

I have completed the tests ordered by my doctor to followup things that may have been discovered by doctors in Toronto. Now the waiting begins. If I hear nothing from the doctor then everything is ok. Here's hoping that I don't hear from her.

They found that Lynn has a hyperactive thyroid (now all that work makes sense) and is on medication to slow it down. We are still waiting to see how that works.

We are looking forward to going to the fall fair up in Charlo. I didn't go last year but this year, I am gonna drag Lynn and mom to each and every table to see what home town goodies we can find.

Jake is growing like a weed and is a not so little tornado as he moves about butting in to everyone's business. He likes to carry food bowls out into the yard so he must be watched at every opportunity. He may be mischievous but he is so adorable it almost makes it forgivable. He really doesn't like the wait command but is getting better and better at it. Better with food than with allowing you to go down the stairs before him. He bosses his brothers around at every opportunity but unlike them, see's no reason to bark at strangers, birds, butterflies, neighbors, ghosts or anything else his brothers bark at. He does, however, like to watch them bark. He loves the water and the hose and the shower, he swims like a little fish and retrieves anything that is thrown, giving it up to you after he retrieves it, is still a bit of an issue but he is getting better.

My father had a mini stroke but appears to be fine, he was supposed to go for more tests but I still haven't heard the results. Like anything involving doctors, I am sure that it will take some time to get the results.

We still follow the news from Edmonton and I still get email alerts involving EPS, it's always good to keep abreast of what's going on in our other home province. We hear occasionally from folks out there and it's always nice to hear from them. It's a shame that Ron doesn't have internet on his farm, I would love to chat at him but c'est la vie.

Is it safe?

I wonder if it's safe to come out and dig now?

This is boring

Boy, those guys can sure dig a lot but I think I'm faster!

Still Waiting

We thought the wait was over and we'd get our patio done when these machines showed up to do the work, however it was all for naught as it began to rain and has been raining for the last four days with more predicted. They can't put asphalt down on wet ground and we are losing the battle with Jake and his hole digging. They better get here soon or they'll be bringing more dirt in :)

Finally Home

I'm not going to go into every detail of the nightmare getting home from TO was, suffice it to say, I am not impressed with Air Canada (who is?) nor the staff in either airport. I was very very happy to finally touch down and see Lynn and Odette waiting for me. I was still a little upset when I got outside and a fellow passenger was more than happy to teach me some new french words to describe my flight. It no longer mattered though, I was home, I had my wife, my truck and a feeling that I belonged somewhere again. Even driving the truck was fun since I knew where I was going and that made all the difference in the world, I was going home.

Lynn had made pork chops in sauce with mashed potatoes for me and that's what I stuffed my face with when we got home after greeting my three best fans, Jake had an acadian flag neck kerchief on and boy was he ever big, all of them were very happy to see me and I was very very happy to see them. We all talked for an hour or so and then we all went to bed. Oh my, if I thought the hospital bed was Nirvana, I can't begin to describe sleeping in my own bed!

Disaster strikes!

I woke up the morning of Dad's b'day party and couldn't move my arms without crying out in pain. My hands were a swollen mess and my wrists, elbows and shoulders were heavy and painful. I couldn't move my neck, it was stiff and felt like it was locked in spasm. I don't know what brought this on but it did not bode well. As the day progressed it got worse and by the time everyone was arriving it was becoming unbearable. Anna finally convinced me to let her call Lynn and get her to tell me to go to the hospital. Lynn of course, did and off we went to the hospital, Rick and Mark and I and the second part of my vacation adventure was about to begin.

After five hours in the emergency room at the hospital, I was finally seen by a doctor who seem quite concerned about all of this and suggested that I might have meningitis which apparently is quite serious, I was moved to a room in emergency, all by myself while they did tests including a spinal fluid removal thing with a very large needle. They took four vials of fluid for the test and my nurse "Paul" was great, he told me that the fluid was clear and that was a good sign, I had a fever and my blood pressure was not good. They gave me Tylenol for the pain and started me on intravenaeous fluids and antibiotics. Rick and Mark stayed with me throughout and finally left after I began to fade out.

Two days in emergency, with vampires taking my blood it seemed like every hour and visits from doctors wearing masks. The sign on my door read infectious and everyone had to wear a mask when dealing with me. It hardly inspires confidence. They continued to run tests, CT scans, MRI's, blood work and Xrays, slowly but surely the pain began to recede to a dull roar but I still couldn't move my arms and I could barely hold anything. I was however, fairly mobile since my legs still worked so I could with some effort get up and go outside for a cigarette. It would have made a funny video watching me bob my head down to reach my hand for a drag. I couldn't light my own smoke since my hands wouldn't work but there was always someone around that could help. After two days in the emergency room and varying diagnoses from the doctors, I was moved up to a semi-private room eight floors up.

I had the room all to myself when I first got there and my first thought was a shower, if I thought that a video of me smoking would have been funny, me taking a shower would have been a laugh riot. No curtain on the shower, a hand held shower nozzle and me with no strength in my arms, I think I only washed half my hair but boy did it ever feel good. Getting dressed was interesting, that goodness for Mark and Rick n Anna. The bed which actually had a pillow was Nirvana and I was hopeful that I would be able to sleep but that wasn't to be the case. My new roomate had arrived and they drugged him up to deal with the pain he was having but boy could he snore. Needless to say I made more forays over the course of the night outside for puffy breaks, if you can't sleep, smoke, I always say. By the third day, I was able to move my arms but still had little strength in my hands, sleeping was still difficult but Anna brought me a couple of extra pillows and they helped a lot. There was a phone in the room and even though we had to share, it was nice to be able to talk to Lynn and as things began to finally loosen up, it got easier and easier to move around and yes even comb my own hair, what a treat! I used the handicapped shower and that was an immense improvement over the shower in the room, you could sit and shower and that made everything that much easier. As I started feeling better, I began to dream of getting out and my doctor wanted to make sure that the infection had been beaten into submission before allowing me out, so I was stuck until at least friday. That was not good news, even if she was probably right. They still had no idea what had caused the infection, nor any idea why it had the effect it had on me although they thought it might be related somehow to my neuropathy. The effect of the infection was to make my arms neck and shoulders feel like the worst pain I have ever had in my hands which is where my pain usually is. The swelling continued to go down and slowly but surely I became more and more capable. By the time I was still a day from being released, I was chomping at the bit to get out. All the while this was going on Lynn had to deal with the insurance company from the airline who were constantly trying to get my status from either her or the hospital. I knew I was going to be free once they removed the IV from my hand and then there was going to be no stopping me.

I met some very nice people while in the hospital, 99.9 percent of the staff were great, the .1 percent included two doctors and one nurse. In the end I was released without any answers but with my mobility back. My hands are still a little weak but getting better.

Lynn couldn't get me on a flight until Sunday, so that meant I had two more days to stay at Rick n Anna's so I could finish my vacation on an upbeat. Mark and Mila took me to see Batman, which was wild and I got to take a bunch of pictures with them and Dad too.

Before I knew it, it was time to go and even though Anna was cooking gnocci and buttertarts, I couldn't wait to get home.

Of Fathers and Sons

As I said, my father hasn't changed much at all other than the grey and being a little thinner than I remember. He cooks himself breakfast most mornings, eggs n sausage some blood pudding and drinks a couple of cups of coffee. He gets up about the same time as I do around 0500hrs and likes to have a nap in the afternoon. He has a new girlfriend Catherine who has a brand new Camry, I'm not sure if he likes her or the car better but she lets him drive it whenever they're together. They do the casino and racetrack and the occasional meal together. Dad still drives like he's been doing it his whole life even in the hustle and bustle of traffic in TO. He still dreams of winning the big one and if he does, he wants an F150. He likes the idea of being up high and surrounded by steel. He lost a hearing aid while playing golf, inadvertently missing his pocket when he went to put it in his pocket. But he takes it in stride, something he does with pretty much everything. If you look up easy going in the dictionary, his picture would be staring back at you. It's hard to believe that he's 82. He still offers plenty of advice on life and love and his take on all of it is quite amusing. We went to visit Mom's grave, prior to the strike thank goodness and he replaced her flowers. I don't think he visits as often as he used to but I think that's to be expected and besides, I think that you can remember her just a well anywhere and not just there.

Nephews and Niece and an assortment of kids, oh my!

Slowly but surely I am settling in for my holiday, getting used to reading actual papers, several of them and quite thick too. Hearing english all around me with just a smattering of Italian to even things out. Slowly but surely my nephews and niece make their way to their parents house and along with them come a gaggle of kids. It's so nice to see them all, boy have they ever grown and funnily enough they don't seem older to me. They all love the new pool, it's the perfect size and depth for kids learning how to swim and the adults who are there to watch over them. Even Miko seems to have a spring in his step when they're around but that's mainly to avoid them as best he can. I took a pile of pictures, including the birdhouse that they've got that is currently occupied by a very busy couple of sparrows. All is peaceful and serene but oh so warm and humid. Anna's flower bed is beautiful and Rick has done a wonderful job of laying stones down around the pool and walkways.

A Wonderful Holiday

I survived the plane trip to Toronto but only barely. You fly a turboprop from the Bathurst airport to Montreal where you board a real plane for the rest of the trip. All in all it wasn't so bad other than getting lost in the Montreal airport and not having enough time between flights for a smoke. I arrived in Toronto, my luggage was the second bag off the plane and I was outside smoking before I knew it. I waited patiently there for my brother to pick me up and was merrily sitting and smoking when I noticed their truck, I waved and waved but they drove right by me, it could have been the blonde chick standing next to where I was sitting that caused the problem or it could have been, as my brother said when he finally came around and found me, that he hadn't been looking for Custer. My hair is a little longer than they are used to. A relatively quick trip back to their house where Anna was waiting and I was once again transported back to my youth. I never fail to feel like I'm 12 years old again when I am with them. Anna is quick to feed me whatever my heart desires and Rick never changes, it's like I'm in some kind of time warp. Dad looks good, he's wearing two hearing aids now and his hair has finally gone all grey but he still has all of it and he's still skinny, maybe a little skinnier than I remember but then I'm a lot fatter than he probably remembers too :)

Dinner Date with My Son and his better half Mila

Ahhh...the joys of a buffet, mountains of food to choose from and beaucoup de refills :) I am looking forward to seeing Mark, it's been over a year and I've never met the Mila monster so it should be fun all around. Hopefully I can convince him to come either to the birthday party or some other day just to visit with Rick and Anna and to meet his grandfather. We'll see how it goes...maybe they'll want to cool off in the pool...one never knows. I'll keep you updated.

Off I go, into the wild blue yonder

Well the day is here and I'm off to the center of our Country, the focus of every news show we watch, yes you guessed it..Toronto!..my birthplace and the epicenter of all that is Canadian. Home to my father, brothers and my son. As a special treat, I'll also be enjoying my fathers birthday on this trip so that will make it all the more special. I'll get to see Mark, my little world traveler and of course my brothers Tedd and Rick and the entire family, kids, grandkids (not mine) because my brothers are way older than me and with luck sampling lots of Anna's home cooking and some homemade pizza and calzones that Rick makes. Mark will finally get to meet his grandfather, whom he hasn't seen since he learned to walk, which he did at Pappa's house so very many years ago. It should be fun, I'll try and get lotsa pics. I don't know if I'll be updating while I'm gone but we'll see how it goes. I miss Lynn and the boys already. Type atcha all soon.

Another Birthday, comes n goes!

I can hardly believe it, Lynn called me today to remind me that today was my birthday because of course I completely forgot about it. Lynn's off installing flooring at her mothers place and has left me and the boys to fend for ourselves for the last few days. Of course that means a diet high in TV n Movies, interrupted only by trips to the fridge or freezer. I did however, manage to stack the rest of the wood in the basement. That has to count for something. I'm going to have meatpie n gravy for supper and then go watch the Last Samurai again. Which reminds me, Jake pulled off a good one today, managing to steal half of Loki's begging strip...fast like a snake he is, but smart like hockey puck, Loki beat him up later just to prove a point :) Anyway it's off to the TV!

Busy busy

Boy has it ever been busy around here lately, Lynn dug out all of the old deck supports and replaced them with teleposts, she is now staining the new stairs for the rear deck while we wait for the weather to clear so that the asphalt guys can come and lay down the asphalt. We ordered four cords of wood (enough to get us through the winter) and we have managed to put away three loads. We took Jake in for his neutering and boy what a difference, the vet here does not keep the dog for hours after the operation, so you get him when he can't walk and is way dopey. We managed it but boy was he ever out of it for a while there, kinda like Bambi. He is way better now, and up to all of his old tricks including fighting with his brothers. We are supposed to keep him calm for a few days but that's like bottling up lightning! Gas here is getting up to 1.40 a litre so we're thinking of getting a moped :) Everything is blooming again, it's wonderful, the ducks are still here but we haven't seen any little ones yet. Our Starling had her babies and now she is trying to teach all of them how to feed but they seem bent on following her and getting her to feed them. We gave away our fish tank and now the living room looks huge, ok not so huge with three dogs in it but still a lot more room. We also took down the flagpole and now Mr Lazy has to scrape off the old paint and repaint it, thank goodness for the rain. I think that just about covers it for now.

Music to her ears

I think this pretty much sums up what Lynn thinks you should do when you're retired!

Ah the rites of Spring

The snow is gone and with it the tedium of snow shovelling and snow blowing along with the prospect of seeing your house buried in snow. Now it is time to rectify all that we discovered was wrong with the design of the backyard that made our lives miserable during the winter. After careful analysis and severe number crunching coupled with several power point presentations, Lynn laid out her vision to make our lives better this coming winter. First, the front porch needs a new set of stairs adjacent to the house which would alleviate the need for shovelling 20 feet of sidewalk and six stairs. Second, the rear deck would have to go, which would eliminate many hours of shovelling and another six stairs. With her ever dutiful husband on board, what remained was finding the appropriate material to replace the deck. A beautiful cobblestone patio was envisioned by our landscaper but I think he was really envisioning building his summer cottage with his profits, so out went that idea. We settled on asphalt which we already had on the ground level in front of the deck but since the deck would be in the way of the asphalt people, it had to go. Lynn then enthusiastically tackled this major undertaking. As you can see, from the pictures below, it was quite the chore. These pictures do not show all the work that went into removing the stairs, railings and bench seating from around the deck but they give you some idea of what went on.

Steve Colbert and the U.S. Election

The Daily Show: West Virginia Voters "No Interviews Please!"

This video sums it all up for me at least.

Now he's got two!

To think, we were worried about him, now he's got two!

Jakes first trip to the beach

The puppy grows up and up

My first time in the ocean

My first clamshell

Faithful puppy and Lynn

Always a nice day to walk on the beach

Strange cameraman catches his eye

He doesn't seem sure of all this picture
taking.

Pause for Reflection

We were out buying a graduation card for Garrick and after picking the appropriately funny one, we headed off on our mission to procure trees and shrubs for the house. We planted four rosebushes in our front flowerbed, ordered another apple tree to replace the one that was mangled by all the snow and four bushes to plant alongside the fence to shield the neighbors from the hounds from hell or Petit-Rocher, whichever works for you.

We couldn't arrange the flight for Jonathan due to AirMiles restrictions on one way fares so he will have to come out another time. It was a shame because I know he was looking forward to the visit and so were we, well with any luck we'll have him before the winter or in the following spring.

I'll be heading off to see my family in Toronto in a month or so and that will be nice, I'll even be there for Dads birthday, he turns fifty this year, which makes me thirty and my brothers in their forties. With my kids being in their twenties, this is gonna be a hard sell :) It will be an occasion nonetheless. Anna's cooking, Rick's movies and nephews and nieces galore along with all of their children, it's always such a busy and vibrant place. My hair might even be longer than Tedd's now, that would be something, oh and regardless if it is or not, I have no grey :)

I'll post some more pictures of the puppy since he is growing so fast, he'll be a dog in no time at all. He had his first trip to the beach a few days ago and it was an exciting time for him and for us too since we haven't owned a dog like him before, he can be let off leash, he doesn't run away, doesn't bark at everything he sees and generally is everything they say that a golden retriever is, a family dog.

Does Anybody Hear Her - Casting Crowns

What a beautiful song...

He's one hot duck, at least she thinks so

He's gone from mourning the loss of his previous mate to showing his new one where all the good food is. We couldn't be happier! It took him 11 days to find her, it took me years to find my perfect mate. He must be some kind of gigalo or something.

Alone again, Unaturally

Here he is, all by himself, his mate was killed by a truck driver heading down our road chatting happily on his cell phone. We are hoping he will find another mate but so far, it doesn't look like he has. Maybe he's not even looking. We all know that these kinds of things happen but kind of like a favorite pet, we had become accustomed to their arrivals, he doesn't like crossing the road he preferred to take off from our snowbank but she always wanted to cross the road to explore the goodies in the ditch on the other side. We'll have to wait and see what happens next.

Tony Soprano has nothing on us

All of our birds are back, including, as you can see, some new ones who are an absolute delight.
Lynn has gotten better at identifying some of them (obviously the ducks didn't require any work)
but we also have some Red headed finches and Snowbirds.

Memories

April 19, 2008
Going, going, Gon
Edmonton cop takes down Ottawa suspect
By JON WILLING, SUN MEDIA


OTTAWA -- When Det. Tom Gon wrapped his beefy arm around a suspected thief's throat and dragged him to the floor of an Ottawa restaurant, it was all over.

"I'm a grappler," Gon, 53, explained yesterday. "As soon as I get a guy on the ground, he's mine."



Good on you Tom, keep up the good work! I hope you didn't have to pay for dinner :)

American Idol soldiers on without Carly

Another one of our favorites is gone, I might have to move my support to David Cook

Hopeful Signs

The Chimney for the patio fireplace is becoming more visible as is the wishing well, so we may well be on the way to spring..we can only hope. As you can see Jake is growing steadily and Odo always waits for me to take his picture to unfurl his tail...sheesh..good thing we don't try and show him :)

We're getting hopeful

It's been a week since we have seen snow, the forecast for the coming week gives us temperatures on the plus side some even into the double digits. We are beginning to think that we may survive winter after all. We can see more and more of our flagpole, the front lights are beginning to show and we can see the almost a foot of the side window on the garage.

Odo's surgery went well, he is now wearing a gigantic wrap-around bandage to keep the pressure on his stitches and he is almost back to being his normal self. We'll see how it goes but we are always relieved when he comes through, surgery is always risky but there was no acceptable alternative to dealing with this particular cyst. Keeping Jake off of Odo's back during the last couple of days has been a chore. Loki has been very understanding for the most part. Jake continues to grow at an exponential rate and has really outgrown the bowl we use for feeding the dogs, his daily intake is way more than his brothers so we are going to have to get him a bigger bowl or feed him three times a day which won't go over well with his brothers.

We are all looking forward to having the fence line back to its normal state so that we can use the new dog door. Putting three dogs out manually throughout the day is a royal pain. If I haven't mentioned it before, I will now, stay away from High-Tech pets electronic dog door(hitecpet), we had nothing but trouble with the dog collars and when that wasn't a big enough hassle the door itself became possessed, opening and closing all by itself, to the point we had to shut it down. The companies answer to our problem was to ship them back the door...that's right...remove the door from the wall, pack it up and ship it back. Needless to say we were not impressed. E-mails to the president of the company, who apparently welcomes emails, did not return any of ours. Needless to say, we are not happy customers and will be more than happy to chat with any other dissatisfied customers or potential customers if they want our opinions of this product.

Musical Hops

Funny how American Idol can spark your curiosity about music. David Archuleta sang a song the other night; "You're the Voice", which I had not hear before. Turns out that it was made popular by an Australian singer John Farnham, it has also been covered by Heart and others. Farnham also played Jesus, in the Australian production of Jesus Christ Superstar. So now I have three versions of this song on the ol 'puter, and a new musician to explore. David Cook, also sang a version of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean", that I had never heard before, which led me to that versions creator Chris Cornell. Even though American Idol is an overhyped reality show, it does have unexpected benefits, such as this. If you want to hear the songs, I have included their links here: You're the Voice and Billie Jean Admitting to liking American Idol is akin to admitting you like Abba but what the heck, I'm retired, I'll do what I want :)

Here we go again

They're predicting yet another 20 to 30 cms of snow thursday and friday. Just when we thought it might finally be over, apparently not. It could be worse, we could be getting 50 cms like Newfoundland did so I am really only complaining a little. Jake is growing by leaps and bounds and now weighs almost 25 pounds. I got a couple of snaps of him looking regal and aloof on his mountain of snow but of course that is all bravado, he likes to know where his brothers or Lynn and I are. He is doing well in the housebreaking, he has learned on his own to use the dog door and has now taught his brothers how to use it. Now we have to keep the bathroom door closed otherwise they will escape until the snow has melted enough that the fence can keep them in. Jake is also getting good with his commands, sit, down, come are all excellent, "watch me' works most of the time, he is figuring out upstairs and downstairs, up and off but is still particularly stubborn with "no".

Snow n Dogs Part 2