Flower Friday

We join Flower Friday - to see more pretty flowers, go to our host Rosy's.

From San Diego

Storm Season is Upon Us

Last Wednesday, we had our second thunderstorm of the season. This is significantly fewer than we would normally have by now. The storm thankfully rolled in during the evening on my work at home day.

Miss Lee was very upset at first and ran downstairs and tried to dig her way through my office door. When she is scared she wants to either be outside or downstairs. I brought her upstairs and put on her thunder shirt and she 'settled' in the kitchen. For Hailey, she was very calm, just sitting or standing and panting.

Phod, who use to never show any real reaction to storms, has learned to be fearful from Hailey. While he has never been destructive (go back to around August 12, 2012 to see her worst damage ever), he does want to be near you and pant. 

Emma is oblivious to it all, and I only got her in this picture because she was interested in what I may be cooking in the kitchen. 

I spent my evening while the Man was out cooking (which is so rare) and trying to comfort my dogs. I hope we don't have too many storms (or wind, or fireworks) this season. 

Wordless Wednesday - Her Rolling Smile

43 Random Things About the Lady

As Lady celebrates another year of life - here are 43 random things about her.

Circa 1977 with my grandparent's dog Cinder

1. Her favourite colour is blue.

2. She has a learning disorder that effects her ability to remember letter and number combinations aka she is a horrible speller.

3. She has 2 undergraduate degrees, a Masters and a Post-Grad Certificate in Behaviour Analysis. 

4. She hated reading until she was 16.

5. The book that made her fall in love with reading was Timothy Findley's The Wars.

6. She has not parallel parked since her driving test in 1992 and has no plans to ever do it again (and she drives a lot).

7. Ketchup chips are her favourite.

8. She can't eat gluten or soy.

9. She thinks the best steak she has ever eaten was at Michael Jordan's in Chicago.

10. She loves to do laundry.

11. She loves to paint but isn't really great at it. 

12. She loves to take pictures and hopes to get better at it some day.

13. Her tonsils ruptured when she was 6.

14. She had 4 wisdom teeth, they were removed in her 20s. 

15. She has worn glasses since she was 5.

This day in 1976

16. She was painfully shy growing up (she never talked in class) and still uncertain in novel social situations.

17. She plans on retiring on January 1, 2030.

18. She and the Man got married when she was 21 (and he was almost 22).

19. Growing up she thought she was a cat person, turns out, she is both a dog and cat person. 

20. She is impatient, more impatient then most people know. 

21. Sleep is one of her number one priorities.

22. She doesn't really like shoes. 

23. She is a podcast junky.

24. She would sell her soul for good chocolate and good cheese.

25. While she respects other's beliefs, she identifies as an atheist.

26. She has a 'stitches' phobia. At 18 months 4 or so adults couldn't hold her down to put
stitches in her head and as an adult she just didn't go to the hospital when she probably should have had some.

27. She is terrified of whales and while she generally loves animals, hopes they become extinct. 

28. She has 2 tattoos. No current plans for a 3rd, but time will tell. 

29. She tore the meniscus in her right knee studying for statistics (yes you read that right) and she had to have 2 surgeries to fix it.

30. She has never liked being upside down.

1980

31. She was always the last kid picked for any gym class etc. and her elementary gym teacher had her sit out a lot as she was a danger to herself and others.

32. People see her as pretty black and white, but as she ages, she is starting to play in the grey.

33. Her accessories of choice are necklaces and watches. 

34. She has never participated in any sort of protest or march.

35. She has visited 24 countries. 

36. She loves nature, but doesn't consider herself an outdoors person.

37. Her bird feeder is one of the biggest joy bringers of her life currently.

38. She hates coffee but loves tea. 

39. The first time she was in a plane was to go sky diving.
40. She would call herself a realist but most people see her as pessimistic.

41. She has had the most vivid dreams and nightmares since she was about 18 months.

42. She is an extremely organized person who is really good at getting things done.

43. She loves, loves, loves, loves, lists.

The Craziest Walk Last Week

On Tuesday, around 6 am, Lee, Phod and I headed out for our weekday morning stroll. We have two routes we can take, one being what we call 'favourite road.' It happened to be favourite road day.

We turn a corner on favourite road (about 1 km from our house), and I see to the right, across the field, a house on fire. 

For some perspective. We live in cottage country. On this particular walk which is probably about 1.5 km one way, we pass 1 house on our road, 2 houses on the main road and about  a dozen on favourite road.  I rarely carry my phone with me when I walk.

Lee, did not seem to notice anything was amiss. Phod on the other hand was highly alert. It was clear the fire had just started. We were likely a good football field from the nearest house and 2 football fields from the fire. So there I was without a phone (not that I actually know the name of favourite road, it is a long French one I have never learned), picking up the pace because I am thinking I may have to get much closer to the fire than I would like (when I was 3 I saw a furniture factory burn and probably had PTSD after that and still have a very healthy respect for fire), with the 2 dogs to start banging on doors.

Fortunately, as I got closer, I could hear people out yelling, so I knew people knew. Shortly after I could hear the firetrucks coming up the road around the lake. 

The dogs and I continued our walk away from the fire. Lee was a bit upset we didn't get to go up past the house because that is the routine and not doing so means we don't get to smell the best mailbox ever and our walk is shorter. Phod needed a lot of encouragement to keep going forward. Both reacted calmly when we had to stop to let the firetrucks race by.  

When we got home the Man and Emma were sitting outside. The Man had heard the sirens and looked out and could see the fire across the field from our house. He yelled at me for not having my phone with me. 

It took me another 3 days to remember it and I got these pictures of the house.  I never heard any news stories about it, so I believe everyone was safe.  The lighting is poor in these pictures as it was just my phone, it was very foggy that morning and I only really had one hand (as I had 2 dogs in the other).

Happy Father's Day

In honour my my (the Lady's) Dad, aka "The Big Guy" I share with you some of the boats I saw during my trip to San Diego last month. 

Happy Father's Day Dad! 

Flower Friday - More Flowers From San Diego

We don't have a lot in bloom here so today again for Rosy's Flower Friday we share a picture from Lady's travels.