2012 - A Year in Review

Our Lady is pretending to let us write the blog more, but she keeps telling us what we need to cover. She said 2012 is drawing to an end and we should reflect on the things that happened this year. I think she wants us to learn something.

So here is our attempt for a year in review.

By Lee:

Lady's least fav picture of the year

They made me change a lot this year. They got a new car, a new house, and a new friend for me. I celebrated all of this by eating the wall.   The Lady dressed me up too much. I now have a big house to play in and my Lady is working on teaching me to be an off leash dog. All in all, cause Phod is a good friend, not a bad year.


By Phod:

I think this year was the best year ever. I got new people with a lake and who play fetch and who love me and snuggle me. I got a Lee and a Baggy and a Nin.  It is all so great! I liked 2012.

By Baggy:

The new house is great. I get to sleep on the counter under the light. The new dog is less offensive then some of the others. He shows respect. My kidneys are working good and overall I would say 2012 was acceptable.

By Nin:

Lady's favourite picture of the year

What's a year is?


By Lady:
2012 saw a lot of change for us as Hailey said. I think it was all good change, I now have my dream car, house and dog. More importantly we lived a year without the death of a pack member. With 2 almost 18 year old cats, you worry about that, but we had a year off from grief.  Overall I would say 2012 was full of blessings. I look forward to what 2013 may have in store for us (a little less change would be ok!)

Lady's fav picture of Phod

Rice is not food - by Phod

Dear Blog Readers,

As you know I try really, really hard to be a good dog and make everyone happy. A long time ago (December 20th), I had a bit of an upset stomach. My Lady said "you are peeing out your bum."  I didn't feel well. I held it and only had one little accident when my Lady had to go out. However, even though I was holding it, she did this terrible thing. She took my food away and gave me rice.

The first morning I sort of tried it but did not like it. But then Hailey wanted it, so I ate it. The second time I refused to eat it. My Lady tried hand feeding me and everything, but nope, I wouldn't eat it. Finally, I looked at her so sadly she put a little beef broth on it. Then it tasted like food and I gobbled it up. Lee was very jealous.

The next day as I had more normal poops, my Lady offered me some kibble. After having beef broth, I wouldn't eat that plain kibble. She had to put broth on that to get me to eat it. By dinner that night I had forgiven her for making me eat rice (and I was stressed cause we had no power), so I ate my dinner normally.

I hope my Lady doesn't try and get me to eat yucky food anymore.

PS Can you tell Lady got a video camera, now she is going to make horrible movies of us!

Christmas with Emma - by Lee

Our cousin Emma came and spent Christmas with us. We didn't know if she and Uncle Chris would be able to come cause we had no power, but they could and it was great.

Emma wearing a sweater Lady gave her.
It was Loki's and fits great!

For those of you new to our blog, my Lady says I need to tell you about Emma. Emma is a 1 year old puppy. Her mom was rescued from a horrible breeding facility in Quebec last year. Her mom is what they call a Freedom dog, and Emma is the first generation born into freedom. While our Uncle Chris was in Afghanistan on tour, he told our Lady to find him a puppy. He wanted a Westie. Our Lady found him Emma (whose mom is a Westie and her dad, we don't know, best guess rat terrier or something like that). Anyway, Emma is our cousin, who I find less offensive now that she doesn't play bitey face the same. She is more spoiled then me, so I am a little jealous.  

Everyone was a little nervous how Phody was going to be with her. Since we live in the middle of no where we don't see a lot of other dogs. Turns out Phody was a gentleman. He wasn't sure how to play with Emma at first, and when he did he was very gentle.

I just sort of ignored her and took all the stuff.

At any rate, except for the fact that she peed everywhere, it was nice to have Emma over and we would love to have her visit again soon.

Feline Friday - Baggy Edition

Here Baggy shares his feelings about the power being out, having to snuggle with the dogs, having another dog in the house for Christmas and everything else that is on his mind!

Christmas - by Lee with some help from Phod

Hey What is Emma getting?

Treats, why am I not getting treats?

I got some toys, here, I will guard them so no one gets them. 

Oh, you made a mistake when you gave this toy to Phod, it must be for me!

I have the toy and the antler, thanks Santa!

I don't understand this Christmas stuff, Lee just keeps taking my stuff!

Boxing Day - an Update on our adventures by Lee

Good evening everyone - Happy Boxing Day!

First, our Lady says we should thank everyone for their well wishes when we were in the dark. We would also like to thank our friends who offered hot meals and showers that we didn't take them up on, but we might next time.

Our adventures started on Friday the 21st, the first day of winter. It was our first real snow (we got about 50 cm in 2 days, that is about 20 inches). On Friday we lost our power from 8-10 am, and then from 10-4 it kept going on and off. Then the real adventure began at 4 pm when the power went off and we didn't have it again for 70 hours.

The fireplace that saved us!

Our people set up camp in front of the fireplace. They dragged the guest mattress out and all the blankets in the house. This is where we lived for 3 days. And by live, with the exception of taking us out a couple times a day, eating and using the bathroom, our people basically stayed in bed. They read, played games, sang and gave us lots and lots of love!

Our man was able to go to the local corner store and get some food to eat (someone had to stay home at all times to keep the fire going, and since Lady's hair looked like a bird had made a nest in it, she volunteered). Our Lady learned that being gluten free and not being about to cook or being prepared to not cook is a bit of a challenge, but the reality was she wasn't that hungry.

Things we learned during our 70 hours in the dark:
-always have bottled water in the house (our Lady had planned on picking some up next time she went shopping but the storm beat her to it).
-Baggy finds us dogs a lot less offensive when he needs us for warmth
-the 6 of us do fit in a double bed (my Lady says I should say that I hog the bed and curl up right in the middle of the bed and take the most space - my nickname for the camp out was the Lee-lee centre of the bed)
-The cats like to sleep under the covers
-When our power came back, our living space was 11 degrees C (51 F) and our people's bedroom which they had closed off was 4 C (39 C)

The disadvantage of this big fireplace
it opens above so hot air leaves living
space!

-4 days without a shower and stoking a fire every 2 hours means the bathtub will be filled with ash when the lady is done.
-don't wish for a rustic country Christmas, cause you might get it! [Our people say next year they are going somewhere warm for Christmas, but that may be all talk!]

Our Lady said the hardest part was lack of running water. She has a greater appreciation for running water. She also said that she doesn't think that we could have stayed much longer (it was like -16 C or 3 F outside) and although the idea of packing us all up was daunting she was prepared to do it (the house kept getting colder).

Our Man was out finishing last minute Christmas shopping when the power came back on, our Lady started running around the house and yelling! We didn't understand what was so exciting but we ran too!

Later that evening when our Man went to get Uncle Chris and Emma for Christmas (cause we could host it), when I took Lady outside, I pulled her and she rolled her ankle and now has a sprained ankle. She says Christmas 2012 is one to remember.

So that was the highlights of our pre-Christmas adventure.

We want to spend a special thanks to all the Hydro workers who worked around the clock (and still are cause there are  like 4000 houses without power) to try and bring our power back. There were apparently 900 places the lines were damaged and cause of the snow they couldn't get trucks in and had to snowshoe and snow mobile in places.

We are bracing for another storm tomorrow. Fingers crossed we don't end up in the dark again. [Apparently it is fairly common out here in the country, our people were going to buy a new bed for Christmas, after Christmas, but they think a generator may be in store for us.]

Christmas Eve

Here we are 60+ hours with no power on Christmas Eve. We are sure Santa will bring us extra for not being able to have the Christmas we planned (Uncle Chris and Emma coming, running water, flushing toilets). They are saying it will be on tonight and that would be great!

Until then, know we are safe, warm, and well fed even if visions of running water dance in our heads! We miss all your blogs and can't wait to catch up.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas!


Lee, Phod, Baggy, Nin and their people

Christmas Pageant - Day 8

Our power is still out and since they report it will be another day and a half, we are using lady's phone sparingly. We are warm and have food and will visit you all when it returns!

Act 8: Grandma got run over by a reindeer

Our Lady got pulled over when we thought we saw a reindeer

[Because the photographer was unavailable during this event, we have re-created the event inspired by our friend's Mollie and Alfie!]

Christmas Pageant - Day 7

Act 7: Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!   

We are without power here so will reply to comments later! 

Our Christmas Pageant - Day 6

Act 6: How the Grinch Stole Christmas

She stared at the Grinch and said "Santy Claus, why, Why are you taking our Christmas tree? WHY?

Our Christmas Pageant - Day 5

Act 5: A Christmas Carol

GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT: Come in! Come in, Ebenezer Scrooglee, and know me 
better, man!

SCROOGLEE: Who--? Who--?

GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT: I am the Ghost of Christmas Present! Look upon me! 
You've never seen the like of me before!

SCROOGLEE: You're-- You're different from the other Spirit. You're tall, almost 
a giant. And that great torch you carry--

GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT: It's light pours into the homes of rich and poor 
alike.

SCROOGLEE: Spirit, take me where you will. Last time I went against my will and 
learnt a lesson which is working now. If you have anything to teach me, let me 
profit by it.

GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT: Touch my robe, Ebenezer Scrooglee! Touch my robe!

PS: A special thanks to our friends Mollie and Alfie at http://www.molliesdogtreats.co.uk/ 

for passing this new award to us. 

We think everyone is great but we will pass this on to our friend Loki at http://lokidoberdog.weebly.com.

Our Christmas Pageant - Day 4

Act 4 - Frosty the Snowman

Phody the Snowman was a jolly, happy soul
[except when being made to dress up]

Our Christmas Pageant - Day 3

Act 3: I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus  

I saw Moo-bee kissing Santa Claus,
Underneath the Mistletoe last night

A special thanks to our cousin Lemew for joining us in our pageant

                                

Our Christmas Pageant - Day 2

Act 2: The Night before Christmas 

And Ninner in his kerchief and I in my cap had just settled down for a long winters nap

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Now Dasher, now Dancer, now Prancer and Vixen

On Comet, On Cupid, On Phoder and Blitzen

To the top of the porch, to the top of the wall

Dash away, dash away all

Our Christmas Pageant - Day 1

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to our first every (and hopefully last) Christmas pageant.  For the next few days we will act out some of our favourite Christmas stories and maybe songs.


So sit back and enjoy!



Act 1: Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer

All of the other reindeer, use to laugh and call her names,
they never let poor Leedolph,
Join in any reindeer games.

Preparing for Christmas, by Lee and Phod

Lee: "Phod, Christmas is coming and I have the perfect gift idea for our Lady."

Phod: "What is Christmas?"

Lee: "It is a time where the Lady makes you pose for stupid pictures, but she gives lots of treats and belly rubs, so you can suck it up."

Phod: "I love the pictures, I love doing whatever makes my Lady happy."

Lee: "That is a tragic flaw and we will work on that, but back to the gift."

Phod: "I think a gift is a great idea. What are you thinking?"

Lee: "I think we should get her a deer. I think she would like that."

Phod: "A deer, why?"

Lee: "Well she loves animals, and they seem nice, and I think it would be great to have one we can play with."

Phod: "So really you want a deer?"

Lee: "Yes, and she will never get us one, so we should get her one."

Phod: "Do you think a deer will make her happy?"

Lee: "It will make you and I happy, so that will make her happy."

Phod: "Ok, let's get one."

Lee: "Ok, you are allowed off leash more, so you are going to have to get one and bring it ok."

Phod: "Since it will make her happy ok."


Drop by tomorrow for the first day of our Christmas Pageant!

Dear Santa - by Nin

Dear Santa,

What's a Santa is? What's a Christmas is? Meow, Meow, Purr, Purr. What's a present is?

Merry Christmas
From Nin

Note from Lee: Dear Santa, since I am such a good girl I thought I would help Nin out. He is a forgetful boy. People think it is because he is old, but really he has always been this way. For Christmas he wants to puke more so I can eat it and he wants it to be ok for me to hump him more.  Thanks Santa!

Dear Santa - by Zaphod

Dear Santa,

I got my Christmas gift early this year when I got to move in with my Lady and Man. I don't remember all my life before, but I do know it was a little scary and hard. While sometimes I get a little scared about things, I am a really lucky dog. I have lots to eat, people who love me, a great friend Lee, and I get to play fetch a lot. While I am still a little nervous about the cats (Baggy keeps saying he will kill me if I am not good), I love them too.

For Christmas I want my Lady and Man and Lee and Baggy and Nin to be happy. This is all I ever want. So if you could make them as happy as they make me, I would be very happy. I also think it would be great if you could help all the dogs and cats and other animals looking for loving homes to find them.

Thank you,

Love Phod

Editors Note by Lee: Santa, since Phody wants me to be happy, you should be sure to fill my list (see my post on Monday).

Wordless Wednesday - Best buds edition

Dear Santa - by Baggy

Dear Santa,

12 years ago you made the Lady's Christmas wish come true and brought her a goddamn dog (pardon the expression but I have lived for 17.75 human years - which puts me into my late 80s in cat years so I can say whatever the heck I want). For 12 years I have put up with 4 different stupid dogs. While I admit these latest two, I call them dumb and dumber, are less offensive then the previous ones, I still don't like them.

For Christmas I would like the dogs to disappear or at least not be visible to me.
I want my counter basket to always be there and to always get to sleep in it.
I want food to be in my dish when I want it and not when the stupid people think I should have it.
I want pets when I want them.
I want to get to bite noses when I feel like it.


Thank you for your time,

Bagheera

Dear Santa - by Lee

Dear Santa,

I would like to begin by clarifying the meaning of the word naughty. I didn't feel this described me

so I looked it up in the dictionary. In the dictionary it says "disobedient; mischievous (used especially in speaking to or about children)".   I looked up disobedient and it says "neglecting or refusing to obey; not submitting." I will admit I have done some things this year I am not proud of (ie. eating a wall) at no point did I disobey. Before the Lady and Man went out, they did not say "Hailey, don't eat the wall."  Furthermore I never intentionally refuse to obey. When I am out running and playing, I have all intentions of coming back, it is just the wind blows me away, it can't be helped.

As for mischievous, I prefer the term spirited, and since there is a phrase Christmas spirit, this must be a great thing!

Now that we have cleared this up, this is what I want for Christmas:

Belly Rubs
Cookies

More belly rubs

treats, any kind as long as I don't have to share

Not to get scolded when I hump Nin

Phod to let me hump him

To never have to go out on my leash

Not to have to be dressed up in anyway
People to love me more than Phod
Phody to do something bad so people love me the most
Did I mention belly rubs and more cookies (any kind)

I hope you can take my actions with the spirit they were intended. If not, perhaps I will try my luck with the Hanukkah Armadillo! 

Love your Hailey Girl

Hanukkah Hangover - by Lee

Are those latkes for me?

Last night was the first night of Haunkkah and our people's Hanukkah party.  They spent the day cooking and cleaning and putting my toys away. I didn't love that.

I was very excited when some of my favourite people came. My Aunt C and Dustin and Auntie K and Uncle Chris and Darlene and some new people I didn't know. I had to bark a lot at those new people.

Everyone but me seemed to have a good time. Phody loved most of the people because they loved him more then they loved me and he got to play fetch for like 3 hours. Everyone took turns throwing the ball and saying how good he was and how great and totally ignoring me. He wasn't perfectly behaved, he ate part of Aunt C's napkin off her lap that had brisket on it. Everyone thought that was cute. If that had been me I would have gotten in trouble.  Today Phody is very tired from all the playing. I on the other hand have a sulking hangover. Because while people said I was beautiful, they all clearly loved Phody more. This morning when I went to give my Aunt C kisses (she had a sleepover) and show her how excited I was to see her by jumping on the bed, she was not happy. She said she thought how Phody just stood there waiting for love was a nicer way to wake up. I think she was wrong.

So while everyone is full from too much brisket and latkes (which I didn't get any of) and tired from staying up to late (no one had too much to drink), I am just mad that it wasn't all about me. Maybe today I will get all the love and attention I deserve. So I am saying I have a Hanukkah Hangover.

Editors note: The dogs were amazingly well behaved last night. They barked when people came in, but it was short lived and they settled right down. It was amazing!

Happy Hanukkah!

To all our friends who celebrate Hanukkah (we celebrate both at our house - not because we are Jewish, we celebrate Christmas and we aren't Christian so why not celebrate both) 

Happy Hanukkah.

Wishing you 8 crazy nights!

The blog has switched to holiday mode. Stay tuned for letters to Santa, being dressed up etc.

A New Friend

Phod and Bar playing

The Big guy and one of his dogs came to pick up Grammie on Monday. (The Big Guy thought being alone in the car for 700 km with the 2 labs may be a little much). He brought Barley with him.

None of us had ever met Barley before. He went to live with Grammie and the Big Guy in the summer. He is a rescued Lab (he is the product of a divorce). He is 4 years old and is easy going and cool like Phod.

Phod and Bar had a great time playing.  It was very interesting to see our usually submissive dog Phod, holding his own with Bar. When Bar tried to get on the couch, he blocked him. Not so much in an aggressive way but more in a this is my house, I am above you in the pack. Really the 2 boys had no serious issues, and they played amazingly well.

Lee sulking

The cats spent the night in the laundry room as Bar is working on getting along with cats!

As for Hailey Bug, she spent the evening sulking. She was mad that another dog was in the house and that Grammie wasn't giving her all the love.

We hope Bar and the other lab Tendra can come and visit again soon! [Maybe with 4 no one will feel left out!]

Bad Blogger

Again it isn't letting us put up pictures:( Our Lady doesn't have time to fight with it this morning, she says she will try tonight. Check back for our post then!

Have a great day!

The Christmas card almost fiasco

Some of the cards

So our Lady got it in her head that she was going to make about 80 Christmas cards for the Christmas card exchange. To do this she set up a sweat shop. First she had to bring out the craft supplies and start designing. She got the idea that instead of cards to make card ornaments. She then had to stamp them, cut the paper, tape the wood piece on, punch a hole, cut a ribbon, write the back of the cards, address each card (and she doesn't have stickers or stamps for our new address yet) and seal the envelopes. This took a lot of time and she tried to get us to help. We were not big help. We did things like sit on the paper, knock things off the table, Baggy tired to eat the ribbon and he bit Lady when she tried to take it away. Grammie helped address the envelopes of the last 20 or so because our Lady had this smart idea to mail the USA ones in the USA. (This saved her about 60 cents a card).

A pile of cards

Our Man was kind enough to mail the International and Canadian ones while Lady was away. The 64 with USA addresses got packed in the Lady's suitcase. She didn't have a chance to mail them before her cruise, so those 64 cards have visited Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala! When the Lady got off the cruise ship, she, Grammie and Aunt C had 12 hours to kill, so in their rented car they went on a quest, a quest to find stamps and mail 64 cards.

In Canada you can buy stamps at the Post Office, grocery stores, Hallmark stores, corner stores, lots and lots of place. At all of these places there is always a place to mail the letters. They found the stamps at a CVS pharmacy but there was no place to mail letters there. At the CVS no one could tell her where to mail the letters. This lead to operation, need to find a mailbox.  The Lady made Grammie put the stamps on (she is a slave driver I tell you) and Aunt C had their eyes peeled while Lady drove down the streets of Tampa. Finally Aunt C spotted a box in a neighbourhood. Aunt C shoved the 64 cards in this little box (which wasn't designed to hold that much mail), while people in the neighbourhood stared.

Aunt C mailing the cards

About 2 minutes later when the Lady stopped to ask for directions at the Shell Station, she found a real mailbox, and they had a really good laugh! Perhaps next year she will either 1) not try and be cheap and mail the letters from home 2) make a fancy e-card.

At any rate, we hope that in spite of our card adventures that people get them. If they don't, we are very sorry, we tried really hard!

Wordless Wednesday - Hugging Grammie

She's back!

Our lady is back and we couldn't be happier! We had a really good week with the Man. We didn't destroy anything. We had one accident and Phody chased a deer but that was all.

Our Lady said she had a great time and is happy to be back seeing us, but maybe not so happy to have to face work again! She says it will probably take her at least a week to truly catch up on everything.

While our Lady was away we got this from our friends at: http://www.themusingsofacrazycatlady.com/.  Thanks!



1. Cookies or Cake?
When our Lady could eat gluten, she loved both as long as they were chocolate. Now she doesn't eat these things as much cause she doesn't have time for baking these things. She tends to make muffins!

2. Chocolate or Vanilla?
Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate. What is this Vanilla people talk about?

3. What is your favourite sweet treat?
Dark chocolate - the darker the better.

4. When do you crave sweet stuff the most?
After dinner. That is when I want to eat chocolate the most.

5. If you have a sweet nickname what would it be?
Our Lady doesn't really and she doesn't call us sweet things.

Thanks again for the award!

She's leavin' on a jet plane . . .

Love me not the work!

Special thanks to Molly who told our Lady about upgrading to Google+ so we can now put pictures up. Here is the picture we wanted to put up yesterday. This is Lee sitting on the Lady's work trying to get love.      

Our Lady has been trying to trust us more when she is out cause we had a couple good days. So on Wednesday she left us out and we were angels and didn't do anything bad. Then on Thursday she tried the same thing and we chewed the baskets and someone pooped and peed all over the floor. 

We were really excited when our Lady came home with Grammie. Of course we are sad that Lady is going away and we won't have her or get to blog until December, we love having our Grammie here. She gives us lots of love and tells us how good we are, even if we pee on the floor. 

We will miss you all this next week or so and look forward to catching up on all your adventures when our Lady returns.

                                       

Preparing to be abandoned by Lee

Our Lady does not love us. This past week she has been working 12 and 13 hour days to get ready to abandon us. Can you believe it? She, Grammie and Aunt C are going on something called a cruise. I think this sounds horrible. We are going to be stuck at home with the Man from Friday night on the 23rd until December 3rd. That is forever!

Our Lady has not been so busy she has not been letting us read other blogs. She hardly lets us write ours. In the the little bit of spare time we have together she is making us make (that is right, with our little paws make) and write and address Christmas cards. She has made us do like 60 so far. She says we have only about 20 left.   She said she wants to mail the US ones when she is in the States as it will be cheaper. I think it is just another form of torture and we hope those getting the cards appreciated the slave labour!

Here is another example of how bad it has gotten:  The other evening the Lady was reading a report in the bath. She said this was a way to relax and work at the same time. Poor Phody was so desperate for love and attention that he brought one of his toys for her to play fetch with. He almost had to drop it in the bath. She did play with him  with one hand while holding the report in the other.

I have been so upset about all of this I haven't even had a chance to be destructive. That just isn't me!

Tomorrow is gonna be our last blog post until she is back. She says the Man doesn't have to blog while she is away. More meanness, no blogging, no checking blogs for a whole 9 days.

My Lady is telling me I should say that she has been taking us for long walks, playing ball outside with Phod and working on my off leash training where I get lots of cookies, doing tricks with us and still having cuddly time. She also says I should say I get my Grammie for one day and when she gets back Grammie will be here and the Big Guy will come with one of this dogs and it will be fun. I say none of this is enough!

Ok, now that I have pouted, I would like to take the time to wish all my American friends a Happy Thanksgiving. I was born in the US but now have Canadian citizenship. I hope you all have a lot to be thankful for. My Lady says I do, but I don't believe her. How do you believe someone who is abandoning you forever? Happy Thanksgiving!

PS: About yesterday it was me who won King of the Castle, I always win!

PPS: I can't add a picture because apparently I am out of space and we have to buy some more or something and Lady doesn't have time this morning:( This is how horrible it is to be me!

Wordless Wednesday - King of the Castle

Don't Yell at Her!

Phod has developed an interesting habit. It seems to only be with me. If I am scolding Lee for some reason (perhaps for her trying to pull me over or telling her to get off the counter or out of the cat food), this is what happens.

Phod comes running to me.

I just want you to be happy Lady. Do I make you happy?

He jumps up (which he doesn't normally do).
He will wrap his paws around my arm and try and pull me down so he can kiss my face.

I end up comforting him instead of scolding Lee.

Of course, when I am scolding Lee, she is not paying any attention to me. The scolding is really to make me feel better, not to change her behaviour!

I hate to stress my poor boy out, so will work on scolding Lee less!


One of our friends from twitter finally joined the blog-osphere. Please pop over and say hi to Loki the DoberDog http://lokidoberdog.weebly.com/. All Loki dogs will always have a special place in my heart because my first dog as an adult was a Loki!

Mischief Monday - But Lady we want to chase too!

Saturday morning I had to go to work (the price I must pay to have this upcoming vacation, but more about that later this week). As the Man was being a saint and taking my car to get winter tires I wanted to make sure the dogs were good and tired before they were left alone.

Around 7 am we went out. It was frosty but only just below freezing in Celsius (high 20s in F I think) and sunny, so a nice morning for a walk. We just head out and across the field we see some deer running. I stop and let the pups watch, mainly because I want to watch too! The deer then turn, come up the field and are running toward the road we are standing on. The pups start to go crazy! The deer cross our path about 50 metres (160 feet) from where we are standing. It was a buck chasing a doe! It was very amazing!

By this point pup 1 and pup 2 are going crazy and I am being dragged up the road. . It takes all my strength to stay semi-incontrol. Finally I am able to get us turned around and I hope by walking the other way they will settle. I am totally mistaken about this, in fact they were just trying to figure out how to get us through the bush  to get back to where the deer were.

It becomes apparent that this walk was not going to happen in a safe fashion, so again I turn them around and head home. We were out for about 10 minutes - went at best like 300 meters in total (about 1000 feet) and I was all sweaty and tired. It was short but it was a good workout!

Sorry no pictures, but it is hard to get pictures when you are holding on for dear life!

That was the mischief! (and no destruction, so maybe they were tired, or thought they had enough mischief!)

Black and White Sunday

This is our first one! We hope to do this more often!

Have a great day!

PS: Our Lady says she is sorry she is behind on her blog reading etc. She hopes to have time to catch up and let us visit all our friends later today.

Hi, I'm Zaphod and . . . .

I have a problem.

I am addicted to playing fetch. 

I will play fetch with any toy, no matter how small I have chewed the piece.

*****Thank you everyone who went to watch and like Spectrum's video yesterday. It was much appreciated!****

Feline Friday - Helping with Chores

Baggy making sure the clean laundry has just the right amount of cat hair!

Nin checking to see if the towels are folded right while supervising the making of dinner!

It is really nice to have such great household supervisors!

A non-pet related favour - The Lady. A charity I know very well (maybe because I work there:), Spectrum Intervention Group, has entered a contest late. The contest (and I am not sure the prize - but anything is good for a charity) is to get the most likes for your video by mid-night tonight. So if you could find the time today (Friday the 16th) to go and like this video (you don't have to watch it) - that would be amazing! I think the leading video has like 100 likes and while this video is coming late to the party, I am sure we can get 100+ likes in a day!  Thanks! Spectrum Video

About Spectrum Intervention Group www.spectrumig.com, they are a not for profit organization that provides treatment to individuals with autism using the science of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA). Autism is a disorder that effects about 1:88 children in North America (with similar numbers world wide - some experts say as many as 1 in 55 boys!). There is no known cause or cure. The only proven treatment is education using ABA. In Ontario Canada, there is very little government funding for this service. It is very expensive and parents need to pay out of pocket. Spectrum works really hard to find grants etc that allow for high quality services at an affordable rate. Thanks again for listening to me blab about my second love!