Remembering Gemini

Tomorrow will be 5 years since Gemini died in an accident (I think of it as a friendly fire incident). The guilt and pain around her death still is fresh in my heart. I have accepted that I will never 100% recover from her loss.  I still can barely talk about her, but am looking past my pain to remember my beautiful angel and share her with others.

This picture was taken about 9 days after Hailey joined our pack. It was taken during a storm. Gemini was trying to comfort Hailey. Gemi was a very snuggly dog and she and her best friend Loki had snuggled all the time. Gemi mourned Loki forever, but did try and make our Hailey her substitute love. As you can see Lee wasn't too sure about it.

Flower Friday - BBFG 1

My mom took me to visit the Bruce Botanical Food Gardens in Ripley, Ontario during my dog less visit. Founded in 2012, the purpose of the garden is to help people reconnect with where food comes from, teach about sustainable farming and recycling, and to help with food security. The people who started this garden believe everyone has a right to healthy affordable food. All crops grown in the garden can be purchased by donation, making farm fresh food accessible to everyone who can access the garden. I thought is was an amazing project, especially in a town of less than 7000 people. I will share some of the flowers and other cool things in following weeks.

Today, I will feature the sunflowers. (Murphy and Stanley, I totally thought of your mom when I saw them). 

LADY IS HOME!

I, the worst Lady who has ever lived, went away without the pups. Why I am the worst, is not that I went away, but that I went away to a place they would be more than welcome at - I went to visit my parents.

I decided not to take the dogs because to be honest, traveling with them alone is a big pain!

I wish I had a video of my arrival home. Hailey was so, so excited she was shaking. I don't think I have ever seen her so happy to see me. Maybe it is because they had a huge storm on Monday that took out some trees. 

Once Hailey had jumped on me and kissed me and wiggled until she nearly fell over, it was Phod's turn. I don't think he has ever kissed me so much! As I was resting on the couch after the long drive home, he was very snuggly.

I think I need to go away more often! 

Don't ever leave again

Wordless Wednesday - Snuck It In (A Boy and His Precious)

Aunt and Uncle Day

Today is Aunt and Uncle Day. While, I won't have the opportunity to spend time with my niece and nephew today, we are seeing them later in the week.

Being an aunt is one of the great joys of my life. If only we could get Hailey to not be as fearful of kids, life would be easier when they come to visit. Although as I mentioned earlier this month, she did an awesome job when Maggie stayed with us.

The Man and Troy 

Maggie and me

Wishing all aunts and uncles a wonderful day!

Celebrating!

Today is post 2000! 

Lady can't believe that in the past 6 years she has had 2000 things to say. Ok, she can, she is a Gemini after all.

Our pack has changed in these 2000 posts. We said goodbye to angels Gemini, Bagheera and Cinder (aka Nin) and we welcome Zaphod.

Hailey is the glue that has held us together, so today we celebrate her and the friends she has brought into our lives. 

Thank you all for sharing this journey with us!

Black and White Sunday - Flying Through The Flowers

2011

Precious - Here and Gone and Here

Regular readers know that Phod is in love with his Chuck-It Ball, we call Precious. Given a basket of identical looking balls, he has a favourite Precious.

Phod with a Precious

For a long time his favourite was Precious 1. Precious 1 was so loved, he chewed a hole in it. Precious 1 disappeared last summer, but showed up again in the spring. Precious 1 was hiding in the thick bush that surrounds our house. It was found before the spring regrowth.

Phod was excited to see Precious 1, but his favourite was now Precious 3. (Precious 2  got stuck under the deck last summer). While he wanted Precious 1 in the ball basket (he checked it every day), he would pick Precious 3 to play with.

Precious 3 is currently in the bush and hopefully will return in the spring.

To ensure Phod had appropriate Preciouses available, he was given Precious 4. Precious 4 is now under the deck as well.

He keeps dropping the balls down those holes

So, we are back to Precious 1 and have introduced Precious 5. While he never loves the new ball right away and after a few days for it to become Precious. It is like it needs to go through a Precious in training program! Don't worry, we have 2 more back up Precious balls if necessary. We will keep buying replacements as necessary. Our vows with Phod include ensure you always have a Precious.

Why Are You Here? A Better Answer

At BAR (which was so, so long ago now - organizers when is the next one?) one of the organizers asked why we had decided to go.

The Man had a great answer - "Because the Lady told me" and I don't remember what my answer was, but I do remember I wasn't 100% happy with it. Here is how I ended up at BAR.

After our Loki died, our vet said we should get a schiperke. I had never heard of this breed of dog (Belgium Water Dog). He said he thought they were a good breed as they had very few health problems. After dealing with  immune mediated hepatitis that caused cirrhosis of the liver for a year that seemed like a wonderful idea. So I started looking into the breed and I happened upon an 8 month old puppy on PetFinder who was listed as a schiperke in our area.

That puppy was Hailey and soon she was calling our house her home.  After only a few days of being Hailey's Lady, I realized she was a lot of dog and I was going to need an outlet to help me cope with her. Also, I wanted a place where the people who rescued her could see she was having a good life. Through blogging (I was probably at least a year in), I found other dog bloggers and ended up as a citizen of Blogville. 

After reading so many wonderful blogs over a few years, and getting to virtual know some clearly cool cats and dogs (and people), when the opportunity arose to meet them and live my RV dream I took it.

So my dogs ended up standing on a picnic table in Indiana because of my vet. He suggest a breed which led to Hailey (who ironically we do not believe is a schiperke - we think she is some cattle dog mix), which led to a blog, which took me to Blogville, which lead us to BAR. 

It is not something I would have ever predicted, but I must say, something I am super glad worked out the way it did. Thanks again Woody!

PS: We have some special celebrating to do on Monday so stop by!

PPS: We are going to do our house tour on either August 1st or 2nd as our 4 years in the house celebrations. 

PPPS: We have a lot of celebrating coming up! 

Project Hailey - Storms

I personally love a good storm and now really appreciate them because I know that they will help cool things down (it was 40C/100F for several days last week). The dogs however, are not huge fans. Previously, Phod did not react at all to storms, but recently he has begun to show some signs of distress. Distress for Phod is wanting to be near us and looking concerned, it is not anything serious like Hailey's distress.

Friday I happened to be working from home when the storm rolled in. I watched the sky darken out my office window, heard the wind pick up through the open windows, and then the low rumbles of thunder. Both dogs were also very aware of these changes in the environment. As far as storms go, it wasn't a huge. It was a bit windy, a bit thundery and it did pour rain for a very short time.

Neither of the dogs were happy and they found peace sitting with me in my office.  The corner the left of my desk was their favourite. 

I was really proud of Hailey as she was able to be in my office with minimal pacing (she spent time in the corner as well as on the floor behind my desk chair). She didn't try to dig her way in or out of anything. She was just there. This is a big deal because evenings have been hard for her with all the fireworks. Her new habit for that is to go into the bedroom or bathroom garbage and rip something up. I will take this any day over more serious destruction. 

Only a few more months and we won't have to worry about thunder or fireworks. We will be concerned about things like snow . . . .

Wordless Wednesday - Snuggles

Tasty Tuesday - Trying Something New

I have seen these "meat logs" in the pet store many times, but have never purchased one before. I thought they seemed pricey. However, I happened upon one on sale (I always check the clearance bins), last week and brought it home. It was in the clearance bin because it expires in August. Instead of about $15, it was under $4.

What do the dogs think of it?  Well they ate it so fast I couldn't get a picture of it. They love it. I am adding it to their hard food. They usually get a tablespoon of softy with their meals and this will replace it for now. 

I will have to watch for a food roll to be on sale again, even though I find it tough to cut! 

Mischief Monday - Wildlife Encounters

One of our favourite things about living in the country is the amount of wildlife we experience on a daily basis.  The only issue I have with this is when the dogs get extra excited about something we see and I have to hang on for deer life during our walks.

Last Thursday was a crazy wildlife day!
During our morning walk we saw: a raccoon (the dogs went insane and somehow I kept in control of them), a live frog crossing the road (it startled the dogs while they sniffed it and it jumped), the buck (we don't see him often so that is special), a dead frog (sadly we have been seeing more of those this year, but it means they have come back after the construction that took them away), a dead garter snake,  a doe and 2 fawns.

On my drive to work that morning, I had 2 different encounters with wild turkeys, a cat ran in front of my car and a huge hawk came out of a ditch and nearly hit my car.

Generally we may see some deer (at least a few times per week), the turkeys (they have adjusted their territory this year and we are seeing less), frogs (alive and dead), birds (lots and lots of different ones - Hailey only cares about the ravens and sometimes the woodpeckers, the rest she ignores), chipmunks and squirrels on the walk.

Here are some of the other things we have seen recently - that I was able to photograph with my phone, while holding both dogs!

Horse prints - and horse poop - we have to walk around that or the pups think it is snack time

If we don't see the deer we often see their tracks

Looking down our road - a deer

We saw this dead snake - I believe it is an Eastern Milk Snake -  yesterday

Frogs in the ditch - the dogs always want to chase them in

And of course groundhogs. This one is in our yard - We have at lest 3 adults and several babies in the yard this year

I wonder what we will see this week!

PS Lady tried uploading the videos of the house to YouTube, but that was a fail. It was going to take 2 hours to upload a 2 minute video cause our internet sucks. She thinks she has a solution - panoramic pictures. She is going to try those this week during the day (the light in the house is best during the day. Hopefully we will have that by the end of the week.

Peace In An Un-peaceful World - By The Lady

I don't know about all of you, but I am tired of all the bad news in the world. Even though I have dramatically decreased my news consumption all the horrors that live out there still creep their way in. And they should. If I am going to be a world citizen, I need to know the good, the bad and the ugly. However, instead of getting consumed by the bad news,  (much of which I can't do a darn thing about) I am working hard to enjoy the peaceful moments in my life. Here is one from a walk last week. The video was taken around 5:30 am. This pond is about 1 km (.6 miles) from our house and we walk by it every other day. It is one of my favourite sounds of summer (besides the birds).

Sepia Saturday - Excuse Me

Can't a guy be allowed to snuggle his toy in peace?

Zaphod

Flower Friday and a Fire Place

We are joining Dory for Flower Friday.

Here are some wildflowers growing in our yard.

________________________
The subject of our crazy house came up at BAR and Lady needs to figure out the video tour of it, but until then, here is a picture of the fireplace.

Remember it is the last day to send your Pawlympics entries! 

PSA: Want To Get Walked More - Get Your Peeps A FitBit

Dear pals,

Do you think you aren't getting walked enough?  Do you think your person is cutting your walks short? We have a solution for you - get your person a FitBit.

We don't know for sure what it is, but since our Lady got one most nights we are getting a second walk. There are a few nights were weather or being home late means the Lady has done the scary thing of going on the treadmill, or has done weird dancing stuff around the house, but most nights, we are landing a second walk! Lady says she has to get her steps. Her OCD means she has to get 10 000 steps. We don't understand that but we love our life because of it.

Lady, the step obsessed one,  says our morning walk is between 3500-4000 steps. All we know is it is a bit longer and we get to sniff more (although it is embarrassing when Lady keeps marching on the spot while we are having long sniffs or doing our business). In the evening, our walk is shorter because Lady says we can't go as far because too many neighbours up the hill don't keep their dogs on leash and without the Man (who rarely partakes in walking except for going to the beach which we try and do a couple times per week but is only 1200 steps) she can't control us. She says our evening walk is about 2000 steps. We love the evening walk because there are more dogs and people don't pick up their poop up the hill so there is a lot to sniff.

So if you want to get out more, get your person a FitBit!

Hailey and Zaphod who thrilled to be walking more

Wordless Wednesday - Recovering From A Toddler Visit

Reminder - Pawlympics Deadline Approaches

Friday is the last day to get your Pawlympics pictures in for any of the events you are participating in.  To see a full list of events click HERE.

We are hosting 2 events:

August 6th - Zaphod is celebrating his Gotcha Day by hosting a Fetching event.
August 19th - The Man's birthday - Hailey is celebrating it by hosting her favourite activity to do with the Man - freestyle napping.

There are lots and lots of cool events, so be sure to check them all out and enter!

(PS If Lady didn't reply to your entry, she didn't receive it!)

Mischief Monday - The Visitor

We had a very busy weekend with our 2 year old niece Maggie staying with us. She was as good as gold and was a true toddler a few times! There was still some mischief that wasn't really about her!

Saturday morning we woke up to no power, thanks to a thunderstorm. It was only out for a few hours so it didn't impact our day much.

The weather didn't cooperate. We had the coldest July days in 7 years. Also, after living in a drought since the spring it rained. We had planned to spend the weekend at the beach but that didn't happen.

While we were out grocery shopping, in the pouring rain, my windshield wipers died. We had to pull over and wait for the rain to stop and were able to make it home. The car is getting fixed today as they are calling for rain the rest of the week, and as I have an out of office meeting, a colleague has kindly agreed to let me borrow her car for the hour I need to be out/

Hailey barked at Maggie, less than she has, but enough to make the poor girl cry. We noticed Hailey is more likely to bark when either the Man or I was touching Maggie.  Hailey quite liked Maggie at meal times. Mostly because she dropped food and got her hands really dirty and they were low enough for Lee to lick!

Zaphod, while not sure of what to do with a little one, is very patient as these pictures show:

Sorry it is a bit blurry, in my haste to get the picture, I didn't have it on the correct setting!

"I'm not sure about this belly rub!"

While it was a big change from our normal, very quiet and dull lives, it was nice to have Miss Maggie visit!

Black and White Sunday - House Guest

Sorry we haven't been around this weekend, our human cousin Maggie has been staying with us. 2 year olds will keep you busy!

Finally A Post With Me In It - Zaphod

This blog has been lacking me this week. 

See Beautiful - Flower Friday

Today are combining two wonderful things - See Beautiful and Dory's  Flower Friday.  I am not a gardener (it is one of those things I wish I liked but actually hate). I took pictures on our morning walks of some of the local wildflowers. Enjoy!

An Interesting Find

During our walk on July 1st, Hailey found an egg. The egg, was barely covered with dirt on the shoulder of the road. There is a ditch but not a lot of water around. It is far enough from the beach. However, we think it may have been a turtle egg. It is possible it was moved here by a bird.  Whatever it was, unfortunately it didn't make it. I am not sure if Hailey damaged it when she dug it out or if it was already damaged. I was very proud of her for not trying to eat it. (Can't say the same for the dead sparrow she found the day before. Fortunately the "drop it" worked and I didn't have to fish it out of her mouth).

Hailey and the Egg

Wordless Wednesday - "It's My Precious - Get Away"

Project Hailey - Fireworks, Thunder and Wind

Hailey during the storm

Since St. Jean Baptiste Day (June 24th), we have heard fireworks almost every night. (The joys of living in rural Quebec in cottage country)! Hailey has done super with the fireworks. She just goes into our closet and calms down.

July 1st, we had a very severe thunderstorm. Even Zaphod, who rarely seems to notice storms, looked concerned. It was very short lived (about 20 minutes), but it was intense and the house shook. Hailey was unable to calm herself. She went into the crate and tried to dig her way out. When that didn't work, she tried to dig herself into the guest room. As it was evening, we put on her thunder shirt and put her on her leash and she stood under the table where we were playing games.

That night, was a particularly windy night and around 1:30 am she became upset, pacing and growling and barking at the wind. We got up and closed the windows. This didn't help and finally the Man put her in our closet (aka the fortress of solitude) and closed the door. She happily slept there until 6 am when she had to go out for some business. 

Needless to say, it has been a tough week for our LeeLee Bug. I hate to see her so anxious. We are going to try and continue to manage it without drugs, but remain open to the fact she may need them for the summer months.

Mischief Monday - Invasion

Yesterday morning, Miss Hailey alerted us to the fact a bird was in the fireplace again. It has been a few months since this happened. The pups were put in the crate, doors were opened and the bird flew up and really tried to get out the window. What the video doesn't show is I went out on the back deck to the window, scaring the bird and he or she quickly flew out the patio door. It was a lot of excitement before breakfast.

This was the second time in less than a week we had a bird encounter. On Wednesday when both the Man and I were working from home (avoiding traffic issues caused by the POTUS visit to the Nation's Capital) we heard a strange banging noise. Turns out a wild turkey was pecking on our bedroom patio window. He flew away before I could capture it on film. 

Note: I am still trying to figure out how to make my videos of the house so they will appear on the blog.  I use a Mac, so if any other Mac users have ideas, I would love to hear them. I am totally not patient enough to figure it out. 

Happy Independence Day To All Our American Pals!

Black and White Sunday - Angel Nin

Yesterday would have been his 21st birthday.
This is the last picture we took of him.

Canada Day Celebrations

It was decided that Hailey, who came from Ohio, United States of America and who has been in Canada for about 6 years would join hundreds of others in becoming an official Canadian citizen. Since Flat Easy is visiting, it was decided he too would join the festivities and become an honorary Canadian. Cousin Emma said she would officiate the ceremony (and Phod thought this was all silly and went and had a nap).

Our ceremony when like this:

First there was the standing for the National Anthem.

Then there was the eating of the Canadian made snack. 

Then Emma asked both Hailey and Easy if they were ready, they said yes. 

Emma swore them in and a squirrel witnessed it. 

Then Hailey and Easy partied!

Congratulations to Hailey and Flat Easy on their Canadian Citizenship!