Trying To Behave by Lee

Dear Pals,

I am trying really, really hard to be a good girl. I have always tried hard, but as I am maturing, I am trying much harder. I am 10 now, and am a wise and beautiful girl.

My peeps, have clearly lost their minds being at home for almost 7 weeks now, and have been doing some off leash training with me. There are a lot of rules about this, but so far I have been successful enough.

Last weekend, we went on a long pack walk. As we got back close to the house, the Man decided to let me drag my leash and walk down the road (actually it was Phod's leash because mine carries the poop bags, so they took Phod off leash and put me on his, and let me drag it).

Walking down the road, dragging Phod's leash

I was doing a really good job until that darn Red John (one of the little red squirrels that lives on our property) yelled at me. He said some nasty HBO things. I of course had to go put him in his place. 

I was very good. I did pause when my Man told me to stop.

Proof I paused

 Lady would point out, I wasn't going to go far, because Red John went up the tree and I would have just tried to climb the tree (that is one of my talents).

The Man having to come and get me

In the end, the Man had to come into the bush and get me. I was disappointed he didn't let me climb the tree. However, I must have done an ok enough job because my peeps did some more training later in the day (it involved a lot of cookies - it was great).

Leading the Man out of the bush - I am sure he would have gotten lost without me! 

Hope you are all safe and well.

Living her best life,

Hailey Bug

Wordless Wednesday - Finally A Warm Day

Tongue Out Tuesday

Mischief Monday - Hunting

Recently every time we go out, the dogs have been particularly interested in sniffing the front flower bed. 

The other day, the Man took the pups out and Hailey went fully into hunting mode and pounced.

Here is a dramatic recreation:

The little vole got away. I am sure my girl was very disappointed. 

We have a neighbour's cat and a fox also spotted hunting a lot in yard, so we will see if the little vole and mice survive!

Nature Friday - Contest Update

We are starting to wonder if Mother Nature is playing an all month's April fools joke on us. Here is a sample of the weather the past 5 days.

Sunday

Tuesday but it could have been Monday-Wednesday

Did we mention the balmy temperatures of -14C/7F?

One of us enjoyed it.

So while we didn't get a lot of snow, the snow kept falling and the snow on the deck and backyard stayed.

Look at all the snow still between the trees - this doesn't count for the contest but look! You can also see a sample of the snow that remains in the backyard - taken yesterday around 3:30 pm. 

For some reason Blogger is not letting Lady attach another picture of the backyard (there are a lot of HBO words being said, we are wondering if Blogger is also hoping for spring), so you will have to imagine, we still have it.

Sorry Bertie, while we were hopefully, the snow did not go away on April 19 (in fact we got more).

We remain cautiously optimistic that one of the following people may have the right date (it looks like it may be getting more seasonably warm aka above 0)

26-Apr	Yamini
27-Apr	Angel Madi
28-Apr	Lightning and Timber

Time will tell!

Hope you are all keeping well and having better weather!

❤️ Goes Out To Nova Scotia

Peggy's Cove

We join our fellow Canadian's as we mourn the worst mass shooting in Canadian history. 22 people (plus the murderer) were killed in 16 sites in a small community. 

May those who loved those lives randomly taken find a way to peace. 

Wordless Wednesday - I Would Like Some

Traffic

Back in the pre-pandemic world, both the peeps, especially Lady, could face a lot of traffic on their commutes to the office. Not dealing with this is one of the Lady's favourite things about being safe at home. However, some mornings there is a new obstacle to get downstairs to their work areas - a Phod! When he is laying at the top of the stairs when it is time to go down, Lady will say "I hear there is a lot of traffic today." She thinks she is very funny. 

Mischief Monday - Day Light's Burning

Dear Pals,

We are having a disagreement in my house these days about my behaviour. You see, when this whole pandemic started, I was sleeping in until about 7:15. Now, in week 6, I think we should be getting up much earlier, like closer to 6 am. I tell my people, the early bird gets the worm. They are not as impressed. Lady is a natural morning person, but she says she would like her days to start after 6:30.

I said, I can't help it that the days are getting longer and I want to make the most of it.

Who do you think is right in this? Me who thinks we should get up and face the day (and have lots of naps) or Lady who would like to stay in bed a little longer?

Your pal Hailey Bug, who loves her routine!

Nature Friday - Do We Still Have Snow? An Update

It has been a pretty chilly week. We have had snow a couple of days and lots of frost. Lady has been hearing friends talk about washing and putting the winter stuff away, but it is too early here. Lady would be too cold during one of our many trips outside in just a spring coat. 

In spite of the temperatures has it been warm enough to make the snow go away? Did Rosy and the Boyz, or Matilda, or Maggie and Cammie, or Sandra and Big Boy pick the right date?

Here are the pictures from yesterday at lunch:

The backyard, can you see the squirrel?

A little patch in the front

A big patch in the front

Some by the garage

A dusting from the snow that was falling yesterday

While we lost a lot of snow this week due in part to rain, there is still too much to say it is gone. Thanks to our pals for playing.

For the rest of the month, here are our guesses:

19-Apr	Bertie
26-Apr	Yamini
27-Apr	Angel Madi
28-Apr	Lightning and Timber

Will one of them win? Will we still have snow into May?  Time will tell. We hope it gets at least a little warmer!

ISO-lympics

Thanks to our pals Roxy, Bella and Dui for organizing the Blogville ISO-lympics.  Here we can show off our great skills while staying in isolation.

We have each decided to enter 2 competitions.

Phod is up first. 

The first event - yard angels. Whether it be snow or grass, Phod is a gold medalist at making yard angels!

Using the face first, he makes sure his whole body has contact with the ground

The rubbing of the back is the most important part

That smile shows he knows he nailed it!

Phod's second event and favourite competition is fetch! While Precious is his favourite, he thought he would enter using a disc to show off the diversity of his fetching abilities! 

Great job Phod! In spite of the obstacles, grass to snow, he was able to successfully capture the disc (not pictured due to camera person failure, not his!)!

Now on to Hailey's events. 

Up first, eating. Be it meal time or treat time, Hailey can eat and eat and eat. She is always willing to take extra food off the people's hands or plates!

Look at the concentration as she gently takes the treat

Hailey's second event is supervising. This has been of vital importance the past month as the people have been stuck at home. Without her great supervising, they may not have created such a schedule. We have seen reports that those who don't have a routine will suffer more during this time. Thanks to her gold medal work, her peeps are both happy, healthy and productive. 

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

Congratulations to both Hailey and Phod for their excellent performances today.

We wish all the competitors the best at showing off their skills. 

Wordless Wednesday - Found Under the Snow

Project Hailey - Decisions and Off leash by Lee

Hi friends,

As you may recall, from about April to October I take prozac to help me with my anxiety with storms and fireworks. You may also recall that a few times, when I have been home alone during a storm, I have gone through the wall. 

This picture cracked the Lady up

Lady and Man had a long talk and they decided for now, since they are home all the time, they are not going to put me back on it. Obviously, if I seem too distressed (meaning I keep them up all night freaking out), or the world becomes more normal, they may change their minds. They have a couple weeks of pills left from the fall, so they can start any time. They made this decision because I am more fun and crazy and more me off the pills. 

In other great news, the Man has started some off leash training with me. Short sessions, with lots of cookies. It is nice to not be attached to those who are too slow! So far, I have been good and listened pretty well. We will see how it goes. 

I really love having my peeps home all the time and having them follow my schedule! 

Mischief Monday - Hat Tax

We hope you all had a great Easter weekend. Lady and Man had a lot of fun. They held a pub night Friday night, where they ate wings and nachos and played trivia on the iPad while they ate. They did a Muppet Movie marathon. They cooked a big chicken dinner, followed by apple crisp. We did a fun egg hunt (not pictured here . . . you would think she would be more on it but whatevs . . .) and got extra treats.

All the fun did not save us from our Easter Hat Tax. (For those who may not remember, the Lady says because we are freeloaders here, we don't contribute to the household, several times a year we have to pay the hat tax. We tried to point out to her that she is currently unemployed, but she said she is getting social assistance and does housework, so she is contributing).

Here are Lady's favourite individual shots of us. She said we need to work on our enthusiasm! 

We hope you all had a great Easter, even if you also had to pay the hat tax! 

Happy Easter

Lady made the bunny in the wreath for Easter 1981 she thinks! 

We hope this Easter brings your family health, love and extra treats. May we get to spend the next holiday with those we love and don't live with!

Nature Friday - Contest Update and More

Before we get to the contest update, we thought we would share something very Canadian with you. Our neighbours are making their own maple syrup this year. On our walks we see the buckets collecting the sap. 

Quebec, our province, makes about 70% of the world maple syrup and over 90% of Canada's syrup. American friends, we are talking pure, real maple syrup, not the "table syrup" you seem so fond of that is just corn syrup and no offence, not really edible to your friends from the North. If you have never had fresh, just boiled syrup, you can't appreciate how amazing it is!

Interesting story - in 2011-2012 there was the Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist. During this period, thieves stole nearly 3000 tons of this maple goodness. This was valued at almost $19 million Canadian dollars at the time. They were selling it to people in the US in small batches and those buying it were unaware it was stolen. 17 men were arrested in relation to the theft. Here is the most severe sentence were 8 years in prison and a $9.4 million fine, with an extension to 14 years in prison if the fine couldn't be paid.  We take our maple syrup seriously in this country (it does run through our veins after all!)

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Now to the contest

We have some guesses for the next week - and they could be right because as of lunch yesterday, there was still snow in the yard and it was snowing! Lady will say this is the earliest spring then she remembers (last year the winning date was May 11 and the year before, we don't want to talk about how much snow we had in April!). Maybe we get this one nice thing during this crisis (besides the peeps being home 24/7).

The pictures were taken from inside as it was very, very wet out and a fox was around. (We liked tracking her later on leash, no pictures captured today. She has been around a bit, so we hope to capture her, she is beautiful).

Looking out the side toward the front - you can see our fire pit! 

Front yard from the front door

Back yard

Here is the weather forecast for the next few days . . . still snow, but will it be warm enough to melt the snow?

Come back next week to find out and to see us in our Easter stuff! 

Happy Easter!