Back Soon!

As you read this, our Lady has left us for 87 million years. 

You see our Big Guy is medically fragile so Lady went to see him and Grammie and deal with a house she and Aunt C inherited the contents of right before the pandemic before she goes back to the office (she works with disabled kids so social distancing will not always be possible). Lady will be going back to the office 1 day a week starting next week. 

She has left us alone for a week with the Man. We love our Man but he doesn't do the walks and stuff like we are use to. It is different and maybe not always in a good way. Lady says if we have learned anything in 2020 it is how to be flexible. 

Lady says we will be trying to visit but not posting. We will have a lot to talk about next week!

Stay safe dear friends! 

Celebrating Lady

How Lady still feels about parties

Today we celebrate our Lady as she turns 315 or 45!

It is not the birthday she was expecting. 

No big birthday trip as what usually happens on the 5s in our house. 

Instead, she got an office chair and bonus time with us (really what more could she want!)

Happy Birthday to our Lady! 

Hurricane Emma!

Look who came to visit! Uncle Chris and cousin Emma! We were so excited to see them!

Restrictions are slowly lifting in our part of the world. While Lady and Man are still being cautious, we did think having Uncle Chris (who has mostly been at home) and Emma was reasonably safe.

We were all well behaved (for the most part). Lee and Phod were still tired from the week's adventures. Other than taking out all the toys and trying to destroy them, Emma was good.

It was nice to see people and Lady said it was one of the most normal things that has happened in 13 weeks! 

Let's Play

Trouble On A Tuesday - In the Dark - by Phod

Dear pals,

Hailey told you the start of the horrible lives we lived last week. It started with the storm in the early hours of Thursday morning (shows you no good comes for a Thursday). While the rain stopped, it was really, really windy.

At 2:17 pm on Thursday, the power went out. While it came on briefly, it was basically off until 10 pm. Then it went back out on Friday morning at 8 am, until about 3 pm.  Lady and Man had the generator running most of this time.

While Hailey doesn't like a storm (she taught me to be afraid), I am VERY scared of not having power. I always have been. It is too quiet and when it comes back on things beep. It is the worst thing that could ever happen.

During much of this time, Lady was working at her desk, as she is officially working about 1/2 of her work (but July it will be closer to 2/3). While we don't have everything on the generator we have the most important stuff (fridge, freezer, water, internet, some outlets), so she can work. I really, really wanted to get on her lap. I never want to do this. She did not think having an 80lbs dog on her lap during zoom consults was ideal. I did my best to hide in the office, under the desk seemed best. I have never done this before. Lady just laughed at me and said I was being ridiculous, we were safe. She also said she prefers my passive fear to Lee's destructive one.

Are you sure I can't get up?

I will just try under the desk

I didn't sleep at all on Friday and was soooooooo tired. It may be days before I recover.  Then something happened on Saturday - come back on Thursday to see why I am still tired! 

Mischief Monday - Lee vs the Storm - by Lee

It was a dark and stormy Wednesday night/Thursday morning. At approximately 12:20 am, I became aware that we were going to die. I alerted the people.

Too tired the next day

Lady heard my alert and got up. She opened doors, blocked the guest room which I was trying to dig my way through, turned on lights. She settled on the couch.  While I was pacy, I was able to settle as the world was right enough.

Then the worst of the storm hit shortly after 3 am. I went into full alert. I tried destroying the crate (which I was not in, but it was blocking the guest room). I destroyed some toilet paper. I ripped up my bed. Lady tried to get me to settle but I could not.

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Lady brought in reinforcements.  She went and got Man, who was in bed with a scared Phod on his head. I don't know what Lady said because I was destroying things, but the Man got up. He came down, told me I had made a mess and now it was time to go to sleep. He moved to the couch. I settled down and sort of slept until the morning.

This blanket is very ripped up now. Good thing Lady bought it at a thrift shop for me!

Lady was very, very annoyed that I would only not believe the world was ending unless the Man told me. While she was  annoyed, she also realized it won't be her that has to get up with me.

Lady is using what is left of the semi-destroyed roll! 

In spite this bad night (that lead into a crazy 2 days, which Phod will tell you about tomorrow), Man and Lady still aren't putting me on meds. I like being off them best, they like me off them best and are still able to be home most of the time. This may change as things open up.

Lady says she can't tell who won this, me or the storm . . . . It is a draw I think!

Catching up on my beauty sleep! 

Nature Friday - Squirrel Love

It was exciting times on our deck Wednesday as we watched 2 male squirrels in pursuit of a female. 

Here one of the males is trying to get the female who has gone to the highest point on the deck.

I have some video but for some reason either an issue with this new Blogger (which has changed again since Sunday) or YouTube I can't put the link in. I will try again for next week.

Thanks to Rosy and the boys for hosting this blog hop (also won't let me put the link in!)

Living With A Senior Pet

Lee and Phod are dog 3 and 4. While our cats lived long lives in relative health (aged 19 and 20 respectively), we were not so lucky with dogs 1 and 2. Loki died of his auto-immune disease at age 8 and Gemini was 6 when she died as a result of an accidentt.

After their deaths, I really wanted to have a dog who lived into the double digits. It became my dream. I remember telling our vet, I would adopt a 10 year old dog if that is what it took to get one to that age! Now I have 1 and maybe 2 who are in their digits (as we aren't 100% sure of Phod's exact age).

At 10, Lee is still her exuberant self. Yes, she has more white fur, especially around her mouth, and yes the vet says you can see her eyes getting old, but behaviour wise, she has hardly slowed down. We are not really seeing her age yet. She just seems finally 'manageable!' I recently told her she is now the dog we always wanted, it just took 9 years.

The same can't be said for my Phod. He is at least 9.  He doesn't like going on as long walks. He knows not to play as much ball (he has matured and will actually stop now and won't keep playing until he nearly kills himself!). He is often stiff when he has had a long walk or too much ball or after a long sleep. In general, he is just slowing down. It makes my heart hurt. It is hard to imagine a house without my boy in it. But to be clear, while he is slowing down, he is still happy and not suffering.

While having older dogs makes me sad, it also makes me appreciate the time I have with them. The past 12 weeks with them have been wonderful. I have so enjoyed it and I look forward to every moment we have left and the adventures we are going to face as we enter senior dog life!

Wordless Wednesday - Joy

The Ears

I was looking back at the pictures I took at the beach a few weeks ago (Phod has been there again, I just didn't take my camera) and I came across this one.

I don't ever remember seeing Phod bend his ears like this (curled):

I only remember seeing his ears standing up

or slicked back! He slicks those ears back a lot!

The curled ears, cracked me up!

Mischief Monday - Fear Shared

As you all know, Hailey has some pretty severe anxiety, that in the past has resulted in her being medicated. Currently, while we are home 99% of the time, she is not being medicated. We had a thunderstorm Friday night (she gets an 7.5/10 with how she did, she did have a moment where she was scratching the door to get me out of bed, even though Man was up) and Saturday afternoon we had another one (also an 8/10). She tends to be pace, she will bark a few times, but she is not causing damage. 

While her anxiety has always been big and noticeable, our boy has slowly learned to be afraid from her. He is just afraid in a much quieter way. He has never liked the vacuum or the power going out. Now he doesn't like thunder storms or the Man leaving. 

On Thursday, the Man took the morning off to go to Costco. He was gone for about 3 hours. Phod tried to hid in the corner of my office. Clearly he was very upset. During the storms, he wanted to be with us or hiding in a corner. Those of us who know him, know he is stressed, but others may not notice.

It had been suggested we try playing the storm sounds to help desensitize Lee to them. Now that we have a fancy new sound system, we gave it a try. Hailey initially looked up, thought about it, realized it was not real and went back to sleep. Phod was the one who was stressed. He looked for comfort and was very alert. Now it could be that he just doesn't like the stereo either!

At any rate, we now have 1 very anxious dog and 1 sort of anxious dog. It is like the fear is shared between the 2 dogs instead of just being trapped in 1!

Nature Friday - Our Beach - by Phod

Deal Pals,

Last week we had record breaking heat. It was in the 36C/98F one day and 2 days later, it was cold enough for a frost warning.

However, during those really hot couple of days, the best thing ever happened. I got to go to my beach for the first time this year!

I thought you may enjoy a tour of my beach.

This is our private beach. It is about 500 steps from our front door.

When you go down there is a fence. This is to keep the geese from making a mess. I hate it because I can't just run right in. 

Hurry up Man

It is very easy to move and only takes Man a minute. I have to wait patiently. You can see our dock (we own 1/3 of it -we share it) and our neighbour's boat. 

Once the fence is out of the way,  I am ready to swim! The first time I go into the lake every time, I don't wait for my peeps to throw my bumper. I just run right in!

This is my happy place. I do look forward to the water warming up more. It is only about 5C/42F (it will get as warm as 25C/77F or so. The temperature does not stop me! 

I hope you enjoyed my tour. See you at the beach! 

Thanks to Rosy and the Boyz for hosting this hop!

Waiting For The World To Change

In Pursuit of Flavours

This month Lady has gotten it together enough to participate in The Pursuit of Flavours blog hop. Thanks to Da Twins for emailing her privately to tell her what we were cooking this month! We are cooking salad!

It should be noted (and Lady should be far more embarrassed about this then she is) that Lady doesn't cook. Man does like 99.9% of the human feeding. However, Lady does have some basic skills and can follow a recipe.

I can't believe she can barely feed herself . . . .

During this quarantine (we are at week 12 at stay at home), Lady has actually mastered something. She now knows how to make potato salad. Yes, you are reading that correctly at almost 315 years old, the Lady didn't know how to make a potato salad.

This is her recipe (based on what she read on the internet).

Boil until still firm the amount of potatoes you want
Finely dice celery (if you have it), a bell pepper, onion
Add enough mayo to cover it
Add salt and pepper to taste
Mix it all up

Here is a picture of some leftovers from the salad she made on the weekend

If Lady can cook this and Man can enjoy eating it, anyone can!

Tongue Out Tuesday

Hard Times

This is not a political blog and is not going to become one, however, a lot of really hard stuff is happening in the world. Fear and hate are winning. Lady feels she must say something.

#Blacklivesmatter

#Justice

Let's all work together to find a way out of the fear and hate and into love and joy. We can do this! 

Hugs to you all.