Nature and FFF

Lady is very proud of herself to realize today is Rosy's Nature Friday and Aunty Yam's FFF! (It is helpful that the last Friday is the last day of the month).

May you always find the colour in the world, even when it feels dark. 

Don't Forget Me - by Lee

Ummmm, it seems the blog this week has been all about Phody and what he does at the beach. Yes, he does engage in more action then I do, but I am much better behaved. It should be noted that the other day while we were swimming, he ran over to say hi to the neighbours, then he tried to swim across the lake to see a dog. I do not do things like that.

Lady and Man have finally come up with a mutually agreeable way I can spend time at the lake while they swim. They use a tie out and clip me to the goose fence. I get lots of room to sniff, I can get back into the bush and grass or stand in the water and bite waves. Yes, being free so I could run and see the neighbours (I am not going to try and swim across the lake, thank you very much), would be better, but this will do.

See, I am enjoying the lake while Phod is looking at high alert

See, I am smiling at the Lady while Phod has dropped his bumper and ran toward the neighbours

I am a happy girl enjoying my lake while staying at my lake!

Wordless Wednesday - Zaphod

Tongue Out Tuesday

Mischief Monday - A New Trick

The only real mischief this week is that as Lady tries to adjust to the old-new world of actually working while maintaining some of the healthy habits (mainly a reduction in screen time which is hard because most of her work now involves a screen) , she has not been to visit you all. We are hopefully over the next couple of weeks we can create a better routine.

Now Phod will share his new trick.

The air is now hot enough to make our peeps think that swimming in the lake is a good idea. As you all know, I love to fetch on land and water. In the water, my preference is to stand at the shore and run into the lake while my peeps stand on the shore. I will not swim out with my bumper and chase it in. My peeps have been teaching me to come up the dock and jump in from there.

Dropping my bumper for the Man

 I don't love it, but I will do it to humour them.

Walk up the dock past the neighbour's boat

Get ready to chase it! 

Make a big splash

Swim back with it

What do you think of my new trick?

Nature Friday - Remember To Look Up

Thanks to Rosy for hosting Nature Friday!

This and That Thursday - New Settee

Let's check this new piece of furniture out. Lady says it has had more cats than you can imagine use it. Most recently 5 lived in the house.

We were a little sceptical, would the settee be good enough for dogs or was it really just for cats?

It has our seal of approval. What is even better is we can sit beside the Lady on it!

Wordless Wednesday - Sharing Pizza

Project Hailey - Progress

In the wee hours of Sunday morning, we have a thunderstorm. This was the second one in less than a week. Our unmedicated girl, did great.

While she paced some and was restless, she did not insist we get up. The only damage she did was to there blanket that she keeps ripping up (and we are cool with that). We were soooooo proud of her.

Needed a little extra sleep after a rough night.

Phod did ok too. He did need some love on the bed, and having a scared dog panting in your face in the middle of night in a heat wave is not a dream, but he was able to settle quickly too.

Mischief Monday - Moving Stuff

As mentioned recently, my sister and I inherited the contents of a house that was an 8 hour drive away. In June, we went down and sorted what we wanted moved up. This week it was moved. I will save you all the drama of this stressful move (it includes a too small truck, extortion, damage - my brother in law is taking this all on) but in the end most items made it safely. 

After 2 trips in the car to bring small items home last week and to help my sister sort the things we received (which seemed like so much as I have just been home all the time and she does live just over an hour away), Saturday was the big moving day. The Man and I drove to near my sister's to pick up our 10 foot UHaul. The last time the Man drove a big vehicle was our RV experience to BAR (which was it's own nightmare). He was a little nervous, but it went well. He found this easier. We were able to return it closer to home.

Saturday, in crippling heat (high 30s/100), we loaded and unloaded the truck.

Lee was very interested in the truck. Too bad she was unable to carry things!

Slowly we are putting the new things into their place and hopefully soon the dogs will learn to appreciate it all more. (Phod is very upset by all the new stuff, that likely smells like cat!)

Tea Cart turned bar cart!

We are glad to have most of this behind us!

Nature Friday - Distractions in the Workplace

Currently I am in the office 1 day per week.  When I am not with clients, I am hiding in the closet of an office I have, not touching anything, because our cleaning procedures are intense! 

I was very distracted when a flock of geese came by. The pictures aren't great as the windows are mirror like on the outside. 

There were 18 geese in total, including some young ones, who look so much like adults now. The door out of the office, is a landmine in goose poop! 

Anyway, it was a nice distraction. They were outside for at least 30 minutes.

Thanks to Rosy for hosting Nature Friday!

PS Lady just got a trail camera and is hoping we can catch the deer etc. in our yard! 

Off Leash Training Update

The Man and Lee have been working very hard at her off leash training this summer. It is one of the joys of us all being home almost all the time! 

It is still being done under very strict conditions and for very short periods of time.  Hailey seems to be very aware that this is not free time, it is listening time and the only thing she may do when they are in the yard, is run to her hole to dig! That is ok!

It is going so well, The Man and Hailey have been venturing onto the road (it is a private road, more like a driveway for the 6 places past us).

Looking at the field

Walking back toward the house. You will notice the leash is in Man's hand as a signal. 

In the drive way

Surveying her kingdom

We are so proud of her!

Wordless Wednesday - Zaphod

Trouble Tuesday - by Phod

It seems Precious has bounced under this chair and is near the very scary broom. 

My people are being of no help, they are saying "it is ok Phod, you can get it."

But it is beside the very scary broom. 

I will get a little closer. Please hop out Precious. 

Fine, I will be the brave hero and save my Precious from the broom! 

Mischief Monday - The Weather

Oh pals, the weather here has been something else.

It was super hot. It got up to 42C or 107F outside. Since we don't have the a/c it got 28/82 in the house. Keep in mind cheap Lady keeps the house maybe be 18/64 in the winter. This felt so hot. We sort of all just lazed around. It wasn't even cooling down at night so having the windows open didn't help. We did go for a pack swing one night. Lady didn't take a camera. 3/4 of us totally went into the water, and the 4th went in further than she ever has before. She let her belly get wet. She also let the Man put water on her back.

Too hot to even play ball

Now with this extreme heat came some other problems. The main one being thunder. The thunder was very short lived but the power was out for like 6 hours. 

After destroying some things in Lady's office, Lee was able to settle.

Phod was able to supervise the Lady's work (and actually, no picture taken because Lady couldn't move settled under her desk). He is not winning the bravery award.

It looks like this coming week will be cooler, but we will have to be brave!

Nature Friday - Beauty and Pain

Thanks to Rosy for hosting this hop. 

Finally, the only flowers the Lady purposely grows (and does this as they require 0 work from her) have bloomed!

Beauty

Now onto the pain. Last weekend Lady was already really grumpy when she went outside to pressure  wash the front deck to get it ready to stain. She was just minding her own business, spraying away while listening to a podcast when suddenly there was an intense burning pain near her right elbow. She looked and saw the yellow jacket stinging her. Not sure what to do, she screamed bloody murder (Man, who came running was sure she must have amputated a toe). After what felt like forever, the wasp was gone and Lady was left with a very sore arm. 

The sting

First aid was applied and after a few hours, the pain was gone. The next day there was a mild rash.

While Lady was being very brave inside, the Man finished the deck and then found the nest the wasp had been defending. The nest has since been destroyed. 

The nest

Brothers Can Be Trouble - by Lee

Last week, I was sitting ready to have my great Canada Day picture taken.

Let's get this show on the road

While I was waiting, my brother was not being cooperative. 

I don't want to have my picture taken!

Man - I don't want to play

After a few minutes, Phod reluctantly joined me and we got the instagram worthy picture.

Wordless Wednesday - You Got Up

New Toy - by Phod

Dear Pals,

As Hailey told you, my Lady had to leave for 87 million years. I was a good boy, but I was sad. I was so happy when Lady came back. 

As mentioned, Lady and Aunt C inherited the contents of a dear friend's home. Missy G was like a bonus grandma and their childhood neighbour. Missy G became very much your stereotypical cat lady, with 4 or 5 house cats and goodness knows how many outdoor ones. It was a surprise to Lady and Aunt C when they found 1 dog toy in the house. Lady brought it home for us. I love it!

While I love my new toy, I love having my Lady home more. 

Your pal Phod

Mischief Monday - Catching Up - by Lee

Dear Pals,

We are back again after a brief break. As we mentioned, Lady had to abandon us because she doesn't love us.  Lady and Aunt C had to go visit Grammie and the Big Guy and deal with a house they inherited the contents of. Lady returned over a week ago, but she was exhausted from the long trip, exhausted from in 15 hours having to decide the fate of thousands of household items, exhausted as she prepared to go back to the office (which she will refer to as hell - all the damn cleaning). So while she got the Canada Day post up, she didn't get much else done on the blog front.

Taken during some off leash training. I am rocking this!

Now we are back to the real phase 2 of the new world. Lady leaves 1 day per week and to make up for this, is taking Fridays off for the month!

When Lady returned, my first order of business was to punish her for being out. This sort of backfired on me, because it pointed out I needed my dew claws clipped and I was subjected to that. But perhaps a small price to pay to show Lady my displeasure.

The claw mark on Lady's leg. I hope it scars

During the past few weeks we have had some thunder and more fireworks then we should (thanks to July 1 and apparently July 4 - any excuse to blow things up). The Man gave me a dose of the Valium while Lady was away because of all the storms, but other than that I am drug free. I have found ways to keep myself calm enough.  I have decided the kitchen in front of the stove is a safe place and spend a lot of time there. Man finds it annoying if it is time to cook because I just don't move. 

Holding a baby can keep me calmer

Also, Man and Lady have just allowed me to continue to rip up a blanket in my fortress of solitude downstairs. They say if that keeps me from destroying the house and helps me stay calm and let's them sleep, they will buy me as many blankets as I need.  It is a fair compromise. 

So that is life here in paradise. I hope you are all well.

Your pal Lee