Wordless Wednesday - Shake

The Beach

For Canadian Thanksgiving, we went to visit the Lady's parents. Their front yard is Lake Huron. We had a great time playing on the beach.

Here is Hailey, in the brief moments she was allowed off leash (technically no dogs are allowed on the beach without a leash . . . when she went to the neighbours, she was back on leash).

While Precious did not make the journey, the Lady's parents have a lot of balls for their dog Tendra, so Phod had something to play with. 

She may have been on leash, but Lee still had some fun bouncing in the water along the shore. 

Lady's dad had Phod and Tendra on a rotating ball throwing system. 

Tendra had a blue ball and Phod had an orange one. It amused Lady that they knew whose was whose and never went after the others.

 Tendra and Phod

Mischief Monday - Helping Out Around The House

While we have had a lot of wildlife mischief (mainly a mouse invasion - 7 caught and at least 1 more in the house), a pack of howling coyotes or wolves or our local hybrid coywolves, howling like we have never heard them in the 6 years we have lived out here, that lead to an aborted walk, and so many deer in the yard (sometimes 10). But we don't have pictures of any of this, so we will talk about how helpful we are at helping bring wood in.

The Lady and Man ordered 3 cords of wood and over 2 Sundays brought this in.

The process went like this:

Go to the wood pile,

 fill the wheelbarrow,

push it to the shed where you stack the wood.

We were very big helps. Lee, who had to be on tie out as the people couldn't watch her close enough, spent time getting tangled in the yard.

Phod spent his time trying to get someone to play Precious with him. 

This task is now done for the season. Soon we will get to enjoy cozy fires. 

Travel Thursday - The Baltic Adventure Part 8

Today we wrap up day 2 in Russia. 

The day started in the Yusupov Palace, one of the few homes in St. Petersburg to have the original interior. The Yusupov's were one of the wealthiest families in Russia, believed to be wealthier than the Romanov's and were good friends to the Tsars family from the time of Ivan the terrible. Their palace is known as the place where the murder of Rasputin began.

For those who don't remember the story of Rasputin, here is the abbreviated version. Rasputin was a peasant and a charlatan who claimed to be a healer. He became great friends with the Tsar and his wife and was the personal healer for their son with hemophilia. A group, including Felix Yusupov, did not like the influence he had over the Tsar, so plotted to kill him. They called him over and took him into the basement for cakes. The poison in the cakes didn't work, nor did the poison in the wine. At this point Rasputin was told to pray in front of the cross (pictured below) and shot him. Thinking he was dead the shooter went to get help to remove the body. He was not dead and attacked them, fled from the house and collapsed in the snow, where the conspirators shot him some more.  Finally, Rasputin was dead. 

The upstairs of this palace, where this bizarre story took place, was as beautiful as any Tsar palace. 

They even boasted their own theatre, smaller (seating about 100) but as beautiful as the Alexandrinsky theatre where we saw the ballet. 

After this palace we went to visit the Metro. 

The art in the metro is stunning. 

We took the 400 metre escalator down to it. 

Then we hopped on a train and went over 1 stop to see more art. Each stop has a theme. The one we went to had a sports theme. 

The one we started in had a nautical theme. 

The Man with his namesake St. Andrew

On our walk back to the van we passed McDonald's.

Then on to a stop at Starbucks.

This cup wasn't available to buy:(

This was the building near the Starbucks

Our final stop in Russia was St. Issac's Cathedral.

Showing the grandeur of it

Looking up to the dove in the dome

One last glance of the city before we get on our boat and head to Finland. 

Wordless Wednesday - Mouse Come Out And Play

Making New Friends - By Zaphod

Hi Pals,

As some of you may know, while I am a very loving pup, the first year or so of my life was a little hard. I try not to remember it, but I know people were mean to me and sometimes I can be a little nervous about strangers, especially men.

However, while visiting Grandma and the Big Guy I made a new BFF. The little people in our family call him Q, so that is what I will call him here.

Lady said she was very proud of me for being so brave. I think what I learned from my hard past is there are just some humans you know you can trust, and Q is one of the good ones.  After the crowds left Sunday (that is when we had the big dinner), Q and I had some quality time.

Lee was a little stand-offish when guests were over. She settled but really didn't like the strangers touching her. She totally missed out.

This was one of my favourite parts of having all the people over.

Your pal, Zaphod

Happy Thanksgiving! A Family Adventure

To all our Canadian pals we wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving. May your day be filled with love, laughter and plenty to eat. 

We are spending this Thanksgiving 750 km away from home with the Lady's parents. 

Our adventure started on the 4th, when we got up at stupid o'clock (4:30 am), went for a walk and by 5:30 we were in the car for the long, long drive. We stopped 3 times. Phod was never sick in the car (yay) and 8 hours and 45 minutes we were at the former cottage, now a house. 

On the drive down

Are we there yet?

 We have been very busy here:

Taking Grandma's chair

Supervising the Big Guy's nap

Catching up with their dog Tendra

Supervising the Big Guy some more

Allowing Lady to sit in Lee's favourite chair

Helping make the stuffing

Being worried we may be about to get in trouble for helping make the stuffing

Helping the Lady and Big Guy with genealogy.

We hope there is some turkey for all our hard work!  

Happy Thanksgiving!