Monday, July 31, 2006

Pictures are up now

As promised, here are the remaining pictures from Darcy's visit last week.

I enjoyed another weekend visiting my Dad at camp with Mom. Strangely, it wasn't nearly as fun without Darcy ...

Friday, July 28, 2006

Gone, gone, gone

Princess has been returned to her rightful owners, Darcy is on her way back home with Nick & Sue, life returns to normal. To tell the truth, looking a little boring right now.

Tuesday night my work colleague came by to pick up her dog and I really found myself looking for something to do once the dog was gone. It was a great experience for me to have a dog for a little while. It's helped make clear a few things in my mind about owning a dog. First of all, while I don't work a lot of overtime during the summer months, during the winter and spring I do. I am often out of the house for 12-14 hours a day. If I were to own a dog, this would mean having to think about hiring a dog walker. And while I don't work a lot of overtime during the summer, my social life does pick up a little (and I'll thank you to keep your smart aleck remarks to yourself) and this again would require a dog walker. This can be quite expensive and on my budget may prove prohibitive. Secondly, the type of dog I am interested in adopting may howl at being alone for so long during the day. Living as I do in an apartment block, where soundproofing does not exist, I think it would be unfair to my neighbours to add such a soundtrack to their lives. Thirdly, I still need to sort out my allergy issues. I'm trying to make an appointment but it could be a few months until I actually get to the doctor's office.

Last night, Thursday, I said my good-byes to Nick, Sue & Darcy. They head back home today, with an overnight stop at Sue's parents in Cambridge, Ontario. Spending Sunday afternoon, and most of Wednesday and Thursday with them was a sheer delight for me. I've been exposed to many aspects of Darcy's little (and growing) personality - and really, I think she's probably just like any other 2-year old. Bright, inquisitive, chatty, stubborn and funny! I'm already looking forward to our next visit together over Labour Day weekend.

Until then I need to find something to occupy myself outside of work. There are a few books that have been collecting dust, some movies that I've said I'll watch, plenty of ironing to do and a few new recipes to try. Any suggestions?

Oh yeah, I do have more pictures to put up on flickr, but my camera battery is too low to download them and I forgot my back up battery at home. You'll have to wait until Monday. Sorry!

Monday, July 24, 2006

Darcy's here!

Nick, Sue & Darcy arrived on Saturday for a week of vacation. I've managed to take a few pictures already, which you can take a look at here.

It didn't take long for Darcy to get comfortable with us again. At dinner on Saturday night, she was sitting on her Grandmaman's lap, eating dessert, when she did a little fart. Nick asked her if she had done "a big toot". Without any hesitation, she told us that no, in fact "Daddy do big toots". And that's when we all laughed, and laughed and laughed.

Yesterday we spent the day at camp, mostly in the lake, splashing around and having a great time. Darcy's not afraid of the water and was thrilled to have her Papa around the swish her through the water and take her for a ride in the kayak. None of us seem to compare to her Papa. It was "where da Papa" this and "where da Papa" that.

The week's off to a good start. Hope to have a few more pictures up by the end of the week.

Friday, July 21, 2006

Dog Update

Friday is here already. That means it's been a week with the dog. Princess is doing well, I think. It's been a bit hard to get her to eat, but a few friends have told me that the heat we've been experiencing may lessen her appetite.

Otherwise she's doing much better on the leash, I can actually get her to sit on command (even though it's not for long) and she is finally understanding that for me to let her out of the cage she has to be calm and not jumping around like crazy. This is progress!

Problems:
1) She seems to be scared of people and other animals when we're outside. She really shies (shys?) away from them.

2) She has found my sock bin and last night decided to choose a pair and start chewing on them as she would one of her toys. That did not go over so well with me. The socks have now been placed out of reach. I'm a quick learner too ;)

We had a big thunderstorm last night and she jumped a couple of times when the thunder boomed. But I can't blame her - I did too! I could've sworn lightning must have hit somewhere very close.

Had to take her out for a walk in the rain this morning. She looked like a big wet rat by the time we got home. She didn't like me drying her off and managed to get her dirty paws all over my nice clean beige pants. Lesson here - do not wear light coloured pants if you're going to dry off a hyper-active dog just before going to work.

Another 5 days and I'll be giving her back. On the whole it's been a good experience so far. Will let you know how it ends.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Dog Update (and there will be more)

Just so you know, if I ever do get a dog, you can pretty much guarantee that I would post a lot about my dog, what it does, doesn't, and all that jazz. So until that day does come, I will enthrall you with updates from my dog sitting adventure.

Yesterday Princess at last ate all her dinner! I was so pleased. Pleased until she didn't eat all her breakfast this morning. But apparently she could be a little confused and stressed out being in a different environment and away from her family and also due to the serious heat we're having, she may not each as much. Makes me feel better. I put the timer on the a/c to come for longer today to help keep her comfortable during the day.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Dog Sitting

Friday night one of my colleagues from work dropped off her dog at my place. They're on their way to Florida for vacation and I offered to dog sit. Yes, it's true - I offered to dog sit.

"Princess" (and you can stop your snickering at the thought of me calling after a dog with such a name) is a little (aren't they all?) shitzu, weighing in at about 10 lbs and is about a year old. Mostly she's pretty quiet but tends to cry and starts to bark when she can't see me. I've discovered that shushing (is that really a word?) her is working pretty well. I'm enjoying taking her for walks in the park and around my neighbourhood. She doesn't seem to be trained to walk nicely on the leash and I don't know if I should try to train her up a little or not. I'm also a little worried about her food and water intake. She does eat but only a very little bit and the same with drinking. She is doing her business outside when we go for walks, so I guess everything is normal. She is quite an affectionate dog; likes to be petted, sit by my feet when I'm in my chair or beside me on the couch. She does tend to hover around my feet though and I am a little nervous about stepping on her. I have tripped over her a couple of times already and must be more vigilant about looking out for her.

Most surprising to me is that I haven't had any allergic reaction. The night I was expecting her I had taken an allergy pill in advance but then forgot about it on Saturday and only realised on Sunday that I hadn't had any reaction. Haven't bothered taking any more pills and I seem to be OK so far. I'm wondering if my body has changed and maybe I'm not allergic, or to a much lesser degree, to dogs anymore. I'll see how the next 10 days go and then maybe make an appointment with my allergy doctor to get retested.

Friday, July 14, 2006

Thanks Momma

Went out shopping with my Mom last night. We met at The Bay, did a few floors there, then headed over to Mexx (where we ended up leaving without buying anything because they were playing us for fools and talking to us in a condescending manner) and finally to Simons (where it seems we could've bought out the store ...).

To celebrate our successful shopping adventure we had dinner at our favourite Indian restaurant, Le Taj. Mom had chicken curry, I had bhunna shrimp. And of course we had their "Most Amazing Naan Bread EVER".

Thanks for a fun evening Mom!

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Tweedle Dee Dictionary, Part 16

It's been a long time since my last Tweedle Dee entry. Today I heard these and they were just too good to pass up:

Gateway = Gatwick (airport in London, UK)
Maples = Naples, Italy

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Summer in the City

All I can think about on a day like today (a hot & sunny summer afternoon) is kicking back somewhere, on a hammock, reading a good book, listening to the ocean, drinking a pina colada. The ocean there for you when you're ready to cool off. The rustle of the palm trees lulling you to sleep. Feeling at peace, relaxed, calm.

Instead, I am in an overly air conditioned office, in the middle of downtown Montreal, drinking a glass of water, reading through expense charges. Feeling stressed, uptight, anxious.

The two don't really compare.

Monday, July 10, 2006

Biking on the F1 Track

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I live in a cool city.

Yesterday Marc and I went for a kick-ass bike ride. From my place, we cut across Nuns' Island, went over the Ice Bridge and along the causeway to Parc Jean Drapeau. The cool part about biking there (you can also drive your car over) is that you can bike, walk, rollerblade or drive around Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. The Grand Prix went down about a month ago now and they are in the process of putting up / taking down the grand-stands. It was really "impressionante" to know that I, yes, little old me, could and was actually riding her bike around the same track as those famous F1 drivers.

It was a beautiful day; sunny, breezy, dry. We did two laps on the track, continued our bike ride over the Casino bridge, then headed back home along the Canal bike path. I figure we must have biked about 30k altogether. Not bad for a Sunday morning.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Happy Birthday Mom!

You know the tune, everybody sing together "Happy Birthday to you ..."

Have a great year, Mom!

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Long Overdue Update

Sorry for the lack of updates over the last couple of weeks. My work/life balance got a little out of whack there for a bit. But now I have taken control of things again and will do my best to provide more regular updates over the summer.

To recap: Girls Getaway Weekend was fab. Bought some delicious cheese, flirted with the border guard, checked out some great greyhounds, had a pretty drive, ate lunch in a cafe with a great view, took a ferry ride, had some fun grocery shopping, ate lots of great fish and ice cream, drank lots of fun cocktails (except for the part that got spilled on the floor) and even managed a few pictures! The weather cooperated and the timing was perfect everywhere. Could not have asked for a better weekend. Well, sure it could've been longer but that's being greedy. We're planning another one for the end of the month. Let's hope that turns out just as well.

Since then I've also done a few nice bike rides. One in particular with my mom was funny because she borrowed my Dad's biking gloves and didn't notice they were on upside down until our first break. Yesterday though I had a not so nice bike ride home from the dentist. Managed to get caught in a bad storm. But it did make me bike faster to get home. So I got home in record time but I was covered from head to toe in mud, mud and more mud. I didn't know I could get so dirty bike riding. Really - I looked like some kind of extreme bike rider after a mountain trail race or something. I also found out that your feet can get wet enough while biking to do the squishy thing in your shoes. Now I know.

What else? Oh, I'm sure I've forgotten piles of stuff but there you go. That's my fault for not keeping up to date.