Come from Away

The sky is totally clear of clouds (after an early morning plant refreshing rain), and the trees are swaying in the breeze. It is a lovely day to be out on the laneway training heel, but not at all a day for swimming… in fact, there hasn’t been a swimming day for over a week. We’ve had some cool nights and barely warm days so the water is frigid - perhaps good for beluga whales (which I somewhat resemble).

Our week has been on again, off again busy. We had an exciting day on Tuesday (details to follow next Thursday), dentist appointments and other sundry activities.

Monday night Jo Ellen and Don came over for supper and a practice with guests time for Adia. She’s still excitable and takes ages to settle down but I guess that is just a matter of more practice and training. It gets so exhausting that I occasionally need a break and pop her into her crate, which is good too. She needs to learn ‘mat’ or ‘futon’ with longer and longer durations.

Tuesday was spent in town and then we rushed home to feed the dogs and get Adia ready for school. She was a good girl, perhaps a bit distracted at times, and again, we need to work on down with duration. So have I done this yet… no. (note to self: start practicing this when she’s tired, like now).

And Wednesday! Well! We decided to enrich our feeble brains and take in some theatre. ‘Come from Away’ was a wonderful show, full of interesting characters and great music. The fact that it is based on true events and actual people was icing on the cake. We had a great time and vowed that we’d do it more often.

Adia’s guts are now acclimatized to all the different food that I throw at her. Canned tripe, chicken gizzards and hearts, dried liver, hotdogs, various kibbles, apples (she helps herself to these in the yard), salmon oil, carrots, kiwi, and whatever Grace doesn’t eat, she can eat without the dreaded ‘D’. We took it slow but now her biome is well populated.

“If you aren’t grateful for what you already have, what makes you think you would be happy with more.” ~Roy T. Bennett

long sault

Adia’s day did not end with a bouncy blue squeaky toy… oh no… another adventure was in her future.

For years we camped at Woodlands for the annual dog show but after our trip to Alberta in 2013 we fell out of the habit. Today though, without camper, we loaded Adia into the car and drove to the park to spend a few hours.

It was the perfect socialization outing. She was very nervous at first but we were able to stand off to the side until she relaxed a bit. Slowly moving into the thick of things she saw lots of dogs and people. People are her favorite - a very strong reward for enduring the dogs. As the minutes went by she relaxed more and more, getting curious about what was going on around her.

We talked to a lady with two standard poodle puppies about raw feeding - we have her phone number for some tips. It’s a good thing that there was no for sale sign around the female’s neck or we might have brought her home. We talked with two Rhodesian breeders who knew Tina and commented on how nice her dogs always are. They loved Adia’s sweet face and friendly greeting.

We stood for a while in the shade of a giant tree, Adia lying in the cool grass, happy to be a spectator. Later we had a pogo so Adia got to lie in the shade of a picnic table. So many new experiences! We left on a good note and plan to attend the dog show next weekend to cement her positive experience.

She’s crashed out now (after being thoroughly sniffed over by Spike).

Meanwhile, poor Spike was at home alone… he’s a challenge with other dogs himself and I didn’t want to deal with uncertain two dogs. Three weeks till camping though - that will surely lift his spirits.

“There is a master way with words which is not learned but is instead developed: a deaf man develops exceptional vision, a blind man exceptional hearing, a silent man, when given a piece of paper...”

~Criss Jami

finding joy

Adia got a new toy yesterday and wowzers, does she like it! We were in the pet store pricing Kong’s and noticed a display of thow toys. Since she’s showing signs of liking to retrieve, Carm thought we should try the long blue one. It would be easy to find in the field and maybe she’d like the squeeky.

It was a hit. She ran and ran with it, squeaking and squeaking, running and leaping. It was fun to watch. Spike didn’t think so as he is of the belief that every toy is his and no one else should get to play. After a few treats to distract him, he left for the house.

At the end of play time I brought it into the house and hid it for more play today.

Today Spike was a little better and ran along with Adia a bit. I’m a bit worried about him as he still seems depressed. At times he seems to accept Adia, but then he turns away and goes into the bedroom. I believe that he is still grieving, and also getting over his huge dentistry event. I’m pretty sure that all the attention and training that she gets isn’t helping matters. I’m trying to include him more but sometimes get focused on Adia. Right now though, they are resting on the futon almost touching so it isn’t a hopeless case.

The days have been passing by with trips into the city. We took Carm’s sister and brother-in-law to our favorite Thai restaurant - they’d never had Thai food but were open to trying something new - they loved it and we made promises to meet there on a regular basis :-)

Trudie & Leo were over, (did I mention that on Monday T&L, plus Eleanor & Gavin were here for supper?). Cathey came for supper on Friday bringing the news that our friend Jim had a heart attack. We had some quiet nights and busy days. The usual I guess.

It seems that summer is drawing to a close. Already the light has a golden hue as the leaves start to guild. With the drought the grasses are dried yellow, stiff and prickly - only the pretty blue flowers sprout from the lawn. Already the air has an underlying coolness despite the warm temperatures. It always strikes me as odd that the tendrils of fall would snake their way into what should still be summer. It’s August and the cicadas continue to sing.

“There are souls in this world who have the gift of finding joy everywhere, and leaving it behind them when they go.”

~Frederick William Faber