Collies and Life

Dog Bath Tub Finished!!

2012-02-23T10:21:00.006-07:00

Dave brought up the finished tub this weekend!! He made a couple of final additions--like hose grips along the loop bar, so that the hose can be placed out of the way. The tub rests on the grooming table. The PVC pipe runs down and empties in the drain in the basement floor. He had painted the inside and then put sand on it so Duffy won't slip, and painted it again. Then it was time to do a trial/dry run with Duffy. He got into it just fine!!

Does this tub make my butt look big???

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!

2012-02-14T15:08:00.000-07:00

Sugar cookies and buttermilk biscuits!

Happy Valentine's!!!

Dog bath continued

2012-02-03T09:44:00.003-07:00

It's coming along nicely!!

Drainage hole

Adjustable chain to attach the collar to, if needs be.

Nob for tightening up the holder

Looking good!! Always marry a welder--a good welder, mind you!!

Can you guess?

2012-01-31T17:15:00.003-07:00

Can you guess what my husband is building for me? Take a look at the pictures and reply with your guess.

My Mother

2012-01-29T16:21:00.004-07:00

Though absent, you are very near.

Still loved, still missed, and very dear.

Mother, d. January 29, 2010

Mother and Grandpa-1945, on the farm 1945 June 1949, in Edmonton Mother and I--early 1970s

Most of the time it seems like only a couple of months have passed since my mother passed away. Many days I can't quite get my head around the fact that she is gone. It's one of those things that you know intellectually, but your heart can't totally accept it.

I love you Mother♥

Happy Robbie Burn's Day!!

2012-01-25T12:20:00.009-07:00

Gie me ae spark o' Nature's fire That's a' the learning I desire, Then tho' I drudge thro' dub and mire At pleugh or cart, My Muse, tho' hamely in attire May Touch the heart

Robert Burns-January 25, 1759-July 21, 1796. Poet, collector of Scottish folk songs, great influence on the later Romantic poets like Shelley and Wordsworth, prone to depression at times in his life, and definately a bit of a rascal with the ladies!

If you are are of Scottish background, or live in Scotland, this is THE big day!! It doesn't get anywhere near as much attention as St. Patrick's Day here or in the USA, but in Canada I think we should acknowledge it more as there are many people with Scottish heritage, and a large part of Canada's fur trade history rests with Scots ( and their Metis progeny). I am proud to say that I have Scottish in my line from both sides of my father's family. On the maternal side, my great great grandfather William John Jamieson's (Jamison) death certificate said that he had been born in Glasgow Scotland. He was married twice, his first wife is my great, great grandmother as she gave birth to my great grandmother Eliza Jamieson. His first wife died and he married Mary McWilliams in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Apparently sometimes William and Mary said they were born in Ireland and sometimes they said Scotland. I believe that at some point, the family came from Scotland, as there was a big push to get more Protestants into Northern Ireland, and my family were Presbyterian. Eliza was married twice too, as on my grandmother's birth certificate, she is listed as Eliza Smyth (my grandfather being James Smyth), formerly Smiley. Both my great grandparents seem to have disappeared from the scene in the 1890's. The next known record of my grandmother, Agnes Jane (b. April 7, 1884), is the 1900 US census--she was 13, attending school in Dempster Hamelin county, South Dakota, and living with her grandparents William and Mary.

My great grandparents, Eliza and James, my grandmother Agnes, sitting on the stool, her 2 older sisters Minnie and Della (I don't know which is which, although I suspect Minnie is the one to the right of her dad), and a 4th child who I know nothing about.

On the paternal side, it's all about the Camerons!! Thomas Cameron (b. 1766, Govan District, Glasgow and his wife Agnes Hill (b. 1775, Glasgow) immigrated from Lanarkshire, Scotland to Lanark County, Upper Canada in 1821. This was a time of encouraging immigration from Scotland to fill in Upper Canada after the War of 1812. The now city of Perth is the county seat of Lanark County, and is named for Perth, Scotland. One of their children was Robert, born in Scotland in 1798 and died in Upper Canada in 1876. He married Harriet Bolton, who had been born in Canada. She died in 1886 at the age of 78. Their daughter Diana, born in Dalhousie, Lanark, Upper Canada in 1849, married my great grandfather James Roderick Stretch, born 1842, in the same county around 1868-69. They moved to Minnesota and my grandfather Clifford was born there in 1873. Their first son, had Cameron as his second name, my uncle Roy had Cameron as his second name too, and Aunt Hazel had Diana as a second name. But no one ever mentioned this Scottish connection. All my dad knew about was the Irish stuff. But I always felt in my heart, that there was Scottish there and you can't imagine how thrilled I was when I began to piece together the geneology of my family!! I always knew there was a reason my heart soars when I hear the bagpipes!!

In honor of the fact that this blog is called "Collies and Life", here is an excerpt from one of Burn's poems, called "The Twa Dogs". In this poem, 2 dogs are having a conversation about humans and what they have observed from the 2 different worlds that their masters inhabit.

The tither was a ploughman's collie-

A rhyming, ranting, raving billie,

Wha' for his friend an' comrade had him,

And in freak had Luath ca'd him,

After some dog in Highland Sang, Was made lang syne,-Lord knows how lang.

He was a gash an' faithfu' tyke,

As ever lap a sheugh or dyke. His honest, sonsie, baws'nt face,

Aye gat him friends in ilka place;

His breast was white, his touzie back

Well clad wi' coat o' glossy black;

His gawsie tail, wi' upward curl,

Hung owre his hurdie's wi a swirl.

If you are interested in reading more about Burns and his poems, or want a translation of the above (snicker)here's a good site: http://www.worldburnsclub.com/

Otherwise have a tipple of whiskey and some haggis with tatties and neeps and remember the bard of Scotland this day!! Here's tae ye Robbie! Slainte!!

Gong Hei Fat Choi!!!

2012-01-23T16:25:00.006-07:00

Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year--year 4710. It is the Year of the Dragon, the Yang Water Dragon to be precise. It just so happens that I was born in the year of the Yang Water Dragon, the last time it occurred. The Chinese zodiac isn't just based on the 12 signs, it also has a 60 year cycle based on the 5 elements--water, wood, fire, metal, and air. The Dragon is cosidered to be the most special sign of the zodiac as it is is a mystical creature, rather than an earthly animal. There can be great changes in the Year of the Dragon, but as it is a mystical creature, the change will not always last into the next year. The Dragon is supposed to bring a high degree of good luck and economic upturns are expected this year. A person born in the Year of Dragon is said to be eccentric with a complex life. They can be spontaneous, delightful , quick tempered, and profound thinkers. A water Dragon is a more even tempered dragon though--the calmest and most empathetic of the Dragons.

I have already felt that this year was an important year, where new things will come into my life and my life may take a different direction. I am taking an on-line introduction to homeopathy course and am seriously considering pursuing this area. There are other possible happenings, but that's all I will say for now!! Saturday I will co-emcee the Chinese New Year celebrations at the Edmonton General--my 6th year!!

Enjoy the Year of the Dragon!!

Lobster, anyone??

2012-01-11T21:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Second Wind Dreams fulfilled the dreams of 4 residents at the Edmonton General, who had wanted a lobster meal. The lunch was a great success and everyone really enjoyed their special meal. Previously when we had done a lobster meal, we got just the lobster tails, but this time the person who ordered didn't specify that and we ended up with the whole lobster. That would have been fine, except we didn't have any appropriate tools for getting the meat out of claws and legs! We did the best we could with some pliers (!!!!) and spoons and forks. It wasn't pretty, but we got the job done!!

The 4 residents from nearest left--George, Roman, Darwin, and Gabrielle. Doreen, Kellie (our new member and youngest!) and Kay serving up the food.

Kay helping George with his lobster.

Darwin looks happy!!

Yours truly with Doreen and Kay. Roman--the fellow wearing the dark glasses--was born in Poland. He started in on his lobster like he knew what he was doing--turns out he had eaten them a long time ago in Poland. Guess it's kind of like riding a bike--you never forget how to dissect a lobster!!

What a difference!

2012-01-10T08:59:00.004-07:00

January 9, 2011. And we still had more snow to come!

Looking back on these pictures, I can't believe we had so much snow and that I shovelled it all!!

January 8, 2012 Bare ground!

Duffy even has his own skating rink!! We've had lots of freezing rain episodes--not so much fun for trying to walk a dog!!

Happy New Year!!!

2012-01-01T01:04:00.000-07:00

Wishing you the best year ever!! Happy 2012 from Dave, Duffy, and Dianne!!!

Finally!! It's Christmas!!

2011-12-28T22:26:00.001-07:00

I had a truly awful Christmas Day--not because Dave and I were apart--that I could handle. No it was because my father was his usual Christmas neurotic, nasty, vile self. I had flashbacks of all the Christmases of my life while I lived at home and and how he did his best to ruin everything for Mother and I. And when he told me I was lying about being sick with the stomach flu, that was it, I left. In case anyone thinks I'm not being understanding of someone who is old, etc. let me tell you, my father has been like this all the years I can remember. I want to love him, I try to love him, but he is selfish and mean spirited, among other things. He disrespected my mother while she was alive and he disrespects her in death and that really hurts me. On Christmas he complained about everything I brought and was totally unappreciative of the gifts, the food, and my presence. I really wished I had stayed home. How many times have I come home feeling awful because of the way he has treated me and talked to me. This time I was still feeling awful the next day. But out of this I have decided that I have had enough and I going to make some changes in my life. More on this in a forthcoming blog post.

Duffy warming up for present opening!

The happy news is that Dave finally arrived here today, after fixing the his friend's wife's vehicle, so that the friend could loan his pickup to Dave. And the weather gods cooperated and no one was sick, and it was Christmas!! We opened gifts and had our Christmas dinner of turkey, stuffing, holupche (cabbage rolls) made with sour cabbage and basmati rice, homemade beet pickles, homemade cranberry sauce, and garden grown squash. We also had a dry red wine made by my neighbor Gus Pucci. No fancy labels like Diana showed us on her blog, but the price is sure right (free) and all his wine is good stuff. Dessert was this:

We didn't eat the whole plateful!!

Duffy getting started on his stocking.

His new toy--Santa pup. Get a load of those teeth!!

Opening a Paws Absorbant Drying Towel for pets. We'll see if it works like they say it will!!

The date doesn't really matter so much when it comes to these holidays, it's being together with your nearest and dearest that matters most of all. My Dave and my Duffy! ♥

Norovirus

2011-12-23T10:39:00.000-07:00

Norovirus--now there's a word you don't want to hear at this time of year, or anytime of year! But it's been doing the rounds at the Edmonton General. Not all units have it but those that do have gone through quarantines. The virus also keeps coming back too. My dad had it 2 weeks ago, and I couldn't visit for 4 days. Then he seemed to be all better. But he had another bout of it this week on Sunday. I was there on Sunday and Monday. Guess what I have???!! Despite endless hand washings everywhere, I succumbed. I was sicker than a dog yesterday and although I don't have the active symptoms today--you know the ones, that make you want to drag your bed into the bathroom, just so you won't have so far to go!! But I still have the headache, stomach still hurts, feel like crap--no pun intended--lethargy, no appetite.

I was so well organized this year too!! I had done lots of baking, have all the gifts wrapped, including gifts for 5 residents that fulfilled their Second Wind Dreams wish, and was going to attend the candle light Christmas Eve service at McDougall United Church. I was going to cook the turkey tomorrow, so that we could spend part of Sunday with my dad and not worry about the turkey needing basting. Today I was going to make the holupche and maybe even some perogies. Guess that's not going to happen eh? I still had a few small prezzies to get--maybe tomorrow morning, I can manage that. You should be quarantined for 48 hours after your last active symptoms.

Norovirus is an extremely virulent one--symptoms appear 24-48 hours after exposure. It is over between 24-60 hours after that. But people shed it for weeks long after they have recovered. That's why it's so bad in enclosed facilties, like nursing homes, cruise ships, etc. And it spreads most often through contaminated food. It can take only one person who has it and handles food, to create an epidemic.

We might be celebrating Christmas later next week--I sure don't want Dave to get sick, so he's staying in Olds. We sure have some kind of luck don't we???

In the meantime, here are some pictures of Duffy for Christmas--we wanted to take him for a picture with Santa, but Petsmart only does that on Sunday's and Dave wasn't here on a Sunday. So we brushed and trimmed him and took our own!

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and may you all have the love and joy of family and friends to help you celebrate this special season. God bless.

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

2011-12-12T23:14:00.001-07:00

Yes, another birthday has come and is almost gone!! On the bonus side it wasn't -30, nor was there a blizzard blowing. Jacqueline will remember the year we couldn't go out for my birthday because of the blizzard!! Then 2 years ago, Edmonton had the coldest temperature in the world on December 12!!!! Ah the joys of a December birthday! Because it's only 2 weeks before Christmas, when I was young, celebrations were low key, to put it mildly--one small prezzie, and my mom would bake a cake. I never had a party either :( But I survived!! Then in 1969, I had to write the first part of the English departmental on my birthday. And from then on, university meant exams on my birthday--first taking them, then giving them. Not so much fun!

This year, the day started out with me getting up at 5 and sitting at the computer for an hour, then laying down again and dozing off and on with Edward G. Robinson movies in the background--his birthday today too. Much better than Frank Sinatra movies--also his birthday. Then Duffy lay down beside me for a little while--I love that--I can reach down and pat and scratch him. Then just before 8 he decided it was time to get up, so we did and then he decided the best way to celebrate MY birthday was for us to play HIS favorite game--hide the toy. Hammy (aka Hamish the Hedgehog) was the toy of choice. So we did that for awhile. Then I talked to Dave who is stuck in Olds--they had a bunch of snow and the highways around Olds are dreadful, as usual. And, he was called at 2:30 in the morning to go out and clean snow from parking lots and gas stations with a bobcat--he's been helping a friend out. So no husband to spend my birthday with. Phooey!! Thank heavens I have Duffy!!

I had 2 meetings to attend at the EG this afternoon. Diane showed up with a silly hat and a button and said I had to wear them!! She's very bossy!! It was hard to take minutes with the hat on--it kept falling off. So I gave that up, despite her orders to put it on!! I later ditched it in my dad's room and we are going to donate it to Rec. Therapy so they can use it for their celebrations. Diane had brought a cake too, but the taxi cab took off with the cake in the trunk!! Somewhere in Edmonton tonight, there's a very happy taxi cab driver's family eating MY birthday cake!! Phooey!!

I wasn't going to attend the 2nd meeting, but decided that I should because there were some issues re staff behavior that I wanted to bring to Admin's attention. There were 2 presentations, one was late, there were lots of questions from new members, and the meeting ran long, too long. And guess what I got for my birthday???? A parking ticket!!Phooey!!

But on the non-phooey side, I had lots of birthday wishes from FB friends around the world, which is one of the cool things about FB, my friend Lin in Lethbridge called me, and Dave's Aunt Brenda called me too. And the best, most wonderful surprise occurred. There was a phone message when I got home about a floral delivery. I called the place and Anna of Anna's Flowers delivered the flowers. I wondered who they could be from--maybe Dave, to make up for not being here? Nope!! From Jacqueline in Perth, Australia!! Not that the flowers came all the way from there!! Hahaha!! The message on the card is so great: "Just thought you should have something memorable for your 'and holding' year. Wish I could be there for a big Greek dinner." I like the idea of a 'holding year'!! And I wish you were here too Jacqueline. We always went out for Greek food!! The flowers are absolutely lovely--yellow roses, deep purple irises, exotic lilies, and mums. I am thrilled and very touched that she did this. Thank you, thank you, thank you!! ♥♥♥♥

All in all, aside from a couple of phooey events, a pretty good birthday!! And I am definitely 'holding"!!! Well, at least until next year, anyway!!

Primum non nocere--First, do no harm.

2011-12-09T11:42:00.000-07:00

Question

Is chemotherapy effective/successful?

http://cancercommonsense.com/

http://www.cancermonthly.com/

http://scientificliving.net/

I found it particularly interesting that in a study done at McGill University, 54 out of 64 oncologists responding to a confidential questionnaire said that in the event of a diagnosis of cancer for themselves or a family member, chemotherapy would not be an acceptable treatment. Hmmmm. Yet they have no compunction in recommending it for everyone else.

It is also interesting to note that one has a better chance of cancer survival by doing absolutely nothing to treat the cancer. Not even a change of diet or taking supplements.

Paramount to treating any disease or health problem, is the understanding that you must change your diet. Remove all processed foods from your diet, all GMO foods too. No sliced meats, as they are full of sulphites/sulphates--notice they are putting sulphites in bread and baking at most grocery stores now--processed cheese slices, etc. Read labels--if it doesn't sound like food it probably isn't and don't buy it!!Get rid of chemical cleaners. Get rid of lotions, bath and shower products, make-up, etc. that have any form of parabens in them and sodium laureth sulphate. Try to get away from using plastics to store and wrap food. Go back to glass containers. Use only whole foods, real foods, organic if at all possible. Go back to basics, like the way our grandparents lived, the way our parents were raised to eat.

And remember when evaluating any potential treatments, the dictum, Primum non nocere! "First, do no harm." This is what the medical profession, whether for human or animals, are supposed to follow. Do they?

Getting into the Christmas Spirit

2011-12-04T08:27:00.000-07:00

Baking has begun!! I made lemon squares and these cherry pecan shortbread cookies for the unit Christmas party.

Friday evening before the party, I finally got to take my dad out to see the lights. Last Friday they had put him to bed at 6. On Sunday it was pouring rain and only 1/4 of the lights were on anyway!!

Let the party begin!!

The decorations are up...but something's missing!!

Ahhh, there's Duffy--the best part of my Christmas and every other day of the year!!♥♥

My Uncle Mike

2011-11-28T02:23:00.001-07:00

Today, November 28, would have been Uncle Mike's 100th birthday. He was my mother's oldest surviving brother ( a first born boy had died at the age of one). He was strong and tough, worked in coal mines and farmed, never buttoned up his shirt and coat unless it was 30 below, and was a natural mechanic. Although he had been born in Edmonton and lived there until he was 13, he loved to plow and till the land. He was often in the shadow of his younger brother Nick (who will be 97 in December) because Uncle Mike wasn't an academic, book learning type of guy and consequently thought he was dumb. Nick helped that along by telling him that he was dumb. Nick is not a nice a person. But this blog post isn't about him!

My grandparent John and Katherine Kowalski and their sons. Uncle Mike is leaning against my grandmother. He was named for his paternal grandfather.

Before I was born, Uncle Mike came to see my parents and find out why there was no word yet about a nephew (I was 5 1/2 weeks late)!! My mother promptly told him, that the baby might well be a niece, you know. He considered that for a moment, and then figured, yeah, that would be okay too. When I finally did arrive, it was as if he was born to be an uncle. I should mention that neither one of my mom's brothers got married. There was a special bond between him and I and he never let my being a girl get in the way of things he figured I should learn how to do. When I was 9, he showed me how to work the levers on the caterpillar tractor and I happily rolled up and down the pasture. When I was about 14, he showed me how to drive a tractor. As I got into my later teens, but didn't have a driver's license yet, he let me drive his brand new cars!! Around the fields of course, not on the highway...but still!! He had such confidence in the whole driving thing himself, that I in turn felt far more confident. When I got my license and bought my first car--affectionately known as Blue Belle--I gave him the honor of being the first in the family to try out my car. It seemed only fitting.

Dressing up my uncle!!

When I moved to Saskatoon, he was sad. He used to say to my mom, when they would be out at the farm having a meal, that he missed his partner--we sat on the same side of the table, side by side. When I came back to Edmonton, he always commented that he had his partner back. One day I was helping out during combining time and I was to move the end of the auger while he lined up the top end at the granery window. If you have ever lifted an auger, you will know how heavy they are. Well, the first try, I couldn't lift it. Uncle Mike said, "Oh, you need more kapusta!" Kapusta means cabbage in Polish/Ukrainian--actually it's the sauerkraut. This started me laughing, but I was able to lift up the auger and move it over!! Just before I moved to Red Deer to teach in 1987, I went out to the farm . He and I were in the kitchen--he had just finished washing the dishes and we were having tea. I knew he wasn't too happy that I was moving away again, but at least Red Deer wasn't as far as Saskatoon. Then he said something that turned out to be prophetic," Maybe you will meet a cowboy down south." He was right--I met a cowboy turned welder and married him in 1989.

Good looking snowman!! This was c. 1975/6. Uncle Mike never fussed about his clothes!

Sadly Uncle Mike passed away 6 months after Dave and I got married, and just 2 weeks before his 78th birthday. He hadn't been feeling well for at least a year, hadn't been able to eat, and was passing blood. It turned out he had a huge hole in his stomach and on top of that he had lung cancer. He was a heavy smoker and although we all had tried to get him to cut down, if not stop, he didn't. Working in coal mines for years would have already weakened his lungs and smoking didn't help. The ulcer--I think it was partly from drinking coca cola all the time, and partly living with Nick, who caused him a lot of worry over the years and in the last years was always threatening to sell the whole farm. Uncle Mike just wanted to live out his life on the farm that he loved. Uncle Mike ended up in Sturgeon Hospital in St. Albert--he never went to doctors and didn't want to be in the hospital. On Sunday, Dave and I came up from Olds, picked up my mother and went out to see him. He said he wanted to see everyone--I think he knew the end was near. He had clasped my hand and held it so tight. I couldn't help but feel that he was holding on to me for dear life--literally. And I gave him all the strength I could, to hold on until everyone was there. I sat on the bed, and even though I was in an uncomfortable position, I didn't care and wasn't going to move. Mother phoned my dad to come and Dave went out to the farm to get Nick. Nick didn't want to come and Dave had to be quite stern with him, telling him that his brother was asking for him, so he'd better get his coat. Everyone arrived, and Uncle Mike fell asleep and after about 2 hours, let go of my hand. By supper time, we all decided to leave and let him sleep. Dave and I drove home to Olds. I slept very poorly that night and had a pain in my abdomen. The next morning Mother phoned to tell me that Uncle Mike had passed away that morning around 9 AM.

In 1947, The Edmonton Bulletin did a story on the Samis Coal Mine at Namao, where Uncle Mike worked in the winter. This picture was part of the article--I have always loved the picture. My grandfather was a coal miner/farmer too. So I'm a coal miner's granddaughter and a coal miner's niece!! And proud of it!!

I lost not only an uncle, in fact the only real uncle I ever had (Nick is a strange one and never talked to me directly until I was in my 30's, and as Mother didn't like my dad's relatives, I never met my other uncles or my aunt), but I also lost a friend. He was the one in person in my family who had loved me unconditionally, even when I made choices that he didn't think were a good idea, he never reproached me or railed at me. If you know my family at all, you know that unconditional love was rare. I miss him more than anyone else who has passed away, I think even more than my mother, in some ways. For these 22 years, I have cried more for him and wished he was still here. But I have also always felt his presence very strongly--he is with me, looking out for me as he always did. Happy 100th Birthday Uncle Mike!! One day your partner will see you again. ♥♥

Lights of Hope

2011-11-24T23:22:00.002-07:00

This evening, at a ceremony in the Devonian Building, across the street from the Edmonton General, Covenant Health's initiative, Lights of Hope, was officially turned on. It contains a number of Christmas light displays and rings the EG and also the parkade. The displays come from the now defunct Brightnights display that the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce put up in Hawrelak Park at Christmas from 1998-2010. I don't quite recall why it was cancelled---one senior attending today's event mentioned that some of it had been damaged--maybe a wind storm/blizzard? If anyone recalls the specifics, please let me know! I do know that it was the largest drive through Christmas lights theme park event in Canada and boasted 375 animated and static light displays. In addition to the public driving through, bus loads of seniors were taken through the display too. One year Dave and I went and were quite impressed. If you are interested in seeing what it looked like, here's a Youtube link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWmfi3rXpkk

Anyway, a staff member at the EG had the idea that it would be great to set up some of the displays at the EG. They were purchased from the Chamber of Commerce and in the last couple of weeks, crews have been working hard to get them in place in time. The 2 blizzards of last week, followed by a couple of very cold days over the weekend, slowed things down, but they got it done!!

Those who were invited to the official ceremony (including yours truly) were treated to wine and cocktails as well as hot canapes cooked by Earl's Restaurant chefs, and the inevitable speeches. Luckily we couldn't hear much of them, because someone neglected to get a microphone and an unfinished concrete space is not ideal for speech making without one! We were on the 5th floor so we had a good view when they turned on the lights. They are quite lovely and I think the residents are going to really enjoy having these displays, and I also think the Lights of Hope will help the inner city community experience the joy and spirit of Christmas.

Happy Birthday to my Dad!!

2011-11-18T12:19:00.002-07:00

Today is my father's 89th birthday! A few weeks ago I wasn't sure he was going to be here for either his birthday or Christmas. But he rallied and for that I am very grateful. I hope he makes it to 90. His grandfather, James Roderick Stretch lived to the age of 89, dying in Port Coquitlam, BC in 1931. He had been born in Upper Canada, then moved with his wife, parents and many of his brothers and sisters to Minnesota to homestead, then in 1899 he came back to Canada to the then Northwest Territories to homestead at Ponoka with his sons, and he made one final move to the west coast in 1907. I think it's amazing that he traversed most of a continent and crossed the 49th parallel twice in his lifetime! I would love to have been able to talk to him about it all!!! My paternal grandmother's 2 sisters both lived into their 90's--Aunta Della lived in Portland, Oregon, and Aunt Minnie lived in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. And their grandmother, my great great grandmother, Mary McWilliams Jamieson died at Ponoka at the age of 94. So there are some long lives and good genes in the family. My dad has already lived longer than any of his brothers or sister did--I think 81 is the longest they lived. So with a little luck, he can make it to 90, at least!! And I can continue to hear him lament that he hasn't found a wife yet and that he has no children. I guess I'm Mother's child! Hahaha! But I love him anyway!!

Proof that I am his child!!!

Surfer Daddy--taken at the Hawaiian beach party in July

The chocolate chiffon cake he gets this afternoon!

Happy Birthday Father!! ♥

Duffy Takes Charge!!

2011-11-15T18:31:00.001-07:00

Duffy and Kylo

Duffy and Chance

While Duffy was down in Olds with Dave for 9 days, he had the opportunity to dispense some discipline to another dog. Dave's friends Rick and Les were over, along with Les' black Spaniel Kylo and Chance who may be a Pug or Pug mix, who was not wanted by some family member and Les took him. Duffy has known Kylo since Kylo was a little puppy and they get along great. But Chance--he's a dog that snarls, snaps, tries to bite other dog's faces, and is generally aggressive. He treats Kylo like this too. Well the 3 dogs tore around the garden and the back patio, but Chance was always nipping and snarling, etc. Duffy put up with this for 3/4 of an hour--Duffy is very tolerant of all kinds of animals. When we meet other dogs who are snarly, he whines, like "Aww, what's the problem, I just want to be friends!" Magpies sit on his back, pull his tail, he does nothing except maybe move a little. But I guess he has a threshold for bad behavior after all, because he put his paw on Chance, held him down, put a little weight into it, and went "WOOF" in Chance's face! Like "ENOUGH, you little squirt!" Chance stayed down, didn't struggle and when Duffy took his paw off him, Chance was a changed dog. No more snarling, growling, snapping, biting. And he has stayed that way--Les says he's so much better behaved!! Yeah for Duffy!! I am so, so proud of him!! He has never snarled, growled, or snapped at another dog and he showed in this case that he could get the message across without violence!! Did I say that I am very proud of him??!!! ♥♥♥♥ Unfortunately Dave didn't get a picture of the disciplinary action, but he and his friends witnessed it and all were amazed!

A well-deserved rest!!

Remembrance Day

2011-11-10T19:46:00.000-07:00

November 9

2011-11-09T07:38:00.000-07:00

Today would have been my mom's 89th birthday. Happy Birthday Mother! I love you and miss you. ♥♥

RIP Hickstead ⊰ A Champion

2011-11-07T16:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, November 6, one of Canada's finest athletes, Hickstead, died of a heart attack in the jumping ring at a competition in Verona, Italy. I can't imagine how heartbroken his pal and rider Eric Lamaze must be feeling. Hickstead was a Netherlands born Dutch Warmblood stallion, born March 2, 1996. He and Lamaze had a wonderful career together, culminating in their winning a gold medal and a silver medal at the Beijing 2008 Olympics. In 2010 they won 1st place at the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky, and after completing the feat of 4 clean rounds, Hickstead was named "Best Horse in the World". This year at Spruce Meadows, the pair won the $1,000,000 CN International, for the 2nd time in their career. Hickstead joins Ian Millar's fabulous Big Ben now, who died in 1999. May they keep each other company until their human best friends join them.

A little hectic...

2011-11-04T22:27:00.002-06:00

The past month has been a difficult one and a busy one. My dad has been quite ill, in fact 2 weeks ago, I thought we were on the final road. But he has rallied somewhat, but is much weaker and less able to do things like feed himself, or talk. It's sad to see and of course reminds me of my mother's decline all over again. I have been going to the General nearly every day and that in itself is exhausting and it's so hard to get anything else done in a day. I haven't bothered much with emails or FB or even blogging all the things I could have--just don't have the energy or sometimes I don't really care. There are a few people I try to keep up with though. If a person has never gone through care giving for an elderly loved one, or a terminally ill person, it's really hard for them to understand how draining and emotionally and physically exhausting it is. There is nothing harder to do in this world.

Duffy has had increasing digestive issues--often I am awakened to let him out at 1 or 4 or 5:30, and consequentially don't get enough sleep. I simply have to get with a homeopath to work on Duffy's vaccine damaged gut :( My damaged leg still bothers me and lying on my left side (which is my favorite) is hard to do. For those of you without FB, I sliced up my leg in July with a weedeater, when the cover flew off. Major ouch, let me tell you! And what I thought were lateral cuts, have turned out to be a lot deeper than I thought. As Dave put it, I pretty much turned my leg into hamburger! Eeesh!

But life goes on, and Second Wind Dreams put on a Christmas Craft and Gift Show yesterday and today, so I was there all day yesterday and a couple of hours today. We had a 50/50 draw and a raffle with nice donated prizes from the crafts people. Here are some pictures from yesterday.

Crafts people rented a table for $30 for 2 days--which is a pretty good deal--money going to SWD

I managed to spend some money too!

Wooden roses/flowers

Priscilla, Diane, Doreen (standing), some lady who's wondering if she should actually drink from that cup, and Claire

Dianna, Kay--talking on the phone--and moi

Dianna and Kay, looking at the camera this time, but Kay still talking on the phone, and moi!!

Farmfair starts tomorrow and the Canadian Finals Rodeo starts next Wednesday and today I was down at Northlands stuffing Aggie bags for the schools kids coming in next week. That's why I was only at the EG for a couple of hours.We are going to have almost 1000 kids, Grades 1-3, coming next week. We worked like dogs from 10-1:30 getting those bags ready--2 of us (there were 8 volunteers) didn't even take a lunch break. The little stuffed cows arrived late so all the bags that had been done had to be stuffed with them and then counted into groups of 10 and tied. On Monday I get to help register the school groups and hand out those bags!! Save-on is a sponser for the Abert'a Own Agriculture so we stuffed Save-on plastic bags--we don't want to see them for a long time!!

Tomorrow is the River City Round-up in downtown Edmonton with a caravan of 30 wagons and 25 outriders, all coming right to Churchill Square. I am working as a games assistant, but hope to get some good pictures to post tomorrow!! Dave took Duffy down to Olds yesterday, because with me being away from the house so much, it wasn't going to be fair to Duffy to be alone. But they will be back next Friday, and we are going to the matinee performance of the rodeo!! Yee Haw!! By the way, I bought a genuine cowboy hat!! Lammle's Western Wear is a sponser of Farmfair and the CFR, and is offering 20% off their merchandise to Northlands volunteers, so voila, time to get a hat. Maybe I can find someone to take picture of me in it!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

2011-10-31T08:59:00.000-06:00

Happy Halloween from Duffy and I and our stuffed friend!!!

Hey we can practise weave poles for agility!!!

2011-10-28T19:52:00.001-06:00

Hahahaha!! Actually the past couple of weeks have been a little chaotic in the 'hood as the gas lines are being replaced in the lanes and to most people's homes. The job was started last year and several blocks were done down by 118th Ave. So we expected that sometime this Summer, they would get to this part of the neighborhood. But we could all see that the progress was really slow and we were thinking the snow would be flying before we saw any action. Then in September we started getting notices in the mailbox from an outfit called Somerville about the work. Turns out that the original company hired by ATCO Gas to do the job had been fired because they were doing next to nothing--yay!! Somerville started in early October, and clearly they knew what they were doing. They systematically progressed from west to east and 2 weekends ago were digging out the holes in people's yards by their meters on this block. Then they dug up the connection areas in the lane--we have to park in the front and take our garbage out to the front. I would hate to live in a neighborhood where I had to do that all the time--I like a back alley for garbage!! But lucky for us, a new plastic pipe service had been put in here in the later 1980's when the attachment to the garage had been built. So no hole and dirt pile here--I was relieved as I hate mess and mud!!!

Holes dug, snow fences in place to keep unwary dogs, cats, and people from falling in!

Monday was the day they shut off the gas--at 8 AM--to hook up the new lines, restore gas service and come in and light the pilot lights. They replaced the regulator in the morning, the lines were purged--you could hear the pressure swooshes throughout the block, and from what Dave told me (he's done this kind of work when he worked for Inland Gas in BC) that we would have gas again shortly. I saw the neighbors getting their service restored at 2 and waited, watching for the guys to come here. I had to keep Duffy in and when the serviceman would have to be in the house I would have to put Duffy in the bedroom as he would otherwise be a nuisance for the first 10 minutes!! But no one came!!??? I talked to the neighbors, yep they had their pilot lights lit, Gus said he told the supervisor no one had come to my place, and he said they'd be here in 10 minutes. Forty minutes went by, then an hour. I can see the crews moving more south all the time. By 4 o'clock I phoned ATCO--it took some time to explain to the guy who was in some place, not Edmonton, that I hadn't scheduled an appointment, this was replacement work being done in the whole neighborhood. To make a long story and long phone call short, he finally told me that they were still working in the neighborhood and if no one had come by the end of work day to call again. Well, thanks for that!! I called Dave again, wondering if I had misunderstood and we were supposed to light our own pilot lights. He said no, and suggested I hike down the block and see if I could nab someone to come and do this. I did just that--found an ATCO tech and he lit the 2 stoves, water heater, and furnace. Hooray!! Time finished 5:20 PM! It had got pretty cool in the house--I was wearing 3 sweaters, then kept my jacket on. I had a space heater going by the computer, but that didn't do much for the rest of the house. So I was glad to have heat and hot water again. It was a boring day without them too, as I couldn't cook, bake, wash clothes, etc.

Holes filled, snow fences gone.

On Tuesday Somerville filled in the holes in the lane and tamped the gravel/dirt down. We are waiting for them to pave now--guess it will be next week? Wednesday they filled in the holes in the yards. They are a nice bunch of guys and have clearly been coached about working with the public and in public. There is no swearing, spitting, scratching, and er 'equipment adjustment' going on!! How refreshing!!

Waiting for asphalt

You can imagine that with all the mechanical equipment (to be distinguished from the above!!) rattling, rolling, banging, and thumping and all the men going back and forth, Duffy lost his little mind with barking!!! I often kept him inside. He didn't like that!! But the excitment is coming to an end soon and our little neighborhood will return to the usual activities of street people going through the garbage for bottles, the occassional drug deal, and people using our lane as a shortcut and speeding while they are at it. Maybe I can convince Somerville to put in a couple of speed bumps when they repave???

A moment of fame?

2011-10-06T11:45:00.001-06:00

Yesterday I attended the Covenant Health Community luncheon at the Delta Edmonton South. The luncheon was good--the food was much better that the Amalgamated Transit Union banquet Saturday that my dad and I attended at the Shaw Conference Centre!! The luncheon keynote speaker was David Whyte who holds a degree in Marine Zoology, is a poet, leads expeditions to the Amazon, Andes, the Galapagos Islands, and does workshops and lectures. His mother was Irish and his dad a Yorkshire lad, and David grew up in Yorkshire. This was an interesting and unusual choice as a keynote speaker for a health care organization and an audience of administrators, board members, staff, and some volunteers. But it was inspired as far as I was concerned. He read some of his poetry to illustrate his points, told stories from his own life, and was certainly far more entertaining and relevant than the usual choices for speakers!! Bravo Covenant!!

We were all given copies of the Annual Report and herein lies my moment of fame. Back in August Diane Berge and I were interviewed by Krysta from Covenant Communications--she even taped the interview! She decided to center the story about SWD around my mother's airplane dream and myself as now co-chair of SWD. I had an honest to goodness photo shoot in early September, complete with screens, bright lights, multiple shots, fussing with the props, etc.--I felt like a super model!! Well, okay not quite!! Hahaha!! And I engaged in multiple emails with Krysta over the story. As she approaches writing from a journalism perspective--corporate journalism to be precise, and I approach writing from an academic perspective, you can imagine we had some differences!! Like when she ascribed to me a quotation that Diane had made--um, that's plagiarism!! Also I don't like inaccuracies in numbers, dates, stuff like that. I'm sure she thought I was a real pain, but she graciously made the corrections.

I scanned the page from the report, so it's not great quality, but you will get the gist of it--I hope. I offered to sign autographs after the meeting, but no one took me up on that!!! Hahahaha!!

I really like the story because fulfilling that dream with my mother will always be something I'll cherish for the rest of my life.

The Dog Days of Summer

2011-09-18T11:02:00.000-06:00

Here it is the last week of Summer, already! We had a terrible Spring and until August our Summer sucked big time--between the torrential downpours, the clouds of mosquitos, the endless lawn mowing, and the cooler than average temperatures we thought we had been robbed!! Mind you, everyone's lawn was soooo green, and I never had to water anything--kept the water bill down!! But August sure improved everyone's outlook--we finally had more seasonal temps and September has been even better. We had a week of beautiful days with temps up to 30 C and they are forecasting upper 20's for us later this week. Whoo Hoo!! So here's how Duffy enjoys nice Summer days--as only dogs can!!

Look Who Came Over to Play!

2011-09-09T12:29:00.001-06:00

That's right-Winnie the dachshund from next door!! I'm short on toys for little dogs--even the red ball is too big for her, although she did push it around with her nose!

Here's a picture of Winnie and Duffy on Duffy's birthday--they look so cute together!

Meanwhile back in the yard on a hot September day. When Winnie is allowed to come to the fence, she and Duffy exchange little doggie smooches and if she leaves too soon, Duffy whines! And she will then run back to the fence--awww.

"Oh oh--she's got my toy rubber tooth brush!" says Duffy. They roared around for awhile, although Duffy gave up--it was too hot for him, but she was fine in the hot sun! Every collie should have a dachshund buddy!!

Collie in a wagon!

2011-09-05T10:48:00.000-06:00

Okay, let's get going!!

Just the right size!

Eeeeeeek!!!!!

2011-08-26T15:49:00.001-06:00

OMG!! Have I suddenly been transported to Australia (Hi Jacqueline!!)where the spiders are larger than life? This delightful creature is in my greenhouse and has taken up a pretty permanent looking residence. I have never seen a spider like this in my life! Those who know me well, know that I am not squeamish about bugs and am a big fan of spiders--"Spiders are our friends" is one of my pet sayings. But I wasn't at all sure, that I wanted to extend friendship to this one! I got on the Internet though to find out what it is and whether I needed to get the can of Raid out. There are about 1300 species of spider in Alberta (I didn't think there were that many) and this is a member of the Orb Weaver family and apparently isn't poisonous. Still, I don't think I'll stick my hand in the web!!! And the good news is that it's so big, it can't sneak up on me!!!

For Clara

2011-08-08T10:15:00.000-06:00

Clara Marie, August 8, 2003.

You were the much anticipated and already much loved goddaughter. You, your mom, and I had many adventures and experiences together that Spring and Summer. And I looked forward to a life of being your godmother and auntie. The day you were born was the most beautiful and the most awful day of my life. I couldn't believe that you were gone, what kind of cruel joke was being played on us all? My heart broke for your parents and I wished then and have always wished that somehow I could take the pain from them. You were a beautiful girl and you remain a beautiful girl in my memories. When a ladybug visits me, especially in the middle of winter, or some unexpected time, or on Christmas Day, I know it's you, coming to say hi to Auntie Dianne. Always remembered, always loved, dearest Clara. ♥

Rest in Peace

2011-08-07T05:19:00.001-06:00

Hazel Strang, June 29, 1921-August 7, 2011

Mom passed away in the early hours of this morning. Dave is leaving for Penticton in a couple of hours. I was hoping that he might be able to see her before she died, although she was in a coma. But that was not to be. Mom was the best mother-in-law in the world and I am so lucky to have had her in my life. When Dave took me out to Penticton in October of 1988 to meet his family--we weren't engaged yet--she said to Dave's Dad, "Meet you future daughter-in-law!" I guess she knew and must have approved! And now her and Dad are together again. I love you so Mom and I will miss you forever.

Thank you Jolene, Diana, and Jacqueline for your prayers and thoughts. Having such wonderful, caring friends means so much. I love you all.

Sad, sad news

2011-08-06T18:28:00.000-06:00

We got word this afternoon that Dave's mom had suffered a massive brain hemorrhage earlier today. Her long time doctor says that she is not likely to survive. Dave is devastated. I feel so bad for him, especially because he is not there and even getting a flight out there will be too late, according to the doctor. It's so shocking too that this can happen so quickly. The only bright spot is that we were able to be out there just a month ago for her birthday. I love you Mom, always.

Family Time in Penticton

2011-07-23T16:36:00.002-06:00

The main reason for our trip to Penticton was to celebrate Dave's mom's 90th birthday on June 29. Dave's dad died in 1994 and his mom carried on quite well on her own for a number of years until the mid-2000's. She started to suffer from short-term memory loss and would occasionally have some sort of 'spells' where she would black-out but not lose consciousness. It was decided that Dave's sister and brother-in-law would move into Mom's house, so that she could stay in her home as long as possible. This was a good idea, but the way they went about things has caused a lot of friction between Dave and his sister. Some of you know the story. I won't go into details. But one thing that illustrates the problems is that Joan and Bob decided the house needed renovating and adding on to. That would have been okay, but they decided that Mom would have the added on part that is a bedroom and bathroom and they would take over her bedroom and have the rest of the house. I always thought that was kind of tacky, to make her move out of the room she slept in for 50 years....In essence she has the mother-in-law suite, although it is her home!!

Anyway, Dave's mom was a nurse for many years and when she retired she was Head Surgical Nurse at Penticton Hospital. She took great pride in her job and did it well and was highly respected by her colleagues. She used to garden, cook, bake, and make jams and preserves. She loves word games like Boggle, Scrabble, etc. Above all she loves her family and is very forgiving of their foibles and faults. I am afraid I am not such a forgiving sort!!! She is the best mother-in-law that I could have hoped for and we have always got along wonderfully well. She is one of the 3 surviving offspring of her mother's 2 marriages which produced a total of 6 children. One of her twin sisters, Gwen is still alive, as is Jack, her half-brother. She is now the eldest, as Uncle Bill passed away almost 2 years ago.

One of the highlights of being able to take Duffy with us, was that Mom was at last going to be able to meet Duffy. She has seen lots of pictures and heard all about him, but never met him. I was excited about it too! Well, Dave had taken along his laptop. but we couldn't get a connection in Blue River, so it was Sunday before he could check his emails. And there was one from his sister. She said that because the 2 Spaniels that her and Bob have, are not well socialized with other dogs, that it would be better if we did not bring Duffy over to the house, and she hoped this wouldn't be a problem!! HA!! Dave and I were both incensed and I fumed for hours about how to handle this. The nerve!! Just because she hasn't bothered to train her dogs, Duffy is supposed to pay the price and be exiled while her bratty dogs raise havoc?? Dave had met them before and said one was friendly and the other not, and that they were not well behaved. And how was Mom supposed to meet Duffy--at the motel room?? Right! We decided the next day, when we went over, that we would just ignore the email--like we hadn't got it!! Joan was out, but Boob, er I mean Bob had to keep the dogs in the house, as we were sitting outside. Now was that so hard to figure out? Duffy was good as gold, wandered around, knew there were dogs there and peered in the screen door, trying to see where they were. Aww, poor Duffy--no fun for him after all!! Duffy and Mom got along fine and he really liked her. He ignored Bob---hahahahahah!! Do I have a smart dog or what???!!! And he ignored Joan too, until we were leaving for home, then she patted him and thumped him on the side--kinda hard I thought. He wasn't too keen on her. We also brought him over to the open house that was the celebration for Mom's birthday. There was a thunderstorm and downpour, so everyone had to be in the house for awhile. He wandered around, but then they wanted to take their brats out, so I was told round him up. I took him back outside. While in the house he kept looking for the dogs--he wanted to play. The 2 spaniels were not very nice dogs. One jumped up all the time--by the way, they are 2 years old, not puppies-- and they barked incessantly. You could think that you were making friends with them and pat and scratch them, and then all of a sudden, one would turn and be growling at you, while the other jumped up and barked all the time. Joan's "excuse" for them was that there are no off-leash parks in Penticton, or ones easy to get to, or something. Yeah, well, off-leash parks are highly over-rated and are not the place to 'socialize' dogs. If the dogs are not already well behaved, all you get is a bunch of wild running around, badly behaved dogs and there are the risks of fights and biting. As well, these kind of parks are breeding grounds for diseases, as many owners don't bother to pick up after their dogs. Duffy has never been to an off-leash park in his life. We have had doggy play dates with neighbor dogs, I walk him with a dachshund, he plays with some of the dogs we meet up with on walks, like Ranger the Bernier and that's sufficient. I'm sure Joan and Bob complained bitterly to their golfing friends about how rude we were to bring our lovely, friendly collie over to THEIR house!! Who cares!! The rest of Dave's family loved Duffy, and Uncle Jack said that it's been years since he has seen such a well-behaved dog. Oh, and he said that Joan's dogs aren't socialized with people, never mind other dogs!! Hahahahahaha!!

Mom and Duffy getting acquainted

Off to see the garden

Duffy making himself at home on the upper patio.

At the birthday open house. Left to right: Dave, Al Larsen, Mom, a friend of Joan's and Bob's behind the flowers, Val Larsen--she one of Dave's cousins, Auntie Gwen is her mom, and Uncle Jack.

Uncle Jack, emphasizing his point!! Haha! He loves to talk and tell stories. Another of Dave's cousins, Lorraine, sits to his right.She's one of Auntie Gwen's daughters.

The Aunties!! From the left, Aunt Brenda, Uncle Jack's wife, Aunt Reeta, Uncle Bill's widow, a neighbor from across the street, and Auntie Gwen. Aunt Reeta was the only one paying attention to the fact I was taking a picture!! There were no photo ops for family pictures to commemorate the occasion--sadly. So by the time I realized that, and started to take some pictures, the event was over. There was no cake either:(

After the open house was over and we all had to leave(!), we went to Jack and Brenda's and kept celebrating Mom's birthday! Meanwhile Joan and Bob took her out for dinner at the Golf Club and then they, along with a bunch of their golfing friends went to see the Cirque du Soleil performance. The rest of us were concerned that this might be too much for Mom to do all in one day, but they carried on with the plans. And we weren't invited. Quelle surprize!! But no cake or pictures of Mom and her family--that's kind of poor. In fact the familiy was marginalized for the whole event. It was all about Joan and Bob, as usual. Dave and I did take Mom out for supper the night before her birthday to Theo's, the Greek restaurant in town, which we all enjoyed.

Aunt Gwen and Dave

Lorraine and Dave--and Duffy! And yes his ear has popped up again!! It was staying down and I thought we had it licked, but no. So it's back to the glue!

The "boys"!! We had a good time, ordered in pizza, had a lot of laughs.Too bad Mom wasn't there.

Happy Birthday Mom!! May you have many more!! We love you!! ♥♥♥♥

OMG!!!!

2011-07-19T23:29:00.000-06:00

I have just have to post about this--or rather vent--if for no other reason than to get it off my chest and this is my blog, so I can do so!! I was reading a blog that a friend has on her blog roll. I won't name names. The writer was commenting about finding a lump on her dog and she thought it was at the site of the rabies shot that the dog had a week ago. But she wasn't sure. So she took the dog to the vet to confirm and yes it was the site of the shot. But nothing to worry about. Nothing to worry about?????????? REALLY??????????? Does the vet have a clue???Is this what he was taught in vet med school, to ignore lumps at vaccine injection sites??? Wow--get another vet. Now!!! And then, if this wasn't bad enough, reading the comments really incensed and appalled me. One prattled that they were glad the dog was okay--yeah, well it isn't, obviously. As if lumps are normal you know!!! Another related that she had to give her dog Metacam before any shots because the dog cried with pain. OMG!!!! Are these people idiots or what?? You would actually continue to give your dog vaccinations when the dog cries in pain??????? I know there are those asinine rabies laws in the USA, but come on. You certainly don't have to give them yearly 'booster' shots of distemper, parvo, and gawd knows what else. I swear, people get more stupid by the day and are so easily brainwashed by doctors and vets into believing that these vaccinations are for the good of their children/dogs/pets when clearly they aren't.

For anyone interested in some reading about the issue of sarcomas at vaccine injections sites, here are some items to start with. " Science of Vaccine Damage" by Catherine O'Driscoll. She gives an overview of the Perdue study of the changes that vaccines can cause in dogs' immune systems. The Perdue study itself: http://www.homestead.com/vonhapsburg/haywardstudyonvaccines.html. The Perdue study found that the vaccinated dogs developed autoantibodies to many of their own biochemicals: fibronectin, laminin, DNA, albumin, cystochrome C, cardiolipin, and collagen. The consequences of these adverse reactions are far-reaching, including reducing the body's ability to fight cancers. Also "Fibrosarcomas at Presumed Sites of Injection in Dogs:Characteristics and Comparisons with Non-Vaccinated Site Sarcomas and Feline Post-vaccinal Fibrosarcomas". Journal of Veterinary Medicine. Series A. August 2003, vol. 50, no.6, pp.286-291. From DVM360, online, "Vaccinations: An Overview" by Dr. Melissa Kennedy. In her discussion of adverse reactions to vaccines, she notes about delayed responses which require days or longer to develop, "The vaccine, seen as foreign, elicits a significant inflammation response and is especially true of adjuvanated vaccine. The response can manifest as a granuloma or more seriously a fibrosarcoma.". She goes on to say that in dogs the likelihood of adverse reactions correlates with the size of the dog and number of innoculations given--there is a higher risk with small sized dogs and with multiple shots.

It's high time that people began to question the so-called 'conventional' thinking about vaccines.

In and Around Penticton

2011-07-18T13:12:00.003-06:00

Pictures from the next installment about our trip!!

The Penticton River--downstream, This river is never usually so wide!! We stayed at the Ramada right beside the river and golf course and so we could take Duffy for walks along the paths that line both sides of the river.

Upstream on the river, towards Okanagan Lake

Duffy and I posing while rafters go down the river on a warm day.

We went up to Rattlesnake Springs on the Penticton Band Reserve to get water. It's wonderful water, Duffy lapped away, and watercress grow around the spring all year round!!

Dave and Duffy on the beach. I was so looking forward to taking Duffy for walks along the beach, but the signs said no dogs allowed from May until September--phooey!! But we snuck on, for this photo!!

Duffy and I in front the of old paddle wheeler, the HMS Sicamous. They have been trying to float that ship for decades.

The memorial rose garden at the end of the lake. The roses were in bloom everywhere--it was so beautiful!! We can't grow roses too well here--even with wrapping them up, they die from the winter cold. So I enjoyed all the roses and took lots of pictures--you have been seeing some of them in the blog header photo.

My 2 roses!! ♥♥

A walnut tree, for goodness sake!! Never grow in Edmonton!!

Ducks on the river, hoping for food!

On the way to Okanagan Falls, south of Penticton, to visit Dave's Uncle Jack and Aunt Brenda.

The little hamlet of Okanagan Falls.

Diana will really like this picture!!Back on the reservation on our way up to the ranch. Their livestock roam free and it's kind of nice--like the old days

The old ranch house--Dave's grandparents lived here while Dave and his family lived in a log house near where the pictures of Duffy and the horses were taken. The log house is gone now.

The A-frame that the 2 American brothers built when they bought the ranch from Dave's step-grandfather. It's huge and there's a tennis court if you can believe it!! Like a tennis court is a necessity on a ranch!! Well one of the wives thought so. There's a guest house, and another house also on the place. Some rich guy out of Calgary owns the ranch now and it's going downhill even more. He's grazing fewer and fewer cattle and therefore he is losing the grazing leases that Dave's grandfather had worked so hard to acquire. He let go the guy that was looking after the place and rehired some dipstick female who knows crap about cattle. She had quit several years ago, but she wants her job back now and she gets it. And apparently the owner is planning to turn the ranch into a guest ranch. Idiot. I know it hurts Dave to see how the place has gone.

A stately Ponderosa Pine standing guard on the ranch.
We are really disappointed that our plans to buy some of the ranch land and live there is probably out of the question now that the owner is going to do the guest ranch thing. Back to the drawing board!

The Attack of the Mutant Mosquitoes

2011-07-15T18:32:00.001-06:00

Well, okay, maybe not mutant--but there sure are a heck of a lot of them!!After a cool and wet Spring, guess what kind of a Summer we have been having?? If you guessed cool and wet, you'd be right!! Add in humid and over run by mosquitoes and you have the whole ugly picture. And Edmonton now has the dubious distinction of being the mosquito capital of Canada. We elbowed Winnipeg aside for that honor!! Haha!! The report out today told us the good news that this week there were 569 mosquitoes (exactly???) per trap throughout the city, compared with 30 per trap last week. And apparently we haven't peaked yet!! ACCKKK! That's expected next week. Yesterday I braved the outdoors to cut the lawn, because if I waited any longer I either would have to hire some sheep (Baaaa) or start baling the grass! I think I swatted, slapped, smacked, and smeared 569 mosquitoes!!!

The worst attack occurred when I had to pick out all the mushrooms from the lawn before I mowed. We have tons of mushrooms too. I was picking them the other day and the mailman asked me if I was going to make a salad? Haahaha!! I replied, "If I wanted a shortened life." Some of the mushrooms might be edible, but who knows and I'm not taking any chances. My Polish grandfather knew about mushrooms, but that knowledge has been lost. I do have puff balls popping up in a couple of places and I know those are edible.

On the brighter side I picked the first basket of raspberries of the season--yay!! They are one of the few things doing really well. They have adapted to any kind of weather this country can throw at them--all they need is a little water, and they had no shortage of that!! The cherries hardly seem to be ripening or growing at all, the zucchini and cucumbers are stuck in a no-growth zone, and everything else is later than usual. My poor corn that was battered down in all the rain and wind last week, is righting itself and sending out their stalks, and the peas and beans have blossoms, so we will get some veggies.

Poor corn!!

Back to the mosquitoes--did you know that the oldest known mosquito with a similar anatomy to modern mosquito species was found in 79 million year old Canadian amber from the Cretaceous period?? Just think, the ones biting us now are the 5000 trillionth generation from that one!!!

No more of this please!!

Let's hope we get some dry weather, so we can go back to sitting outside in our backyards and enjoying what's left of Summer!!

Heading to Penticton

2011-07-08T15:16:00.003-06:00

We left Edmonton Saturday morning, June 25, heading west on the Yellowhead Highway, aka Highway 16. This was our first trip with Duffy and I was excited to be travelling with him!! He's been to BC before--just a day trip though from Olds to Golden and back, with Dave. But this was his first time to spend a night away from one of his 2 homes!!

First view of the Rocky Mountains at Edson--I'm always thrilled to see them!!

Pit stop for Duffy

Pit stop for us at Hinton--gassed up as this would be the cheapest gas until we were back in Alberta. There's about a 20 cent difference in gas prices between the 2 provinces.

Our fearless driver!!! ♥♥

Beautiful scenery everywhere. I took a bazilliion photos, but I won't post them all, as I'm sure most folks would be bored out of their minds!!

Mt. Edith Cavell. Named for the English nurse executed by the Germans in WWI for helping allied soldiers escape from Belgium to the Netherlands. It's 11,033 feet in altitude and has Angel Glacier. Lots of snow still on most of the mountain peaks for this time of year--due to the cool and wet Spring, and now Summer!

Canadian National Railway's mainline.

Impressive Mt. Robson. Highest point in the Canadian Rockies at 12, 989 feet. Apparently only 10% of the attempts to climb this mountain over the years, have been successful. Steep faces and bad weather are the reasons given.

At Mt. Robson Park's interpretative centre looking across the meadow to the mountain. It's very rare to see the top of the mountain because of the weather, and we weren't lucky that day either. There's still 1/3 of the mountain obscured by clouds.

I love seeing how the flora changes through the climate zones. In the foothills and mountains in Alberta, it was a lodgepole pine, larch (tamarack) and poplar forest. In BC, this photo shows fir and poplar, and it won't be long before we start to see cedars. So neat!!

We stayed overnight at the Blue Mountain Motel in--you guessed it--Blue Mountain. Very clean and quiet--I would highly recommend it!! We stayed there again on the way back, although we didn't have a reservation this time and had to stay in a one roomer. There's a great restaurant in town called the Saddleback--named for one of the mountains in the Cariboo Range east of the valley which has a number of ski slopes on it. They serve cordon bleu style food, local produce, even organic!! Dave and I both liked the town. It's so quiet there, there's not even an RCMP detachment!! The only problem is the 10 feet of snow in the winter!! We'll spend summers there though!! And no allergies for me!!! Yippee!!

Heading south through the Thompson River Valley on Highway 97.

Destruction from the Barriere fire of 2003. It was one of the 2 worst fires that year, 3000 people were evacuated, homes, and the saw mill were destroyed. The fire jumped the river too, which is highly unusual and really scary!!

I love this picture.

Stuck in a construction zone north of Kamloops.

But at least there were some sheep and goats to look at!!

Kamloops--we are definitely out of the lush terrain!! This is Ponderosa Pine and sage brush country and it's really hot there because you just bake between the hills. There was a gas war going on and we got gas at 10 cents cheaper!!

We are now in the Okanagan Valley, coming down towards Vernon.


Crossing Lake Okanagan at Kelowna on the William R. Bennett Bridge, opened in 2008. This 5-lane bridge replaced the old 3 lane bridge. I wonder why they couldn't make it a 6-lane? Anyway, this is the most congested portion of Highway 97 through the valley, so it was a much needed improvement. Imagine what this looks like on a long weekend???

Penticton at last!!!

Signs

2011-07-04T21:12:00.000-06:00

Because Diana likes signs!!!!!!


Lots of these

Practicing for a circus act??


We didn't see any mountain goats at Mt. Robson--we saw them on the way home close to the east entrance to Jasper National Park


Falkland, BC--very patriot. Also the home of a biker bar!!


On the upper bench lands of Okanagan Lake

Yay!! Welcome home!! Also welcome to bumpy roads which will culminate with every street in Edmonton being a bump fest!!

Duffy and the Horses

2011-07-02T10:40:00.000-06:00

While I edit and organize our vacation photos, I thought I would share the pictures from Duffy's experience with 2 horses up in the hills north of Penticton. We went out to the ranch that Dave grew up on and worked on even after his step-grandfather sold the place. We wanted to give Duffy a chance to run around free and do some exploring. We crossed over Shingle Creek into a pasture area where these 2 horses were. Duffy has touched noses with a horse through a fence, but had never been up close and personal with any horses. Duffy never barks at animals when we encounter them, whether they are horses, rabbits, coyotes, deer...that's pretty good for a collie!!


Down the road to Shingle Creek

Shingle Creek. All the creeks and rivers in BC are running fast and high right now.

Hello horses!! They are wearing those masks to protect them from fly and mosquito bites.


Duffy standing by the horses just as if he does this all the time. Luckily these were horses who are used to dogs!!

Can I herd them, can I, can I??????

Hey, who's herding who???????

I finally got something I've always wanted!!

2011-06-24T09:11:00.002-06:00

Isn't this little guy cute?

So is this one, but what do they have to do with this blog post?

Ahhha!! I always wanted a fountain for my yard and now I have one. It's a recycled solid concrete fountain--the wind won't be blowing it over! One of Dave's friends had it and as it was cracked, it was just sitting in their yard. They got a new fountain on Mother's Day, so were happy to get rid of this one for $0. Dave spent a whole bunch of hours filing and grinding the cracks and then finding the right epoxy to use to seal the whole thing. He brought it up yesterday and set it up and voila! I am so happy!!♥♥

How lush! How soggy!

2011-06-21T06:11:00.000-06:00

Taken yesterday morning during one of the many cloud bursts of rain. You can see the water lying on the garden, for Pete's sake!

No need to fill the birdbath!! No playing with Duffy and his big beach ball either :( Water barrel is full though--overflowing actually!

We've had quite a bit of rain since last week. In fact we have had our whole month's total in a couple of days! Yikes!! We went from dry, dry, dry and cool, to wet, wetter, wettest, and still cool. Apparently we aren't done with the rain yet, as it's supposed to rain on Thursday and Friday. We always go from one extreme to another. The rain has caused some flooding problems for people living in the districts that are on the flood plain of the North Saskatchewan. Some roads flooded from backed-up storm sewers. And we can expect to see tons of mosquitoes again--oh goody!! But today is the first day of Summer! Are we going to have a Summer? We didn't have much of a Spring. All we can do is hope!!!

Some things don't change

2011-06-17T13:22:00.000-06:00

Duffy June 29, 2008--the day we brought him home

Duffy, June 2011. Begonias are really pretty!

Kathy Mattea - Eighteen Wheels And A Dozen Roses

2011-06-17T11:35:00.000-06:00

It's raining...

2011-06-13T00:34:00.000-06:00

Rolled oats!!! Well that's what I call these seeds that come off the huge elms that are across the street. This year there seems to be more than usual and so far we have had 3 dumpings of them. The latest was Friday evening, when a storm was blowing up from the west and the air was thick with these things. I've hosed them off the patio, used the leaf blower on them, and swept them up. They're in the lawn, the garden, the flower beds, in the sidewalk cracks, eavestroughs, everywhere!! But on the bright side, they don't seem to root--unlike those *^#* seeds from Manitoba maples. If you don't pick them when they are tiny seedings, you will never get them out!!! But that's another blog post!!

Don't they look like rolled oats????

Meanwhile the irises are blooming!!!

Courthouse News Service

2011-06-09T11:10:00.001-06:00

In case anyone thought these heartworm products were 'safe' for your dogs!!

Courthouse News Service

Another BBQ

2011-06-04T09:50:00.000-06:00

We had our 6th Annual Second Wind Dreams "Where's the Beef?" BBQ yesterday at the Edmonton General. Good thing we gave up at BBQ #1 trying to have them outside--yesterday was a rainy, windy, very cool day. The temp dropped from a high of +15 around midnight, to +12 when I got up at 6:30, to +9 when I left for the EG at 9:30, and by the time I got home at 3, it was +6!! Brrr!! It's +3 this morning by the way and some parts of Alberta to the north had a rain snow mix yesterday!! It's June, for pete's sake!!!

But back to the BBQ! I have been working on this since February and as chair of SWD, most of the work fell to me to do. There were a number of times that I thought I'd have to cancel it--like when I discovered at the end of April that the date (June 2) that I thought had been reserved for us by Volunteer Services, for the auditorium, hadn't been after all. Luckily June 3 was available, but then I didn't hear from our entertainment for a week or so after I told them of the date change. So I thought I would be cancelling the whole thing. Have I mentioned that I hate organizing events? I don't mind helping, but to have the whole responsibility for something's success or failure resting on my shoulders, is not something I relish. Teaching was different--it was all my own show, so to speak. I didn't have to coordinate 6 other groups in order to put a course together and teach it!!!

Thursday afternoon, I waited for the balloon lady, Monique, to arrive and decorate the auditorium--she was 40 minutes late. In the meantime I got the mugs and gift bags out of the store room and started putting the gift bags together with cards, and I moved our cart from Unit 4AB to the auditorium. While she filled balloons, I visited with my dad for awhile and then waited for her to finish up. She still had to come in Friday morning with the balloon centre pieces for the tables though. I got home at 7:30.

I already knew that because the BBQ was on a Friday we would be in conflict with the Friday Chapel Service, so we would end up starting a little later after the residents came from church, as well as the minister that I had asked to say Grace. Turned out the computer system to play the CDs didn't work-- I wasn't surprised. I've seen everyone have trouble with that thing. So instead of playing Country/Western CDs while the entertainers ate, we had silence. Well, not really as there was plenty of noise from all the people there!! There weren't enough staff/ volunteers to help take people back to their units or to the bathroom. So I ended up portering some residents to 7Y, as well as getting some juice containers for the residents that wanted that, not tea, coffee, or pop.

But all in all I think everyone had a good timeand the BBQ went off well. We had residents from 2 units-4C and 7Y. We had 2 guest chefs--Averil Suriyakumaran, Director of Care and Rob Kinsman, Director of Facilities, at the EG. The Bluegrass group Crooked Creek performed great music. Teacher Janelle Benedet brought 21 students from her Grade 8 class from the Nellie McClung Girls' Junior High Scool program at Oliver School. She had coached them well, and they paired off with the residents and really took their duties seriously The teacher asked me to give them a little talk too and I told them that if they had a question to look for one the people wearing the blue bandanas--the SWD committee--all 4 of us!! They did a fabulous job. We served hamburgers and hotdogs--the latter was the first time we did that and they were a big hit!! They were all gone, while there was still a pan of burgers left!! I did all the intros and thank you's and we all handed out the gifts. I was way too busy to take photos until towards the end of the BBQ--Doreen took care of the picture taking. But I did get some pix as things were winding down.

Brigitte and her son--she sits at the same dining table as my dad and I like to make her laugh--she feels so much better!!

Crooked Creek

The students all started dancing towards the end--square dancing, line dancing, you name it!! It was great fun to watch them and the muscians said later they loved it that the girls were dancing! The students didn't want to go back to class after all this fun!!

Edith and Doreen. Monique made 4 of those tall pillars of balloons for us.

Edith, Doreen, and yours truly! I didn't care that it was going to be a rainy, cool, day--I was still going to wear jean capris and sandals!!!

Duffy's Serpentine Track-May 15, Olds College

2011-05-31T08:17:00.002-06:00

If you would like to see Duffy and I on our serpentine track, here is the Youtube link. Thanks Donna for taking the videos and posting them!!

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HUEFPBoqJg

For some reason Part 2 doesn't want to download from a link in my blog, but it is available from the Youtube sidebar when you watch Part 1.

Olds tracking seminar-May 14-15, 2011

2011-05-17T09:08:00.001-06:00

This was my first introduction to tracking, and of course Duffy's too! We LOVED it!!!! He's such a smart dog and Donna Brinkworth, the instructor had some really nice things to say about him. We were a group of 14 on the 1st day and 12 the 2nd. The first day we were at the Prescott farm NW of Olds for the TD and TDX section and Pam was a a wonderful hostess, plus she and her dogs Sting and Trixie participated too. The 2nd day we were in town at Olds College for the urban tracking portion. We all did a whole lot of walking those 2 days!! The weather was a real challenge--true it didn't rain or snow and the fields were dry, but the wind was just awful, gusting up to 80 km/hour and it felt pretty cold. People wore hats and gloves and multiple layers of clothing both days. And plotting maps of the tracks, was a real treat in that wind!! The sun beat down the first day and partly on the second, so most of us got a wind and sun burn--me especially. My poor nose took quite a beating!! But the dogs dealt with the wind just fine!!

There was a variety of dogs, but more German Shepherds than any other group. We also had a yellow Lab, a Weim, a Viszla, a Dalmation, an Aussie girl named Mike--she was just the sweetest dog, Duffy fell in love with her, Donna's 2 border collies as demo dogs, and of course Duffy the Collie.

The more experienced trackers did some demo work--like Sue and her Dal Potter. He just about drags her down the field, he has so much go, go go!! Some of the attendees are dog trainers too and had some good ideas to add to the seminar.

Duffy and I had the opportunity to do a scent circle and L track on Saturday and a serpentine track, a transition track, and clicker train on indicating an article on Sunday. After the seminar was over on Sunday, we also the chance to have portraits done of our dogs by Kathy Holowaychuk. She also had taken pictures during the 2 days. Check out her website to see some of the pictures and portraits--including 2 of Duffy. It's a work in progress, so more will be added. http://www.exposedpawsphotography.com/ Look under Gallery--Olds Seminar.

Dave fed me steak on Friday night, got in a pizza for Saturday, and did a lamb roast on veggies Sunday night!! What a guy!! It pretty much made me forgive his lack of cleaning skills!! Hahahahahahaha!! There was a BBQ Saturday night at Prescotts--but after 9 hours in the sun and wind I had such a bad headache, I was feeling sick to my stomach. I didn't have any Motrin or Advil with me, so I excused myself from the BBQ and went home to dose up on Advil. Thus the pizza supper!

I came back to Edmonton yesterday, stopped at the EG to see my dad, and discovered Duffy had a loose poop situation in his crate. I knew things had gone too smoothly!!!!So the first thing I had to do was hose down the crate, wash the mat, tear up and throw out the piece of carpet on the bottom of the truck bed. The joys of dog ownership!! Then I went next door to visit for a couple of hours, play with Winnie the dachshund, and have an amaretto on ice!!

Donna and Chris and Cooper

Tracking is tiring work! Owen and his mom were there on Saturday, but he had a cold and wasn't feeling too well, so they went home early and didn't come back on Sunday. His dog was a border collie cross named Daisy--she was a cute, friendly girl!

Kathleen and Mojito--I love that name, I love mojitos!!

Some of the group--backs to the wind, trying to stay warm!

Donna and Jet doing an UTDX demo at Olds College

There's Potter the Dalmation--look at him pull!

Susan and Potter

I can't wait to start in on practising with Duffy and eventually laying some tracks. Some of the ladies are from Edmonton, so it would be great to get together and do some tracking. It was a great weekend and such a welcome change from my burdens here in Edmonton. I need more of this!!

22 years!!

2011-05-05T23:33:00.001-06:00

It's our 22nd anniversary!! We got married May 6, 1989 at Ft. Edmonton Park--where else would a person with a Master's degree in Western Canadian History get married?? It was a small wedding, only 40 guests, but I never wanted a big wedding, ever!!

McDougall Methodist Church--built 1871, the first building built outside the walls of Ft. Edmonton. Built by John McDougall of the famous McDougall family of Methodist missionaries. When I was young, this church stood beside the big brick McDougall United Church that was built in the 1930's. When I was 14, my friend Brenda and I took a tour of it and I decided then and there, that was the church I wanted to be married in.

My father and I starting down the aisle. My dress was similar to the styles of the 1870's and 1880's. The train was bustled up to look even more like that era.

Dave and I signing the register. The church is filled with photos and memorabilia of the history of the Methodist/United Churches.

The reception and supper was held across from the Methodist Church on 1885 Street in the replica of the Jasper House Hotel. The original is still standing on Jasper Avenue. but it's kind of run down--to put it mildly!!! Our minister, Rev. Alston is standing in front and introducing us--he was a wonderful man and minister. Ten years later he married my friends Jacqueline and Kevin!! To Dave's right is his Best Man, Bill Phillips and to my left is my Matron of Honor, Debbie McGinnis and her daughter Shauna--you see the top of her head. Debbie made her own dress and Shauna's and they were just lovely and in the style of the olden times too. Over on the far side, you can see my mother.

Gee we were young!! Well, younger!!

Happy Anniversary Sweetie!!! ♥♥♥♥

Guess who's 3 years old today???!!!

2011-05-04T00:45:00.001-06:00

I can hardly believe that Duffy is 3!! He's still the wild child sometimes and can be somewhat of an ass on occasion, but I've almost grown to love those quirky ways!! Hahahaha!! I think he will always retain some puppy type ways, because that's just who he is--and I'd hate to see those silly moments gone completely. He's adored by many of the residents at the Edmonton General, little kids think he's the best, he laps up attention--no shrinking violet there--and I have the best goof ball doggy friend in the world!!

One of Duffy's talents--untieing shoe laces!!!

Happy birthday Duffy Doodles!! We love you!!!!♥♥♥♥

Election night and other news!!

2011-05-02T23:23:00.000-06:00

Another federal election has all but come and gone and it looks pretty clear that it's a majority Conservative government of 166 seats under Harper, rather than the minority that he had. But, BUT, the BIG news is that the NDP (New Democratic Party) are the opposition!! They have, at this point, 104 seats, to the Liberals' 34. They have never, ever, seen these numbers of seats. Did I say never, ever!!! It has always been the other way around with the Liberals in the 100+ and the NDP in the 30's. Alas, Lewis Cardinal, the NDP candidate for my constituency, did not defeat the incumbent, Laurie Hawn :(

The Green Party got their first ever MP--their leader Elizabeth May--in Vancouver Island's Saanich-Gulf Islands riding. But the leader of the Liberal party--Michael Ignatieff lost his seat, and in all likelihood will end up being removed as leader from the party. That party will have to do some serious rebuilding for the next election. And the leader of the Bloc Quebecois, Gilles Duceppe, lost his seat, his party suffered a crushing defeat, and he has already resigned as leader. Quite the surprise with that party gone just like that.

My own opinion of it all, is that there is really little difference between the parties when all is said and done, and none of them tackle the truly major issues that exist around us. And it's the same everywhere. Maybe I should have voted for the Pirate Party!! Yes there was a candidate on the ballot! Arrrrrrr!!

On the local front, there was a natural gas leak next door last night. I was wondering if we would all be evacuated and whether I should pack my jammies and a tooth brush. Several ATCo trucks showed up, and sounded for the gas line and marked it, then the jack hammer started up to break up the lane paving and Jack's driveway--by this time it was 1 AM. Then Welder Guy arrived (let's hear a round of applause for welders!!!!) and he was still working at 3:30 when I woke up again to the sound of his welding machine revving up and down. When I got up at 7, the workers were gone, a metal plate was lying across the lane, covering the hole, and another one was on Jack's driveway, and appropriate signage warned people of the plates--like slow down!! Thank goodness there was no evacuation needed, and nothing and no one went up in an explosion. I have always been impressed with the people that work for the natural gas companies--at the merest hint that there might be a problem, they are right there. And thank you all those guys that work anytime of the day or night to fix the gas lines!!!

My other lesser bit of news is that I got into a bit of a donnybrook, so to speak on FB--again!! Haha!! A FB friend from Norway, who posts wonderful pictures of her 2 big collies and all the activities they do together in the lovely wilderness of Norway, posted a couple of pictures of her 2 boys who had caught a hare and were dividing up the spoils. A lot of people clicked a 'like' but one or 2 didn't care for the whole thing. One in particular was quite aghast and disgusted about it and figured she would have to block the Norwegian, because her grandson looks at her FB page. So I posted that this certainly was a species appropriate diet and that we should be careful not to sanitize our dogs to the point we forget they are essentially wolves--citing the amazingly close DNA percentage. She replied that she had a pet, not a wolf!! Hahahaha!! Talk about failure to understand the concept. It went on from there, but most of the posts were between her and Duffy's breeder!!! I was quite surprised--and happy--that he waded in and mentioned how he knew a number of people raw feeding their dogs, that she should look into the info available, that kibble was a convenience food for people to use, etc. She had said she never heard of anyone feeding raw--she lives in New York. In my only other post, I mentioned that I go to a vet clinic that supports raw feeding and that the Norwegian gal lives in a rural area and dogs are more likely to be protective of their territory against intruders and more likely to kill small animals for food too. Her last post was that she had nothing more to say about the topic, and was hiding the posts and pictures, and, "thanks for sharing YOUR opinions..." (her emphasis). Okay then!!

Why are people so reluctant to think of dogs as carnivores?? They have no problem with cats wandering around killing mice and birds, but the very idea that their Bowser might eat meat and yikes, could even kill an animal to eat if he had to--and all hell breaks lose!!! And because their vet has never suggested it, they couldn't believe that a dog could and should eat a species appropriate diet. Oh the horror of it all!!! Sheesh!! It seems that a lot of people have gone far away from the basics of life and the reality of nature. When more people lived on farms, you didn't get this sissy, wussy look at things, but now with so much of the population urbanized, they think everything has to come out of a bag and a store--even for their dogs. And as usual, when the idea of a species appropriate diet is presented to them, they go on the attack, rather than ask questions. Oh well--maybe one day!!

Time to change the TV channel--election winners are blathering on and on!! Good night!

Royal Weddings

2011-04-29T09:59:00.002-06:00

(Pictures are grainy because they were taken off the TV)

I woke up around 3:30 and watched the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. I didn't purposely set the clock or anything, but I was in time to see her and her father in the car going to Westminster Abbey. I am somewhat of a royalist--and I come by it honestly as my Polish grandmother was a big royalty fan. Back in her day she was especially interested in Princess Marina of Greece who married George, Duke of Kent. He was killed in an airplane crash during the WWII, so she raised their 2 children on her own.

From about the time I was in Grade 3, I started keeping scrapbooks of the royal family--British primarily, but occasionally some articles from the Scandinavian countries too. Back then we didn't have all the magazines there are now, nor were the media so intrusive and constantly lurking for stories and photos, so one could keep up with the articles and pictures. I have slacked off in the last decade or 2, but I still save articles of the really important events and once in a while I buy the Majesty or Royalty mags from England.

And then we come to royal weddings--I have been watching them since the wedding of Princess Margaret and Anthony Armstrong-Jones in 1960. That was the first televised royal wedding. They got married on May 6--our wedding anniversary!! I watched Princess Alexandra (daughter of Princess Marina) get married to Angus Ogilvy, Princess Anne marry Mark Phillips, Diana marry Prince Charles, Sarah Ferguson marry Prince Andrew, Prince Edward marry Sophie, Prince Charles wed Camilla, and now William and Kate. Marriages of the lesser royals aren't televised, but I saved the commemorative magazine issues from the Peter Phillips and Autumn Kelly wedding--after all she's Canadian!!

William and Catherine's wedding was lovely and sweet. Despite the British pageantry of carriages, horse guards, Westminster Abbey, etc., the wedding seemed almost understated, much like Kate's gown. It wasn't a big flashy affair and I think it represented the personalities of the bride and groom. They both seem down to earth people and believers in the 'less is more' philosophy. I hope they have a long and happy marriage.

Now I am going to lay down and have a nap!!

Love and togetherness

2011-04-26T00:10:00.000-06:00

Happy Easter!

2011-04-23T20:18:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone is enjoying this long weekend, taking it easy, spending time with loved ones, and having good weather!! Happy Easter!

It was one hell of a Winter...

2011-04-14T22:46:00.000-06:00

And it's quickly shaping up to be one hell of a Spring!! Until today, there was some reason to be hopeful for a reasonable Spring. While the temps were still on the cool side, I hadn't had to pump out water for 2 days!! Whoo Hoo! One side of the lawn was almost bare of snow and Duffy and I had played with the beach ball yesterday afternoon and had a great time. Duffy was so happy to be able to sit on grass again. This is what it looked like 2 days ago.

This is what it looked like this afternoon--after 6 inches of snow and it was still coming down along with winds gusting to 50 kph. It might stop by midnight, but flurries are still expected. Just when you thought you didn't have to drive around in 4 wheel drive any more!!

Snowy, wet Duffy--I think he's kind of done with snow, having seen grass again for a little while!!

Little snowballs attached to Duffy's legs!

This is really the winter without end! :((

Odds and ends

2011-04-07T10:21:00.000-06:00

So, the bake sale was a big success--beyond our wildest dreams!! People bought whole cakes for Pete's sake!!! And the guy that won the 50/50 draw who works in the STD clinic in the EG, donated the money back to us!! How cool is that!! And to think that he and his fellow workers hadn't even heard of us until that day!!! Over all, between the baking and the 50/50, we made $565!! No pix, because although I brought my camera, we were so busy, I didn't think about pictures until it quieted down and by that time there were hardly any baked goods left. We need Doreen back--she's our picture taker!! But she wintering in Texas--hope she's back for the June BBQ!! I did take one picture at home, of one of my boxes of baking.

4 1/2 dozen muffins, 9 dozen cookies, and 18 jam-filled biscuits!

I didn't get to Red Deer to see Jolene and Kort and the Scenthurdlers after all. One of those wonderful Spring snow storms blew in for Red Deer and south, Dave had had to work on Friday, so was stuck in Olds on Saturday. I looked into taking the bus--I have partial night blindness (blinded by headlights) and as the scenthurdle was on late, I wouldn't be able to drive. But it would have been a lot of hassle and it turns out the scent hurdle heats went on until 11 PM and I would have had to leave at 9:15 to get the bus back to Edmonton, putting me into Edmonton just before midnight. The bus would cost $60, then add the taxis in Red Deer and Edmonton, and having to ask the neighbor to feed Duffy and let him out, and knowing she would stay up until I was home, it just wasn't worth it. Sorry Jolene :( But I'm sure there will be other shows that I can see them all in action! I sure have enjoyed the videos!!

April 3, 2011

I have spent that last 3 days in my rubber boots, bailing the water out of the backyard, specifically the area Duffy has to walk through to get to his 'business place'. For 2 of the days I used a bucket and it rubbed my fingers raw! Then Dave suggested I borrow the neighbor's pump--I went one better than that--I used the one from my basement!! Works way better than the bucket brigade!! And I can run the hose out to the lane and send all the water on its way to the sewer system, not back on the yard!! I suspect I will be doing this everyday for the month of April--as there sure is a heck of a lot of snow out there, the ground is frozen of course, and the water has no where to go. I have never seen so much snow on the ground at this point in April. At this rate we will be lucky to be planting at garden by the Victoria Day weekend--which is May 23!!

Cute little pump!

Better--for awhile. It fills in again, quite quickly. I taught Duffy to walk on the plywood to get to his place!

After one year of looking out the living room window and seeing the crane over at the Shepherd's Care facility, it came down yesterday!! It was interesting to watch it in action all this year, but I sure won't miss the blinding spotlight that glared into the living room at night!! Bye bye crane!!

There goes the last section!

Signs of Spring--the Peregrine Falcons have been back for about 3-4 weeks now--must have been a shock for them to see so much snow on the ground yet!! Good thing there are lots of pigeons in the city for them to eat! The crows are back too, I thought I heard a robin a few days ago, but I bet it packed its bags and went south again, and there's a pair of blue jays building a nest across the street. Spring is trying to arrive!!

And last but not least SNOW MOLD!!!!!! The worst ever amount--I guess the amount of snow mold is in direct proportion to the amount of snow. Everyone is complaining of sneezing, drippy noses, coughing, smarting eyes--fun, fun, fun!! And just for Diana, who has never seen or experienced snow mold--a picture of the ugly stuff!!

Nice eh? Imagine all the lawns covered with this!!

Happy Spring! Achoo!!!Oh and Duffy is shedding like crazy!!! Hope that's a sign of lots of warm weather ahead!!

Things to do

2011-03-27T14:04:00.009-06:00

First, I have a ton of baking to do in the next 2 days, as Second Wind Dreams is having a fundraising bake sale on Wednesday. I have signs to make, have to try and track down the banner we used to have, and make a pretty spring looking box for the 50/50 draw. I want to get some kind of flowers--maybe real, maybe artificial. Wednesday is going to be a long day--the sale starts at 10, but we will have to set up the tables and put prices on the items. Then we sell until 2-3 or whenever the baking runs out. Whose idea was this anyway? Hahaha!!

Then Jolene's Scenthurdle team is going to be at the Red Deer Dog Show Saturday, April 2. I'm sure the rest of the team will really like me calling it Jolene's team!! I want to be there to cheer them on and to get to see Jolene, and maybe buy some cool dog stuff--like a license plate to replace the one the old codger in Olds smashed up!! And no, I'm not talking about Dave--I mean the other older codger who caused the accident and then lied :((

Then on Monday the 4th I have an appointment with my financial advisor for our 6 month check-up! Snort!! And on April 5th I am attending an afternoon volunteer event for Northlands volunteers. I want to do more Northlands stuff, as we get to attend events at Northlands and it's the kind of volunteering where you do your shift and then go home. Not like this stuff at the EG, which has become way too much like teaching, in that I'm always doing stuff at home and then going down there to do more. We get a complimentary dinner after the seminars too!!

At the end of April--April 30 and May 1 to be exact, I am auditing a tracking seminar in Olds! Whoo Hoo!! Jolene is going to be there--it's kind of beginning to sound like I am stalking Jolene doesn't it!! Hahahahaha!! Donna, the instructor has said that I should bring Duffy and there might be a chance to do a little bit of stuff with him. Even if there isn't, this is still going to be so neat!! And I have free accommodations too!! If Dave lets me stay there after that codger comment!!!!

May 4 is Duffy's 3rd birthday (and Kort's too and the rest of litter, wherever they are!!) and May 6 is our 22nd wedding anniversary!! Wow!! And in between, on May 5, Family Council is having staff appreciation for the staff at the EG and we will be dishing out pieces of cake from ginormous slabs and trying not to get covered in icing!!

In the meantime, there's the usual stuff to do while we wait for the winter without end to finally show some signs of ending--like before June???!!! Until then Duffy is enjoying the snow--and yes I did lay some trails across the snow banks for him and I to run around on. He's been working on some of his own too!

Maybe he's looking for Spring down there????!!!

For some unknown reason the photos aren't showing up on the blog--I haven't changed any settings. Anyone got any suggestions? You can click on the little white boxes and pictures will appear.

March

2011-03-21T19:51:00.000-06:00

March 20, 2010

March 3, 2011

March 19, 2011 The snow piles have gone a little!!

What a difference in Marches from last year to this year. I am so sick of seeing big piles of snow that aren't really melting. And we get more snow and cold East, SE, ESE, NE winds every day. The streets, lanes, and sidewalks are that nightmare combo of ice, slush, slush sink holes, and yucky muck. I took Duffy for a walk yesterday evening and what a mess he was at the end of it!! And that was with me hauling him from trotting through the worse of the muck. So we aren't going for walk until the end of April! Hahahahahaha!! I'm not kidding!! I will however start laying paths through the snow in the yard so he can run around!!! We are having freezing drizzzle right now, just to add to the fun. Does it sound like I'm SICK of this winter????????

St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-17T17:03:00.001-06:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone, Irish or not!! It will be a long time before we see any green outside here, especially with 3 more inches of snow last night and this morning! So have some green beer and soda bread!!!

Hmmm

2011-03-12T13:16:00.000-07:00

Look who has has decided that my exercise mat makes a great bed-for him, of course!!

Or maybe he's just waiting for someone to plug in the "Back to Life" machine so he can have a session on it!!

A Pile of Bears!!

2011-03-12T13:04:00.001-07:00

Ready for delivery to the new residents who came to the Edmonton General in February!

Duffy in Olds

2011-03-01T11:42:00.000-07:00

Nothing exciting, just a few pix that I whined and pleaded for Dave to take, so that I can see my Duffy!! It's almost 2 weeks now. Funny how 'just a couple of days' turns into weeks. But what with the the crappy weather and some no-minds that can't make up their minds if they want Dave to fix their front end loaders, the days slip by. Sigh.

Duffy's usual position--staring through the slider windows!! And the jungle of plants--reminds me of that Laugh-In skit. Verrry interesting!!!!

They had a lot of snow fall in a short period of time on Saturday.

Duffy rapidly becoming a snow white dog!!

In out of the snow--in the garage.

Got Snow?

2011-02-27T22:04:00.000-07:00

The snow banks are growing again!

Got winter? Yeah, too much of both, thanks!! I think this is the beginning of the next ice age--if I see some wooly mammoths plodding down the street, I'll know for sure!!! And if anyone, ever mentions "global warming", I'll give them a smack up the back of the head!! And send them out into the gusting, blowing, snow to shovel the walks!!

Ahhh yes--the old sun shining while it's snowing trick! Do I hear a HAARP playing? :)

This is never a good sight out the window! Snow blowing off the roof tends to collect in unpleasant drifts on the sidewalks!

But somebody, or should I say, 'somebunny' likes the snow piles!! Hahaha!! Since Duffy's been away, the hares have decided to have a party in the back yard!!

My new friend

2011-02-22T23:44:00.000-07:00

Yes this the "Back to Life" machine--as seen on TV!!! I got it about 3 weeks ago and it has made such a great difference to my back, I am thrilled!! I use it every day, and have noticed a continual improvement. I no longer am in excruciating pain or even in moderate pain. I use it right after I shovel snow, and it really helps to keep my back from seizing up. Maybe I can get a job doing testimonials!!!

It promotes togetherness too!!!!!!!!!!!!

Awwww!! And more togetherness!!!!!

And the answer is...

2011-02-20T09:31:00.000-07:00

As I don't think anyone else will try the Tag game, I will now reveal the true statement !!!!
I didn't like math in school once we got beyond the basics. I did learn how to ride a bicycle (sorry Jolene and Jacqueline!!)--I was in my 20's and I never got comfortable with the whole thing, but I can ride. I learned out on the farm, so that if I fell, it would be on grass or soft soil, not concrete!! A hair raising, handle bar gripping ride down a hill in Calgary, is something I will never forget. I thought I was going to die!!! I never, ever, never, never want to be cremated!!!! I would honor anybody else's request for that, if that's what they want, but it's not for me. I want my bones to be here, as there is nothing else that will be left of my line. And coming from a long line of farmers on both sides of the family, resting in the earth, is a good thing. I'm not afraid of spiders--as I have told many people over the years, "Spiders are our friends!". But then I don't live in Australia--right, Jacqueline!! So that means that the correct statement, is that I once owned a cow!! It was when I was engaged to Mister Potato Head, the farm boy--she was a Holstein and her name was Daisy!! She was my pet from the time she was born. I fed her pails of milk, brushed her, and patted her. She and her half-sister April, would race across the pasture to me!!! So sweet. After the engagement ended, and I had moved to Red Deer to teach at the college there, Potato Head's father, made sure that I received the money from the sale of Daisy. If Potato Head had been half the man his father was, I'd have been living on a farm north of Edmonton all these years. But he was a mama's boy and not ready for marriage! Or life!!! But as Dave says, it's a good thing that it didn't work out, because if it had, he and I wouldn't be together!! ♥

Tag! You're It!!

2011-02-18T22:39:00.002-07:00

I was tagged by One Collie...Two Actually. And I'll play because it's Friday night and I have nothing else to do!! Hahaha!!

Here are the rules:

1. You have to display this lovely award on your blog.

2. You have to tell 5 things about yourself and 4 of them have to be bald-faced lies. Then see who can guess the "right" one.

3. You have to pass this on to 5 of your friends to play too.

So, here are the 5 "true" things about myself.

1. I loved math in school

2. I never learned to ride a bicycle

3. I want to be cremated when I die.

4. I owned a cow once.

5. I am afraid of spiders.

For this challenge, I tag:

Shamrocks and Pemmican
debz doghouse
Flynn
Easy to Spot
ColliesHorsesArtLove

I know that the last 2 have already been tagged, but I don't have very many blog friends!! :))

Blue Skies

2011-02-18T21:00:00.002-07:00

Today we had one of those perfect blue sky days that we are supposed to have here in Alberta and used to have lots of before we began to be inundated with chem trails and HAARP clouds and weather systems in the mid-1990's. So while it was a cool -24 this morning, when I was done the sidewalk shovelling, I sat outside on the bench in the sun and enjoyed the clear sky. The only thing missing was Duffy--he's down in Olds with Dave. :(

All too typical though--multiple criss-crossed trails. This was taken last September.

And then they cover the sky with this cloud soup and our sunny day is no more.

And example of HAARP clouds with chem trails across the horizon.

I'd like to see lots more of this kind of sky again!!

PS. In case you think I am some kind of a nut case, I was a weather technician for the Alberta Forest Service for 4 years, so I know full well what real clouds should look like and the difference between con trails and chem trails!! :)

2011-02-13T17:33:00.002-07:00

Happy Valentine's!!!!!! ♥♥♥♥

So cool!!

2011-02-11T12:36:00.000-07:00

Dave bought this for me for Christmas and I used it Wednesday for the first time!! I am thrilled with how much easier it is now to deal with a pineapple!! That's an organic pineapple by the way--mmmm, so good!!

Just like a pro!!!

Gong Hei Fat Choy!!!

2011-02-07T09:38:00.001-07:00

Technically, Chinese New Year was on Thursday, but we had the New Year celebration at the Edmonton General Saturday morning. As well the New Year is celebrated for 15 days until the Lantern Festival. There are 2 units at the EG which are specifically for the Oriental population. This was a quite a move forward when it was decided to do this and I think that their presence at the EG has brought a very interesting cultural dimension to the place. My Mother was on 5C for about 7 months and then both my parents were on 5Y for a year, so I had a first hand chance to be part of the life on those units. My parents were always included in all events, they were cared for very well there, and my dad went to the dim sum lunch every month and even tried chicken feet. He said they were very crunchy!! As I was on Family Council and my parents were on a Chinese unit, I was asked to co-emcee the Chinese New Year celebrations in 2006 and have been doing so every since, except for last year. I was slated to do it but came down with a cold.

So here are some pictures from this year's celebrations to welcome the Year of the Rabbit. Kay hadn't arrived so I gave the camera to Claire and told her how to zoom, but then Kay arrived, but I was already on stage and Claire handed her the camera but didn't give her instructions! So I cropped some pictures to eliminate all the background walls and stage at least. Oh, and the weather was absolutely frightful--after beautiful days of +6 weather, it had started raining Friday night, it turned to icy snow by the morning, the wind was blowing fiercely and it was a nasty mix of slush and ice, and sleet!! But everyone was there--guest speakers, entertainment, and families.

Vicky and myself with Averil Suriyakumaran, Executive Director waiting her turn to come out to speak. Vicky is a 2nd-year med student!!!

The God of Good Fortune ushering in the lions

The Lion Dance was performed by members of the Chinese Free Mason Athletic Club. And boy are they are athletic doing this performance and there are 2 girls in the top of part of 2 of the lions!!!

Drums, cymbals--very loud!!!

Songs from the Canadian Chinese Children's Choir

They are so cute and I love all their different costumes!

A very talented pianist

A little girl with a big operatic voice.

Beautiful girl and costume performing a Spring Dance

2011-01-29T00:25:00.001-07:00

The loneliness without you

The ache deep in our hearts

We've nothing left but memories

With them we'll never part

I love you Mother ♥

It's Official!!!

2011-01-19T10:09:00.003-07:00

We have more snow than I remember ever having in Edmonton. And this is confirmed by my various neighbors who have been in Canada just a few years less than I have been alive. And since they were adults, they have a better recollection of those years in the 1950's!! If we get anymore snow, I'll be in traction!! Started Saturday off with my neck being out, shoveled out the front and back, but not the driveway, and then took Duffy for a walk. Met up with a Bernese Mountain Dog named Ranger, who Duffy has met before. Ranger is 3 and just a little taller than Duffy and it is always good for Duffy to play with a dog who can wear him out!! LOL!! However, Duffy ended up with frozen slobber all over his face and ruff--yuck!! Thank goodness Collies don't slobber!! Bernese are great dogs--very friendly, laid back, but that slobbering!!!!

Anyway, while I was wrangling Duffy through this impromptu playdate, I must have twisted the wrong way and really pulled some muscles in my back. I had a heck of a time completing the walk and had to stop several times and bend over to try alleviate the pain. I did manage to use the snow blower on the driveway and then heave the snow over the 6 foot pile and I later went out and shovelled again. It was really coming down on Saturday. My back didn't thank me for that added pressure and by the evening I could hardly walk or sit. I did take a Motrin and went to bed at 9:30. For anyone who knows me, I must have been exhausted and in great pain to go to bed early!! I had talked to my neighbor on the phone and she said her husband would take care of the walks for me. But how could I let a 75 year old do that much shoveling? In addition to his own place, Gus has been shoveling out another neighbor's and relative's place because Tony has a severe heart condition and almost died last year. So Sunday morning I dragged myself out there to shovel again!! It was funny, not haha funny, that shoveling didn't hurt too much but walking and sitting down and getting up did!! With the help of Motrin, I've kept up with shoveling and have had to carry a lot of shovelfuls of snow around to places where the snowbank isn't quite as high. Let us hope we get some melting, some settling of the snow pack, and NO MORE SNOW!!! Please???? Here's what the place looks like as of yesterday--our first day without snow!!

The fence is 6 feet high

Getting up to the living room window!!

Down the south side of the house

Duffy working on a day old bone

Had to shovel out a path to Duffy's "Business Place"!

The Eastern Rockies!!

Duffy keeping an eye on me, while I cleaned up the big snow pile yesterday

Driveway all clean!!

A lovely wintery sunset--we got up to -4.5 yesterday!

PS There are periods of light snow in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow! Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

Dang that ear!!

2011-01-11T00:18:00.000-07:00

So at what point do I resign myself to the fact that Duffy is going to be a lopsided earred dog?? The ear is coming unglued--again--and if I leave it the ear will pop straight up! Somehow this all goes with my head- strong, sometimes contrary Duffy!

And the snowstorm continues

2011-01-09T21:19:00.001-07:00

We are at the end of Day 3 of the Great Blizzard of 2011--as the historians will no doubt refer to it!! It lightened up to really fine snow this afternoon, but once it got dark, it went back to more obvious snow. The temperature is dropping all the time too. My back has entered some sort of shock phase, whereby it doesn't seem to hurt as much as it did (or should, considering the punishment it's taken for the last 3 days). My arms are fairly sore--but not bad considering the shovel loads I carried into the yard from the driveway and along the sidewalks to places that didn't have as high a bank. I haven't seen this much snow for years--it's looking like it did when I was much younger and living here. But Daddy did the shovelling back then--now it's my turn. I am proud to say that I am the only woman in this block area, that does all this shovelling/uses a snow blower. The rest of the houses either have a man and woman sharing the duties or men doing it all. This is the biggest lot in the block at 53 feet wide and 150 feet long, so that's a lot of sidewalk both city and property, as well as a double driveway. Today though, the young fellow that lives across the lane with wife and little girl, helped me out with the driveway. I was laboriously carrying load after load into the yard, and maybe he figured he better help the old broad, or she'd still be at come next January!! Hahaha!! I sure did appreciate the help though! I ventured out with the truck up to Mac's and the Bargain Store--I was looking for Valentine decorations for my dad's' room. The truck has 4-wheel drive--no one in their right mind should be thinking of driving on those roads without it. But I will be taking the buses to my meetings at the EG tomorrow!! My neighbor's daughter and son-in-law were in an accident on Highway 2 nears Olds and are spending another night in the Olds hospital. They were rear-ended by 3 successive vehicles, her air-bag opened and she lost consciousness and he's pretty sore and shaken. Poor Iolanda is pretty upset and won't feel okay until she can see her daughter. The car is totaled and they will have to take a bus back to Edmonton. Moral of the story is, stay home when a blizzard is going on!!

Can you see much fun it will be when this starts to melt? Luckily that won't be for another 3 months--hahaha!!

Duffy and his shovels! He loves to sit like this--butt on the top of the stairs and front paws on the first step!

Just about my height!!

Great moisture for the flower bed!

Where's the bird bath?

Duffy sniffing the air for fresh game!! Or the smoke from the neighbor's wood burning fireplace!

The first snowstorm/blizzard for 2011

2011-01-08T18:49:00.000-07:00

Duffy considering which snow shovel he should use--taken out the dining area window. The shovels are at the foot of the steps.

Duffy looking a little disgusted with all the snow--or maybe I'm transferring my own emotions onto him!!!

After this morning's clean-up

It started around 1:30 Friday afternoon and by this morning we had almost a foot of snow. The wind is still blowing and it continues to drift the snow, both at the front and back of the house, and everywhere else! You know you are in trouble when you look out the back door and there are 6 inches of snow on the back steps and you shovel your way around to the front of the house and the front steps are drifted in so badly, you can't see where the steps are!!This storm is supposed to continue all night and into the morning. I've already spent a total of 6 hours outside today, in 2 separate stints, shovelling and using the snow blower. So we can look forward to more fresh air and outdoor activities tomorrow!! And I will take more pictures.

The Abominable Snow Woman of Edmonton!!

Pluffy Snow

2011-01-06T22:22:00.000-07:00

Tuesday afternoon, it began to snow big, fluffy flakes of snow. It was warm--hovering around -1, and was so neat to be out in. In honor of Diana, who has taken into her vocabulary the blog security word, "pluffy", here are some pictures.

This gives a good idea of what pluffy snow looks like!

His Duffyness with pluffyness snow on his nose.

For a change, a picture of the front of the house--including my mother's beloved Mugo Pine

See, it snows so much that we have to use 2 shovels at a time--one in each hand!! Hahaha

Duffiness

2011-01-03T22:54:00.000-07:00

Intently watching the neighborhood activities.

Who else but a Collie would sit down on a cold, snowy concrete sidewalk?

Nice twist on the leash!! Nice tail!!!

"I nose everything!!"

January 2, 2011

2011-01-02T20:18:00.000-07:00

It was a -1 this morning and snowing and blowing, so I took along my camera on our morning walk. I had already shovelled the front walks and it started snowing harder--of course. But at least I could operate the camera without freezing my fingers!! So for Jolene and anyone else who likes looking at wallking Collie dog butts and snow--some videos!!!!

Hopes for 2011

2010-12-31T20:27:00.000-07:00

Here's hoping 2011 will be a happier year than 2010! Losing my mom at the end of January has made for a very sad and lonely year. Having to be her executrix and to go through the probate process has been doubly difficult. A word of advice--try never to have be anyone's executor.

The Summer was lousy-cool and wet. Dave had an accident on Thanksgiving Day with my (my mom's) truck. I've become quite disillusioned with insurance companies (not that I had a whole lot of regard for them before, but now...), and with the "system", and with people who can lie so easily. A couple of days ago Dave was presented with a ticket by the RCMP--the officer told him off the record that it could be beaten and that there was reasonable doubt. So why declare Dave at fault??

I am very frustrated with apathy at the EG--you would think in a place which houses 500 residents, more family members would want to be involved. I am also fed up a lot of staff who don't seem to get how lucky they are to have a program like Second Wind Dreams there. Diane Berge stepped down as Chair of SWD--I miss her for many reasons! I lost a freezer full of food--:((

My dad has suffered some setbacks with his health this year and I hope he can be okay for a couple of more years.

However lots of good things happened too. SWD won a Government of Alberta Seniors Service Award. I have managed to carry on in some fashion (!!) with SWD as the new chair and we have completed 10 dreams since I took over in the Summer.

My friend Jacqueline , who now lives in Perth, Australia, was here in the Fall for a visit. It was great to see her and made me miss her all over again! I went to Lethbridge in November--the first time I have been anywhere since my parents went into the EG. I got to see Jolene, meet her great bunch of friends, and cheer for Kort!! I want to live in Lethbridge!! I also started a blog--we'll call that a good thing!! And I became a bona fide blog stalker too!!

Duffy (or The Prince--as the neighbor calls him!) is maturing and settling down--some!! We went to our first classes this Fall and we graduated and I got to confirm what I have suspected about him all along--he is very, very smart, and loves to show off!! I have plans to enroll us in more classes and I would like to enter at least one Obedience Trial in 2011 and hopefully more. As for conformation with him, well we will have to see, but I don't care all that much about it. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself for now!! Hahahahah!! While occasionally he drives me up a wall--like with his barking--but we are working on that--he is my pal, my buddy, and I would be lost without him. All this year, his presence has kept me from getting too awfully depressed. And I am planning for the potential of another Collie pup in the house, either in 2011 or 2012.

My wish for everyone in 2011, is that they know more gladness than sadness, good health rather than bad, peace and contentment rather than strife and stress, and the love of family and friends, undiminished.

Happy New Year!!!!

A message from my mother

2010-12-30T13:01:00.000-07:00

A couple of days before Christmas, I dropped the letter opener down the side of the desk. And since I needed it, I pulled the desk out and discovered all kinds of things--including the money order to Davenloch that I couldn't find for months and months, some bills, and a newspaper clipping that had fallen between the floor board and the wall. It must have been there for years, because when Dave refitted this desk as a computer desk 5 1/2 years ago, he had pulled the whole thing out and hadn't seen this clipping. From the article on the back, this clipping is from 1968.

The clipping had been saved by my mother years ago and to find it and read a poem which is so fitting to my life and feelings, can only mean that my mother was sending me a special message at Christmas time. She's telling me that she's with me always, as are my grandparents and my uncle. Uncle Mike always did the ploughing. And she's telling me not to feel too sad. It did help a lot, I felt better after I found this and Christmas was okay.

Thank you Mother--I love you and miss you. ♥

Christmas 2010

2010-12-27T01:14:00.000-07:00

There's a lot I could say about this Christmas but I will confine myself to a couple of items. I swallowed down tears several times during the day thinking of my mother and missing her. But several days before Christmas I got a wonderful message from her--that really helped me feel better. I'll blog about that next time. I also have been in agony for several days with back pain, so much so that standing at the kitchen counter trying to bake and cook was awful. I had to sit down so often, that it took me 5 times as long to do everything. I was finally finished at 1:30 Christmas morning. I then took out the garbage, and sat outside on the bench for a while with Duffy beside me. It was -15 or so, but so peaceful and quiet in the big city--except for some sirens to the east. I then came in, had a shower, had a small glass of amaretto, and got 4 hours of sleep!! Here are some pictures from the day, including visiting my dad.

A new shaver for my dad!

A nice picture of my dad.

"Who said you could take a picture of me???" Dave would kill me if he knew I had posted this picture, but it makes me laugh!! He looks this way because he's wondering why I'm using the old camera--I wasn't!!

Duffy starting to "open" his prezzie

And here we have Duffy practising his sits and Dave practising how to open a package of treats. He changed treats because I told him the first one was too big!! Hahaha!!

Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-24T17:59:00.001-07:00

Merry Christmas to everyone!! May you and you families have a safe and happy holiday season and may 2011 be a wonderful year!! All the best from Dave and I, and Duffy too!!

Why is this deep freeze open?

2010-12-24T10:20:00.001-07:00

I went downstairs yesterday in the late afternoon to see if I had some pecans in this deep freeze. I opened the door and water ran down the door onto the floor. "Oh, oh, that can't be a good sign," I muttered to myself! Then the smell hit me!! Whuff!! Ewwww!! Rotting, moldy veggies and fruit. I yelled for Dave and we spent the next hour dumping the thawed bags into garbage bags and swabbing up the water, which was red--either from raspberries or cherries--or both!! Yuck!! I hadn't been in the deep freeze for a couple of weeks, so everything had a nice long time to thaw!! All this year's peas, beans, corn, and some veggies from the year before--all gone. Saskatoons from a year ago, raspberries from this year gone too. A lot of work--planting, weeding, picking, chopping, blanching--all gone:(( Dave has taken all the bags to the dump this morning. Guess what I will be shopping for in the new year?? Bah humbug!!!

Being one of Santa's helpers

2010-12-23T09:26:00.001-07:00

It's been a crazy busy couple of days for me at the EG! I got word on Monday that the Mandarin oranges I had ordered for SWD to give to the 18 units ( 2 boxes per unit), were being delivered with the lunch meal carts on Tuesday. I had prepared 18 Christmas cards and a Christmas note to be delivered to the units, explaining where the oranges were from and wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from SWD. Kay and I were already meeting on 6Y on Tuesday to deliver a food gift basket that a resident had asked for--was for his wife at she had been relying on fast foods too much, since he came into care. I also had gift bags with presents for a couple of other residents. There were clothes for a younger resident who has no family and nothing much in the way of clothes, and a shawl for a lady who likes to dress nicely!

The wife who was to receive the food basket was sick and hadn't come in, so we left the basket with the RCM and asked that a picture be taken when she gave the basket to the couple. I gave her the gift bags too and Kay and I delivered the cards--she did the Y wing and I did the C and AB wings. I also stopped off to see Janate and give her the 3 donation cheques and a card. Lots of walking!!

Dave got the truck washed before he came up here! And now all I need is a Collie license plate again!!

Dave is here and he brought my truck back!!! Yippee!!! All fixed and looks as good as new and has new tires too! After all the old ones were 20 years old--that's how little my Mother had driven the truck!! So we visited with my dad for awhile and then stopped at Planet Organic on the way home--I haven't been able to go there for over a month. I was in severe withdrawl!! Hahaha!!

Wednesday, we stopped to get a bunch of Christmas flowers before heading to the EG. I had flowers for my dad, the unit got a poinsettia plant, the assistant rec therapist Jill got cut flowers, and the neighbor will getting another bunch today. I also got a floral arrangement for another gentleman and his lady friend on 6Y. He had asked for a Ukrainian meal, but sadly, the cancer has spread and he is mostly in bed now and is on a puree diet. So in lieu of the meal, they got the flowers and a card. Duffy came along yesterday and he was a hit with everyone--as always. He got to visit a couple of new units he's never been on and make some more friends. Everyone always raves about what a lovely dog he is. He is really well behaved, doesn't try to jump on anyone anymore--he's growing up!! One lady wanted him to sit and shake a paw. I got him to sit, but he wasn't into paw shaking. He only does tricks for me and sometimes Dave. Guess he needs a relationship with people before he will do little tricks!!

There was a Christmas tea on the 7Y yesterday, so we spent the rest of the afternoon there. Then Dave dropped me off at Kingway Mall and he took Duffy home. I only spent 1 1/2 hours in the stores but I was so hot and exhausted I couldn't wait for Dave to come back to pick me up!!

It's been hard for me to get into any real Christmas spirit this year. But I find that doing things for SWD at the EG helps. I will be doing lots of baking today, then Dave and I are going to go out to celebrate our birthdays, and when we get home, I will watch my favorite version of A Christmas Carol--the Alastair Simm one. I had seen a live performance of it at the Citadel Theatre on Saturday--which was very enjoyable too! Tomorrow I make the holupche (cabbage rolls), the cranberry sauce, prepare the bread for the stuffing, and roast the turkey. I have been doing the turkey bird the day before Christmas for the last 6 years, so that we can spend part of Christmas Day at the EG and not worry that the turkey has caught on fire and burned the house down!

I'm sure everyone will be super busy in the next couple of days, but I hope we all can take a moment or two to relax and enjoy these last 2 days before Christmas!!

Happy Birthday to my Sweetie!!

2010-12-18T10:15:00.000-07:00

Today is Dave's birthday. Don't tell anyone but he's 65!!!!!!!!!! He can start getting his pension in January!! That's what happens when you marry someone older than yourself!! Hahaha!!

Awwww--Dave's about 3 months old here!!

He's a creative and inventive kind of a guy!!

He's handy around the kitchen too!!

He loves Duffy and Duffy loves him!!

Hey, save your smooches for me!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOVEY!!!
XXXXOOOO

Our Last Snow Storm of 2010?

2010-12-18T09:59:00.000-07:00

Well we can only hope!! That 2 inches that fell Tuesday night was nothing compared to what Wednesday had in store for us!! It started snowing and blowing in the wee hours of the morning and kept up all day and into the night. I shovelled out the front and the back up to the gate Wednesday and did the back 2 more times that day. Thursday I spent 3 1/2 hours outside shovelling and using the snow blower for the driveway and the drifted in city sidewalk. What fun!!

Wednesday morning

Thursday morning

The beginning of an over hanging snow drift

What it looked like 24 hours later

BBQ anyone?

Even blowing snow can produce art!!

Hmmm, have I got some major packing down of the snow to do!!

Is that a chiffon cake????

Christmas Party

2010-12-16T08:12:00.000-07:00

The Christmas party for Unit 7Y (where my dad resides) was on Tuesday evening. It was great to have Christmas parties again as we didn't last year due to that phoney baloney H1N1 so-called pandemic. And no I won't start a rant on all the stupid people getting their flu shots as usual!!!

As I still don't have my truck, I had to bus it to the EG (and it's a 2 bus each way trip!!). It started to snow as I left the house with my containers of Christmas cookies that I baked earlier in the day. And by the time I was waiting for the 2nd bus downtown, it was really coming down and blowing as well.

My dad was happy to see me and was having one of those rare days where he doesn't say stupid things and he acts like he does have a brain!! And no, he doesn't have any dementias--he's always been like this! There was entertainment from 2 oldtimers--one sang and played the accordian and the other played the mandolin. There were lots of goodies to eat and many family members in attendance sharing the party with the residents. The highlight was a visit from Santa Claus--every resident has their picture taken with him!! Cutbacks had kicked in--instead of little gifts being given to each resident, as in the past, they got a candy cane!! Whoo Hoo!! Santa came up to the unit after the party, which was really nice for the residents who are bedridden, or couldn't go down to the auditorium.

Here's Santa!!!

The evening's entertainers with one of the chaplains--turns out she has the most beautiful voice and sang several carols for us.

I missed my mother being there--she loved music and would have enjoyed the evening. And she would have loved eating my cookies--even when she didn't want any other food, she always ate my baking.

It had stopped snowing by the time my 1st bus came for the homeward trip, but I was wearing shoes and not boots, and all that cold snow got in my shoes--brr!! I shovelled the walks when I got home--I shouldn't have bothered as the real blizzard blew up in the early hours of Wednesday morning and it snowed and the winds howled and piled up drifts all day and into the evening. More pictures of that to follow!!

December 12

2010-12-12T11:11:00.003-07:00

Lots of birthdays today!!!Here is a sampling of them: Jennifer Connelly (turns 40); Kirk Cameron; Cathy Rigby (my age!); Mike Pinder (Moody Blues); Connie Francis; Mayim Balik; Bob Barker; Frank Sinatra; Steve Podborski (Canada's first World Cup Downhill Ski Champion); Dionne Warwick (turns 70--can you believe it?). Lots of actresses, actors, singers, and sport figures born on December. Oh, and someone else--who can that be??? Hahahaha!!

It's a snowy birthday this year. Last year Edmonton broke all record temps for the coldest day and was the coldest place in the world!!! But the sun was shining--I prefer cold temps and sunshine over warmer temps and snow, any old time!

I am just going to relax today--well sort of. It's been a difficult couple of weeks. One of Dave's very good friends (and mine as well, to a lesser degree) died suddenly 3 weeks ago (blocked artery aggravated by several epileptic seizures); another friend had to be flown from BC to Calgary and was near death. They performed a gall bladder operation, but he has cancer of the colon. And one of my aunts-in-law had to be rushed to hospital in Penticton. Something has been going on with my dad this week--Tuesday he fell off his bed, has bruises and probably bruised ribs, and he was very confused. I was very worried that it was another TIA and to be having one so close to the last one, would not be a good sign. However, it could also be a UTI--I sure hope so. We're waiting for all the test results. UTI's in the elderly usually present with symptoms of confusion, making the person appear like they have a dementia. My dad has never drank enough liquids in his whole life, so it's extra hard to get him to have water or juice.

Dianna, Kay, and Edith

We had our Second Wind Dreams 50-50 fund raising sale this past week, for 3 days. We made a little over $200. But between manning the table and running up to check on my dad, and having to take buses there and back, it was hectic. But we have a new recruit!! Her name is Dianna, she's a friend of Kay's, so we have another Greek with us! She was fantastic at drumming up sales and the 1 day she wasn't there our sales were way down!!The rest of us are on the shy side!!

In terms of dreams, I took Homaira to Marvel to have her hair and nails done and to have a facial; there are several presents of clothes to deliver to residents; might be able to get 2 residents to the Winspear next Sunday for an Edmonton Symphony Christmas concert; there will be a gift basket delivered; and boxes of oranges for the units. This is all before Christmas!! I have 2 meetings on Monday and 2 Christmas parties on Tuesday!! Whew!! And I put up the Christmas decorations and little tree yesterday--with Duffy's help. He was in Olds last year, so the ornaments and garlands, etc. were all so interesting for him!! And this is his 3rd Christmas--already!!

Homaira and Amy the hairstylist. Homaira is one of the younger residents--she has 2 daughters-6 and 10.

Eliza doing the facial and another student putting on the nail polish

Vanessa, the instructor in esthetics, Homaira, and Eliza after everything was done. Homaira was tired and happy to get back to the EG after all that pampering!

So back to today. I was going to go downtown, maybe see a movie and try some shopping. But it's blowing and snowing, so I don't really feel so much like it now. I am still trying to shake this cold I picked up--must be those Southern Alberta germs--I'm not used to them!!! I might just go to 7-11, get a paper, and stay home!! It's just pretty great to have my Duffy for company too. Oh, and if you are wondering where Dave is--well he's in Olds!! He was hoping the truck would be all ready and he could bring it back to me today. But the hood painting and curing is taking a little longer ( being done by an autobody painter), so both husband and truck are delayed. I wouldn't want them to be on the snowy highway anyway!

Duffy's Christmas portrait!!

Happy Birthday to all the other December 12th birthday people out there!! We rock!!!

So true!!

2010-12-10T21:17:00.001-07:00

I LOVE my messenger bag!!!

Guess what came in the mail??

2010-11-27T18:15:00.000-07:00

How come people can't spell my name correctly, especially when they only have to copy it from a form????Sheesh!!

What's in the box you ask? Well it's the aerial photograph of my grandpa's farm that I ordered at Farm Fair. I wasn't expecting it so soon--I thought maybe in December. It's my birthday and Christmas present to myself!!!!! They had a booth there with tons and tons of photos taken from just after WWII up to the 1990's and this company called Homestead Aerial Photos of Alberta will take the small photo and do a framed picture with a choice of 3 sizes, frames, and close-up views if that's what is wanted. This photo is from 1958, 2 years after Grandpa died. I wish I could see who the people are beside that building--I suspect 2 of them are my uncles!! Good guess there!! They took over the farm after Grandpa died. That's Highway 28 running through the photo and it separates the 3 quarters on the west side of the highway from the one on the east where the people are standing. You can't see the NW quarter though. You can see one of the 2 oil wells that were on the home quarter. Some years ago, the oil company took off the pump jack etc. and shut them down. But I bet there's still oil down there.

There was a lot more bush on the south side back then--over the years Uncle Mike would get out his trusty 1950 Caterpillar tractor and work on knocking the bush down. That was the first vehicle I ever drove--I was 9 and he showed me the forward and backward leavers and left me to it in the middle of the pasture area. He taught me how to drive a tractor too and way before I ever got my license he would let me drive his new cars around the farm. When I got my first car, my beloved Blue Belle in 1978, he got to drive it. In 1979 he bought an Olds Delta 88, and I got to drive it. That was the last car he purchased and I was supposed to be given that car. Somehow I doubt that Nick will honor his promise though.

Anyway, this photo brings back so many memories--I love that place, it's the heart and soul of me. Even though it is unlikely that I will ever be able to have that farm, even though it should come to me, as I am the last of the line and my uncles never married or had any children, it will always be a special place to me. It's where my mother grew up and she related so many stories to me of life on that farm in the 1930's and 1940's. She loved that farm so very much and therefore it was not a surprise to me when on the day of her funeral, as we drove by the farm on the way to Bon Accord cemetery which is about 3 miles from the farm, that the sun came out from behind the clouds and continued to shine until after the interment was completed. Mother was happy, she was home. And I feel happy too, having this photo.