February Blahs

So February has started off as a bit of a downer.

First, and most importantly, our friends Rob and Joce had to say good-bye to their old girl Bee on the weekend. This is a pic of Bee and her sister, Keeper. Bee was a super cool old girl and she did great up until her last few days. She was a true survivor and made me just fall in love with senior citizen GSPs.

RIP sweet Bee (1996-2010)


Keeper (in blue) and Bee (in yellow)

Second, my football team lost yesterday. Sigh! Now, I'm not upset up N.O. winning, 'cuz I think they are a city that could use some good news. It was just that Indy blew it on a bad pass by Peyton. Oh well. There's always next year.

Third, darn Razzie hasn't gone in to heat yet, which could throw a serious wrench into our travel plans. (Can't kennel a hot dog!) Well, we have three weeks until we start to panic!

And just one for the road, here's what Booger gets up to when he's bored.

A Tale of Two Quills

Okay, so up until now we've been pretty lucky with the dogs and the wildlife they encounter in the forest. Well today that ended.

On their run through the woods with Rich today, little madam, a.k.a Razzy, managed to spook a porcupine and get two quills in her snout for the effort. Of course, from all accounts Bo reacted exactly as a big, scary dog should -- cowering behind Dad for protection. Well, shouldn't complain -- it could have been much worse. On Christmas Eve the dogs actually found a porcupine nest. (I guess the porcupine was sleeping off too much Christmas egg nog to care about two dumb dogs.

Here's a pic of the two dogs yesterday posing before the Christmas tree (before it was unceremoniously ripped down and tossed on the curb.)

In other news, today was the first day of my new job -- I've accepted a position in our policy branch to to provide communications advice related to the assessment of our enabling legislation. As dry as that may sound, I think it will be interesting from my perspective. Much more hands on and writing. I was needing a change, and I hope this is a good one. It's a 6-month assignment, so if it's really not my cup of tea, back to the web advising gig.

New Year's Resolutions

Okay, so I'm technically 2 days late in making my resolutions ... so, obviously resolution number 1 is "don't procrastinate". And the rest:

2. Stick to my eating and exercise plans (2 days in and check, and check!)
3. Work on training my dogs to be good canine citizens (sigh! always a challenge) Most importantly: stop their darn barking at everyone who walks down the street, and greet people on four legs (must remember to read animal farm to them -- but stop before the pigs start walking on two legs).
4. Remember Roxy in only happiness.
5. Take more photos of the dogs, especially when they are playing like fool animals (currently, they are both working on old socks of Richard's... too funny!)

All right, I realize these are some pretty basic resolutions, but they always say to have achievable goals. Number 2 and 3 will be the hardest to stick, so will rely on the support of friends and family.

Most importantly, I resolve to treasure every day I have with my family (bipeds and quadpeds) and friends (who we are lucky to have in abundance), and to enjoy life.

RIP Roxane (1995-2009)

Unfortunately, today we need to advise you of the passing of our darling Roxane.

Our darling girl joined our family one month after we were married. The tiny little thing immediately stuck to our heart. She was with us through the good times and the bad.

She was our fierce guard cat as well as a lovable, soft plush cuddle toy.

In the past couple years she had been sick and had developed a tumor that made it difficult for her to walk. Lately she had been in a lot of pain, and today we made the difficult decision to end that pain.

We will love her always and she will always have a very special place in our heart.

Missing you already

xoxoxoxo Mom & Dad (Joce & Rich)

Oui, je PEUX parler français

Just heard from my advisor at the School and I got my C for my oral exam (this is a GOOD thing -- crazy government system). Now I can relax and enjoy my holidays. Yippee!!!

Christmas is going to the dogs ...

We had a lovely dinner at our friends, Rob and Joce's, last night. Those of you who know our dogs have probably heard us talk about Rob and Joce -- who also live in the neighbourhood and have two GSPs. So no, it's not me talking in the third person.

Joce made some of her amazing chili and I test-drove a gluten-free Black Forest trifle. Joce said I'm more than welcome to continue test-driving desserts on her, so it must have been okay. Now, I have my contribution to Christmas dinner at John and Rachel's all set!

The dogs were also warmly welcomed and they ate, well, whatever they could get their snouts on frankly! (Plus a few pup-sicles from outside, on Razzie's part. Eww!) Bogey even came home with a present -- a ball-toy that neither Bee, 13, or Keeper, 8, play with. Score!

Now, I meant to get a picture of all four dogs together, but I forgot (again!). Will try to get one of them all over the holidays. Here is a previous picture of taken of the girls (previously referred to as Bo's harem before Razzie joined the Everbell zoo!)

Keeper (in blue) and Bee (in yellow)

Je peux parler français?

Well, I guess we'll find out in a couple days. The oral exam is done, although there were a couple questions I wasn't quite sure of ... sigh! Hopefully this'll be second time lucky.

Oh and a quick update on the weight loss -- had a weigh in today and I'm up to (down to???)  16 pounds lost. Yay! (On track for a pound a week at the end of the program!)

So the thief (Bogart) nabbed a tea bag yesterday. Fortunately, after a quick phone consult with the vet, I was assured that it wouldn't hurt him irreparably, aside from tummy upset, and perhaps a more hyper dog than usual (Gaaa!! Imagine Bo with MORE energy!) Also, I have discovered the dogs LOVE almonds and both have tried inserting their snouts into my mouth to get the almond crumbs out. Add that to the list of other human foods the dogs love, including peanut butter, yogurt, carrots, pumpkin, etc.

Anyhow, during a quiet moment post-my-french-test and a post-run-around-the-lake-with-Richard, I got some update pix of the rawgs. You can tell they really have it rough chez nous! Hopefully, if it's warmer this weekend, I'll get out too and get some action shots!

Bogey

Razzie