Pets are humanizing. They remind us we have an obligation and responsibility to preserve and nurture and care for all life. -James Cromwell-
So Penny is doing MUCH better! She is still stiff, sore, and I imagine she won't be romping around for a while, but she is getting better day by day. We put down mats on the tile floor for her to make it easier for her to walk around. She was having trouble with slipping on the tiles. She is actually getting out of her house and walking around the living room some now. She went off the patio to go to the bathroom today for the first time since she hurt herself. She had a bit of trouble with the steps, but worked her way through them.
Pax all.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
This is going to hurt a lot.
Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole. -Roger Caras-
My one dog, Penny, has presented me with a huge dilemma. I hope going through writing it down can help me work it out.
Penny is 17. Due to various health issues, the question of "putting her down" has come up. To make things worse, Penny injured herself the other day, and can barely walk right now. The vet said she may or may not recover. We basically have to wait and see.
My other dog, Pita, knows something is wrong with Penny. She has been sleeping outside of Penny's house, and has even brought her blanket over to Penny to make her feel better. Pita goes over to Penny's house regularly to see how she's doing. Even the cats seem to have taken notice and appear concerned.
I can't stand to see Penny hurting, but I don't want to jump the gun and have her put to sleep if she's going to recover. Hell...I don't want to put her down, period. She's my friend. She's been loyal, loveable and faithful for 17 years. She's been a good travel companion, and a great listener.
I suppose we're going to have to play things day by day. I will dread each one.
Well.....Writing this helped me recall some good times, and to shed a few tears, but I suppose I still haven't exactly worked out what I'm going to do. I guess I'm left with having to play it by ear.
Pax, all.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
There's something about snow.
Don't become a mere recorder of facts, but try to penetrate the mystery of their origin. -Ivan Pavlov-
Fresh snow..LOT'S of fresh snow. I love it. Not totally enthused about the shovelling, mind you, but it looks amazing outside. A fresh coat of fluffy white snow just looks amazing on the trees. The new blanket of white brigtens up the nights. I love how fresh snow cleans everything up too. You can't see all the dirty snow and sand that gets laid down. It just looks clean.
I'll have to shovel for the 3rd time in 2 days tomorrow, of course. Ah well. The excercise will do me good. Besides..I can bury the dog again..lol
I had a good birthday. I remember most of it too..hahaha I had a good time at darts, and we went out after. I sort of remember coming home, kind of recall having a snack before bed,and more or less remember going to bed. All in all a good night I suppose. :)
Pax all
Fresh snow..LOT'S of fresh snow. I love it. Not totally enthused about the shovelling, mind you, but it looks amazing outside. A fresh coat of fluffy white snow just looks amazing on the trees. The new blanket of white brigtens up the nights. I love how fresh snow cleans everything up too. You can't see all the dirty snow and sand that gets laid down. It just looks clean.
I'll have to shovel for the 3rd time in 2 days tomorrow, of course. Ah well. The excercise will do me good. Besides..I can bury the dog again..lol
I had a good birthday. I remember most of it too..hahaha I had a good time at darts, and we went out after. I sort of remember coming home, kind of recall having a snack before bed,and more or less remember going to bed. All in all a good night I suppose. :)
Pax all
Friday, January 11, 2008
And remember, no matter where you go, there you are. -Confucius-
So I was touring around the net yesterday and found a piece of great nostalgia.
http://gporter.net/great/index.php
This site has streaming copies of a past favorite from the CBC radio archives. The Great Eastern it was called. It was a weekly spot, on every Saturday. It was absolutely hilarious! The CBC cancelled it after 5 seasons. Pity, too. I thought it was an extremely well written show.
The basic premise was it being the cultural news magazine of Newfoundland. It was ostensible broadcast from the last remaining coal fired transmitter. It is a clever show, and this site has all of the episodes available to stream.
Take some time and take a listen. It's welll worth it!
Pax, all.
So I was touring around the net yesterday and found a piece of great nostalgia.
http://gporter.net/great/index.php
This site has streaming copies of a past favorite from the CBC radio archives. The Great Eastern it was called. It was a weekly spot, on every Saturday. It was absolutely hilarious! The CBC cancelled it after 5 seasons. Pity, too. I thought it was an extremely well written show.
The basic premise was it being the cultural news magazine of Newfoundland. It was ostensible broadcast from the last remaining coal fired transmitter. It is a clever show, and this site has all of the episodes available to stream.
Take some time and take a listen. It's welll worth it!
Pax, all.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
The story so far...
If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands. -Douglas Adams-
It's been a mixed week, to say the least.
Firstly, I want to again congratulate Mark and Manda on the birth of their daughter. Enjoy the adventure ahead!
Second, and this is a long one, but well worth the read...... We got rear-ended while crossing the International Bridge on Wednesday. That's aggravating, but hey, accidents happen and mistakes get made. While the accident itself was upsetting, it wasn't the part of the incident that pissed me off. What set me off was what the other driver did in dealing with this issue. Let me explain how things happened, and I'm sure you'll be able to figure out where I started getting angry.
We were going over the river to have lunch, do some shopping, and to gas up the van ($3.84 in Ontario vs $3.20 in Michigan). There was a line up on the bridge, but that wasn't unusual and we weren't in any huge hurry. Sandi and I were moving alon, slowly but surely, with the line growing longer and longer behind us. We had made it about 2/3rds accross and had been stopped again for a few minutes when there was suddenly a loud noise and our van lurched. Looking in the mirror, I saw the van behind me WAY to close to us and knew right away what had just happened.
So I get out of the van, go to the back, and lo and behold, there's someones van parked on my trailer hitch. The older gentleman (must bite tongue) was still in his vehicle, seemingly oblivious to what had just happened. Apparently my bolting to the rear of my vehicle was not the signal I would normally expect it to have been, given the circumstances. The crunching noise and the associated jarring had also failed to set off any flags for our hapless motorist, as well it would seem.
It was only after I had pointed to him and called him to come over and inspect the results of his driving prowess several times that he finally decided to put his vehicle in park and come up to see what was wrong. At this point, my frustration level is increasing substantially, but we haven't quite reached teh actual moment of becoming pissed off, although we are close.
To continue... The gentleman put his car in park before getting out (at least he though to do that) and this, of course, caused his van to roll back 4". He came over to see what I was calling to him about..ok. Yelling to him about by this point. I told him, again, that he had just hit the back of our van, to which he replied, and I quote, " No, no..I no hit it. I woulda feela it ifa I hit"
This line of conversation went on for a few moments, with me saying he had hit us, my wife also saying he had hit us, and him saying "I no hitta you. I woulda felt it." I proceded to inform him that I had seen his fromt bumper on my trailer hitch, he "no, no, I no hit". I pointed out the unmistakable bend in his new liscence plate, the scuff mark on said plate, and the matching paint deposit on my trailer hitch, to which he replied, "iffa I hitta you I woulda felt it."
It wasn't until I pointed out the small crack in the bumper of his new van that he relented, like any gentleman faced with the insurmountable and incontrevertable evidence of his deeds, and said, and again I quote, "Well, iffa I hitta you, I'ma sorry, butta I no thinka I hitta you."
If you haven't placed the moment of utter outrage, it began at "I no hitta you," and grew from there.
If he had just come out and said, "I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking" or some sort thing I would have been only mildly annoyed. Let's face it, the only thing that I had to show for damage to our van was a scuff on the trailer hitch. A simple acknowledgment and an appology. That would have been more than sufficient. Instead, I was priveledged to a display of cluelessness, ignorance, and non-accountability, the likes of which are fodder for sitcoms around the world.
Now the thing is, it doesn't stop there. Once we finish up and start moving towards the US side again, Captain Clueless decides to creep right up to my bumper again, again and again at each stop during our crossing procession. I kept waiting to hear and feel the inevitable collision, but thankfully it never materialized. Once we got to the customs stations, we managed to go to seperate lanes, and Sandi and I breathed a sigh of relief. But wait, there's more....
We go to get gas first. As we're pulling in to the pumps, we get cut off. If you guessed that it was a new blue Ford minivan with a newly bent liscence plate, you would be absolutely correct. That's right.. Captain Clueless strikes again. While the other driver he had cut off called him to task for his actions, I chimed in, and pointed out that he had now not only rear ended me, but had now cut me off and nearly hit me a second time. He of course denied any wrong doing. "I wassa no even close to youa guys." I had begun to calm down from the bridge incident, but here I was again faced with the same idiot, and he was behaving true to form. After I put my 2 cents worth in, I just went ahead and pumped my gas so I could get as far away as I could from this rolling traffic accident. I left him to play his game for the other guy in the gas station lot, as I had had more than enough of it. I filled my tank, cleaned my windshield, bit my tongue, and shook my head for a while, and then left as fast as I could.
We shot over to Walmart to pick up something before we went to eat, and just as we're leaving our van, we see Captain Clueless trying to park his van. Time to run.
We had the pleasure of seeing him try to navigate a shopping cart through the store. Thank god we were on our way to the check out and didn't have to put up with him any longer.
sandi and I were talking about it afterwards, and wondered how many other cars he's hit, or how many times he's hit people and just driven away. This hapless moron just goes to show how unfortunate it is that you don't have to pass an IQ test to get a drivers liscence.
Pax all.
It's been a mixed week, to say the least.
Firstly, I want to again congratulate Mark and Manda on the birth of their daughter. Enjoy the adventure ahead!
Second, and this is a long one, but well worth the read...... We got rear-ended while crossing the International Bridge on Wednesday. That's aggravating, but hey, accidents happen and mistakes get made. While the accident itself was upsetting, it wasn't the part of the incident that pissed me off. What set me off was what the other driver did in dealing with this issue. Let me explain how things happened, and I'm sure you'll be able to figure out where I started getting angry.
We were going over the river to have lunch, do some shopping, and to gas up the van ($3.84 in Ontario vs $3.20 in Michigan). There was a line up on the bridge, but that wasn't unusual and we weren't in any huge hurry. Sandi and I were moving alon, slowly but surely, with the line growing longer and longer behind us. We had made it about 2/3rds accross and had been stopped again for a few minutes when there was suddenly a loud noise and our van lurched. Looking in the mirror, I saw the van behind me WAY to close to us and knew right away what had just happened.
So I get out of the van, go to the back, and lo and behold, there's someones van parked on my trailer hitch. The older gentleman (must bite tongue) was still in his vehicle, seemingly oblivious to what had just happened. Apparently my bolting to the rear of my vehicle was not the signal I would normally expect it to have been, given the circumstances. The crunching noise and the associated jarring had also failed to set off any flags for our hapless motorist, as well it would seem.
It was only after I had pointed to him and called him to come over and inspect the results of his driving prowess several times that he finally decided to put his vehicle in park and come up to see what was wrong. At this point, my frustration level is increasing substantially, but we haven't quite reached teh actual moment of becoming pissed off, although we are close.
To continue... The gentleman put his car in park before getting out (at least he though to do that) and this, of course, caused his van to roll back 4". He came over to see what I was calling to him about..ok. Yelling to him about by this point. I told him, again, that he had just hit the back of our van, to which he replied, and I quote, " No, no..I no hit it. I woulda feela it ifa I hit"
This line of conversation went on for a few moments, with me saying he had hit us, my wife also saying he had hit us, and him saying "I no hitta you. I woulda felt it." I proceded to inform him that I had seen his fromt bumper on my trailer hitch, he "no, no, I no hit". I pointed out the unmistakable bend in his new liscence plate, the scuff mark on said plate, and the matching paint deposit on my trailer hitch, to which he replied, "iffa I hitta you I woulda felt it."
It wasn't until I pointed out the small crack in the bumper of his new van that he relented, like any gentleman faced with the insurmountable and incontrevertable evidence of his deeds, and said, and again I quote, "Well, iffa I hitta you, I'ma sorry, butta I no thinka I hitta you."
If you haven't placed the moment of utter outrage, it began at "I no hitta you," and grew from there.
If he had just come out and said, "I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking" or some sort thing I would have been only mildly annoyed. Let's face it, the only thing that I had to show for damage to our van was a scuff on the trailer hitch. A simple acknowledgment and an appology. That would have been more than sufficient. Instead, I was priveledged to a display of cluelessness, ignorance, and non-accountability, the likes of which are fodder for sitcoms around the world.
Now the thing is, it doesn't stop there. Once we finish up and start moving towards the US side again, Captain Clueless decides to creep right up to my bumper again, again and again at each stop during our crossing procession. I kept waiting to hear and feel the inevitable collision, but thankfully it never materialized. Once we got to the customs stations, we managed to go to seperate lanes, and Sandi and I breathed a sigh of relief. But wait, there's more....
We go to get gas first. As we're pulling in to the pumps, we get cut off. If you guessed that it was a new blue Ford minivan with a newly bent liscence plate, you would be absolutely correct. That's right.. Captain Clueless strikes again. While the other driver he had cut off called him to task for his actions, I chimed in, and pointed out that he had now not only rear ended me, but had now cut me off and nearly hit me a second time. He of course denied any wrong doing. "I wassa no even close to youa guys." I had begun to calm down from the bridge incident, but here I was again faced with the same idiot, and he was behaving true to form. After I put my 2 cents worth in, I just went ahead and pumped my gas so I could get as far away as I could from this rolling traffic accident. I left him to play his game for the other guy in the gas station lot, as I had had more than enough of it. I filled my tank, cleaned my windshield, bit my tongue, and shook my head for a while, and then left as fast as I could.
We shot over to Walmart to pick up something before we went to eat, and just as we're leaving our van, we see Captain Clueless trying to park his van. Time to run.
We had the pleasure of seeing him try to navigate a shopping cart through the store. Thank god we were on our way to the check out and didn't have to put up with him any longer.
sandi and I were talking about it afterwards, and wondered how many other cars he's hit, or how many times he's hit people and just driven away. This hapless moron just goes to show how unfortunate it is that you don't have to pass an IQ test to get a drivers liscence.
Pax all.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
New Year, New Life.
Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon. - Dahli Lama-
Congratulations to my friends Mark and his Manda on the birth of their daughter. She was a New Years Eve baby.
While I don't think he ever thought he would settle down, get married and become a father, I always felt he would do great as a family man. I wasn't 100% sure when he would get there, mind you, but I knew he would do well once he did.
For Mark's blog post about his new daughter, go here: http://2ubes.blogspot.com/2008/01/happiest-new-years-ever.html
Pax.
Congratulations to my friends Mark and his Manda on the birth of their daughter. She was a New Years Eve baby.
While I don't think he ever thought he would settle down, get married and become a father, I always felt he would do great as a family man. I wasn't 100% sure when he would get there, mind you, but I knew he would do well once he did.
For Mark's blog post about his new daughter, go here: http://2ubes.blogspot.com/2008/01/happiest-new-years-ever.html
Pax.
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