Skunked!

It was your average Thursday evening.
2330h - I was already in my pj's and ready for bed when I went to let Eco out for her last pee. I open the door and Eco explodes from the house, I see a skunk. I frantically try to recall Eco but it was too late - I saw it's little butt turn and then a spray, about 6' from her face. My night changed in an instant.

Eco came running back to the house shouldering her face on the grass, her sensitive eyes and nose probably burning. I grab a towel and wrap her up and carry her into the house, telling JP that she was skunked. I can imagine he must have been wondering what was going on. He immediately looks up remedies on the internet and tells me that I shouldn't have brought her in the house - well I wasn't going to use the garden hose on such a sweet dog and didn't feel like getting soaked in my pyjamas late at night, so to me gently washing her in the shower was the only thing to do for her.

I washed her and dried her and put all my clothes and her towels in the laundry. I was going to sleep on the kitchen floor with her, but then realized that by now the skunk smell was throughout the house. Personally I didn't mind it so much, after a few minutes I kind of got used to  - what the commercials call "nose blind".

Two days later, during my early morning walk I smelled the skunk smell on the street.  I later heard that our sweet Polish neighbours woke up from the smell and first thought it was some sort of gas leak. Another neighbour's dog also got skunked.

Either we've got a gang of skunk thugs, or one very active little guy who's trigger happy. Panic Attacks in skunks don't bode well for the rest of us.

Another one for the Rainbow Bridge

I just learned some sad news today - Eco's father who was only about 10 just passed away, here is his story:

A Spring-like walk in Winter

We have been having some lovely warm weather here in the Vancouver area - pretty much the only part of Canada that is not only above zero degrees celsius, but also in the plus digits - 11 to 13 degrees, with a warm wind coming up the Pacific coast bringing an unseasonable but welcome 15 degrees the other morning.

I had to buy Eco another bag of food, and so I decided to take her along for the ride since there is a nice off leash park nearby. This is the first time I've left Eco in the car when I went into a store. I really don't like doing that but the weather seemed to be favourable and it was a short trip inside - plus she got lots of treats when I came back.

After the shopping it was off to the park when he was over-stimulated by so many new smells. She didn't calm down as I tried to cross a football sized field to get to the dog area. She started her off leash experience with a swim and followed it with a sprint through the trails.

Eco is normally a super happy labrador, but I tell you she was 10x  happier running in those trails. She would run ahead and then come racing back to ensure I was following her. We ended up getting so high in the trails I was in line with the setting sun, and could not longer hear the traffic or the people below. I tried to take a shortcut on what I thought was a trail, but when Eco started to look like she couldn't follow the trail, I trusted my dog and returned to trail that she confidently followed. We soon emerged at the other end of the park, exactly where I wanted to be.

She was soaking wet and full of mud but very happy. We came home and went straight to the tub where for the first 3 minutes I thought I was washing off her chocolate colour - that's how much mud came out of her!

The Underside of a Dog

This is what it looks like when Eco is standing on a platform of playground equipment and I am below her:

Good thing she doesn't drool!!

Slipper Thief

Well no sign of that diamond and I have to say it's not without effort. My sweet dance instructor (who was recovering from surgery) plus several students and other instructors turned the dance studio upside down and even combed though the vacuum bag. I was so touched by the number of people who helped me look for it.

I  too stood outside for about twenty minutes feeling my way through all the dirt from my vacuum and numerous people have offered prayers and hopeful stories reminding me not to give up; stories about finding missing stones years later in the lining of jackets or pockets or other tough to find places. But still, nothing yet.

I will keep looking of course, but my hope is fading. For now I will have to get used to seeing only my wedding ring on my left hand (first world problems eh??  I know, I know)

And speaking of things lost, today I was outside for a bit and when I came back  into the house  I couldn't see my slippers. What the heck? I know I had them on before I went outside! I had only taken them off about 20 minutes earlier. Then I realized what had happened.....

Thanks Eco.... Does your dog do this too? Mine frequently lies on cast off articles of clothing... it's like she aims for it. Silly pooch. Too bad she hasn't found my diamond yet.

Sunburn Pain

We are having the most lovely weather right now, it's even made it up to 32 degrees. This is pure heaven for me. I love, love, lacey-heart-love the sun/heat. So there I was on Saturday busy refinishing a garden table sawing and sanding and painting under a canopy or so I thought.  Until later when I found out I had burned my back

It didn't hurt. Yay ! I'm usually pretty good with the sun.

But no, it was a delayed hurt. I hurt on Monday afternoon. And oh boy did it hurt. I couldn't have anything touch it. Let me tell you it was a rough night  and you know what made it worse? oh playing with the dog and having her nails scraped my red skin! WOWZA!!

Anyway, here's the table. I hope it was worth it:

Green w/white polka dots

And here's my sad dog, wanting to play, sorry that she hurt me - she didn't mean it: 

(holding her toy, sitting in an empty swimming pool) 

Exercise Obstacle # 1

This cartoon really hits home because it's happened to me a gazillion times. There is no way I can lay on the floor to do exercises without my No.1 fan wanted to be even closer to me!

And, if I'm trying to practice dance - she will lay smack dab in the middle of the little area of floor I was trying to move it.

It really teaches me how to be SUPER aware of my surroundings!

So I was just walking Eco when a man with a cane stopped to pet her and tell me how nice she was. He started to tell me how he had a Catahoula and how he learned to train dogs when he was in the military. I then learned about his African Grey Parrot and two other birds that he has. I also learned about his 14 years in Marines and the time he spent fighting Escobar's men in Colombia; about how he was writing a book but he was doing it on line and then the CIA stopped him and put him on a 'no fly' list; he ended up giving up his US citizenship in trade so they would leave him alone and now he writes the book - he's been writing it for 2 years but has only 78 pages due to panic attacks and post traumatic stress disorder. He's 52 and all his family has been in the military all the way to the US Civil War (fighting for the North of course). He's from Brooklyn (although had no accent at all) originally and how he came to my little community outside of Vancouver is, apparently, a long story.His son is currently in the Canadian Armed Forces.

Jp says I should just walk away from people like this. Judging by all that I know he figured I stood and listened for about 15 minutes (which was true). I find it hard to be rude to people even if they are strangers and I politely wait for an exit opportunity. Does this ever happen to you? How long do you stand and listen?  Is it my fault Eco's so dang cute that everyone wants to pet her?

Birthday Message to my Dog

Today my sweet little dog, Eco, turns 5 years old. I just can't believe how quickly the time has gone by.

Eco at 7 weeks

Eco at 3 months old

I'm sure my family would remind me that the first two years seemed long since she was still in training. And the first year took a while - especially with all those sharp pointy baby teeth. But she has blossomed into the sweetest companion and friend.

Eco at two years old

The most common words I hear people say to describe her is  "sweet" and "puppy". Many can't believe that she is five years old. Actually I can't believe she's 5 either - where did the last 3 years go? Besides daily walks and play sessions, a few trips to the vet, several swims in the summer time, monthly baths and a multitude of tricks.

Eco can: sit up and beg, wave, roll over, play day, bark, whisper, spin, twirl, walk backwards, cross her legs. She knows the names of her toys and can retrieve them on command placing them in my hand. She can follow hand signals from a distance and can do a series of tricks before getting her reward. She doesn't bark when someone knocks on the door and she doesn't steal food in the kitchen.

In fact, the other day a piece of bread was sitting on a plastic cutting board which was sitting on top of the toaster. The cutting board slipped off the toaster landing on the counter but the piece of bread rocketed to the floor. Eco walked in the room and discovered it first but sat down and looked at it until someone came in the room and told her she could eat it. Granted there was small puddle of drool by her feet, but she did not gobble up the bread. I wish she'd do the same for cat poop outside - but she can't - which makes her almost perfect, but not quite. Just the way a dog should be, otherwise they wouldn't be able to give us our daily chuckle.

Thanks for being so sweet and so soft and for making me laugh everyday Eco. And Happy Birthday to you!
(and now the voice of my husband is in my head, mocking me, saying "she can't read!")\

 ****

Wanna know about her name? Back in 2009, my dog Jazz had  just died after a 5 month battle with cancer. Our funds were depleted from the cost of cancer treatment. I wasn't sure  how long it would be before I could get another dog. And then we received a rebate for our Toyota Yaris - an Eco/Environmental Levy because it was an efficient vehicle. The cost of the cheque was the exact amount we needed for our puppy! And that's how Eco came to be a part of our daily life.

Nose full of sh*t

The kid came with me Sunday for Eco's walk and at the end of it I sometimes travel through a little walkway and park so I can let her off leash. The little park is next to a townhouse complex and I've noticed that lately it's littered with dog poop. It's disgusting. Owners like that end us ruining it for all the good owners.

I knew of the dog poop in the park, I told the kid to watch where he stepped but when he threw a stick for Eco, I didn't want to be a nag and so I didn't say anything and hoped for the best. First throw went well, second throw did not. Eco raced for the stick, picked it up and immediately dropped it. She started doing this weird tongue flicking thing which creates a foamy saliva and came back to me very unhappy, I could see right away there was poop on her face and most likely in her mouth.

Ok, she may think cat poop is gourmet but dog poop disgusts her. I took every paper towel in my bag and tried to wipe her face and mouth out. But I don't think it helped. I wished I had water with me on this walk - but it's winter so I don't bother with the annoyance of water bottles.

We race walked home and finished cleaning her face. I hope that she won't get sick from this old poop that's been sitting in the park for a while. Based on the colour that dog wasn't fed very good quality food. Sure I could've stopped the kid from throwing a stick, so I take the blame, but he's a teenager and I feel like all I say is "don't do that.." "put that away" "close the door" etc..

How I spent my Family Day

So what did I do with my extra (rainy) day off?

• made the hubz breakfast in bed
• did the dishes
• baked vanilla cupcakes
• did the dishes
• made lunch 
• did the dishes
• walked the dog
• made orange flavoured frosting for the cupcakes 
• iced the cupcakes
• did the dishes
• brought the hubz cupcakes and coffee
• ran the dishwasher
• took some finished project photos
• showered
• got dressed (hair and make-up + dance practice costume)
• ate some dinner (leftovers)
• went to dance class
• came home went to bed. 

Is that good?
I think I wash dishes too much. How does that happen? Probably because of my cooking/baking motto - "right tool for the job"

Here's what the cupcakes looked like:

Veterinarians

I was pretty frustrated on Sunday, not only because of the pain in my neck, but I felt like I wasted the whole day. I should have used the time for something creative or productive, but all I really got done this weekend was laundry and started felting some bowls. I hate wasted whole weekends. I am so glad this is a long weekend for us (Family Day) and hope to pack if full of accomplishments.

While I was resting my neck, I did catch several episodes of "the Incredible Dr. Pol"  - I am amazed at this man's veterinary skills and his strength and stamina, especially since he is 70 years old. I feel sorry for his poor wife who works in the office every day and probably wanted to retire over 10 years ago. He's quite amazing helping animals and people and having to deal with the good and the bad situations, he seems to take it all in stride. I know there's some controversy surrounding him, but even when you're the best there will always be someone critical of your work, right?

We're currently going through a veterinary experience ourselves as Eco had something wrong with her last week - when she'd get up from sleeping, she'd yelp. Once she yelped as she walked across the carpet. I checked her legs and toes and tummy and couldn't find the source so we took her to our vet. There they performed many of the same tests but determined it was her right hip and then x-rayed her to confirm. Some abnormalities showed up on her x-ray and so we see a specialist tomorrow.

Wouldn't you know it, Eco hasn't had a problem since and has resumed life as a normal 5 year old  labrador but we're still going for the consultation with a specialist so we know what to look for and when surgery will be required (possible cruciate ligament tear) - all I can say is "thank goodness for pet  insurance!"

My breakfast view

This is what I see when I am eating my cereal in the morning: 

Unfortunately it's Raisin Bran so I can't share with her. 

She usually has her feet on the rungs of my chair, which is even cuter...

Feline Bullies

My dog doesn't really know what to do with cats. 50% of them run and 50% of them freeze. Of those that don't run, their deep growl is rather scary so she usually gives a frustrated bark and then runs away. A couple of times cats have wacked her - including that one who stalked Eco and spanked her! 

For little 10-15 pound beings they sure can have control! Watch this compilation:

Do you have a bully cat? 

I'm so relieved

On Sunday afternoon I noticed that Eco had put herself in her crate, which is unusual as she usually likes to be with us. I kept an eye on her while I cooked dinner but noticed she was lethargic. When Jp tried to give her some after dinner snacks, she didn't want to do anything for them and would rather walk away. Since it was Sunday evening and she had no other symptoms other than being cold (which is also odd for a big old labrador) I put her bed near the fire and slept on the floor beside her so I could be there if anything changed.

In the morning she was still withdrawn but she went to the bathroom as normal and ate her breakfast as normal. I decided without other symptoms the vet probably would tell me to monitor her - maybe send her home with an antibiotic. So I just kept a close eye on her. By about 3pm my usual Eco returned. Wagging her tail, giving us kisses, wanting to run and play. She was back. Down for 22 hours with some sort of bug, but now she has returned.

Let me tell you, I am so very grateful to have my happy, energetic dog back. It's one thing when she's like that from old age, but in the middle of her youth - I didn't like it!

Dodged a "bullet" last night

When I came home late last night, I let Eco into the backyard for her "business" when she takes off chasing something, then I see it - a very large skunk! I frantically call her back, and does come back to me - not as fast as I'd want but fast enough I guess because she didn't get sprayed! I still cannot believe that she was not sprayed. Maybe the skunk was in a good mood last night, or forgot it's superpower, or already unloaded on something else - I don't know.

I just know that I am EXTREMELY grateful that she did not get sprayed last night.

Now between a hungry bear roaming the neighbourhood looking for fallen apples and the skunk it's almost not even safe in one's own backyard. And since the skunk incident, I've been going out in the yard first to ensure it's safe and clear for me dog! I just can't take a chance with a skunk!

How do you reset a dogclock?

After getting up at 5am all summer long, my dog is waking me up at 5:30am every morning -even on weekends! How can I reset her clock? In the summer, she'd always be asleep until I woke her so I assumed that she had no internal clock. Now that I'm trying to sleep in until 6am -because it's too dark in the morning for our dog walk what with a bear roaming around the neighbourhood eating apples that are still on people's trees - Eco's up at 5:30 and I can't sleep in.

I guess she does have a clock after all...and who says dogs don't like routines? Sheesh! 

Eco with her Leatherman Tool, ready 

to help out in the yard! 

Leatherman Tools are for the dogs!

Okay, they aren't really. But last week Jp and the kid went down to Portland and took a tour of the Leatherman factory. They treated the boys really nicely and even gave us the sweetest toy for Eco. Yes in our house, even the dog has a Leatherman tool!

I actually don't want her to play with it too much because I wanted to keep it, but alas, one cannot keep everything. Besides it has a great squeaker and dogs are like kids - they can have a bucket full of old toys, but they like the new ones the best!

Look at her little ears flapping as she runs:

And here she is, flying through the air: 

How big IS the bear?

So Eco and I are out for our morning walk when a man drives by, stops, rolls down his window and tells me there's a bear eating garbage just around the corner.

I thank him and then I say "how big is the bear?". I guess my first instinct was that it would be better if it was small. The man paused, probably trying for figure out a size for comparison when I realized what a stupid question I had asked and I said "it's okay, he's big enough. Thank you"

Oh my, the things that cross our minds.

As it turned out we didn't encounter him which is just fine for me, I can live vicariously through another's bear sighting! No matter how big he is!

Where have I been?

I've been to the mountain and back.

Last week I was away on business in meetings at Bear Mountain Golf Resort. Wowza, is it ever a beautiful place, and the weather could not have co-operated any better. What a tourism commercial. We had people from Western Canada and Ontario at the meeting and I think everyone wanted to return (or move) to Vancouver Island!

Travel-wise it was fantastic. For those of us on the Vancouver side, we have to take a ferry to the island which is about an hour and 45 minutes. That too was wonderful. And the ferries have much improved. They used to be so 'functional' but now they are quite well designed breaking up the sitting areas making them smaller to reduce the noise levels. And landcapes and ocean were superb - and that's coming from a personal who's seen it many times and lives here! British Columbia is a gorgeous place to be.

The craziest part is no one golfed! The events co-ordinator booked a whale watching expedition instead. The thinking was that everyone could be together and mingle since we are all so spread out across the country and you'd only get groups of 4 doing that for golf - but still, two beautifully designed golf courses at your door and no one from our group stepped on the greens. I did see licence plates in the parking lot from Colorado and California though - I bet they had a good trip up here too. If you eve come to Vancouver, you must plan a trip over to Victoria. I'm sure you will be glad you did. (No I do not work for the tourism board)

The weather this spring and summer has been stupendous and I am over the moon. Being a summer baby I just love the sun and hot weather, however, being an adult I no longer get to lay about for hours on end just being outside. Maybe that's why I appreciate it so much.

Friday night Jp and I walked out of the house to go to the grocery store and then realized we forgot our bags (they don't give bags anymore in many stores to reduce the waste and damage to the environment - do they do that where you are too?) so we turned around and headed back into the house. Just then we heard a crash and I see a pile of boxes I had in my office covering the floor. Poor Eco was under my desk, probably not sure what to make of it. First thing we did is call her to make sure she wasn't scared and that she could get out.

Although I'm not happy about the mess, I'm so glad that I was there when it happened. First because I wouldn't want Eco to be hurt by it, and two because if it had happened while I was away I might have felt that Jp was somehow responsible.

The bad news is that my weekend plans were changed as I dealt with this issue. Oh sure I could've just thrown the boxes back together and restacked them, but I decided I'd better deal with them since they were a mess and so I cleaned out my bookshelves and other areas as well. Day 3, almost done! I'm sad that I'm missing the sun, but so glad that the visual clutter won't be clogging up my brain.

How are things going for you? I must catch up in the next couple of days!