Posts Tagged ‘Jenn’

Posts Tagged ‘Jenn’


Scrounges and Brothers

5.31.2010 | 2 Comments

Ladner May Days was in town this weekend, and although I missed out on it for the most part, my dogs Jenn and Luna seemed to really enjoy themselves with all the wonder that the Fair has to offer. This is my impression of what was going through my dogs’ brains as we walked through the park this morning…

Tree, tree, dirt – HOTDOG!? Score! Grass, grass, I know that dog, dirt, tree – NACHOS! With CHEESE! Dirt, dirt – MINI DONUT! Tree, grass – FRENCH FRIES! Dirt – HAMBURGER BUN?! This is AWESOME!

In an attempt to steer them away from all edible, rain-soaked and disgusting things, I walked them through town. Along the parade route…

Plant, flower, sidewalk, plant – CANDY!! Paper bag, plastic cup – CANDY!! Plant, plant – CANDY!! Dirt, weeds, plant – CANDY!!

Needless to say, our 40-minute walk took about 2 hours. In the rain.  Stupid greedy dogs.

Aaaaaaaaaaanyway… Ali and I went back to hike the Brother’s Creek trail yesterday, and we had a lovely time. That really is a great trail, but it’s a bit short. It’s supposed to take 4 hours, but it takes us about 2.5 hours. We have decided to do it twice next time around. Well, that’s what we’ve decided now… given that we’ve forgotten about:

And:

(yes, that’s water cascading down those steps)

However, it really is a beautiful and unique spot. Check out this weird pond we saw:

Cool, eh? Oh! And what about the big, honkin’ trees? Those are cool, too!

And then there are the weird, wonderful, wooly animals!

Ok, so it’s not the best photo, but still… it was a totally bizarre dog. Like a basset hound crossed with a yellow lab. Odd little bugger. Cute, but odd.

And of course, there is the view from between the trees…

It’s a great hike. Not too strenuous, and we did a whole lot better this time around than when we first attempted it. Oh, and no Nazi tree this time! It had been hacked up, splintered and rotted to within an inch of its life. Crazy what a difference 4 months can make in the forest.

And so, we finished our hike, and headed for home. We soon saw that the Lion’s Gate Bridge was at a crawl. We weren’t opposed to sitting in traffic, but as we discussed it, we realized that we shouldn’t sit in traffic because… ummm… all that idling would be bad for the environment. We needed to step up and do our part to keep the planet green! Proudly, we made the decision to turn off before the bridge and to do something for the good of mankind…

Muuuuuuuch better…

Happy beering hiking!

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Long Walkies to Freedom

4.14.2010 | 0 Comments

Last night, I was subjected to the mind powers of the most convincing eyes in the world:

Looooook into my eyyyyyyyyyyyyyyes… You will take us on a loooooong walkies tomorrow morning… a looooong walkies, just like you used to before you and the couch became one…

It’s true. I used to take Jenn and Luna on long walks in the morning before I went to work. But I lost some motivation, then I got pneumonia, so they’ve been having short 10-15 minute jaunts for about 3 weeks now. I feel pretty guilty. Perhaps I *should* take them for a long walk…

*The next morning*

MOM? MOM? YOU AWAKE YET? MOM? HEY MOM. MOM. MOM…

*pokepokepoke*  *nosenosenose*

MOM!!

I’m up! I’m up! Ok, ok… Let’s go for that long walkies…

It was a beautiful morning. It has finally become One-Jacket Weather in good ‘ol Ladner. The morning was bright, the birds were singing, my mocha was perfect, and Jenn and Luna were running around like idiots (my friend Sheena calls this “The Zoomies” – which if you’re a dog owner, you will completely understand), happy to be out and about in the fresh Spring air of the morning. I love these 6am walks, I really do. So why have I denied the girls AND myself this most wonderful of rituals?

It felt great to get out and exercise, too. I’ve been so stagnant, and so lazy that I forgot how lovely it is to just walk around my community. The seals bark at me from the river, the swans gracefully ignore me, the ducks nervously mumble-quack as I stroll by, my fellow early-walkers greet me with a smile and a nod. What a perfect start to the day.

From here on in, we’re rockin’ the long walkies in the morning.

It’s good to be back.

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Yesterday… All my Pneumonia Seemed So Far Away…

4.11.2010 | 0 Comments

Yesterday I went around town approaching business owners for donations to the Kili Gala Raffle. I had a GREAT response! Everyone I approached was keen to help, and I was able to get some really neat things. THANK YOU!

I am going to get more posters copied and head into Tsawwassen today to try the same thing. Here’s hoping that business owners there as just as open to the idea!

I walked around Ladner for about 45 minutes yesterday, and by the time I got home, I was completely exhausted. It’s not until I try and actually *do* something that I realize how sick I actually am. I’m getting better, but I’m not necessarily getting smarter about taking it easy.

This morning I woke up and was feeling ok. A whole lot less coughing, and the rattle in my chest seems to have gone away. I decided to treat the dogs and go for our regular Weekend Morning Walk. I feel so bad that they’ve had to be kept to short walkies, so I was happy to oblige them today. We went out for 45 minutes, and it went really well for all of us (well, except for Luna who decided to go selectively deaf when she got near any garbage cans).

I’m going to relax, then take the girls to McDonald Beach at noon, so they can play with their Auntie Sheena and their cousins Tweed, Piper, Mr. Woo, Dexter and TWooie. It’ll be nice because all I have to do is sit on a log and throw sticks in the water. Nice job if you can get it, really.

Happy Jenn!

Happy Luna!

Happy Robyn!


*Ok, ok – so it’s not the same beach. Heck, it isn’t even the same continent! But you get the idea…

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YAPYAPYAPYAPYAPYAP!

3.28.2010 | 4 Comments

I’ll admit it: I’m a law-breaker. I walk my two dogs without leash.

Call me in! Tell the cops! Have me tossed in the hoosegow!

I walk my two border collies each morning, happily sipping away at my mocha, as they gallivant through town, happy as waggy-tailed larks. They are well-trained beasts, and they listen to me. They can walk about 10 feet in front of me, but if I say “not so far, please”, they’ll come back a bit and walk closer.

To a dog, there is an entire world to sniff out there. Every day is a new day to them, and even though they’ve run their schnoz across the same ground 16 times in the past 4 days, it doesn’t matter – what is old is new again, thanks to the setting and the rising of the sun. My dogs are busy when they walk with with me; sniff here, run there, eat that thing, get yelled at for eating that thing, run over there, bring this thing here… it’s a never-ending Walk of Adventure.

So really, on walks, my dogs honestly don’t care much about anyone else but me. Unless you happen to be made of dog-cookie dough, Luna will ignore you. If you have a stick, Jenn would love to make your acquaintance. Otherwise, she’s got stuff to do, man. Border collies are known for being aloof and snobby. Even if Luna actually does stoop to approach a human, if you go to pet her, she’ll veer off to the left and leave you standing there looking like a fool.

Dude. You just got snubbed by a dog. Not cool. I feel really bad for people when Lu’ does this to them, and it’s so embarrassing to see them walk away nonchalantly as if they didn’t really want to pat that dumb dog anyway.

Generally when I come across people while walking my dogs, we exchange cordial greetings and carry on. Occasionally, I will get the impression that people are not keen on my having my dogs off-leash, and so I call Jenn and Lu’ to me and have them sit and wait until the passers-by have gone on. This usually invokes a ‘what well-trained dogs!’ or a ‘thank you’. But every once in a while, I get someone who is quite angry with me for walking my dogs off leash. Fair enough.

This morning, a lady who was walking her coat-bedecked cute fuzzball, quite angrily asked me where my leashes were. Then she lit into me, admonishing me for having my dogs off leash.

At least, I *think* that’s what she said. I couldn’t quite hear her over her precious little fuzzy angel’s incessant barking. The lady was having a difficult time yelling at me, as she needed to concentrate on holding her dog back as it was pulling and straining on its leash trying to sink its angel teeth into my leg. My dogs had long since passed this woman and her dog without even a sideways glance. There was grass to eat. There were things to pee on. That rock wasn’t there yesterday! OMG I THINK A SQUIRREL WAS HERE 14 HOURS AGO!

I listened to the lady for a short few seconds, but then as I was getting more annoyed at her dog’s YAPYAPYAP-ing, I realized that I needed to walk away before I said something I was going to regret. I wished her a happy day and walked on, leaving her words to bounce off my back as I carried on.

Here’s the deal: go ahead and get mad at me when you see me walking my dogs off leash. But if you can’t control your own dog while doing so, perhaps you should reconsider your rant.

This whole off-leash dog park business that’s been the hot topic of late is so simple to solve. It’s mind-blowing why it’s such a huge problem. Give dog owners a space. Just a small park where dogs can get the exercise they need, which ensures that non-dog people are comfortable in their own community.

I’m a law breaker. An evil, terrible, relentless criminal. I’m ok with that.

At least I know that I have the love of two very happy, well-trained, well-fed, much-exercised, dearly-loved dogs. To me, that’s all that matters. I offer no apologies.

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Dog Heaven’s Eagles.

2.20.2010 | 0 Comments

This morning I was hoping to walk the dogs at the Delta Watershed, but unfortunately my hip had other plans. “Level ground, please!” it said. I listened.

I went instead to the Super Secret Special Awesome park, known as the aptly named “Dog Heaven” to the astute of us. I won’t tell you where it is, so don’t even ask! Well… I’ll tell you if you make a donation, how about that?

And what did Dog Heaven reward me with this time? Well, by the time I got out of the car and let the dogs out of their crates (safety first, people!) I had counted nine bald eagles. After walking into the park, I counted ten more. It was incredible. Not only were they sitting in the trees scoping out the buffet fields below, they were flying in the crisp air, chasing each other through the tangles of branches, dipping down and soaring up in a game that I can only ever dream of playing.

They flew so close overhead that I could see their eyes scanning us, disappointed perhaps that Jenn and Lu’ were not shivering teacup poodles but heavy, lithe Border Collies.

At one point I saw an eagle bring a piece of… something gross… to a branch high in a tree, and before he could even start breakfast, two more eagles landed on the same branch and made wholehearted attempts to steal the treasure. There was a loud *crack*, as the weight of the three incredibly beautiful birds of prey snapped the branch from the tree, sending all three spiraling off for a millisecond before catching themselves and soaring gracefully to another tree.

And after my walk through the sunshine of the cold morning, as I headed back to the car, in the distance I could make out another tree across the street from Dog Heaven that was all but laden down with the black forms of nearly two dozen eagles, like some surreal Christmas Tree, decorated by Edgar Allen Poe.

And so, with the dogs safely tucked in their crates, I drove us home to continue the day that started so uniquely. We live in a beautiful place, and mornings like this serve to remind me not to take it for granted. Home is where my heart is, that’s for sure.

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Condo-manjaro

2.12.2010 | 2 Comments

How the simple act of living in my home is preparing me for the many different facets of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro:

The Cold
As a way to save money, I have basically had my heat off for the entire winter season. The reason for this is because I only have costly baseboard heaters, which some fantastically intelligent designer placed right under the biggest windows in my condo. Heat gloriously comes up, heat evilly gets sucked out into the great unknown.

The Heat
I have decided that in order to get myself used to the heat that I will be facing when I go to Tanzania, I am going to use my oven more often. If this means that I have to bake more cookies, then by god, I’ll just have to suffer through it. Cake in the name of adventure!

The Scree Slope
My dog Jenn is a tennis ball addict. At any given time, there can be upwards of 17 tennis balls scattered around my home (I’m not kidding). Often, as I stumble through the dark of night or the bleary morning, I am jolted awake by stepping on one of these fuzzy landmines and having my foot slip out from under me.

The Rain forest
I have a highly effective black thumb, and so no plant life has had the fortune to thrive in my home. Therefore I have had to resort to other means in order to try and understand the rain forest environment. I now take extended, hot showers with the bathroom fan off.

The Wild Animals
It is a common occurrence to be woken in the morning by the glorious feeling of a cold nose being shoved in my eye. Yes, my eye. If this does not work, my way-too-intelligent dog will slap her paw across my nostrils, causing me to splutter awake and be forced into the happy, waggy morning.

The Ascent
To best prepare myself for climbing more than 19,000 ft, I have made the decision to not use the elevator in my building. I use the stairs to go up to, and down from, my condo. Even if I have groceries, have just gotten back from having Cara kick my butt at the gym, or if I’ve had a long day, I still make the effort to climb those stairs. Sure I live on the first floor, but still!

The Altitude
I believe I can accurately understand the effects of Altitude Sickness due to my fondness for, and happy consumption of, champagne. This can lead to dizziness, giddiness, hallucinations, headaches and nausea. But usually it doesn’t. Usually.

By the time August comes around, I believe I’ll be fully prepared.

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*Boom*

2.08.2010 | 0 Comments

On Sundays, I usually go for a 3-5 hour hike with my good friend Ali, somewhere in the great, beautiful awesomeness that is Vancouver.

Saturdays and Mondays, I get on my treadmill for at least an hour and a half.

On Tuesday nights, I go to the crazy (but incredible) Core yoga class at OSY.

Wednesday nights are when I attend my Hatha yoga classes at OSY.

And Thursday nights I go to my extremely difficult (but fantastic) personal training class with Cara Thien.

Every day of the week starts with me walking Jenn and Luna for about 30 minutes, and every day of the week ends with me walking Jenn and Luna for about an hour.

And as tough as all this physical training is, the hardest, most tiring, most brain-draining part of this whole adventure… is planning the fund-raising gala. It’s the one thing (aside from altitude sickness) that stresses me out the most. It’s almost head-explosion worthy.

I like having things planned out pretty far in advance, and not being able to do that with the Kili Gala is really quite difficult for me. It was good to *not* hike with Ali yesterday, as we just sat down and chatted about all of our upcoming find-raising events a bit.

This is way more work than I thought it would be.

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The Girls Break my Heart

1.16.2010 | 2 Comments

I am having a dilemma of the heart. It is as follows…

I have two dogs; Jenn, a two-and-a-half year old purebred Border Collie who I fostered (and then ultimately adopted from) the AWESOME That’ll Do Border Collie Rescue in Vancouver, and Luna my nine year old dog who was rescued from a trailer after her first owners moved away and left her locked in there to starve to death (nice, huh?).

This is Jenn:

She is goofy, energetic, playful, crazy, energetic, loving, happy, energetic, eternally puppy-esque, adorable and energetic. I don’t think I’ve ever been able to completely tire her out – she just goes and goes and goes…

And this is Luna:

Luna is my Old Soul Dog. She is a Border Collie cross (I have no idea what she’s crossed with – maybe something smart, like an astrophysicist, or a seal…), and she is the Greatest Dog Who Ever Lived. She is calm, stoic, grateful, loving, at times goofy, and always perfect.

I take these two everywhere I can (you may have seen them outside the grocery store, in the bank, or wandering around Ladner with me), but when I have to go to work or other places that dogs simply cannot be, then they get to go to “Grandma’s” (my awesome mom) for ‘daycare’. I walk Jenn and Lu’ at least 2x a day, and my mom walks them 2x a day, as well. They get a lot of exercise, and they are very happy.

My dilemma, though, is this: Luna was born and raised in the East Kootenays. She is an Outdoorsy Dog, and the forest is her favourite place to be. However, she is now quite old, and even a 40-minute walk around town is getting to be too much for her. She has a wacky liver, an arthritic spine and a bum leg. But she’s still a happy, mobile and life-enjoying dog.

Jenn, on the other hand, is somewhat more energetic (have I mentioned that?) than Lu’, and can run like a maniac for hours on end, stopping only to lap up water, dig holes, or bring a stick/tennis ball/piece of garbage to drop at my feet.

I can hike with Jenn, but not with Lu’.

Lu’ simply does not have the physical capacity anymore. Sure, she’ll push herself and love every minute, but the moment she stops, she is going to be in a lot of pain, and will be so very unhappy for a few days after the hike. Luna, the one who lives for the forest and the trees… has to stay home.

So, if I bring them both hiking, Luna will ultimately suffer. If I just bring Jenn, Luna will know that we’ve gone somewhere wonderful (oh, that canine nose!), and that she wasn’t invited. It’ll break her heart. If I go without either of them, I feel like a guilty, horrible schmuck, knowing that they would both love to be there, and that they should be there, instead of sitting at home waiting for my return.

*sigh*

So far, this has been the hardest part of my training. My poor heart.

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