Pano - Feb 26th

Pano - Feb 26th.

Although we had a snowfall on Feb 22nd, the sun came out and helped the snow disappear.

Snowfall pano - Feb 22/09

Pano from porch in snowfall - Feb 22, 2009

Doggy playtime

All these photos were taken on Feb 19th.


Believe it or not, it was rare to be able to get all four dogs in one photo.


Labs are a really special breed of dog. Beautiful, intelligent, trainable, hard-working, hard-playing, food-loving, lovable doorknobs. As you might have guessed, Tawny and Toffee have their eye on a treat.


Here are Tawny and Toffee playing fetch. Toffee didn't quite get the concept. She thought it was more fun to play keep-away with Taz, and she was quite good at it too!


Here Freda is having a moment with Tawny and Toffee.


Toffee loves sticks too, just like Tawny. (go figure)


And this is an excellent action shot of Toffee playing keep-away with Taz. Tawny is on her way to pick up the branch in the background.

President Obama visits Canada

Feb 19, 2009 -- CF-18

President Barack Obama visited Ottawa on Feb 19th, his first official visit to another country since being sworn in as President. I didn't go down to see him, although thousands did. When I was running the snowblower to clear the driveway, a CF-18 (as in photo above) flew overhead very very low, since it was flying below the cloud level.

The POTUS* apparently he threw his security guys into a tizzy when he wanted to go to the market and get some souvenirs for his wife and daughters. The guy who runs the booth where Obama bought the Canada keychain has framed the $5 bill that Obama used to pay for the keychain. The bakery that makes the "Canada" cookies has gone from selling a few dozen a day to several thousand.
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* POTUS - President of the United States

Wolves at the door

When Freda first let Taz out this morning, he started barking up a storm. We thought maybe he saw a deer. When we looked we saw a bush wolf closer than we had ever seen before. Look just above the arrows. They blend in well.

As we watched, the wolf trotted closer, perhaps intrigued by the sound of Taz's bark, and then stopped to sniff something on the ground.

I don't know how high bush wolves can jump, but it isn't unthinkable that they could jump our fence. Deer can, but they have much longer legs than wolves so I suspect they probably cant. I went outside to see if I could scare the wolf away, as they are afraid of people, beacause some have the "fire sticks".

As the wolf was trotting across the back, he stopped and took a "I'll remember you" look.

By the way, you can hear the wolves howling at the moon (or whatever they are howling at) every night, just step outside...

A Saskatchewan winter day

What is a Saskatchewan winter day? Simply put, a bright sunny cloudless blue-sky day, that is not too cold. Well, maybe it would be colder in Saskatchewan after all. It was -10C this morning, and is now -7C. Gorgeous day.

This is Chula (not sure how to spell her name - Spanish for "pretty girl"). This was the third day we gave her the baby aspirin and she seems to be in less pain now -- that's how we interpret her "hobbling along" type of walking.

Chula likes to walk on the leash, and Freda has Tawny and Taz off leash here. Toffee is on the other side of the road, see below.

Toffee is sniffing in the grass here. She is in her own world, sniffing everywhere!

It is such a gorgeous day, I have to show you a pano. Here it is -- not a cloud in the sky. Temp -10C, very light wind.

Sunset pano - Feb 16

Sunset pano - Feb 16th, 2009

Feb 16th - Family Day

February 16th was Family Day in Ontario, the 2nd year for the Provincial stat holiday. About time, as it is a long gap between New Year's and Easter...


Pano - sunset. Brilliant sunset tonight.


Toffee loves getting her belly scratched. Here I was rubbing her tummy with one hand and trying to take a photo with the other. Two attempts and missed her head both times... Whoops!


We tried to get all teh dogs to sit for a photo. Chula has a hard time sitting, so we settiled for the three (L-R), Toffee, Taz, Tawny.


Toffee is a pretty girl and likes to snuggle with people. Here she is resting her heavy bony head on Colleen's lap.


Here is Toffee cuddling with Emma.


Emma loves dogs. She was playing with all of them earlier. We have all the mats all over the place to help Chula out, she finds the floor quite slippery and the mats help her walk without her feel slipping out from underneath here.

A beautiful sunny Sunday morning

We took the four dogs out for the morning walk today. It was beautiful sunny morning, but the wind was cold. We had a ball throw toy for each of the labs (Tawny and Toffee), and a rawhide roll ("bone") for Taz.

Toffee liked running around with the ball in her mouth. Tawny would bring the ball to us for us to throw it for her.

We have discovered that when Taz has a "bone" he won't steal the toys from Tawny. So now we always make sure that he has a rawhide roll when we go out.

We had some neighbours over on Friday night who have a couple of senior dogs. They told us that you can give aspirin to dogs to help with their arthritis. Since Chula is 15, she is well past the senior stage even. Freda bought a bottle of low dose aspirin and we are going to try giving her one pill a day. She has had two pills so far, and Chula actually does seem to be moving a bit better, which is amazing!

Toffee has arrived

Freda had her last week of work at Statistics Canada this week. After a week off, she will start her new job. These pretty roses were given to Freda by her last manager at Stats, Susan, as a 'thank you' for all the hard work that Freda has done. That was very nice!


Toffee has arrived. This bundle of energy is a 2 1/2 year old yellow Labrador retriever. She and Taz had a bit of a scrap (growling contest) at the beginning but things are all sorted now. I kept Tawny and Taz outside for a bit while I worked with Toffee so she learned that she needed to calm down. Here she is, resting on my foot (brown slipper).

Toffee was sitting very nicely while we had a little conversation. She knows that if she behaves then she will get belly rubs. If she misbehaves, she gets no attention (not bad attention like yelling). She is a smart dog and learned quickly, so had lots of belly rubs.

Taz and Tawny waiting patiently (or perhaps impatiently) outside...

Dog Central

Pano - Feb 11th, 2009
I took this panorama on Wednesday, partway through our 36 hour period of +8 C with rain - no rain in this photo. The mild temperatures and rain got rid of a lot of our snow.

Doggie Central - Valentine's Day (Feb 14/09)

After a good walk and play on Saturday morning, there was snoring coming from the green couch, mostly courtesy of Tawny who was laying on her back snoring up a storm. Taz was sleeping too, but as soon as I got the camera out, he decided to move...

Our first dog guest is Chula, which is Spanish for 'pretty girl'. Chula is an old girl, she's 15, and has a bit of trouble getting up on the slippery wood floors so we have put mats all over the place, which makes for a bit of a messy look in the house.

We are expecting our second guest, Toffee, this afternoon. Toffee is a 2 1/2 year old yellow lab, so she and Tawny should have fun playing.

Coffee on Saturday morning

There's nothing better than having a nice relaxing cup of coffee on Saturday morning with two tired doggies, who had a exciting but tiring walk/play on a mild winter day.

How to keep a dog busy for hours

We had a new package of rawhide rolls, and the dogs love chewing them. Here Taz is going to town with one. This keeps sometimes them busy for a 2-3 hours, by which time they have normally finished it up.

Tawny loving one of the Alpo Cheweez that we give them after breakfast and supper to keep their teeth clean.

A beautiful winter day

pretty frost on the trees

nice day, looking towards the back of the property

looking towards the house

Tawny loves this "frisbee" made from firehose because there are so many ways for her to pick it up!

Caution: Dogs at Play

Tawny loves playing catch, with a frisbee, ball, stick, anything really. She really likes things she can catch which means we try not to throw sticks because she could injure herself or get splinters in her mouth or caught between her teeth (yes, she has had this happen). We have a "frisbee" that is made from a firehose material that is supposed to be very tough. That's an admirable quality since dogs are very tough on their toys. Unfortunately the firehose frisbee doesn't actually fly like a frisbee too well. However, it is very flexible and there are several ways that the dogs can pick it up, so they both like it. Here, I luckily happened to catch Tawny running with the firehose "frisbee" - you can see her ears flapping in the breeze!

When Tawny gets tired, she sits down on the road and waits for you to throw the frisbee to her. Very funny!

Our neighbour came out with his dog Vasha and Taz and Tawny had a little play. Taz was preoccupied with chewing on his "bone" (rawhide roll) so he didn't play too long.


We walked down to see the horse Cooper, but sadly this was the best of the photos. Just as I went to take the photo, as I was petting his nose, he jerked his head up and all I got was this extreme close-up - haha!!