Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Trouble with a capital “T”
So I have been volunteering some time lately. I am out of money, apparently, and although I am short on time, I have more of that than I do of money, so that’s what you get if you’re a worthy charity in my area. The worthy charity is a rescue foundation that brought 56 dogs and 12 cats back from the hurricane-ravaged area of Louisiana.
I have been spending time with the dogs in the kennel where they are being (temporarily) housed. These dogs are wonderful. I am quite sure the cats are wonderful, too, and saw them briefly before they were all fostered out, all except for one feral cat who will not come out of his cage and is freaked-out all to hell. He was not at all pleased about being caged in the first place, but likes the idea of a well-lit room full of people even less, so he just sits in his cage, hunkering down. Poor guy. There is a woman who is volunteering exclusively with him, spending inordinate amounts of time just sitting quietly with him, talking to him, being near him in an unthreatening way. Hopefully, he will become comfortable enough with the idea of being near a person so he can be adopted out to a single-animal home, with someone equally non-threatening.
The animals who were brought back from Louisiana were “last-chance” animals, meaning that they had no identification and no way of being reunited with their families, or were surrendered pets, presumably given up willingly by people who realized they had no homes left any more and nowhere to keep a pet or even live for a while, maybe a long while at that. Had they been left where they were, they would likely have been destroyed, or kept in a kennel for a very, very long time, which is no life for a dog or a cat.
The dogs I am “working” with are fantastic animals. They are mostly young dogs, although there are a few older ones, and they are mostly medium-sized (I had expected to see a lot more large dogs, but there you go). They are also mostly short-haired, too, which makes sense seeing as how they came from a warmer climate. They are all cute. They are all loving. They are all friendly and really, really nice.
When I say “working”, I mean doing small, menial tasks, such as cleaning some poop out of their kennels, or taking the dogs (individually) to the exercise yard. But mostly, what I am doing is sitting with the dogs, and visiting with them in their kennels. The first week I started, I was instructed to just sit and visit with each of the dogs and pet them, talk to them, tell them they’re good dogs. Which is exactly what I did. I gave them hugs and petted them and snuggled with them, and tried to clean their fur, and tried to play with their toys. A lot of them weren’t that interested in playing, but they loved the snuggling.
There is a sort of a quarantine policy in place at the kennel, whereby you have to disinfect your hands after each time you touch one dog before you can handle another, and since they found out some of the small puppies had parvo, the volunteers and workers now all wear plastic garbage bags over their clothing and there are disinfection trays you have to step in before going from one section of the place to any other.
On the first weekend I was there, I was taking turns sitting with the dogs in their kennels, and came across one small black dog named Penny. Penny was sick. She was shaking, and coughing, and was generally quite unhappy. She was in a kennel with a small poodle cross who had no interest in her or much in me, either, and he seemed pretty content just to sleep on his blankets. Penny, though, needed some attention. I sat down in her kennel, and she crawled onto my lap, and I just held her there, talking to her and petting her. Before I knew it, an hour had passed. I kept looking at my watch, and thinking I should be spending some time with the other dogs, and that it wasn’t fair Penny was taking up everyone’s time, but any time I even thought about moving, my heart broke for Penny. After about an hour and a half, I told her I would be right back, and went to find the director in charge of things there.
I told her Penny was sick. I told her that I didn’t want to see Penny left in the kennel any more, sick and cold on the hard concrete floor, and that I could get her a good foster home right away. She came and looked at Penny with me, and agreed. I went back in with Penny for another half hour or so, and promised her I would get her into a nice warm home by tomorrow at the latest.
I called my mother. I explained the situation. I asked her if it would be alright for her to keep Penny “temporarily”, just until she gets adopted, because it would be so much better for Penny to be in a nice warm home with heat and a bed of her own and people to talk to her all the time. My mother said she’d have to talk to The Grumpaw about it, and his response was “NO DOGS!!”. And of course, we ignored him.
I took Penny there to their house the very next day. I couldn’t wait to get her to a happy place. It’s not that the kennels are bad, really, but they aren’t home situations. And the Louisiana dogs are sick, they have a sort of pneumonia, as it turns out.
Penny was very happy to get into a home situation, where she has a yard and a house and people. She gets two walks per day, and she can go outside whenever she wants, and my mother spends tons of time with her, talking to and petting her. Penny is smaller, about 30 lbs, and sort of a black lab/terrier cross, with bright, bright eyes and a gentle, quiet disposition. She is a wonderful little dog, and I have already fallen in love with her.
So, apparently, have my parents and my sister, Lala.
The first night Penny was there, The Grumpaw told my mother that it would be “better” if Penny spent the night in their room. Penny was restless the first night, and spent most of the night trying to clean herself off, trying to get rid of the smell of the kennel and the other dogs and the disinfectants. They had to put her out of their room in the early morning hours so they could sleep. My mother gave her a warm bath and blow-dried her the next morning. And instead of having her bed in their room, Penny was given her own designated chair in the living room (the leather recliner!) with her own blanket on it.
Over the next few days, Penny’s health improved a little, but it got worse towards the end of the week. Finally, on Sunday evening, my mother took her in to the vet and he prescribed Penny some anti-biotics. We’re expecting to see some improvement in the next day.
By last Thursday, though, I had been over to take some digital pictures of Penny to put up on the rescue group’s website, so her profile could be seen by potential adopters. I called my parents to tell them that, and each reacted negatively. I had thought it would have taken about a week for them to fall in love with her, but apparently it only took five days. They told me not to send the pictures in, that Laura wanted to adopt her, or that they would adopt her instead. So Penny has a potential home, and all we’re waiting for is the form to go through the rescue foundation’s processes, and possibly a home visit.
I was at the kennels yesterday, volunteering. The dogs vary in age and size, and they brought back two little black lab type puppies, names Amos and Abby. Amos is a smart one. He figured out right away how to nudge the latch on his kennel open, and managed to escape a couple of times before they put a clip on the latch to keep it shut. Yesterday, I was out in the yard with PJ, a large golden retriever sort of dog, trying to get him to walk a bit (he preferred to cling to my legs instead) when I heard a huge racket from inside the kennel, dogs going crazy. Seconds later, the door to the yard exploded open, and these two little black shapes launched themselves at us, all licking and bouncing and wiggling and jumping everywhere. Amos & Abby had escaped.
I sort of stood there, stunned for a second, until I realized this had disaster written all over it. I had no idea how PJ would react to the puppies (who are about 8 months old). Thank goodness he wasn’t dog-reactive or anything, and he just sat there, sedately, while they climbed all over him. I ran back inside to get some leashes for Amos & Abby, and took them back to their kennel. I couldn’t find their clip, so I figured perhaps some other volunteer didn’t know and didn’t put it back on when they were put away last time. I looked around and found a shower-curtain ring to use to clip the latch shut, and went back outside to spend some time with PJ. Seconds later, though, Amos & Abby were back out.
I put them back again, and found their clip in their kennel and put it on the door. And went back outside with PJ. And less than a minute later, they were back out again.
I put PJ away this time, and then caught Amos & Abby, who were getting into everything in the kennel – the blankets, the food, the toys – and the other dogs were going crazy to see them out and running free. I replaced the clip again with the clip-part outside their kennel, hoping to deter them from getting free again, and then disinfected myself and went to walk Fideaux, a little reddish-coloured puppy. Oh yeah. Sure. Just as I got him out of his kennel, there was a final escape by the pair of trouble-makers. And as they shot by me, Fideaux also managed to get free, so I had to chase down three dogs and kennel each of them.
Finally, I put Amos & Abby into their kennel and rigged the clip up as best I could so they couldn’t unhitch it again, and ran out to the front to see if there was anything stronger we could use to keep them captive. Apparently, that style of clip is really the best they have, and if a dog can figure that out, they’re not sure what to do with him/her. We ended up clipping the latch again and tying the door shut with a leash, which Amos & Abby were chewing on when I left. Smart dogs, but pure mischief.
Volunteering with the animals is a very good thing. I can see that it makes a difference to their lives, and feel so much better when I have a little time to spend with them. I think it’s worthwhile, anyway, so that makes me feel better… I know these Louisiana dogs are in a tough situation, but so are all abandoned or surrendered dogs, and if you have an opportunity in your area to volunteer with animals, do it.
I have been spending time with the dogs in the kennel where they are being (temporarily) housed. These dogs are wonderful. I am quite sure the cats are wonderful, too, and saw them briefly before they were all fostered out, all except for one feral cat who will not come out of his cage and is freaked-out all to hell. He was not at all pleased about being caged in the first place, but likes the idea of a well-lit room full of people even less, so he just sits in his cage, hunkering down. Poor guy. There is a woman who is volunteering exclusively with him, spending inordinate amounts of time just sitting quietly with him, talking to him, being near him in an unthreatening way. Hopefully, he will become comfortable enough with the idea of being near a person so he can be adopted out to a single-animal home, with someone equally non-threatening.
The animals who were brought back from Louisiana were “last-chance” animals, meaning that they had no identification and no way of being reunited with their families, or were surrendered pets, presumably given up willingly by people who realized they had no homes left any more and nowhere to keep a pet or even live for a while, maybe a long while at that. Had they been left where they were, they would likely have been destroyed, or kept in a kennel for a very, very long time, which is no life for a dog or a cat.
The dogs I am “working” with are fantastic animals. They are mostly young dogs, although there are a few older ones, and they are mostly medium-sized (I had expected to see a lot more large dogs, but there you go). They are also mostly short-haired, too, which makes sense seeing as how they came from a warmer climate. They are all cute. They are all loving. They are all friendly and really, really nice.
When I say “working”, I mean doing small, menial tasks, such as cleaning some poop out of their kennels, or taking the dogs (individually) to the exercise yard. But mostly, what I am doing is sitting with the dogs, and visiting with them in their kennels. The first week I started, I was instructed to just sit and visit with each of the dogs and pet them, talk to them, tell them they’re good dogs. Which is exactly what I did. I gave them hugs and petted them and snuggled with them, and tried to clean their fur, and tried to play with their toys. A lot of them weren’t that interested in playing, but they loved the snuggling.
There is a sort of a quarantine policy in place at the kennel, whereby you have to disinfect your hands after each time you touch one dog before you can handle another, and since they found out some of the small puppies had parvo, the volunteers and workers now all wear plastic garbage bags over their clothing and there are disinfection trays you have to step in before going from one section of the place to any other.
On the first weekend I was there, I was taking turns sitting with the dogs in their kennels, and came across one small black dog named Penny. Penny was sick. She was shaking, and coughing, and was generally quite unhappy. She was in a kennel with a small poodle cross who had no interest in her or much in me, either, and he seemed pretty content just to sleep on his blankets. Penny, though, needed some attention. I sat down in her kennel, and she crawled onto my lap, and I just held her there, talking to her and petting her. Before I knew it, an hour had passed. I kept looking at my watch, and thinking I should be spending some time with the other dogs, and that it wasn’t fair Penny was taking up everyone’s time, but any time I even thought about moving, my heart broke for Penny. After about an hour and a half, I told her I would be right back, and went to find the director in charge of things there.
I told her Penny was sick. I told her that I didn’t want to see Penny left in the kennel any more, sick and cold on the hard concrete floor, and that I could get her a good foster home right away. She came and looked at Penny with me, and agreed. I went back in with Penny for another half hour or so, and promised her I would get her into a nice warm home by tomorrow at the latest.
I called my mother. I explained the situation. I asked her if it would be alright for her to keep Penny “temporarily”, just until she gets adopted, because it would be so much better for Penny to be in a nice warm home with heat and a bed of her own and people to talk to her all the time. My mother said she’d have to talk to The Grumpaw about it, and his response was “NO DOGS!!”. And of course, we ignored him.
I took Penny there to their house the very next day. I couldn’t wait to get her to a happy place. It’s not that the kennels are bad, really, but they aren’t home situations. And the Louisiana dogs are sick, they have a sort of pneumonia, as it turns out.
Penny was very happy to get into a home situation, where she has a yard and a house and people. She gets two walks per day, and she can go outside whenever she wants, and my mother spends tons of time with her, talking to and petting her. Penny is smaller, about 30 lbs, and sort of a black lab/terrier cross, with bright, bright eyes and a gentle, quiet disposition. She is a wonderful little dog, and I have already fallen in love with her.
So, apparently, have my parents and my sister, Lala.
The first night Penny was there, The Grumpaw told my mother that it would be “better” if Penny spent the night in their room. Penny was restless the first night, and spent most of the night trying to clean herself off, trying to get rid of the smell of the kennel and the other dogs and the disinfectants. They had to put her out of their room in the early morning hours so they could sleep. My mother gave her a warm bath and blow-dried her the next morning. And instead of having her bed in their room, Penny was given her own designated chair in the living room (the leather recliner!) with her own blanket on it.
Over the next few days, Penny’s health improved a little, but it got worse towards the end of the week. Finally, on Sunday evening, my mother took her in to the vet and he prescribed Penny some anti-biotics. We’re expecting to see some improvement in the next day.
By last Thursday, though, I had been over to take some digital pictures of Penny to put up on the rescue group’s website, so her profile could be seen by potential adopters. I called my parents to tell them that, and each reacted negatively. I had thought it would have taken about a week for them to fall in love with her, but apparently it only took five days. They told me not to send the pictures in, that Laura wanted to adopt her, or that they would adopt her instead. So Penny has a potential home, and all we’re waiting for is the form to go through the rescue foundation’s processes, and possibly a home visit.
I was at the kennels yesterday, volunteering. The dogs vary in age and size, and they brought back two little black lab type puppies, names Amos and Abby. Amos is a smart one. He figured out right away how to nudge the latch on his kennel open, and managed to escape a couple of times before they put a clip on the latch to keep it shut. Yesterday, I was out in the yard with PJ, a large golden retriever sort of dog, trying to get him to walk a bit (he preferred to cling to my legs instead) when I heard a huge racket from inside the kennel, dogs going crazy. Seconds later, the door to the yard exploded open, and these two little black shapes launched themselves at us, all licking and bouncing and wiggling and jumping everywhere. Amos & Abby had escaped.
I sort of stood there, stunned for a second, until I realized this had disaster written all over it. I had no idea how PJ would react to the puppies (who are about 8 months old). Thank goodness he wasn’t dog-reactive or anything, and he just sat there, sedately, while they climbed all over him. I ran back inside to get some leashes for Amos & Abby, and took them back to their kennel. I couldn’t find their clip, so I figured perhaps some other volunteer didn’t know and didn’t put it back on when they were put away last time. I looked around and found a shower-curtain ring to use to clip the latch shut, and went back outside to spend some time with PJ. Seconds later, though, Amos & Abby were back out.
I put them back again, and found their clip in their kennel and put it on the door. And went back outside with PJ. And less than a minute later, they were back out again.
I put PJ away this time, and then caught Amos & Abby, who were getting into everything in the kennel – the blankets, the food, the toys – and the other dogs were going crazy to see them out and running free. I replaced the clip again with the clip-part outside their kennel, hoping to deter them from getting free again, and then disinfected myself and went to walk Fideaux, a little reddish-coloured puppy. Oh yeah. Sure. Just as I got him out of his kennel, there was a final escape by the pair of trouble-makers. And as they shot by me, Fideaux also managed to get free, so I had to chase down three dogs and kennel each of them.
Finally, I put Amos & Abby into their kennel and rigged the clip up as best I could so they couldn’t unhitch it again, and ran out to the front to see if there was anything stronger we could use to keep them captive. Apparently, that style of clip is really the best they have, and if a dog can figure that out, they’re not sure what to do with him/her. We ended up clipping the latch again and tying the door shut with a leash, which Amos & Abby were chewing on when I left. Smart dogs, but pure mischief.
Volunteering with the animals is a very good thing. I can see that it makes a difference to their lives, and feel so much better when I have a little time to spend with them. I think it’s worthwhile, anyway, so that makes me feel better… I know these Louisiana dogs are in a tough situation, but so are all abandoned or surrendered dogs, and if you have an opportunity in your area to volunteer with animals, do it.
Friday, October 14, 2005
Fall doesn’t suck THAT much…
Ah, another Friday. It has been busy, but I have not accomplished much lately.
Last weekend was very nice – Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend here. I enjoyed a couple of outings with my sister, Lala, and we went hiking in Lake Louise. We drove out towards the mountains with the intention of taking a bit of a nice walk in the woods type of arrangement, and Lala said she knew of a Ribbon Creek walk that wasn’t too onerous. She said it was just around Canmore, and that she’d know the turnoff when she saw it.
Well, we drove by Canmore. No turnoff. Then she thought it might be around the Banff townsite, so we drove there, too. No turnoff. I asked her after a bit if she wasn’t referring to the Ribbon Creek area in Kananaskis. And sure enough, yes, that was the one. Nowhere near Canmore or Banff at all, really. So instead, we just kept on going to Lake Louise, and thought we might hike up to the Tea Hut instead.
We stopped for lunch at the little plaza there, and went into the café/bakery to get a sandwich or something. On the way into the parking lot, a little wizened old man stood defiantly in front of my car, in the middle of the road, and stared at me. I slowed down, not wanting to get old man on my car, and he did not move. It was not unlike encountering a cow or an elk on the road, where they just stand there, and look at you like they have no idea what you are doing. After a minute, I thought he might charge, so I went around him, slowly. Lala commented that “holy cow, that guy MUST be European.”
So I look at her, and laugh, and say “what makes you say that?”, and she says “Those Europeans are always doing shit like that. So inconsiderate.”
When we got into the café, it was packed. And people cut in line in front of us, and the servers were extremely slow and recalcitrant. I was not at all impressed. There were a million desserts, and they all looked tasty and tempting, but we did not buy ANY, because of the horrible treatment we received at the place. We got sandwiches and got the hell out of there as fast as we could, with Lala rounding out her cultural commentary with “God! All Japanese men smoke. Disgusting!”
We then made our way to the Lake Louise Lodge so we could find the tea house trailhead, and as soon as I turned into the parking lot, I knew it was a bad idea. Circling once, I decided we would NOT hike here, but go back down the mountain to another little trail I had spotted that looked decidedly less crowded. We landed, finally, at Pleasant Creek or something like that, and went into the woods. Lo, they were dark and cool. And got colder and colder as we proceeded up the trail.
The trail forked, and of course, we picked the steeper fork. We started to see snow on the ground, and more and more of that, and eventually Lala said she couldn’t take the cold any more. I, myself, was freezing, but there was no way I was going to admit that sort of defeat. So we turned back. We got back to the fork, and took the other one, which seemed like less of a climb. We didn’t get very far, of course, before we ran into a trail closure with a little “ATTENTION!” sign. Lala said “Oh, well, I guess we head back…” but I could not go back without reading the sign. Which said, sure enough, “Hiking permitted in groups of six or more only, due to bear activity in the area. Bears are currently frequenting the Pleasant Valley area and bla bla bla other areas…”
We had a little discussion, then, about why six was better than, say, five, and whether we would be alright if we just made the noise of a six-person hiking party, which we proceeded to do all the way back down the trail. Really, we were probably perfectly safe, because we were being pretty loud on the trail before we saw the sign anyway. We did make it back to the car without being eaten at all.
It was a fun day, all in all. I hope we can do more of that. Lala has broken up with her ex-fiance-boyfriend-guy, so she’s a lot more available these days, even if she is a little sad about the whole thing.
On Monday, Rob was back from camping so we did some errands around the house, and picked some apples. We have an apple tree in the back yard that is about ten times larger than the ones out front, so we have a lot of apples to go through this fall. I spent most of Tuesday evening peeling, cutting and freezing apples to be used later in baking. And I only went through ONE bag of apples, whereas we managed to pick SIX. In 30 minutes or so. And we really haven’t touched the tree yet.
I have also started volunteering with the group that rescued dogs from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina down in Louisiana. This group brought back 56 dogs and 12 cats from the area, and they are being housed by Pet Planet here in Calgary. On Wednesday this week, I went and spent a couple of hours with the dogs getting them out for a breath of fresh air while their kennels were being cleaned. I fell in love with all of them, really, and am having a hard time telling myself that I really can’t have another pet. I want one, I really do. These dogs are so wonderful and well-disposed, you would never imagine they have just been through a hurricane.
We have also been very lucky with our weather this week – the trend of unseasonable cold has pretty much ended, and we have had some nice temperatures. I think it’s just winter’s way of teasing us before it snows on us next week. Tomorrow is supposed to be quite warm, really (+18C), so I’m going to try and finish my garden off and get some more apples down.
If I’m really lucky, the warm weather will hold over until next week, and I can be lazy about the garden…
Last weekend was very nice – Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend here. I enjoyed a couple of outings with my sister, Lala, and we went hiking in Lake Louise. We drove out towards the mountains with the intention of taking a bit of a nice walk in the woods type of arrangement, and Lala said she knew of a Ribbon Creek walk that wasn’t too onerous. She said it was just around Canmore, and that she’d know the turnoff when she saw it.
Well, we drove by Canmore. No turnoff. Then she thought it might be around the Banff townsite, so we drove there, too. No turnoff. I asked her after a bit if she wasn’t referring to the Ribbon Creek area in Kananaskis. And sure enough, yes, that was the one. Nowhere near Canmore or Banff at all, really. So instead, we just kept on going to Lake Louise, and thought we might hike up to the Tea Hut instead.
We stopped for lunch at the little plaza there, and went into the café/bakery to get a sandwich or something. On the way into the parking lot, a little wizened old man stood defiantly in front of my car, in the middle of the road, and stared at me. I slowed down, not wanting to get old man on my car, and he did not move. It was not unlike encountering a cow or an elk on the road, where they just stand there, and look at you like they have no idea what you are doing. After a minute, I thought he might charge, so I went around him, slowly. Lala commented that “holy cow, that guy MUST be European.”
So I look at her, and laugh, and say “what makes you say that?”, and she says “Those Europeans are always doing shit like that. So inconsiderate.”
When we got into the café, it was packed. And people cut in line in front of us, and the servers were extremely slow and recalcitrant. I was not at all impressed. There were a million desserts, and they all looked tasty and tempting, but we did not buy ANY, because of the horrible treatment we received at the place. We got sandwiches and got the hell out of there as fast as we could, with Lala rounding out her cultural commentary with “God! All Japanese men smoke. Disgusting!”
We then made our way to the Lake Louise Lodge so we could find the tea house trailhead, and as soon as I turned into the parking lot, I knew it was a bad idea. Circling once, I decided we would NOT hike here, but go back down the mountain to another little trail I had spotted that looked decidedly less crowded. We landed, finally, at Pleasant Creek or something like that, and went into the woods. Lo, they were dark and cool. And got colder and colder as we proceeded up the trail.
The trail forked, and of course, we picked the steeper fork. We started to see snow on the ground, and more and more of that, and eventually Lala said she couldn’t take the cold any more. I, myself, was freezing, but there was no way I was going to admit that sort of defeat. So we turned back. We got back to the fork, and took the other one, which seemed like less of a climb. We didn’t get very far, of course, before we ran into a trail closure with a little “ATTENTION!” sign. Lala said “Oh, well, I guess we head back…” but I could not go back without reading the sign. Which said, sure enough, “Hiking permitted in groups of six or more only, due to bear activity in the area. Bears are currently frequenting the Pleasant Valley area and bla bla bla other areas…”
We had a little discussion, then, about why six was better than, say, five, and whether we would be alright if we just made the noise of a six-person hiking party, which we proceeded to do all the way back down the trail. Really, we were probably perfectly safe, because we were being pretty loud on the trail before we saw the sign anyway. We did make it back to the car without being eaten at all.
It was a fun day, all in all. I hope we can do more of that. Lala has broken up with her ex-fiance-boyfriend-guy, so she’s a lot more available these days, even if she is a little sad about the whole thing.
On Monday, Rob was back from camping so we did some errands around the house, and picked some apples. We have an apple tree in the back yard that is about ten times larger than the ones out front, so we have a lot of apples to go through this fall. I spent most of Tuesday evening peeling, cutting and freezing apples to be used later in baking. And I only went through ONE bag of apples, whereas we managed to pick SIX. In 30 minutes or so. And we really haven’t touched the tree yet.
I have also started volunteering with the group that rescued dogs from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina down in Louisiana. This group brought back 56 dogs and 12 cats from the area, and they are being housed by Pet Planet here in Calgary. On Wednesday this week, I went and spent a couple of hours with the dogs getting them out for a breath of fresh air while their kennels were being cleaned. I fell in love with all of them, really, and am having a hard time telling myself that I really can’t have another pet. I want one, I really do. These dogs are so wonderful and well-disposed, you would never imagine they have just been through a hurricane.
We have also been very lucky with our weather this week – the trend of unseasonable cold has pretty much ended, and we have had some nice temperatures. I think it’s just winter’s way of teasing us before it snows on us next week. Tomorrow is supposed to be quite warm, really (+18C), so I’m going to try and finish my garden off and get some more apples down.
If I’m really lucky, the warm weather will hold over until next week, and I can be lazy about the garden…
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Just an update
Yes, I was going to write last week, but got distracted and ran very short on time. I know, everyone has that problem, right? So let me try to recall all my scattered thoughts.
Stupid Lost was on again last week, and it’ll be on again tonight. And like the addict I am and have no problem admitting, I watched it. And lo, it was stupid. It moves slower than molasses in January. And I think it actually does kill brain cells, but there you go. So do a lot of things. So does my job, really, and I come here every day. Lost “entertained” us by rewinding over the time-span they covered the week before, just to give us a few more details. To fill in whatever blanks we felt we were missing by not having seen every single second of every single character’s experience on the goddamn island. I’m sure this week, we’ll watch Sayid and that stupid Shannon flail around in the dark some more over the same time period, or flash over to poor, kidnapped Walt, or maybe even Jin’s experience with The Others (formerly referred to as The Lost Tribe of Loonies, which I think I like better than “The Other”, so I will call them, from now on, “TLTOL”). God. I cannot believe I am spending valuable minutes thinking about this stuff.
Like any addiction, the addict revels in the pleasure of the immediate experience with the substance, but afterwards, she hates herself and the substance for the weakness. Stupid Lost.
So I have nothing to report other than that I watched it.
On Friday evening, we had Mexican food from a little Mexican place I had been wanting to try. It was very, very good. We had a platter. Usually, I don’t venture out of my comfort zone to try any sort of weird stuff, but Mexican food is usually pretty decent, and the platter was full of familiar sorts of stuff (enchiladas, chimichanga, tostado, lomo de cerdo…) and I was starving. When I get that hungry, I can’t make rational, solid decisions. And I hate choosing, when I’m tired and hungry. So we had the platter, and it was fantastic. And as a bonus, I managed to keep it down, so that was very nice. We will definitely be going back to that place again. The service was, admittedly, quite terrible. We spent a full half-hour waiting for our bill. And there was some sort of mariachi singer karaoke-ing in the background part of the time. But the food – the food was fantastic. I was very pleased.
The worst thing about being sick the way I have been lately (if I eat solid food, I have a hard time keeping it down two to three hours later) is the anticipation. No, scratch that – the absolute worst thing is that when I am sick, and vomit up all of my hard-won food, little pieces of food get stuck in my nasal passages, and I have to say that is the absolute worst thing about being sick. But the second worst thing is the anticipation of being sick. So I eat dinner (I don’t eat lunch any more because, well, puking at work is no picnic), and then I sit and wait around for a couple, three hours to see if it’s going to come back up. If I am very careful and don’t eat too much (i.e. say, three ounces of food), then I’m OK. Depending on what the food was. If I eat too much, or if the food is maybe heavier or something, then it just comes back up. My doctor has no idea what the problem is. I went for a few tests last week, and am waiting to hear the results. Personally, I thought it was gallstones or something gall-bladder-related, but the tech who did my test said she didn’t see any. Whatever the problem is, I hope it gets sorted out eventually, because I’m hungry and tired all the time. See above re: hungry and tired and poor decision-making abilities.
Also on the weekend, I participated and volunteered with a charitable walk here in town. It was the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s first charitable walk, called “Light the Night”. It was pretty neat, actually – a five-kilometer walk where the participants all carry a lighted balloon. The balloons are filled with helium and are lit with a little light inside. Red balloons for supporters and white balloons for survivors of blood cancers, and the idea is that the big group of people, walking at night, looks a little like a bloodstream with red & white cells. Neat!! My uncle Paul has a blood cancer, so when my friend, T, asked if I would help volunteer, I said sure. I’m a little disappointed in myself that I didn’t have enough time to really get out and do a lot of hours for the walk before it happened, but on Saturday, I ran the balloon tent. We blew up about 350 balloons before the walk, and probably another 300 during the registration time. It was crazy busy for a while, which was great. And the weather cleared up for us for the walk, so the evening was quite nice. Rob came and brought the evil dogs, who seemed to have a good time on the walk, too.
I’m not all that big on charities, usually. But since we have a family connection, I participated, and it was fun. I’ll participate next year, of course, but I don’t think I’ll volunteer. They had more than enough people, really, for what they needed. The other charitable cause I’m working for this year will be the hurricane dog rescue. A group from Calgary has gone down to Louisiana to pick up around 75 animals to bring back to adopt out. They should be here on the weekend, and I can help out by assisting with the critters and trying to get some fundraising done. And, of course, by spreading the word about the need to have them all adopted into good, permanent homes.
On Sunday, we ran some errands and went to see Serenity. God. I don’t know what I should say about the movie. I loved the series so much… I have the DVD set. I’ve known the movie was coming for quite some time, and have been waiting. I must be getting old or something, and my stoic resolve is getting much weaker than I’m used to. I probably would have cried throughout the entire thing if I hadn’t been so keen to concentrate on what was happening. I was just so glad to see all the characters again.
The movie, as a standalone, was very good. Fast-paced, good storyline and tons of action… you could go and see the movie without having watched the series, easy. And it would be enjoyable.
However, if you watched and liked the series, Serenity was even better. Gah. Better that I don’t talk too much of it. But I loved it, of course, and will probably see it again (maybe more than once), and will buy the DVD when it comes out.
The weekend went too quickly, as they all do. Monday, it was back to work. The new TV season hasn’t disappointed me so far, and most evenings are full of at least a few hours of good programming. Tuesdays seem to be the big day, really. Stupid Fox is into baseball, so we won’t see much of the regular shows for the next month while the baseball season winds down. And of course, the CBC is trying to get back on its feet for the hockey season, starting tonight, but then again, there aren’t any shows that I follow on the CBC, so it’s no loss to me. I know The Mac will be glad to see hockey back. All hockey does for me is muck up the schedule, and create a noisier-than-usual atmosphere in any bar/pub type of place I’d maybe otherwise want to go to in any given evening.
Rob and I went to one of our favourite places for chicken wings one Monday, not so long ago. And it being a Monday (Wing Night!), it was Monday Night Football. Usually, you don’t notice all the extra noise at the place, but that was probably because the NFL was quieter over the summer? Anyway, that Monday evening when we went, it was so noisy when we walked through the door, my senses went straight into alert. And the hair stood up on the back of my neck, and I tensed right up. We went upstairs, and all I could say was “no, no, no, no…” the scene was no good at all. They had the televisions and sound systems all turned up so loud that the speakers were straining to get the sound out. We walked upstairs, and looked around, and then left immediately. One of the things that really affects me is sound. Which is why I do not listen to the radio when I’m driving – it tends to send me into a bit of a rage when all the commercials and DJs go on and on nonstop. Hate the talking.
I spoke with The Mac recently, too, which was nice. I called him one morning before I went to work. That was certainly a shake-up of the routine… but it was good to catch up. And apparently Nip/Tuck isn’t delayed a season at all – it’s on the same schedule as the originating U.S. station (which I think is F/X for some reason). They’re certainly not shy about delving into questionable subject matter. All in good fun, I guess.
I really do like that new Supernatural show that’s on the WB this season. Sure, the premise can be thin, at times, and they’re just getting into the character development, so there’s a bit of clunky exposition, but it’s really fun. I love the sci-fi aspect, and I like the characters a lot so far (except for Sam, who is a bit of a brat and kind of pompous, so I guess I really just like the Dean character a lot, and that’s probably because I liked him before from Dark Angel…).
And it’s Thanksgiving Weekend here in Canada… Rob is going camping. I do have a bit of an out, in that I have to stay home and look after the cats. My parents are away traveling, so I really don’t have much of a backup system for the cats, if I want to go away. I wouldn’t mind going for a night or maybe two, but not for the whole weekend, and I suspect it will be fairly cold, as well, so I’m not too broken-up about not going. Heh. I’m fairly pleased, actually, because I have a long list of fall-cleaning to do (yes, in my household, we do fall cleaning, more than spring cleaning), and it will be nice to sleep in and relax and just lounge around a bit.
With regards to the weather, it hasn’t been cooperative. It has been fairly cold, colder than usual. The Mac taunted me with his report that it was +29 where he is on Monday, and that it was supposed to stay quite warm for a while. It snowed here on Monday, and today, I had to clear a thick layer of frost off the Tiny Car before I left for work. We have the Buick’s tires in for replacement, and it will soon be time to put the Tiny Car away for another season. It was quite foggy today, but I’m hoping it’ll be nicer over the weekend.
Stupid Lost was on again last week, and it’ll be on again tonight. And like the addict I am and have no problem admitting, I watched it. And lo, it was stupid. It moves slower than molasses in January. And I think it actually does kill brain cells, but there you go. So do a lot of things. So does my job, really, and I come here every day. Lost “entertained” us by rewinding over the time-span they covered the week before, just to give us a few more details. To fill in whatever blanks we felt we were missing by not having seen every single second of every single character’s experience on the goddamn island. I’m sure this week, we’ll watch Sayid and that stupid Shannon flail around in the dark some more over the same time period, or flash over to poor, kidnapped Walt, or maybe even Jin’s experience with The Others (formerly referred to as The Lost Tribe of Loonies, which I think I like better than “The Other”, so I will call them, from now on, “TLTOL”). God. I cannot believe I am spending valuable minutes thinking about this stuff.
Like any addiction, the addict revels in the pleasure of the immediate experience with the substance, but afterwards, she hates herself and the substance for the weakness. Stupid Lost.
So I have nothing to report other than that I watched it.
On Friday evening, we had Mexican food from a little Mexican place I had been wanting to try. It was very, very good. We had a platter. Usually, I don’t venture out of my comfort zone to try any sort of weird stuff, but Mexican food is usually pretty decent, and the platter was full of familiar sorts of stuff (enchiladas, chimichanga, tostado, lomo de cerdo…) and I was starving. When I get that hungry, I can’t make rational, solid decisions. And I hate choosing, when I’m tired and hungry. So we had the platter, and it was fantastic. And as a bonus, I managed to keep it down, so that was very nice. We will definitely be going back to that place again. The service was, admittedly, quite terrible. We spent a full half-hour waiting for our bill. And there was some sort of mariachi singer karaoke-ing in the background part of the time. But the food – the food was fantastic. I was very pleased.
The worst thing about being sick the way I have been lately (if I eat solid food, I have a hard time keeping it down two to three hours later) is the anticipation. No, scratch that – the absolute worst thing is that when I am sick, and vomit up all of my hard-won food, little pieces of food get stuck in my nasal passages, and I have to say that is the absolute worst thing about being sick. But the second worst thing is the anticipation of being sick. So I eat dinner (I don’t eat lunch any more because, well, puking at work is no picnic), and then I sit and wait around for a couple, three hours to see if it’s going to come back up. If I am very careful and don’t eat too much (i.e. say, three ounces of food), then I’m OK. Depending on what the food was. If I eat too much, or if the food is maybe heavier or something, then it just comes back up. My doctor has no idea what the problem is. I went for a few tests last week, and am waiting to hear the results. Personally, I thought it was gallstones or something gall-bladder-related, but the tech who did my test said she didn’t see any. Whatever the problem is, I hope it gets sorted out eventually, because I’m hungry and tired all the time. See above re: hungry and tired and poor decision-making abilities.
Also on the weekend, I participated and volunteered with a charitable walk here in town. It was the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s first charitable walk, called “Light the Night”. It was pretty neat, actually – a five-kilometer walk where the participants all carry a lighted balloon. The balloons are filled with helium and are lit with a little light inside. Red balloons for supporters and white balloons for survivors of blood cancers, and the idea is that the big group of people, walking at night, looks a little like a bloodstream with red & white cells. Neat!! My uncle Paul has a blood cancer, so when my friend, T, asked if I would help volunteer, I said sure. I’m a little disappointed in myself that I didn’t have enough time to really get out and do a lot of hours for the walk before it happened, but on Saturday, I ran the balloon tent. We blew up about 350 balloons before the walk, and probably another 300 during the registration time. It was crazy busy for a while, which was great. And the weather cleared up for us for the walk, so the evening was quite nice. Rob came and brought the evil dogs, who seemed to have a good time on the walk, too.
I’m not all that big on charities, usually. But since we have a family connection, I participated, and it was fun. I’ll participate next year, of course, but I don’t think I’ll volunteer. They had more than enough people, really, for what they needed. The other charitable cause I’m working for this year will be the hurricane dog rescue. A group from Calgary has gone down to Louisiana to pick up around 75 animals to bring back to adopt out. They should be here on the weekend, and I can help out by assisting with the critters and trying to get some fundraising done. And, of course, by spreading the word about the need to have them all adopted into good, permanent homes.
On Sunday, we ran some errands and went to see Serenity. God. I don’t know what I should say about the movie. I loved the series so much… I have the DVD set. I’ve known the movie was coming for quite some time, and have been waiting. I must be getting old or something, and my stoic resolve is getting much weaker than I’m used to. I probably would have cried throughout the entire thing if I hadn’t been so keen to concentrate on what was happening. I was just so glad to see all the characters again.
The movie, as a standalone, was very good. Fast-paced, good storyline and tons of action… you could go and see the movie without having watched the series, easy. And it would be enjoyable.
However, if you watched and liked the series, Serenity was even better. Gah. Better that I don’t talk too much of it. But I loved it, of course, and will probably see it again (maybe more than once), and will buy the DVD when it comes out.
The weekend went too quickly, as they all do. Monday, it was back to work. The new TV season hasn’t disappointed me so far, and most evenings are full of at least a few hours of good programming. Tuesdays seem to be the big day, really. Stupid Fox is into baseball, so we won’t see much of the regular shows for the next month while the baseball season winds down. And of course, the CBC is trying to get back on its feet for the hockey season, starting tonight, but then again, there aren’t any shows that I follow on the CBC, so it’s no loss to me. I know The Mac will be glad to see hockey back. All hockey does for me is muck up the schedule, and create a noisier-than-usual atmosphere in any bar/pub type of place I’d maybe otherwise want to go to in any given evening.
Rob and I went to one of our favourite places for chicken wings one Monday, not so long ago. And it being a Monday (Wing Night!), it was Monday Night Football. Usually, you don’t notice all the extra noise at the place, but that was probably because the NFL was quieter over the summer? Anyway, that Monday evening when we went, it was so noisy when we walked through the door, my senses went straight into alert. And the hair stood up on the back of my neck, and I tensed right up. We went upstairs, and all I could say was “no, no, no, no…” the scene was no good at all. They had the televisions and sound systems all turned up so loud that the speakers were straining to get the sound out. We walked upstairs, and looked around, and then left immediately. One of the things that really affects me is sound. Which is why I do not listen to the radio when I’m driving – it tends to send me into a bit of a rage when all the commercials and DJs go on and on nonstop. Hate the talking.
I spoke with The Mac recently, too, which was nice. I called him one morning before I went to work. That was certainly a shake-up of the routine… but it was good to catch up. And apparently Nip/Tuck isn’t delayed a season at all – it’s on the same schedule as the originating U.S. station (which I think is F/X for some reason). They’re certainly not shy about delving into questionable subject matter. All in good fun, I guess.
I really do like that new Supernatural show that’s on the WB this season. Sure, the premise can be thin, at times, and they’re just getting into the character development, so there’s a bit of clunky exposition, but it’s really fun. I love the sci-fi aspect, and I like the characters a lot so far (except for Sam, who is a bit of a brat and kind of pompous, so I guess I really just like the Dean character a lot, and that’s probably because I liked him before from Dark Angel…).
And it’s Thanksgiving Weekend here in Canada… Rob is going camping. I do have a bit of an out, in that I have to stay home and look after the cats. My parents are away traveling, so I really don’t have much of a backup system for the cats, if I want to go away. I wouldn’t mind going for a night or maybe two, but not for the whole weekend, and I suspect it will be fairly cold, as well, so I’m not too broken-up about not going. Heh. I’m fairly pleased, actually, because I have a long list of fall-cleaning to do (yes, in my household, we do fall cleaning, more than spring cleaning), and it will be nice to sleep in and relax and just lounge around a bit.
With regards to the weather, it hasn’t been cooperative. It has been fairly cold, colder than usual. The Mac taunted me with his report that it was +29 where he is on Monday, and that it was supposed to stay quite warm for a while. It snowed here on Monday, and today, I had to clear a thick layer of frost off the Tiny Car before I left for work. We have the Buick’s tires in for replacement, and it will soon be time to put the Tiny Car away for another season. It was quite foggy today, but I’m hoping it’ll be nicer over the weekend.
