At the Kennel

Except for the bug bites, aches and pains, and no HGTV, W, or Food Network I was happy to be at the Kennel! Really! I got lucky and the dog-walkers came on Saturday and Monday morning which makes it much easier to deal with everything else. I did walk all the dogs Sunday though which took me almost 4 hours! FOUR HOURS!!! That almost did me in, but after resting for a bit with my feet up I got enough of a second wind to get all the Kennels cleaned in the afternoon so I felt very accomplished for the day. There were A LOT of dogs this weekend.

The biggest nuts so far are Zara and Diesel - crazy crazy dogs. They're some sort of Boxer type dog and go CRAZY with other dogs. They also occasionally fight with each other inside their Kennel which has resulted in several water dish spills and puddles of water. We also broke one of their dishes - and I say 'we' because I was there getting jumped on and pushed around and one of them knocked their dish in the mayhem and it rolled and shattered....The good part was that they stopped jumping long enough for me to pick up the pieces because they were so startled.

Amie is here too which is awesome because I LOVE her. She's the beer commercial type dog I met one of the last times I was here. There's also Abby and Zeta (both Schnauzers) but they're not together, just side by side, so I kept worrying I would mix them up...I think I haven't.. Hopefully. Then there was Willow, a sweet little willow of a dog who left Saturday. Misha and Bella (a wee dog and a large retriever or lab) took her spot. Then there was Deacon and Sarah.The owner was very worried Deacon would be too vicious but he was actually totally nice to me. Sarah and him were always barking like mad at the other dogs, particularly Zeta. Not sure why her more so that the others. Siska is a really funny one, she's one of those super furry medium sized white dogs (you know the ones, they look like large Arctic Foxes) and she pees and poops by standing on her front paws with her back paws up off the ground. HILARIOUS. Cody, a large dog, liked to gnaw on my arms affectionately. So he was really great, even more when he had his orange ball in his mouth so I was not gnawed on at the same time. Then there is Jersey who has endless energy and won't stop playing or pulling his blanket into the middle of the yard. Keiko was an Akita who also loved playing endlessly and was a real cuddler. Romeo, a yellow lab, was a real nut and very lovable. He loved the belly rub and jumping and running, and so on. Boone is a runner, and runs and runs and runs and jumps and then runs some more and jumps some more. Cesar and Ruby are really cute too. Cesar is a bit of a suck, but really quite charming. Ruby is a jumper and LOVES dinner time. Max and Summer left Saturday, and were really funny. Summer was a massive dog and a barker, but as sweet as can be with me. Max was a huge chub of a dog and super furry so he was more like a bear. He was good to hug. Emma is a real cutie too, a bit nervous of the Kennel door but really nice. Her and Ruby did not get along so well though, or at least got into barking matches, but not all day luckily. Misty just came today and is a cute grey and black Sheltie. Then there's little Max. He was smaller than the Kennel owners kittens - seriously. He was really adorable though, and loved running and playing. I kind of cheated and let him run in the home's backyard which he was super excited about. The kittens were less excited, but at the very least curious about it, despite the occasional hissing.

There were also 3 cats, Tigger (came with Ruby and Cesar), Misty and I can't remember the 3rd one's name. Oh, yeah, Muggles. Misty growls a bit at the other kitties. Muggles is the shy one, though I think she's gotten use to me. They all want to be in the big play area, so don't like me putting them back in their Kennel to let the next cat out. But, what can I do? Fair is fair.

I think I am partially recovered now, back at home. But, I kind of miss them. However, Hal was very cuddly when I got back so I shouldn't complain.

New family member

Elwood & Jake playing. I AM SO EXCITED!!!

Lame

So, Saturday I took Little Car in for some much needed love due to the scary grinding metal-on-metal break noise I was hearing. When the service guy inspected it he mentioned I did not have my renewed insurance label on the licence plate. Why is that? Because I DID NOT RENEW MY INSURANCE! F%$&! When was it due? June 10! When did I take my care in? July 30! JULY 30!!! AAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! My friend picked me up and we went to a farm animal auction of all things. It was a little hard to watch some of the man-handling of the animals but interesting overall. And, of course there were goats. Anyways, I got the insurance and had a bit of a hefty bill, $750, so no laptop yet...

Yesterday I went hiking to Lindeman Lake near Chilliwack Lake. It was pretty intense and my legs are very sore today. About half way up, and I mean Grand Canyon kind of up, I thought I would never do it again and would not recommend it to anyone. Then we got to the top and the lake and well, I would totally do it again and recommend it to anyone who loves to hike. It was totally worth the pain. You can also camp up there which I think would be just fantastic. My legs were very wobbly on the way down, but I managed it. The hardest part was getting my friend's dogs over the crazy tree bridge - but luckily we had a few people in the group so we got them all across and then back again. But ladders and dogs just do not work well.

http://www.vancouvertrails.com/trails/lindeman-lake/

Today is Cowboys &. Aliens - Daniel Craig in his full rugged cowboy glory. Plus explosions and cool alien stuff. I can't wait!