Sunny Saturday Morning walk

Louise and I headed out for our morning walk last Saturday and made the most of the nice spring weather we are having. We went to English Bay to wander along the seawall for a bit before heading back home for breakfast. The sun was out, there was a cool breeze and it was warm enough to no longer need gloves. In short, it was another nice Saturday morning.

Louise was feeling a little needy this morning since the day before we spent the bulk of our time in Seattle - without Louise. Giving her a nice long walk at a slow pace was just what the doggie ordered and everyone was happy. Buying some dog treats in the US didn't hurt any either. As you can see, the tide was out when we were walking, and we were able to see lots of the sea birds foraging for food. I won't list them off but will say that for any birders reading this, Vancouver has a pretty good selection.

One of the other things we happened to notice was that the city had planted a new crop of decorative flowers. This happens with some regularity and it is always nice when it happens. I have no idea what the city works budget is, but whoever is in control makes sure that we get lots of great looking flowers throughout the year. I do my best to make sure that Louise doesn't dig them up.

Once again, as I write this I have a dog in my lap. We joke that she likes to maintain editorial control, but really we all know that she is just making sure she can sleep while knowing that I haven't left the building. For my part, I just like having a dog in my lap while I'm on the computer. It helps keep the cats away.

Office Updates

Louise and I find ourselves in the office this fine Saturday with a spare bit of time between server updates. I've fed the troops and we are in the home stretch to updating our software so I can take a couple minutes out to update this dog blog.

We all know it's overdue.

Louise has maintained the usual routine of coming into work with me, chewing on some good bones, getting some long walks and being lazy whenever possible. So really, not much has changed there and I think we are all pretty happy about that.

The first photo features Louise and Sasha, who was also in the office last week. They like to give each other their space, so it took a little coaxing to get both dogs to sit close enough together to let me take a photo. There were a few out takes as well, but we won't bother with those.

This last photo was taken just this morning, on our way into the office. Louise was out running around and stopped short to look at something. Sometimes I have to be fast with the camera so I have no idea what she was looking at. But at least I got the shot I was hoping for.

Naval Director Louise, charges ahead.

I had Louise out for another walk in Coal Harbour this weekend. As you can see in the brief video clip she was barking at the boats again. I like the 'squareness' of her stance in this first photo, made me laugh a little. At that time the crowds were still pretty thick, but really Louise doesn't mind that so much, so long as its not so close that people don't notice her.

As it turned out, it was also one of the last chances I would have to get a decent picture of the Olympic flame. We were at a bit of a distance and I had a nice shot of the convention center - you can see it there just in front of the grass roof.

Later in the day we were out to celebrate my buddy Bill's birthday. While that in itself has very little to do with Louise (she didn't come with us) I did remember to get the bone from my meal packaged up to take home for her. The next afternoon, well we had a pretty happy little pug on our hands. One who felt the need to growl at any cat that dared come within ten feet of this bone. Here you can see Louise trying to relocate to the sofa. She knows we prefer her to chew her bones on her bed because it is a messy process. Still, she felt the need to plead her case just the same. I had to take a few quick pictures and this was the best of the bunch. We got her situated back on her bed and all was well. Note how she chooses to hold her bone straight on instead of cross-wise. Makes her look like she is charging at something when she does this. She's back to working on this bone as I compose this, actually.

Finally, a shot of the Olympic cauldron, sans flame. With the Closing Ceremonies done, the Olympics are gone. It's amazing how quickly Vancouver re-opened streets and closed down the pavilions.