Just another Thursday night

One of the local radio stations felt the need to quote Maxim magazine on one of their 'top ten' lists - this one was a list of ways you can tell that you are looking at a.. well I won't repeat the name here, but suffice it to say, that's only because Louise is too classy to stoop to their level. Long story short, people with dog strollers made the list.

There, I got it out of my system without swearing or calling them names. I know the list is supposedly for entertainment purposes and all, but it really got under my skin for a while. Anyway, since then we have been using the stroller quite a bit, and my wife has been wearing her new label with pride. Once again I find myself learning lessons from her in how to deal with crap that comes our way.

Moving on to more pleasant things, I took the photo of Louise in front of the bike just this evening. I've seen this bike around town a bit and like it a lot. Louise was gracious enough to give me a cool 'forward looking' pose even though she was actually quite tired and wasn't into walking much this evening. This is how I'm transitioning out of the negativity I started this post with and into things that are more positive. Work with me here, okay?

The last two shots were taken while we waited for our drink order to be prepared. We had stopped at Chicco cafe again because their drinks are just that tasty. The last one is extra clear because I was playing around with some of the features on my trusty digicam, this time with the timer delay. It's amazing what a difference it makes when you aren't holding the camera (and it's not being wiggled and shaken by you). Even though Louise was feeling kind of tired tonight, after a little rest at Chicco she was able to continue home with the usual pep in her step.

Crusin' into the office

As Louise and I headed into work today she was especially attentive - or so I thought. About half way to the Skytrain she started to place one paw on the rim of the stroller, as if she was driving one-handed.

As it turns out, she was starting to smell the delicious aromas from the local White Spot burger joint, as can be seen in the second photo. Louise is not a subtle gal, so she made it quite plain what she was so interested in.

You might also notice that she isn't wearing a collar in these two shots. That's because I forgot to bring it today, so we have had to be extra careful on our leash-free walks. Luckily Louise was in the right frame of mind for this kind of activity and we had no problems with her staying on-task. Well, except for one street corner where she really wanted to go say hi to her favorite restaurant even though I already had a lunch prepared for me today. After a few minutes of negotiating we agreed that we could walk down that block but only on the other side of the street to avoid the temptation of trying to sneak in.

This last picture is a leftover from spring. Somehow it landed on my camera's internal memory and I only just pulled it off today.

Summer randomness

Well the dog days of summer have finally arrived. Our routine has modified slightly, so that now we take Louise out for her walks in the morning and evening to avoid the heat of the day. I think she understands too, as she has not really shown a lot of interest in going outside when she knows it's warmer than she would like.

Even if that means we leave without her.

That's how we know she's serious. It's either that, or she really is getting older and slower and well, we like to pretend that little Wheezie will be with us forever, so that's enough on that topic. In the first picture, Louise posed in front of these blue flowers. My camera doesn't really do the flowers justice, as the colour really was a lot stronger than what you see here - and that's after I tried to increase the saturation in iphoto. Of course, Louise didn't care since the shot was really about her anyway.

The second one came a few days later. We have been walking along the seawall a fair bit lately, in part because it will close soon, to be rebuilt. As we were walking along it yesterday I was noticing the smell of creosote soaked lumber, mixed with the not-quite-as-salty-as-ocean water smell of False Creek and hoped that they somehow preserve some of that. Still, it's nice to see the city be proactive about some of the maintenance and I look forward to seeing the finished product.

The final shot is of Louise doing a little rock climbing, which is to say the rock was little. Still, she mastered the summit on her own. Personally, I like the look on her face as she figures out where to step next.

Canada Day Celebrations

Yesterday was Canada Day and while the weather wasn't great, it was good enough to participate in some of the activities going on around town. One of the things we did was to pick up some lamb for the barbecue. This of course involved getting a couple steak cuts as well as a couple soup bones.

We all know who was going to get the bones in this arrangement.

Note Sophie in the first photo, looking on from a safe distance. The cats are always intrigued when Louise chews on a bone - in part because it usually smells good but also in part out of amazement. You see, they get to investigate the bones when Louise is out walking and they haven't figured out how to chew something so hard.

This doesn't register with Louise though, and if she ever catches the cats near one of her bones, she charges over to protect her stuff. Even if the cat was merely trying to head to the patio. Louise spares no caution with her stuff.

Of course later in the evening we had fireworks to attend to. We went downtown to where the Olympic Cauldron is because Holly read that it was going to be re-lit for the Canada Day celebrations. It was so nice to be able to get right up next to it without any stupid fences. It also turned out to be a pretty good location to view the fireworks. What surprised me was that an entire street was blocked off to make room for street vendors. This really added to the party atmosphere as people were able to get carnival food and the like. While we just ate prior to leaving, I have to admit that it all smelled good and we were tempted.

As usual when we plan to enter a large crowd we took the stroller. It helps define Louise's personal space since most people would be looking up and not down. She enjoyed the stroller ride and especially all the attention from various pug lovers. She isn't one to mind the noise of the fireworks so long as she can be entertained. Just sitting around gets a little boring for her, so it's a good thing that Canadian fireworks don't tend to be a long drawn out affair.

Anyway, thanks Vancouver for re-lighting the cauldron, even just for the holiday. It was a nice touch.