February Adventures

A few weeks ago we got a new camera for Holly. She has been taking a lot of pictures and video with it as she gets used to it and as a side effect I have a lot of fantastic shots of Louise I can share with you.

This first one is of Louise asleep on the back of the sofa. This is a usual cat perch so it's a bit odd to see her jump up here to relax. I'm guessing the sun was out that day and it would have been a warmer spot in the house.

One of the other things Holly likes to do is to compose the occasional song. To do this we have a digital keyboard that can plug into our computers and well, here we have Louise taking over a bit. I'm not quite sure what was going on but I bet that the song was probably about steaks, or maybe a blues number bemoaning the hardships of living with two cats.

Next up we have another action shot, this time Louise is eagerly looking forward to wrapping her lips around that turkey meat ball that Holly is holding up. We tore it in half so Louise wouldn't choke on it, which she didn't. Everything happened so fast after this photo that I really don't have a better one. Pugs are efficient when it comes to meatballs.

With all these indoor shots you might think that Louise never leaves the house during the winter. Not so! While she is sleeping more these days, she still insists on going out at least a couple times a day and unless it's raining she is usually out there for at least a half an hour. Of course, that means that one of us is out there with her during that time too. Louise has always been a great source of vitamin exercise because of this consistency. Oh, and as you can see, our grass is still green and we are without snow. But the temperatures vary quite a bit, ranging from a few degrees below freezing to about ten degrees above.

Bone Crazy

So last night we were watching some shows and Louise hopped up on our sofa with one of her 'bully bones'. I'm not going to describe what this is other than to say it's a dog chew toy made from bull 'parts'. Anyway, Louise hopped up on the couch and started to chew her bully bone.

About a minute into this, Louise starts to act a bit silly over it. Holly had the quick thinking to suggest I get out my phone to film this, as it had us entertained. You can tell when I'm laughing because the camera starts to shake a bit.

Later on in the evening it happened again, this time in her doggie bed. I tried filming that too but this clip has the better quality so it's the one you get. Hope you enjoy the silliness.

Remembering Chester

Man, I'm getting bad at this. A full week went by and I haven't been able to post about our walk in the park. The danger here is that the longer I put it off, the less detail I remember about it. I recognize that it's not really much of a danger for you, as really, the pictures are by far more important. But for me, I feel the need to fill the rest of the page with text. Forgetting details is losing precious cargo.

Before I continue, I do have some sadness to report: Louise's old friend Chester, who lived just a block away, was put down due to illness over the holiday break. We just found out last night because Chester's owner saw me coming home with Louise and she took the time to let me know. He was a fantastic pug, even more gray than Louise is, but only about a year older. Click on the link on his name and you will see a picture of him with Louise. Chester, you will be missed little buddy.

So as I mentioned, these are some more pictures taken from about a week ago when we were exploring the island park next to the Olympic Village. I think Louise liked the challenge of scrambling across the rocks to get to the island area, and she certainly liked what the city works department has done with the place. Even though it's an artificial island, it feels very natural.

On the way out of the park we wandered along a creek area that had also been created as part of the Village - it is now home to dozens of mallard ducks, of which Louise casually took note. I think by the time we saw the ducks she was already getting tired from running around though, as she didn't bark or give chase. For once, the ducks barely noticed her.

As I said, that was all about a week ago. Louise was in the office again yesterday, although it was a much more casual work day for her. While we did go out for a walk in the afternoon, she took the rest of the afternoon off to have a nap in her stroller. At one point one of my co-workers remarked that he wanted to just crawl in beside her to also nap, she looked that comfortable.

Preamble to a walk in the park

We had a small adventure last week when Louise was in the office. On our lunch break we went for a walk in the park by the Olympic Village as usual, but this time the tide was low and we were able to check out this semi-island part of the park that has been completed.

Of course, this first picture is not about that at all. It was taken on a different day altogether, and the cat perched above Louise is Sassy. They get along reasonably well, if by that one understands that Louise will sometimes chase after Sassy because the cat wandered too close to her food bowl. This in turn usually starts a fight between Louise and our other cat, Sophie. Sophie (not pictured here in part due to objections raised by Louise) has been known to act protectively toward Sassy, even when it isn't warranted.

But I digress. Louise and I had a fantastic walk and I got lots of pictures as she scrambled over rocks, ran across sandy beaches and hopped along wooded trails - all within about 500 square foot area. This island isn't really all that big, and when the tide is low a land bridge becomes accessible. Technically, it's no longer an island at that time, I know.

Anyway, I took lots of pictures, enough to stretch this into at least a couple posts. As usual, the hard part for me will be remembering enough about what happened in order to write something to go with the pictures.

Oh, and my wife got a new camera recently, so she has been taking some really nice pictures of Wheezie too. I'll see about getting some of those up soon as well.

This January feels like April

We are in the middle of the rainy season so that means our walks have generally been shorter. But today was warm so Louise and I set out despite the rain and toured the soggy neighborhood.

We did see a few other dogs out being walked, but none of her usual friends. There seems to be a lot of puppies in our community lately and well, Louise isn't a big fan of those. Specifically, she doesn't like puppies that don't have manners.

Still, she was pleasant to all we met, even if a bit aloof at times. This is of course preferable to the alternative of growling or snapping at a rowdy youngster. But as I said, there was none of that and the two of us had a pleasant stroll in the rain. I even let her read her P-mail off one of the fire hydrants, which she seemed to enjoy.

One thing about all this rain is that I try to time her visits to the office for the days that will be sunnier. This means she doesn't get into work as often. The current forecast is for the rain to break sometime around Tuesday, so if all goes well she will get her shift next week.

Food Coma

This is a leftover picture from New Year's Eve. We had enjoyed a lamb dinner and that always means that Louise gets to feast on freshly cooked lamb bones. It's good times all around. Anyway, just like us, she ate a lot and celebrated a lot and well, later in the evening we noticed Louise slipping into a little bit of a food coma.

Yes, I'm that horrible person who takes pictures of you when you are at your worst. Still, this wasn't really Louise suffering as much as it was Louise basking in the glow of having eaten her fill.

Visiting Daisy and Gretzky

Over the holiday we went over to visit with Bill and Colleen, friends of ours. They have two great dogs, Daisy and Gretzky. We were able to bring Louise with us, which is why I'm posting about it here.

Luckily for us, Louise has already met Daisy and Gretzky, so we didn't have any real issues with the re-introduction. Having said that, Gretzky has a habit of sneaking bites of food from the other dog's food bowls and well, that wasn't the sort of thing that would put him in Louise's good graces. Any time her food bowl was down, Louise had to sit guard to ensure it was safe from Gretzky.

However, Gretzky is talented. He knows how to wait for a commotion, or distraction. According to Bill, he's a master at this. The master did score once on Louise's bowl, but not without notice. We fully expected Louise to launch into a full on attack over this, but instead she just resumed her guard.

Which was good. We commended Louise over her restraint. Still, we had a good visit with our friends, and got to see their little baby girl too which was a lot of fun. Louise likes these little adventures as they give her something different to do. Of course, with a change in her routine comes a drastic increase in her activity and well, this would ultimately have a toll.

Indeed it did. Louise was pretty tuckered out the next day and really wasn't interested in doing much other than taking a nap for about 75% of the day. Still, her spirits were up and it was certainly worth it in my eyes. Thanks again Bill and Colleen, for having us over. All three of us had a pretty good time and we can't wait to see you again in the summer.

Sleepy Santa Pug

Okay, this is a bit overdue but here we are. Louise has had to endure lots of rain this past month but now that the holidays are upon us she is starting to perk up.

We put up two trees this year, on opposite ends of our book case. Normally, we have a pet bed in each of those spots, so they had to be moved. In Louise's case though, her bed did not move very far at all, and she ends up sleeping just under the tree. Luckily, she hasn't messed with the ornaments too much so far - the worst that has happened is that she has brushed past them while getting set to curl up on her bed. (Louise tends to circle around her sleeping spot a couple times.)

It just happened that we were home for the holiday this year and I think the pets were pretty happy about that. It means less time being left to guard the house without us. Louise was pretty relaxed, in fact she hasn't wanted to move from the sofa all day.

Well, I need to wrap this up - Louise has started to stir and is looking to go out - right on schedule. Have a happy holiday season everybody and we look forward to posting more in the new year!