So Many Posts start with 'A'

We had a pretty good weekend with very little rain. Louise and I had several chances to get out for a stroll and I have to say the cherry blossoms are all around us right now. I tried to get a few photos of Louise with the cherry blossoms in to give you an idea of what it looked like in Vancouver this weekend past.

Remember the seagulls last week? Well this week we noticed a mated pair of mallard ducks who didn't seem to care how close we got to them. Louise was still more interested in the joggers and walkers than the birds.

Oh, and did I mention that the Vancouver Canucks are only one game away from winning the first round in their playoff bid? Louise likes and dislikes hockey games at the same time. On the one paw, we tend to eat tasty things at home and she has a certain amount of finesse with 'acquiring' samples. But on the other hand, it often delays her night walk and there is always the threat of the dreaded 'overtime', when that delay is even longer.
Luckily for her the Canucks have been speedy in winning the games so far and we haven't had to go into overtime. Also, for the third game I had forgot that the start time would be earlier so Louise and I were already on a walk when we discovered the game was underway. Rather than rush home I requested phone updates from my wife so that Louise would get a full walk. She called two or three times as there was more scoring this night than in the other two games.

We were back for the second period and all of us enjoyed the win. But for those who aren't hockey fans, I've uploaded these pictures of Louise and the cherry blossoms. Yes, I admit it - I don't have a Canucks jersey for Louise yet. I'm a fan, but not that big a fan - yet.

Playoff Season is upon us!

Louise is still adjusting to her new work schedule of Wednesdays. It can be rough at times. Dealing with all the boredom, waiting patiently to be taken outside for walks, not being the center of attention ALL the time.

We had a little surprise in the office yesterday too, and not the bad, stinky kind we find on the carpet over by Teo's desk. No, this surprise was the little baby girl that Yvette just had a couple days earlier - they were on the way home from the hospital and graciously decided to drop by to say hi.

As you can imagine, the whole office shut down for a few minutes.

Even Louise wanted to get a sniff of this little person and was very interested in her. She was a good dog though and kept back when told to. Soon enough we were back to work and Louise was back to taking a nap. She had to rest up because that night was very important: it was the first night of the Stanley Cup Playoffs!

As luck would have it, we had to work a little late that night so by the time we got out of the office we were rushing to get home. Louise found this parked car that she suggested we hijack in order to make it home fast enough. The window was even partially rolled down! I thought about it for a hot minute before concluding that the stroller wouldn't fit under the hood, so we had to move on.

I probably need to explain the significance of hockey playoffs in our household. We just switched our TV provider and managed to get a few HD channels bundled in, something I was excited about. My wife also happened to pick up some ground lamb meat to make burgers on the grill, something we ALL were excited about. We were rushing home to enjoy some great food while watching the home team win the first game.

Line Dancing Seagulls

Some days we go for a walk and see the strangest sights. With spring upon us Vancouver seems to be aflight with the return of migrating birds. Normally, this is a nice distraction, but sometimes birds can do some unusual things.

Like these seagulls we encountered in Coal Harbour. They landed on this water feature to take a birdie bath, but it looked like they were line dancing as they shuffled along to make room for each other, or to push another out of the way.

Louise and I watched these gulls for about five minutes or so until she lost interest in their antics. Apparently this sort of thing isn't as entertaining for small dogs as it is for me.

The weather has been quite wet around here lately, so Louise and I have not been walking as often or as long. On rainy days she would often just rather curl up in blankets at home anyway.

Of course, this was Easter weekend and to celebrate we had a nice roast lamb dinner. Not traditional perhaps, but certainly a big hit in our household, especially when pugs got lamb bones and our cats got little scraps of fatty lamb meat. (We had to be careful not to let Louise see this happen - she gets a little jealous.) But all worked out well and all of us thoroughly enjoyed the meal.

Okay, one more photo of Louise before I wrap this up, one I liked when I took it, but didn't work it into a blog post. Often while we walk we end up stopping on a park bench for a quick rest stop and Louise tends to get a little silly. This is a photo of that.

Shift Change

In the past, Louise has always come in to the office on Tuesdays. It was just 'her day'. We have had a lot of changes around here lately, so it is only natural that the dog schedule gets updated as well. In order to accommodate the schedule of another dog owner, Louise now comes in on Wednesdays. This might actually work out for the best, since I tend to have fewer meetings on that day of the week.

Louise has had an overabundance of energy these last few days. So much so that last night our plan was to walk her a LOT so that she would settle down and sleep through the night, instead of waking up every few hours wanting a drink, or some snacks. We did, and the plan worked out pretty well. One side effect is that she has been sleeping a lot more than usual here at the office today.

BUT - Greg happened to drop by just to visit Louise (and to run to the roof for some quick photos, but that is to be expected.) He was very happy to see her sprawled all over his old desk and Louise warmed up to him again pretty quickly. I didn't get any photos of the two of them, but hey, I've got thousands to choose from, like the one posted from the archives here today.

Finally, here's a video I took today of Sleeping Louise. Not much going on in it, just about three minutes of her twitching in her sleep. I plan on using it in my screen saver at home.

Another weekend, another bunch of fun filled walks for Wheezie.

This first photo comes from the morning before heading out, when Louise decided to play with one of her plush toys for a bit. Mornings are usually a bit of a slow start for her, so after a bit she just cuddled up to it instead.

It wasn't long though before we headed out and Louise seemed energized by the sunshine. Spring is finally here in Vancouver and she was determined to make the most of it. We headed out early because there were also non-dog included errands to be run that day.

I could hardly keep up. Remember, I'm cycling a lot more now so I generally wake up early and go ride for an hour or two before returning to wake up the dog. This means that while Louise is just getting started, I'm really using the walk to stretch out my legs after a ride. On Saturday that plan kind of backfired, since Little Miss Energizer Puggy decided it was marathon day. This second shot was taken while I was sitting on a park bench and Louise was impatiently waiting for me to get going.

We ended up in Coal Harbour along the sea wall, at which point Louise was investigating as much as she could. If there was a boat or plane on the water, she wanted to know about it. She was also busy barking out instructions as they glided into port, whenever she could.

Later in the day we still found ourselves needing to get a few more things, and Louise found herself needing another walk. We decided to combine the two into an excursion downtown. I'd wait outside with Louise while Holly would run in to the grocery store for the few things we needed.

At the first stop, Louise and I waited next to Japadog, a local hot dog vendor with a Japanese twist, if the name didn't make it clear enough. They tend to have really long lineups where people are waiting for at least half an hour or longer just to get a smokie with a twist. It did smell delicious but we didn't actually eat here today.

Fake cheese eating dog

It has been ten days since my last post. Louise was a bit confused on Tuesday as she still couldn't find Greg or Viearn, so she tended to sleep at my desk a lot. Or rather, she slept on Greg's desk by my computer, sometimes getting a bit carried away, kicking over the phone receiver, etc. These are things a dog has to do sometimes to just get comfortable.

The weather around here is slowly warming up. I notice it a lot as I ride my bike in the mornings and still need several layers and gloves to stay warm. The only time Louise seems to mind is when the rain is coming down hard. Luckily here in Vancouver, that's not an issue very often.

Of course, that means the flowers are starting to bloom around here and that means I have to be on my guard as we go for our walks. Louise just LOVES to trample fresh flowers. I don't know why, but I usually have to be careful to steer her away from them and hopefully point her toward some fresh grass instead. I am mostly successful at this.

Oh yeah - last night we tried Sheese for the first time! Now, I'm no vegan, or even vegetarian. My wife says we are 'flexitarians' because we are flexible. The bottom line is I'll have a cheeseburger one day and grilled tofu with salad the next. My point is this: I like cheese - a lot. I can say that this Sheese product was the most cheese-like of the lot. We have tried many disappointments in this area so I was happy to try something that was this convincing. As it turns out, Holly dropped a small piece on the floor as she was passing me a cracker and sheese. This stuff is expensive so we knew we weren't going to waste it. Louise was only to happy to come to the rescue and she affirmed that sheese is good! It all happened so fast that I wasn't able to get a good photo though, so you will just have to trust me when I say our dog ate it. At least it wasn't homework.

The sun is back, baby!

I got to get Louise out for a walk after my morning ride today, and it was quite nice - not yet warm, but at least sunny. We ran into all sorts of interesting characters on our journey down to the waterfront (one of our favorite destinations) and also stopped along the way to let my legs rest up a bit.

Louise didn't mind though, she would just hop up on my lap and then proceed to get silly, rubbing her face into my knee, etc. This of course attracted a small crowd of children and their parents at times.

We were also at the dog park earlier and we met up with this fantastic looking bulldog named Tony. Louise thought he was alright, but when he started to snort she figured that was the signal to start barking. So she did. We didn't stay long at the dog park though - we never do. But it was nice to see they put down some fresh gravel for the new spring season. At least it won't get so muddy like last year.

And yes, the person in the background of the third photo is wearing a bumble-bee coloured sweatshirt. I had to do a double take. I didn't actually notice this person until after I took this photo - I was focused on keeping the dog in the frame and somehow was late in snapping the photo. Finally, we end with a shot of Louise running along the water.

The green eyes of jealousy

Okay, I admit that I am not sure wether it was envy or jealousy that had green eyes associated with it, but today we had another dog in the office and Louise wanted desperately to meet her. The other dog, Kayley, is much younger and at first wasn't too sure of her surroundings so Louise had to wait.

And wait.

And watch other people come over and play with Kayley, and not with her.

I had to move my filing cabinet to the other side of my chair so Louise could keep a closer eye on the pup. It wasn't until almost 4:00 pm that the little dog took an interest in Louise. What a happy moment that was. Almost no barking as the two were able to interact without interruption. With such an age gap between the dogs there wasn't really much of a power struggle so they just fell into their respective roles and got along.

For a while, at least. After about half an hour, Louise was surprised to find Kayley trying to sniff her, and she was not amused. A short staring match and quick snarl later found Kayley back in her owner's lap and Louise at his feet. I had to be a little stern with Louise to get her to give them some space but all was well. Heck, her tail was wagging the whole time, so she clearly wasn't that upset. It just happened to all go down next to Tommy's desk and well, he's not the most comfortable around dogs so hearing one growl unnerved him a bit.

Five minutes later and it was all but forgotten. Louise was back asleep on her perch and Kayley was on to other things. Just another day at the office for these working dogs.

Oh yeah - happy Saint Patrick's day!