More signs of spring

It isn't just warm temperatures that make for springtime.

What would spring be without ants? Especially ants in the house? You might remember that Gozer spread garbage all over the floor a little while ago. Well, last night we were taking her outside when we looked down at the carpet and there was this dark, fuzzy spot. I was really tired and my eyes weren't working but I thought that I saw movement in the fuzzy spot. Ian touched it and we saw that I was right: there was movement there. The little brown sidewalk ants had found a spot of leftover residue and were all over it.

There weren't nearly as many ants there as we had last year and there were no trails leading to and from the spot so we weren't too freaked out by the ants. We were annoyed, of course, because it was late and we were tired. We got out the vacuum and got most of them and them put out a trap. This morning we put out some diatomaceous earth mixed with icing powder in a closed margarine container with holes poked in it so that the ants will want to get in but Gozer can't get at the stuff. After all, ant traps and diatomaceous earth aren't good for dogs.

The number of ants we're seeing is slowly decreasing and they don't seem to have any trails leading to or from anything so I think we're going to be ok. I don't like ants in the house and the fact that we've had them two years in a row does not leave me feeling happy. We're fairly certain that the ants are coming through the patio doors somehow so we need to think about getting a new patio door put in to stop the yearly ant visit.

I'm much happier about the other harbringer of spring that we saw. You might remember that we had to prune a grafted tree outside our kitchen window last year. The rootstock had shot upwards and the grafted weeping part was all dead-looking. We know know what kind of tree it is because it's started to bud in a very special way, by forming the softest little catkins.... also known as pussywillows.

That's right - it's a pussywillow tree!!!! At least, the weeping part is a pussywillow tree; the rootstock is probably goat willow. I do love pussywillows because they are so soft and they remind me both of spring and happy times. When I was growing up, a house two down from ours had a huge pussywillow tree. I don't remember what happened to it (I think it was later cut down or died or something); I just have this memory of seeing it one spring and being enthralled by it. Somehow the few soft little pussywillows that have shown up - and the ones that are on the way - fill me with the same happiness.

Crazy warm weather

It's been so gorgeous outside, with highs around 20C, that we've been working in the garden. We were even able to get the waterfall going - and we were eaten alive by mosquitos while we filled it! You wouldn't even know that this is March since it feels more like May out there. We'd thought about spraying dormant oil on our fruit trees this weekend but the window has already passed for two of the five trees. Since all of the trees are close together, there's no point spraying dormant oil on some and not all of the trees.

Gozer has been enjoying the beautiful weather, too. We've been taking her outside with us when we're working because now that she's scoped out the whole yard, she likes to either sit and watch us or she likes to sit up at one of the corners of the property. One corner overlooks the park and she likes to watch the kids and dogs play there. The other corner overlooks the properties on the other side of us and she likes to watch the dogs over there.

Gozer is having a hard time getting used to this crazy warm weather. Her coat is quite long and curly and it's just too much for summer so she's getting a stylish summer cut on Tuesday. In the meantime, even though she's scruffy and a little dirty, we weren't planning on bathing her. However, this afternoon while we were visiting in Mississauga I took our cute little dog for a walk and she ended up getting super-muddy. I don't even really know how it happened; we didn't walk through any areas that were clearly muddy or anything but she was filthy.

She looks so cute after a bathWe took her home as she was and after dinner we gave her a bath. She's still drying off and she looks like a cute fuzzball! She'll look even better after her hair is cut. She'll also be more comfortable outside as long as this weather holds.

Saving daylight

We switched over to daylight saving time (DST) this past weekend and even though the time change was only an hour, I'm having trouble adjusting to the time change. I'd been getting up at around 9 or 9:30am before this weekend and so far I've been struggling to get up by 10:30am.

This morning I had a dream where I could hear something that sounded like an alarm. I said to someone else that I only heard that sound when I was dreaming and my alarm went off, but I wasn't dreaming. And then I stopped and checked to see if I was dreaming and I concluded that I was definitely not dreaming. Well, of course I was dreaming: my alarm had been going off for about a half hour or so.

I don't even fully understand why we do this time change each year. I did some research and one reason they did it was so that people could take advantage of more daylight hours in the evenings and because someone thought that crime would go down. The thinking was that most crime happens at night - is that really true? I don't know. It may have been true back in the day but I don't know if it's true now. Also, what happens to those people who like the morning and not the evening light?

It was thought that traffic accidents would decline during DST because drivers wouldn't be driving in the dark as much. I don't know if that's still true once the accidents following the time change are taken into account. And what about the costs associated with changing the clocks? Our dependence on technology and computers has increased those costs dramatically over what they would have been when DST had first been introduced.


I don't know if the original thinking behind DST is still valid, which makes me question why we don't just abolish it. I did some research and apparently one reason it's kept is that DST saves energy since people need less power in the evenings. Of course that rationale was put forth in the days before air conditioners so I don't know if it's still true. I read that in one city in Indiana where DST had recently been adopted, no energy savings were found but people say that this city doesn't properly represent the rest of the US (or Canada, I suppose).


I did some digging, and I found that the main reason for keeping it is so that kids don't go to school in the dark in the winter. I went to school in the dark, but I also walked a few blocks to school on my own, and we're living in an era where kids don't have that kind of freedom. Some have proposed doing "double DST", or keeping the clocks in DST all year and then putting the clocks forward another hour in the spring. I would call that a "time zone change" myself, and I don't know how practical that would be.

To me, DST creates an artificial state that causes at least as many issues as it solves and I'd love to see it abolished. I'm willing to consider other options, like having fewer time zones across the country, if it meant that we didn't have to change the clocks ever. Maybe I'm just being cranky because I'm not sleeping enough because of DST.

Could it really be spring?

The weather went from super-windy and a little cold to absolutely gorgeous today. The temperature got up to about 16C - far above the 3C norm for this time of year - and the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was so beautiful outside and everyone and their dog and their baby was out enjoying the lovely weather.

Ian took Gozer out for a very long walk this morning and our poor little dog was tired for the whole day. It didn't help that we were out in the afternoon enjoying the spring-like weather and she ended up getting a little hot. She's still wearing her scruffy, long winter coat and it's way too hot out there for that. When we got home I gave her an ice cube to help her cool down a bit. She likes eating the ice balls off her feet so I figured she'd like a regular ice cube and I was right :)

It's going to be gorgeous this week with highs in the upper teens (Celsius). With it being so warm, I need to start getting the garden ready for spring. We've had good weather before now but it hasn't been this warm yet this year so it's a good time to get work done out there. I'm pretty sure Gozer won't mind hanging out outside while I do work. There's lots to sniff there and it'll be warm enough so that she should be comfortable.

I think it's time for her to get her hair cut in a lovely short summer style so that she doesn't overheat. She's also looking kind of scruffy no matter how often I comb her because her hair curls back together - and of course it curls differently in different places. She's always cute but she looks a little more refined when she has short hair.

I hope the weather stays at about these temperatures for a long time.. it would be so nice to go out and it not be too hot or too cold.

Comedy festival

This third annual Waterloo Comedy Festival is on this weekend. We'd bought VIP passes some time ago that gave us access to the opening night Gala on Thursday and to one show each of Friday and Saturday. This weekend also happens to be the 20th annual University of Waterloo juggling festival and since Ian was asked to be in that show tonight (Saturday), we gave our tickets for tonight's comedy show to friends of friends.

We did go to the Opening Gala on Thursday and to the show on Friday as well. The Gala was held in a United church which is a very strange place to host a comedy show. Comedy is irreverent and usually inappropriate and listening and laughing to the jokes feels a tiny bit disrespectful while sitting in pews facing a big stained glass Christ figure and cross.

Chris Gibbs, a British citizen who's settled in Canada, opened and emceed the show. He was the funniest of the six comedians who performed that night. His humour was a bit self-deprecating and was a refreshing change from the usual sex, marriage, and dating jokes. The other two comedians in the first act, Rob Pue and Nile Seguin, were sort of funny. Nile Seguin had some strange jokes about being biracial and Rob Pue had an angry sort of energy about him; he ended his set with some strange joke about pumping athletes full of steroids so that when they competed their bodies came apart.

The second act started with another brief appearance by Chris Gibbs followed by Todd Allen, Sean Cullen, and Brent Butt. Todd Allen's funniest joke was about a big, fat cat he adopted named Steve but he took the joke a little bit too far into "I was calling for my cat Steve while wearing a bathrobe and slippers in a gay neighbourhood." Sean Cullen was sick and looked terrible, as though he needed to be in a hospital. He did a couple of songs and told some jokes but it seemed like he wasn't really trying to do his best. Brent Butt was funny in that self-deprecating way of his. He was funny, sure, but not as funny as Chris Gibbs.

Friday night's show was held at a club, or rather a normal venue. There were only three comedians which was also more like a normal show. First up was JJ Whitehead, a Canadian living and performing in the UK. He was so funny - at least as hilarious as Chris Gibbs - just in the way he told normal, everyday stories like what it's like to interact with a bank when the bank calls you. He connected with different members of the audience that poked a little bit of fun but wasn't insulting.

Next up was Steve Dylan, who didn't seem to be all there and who only really got going when he started talking about how much he loved drinking. The man is clearly an alcoholic and I just don't find alcoholic-type humour all that funny. The drunks sitting to the right of us loved those jokes, of course, but they were well-lubricated and ready to accept that kind of humour.

Lastly we saw Sean Cullen again. Unfortunately, he started with the same jokes he'd given us the night before so some people walked out. He did tell the jokes better the second time so it wasn't a complete waste of time, seeing him again. After he finished the first song he started new-to-us material which was fairly funny. He handled the drunks next to us very well although it was clear to everyone else that he was laughing at them and not with them. The drunks couldn't make such fine distinctions.

Of all the people who performed, Chris Gibbs and JJ Whitehead, were hands-down the funniest and I'd love to see them perform again. All in all, the shows were entertaining and I'm happy that we went. I'm sorry that we missed tonight but I'm ok with that decision. It was more important that Ian be at the juggling festival and it's better that Gozer not be left alone for the evening again.

Our badly behaved dog

Our adorable, sweet little dog behaved very badly today.

I went into the kitchen after my bath this afternoon to find the kitchen garbage knocked over and pieces of trash strewn all over the floor. Beside the chair and farthest away from the starting point was tinfoil from when we made chicken fingers along with a plastic bag we'd used for coating potatoes. Gozer had ripped up the tinfoil into very small pieces, presumably to eat the chicken residue on them. I hope that she didn't eat any of the tinfoil but based on the number of little pieces all over the carpet I'm guessing that she did eat some of it.

Interestingly, a few hours later we discovered some chicken finger breading on her ottoman blanket. There was no tinfoil there and the crumbs were kind of hidden under some folds so we think she was saving them for later.

When she did this I knew that she thought she was hungry although she wasn't going to be fed for an hour or so. She'd also been in her crate for a couple of hours this afternoon and she'd been lucky enough to get a yummy pizzle treat (with a thing full of water) while there. She's done think kind of thing twice before and each time it's only happened when she's unsupervised. We don't see her making this mess; we only see its aftermath and so there's no way for us to correct this behaviour. Clearly we're going to have to get a garbage container that can't be tipped over and emptied.

Sigh. I know our little dog lived all by herself on the streets and had to search through garbage to eat but I wish she wasn't still using those techniques. I don't think she understands that she doesn't need to fend for herself anymore. Of course when she was on her own she got to eat whenever she wanted; she didn't have to wait for me to feed her like she does now. So maybe this isn't related to her life on the streets. Maybe she's just being bossy.

2012 Academy Awards Red Carpet

Finally! Here's the Academy Awards red carpet post.

Interestingly, most of the women are not wearing black. It used to be that everyone wore black to an event like this but now people are moving away from that colour. It's a welcome change, I tell you, because the details of those black dresses could be difficult to see on the monitor. These days, the most popular dress colour family is the opposite of black: whites and pale beiges or pinks (aka "nudes"). Shades of blue are also everywhere on this red carpet and there are a few reds, purples, and greens to round out the colour spectrum.

Fabric-wise, allover sequins are making a strong showing, as are different textures within the same gown through the use of lace, tulle, chiffon, charmeuse, and velvet. Draping and origami-type constructions weren't as widely used as they have been over the last few as the trends have shifted in favour of embellishment over fabric manipulation. 

Three are two trends I'd like to see end: too-tight dresses and too-long hems. There are too many women at this event wearing dresses that show off their bellybuttons. This was a black tie event and to me, torsos that look like stuffed sausages have no place at such an event. I realize that this issue and the too-long hem issue arise because these gowns are borrowed and so can't really be fitted to the wearer. The idea is that the designer gets their name out there because their designs are being worn on the red carpet. Do they realize that they're also sending out the message that their gowns aren't flattering and that they're a tripping hazard? Do they care?

I'll stop ranting now. Let's have a look at all the pretty gowns after the jump.

Walking with Gozer

Gozer took me to the Pet Valu store on Friday after we left the vet's. I think she takes me to places where she knows she can get treats because she gets treats from the vet's and from each pet store. Not only does she get treats but she gets lots of cuddles and attention, too.

At the vet's we saw that dog we'd seen before that we were supposed to meet some time. The dog is a bit aggressive towards other dogs and people; fortunately, Gozer didn't bark at all! At first she stood in front of me while surreptitiously leaning against me. Later on, she stood (hid) behind me. I took that as a sign that it was time to leave. Later on, at the pet store, we met another aggressive dog and Gozer behaved similarly: no barking but making sure she was either behind me or touching me.

I think Gozer has come to realize and trust that I'll protect her from the other dogs and that nothing bad will happen to her. I'm thrilled! It means that she really is comfortable in the house and with us. I have to be sure that she doesn't become a scared dog who hides behind her mommy - she still has to go out and meet other dogs.

The other dog we met at the vet's seems to be doing quite well. However, its owner is clearly still afraid of what the dog might do. If I can feel her nervousness, I'm sure the dog can feel it, too, and would want to try to protect her - possibly by biting other dogs or people (which is the very thing she's afraid of). I've encouraged the owner to take the dog to training so that she can learn to handle the dog but she doesn't want to do that, I don't think. This owner and I had talked before of setting up playdates for our dogs but I think I'd feel better if we start with walking the two dogs together. That way, Gozer could hopefully become more comfortable around the other dog and some of her good behaviour could rub off on the other dog.

I'm so pleased that Gozer is doing so well and has become so comfortable here. I wish every owner had such a happy dog.

Take the dog to work

Gozer went to work with Ian today. He's lucky enough to work in an office where dogs are allowed - even encouraged - to come in with their owners. I had metalsmithing class this afternoon and had planned on going again tonight; I didn't want to crate Gozer for all that time so Ian figured that he could take her into work. I ended up deciding that I didn't want to go to class again tonight but Ian stuck with his part of the plan anyways.

Poor Gozer couldn't figure out what was going on when we packed up Gozer's crate, her ottoman blanket, a few quiet squeaky toys, her water dish, her various leashes and harnesses, and some treats this morning. She was especially concerned when her crate was packed up because that's her crate! But then we put her seatbelt on and she relaxed a bit, knowing that she was going wherever her crate was going.

She was very excited and panting and pulling on the leash when we got to the office. Ian set up her crate and stuff and I left. I was a little worried about my little dog being in a strange place but I knew that Ian would take good care of her. We decided that she would stay there the whole day instead of me bringing her home after metalsmithing class because she was doing so well.

Ian's on a mezzanine level (the third-and-a-half floor) and Gozer's crate was set up so that she could overlook the desks below. Apparently she liked looking down over the people there when she was in her crate. She also spent time sleeping at Ian's feet and at the feet of his neighbour while resting her head on one of the spokes of the base of his chair. After getting up and coming back, he actually went to get another chair because he didn't want to move the one on which her head was resting. Ian called Gozer away so that he could sit in his chair again.

There are a lot of stairs at the office and having to go up and down each flight several times a day tuckered our little doggy out. When I picked the two of them up from work, her pace up the stairs was much slower than it had been in the morning. She was so exhausted! Between going up and down the stairs, exploring new areas, and meeting a ton of new people, going to work was a lot for her.

I'm thrilled that Gozer's day at work went so well because it means that Ian can take care of her without me being here. This is great because I plan to go to Edmonton at the end of April for a week or so and now I don't have to worry about Gozer - Ian can just take her to work while I'm gone. I wouldn't mind if he took her sometimes just for fun, too :)

Bossy Feet

Out of three days so far this week, Gozer has led me to the vet's office three times: once a day. She tried to lead me there a second time today but I decided that there was no way that we were going there again. It's one thing to show up at the office once a week or so, but every day? I wouldn't blame them for thinking that I'm a little nuts for letting my dog lead me there because I think I'm nuts for letting it happen.

Because we were at the vet's for her to say hello to everyone anyways, I figured I'd weigh Gozer. She's still gaining weight: she weighed 9.2kg, up from 9.0kg last time. I guess her walks aren't enough exercise so I'll need to make her run and chase her toys in the house. Of course we should also decrease her food a bit because we must be overfeeding her a bit.

At least one of us is losing weight: me. I've lost about ten pounds since last September (fifteen since last year) and I'm very happy about that. I have been slowly trying to lost the weight and it's not coming off too quickly so I'm not worried about the weight loss. It's not like I couldn't afford to lose more weight, either, but I'll be happy if I lose another five pounds, maximum.

I've been very lazy over the last few days. I work on the red carpet post and then I do some sketching for metalsmithing and then I watch tv and surf the interwebs... except when I'm walking Miss Bossy Feet (aka Gozer). Since she's come off of the Reconcile (doggy Prozac), she's much more energetic and much bossier. She has very clear ideas about where she wants to go on her walks and will balk by seemingly gluing her feet to the ground and leaning against the leash if I don't go that way. I can, with enough effort and leash pops, get her to go in the direction I want, but she'll continue trying to go where she wants for quite some time. For example, if we don't cross the street at the first driveway for the vet's, she'll balk at the second, and then the third, and then she'll really balk when we cross the street away from the office.

She's also become quite sneaky about getting her own way. She likes to cross Keewatin Ave to go onto Stanmore but I don't always want to go that way, especially if we had a big walk earlier. Last night, instead of waiting to cross at Stanmore, she crossed as soon as we reached Keewatin so that it would be a simple turn onto Stanmore instead of having to cross the street then.

She's not just bossy on walks, of course: she likes to be bossy with her feet at home, too. She has very clear ideas about when she wants to eat and will paw at her food dish and the food container to let me know she's hungry. If I ignore those signs, she starts barking and batting me with her front paws until I distract her somehow. She hasn't yet figured out that she doesn't get fed when she's being bossy like that.

I tell you, life with a bossy dog is certainly interesting. The upside is that she's playing more and more on her own, which is soemthing I definitely want to encourage. As long as she does what I want without any more fuss than not wanting to go in another direction, she can be bossy sometimes. It is, after all, kind of cute.

Gozer fun and more

Ian's dad's birthday was this past week so we went to their place to celebrate. We had a very yummy dinner and a delicious cake while we were there and spent some time talking and catching up. Of course we brought Gozer with us and not just because we were gone all day: she really likes Ian's dad and heads straight for him when we're there. If she can't sit up on his lap she's happy to sit at or on his feet.

We all took Gozer for a walk while we were there and it went very well. She met a local dog that's very friendly and that actually laid down before she approached because she was clearly a bit nervous. They ended up having a bit of a sniff and I think they're friends now. I was very impressed with how comfortable Gozer was with Ian's parents; Ian's mom held the leash and Gozer behaved perfectly well. I think Gozer enjoyed the whole day very much: she was whining in the car when we left so I assume that she would rather have stayed there. We'll have to go back soon.

I'd been having some residual nausea problems and I realized that it happened after I drank water. I already told you how the Brita water had the green stuff in it and as it happened, I didn't think to clean out my water bottle. If I don't drink water out of that bottle, I don't get nauseous. So now I feel a little silly having felt nauseous so often because it was my own fault. At least now I know how to fix it and I know I won't have to worry about it any more.I think I can definitively say that my nausea and stomach problems are resolved.

As I'm writing this I'm watching the Oscars which are so far very entertaining. It's so entertaining that I don't want to leave to walk Gozer even though I'm recording the show. Not that Gozer cares what I'm watching; she just wants a warm and comfy place to sleep. She's so warm and comfy right now that it will be hard to convince her to go out for her evening walk. Why would she want to go outside into the wind and colder temperatures when she can be warm and cozy right here? If I was her, I wouldn't want to go out, either).

I will definitely be doing a red carpet post for the Oscars. It'll be interesting to see the differences in clothing between the Golden Globes and Oscar events.

My denosumab injection adventure

Today was the first day that I received the denosumab at home from the home care nurse. I knew that it would be fairly easy to do the actual injection since it's just a subcutaneous injection but it's something I can't do myself. Apparently the home care people only come for three visits and those visits are used to teach the patient (or someone in the house) how to do it. Ian has said that he'll learn how to do it since I don't do needles.

I saw a substitute oncologist in December and she wrote the order, or request, for the nurse to come to the house today. Up until yesterday I'd heard nothing from the nurse so I called the pager number that I had from before. When I hadn't heard back from that nurse this morning, I called the local Community Care Access Center (CCAC), who coordinates this sort of thing. The receptionist I spoke to was very helpful; she transferred me to an intake person right away. That person looked at my information and said that my chart was closed and there were no new orders there.

So I called the oncologist's office and told them that they the CCAC had no orders for me. At noon, two hours later, the oncology nurse called and said that they'd straightened everything out. Apparently the CCAC (or Care Partners, the nurse's actual employer) had misunderstood the order. For some reason, someone thought that they couldn't do the injection.. and told no one.

I waited a couple of hours and called the CCAC back. This receptionist wasn't at all helpful; she told me that I needed to call someone named Angela at Grand River Hospital back because she coordinates the case managers (who coordinate the care). I was very, very frustrated by this point because this whole thing was stupid and I was the one who was trying to get this done instead of the CCAC. The receptionist finally put me on hold and asked someone else what to do. She came back with the best possible answer: she would call this Angela at the hospital and have Angela call me back.

About an hour or so later, a case manager called me back and we got things working. I needed syringes and this person got them rush ordered for me. She asked me to call Care Partners once I picked up the syringes so that they could arrange for a nurse. The nurse that showed up was from a completely different area and was pulled in to do the work because the nurse for my area was too busy. She checked the number I called last night and it was correct so that nurse should have called me back.

Had that nurse called me back yesterday telling me she had no idea what I was talking about, today's clusterf*ck wouldn't have happened. Why on earth didn't the person who said they couldn't do this injection tell someone? If they did, why didn't that person tell someone else? Why didn't they try and fix the problem or question the order or be proactive in any way instead of basically sitting back and waiting for someone else - namely, me - to light a fire under their butts? I am not impressed. Even though it all worked out in the end, there was no reason for things to have been as messed up as they were.

I dread trying to get them doing port flushes. After this experience, the less I have to do with either the CCAC or Care Partners and the apathy they exhibited today, the better.

Gozer's first graduation

Gozer graduated from her obedience class yesterday! She didn't do so well in the sit-stay and down-stay commands but she did very well with other commands. I had been a bit worried that she wouldn't do so well because the Reconcile was completely out of her system for the first time at these classes. She has a lot more energy now, which might have been why she didn't do so well staying in one spot.

All of the dogs in the class graduated so we can all take the next level there. While we learned a lot ad we liked the staff, we don't plan to go back to this particular dog training centee. Our main criticism is that the staff didn't correct the dog owners when they were doing things wrong.

For example, there was a fairly young chocolate lab in the class who, like most dogs, doesn't get things right away. We were specifically told to not use the dog's name when correcting the dog but this dog's owner would grab the dog by the muzzle and say, "No! Charlotte, NO!"

We were also told to let the dog have a loose leash when teaching them to heel so that it could make the decision to heel for itself and so that it would gain the confidence in knowing that it can make good decisions and that the owner trusts it to make those decisions. This same owner had her dog on a choke chain and she held the end of the choke chain without giving it any slack. She did the same thing when sitting with the dog at the bench - she held the choke chain tight enough so that the dog couldn't lie down in front of her the way the other dogs did.

When getting the dog to sit, we're supposed to put a hand on their chest and the other on top of their bum and use both hands to put the dog into the sit position. She grabbed the skin at the base of the dog's tail and pulled that down towards the ground.

The worst thing I saw this woman do was her version of a "leash pop" to correct her dog. A leash pop is just a quick jerk on the leash and only needs to be hard enough to get the dog's attention. It isn't supposed to be used to drag the dog in another direction. This woman wound up her whole body so that she could get a lot of force in with the pop... but that force shouldn't be necessary.

I saw this woman behave this way with her dog many times, and not once did any of the staff correct her. Clearly the woman is afraid of her dog and doesn't much like her dog - she brought her kids to graduation and it was clear that the kids want the dog, not her - so in my mind she should have received extra attention from the trainers to help her become more comfortable with her dog.

I know that people do worse things to their dogs but seeing these behaviours and feeling her negativity towards the dog made me feel sad and scared for the dog. It made my heart hurt to see the owner's behaviours, and the fact that the trainers must have seen them, too - there were up to four of them there - and did nothing at all makes me wonder about the quality of the training. I think we learned a lot and I know I'm happy with Gozer's performance but I need to look somewhere else for more training.

Gozer and my stomach

My stomach has settled back down and I'm not feeling nauseous anymore. I'm wondering if the nausea and tummy problems were related to our Brita water. We buy the big 18.9L (5Gal) jugs of water for drinking but it's expensive so we use Brita-filtered water for coffee, my morning oatmeal, and other cooking as well as when we run out of the bottled water.

We noticed this past week that the bottom of the Brita jug was green with what appeared to be algae. I didn't know that algae could grow in a Brita jug but a quick showed that algae can definitely grow there, especially if the jug isn't washed regularly and sits in the sunlight. We don't wash the jug as often as we should and it does get to sit in the sun from time to time . We're not the greatest housekeepers, although I foresee us cleaning the Brita jug out more often from now on.

I don't know if algae in the Brita jug gets poured into the water or if it can cause tummy troubles in people with sensitive tummies like mine but I haven't had problems since we cleaned out the jug. Coincidence? Maybe... and maybe not. If the nausea comes back then I'll know it wasn't the algae, right?

Yesterday I took Gozer to the vet's for her final behaviour modification appointment. She's done so well at that program: she doesn't show any signs of separation anxiety when she's left alone and she doesn't bark nearly as often. She's off the Reconcile (doggy Prozac) and we've seen a noticeable difference in her behaviour: she's much more rambunctious, excited, and bossier. She barks (ar-roo-roo-roo-roo-roo) when she wants something which she never did before. Her character is more obvious and now that we see it, we're happy that she was on the medication. It calmed her enough so that she could take in the training and get over the anxieties she felt. She is such a happy dog now.

After we left the vet's office, I'd planned to take her for one of our regular walks. She had other ideas: when she wants to go a different way, she plants her little feets down and pulls away from the leash. While I can do a few leash pops and force her to go into another direction if I wanted, I allowed her to decide which way we went. We ended up at Ren's Pet store for reasons unknown. When we left she had wanted to walk along another path but I decided that we were going home.

Several times this week Gozer has led me to the vet's office so that she could have a visit with the staff. Gozer was even happy to see the groomer when no one else was there! This seems kind of crazy, doesn't it? I spoke with the vet and she said that they encourage their animal patients to stop by for a visit so that the animals see the office as a good, happy place instead of a scary one. The staff are more than happy to give the animals a bit of attention and a treat if they're not busy. If they are busy, Gozer has a chance to meet other animals which is a very good thing.

I'm lucky that my tummy is better so that I can go on these crazy long Gozer-directed walks. She definitely enjoys the time and I like being able to spend that kind of quality time with her.

Details on my friend

I found out how my friend died. Apparently she had a twist in her small intestine that cut off blood flow to her intestines. Somehow she bled out - I'm not sure how, although it could have been during surgery - and nothing could be done to save her so she died. It's like she was struck by lightning. Selfishly, I wish that lightning had struck someone else so that my friend was still alive.

I'm still feeling very sad. I've decided that I won't be going to the visitation or funeral although I'm having trouble articulating why I won't go. I'll send a card, of course, even though that feels like such a small thing to do. As sad as I feel (and I know that my sadness is tied up in my feelings about my childhood and the work my psychologist and I are doing), it's nothing compared to what her husband and son must feel. My heart hurts for them, too.

I has a sad

My childhood friend Penny died suddenly early this morning. I don't know what happened but she died in Midland, ON and lived in Barrie, ON so I figure they were away doing something.  I'm still in shock because of the suddenness of her death but the grief and sadness are starting to come through.

We lived on the same street for a few years when we were growing up and we were fairly close. Her family moved away and we used to write letters back and forth but we eventually lost touch. I never forgot her and kept searching for her. One day a few years ago I found her again on facebook and we reconnected there. She had gone back to school to become a nurse and had recently graduated and found a job.

There are visitations on Friday and the funeral is on Saturday up in Barrie, which is a two or two and a half hour drive from here. Part of me wants to go if the weather is good so that I can pay my respects to her husband and kids as well as her mom.

Four years ago yesterday my dad died. My friend's death on top of that anniversary date has left me reeling. My heart hurts.

Last night's Grammy awards

Did you watch last night's Grammy awards? I did. It was easy to see that Whitney Houston's death the day before had shaken many people up and that the tributes to her were hastily added to the night's program. The somber moments were limited but seemed to be heartfelt.

The show opened with LL Cool J, the host, saying a prayer for Whitney Houston. While I understand that the producers and the host meant well by saying some words and wanted to honour her memory, I wish that they hadn't said something that began with "Our heavenly father" and ended with "amen". I know I'm not alone in not believing in a personal god who listens to what you say and I`m uncomfortable and excluded, having to listen to things couched in a religious way. When I've objected to prayers like this before, I've been told to pay attention to the meaning behind the words and to ignore the religious phrasing because its the intent that counts. My thinking is that religious phrasing definitely does not belong at a non-religious event, so why should I have to ignore the religious phrasing? Why don't religious people have to insert the religious words instead, if it's all supposed to mean the same thing anyways?

Anyways, back to the Grammys. The show overall was fun and entertaining to watch. I loved watching the acceptance speeches because they sounded so raw and honest - they sounded like real people accepting awards. Adele sang for the first time after her recent vocal cord problems and she sounded as good as she did before. Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen also performed new songs which sounded pretty good. Glen Campbell was there, too; apparently he's been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and is doing a farewell tour.

The "talk of the night" was Nicki Minaj's performance of Roman. I didn't totally understand it but there was an exorcism and religion involved somehow. It didn't really make sense and the song wasn't catchy in any way so the whole thing left me quite cold. It was as though she was trying to be as relevant and interesting and unique as Lady Gaga or Madonna and in the end the whole thing was disjointed and mediocre.

Speaking of Nicki Minaj, she behaved rather badly, in my opinion, when she didn't clap for the winner of the award she lost. I understand that she wanted to win and was disappointed when she lost, but not clapping for the winner is being a poor sport. I also thought that Lady Gaga behaved badly when she got up to leave after the last award was given before the final performance of the night. Considering she was close to the front stage, it was impossible to miss her getting up out of her seat and trying to leave. I know she didn't win anything (and I don't think she was nominated for anything) and she wasn't on the red carpet, and no one cared much about what she was wearing, but to get up and try to leave before the show was officially over is rude.

Aside from those small things, I enjoyed watching the show. I even recorded it while I walked Gozer so that I wouldn't miss any of it. If only all award shows were so good, I'd be a much happier girl.

My fun day out

I was feeling ok this morning so I was able to go out shopping with my friend - and enjoy it! I had a great time shopping and catching up with her today. She's starting a new job and needed a few pieces to round out her work wardrobe. Before we set out we went through her existing wardrobe so that we knew exactly what she needed: at least one pair of pants and tops with some colour.

We managed to find exactly what she was looking for at the Jones New York outlet! I was very impressed with their selection and the fit of their clothes because the clothes are made to fit real women with real curves. The pants she bought fit her perfectly and were very attractive and slimming (and on sale!). She also found a few tops in brighter colours that fit her very well and are flattering. Everything she bought coordinates with her existing wardrobe so now she has lots of mix and match wardrobe options. She'll be well-dressed and gorgeous at her job.

We had a light lunch while we were out and unfortunately the nausea returned afterward. I did have a yummy brownie that had a lot of fat in it so I wonder if there's something going on with my gallbladder or something. One of my sisters had hers out years ago because it wasn't working and if I remember rightly, she had symptoms similar to mine: nausea that almost feels like you should eat but if you do (or if I drink water) it gets worse, plus some abdominal pain. The pain isn't that bad but it's there sometimes.

My system does tend to be delicate so it's possible that it's out of balance somehow and that's what's causing the problem. I did have some pain a few days ago and had to take extra painkillers which may have caused some extra constipation even though I don't think I'm constipated. Whatever is causing this nausea, I wish it would stop because it's interfering with my life.

Who's sick in this house?

I didn't call my oncologist today. I kind of knew that I wouldn't because I was supposed to meet up with a friend to go shopping and I wouldn't be home for them to call me back. Then I ended up feeling really nauseous and postponing my outing until tomorrow. So while I could have called my oncologist, I didn't because I felt so awful.

I'm feeling better now. I have no idea what was wrong; maybe constipation? something I ate? who knows. I'll call my oncologist on Monday, however. I noticed this morning that the left breast has changed shape a little bit, probably because of the reddish-purple bumps which are probably sarcoidosis, and that's something that I've been told not to ignore. I'm not going to stress about it but I'll definitely call on Monday.

We also noticed a bump on Gozer's chin that we haven't seen before, and I noticed a bump on the roof of her mouth right behind her teeth. I'm seeing the vet on Friday to finish off our behaviour modification program but if the bumps are still there on Monday I think I'll try to get her in to see the vet early on in the week. I don't want my little furbaby getting sick!

I'm looking forward to going out tomorrow. I haven't seen this person in ages and I'm not going to miss it tomorrow no matter how I feel.

More of that and some of this

I should really post more often so that I don't have these posts with multiple topics.

I'm resigning myself to never finishing the SAG awards red carpet post. I lost enough that going back and redoing it is more work than I want to do. I'm not looking at sparkly things on eBay these days... I'm looking at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's online catalogue. Pretty much everything they have, whether it's on display or not, is there. There's so much there; I've been spending hours just looking at twentieth century clothing and I've barely even scratched the surface of what's there.

My back has been hurting quite a lot. This morning it was quite bad until after my new painkiller patch (which went on late because I had to go and pick up the patches this morning) started working. I might have just overdone it yesterday when I took Gozer for a very long walk but that kind of response is unusual for the pain I've had in my back. Of course the pain there can change so I'm trying not to get too worried about it.

My sarcoidosis is also acting up: my lower left leg has lots of reddish-purple bumpy areas and I've got these areas also showing up on my left breast. That's the one that had the primary and recurrence cancers so I think it's about time that I call my oncologist. I wish I had a sarcoidosis specialist that I could call because I feel sort of weird about calling my oncologist about something that I think is probably sarcoidosis. I'll talk about my back as well.

Because my back was hurting so much today, I couldn't take Gozer for a walk this afternoon so I let her run around in the backyard  She loves it out there: we were out for 40 minutes this afternoon and she would have been happy to stay out there even longer. She especially likes playing chase with a rotted vegetable in her mouth. I have no idea why she's so attracted to the rotted vegetables, but she is: she not only holds them in her mouth and runs around with them, she eats them and rolls all over them with the same look on her face that she gets when we rub her belly and chest.

When she's finished with the rotted vegetables, she runs around nose to the ground searching for bunny poo. Did you know that bunny poo is the yummiest treat ever? I didn't, either. She loves the stuff and will happily root around in the lawn for the little poo balls. At first I thought she was eating berries because the little balls looked like blueberries but I was wrong (clearly it's a good thing I don't have to survive on my own in the woods).

Our dog has become comfortable being a dog here, which I love. She's very happy when she's eating all these unappetizing foods and they don't seem to have an adverse effect on her... but I think we're going to clean up the lawn and get rid of the rotting vegetables. She can do without that "tasty" treat.

Some of this and a pinch of that

Last night's Superbowl game was actually quite entertaining, especially in the fourth quarter. It was a very close game and there was a lot of edge-of-your-seat play going on. We watched the game at a friend's house last night with some other friends. I did as much catching up as I did watching the game, at least up until the final quarter. One friend of mine that I haven't seen in ages was there and it was great to catch up with her. I'm hoping to see her for a longer visit later this month.

I haven't done much work on the red carpet post because I'm still drawn to pictures of pretty, sparkling gemstones. So sparkly... so pretty... so expensive. The magpie in me just can't stay away! I do have to pull myself away to walk Gozer, of course. She can't go out on her own and she likes having a fairly stable routine so we have to go out for walks whether I want to go or not.

We took her on a huge walk on Saturday: it was so nice out there that we thought we'd go for an epic walk. She enjoyed herself very much as there were lots of good smells everywhere. She's still barking at other dogs when they walk by her even though we're sitting her down before she gets excited and shoveling treats in her mouth until the dog has passed. She rarely barks at dogs behind fences who are barking at her which is a huge step for her.

During Saturday's walk, a very big mutt was carrying a stick as he walked towards us and when he smelled the treats, he dropped the stick and shoved his face in to get some treats for himself. I wouldn't have responded well to someone coming in and wanting to take my food away so I wasn't surprised when Gozer barked like crazy. The dog seemed sad to have to pick up the stick and leave the treats because he really, really, really wanted one of those treats. We're a little surprised that more dogs haven't done something like that. Silly dogs.

I'm so lucky because I can look at pretty, sparkly things with Gozer sitting with me. If I'm sitting down and Ian's not home, Gozer is with me. Who wouldn't want to hang out with a cute, soft, cuddly dog?

Last Harry Potter movie

I was working on the red carpet post and while I thought I'd saved my work, the next time I opened the post those edits were gone. Wahh!!!! That should teach me to copy the work before closing it down and re-opening it. I'll have to go back and re-do a fair amount of work so I won't be able to get the red carpet post up until Monday or maybe Tuesday. We're out tomorrow evening to watch the Superbowl.

Tonight we finally got around to watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2 and we didn't love it as much as most other people did. Maybe if we'd seen this movie in sequence with the other ones we might have enjoyed it more - but we think that each movie in the series should stand on its own. It wasn't even that this movie doesn't stand on its own: it picks up right where the last one left off with no reminders about what happened in the previous movie. We were lost because we couldn't remember what happened in the last movie.

We liked that the movie tied up loose ends but we weren't impressed with the story itself or the action. We had problems with the battle scenes in particular because we couldn't understand why certain things were happening. For example, why were giants there? Who got to do the flying thing? Where did those other people come from? I don't know. Maybe if we'd seen the other movies recently, all of these things would make sense. I think they're explained in the books but bringing in the end result without explaining how it got to be there isn't a good book-to-movie adaptation.

If you've seen all of the other Harry Potter movies and need to finish the movie experience, you'll want to see this movie. If you want to see a movie just for fun, this isn't a good choice.

Gozer is doing so well

I haven't been working on the red carpet post as much as I thought I would have because I got sucked into the world of eBay. There are pages and pages and pages of sparkly gemstones there that I couldn't resist looking at and, in some cases, buying.

I also went in to talk to the person at the vet's about Gozer and her behaviour modification program. She's doing really well: she's barking less at other dogs, she's whining much less, and she's calming down more easily. The person and I agreed that Gozer must have been very stressed at the groomers to not take her favourite treat, and we decided that this person will be there the next time Gozer gets groomed.

I also talked about how Gozer's behaviour at night has changed. I don't know if I mentioned this or not but Gozer clearly doesn't want to go on her evening walk with Ian. When he says, "walk," she turns towards me and climbs up me ass far as she can. Then when Ian guides her down to the floor, she runs around and under the coffee table to try and avoid Ian. After that, if Ian hasn't grabbed her collar, she runs to the other side of my chair and tries to jump up onto my chair. Finally, I either have to lead her upstairs or Ian has to lead her by the collar.

Gozer has also not been as interested in going on walks lately; she doesn't run to the front door like she used to and when the booties and collar go on her she starts backing away from the door.

The person at the vet's thinks that the booties, possibly along with the collar, might be to blame for this behaviour. Gozer used to love to go on walks and over the last few weeks she hasn't wanted to go, so what the person suggested was to not use the booties at all. Fortunately, the weather is good so that's not a tough decision :) The booties used to be sitting at the front door and I've moved them out of sight. Hopefully that will make the difference. Her behaviour at night is awfully cute in a sad and pathetic way but it's not good behaviour.

I think I've looked at all of the sparkly gemstones on eBay that I can so now I'll have some time to finish up this red carpet post.

Gozer's first grooming

Gozer looks much prettier and cleaner and is much softer to the touch now that she's been groomed. Fortunately she doesn't smell too much from the shampoo and conditioner and whatever else they put into her hair. She didn't get a full grooming; instead, she got what might be called "grooming-lite". She was bathed, her hair was trimmed, and her nails were clipped. By doing just this amount the groomer and Gozer can start developing a relationship.

The groomer said that Gozer was very good and that she didn't bark at all. Gozer didn't take the treat that the groomer gave her, however. They have her favourite treats there and for her not to take her favourite treat tells me that she was very scared. Poor girl. She'll have to get used to it because she needs to be groomed regularly.

The groomer was surprised at how wildly curly Gozer's hair is; I think the multi-directional curl makes it difficult to trim the hairs to the same length. it also makes her hair very prone to matting, as I've already discovered. The groomer said that Gozer should be combed every day instead of brushing her (which I've been trying to do every day) because the brush won't get into the mats.

I'm still working on the SAG red carpet post but it's coming along.

More about Gozer

Our sweet little Gozer girl is definitely more comfortable in our house. She's started to play in the backyard- and she's definitely trying to communicate things to us.

Over the last few weeks she's spent a lot of time looking out the patio doors. Now she actually wants to go into the backyard to play and she's been spending some time there on her own (under our supervision). She loves to chase the birds out of the trees and then run circles around the lawn. When she's allowed to go up to the garden patch, she especially loves to go and sniff at the dead cabbage plants. One time I thought she was going to roll around in one of them! Last night when I took her out for her pre-bedtime pee she waded her way through four inches of snow (sans booties) to pee right in front of the gate. All the dogs now know that the backyard belongs to her.
She's also been telling us, in her own subtle way, that she doesn't like her booties. Over the last few days she'd been walking backwards after her booties were put on her feet but of course we kept putting them on her. This evening as soon as I tried to put one bootie on, she laid down and went limp. Do you know how difficult it is to put a sock-style booties on a completely limp foot? I got them on but one came off during the walk.

We clearly aren't getting the message from her that she doesn't like the booties, so I wonder what Gozer will do to communicate this message? I know that the booties hurt her dew claws - and it doesn't help that her claws need trimming - but when there's four inches of uncleared snow out there she has to wear them. She is getting her claws trimmed, along with some of her fur, at her first grooming appointment on Wednesday so hopefully the booties will be more comfortable after that.

I'm still on the lookout for other booties for her that are easier to put on and that don't hurt her dew claws. There are some available on the interwebs but I want to check out a couple of stores in town here before I order something. I'd rather see them in-person so that I can examine them to see how they look and feel and to check their construction. Dog booties are expensive and I don't want to spend a lot more money on booties that don't work or are uncomfortable on her feet.

SAG Awards show

I watched part of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards tonight. I couldn't see part of the second hour because we were recording two things and I had to take the dog out for her walk but I enjoyed the rest of the show, mostly.


This is one of those award shows that has no host or emcee for the viewers although I think there was an announcer for the audience. I find that I miss someone telling jokes and keeping everything together; without that person, the award show devolves into an unrelenting speech after award after speech after award after speech after award pattern with only commercials to break things up.

It also seems that there isn't much in the way of rehearsals for the main event because many of the people were wooden in the way they read the teleprompter. You wouldn't have known that acting paid their bills for them. Balancing this out was that there were no limits on the length of the acceptance speeches. I especially loved the skit that the cast of Modern Family did during their acceptance speech :)


I wonder if winning a SAG award is somewhat more meaningful than winning some other awards because the winners are chosen solely by their peers who (for the most part) really understand what it is they. In my head I figure that the public is more swayed by who wins an Academy Award or an Emmy - and winning one of those awards is obviously a big deal - but I wonder if the actors themselves are more honoured by the recognition from other actors via the SAG award. They might think that the awards is lame, for all I know.

There was no red carpet coverage so I didn't see many dresses but I was impressed with the ones that I saw on-stage. I'll have a red carpet post up in the next few days; hopefully it won't take as long to finish the post as it did the last one!

Sore back

The weather has been crazy here: yesterday we got four to six inches of snow yesterday morning and all of it melted by yesterday evening. Then the temperature dropped overnight, freezing up the melted snow, and it snowed again - that heavy, wet, slushy snow - on top of the ice. The walking is treacherous out there so we didn't take Gozer on an afternoon walk.

While yesterday was kind of extreme, weather-wise, we've had other days where the temperature has risen and dropped and there's been ice everywhere. Walking has definitely been tricky and I think I managed to do something to my back. I don't know exactly what's wrong but I think it's muscle-related because a hot bath makes it feel better. It's on the "mostly good" side of my back and it's very painful so I'm walking with my cane - even in the house!

I hope that whatever is causing my back to hurt heals itself soon because being in pain isn't so much fun. It's also hard to feel positive when I'm in pain so I'm a little cranky and a little more depressed than usual. Knowing that I react this way, I'm trying to rest and do things that make me happy. So I've been thinking about little boxes and jewelry and I've been looking at pretty stones on the interwebs and thinking about what I could do with them.

I'll be taking my cane with me to tomorrow's dog training class. Gozer isn't bothered by the cane at all but we have no idea how the other dogs will react to the cane. It'll be an interesting class :)

Denosumab and metalsmithing

Here I thought that metalsmithing started today but it actually started last week. I don't know how I got that wrong because I thought I put the start date in the calendar right after I decided to take the class. I must have got confused. Of course it turned out ok. I was able to pick up last week's and this week's the projects fairly easily and I've started working on something new.

It turns out that we'll be learning a new stone setting technique. It isn't the one I was interested in learning but I like it anyways and can see how it could be used. This session we're also going to be doing a lot with casting which is something new for me. We're going to start with doing some lost-wax casting of natural objects like flowers, seeds, and leaves. I have to find one and then figure out what to do with it - it's no good just making the mold and using up the silver to cast them. Silver isn't free so I don't want to waste it.

I asked my instructor about synclastic and anticlastic raising and making spiculums and she said, "those techniques require a lot of hammering." There are ten or so students in the class and if everyone were hammering metal the noise would be unbearable. Some people are good at hammering and others are very, very, very loud normally - imagine if they had to hammer this much! While I'd love to learn these techniques, that studio isn't soundproofed enough to make learning them pleasurable so I'll explore them on my own.

I also spoke to my instructor about my compulsion to make little boxes, even though I know very little about how to actually make them. She's fine with me using some of the techniques we're learning to make little boxes, if I want. I ordered a book on how to make boxes today and I'm looking forward to working through it.

In addition to being metalsmithing day, it was also denosumab day. They were running late at the cancer center so I was late to metalsmithing today. My nurse was running a half-hour late and then my bloodwork came back with elevated phosphorus. Fortunately, my calcium levels were normal. The nurse contacted the pharmacist who contacted my oncologist who said that she'd investigate this and to go ahead with the denosumab.

Calcium and phosphorus work together and there could be all kinds of things causing the elevated phosphorus (also known as hyperphosphatemia). My instincts say that it's related to last month's low calcium  levels even though this month's calcium levels were normal. High phosphorus can also be caused by kidney problems, which I don't think I have, or bone mets, which I do have but which are supposed to be stable.

This denosumab was supposed to be my last one at the cancer center and the last bloodwork for the denosumab. However, it would make sense for my oncologist to want me to do the bloodwork again next month and maybe some other tests. For example, if we're concerned about bone met activity then it might be a good idea to see what my tumour markers are doing. There may be other blood tests that she wants to do as well. I spoke with the nurse about this and she was going to contact my oncologist about whether I should come in for more bloodwork next month.

It was definitely a big day. I'm enjoying lazing around and relaxing with Ian and Gozer

Metalsmithing tomorrow!

Metalsmithing classes start tomorrow! It's been too long since I've been in the studio. I have no idea what we'll be learning this time around although I have some ideas about what I want to see.

I have an urge to make little boxes out of metal but I don't know how to make hinges (even though I think I have a good idea of how it's done) or how to make the lid fit properly on the bottom. I could probably figure it out, I know, but it's easier to be taught how to do things.

I'm also interested in using forging stakes to make synclastic and anticlastic forms and to make things like a spiculum (hollow sinuous curves, or tube-like things that are smaller at one or both ends) as I find the shapes interesting and beautiful. I mean, look at this bracelet:

Spiculum Bracelet by Genevieve Flynn

Gorgeous, yes? Oh, yes. Smaller spiculums (spiculae?) can be used in earrings or as accents. They're amazing when done properly.

There are also some other stone-setting techniques I'd like to learn as well. I can work with what I already know but there are a couple of techniques that I've seen used that I think I could do.

We'll see what we end up doing in class. I've barely even scratched the surface on metalsmithing techniques and I'm sure that there are things that I'd love to learn that I've never heard of and know nothing about.

Walking with my cane

I don't think I've mentioned before that I'm walking with the cane again. When Gozer pulls at the leash I go off balance and that's been putting strain on my back which in turn has been making my hip and leg hurt. Of course even when I'm not walking Gozer I've slipped or skidded on ice and that's put strain on my back, too.

Walking with Gozer and my cane hasn't been as fun as you might think. I prefer to walk with her on my right side but that's where the cane goes so I have to put her on my left. Unfortunately, she has a tendency to drift to the right when she's walking with me. She also likes to go from side to side if she gets half a chance. She's only tripped me once so far... but that was one time too many for my liking.

Yesterday was super-warm and gorgeous and then overnight the temperature dropped, leaving a thin film of ice over much of the sidewalk. Gozer was pulling on the leash a lot which didn't make walking over the ice any easier even though I did have my cane. I sort of felt bad for her because every time I'd slip I'd kind of pull the leash back. Then again, if she'd been walking like a good girl with slack on the leash, the leash pulling back wouldn't have been so bad.

Even when Gozer is walking like a good girl and the sidewalks are clear, walking Gozer with the cane poses other problems. My nose runs a lot when I'm doing any kind of exercise or when I'm cold, you see. Letting my nose run isn't an option and sniffing only works for so long so I end up blowing my nose a lot. When I first got the cane I learned how to blow my nose with one hand so that I could keep walking while blowing my nose. With Gozer's leash being controlled by the non-cane hand, there's no free hand I can use to blow my nose. I have to either stop or drop the leash to blow my nose and both interrupt the flow of the walk.

I am grateful that I can walk Gozer by myself, even if I have to use the cane. Still, I'd love it if I could walk without the cane at all, especially when I'm walking our little furchild.

Training and walking Gozer

There's never a dull day with Gozer around!

At training we're learning how to get our dogs to come to us. Each owner tried out the command individually by showing the dog a treat, walking some distance away, and then saying "Come!" followed by a stream of chatter to keep the dog running towards their voice. We were told that we could say anything except the dog's name and the word "come" in that stream of chatter.

When I did it the first time, I kept in mind that I was supposed to say anything but "Gozer" and "come" and ended up saying "Come Gozer girl Gozer Gozer Gozer come come come come Gozer come!" Yep, I said exactly - and almost only - the words I was specifically told not to say. It was like being told not to think about white elephants and only thinking about them.

We discovered that Gozer responds very well to strong male voices. Every time a male called "come" to his dog, she started forward. it was pretty cute to see :)

We got a bunch of snow over the weekend so Gozer was wearing her booties. While I liked the look of the Muttluks, they really haven't held up well. The serging on the inside is coming off and the toes are wearing out. They're also not waterproof and they take a while to dry out. As well, we've discovered that the velcro that keeps them closed tightens across her front dew claws, making her a little uncomfortable. We need a new solution.

I've looked into the idea of the creams that can be put on the dog's feet to prevent cracking and to create a physical barrier against salt and snow. However, she doesn't seem to have problems with her pads cracking and I don't really see how the cream could prevent snow- or ice-ball formation between her pads. Therefore, I don't see the cream as really being the best option for her and I think we need to find new booties. I'm currently doing research to try and find some that will work better for her.

I never thought that I'd be the kind of furparent who would do research on dog booties for her dog. Clearly, that's who I am. I do it because I want my furbaby to be happy and comfortable and well-trained. If she can look stylish, so much the better.

2012 Golden Globes red carpet, Part 2

Here are the rest of the red carpet outfits from the 2012 Golden Globes red carpet. It took a lot longer to get through them than I thought it would; I guess I'm out of practice.

Interestingly, there weren't many black dresses at this event. There were more nude colours than black and even more jewel tones than nude colours. I think blue in its many shades were the most popular colour although green and red were well-represented. Even yellow showed up on this red carpet!

While there were a few all-sequin dresses, most dresses had only a small number of sequinned embellishments, if any at all. Lace is still making a showing but there weren't as many lace dresses as I'd expected.

There were a number of rather ugly dresses making an appearance which I don't understand at all. I also don't understand the trend of doing nothing with your hair and leaving it all scraggly. I know that this event is a bit of a fun party but that doesn't mean that you can skip combing your hair before you arrive.

Enough of my comments; let's get to the dresses. Enjoy them after the jump.

Training our dog

I've been very lazy today with respect to the red carpet post. I have been working on it but I haven't done enough to post. So instead I'll write about our sweet little doggie. She's doing so well.

She's loving having her squeaky toys lying around waiting for her to pick them up. She calms down more quickly when she can put a plush toy in her mouth and squeak it than without the toys. She's starting to properly play with her toys, too, batting them around and kind of throwing them up and catching them as though they were alive. Best of all, when we throw the plush ball she goes to get it and then brings it back and drops it in front of us. It's a proper fetch game!

We gave Gozer a bath yesterday and it went much better than it had the last few times. I'd spent the last week or so trying to get her to go into the bathroom where she gets her baths and it's paid off. The first few days I had to lure her into the bathroom by putting treats on the floor leading into the bathroom, after which I gave her lots and lots of treats. When she would come into the bathroom on her own, I started throwing treats into the tub and when she jumped in after them, I fed her more treats. When she got to that point, I turned the water on and let the water trickle out of the wand, just as it would when she had baths.

During her bath we fed her treats until she was too scared to take more of them. She doesn't like getting wet and she really doesn't like being shampooed so she trembled through that. once we started rinsing off the shampoo she took the treats again. She's gone back in there to eat some leftover treats so we know she'll go in there again. She does look beautiful with her snowy-white fur when it's clean and all brushed out so all that work is worth it.

Training is not going quite so well. We're doing a command where we say "watch", take out a treat, let her smell it, bring the treat up to our nose, wait for some amount of time, say "yes", and give her the treat. The goal is to get her to look at us and she does that. She also starts barking. She wants the treat RIGHT NOW and if she doesn't get it right away, right after it touches our nose, and she demands it. I don't want to reward her for barking but that's what we kind of end up doing when she gets the treat. I'll talk to the trainer on Sunday and see how to handle this situation.

2012 Golden Globes Red Carpet, part 1

There are a lot of these red carpet photos! I'm still working through them but I wanted to post what I've finished so far so that you can get your red carpet fix.

I'm going to save the full analysis of the outfits until all of them have been posted. I figure the analysis will mean more when you can see all of the pictures.

Enjoy the pictures after the jump.

My mom's estate

I'm still working on the red carpet post for the Golden Globes; it's coming along fairly well. It used to be that it was difficult to find the designers for some of the less-known attendees. These days, more and more stylists and designers are  twittering their work, including which celebrity wore which dress. If I wanted, I could include some of the jewelry designers, too, because their names also show up occasionally. However, there aren't always good pictures of the jewelry so I figure there's not much point in including that information.

My mom's estate is pretty much wrapped up now. I received my share of the pension money yesterday and deposited into the bank today. It turns out that the pension amount was close to four times what we thought it would be so we each got more than we expected. The fact that the pension was so much larger than we thought explains why they wanted us to have a named administrator and stuff. Had the pension been the expected amount, all that rigmarole wouldn't have been needed because the estate would have been considered small.

Since the pension, and therefore the estate, is larger than we thought it would be, we have to confirm that there are no more taxes owed on the estate. While the government did take taxes off of the pension monies before they were disbursed, the lawyer has held back some of the pension money just in case we owe any more taxes. Unfortunately, that tax situation won't be settled for another year or so, which means the estate won't be fully settled until then. For now I'm happy to call the estate "mostly settled". Hopefully no more taxes will be owed and we'll get a nice little present next year.

Having the estate mostly settled leaves me a little sad. It means her life is even more over, if that makes sense. These days I'm feeling a bit sad. My psychologist and I are starting to delve into my past which is bringing up all sorts of emotions as well. Of course those emotions were already there buried under the surface so really we're just dealing with what's there. Based on how things are going, I think the emotions are going to get a bit stronger before they get better. At least I can pay for a lot of therapy (retail and otherwise) with the pension money.

Golden Globes

Award season has begun! The Golden Globes are tonight and I'm watching them as I write this. I have to say that Ricky Gervais, the host, is doing so much better this year than he did the last time he hosted an award show. His jokes are funny instead of awkward this year, as are the jokes of the various people giving out the awards.

It helps that the crowd is more raucous this year and I can't help but think that perhaps they've been plied with more champagne than usual. There are a lot of audience members whooping and whistling and clapping through acceptance speeches and the introductions. There's definitely a light, party feel to this event and everyone seems to be having fun. This award show seems to be not taking itself too seriously and I rather like that because it's fun to watch. Gozer can't figure out why I've been laughing so hard through the whole show.

Of course I don't just watch this show to see who gets which award. I haven't seen all of the movies or the tv shows so I don't really care who wins or loses. As you know, I care most about what people are wearing and boy, have there been some interesting outfits. Some of the dresses have been gaspingly gorgeous and others have been amazingly hideous. Some have dressed themselves well and others I wondered if they left before looking in a mirror... or if their stylists hated them. It might take me a couple of days to get the red carpet post up but don't worry, it's on its way.

Dogs, booties, and leashes

Remember when Gozer got new booties and I said that watching her with them was hilarious? Ian recorded her walking in her booties for the second time that day. I think you'll agree that watching her is pretty funny:



She's super-cute, isn't she? I bet you all wish you could have a cutie like her.

Speaking of dogs, I read an article in the paper today about a woman whose dog was killed by a coyote in a nearby conservation area. The dog (along with the other two dogs with her and her friend) were off-leash even though the rules for the area are that dogs must be kept on-leash. This woman wants signs to be posted noting that coyotes are in the area. She says that if she had known that coyotes were there, she would have put her dogs on leashes.

I'm sad that the dog died because I hate to think of an animal dying and this was a senseless death. At the same time I'm angry at this dog's owner because the dog's death was totally preventable. Had the dog been leashed, it would not have died. There are even signs saying that dogs must be leashed in the park! Deciding whether or not to leash one's dog should not be dependent on whether or not coyotes are present in the park; the decision should be based on the law.

The article also mentions another dog that was killed by a coyote after the dog's owners let the dog out into their unfenced yard at night without a leash. I know that the leash laws might not apply to private properties, so let's look at this from a common-sense point of view. Let's see. You have an unfenced property and it's dark outside. Even if you know that your dog will stay on your property, you have no control over any other animals. Raccoons, skunks, other dogs, and maybe even coyotes are more than happy to wander on your property. Is there any way other than a leash that will protect your dog from these intruders? No.

Obviously I have some very passionate feelings on this subject. Aside from the fact that there are leash laws in place, leashing your dog just makes sense. To not do it could have disastrous consequences. We do keep Gozer on a leash during walks and at night although she can run free in our backyard during the day. I couldn't imagine risking her life by letting her run free. Of course I don't think she'd run free while wearing those booties because all the other dogs might laugh at her.

Toys for Gozer

Because our cleaner was here today and it was so nice out this afternoon, Gozer and I went for a long walk. We went to the nearby pet store to wander around and see what was there. In a clearance bin I found a plush squeaky dog and when I squeezed it, Gozer perked right up. I figured that since she responded to the sound, I'd buy it for her. I also dropped a squeaky ball that's part of a puzzle thing and she started playing the ball and carrying it around the store. I bought that toy, too.

It turns out that the squeaky dog squeaks unlike any squeaky toy I've ever heard squeak. It has different squeaks depending on how hard and where it's squeezed and Gozer loves it. She left it upstairs when we came down to watch tv and before sitting down she had to run up and get it.

She doesn't just squeak the dog: she sleeps with it in her mouth. She's done that with all of her plush squeaky toys when they're given to her. It seems like it would be really uncomfortable because for a couple of these toys, she has to keep her mouth open fairly wide. She seems to like it, however. Her mouth does get very dry when she wakes up, which is kind of funny to watch.

I've looked up this behaviour on the interwebs and there are dogs out there that love to sleep with a blanket or plush toy in their mouths (squeaky or otherwise). Apparently once the behaviour has developed it's there for good. They'll give up the object when they have to but as soon as they have the opportunity they're sleeping with it in their mouths again. No one seems to know why some dogs do this but some seem to think it happens when dogs are taken from their mothers too soon (especially if they knead the object, which Gozer does not do), or have had more than one owner, or were rescue dogs.

We don't usually allow Gozer to have a plush toy in her kennel at night - she only gets one when we're going out - but I wonder if she would be happier with a regular kennel plush toy and a special one when we go out. She's been good in her kennel overnight so a regular plush toy probably isn't strictly necessary... although I do want her to be as happy as possible.

Finding a purse

My current purse appears to be on its last legs. The top zipper is coming apart from the panel and some of the binding is starting to come undone. It really looks shabby and I'm starting to feel a bit embarrassed bringing it out. I've been searching for a replacement purse for quite a while and I just haven't been able to find one that I like in my price range. If I was willing to spend a couple of thousand dollars my search would be over but I'm not prepared to spend that much.

I want a top-handled purse that's wider than it is tall and that also has a shoulder strap that I can wear across my body. It needs to have a top zipper, possibly covered by a flap, and at least one big compartment (two is better) as well as at least one small zippered compartment and some interior patch pockets. I'd prefer it to be black, grey, or burgundy/oxblood with silvertone, gunmetal, pewter, or black hardware that isn't too flashy.

For some reason I don't think that it should be hard to find a purse that meets my requirements but it turns out that this quest is next to impossible. I bought one online but it's way too big and looks like a piece of luggage. At this point I'm wondering whether or not I should try to make one. I've thought about trying to buy some leather and making it out of that... but I've never worked with leather before. Making a leather purse might not be all that smart, especially since I don't have a purse pattern ready.

I do have some heavier fabrics and I know I can get some coatings, faux leather or suede, and specialty hardware. I'm thinking that it might be worthwhile to try my hand at making my own purse. We'll see... I'm still thinking it over. Every time I search and cannot find the purse I want, the idea of making my own purse is more and more appealing.

Our first day of training

Our first dog training session is over. There were about eleven other dogs there with three trainers which seemed like a good ratio. 

We were happy to see that Gozer wasn't the only barky dog there - she wasn't even one of the worst! We had some trouble controlling her barking at first and the owner of the place came over and helped us. She tried to correct Gozer's barking and realized quite quickly that correcting Gozer with a regular leash pop just doesn't work. She's got a super-long neck so the leash doesn't fall in the right place, no matter how much we tighten the martingale collar, and we end up pulling against her shoulders, which are very strong.

She asked if we'd be willing to try a Gentle Leader head collar and at this point we're ready to try just about anything to correct the barking. These collars have one strap that goes over the muzzle and another that goes behind the head with the leash ring underneath the muzzle. When the dog is corrected with a leash pop, the dogs head turns towards the person holding the leash so the dog can't continue to pull forward. 

The trainer put the collar on her and it was like night and day with respect to leash correction. Before, we couldn't correct her at all or stop her from barking and suddenly she was responding to the correction. She stopped barking right away and hardly barked through the rest of the hour even though the dogs on either side of us were barkier than she is. This wonderful behaviour came at a price, however: she does not like that collar at all. She tried to pull it off her muzzle with her paws which of course wouldn't work. 

We took the collar home and I used it on tonight's walk. She hated it again and would paw at it by taking both of her paws and trying to pull off the muzzle strap. It was adorably cute when she did it but it's not something we can allow so I had to stop her. If I caught her soon enough I could just pull her along but if not I'd have to stop and pull her paws away from the muzzle. After a while she got used to the collar and walked normally. I kept the walk easy and let her sniff as we went along so that she'd enjoy the experience.

Anyways, back to the training. I know we did seven different things but I don't remember all of them - it kind of went by in a blur. I found it quite tiring because I had to learn to do things differently than I currently do. For example, the praise word the trainer is teaching us is "yes" and I usually use "good girl". I'm also not very coordinated so I had some trouble figuring out which hand to use to hold the leash and the treat and when to say what.

For all that, it was a very productive session and I enjoyed it. I felt comfortable in the environment and with the trainers. This training will be quite a time commitment because we have lots to practice this week but I have high hopes that by the time we're done we'll have a reasonably well-trained dog. 

Looking forward to training

We walked our neighbour's dogs for the last time this afternoon and both of us felt a huge weight lift off our shoulders when we took them home. As much as I enjoy spending time with those two - and I do, because they're super-cute when in their own home - I'm tired of walking them. Gozer needs so much attention right now that walking two other dogs along with her is just too much.

Speaking of Gozer, we gave her a bath today because it's melting outside and her belly was filthy. Poor girl! As soon as we took her into the main bathroom where she gets her baths, she started trembling because she was so scared. She wouldn't even take a yummy treat. We went ahead with the bath anyways and she was definitely not adverse to treats when we were done. I'm happy to report that the red bumps that were on her tummy are completely gone and the sores she had from worrying at her belly are almost gone. Yay!

We're going to spend some time taking Gozer into the main bathroom so that she doesn't get so scared going in there. So far we've only taken her in there for baths and I guess we need to play in there with her favourite toys.

Owing a dog is harder than owning a cat because cats don't need to be trained in the same way that dogs do. There's so much work involved in training a dog because you have to be consistent all the time - and Ian and I need to be consistent, too, which is hard. For example, when putting on Gozer's booties, I touch her paw, say "Paw" while I'm touching it, and lift it. I heard Ian doing things differently so I stopped him so that we could figure out which specific steps we would do. That's only one small thing; there are many more.

Life will be easier for all of us once Gozer's had more training - and we've learned how to train her properly. Because it isn't just about training the dog, is it? It's about training the human to communicate with the dog effectively. I hope I'm a good learner.

Yesterday's walk

I don't know if I've mentioned but Gozer is a bit of a barky dog. She's quiet in the house but if she sees another dog she starts lunging and barking like crazy. I don't know how to stop her doing this yet (we start the training on Sunday) so on walks where we encounter other dogs I end up practically dragging this barking dog away from the other dog.

Over the last week we've been walking our next-door neighbour's shih-tzu dogs Misty and Mya. Misty is all of about 8 pounds and is quite calm and easygoing. Mya is about 15 pounds and is stubborn and a bit lazy. She usually doesn't like going out on walks and tends to drag her feet for the first bit so that she has to be pulled along a bit. We'd noticed when doing this that her collar was loose and that she could probably wriggle out of it but she's not our dog so we figured we'd work with it.

Yesterday Ian had to work in the afternoon so I had the three dogs. We'd generally been going out with them together as it's easier to deal with them and their leavings if there are two of us. However, things had been going well so we figured it wouldn't be a big deal for me to have them on my own.

We started off just fine with Gozer and Misty taking the lead and Mya dragging behind. As we reached the end of the part that adjoins our property, Gozer started lunging. There's a house there that had a small brown dog there that had never, ever been there before along with about six kids between about six and eight years old. I tried to correct Gozer and she started barking (Rrawrf rrawrf rawf rawf). As did the other dog (ARF arf arf arf).

Just then, I felt the resistance that had previously been Mya suddenly disappear because she had wriggled free of her collar. Gozer was still barking, as was the other dog, and Misty was being calm while I tried to catch Mya. She seemed to think that we were having a great game of chase as she waddled from sniff spot to sniff spot. I managed to catch her jacket a little ways away, pull her back to me, and clamp her between my legs.

I knew if I didn't shorten the collar that she'd just wriggle out again because she's stubborn, not stupid. So I pulled my gloves off and frantically started fiddling with the collar to tighten it. Meanwhile, the kids also started yelling at the dog to stop barking and the adult in the house started yelling at the kids to move the dog away from the fence.

So there I was, trying to get this collar tightened with this dog clamped between my legs, and I'm surrounded by this wall of sound:

RRAwrf! RRawrf! ARF arf arf arf! Stop! RRRAWRF rrawrf rrawrf rawf! Barking! ARF ARF ARF! Get the DOG! RRRAWRF rrrawrf rawrf rawf! AWAY! arf arf arf! from the FENCE! RRRAWRF rawrf rrawrf! arf arf arf! FENCE! Barking! Rawrf!

All I could think is, "instead of moving the damn dog away from the damn fence, why don't you take it inside?" but I was trying not to get frustrated or annoyed while listening to this noise. Finally I got the collar shortened and on Mya; I checked it and I could slip two fingers under the collar so we were good to go. I kneeled down in front of Gozer, stared her down, and said NO. She settled down a bit so we started away.

Unfortunately, we had to go past the house because there's nowhere else to go. Naturally Gozer started barking again, only this time I was actively pulling her along. Mya had just noticed the other dog (maybe she is a little stupid, at that) and started lunging towards it as well. I ended up kind of half-dragging both of them along with Gozer's bark sounding more like "Rrawacgh" than "Rrawrf". I could hear the kids whispering to each other that I was choking those dogs. If they weren't lunging, they wouldn't be choking... although maybe the dogs aren't smart enough to figure it out.

Once we were well down the sidewalk, all the dogs calmed down and we had a relatively uneventful walk. Tomorrow is the last day that we have to walk these two dogs. I hope that we can train Gozer to not bark at other dogs before we have to go out with those two again.... although I'm not eager to take these three out on my own again.

Winter for Gozer

We received about six or eight inches of snow just before the temperature dropped to -15C (below -20C with the wind chill). None of us are used to the cold yet, although my long down coat definitely keeps me warm. Ian can look after himself but Gozer has been having a tough time in the cold. She's been getting huge snow- and ice-balls between the pads of her feet during her walks that have clearly been making her uncomfortable. She was holding up different paws when there was too much ice and walking more slowly, which we took to mean that she wasn't happy.

We'd bought her this lovely 3-in-1 coat with a detachable double-fleece lining and waterproof exterior a few weeks back that has been keeping her body warm enough.

She looks positively stylish in this coat, I have to say. It also comes in huge dog sizes of up to 30" length and 32-38" girth so dogs of every size can look awesome. Unfortunately, this coat doesn't cover Gozer's little feets so today we went out and bought her these fleece-lined muttluk booties in red to match her coat:

They had all-weather ones without the fleece lining but they only came in yellow in her size and Ian felt that the yellow would clash too much with her red coat. The red ones match her coat perfectly. We're now the kind of people that dress up our dog in matching clothes and booties.

There is just about nothing funnier than watching a dog try to walk in booties for the first time. The booties are unfamiliar and feel funny so the dog tries to find a way not to put all four paws on the ground, which of course is impossible. Gozer tolerated the front booties pretty well and ended up doing this crazy back step-kick thing with her back paws. We spent some time inside with the treats we bought for Sunday's training class getting her to walk from one of us to the other and back.

After about five or ten minutes on her evening walk she was walking in her booties as though she'd always worn them. I'm really impressed with her ability to adapt to this new situation: at no time did she lie on the ground looking pathetic or try to bite the booties off and although she was slow at the start of the walk, she didn't pull backwards on her leash.

If it gets a lot colder out, we could always buy Gozer a reversible snowsuit. Ian disagrees with me (mostly because they look silly) but I figure that it can still get a lot colder out there. Until she learns to do her business in the backyard, she's going to have to walk two or three times a day in the cold. While I'd like to think that she's smart enough to get the idea that if she does her thing in the yard she won't have to be out in the cold for as long, I'm not sure that's the case.

At least Gozer is well-prepared for current weather conditions and looks stylish, if a little silly. Hopefully the other dogs won't laugh at her booties and matching coat.

The new year has begun

It feels more like winter out there now, what with all the snow, wind, and dropping temperatures. Not that I minded a rainy start to the new year but this is supposed to be winter.

Ian's off on vacation this week and while he's spending some of his time playing video games, he's also doing a lot of work around the house. We mudded and taped the drywall in the sewing room the other day and Ian sanded and mudded a second coat today. I'm going to have a sewing room soon! I have to pick out a paint colour so that we can paint the room this week after the drywall stuff is done and the room has been primed.

I'm excited because I can start looking at furnishing and tailoring my sewing room again. I'd been looking into these things before but since the room still needed work there was no point in doing too much planning. Now that the room will be painted soon I need to do some planning.

I can hardly wait to have a functional sewing room again. There have been times that I want to sew and I have lots of fabric that I'd love to use but my current setup isn't good for sewing. I'd also like to have an area in the room for sketching so that I can use it for metalsmithing ideas, too. This is definitely a great way to start the new year!