The view down the backyard at our house. This is what they do, all the time. They are good Canadian dogs though, they always want to chase the hockey ball.
Stella’s standard pose. Slight head tilt with a lolling tongue. 
My Baby Jane
And, as a complete aside, this is the young couple who made out on the lawn outside my office window for 45 minutes on Tuesday. They seriously needed to get a room. And a condom.
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‘Cause it’s incredibly good for morale to have a man dressed up as Minnie Mouse while playing the ukelele at the 8th kilomtre! It gave me the will to go on.
Dude on the right, totally smoking! Say it with me, ewwwwwwwww!
A little nice scenery.
The finish line is in sight!
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Stephen Harper, Canada’s new prime minister has decided that when the bodies of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan are being brought home to Canada the airfield will be locked down to prevent any images of their coffins in the media. The rhetoric goes something along the lines that it is to emotional of a time for us to see such emotionally charged images. What a load. Do they really think we’ll believe such lame logic? That none of us will remember Bush’s government trying the same tactic not too long ago? Of course not, we’re Canadian, and all placid, too!
This follows on the heels of another decision this past week by the Conservatives not to lower the flags in Ottawa when a Canadian soldier is killed. Over the last few years the Libereal government had been following the policy of lowering the flags for our soldiers, against the more traditional once a year ceremony on November 11. At first I thought, “Okay, that seems fair. Back to just Remembrance day for remembering our soldiers sacrifices.” Now I think that’s just crap. This is the Conservative way of downplaying piece by piece our involvement in this hateful war, and therefore our losses, of Canadians. That’s just wrong on about a dozen levels.
Of course these baby steps towards an All-Bush Canada are just that, baby steps. You wait, old Steve-O ain’t done by a long shot.
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50,745 people, just milling about.
Water Stop
This is the inukshuk, our symbol for the 2010 winter olympics. Yeah, that’s what I said too.
Palm trees! In Vancouver, cool eh?
Isn’t this hilarious? There was a working water fountain on the hood of this car. Love it!
In summary, I loved it. The day was perfect and gorgeous and all the reasons people come here for holiday. I feel pretty good today, my feet hurt a bit, that’s about it. I’ve signed up for two more runs, one in May and one in June so I guess I’m saying I liked it! Okay, that’s enough for right now. More picis tomorrow. Wait until you see the guy dressed as Minnie Mouse! Brilliant.
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Okay, I gotta up my dosage or something. I’ve finished the first sock of my second try for Sockapaloooza and I thought I should just have a look at what I thought was abysmal failure re: the first try. So I pulled out the cashmere sock, finished the toe, grafted it up and put it on the sock blocker. I also put the new sock on the sock blocker. I don’t know what my damage was last week but the first cashmere sock seems fine. 
Here is a pici of the two of them together, sharing a quiet moment in the yard. I’ve taken a couple extra pills and cast on the second cashmere sock. I think I might be hypercritical when it comes to giving my knitting away. Particularly to someone I don’t know. I’m so afraid they’ll be all polite and stuff, meanwhile, inside their self talk goes something like this: “Ummm, okay, what exactly was she thinking? Was she dropped on her head when she was young? These are nasty!” Anyway, I’m going ahead with them, ’cause if nothing else, they are sooooooo soft and I think that’s worth a lot. Besides, woudn’t the world be a better place if we all had a pair of cashmere socks, just once in our lives?
Anyway, I’m gonna blame Stephen Harper and the Conservatives for my altered state last week. Might as well, right? I’m going to need the practice over the coming months as they start to propose changes to our country. Changes that only benefit fat, white, middle aged, heterosexual men. Thankfully they don’t seem to have anything personal against wool or knitting. However, if they find out that knitting is becoming popular amongst gay men in urban centres that will be the end of that.
Okay, I gotta go buy Stella’s meds (this is one dog you don’t want off medication), get some produce for the week, and knit on the sock.
Oh! I just remembered. My 10k run is tomorrow. Yikes. Wish me luck y’all! I’ll take picis. There will be over 50,000 people participating. Can you imagine?
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Last Thursday was DH’s and my 10th wedding anniversay. Ten years ago eleven people sat around and watch us get married, for a grand total of 13 on the 13th. I’ve always felt kinda squishy about the number 13, it’s so maligned! So, last Thursday, Baby met me after work with these:
When we got married we had just bought the house a few months before, we didn’t even have a dog or anything.
Look at us now, our dogs are finding other dogs!
Yep, wee scabby dog is still at our house. She’s putting on some much needed weight and totally enjoying herself. Gave her a bath and I’ve been brushing her everyday so her coat is getting better.
So, y’all wanna be careful when you let your dogs out, they may find pets of their own. I’m going to knit on a sock now. 
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Sockapaloooza socks? Yeah, let’s not even go there. Suffice it to say I’ve restarted from scratch. New yarn, new pattern, new needles, new everything. I’m 3/4 of the way done the first sock, prolly finish it tonight. Turns out I’m also techology’s bitch, cause I can’t seem to upload a pici today either.
I’m going to go knit now. That is all.
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Wow, hey, guess what! The little homeless dog is not spayed and is in heat. Super! My luck she’ll have puppies in about 60 days. Bahahahahahaha. She’s dead cute though and I don’t think she’s been outside much because when she and the other two dogs are in the yard she has so much excitement and fun running around and sniffing every possible thing. It’s like she has never seen any of it before. Pure joy.
She also has some fur issues. Her fur looks like she’s been wearing diapers or something. Her front fur is normal and kind of wiry and about 2 inches long, her back quarters look almost like the fur has been worn off/flat. It’s a perfect line all the way around her middle. Not natural, very manmade. I don’t know how to describe it.
I know! It looks like she’s wearing a big fuzzy mohair sweater with tights. Front all bulky, back all skinny. Very weird. Very 80′s. She’s also atrociously thin. You can feel her hips, her spine, all her ribs. It’s nasty. We’re feeding her up though. She certainly has taken our two dogs down a peg though. We have two German Shepherd cross dogs, one 100 pounds (Jane), and one about 60 pounds (Stella), this wee little 6 pound has completely dominated both of them. Which is good, because Stella was WAY to big for her britches and constantly bullied Jane. I swear Jane is enjoying watching Stella get her own back.
Oh, and lizz, I wasn’t very clear about The Fionavar Tapestry, it’s one of my favourites too. I think this will be my fifth or sixth time reading them. Kay’s writing is so amazing. Have you read Tigana? Gorgeous! And that baby cardigan you just finished is really nice. I just became a great aunt (that still makes me feel a little sick when I say it), and I’m totally looking for patterns. Which Patons book is that one in?
And marlena, my coffee table is pretty darn big. Currently it is completely covered in books and knitting. But that’s how it’s supposed to be. Right? Okay, maybe not, but that’s how I like mine.
Okay, I’m off to goof with these dogs some more. Everyone got new Nylabones so we should be in for a nice quiet night. Except for the chewing that is.
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Good morning all. Life is loud around here with the small spastic dog that Jane found barking at most anything that moves. The dogs, Jane and Stella, are terrified of her, the cats, Mo Cuirdh and Beentsy, hate her. So, the wee scabby dog is ruling the roost for the time being. Apparently size really doesn’t matter. The whole house in is an uproar. Next time I see Jane wooing a dog down the driveway to the gate I’m going to look away, not head on out and bring it into the house. Okay, that’s total BS. Of course I would go out and bring the damn thing into the house. Every animal in the free world knows I’m a soft touch.
Anyway…
I’ve been doing some reading lately and looking at my list of books to be read that I made up in January and I’ve found that there are a tonne of other books that I want to get reading in addition to the original list. So, here it is, your updated spring reading list:
1. I Lucifer, the Other Side of the Story – Duncan – on order from local book store
2. Selfish Gene – Dawkins – has now moved to the coffee table!
3. Fionavar Tapestry – Kay – saving this for a weeks holiday in June when hubby and I go to Ottawa. I CAN’T WAIT! Sorry, we’ve never been on a vacation before.
4. Without Conscience – Hare – in the bookcase
5. Haunted – Palahniuk – on the coffee table
6. Fight Club – Palahniuk – on the coffee table
7. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance – Pirsig – on the coffee table
8. Saturday – McEwan – on the coffee table
9. Arther & George – Barnes – on the coffee table
10. When We Were Orphans – Ishiguro – on the coffee table
11. Accidental – Smith – waiting at the library to be picked up
12. Acid House – Walters – on the coffee table
3. One for the Road – Horwitz – can’t find a copy of the bloody thing locally
Currently Reading:
1. Things as they Are? – Vanderhaeghe – One of the best writers I’ve ever read. His stories are amazing and all encompassing. You lose time when you read them. The first book of his that I read was “Man Descending”. Excellent.
Just Finished:
Girl With a Pearl Earring – Chevalier – enh, it was okay. I’m not sure what I was expecting but I felt vaguely disatisfied when I was finished, like something was missing or had been left out. I don’t know, maybe it was just me.
Okay, I’m off now. I have homework to do, mice and birds to clean, baby knitting to be completed, Sockapaloooza socks to be worked on, etc, etc, etc.
Feels like a busy little Sunday to me.
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