Tuesday January 1, 2002

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

For once they spent New Year's Eve at home in front of the fire with their cairn terrier. Let's hope this is another New Year's Resolution. It was a good evening. We had a late supper of Escargot, garlic bread, scalloped potatoes, cold salmon, almond beans, a walnut salad and apple pie. The royal "we" there, but at least I got to lick crumbs of garlic bread off TBC's lap. Then TBC spent a couple of hours reading us the first few chapters from the third Harry Potter book. I barked at all the scary bits. At midnight we turned on the TV to see if we could see Nancy and Rob in Nathan Phillip's Square, but all they were showing was Times Square.

Friday January 11

We got some sad news this week. My Dad, Maxwell Smarty passed away. I didn't know him very well. Dogs don't usually know their fathers very well, do they? But Max sent me the occasional e mail and was always very supportive. I remember when I was a puppy and got my paw crushed in the dishwasher, he told me not to worry, that he always did a prelick cycle on their dishes too. But when your Dad dies it makes you think. I guess I'm not a puppy anymore. TBC says flatly that of course there are dogs in heaven because if there aren't he isn't going there. So that's O.K. I wonder if there are cats in heaven? TBC says this is one of the great theological questions. He thinks so, but he isn't sure.

Speaking of puppyhood, TBC and I have been working hard this week on my memoirs which are being serialized in the Cairn Terrier Club newsletter. I sure had a traumatic childhood. TBC decided yesterday to get the car washed, which he does about twice a year. Now that is one scary experience, and I can remember having to go through this when I was a very little puppy. I barked myself silly yesterday, and had to ask for a drink of water afterwards. Margi always keeps a bottle of water and a bowl in the back seat for such occasions.

Sunday January 20

Bad few minutes there. TBC thought he had lost my web page. Lost my web page?? It got transferred to a different directory or something. That's why I have TBC help me with this stuff. He does have his uses. We have been spending a lot of time getting the next four installments of my memoirs ready for the Cairn Terrier Club newsletter. TBC says we have to cut 200 words from the last episode, which deals with the first big car trip we took, out to New Mexico. It is pretty exciting stuff, and I don't know what to leave out. Remember the bears, and the flying saucer, and those Cairn Terrier Caltrops? And the Missouri puppy mills, and the Giant Schnauzer? Great memories.

TBC was up in the middle of the night last night. There was a rumbling grinding noise that sounded like a cement mixer in the driveway. I would like to be able to report that it was me who alerted the household, but as usual I was sound asleep. When TBC got downstairs, he discovered that the noise was coming from the sewage pump. He thinks it may have been a bit of ice in the pump. If only they would train themselves to go outside, this sort of problem could be avoided.

Sunday, January 27

My vet's sign (we drive past it a couple of times a day) says, "Dog's have owners, cat's have staff". Maybe I should rethink the whole cat thing. I could run away from home and disguise myself as a cat with affect. Not that I really have much to complain about around here. I could do with some more long walks. With the total lack of snow and the lake not even frozen we have been just sort of veging out. Down to Kitchener yesterday for TBC to get measured for a tuxedo for Nancy's wedding. They didn't measure me, so I don't know what I will be wearing. That happens on May 4.

Sunday, February 3

TBC's problem - no, let me rephrase that - one of TBC's problems is that he doesn't think I have two brains to rub together. The other night, for example, TBC and I were watching the eleven o'clock news. Actually, TBC was the only one watching, because I seldom watch TV. I mean, it doesn't look very much like the real world, does it? I think TBC is so hard of seeing that he thinks what is on TV resembles what he sees in the real world. This is strange. If there is a picture of, say, a dog, on TV, I can cock my head to one side and squint really hard and imagine that it looks something like a dog, but it doesn't really look like a real dog at all. But I think when poor old TBC looks at it, to him, it looks like a real dog. It was really sad last week. There was this loud high pitched noise outside. I jumped up, and Margi said, "What was that?" and TBC said "What was what". He really hadn't heard anything. So not only can he not see things, he can't hear things. And smell... well I've known for a long time that he had a serious olfactory handicap. I know it isn't very polite to talk about people who are handicapped, but when you are olfactorally, visually and aurally handicapped all at the same time, you can't have much of a life.

I had a point here, I know I did. Oh yes. We were watching the news, and TBC turned off the picture on the TV without turning off the sound. I of course jumped up to go for our usual walk. TBC thought this was really clever. Since the sound of the TV was still on he thought I wouldn't notice that the picture had gone off. Well Duh.

Another time last week Margi was playing her pipes in the sunroom and had closed the door to the rest of the house. I decided to join her, so I dug through my basket of chew toys and got the guitar which she had given me for Christmas. I carried it out and left it by the door and went and got my blanket so that I would be ready to join Margi when she opened the door. Margi thought this was really clever, but TBC told her she was just anthropomorphizing. Come to think of it, there isn't a word for attributing cairn terrier motives to a human.

Cairnomorphic might be an appropriate neologism. So there, TBC, so there.

Monday, February 4

Margi is up in London this morning because she is going to get her gall bladder chopped out some time in the next few days. She will probably need a lot of nursing care, so I may be too busy to write much. You will notice that TBC finally acted on that New Year's resolution and cleaned up my web page. If he has screwed things up as usual don't hesitate to let him know.

Wednesday, February 13

Margi's surgery went well yesterday. TBC got me up before dawn so that we could drive her into the hospital in London. Fearing the worst, I didn't eat much when TBC and I arrived home. Well, I mean, with TBC looking after the meals, you never know when or if your next bowl of kibble might arrive, do you? But Margi was home by late afternoon, and she seems fine. She isn't supposed to pick me up for a couple of weeks, which is O.K. by me. This morning I hid under the bed - let's forget this up before dawn stuff.

Friday, February 15

Margi is recovering nicely, although she sleeps a lot, and we have been spending quite a bit of time watching the Olympics instead of going for walks. I never hesitate to use this web page as a forum for important ethical issues, most of which center on the mistreatment of a certain important dog, but when there are issues that involve humans, I feel that I should address these as well. What I am talking about is something that really bothers me when we are watching the Olympics, and that is the custom of shooting the athletes to get them moving. Maybe the person doing the shooting seldom actually hits the atheletes, but still, it doesn't seem morally right. I bark every time they do it, and TBC tells me to shut up, but that's just TBC's right wing tendancies coming to the fore.

We always do go for a late night walk after watching TV. There should be more animal events in the Olympics, and the evening walk could certainly be turned into an Olympic event. The dog who towed his handler around the block the fastest would win, with extra style points if you poohed (is there an h in poohed?) more than three times. I can hear the commentary now. "And they're off and the Canadian dog is doing the first mandatory pooh right out of the gate, but , oh no, his handler is tangled up in the leash, and the handler is down. The handler is down in the snow, but he's got the pooh and they are up again and catching up to the field. There is still a chance that this team can medal, folks. Some people think that dogs from Northern countries have an unfair advantage in this event. There's nothing like years of training with a blizzard blowing up your backside to encourage you to get on with it".

I think that would be pretty exciting. They should involve other animals as well. I bet pigs would do well in luge. The pig would probably need a team of handlers to give him a good shove at the top of the run, but after that, man would it be exciting. At least for the pig.

There could be a snowboarding event for cats. The snowboarder in the half pipe events would have to toss the cat up in the air when he left the top edge of the pipe, and the score would depend on how many rotations the cat did and how many rotations the snowboarder did. The really tricky part would be catching the cat again on the way down. We might lose a few cats, but we could always clone some more.

Anyway, I have to go and watch the cross country skiing and decide if I am going to start training for skijorring.

Wednesday, February 20

Well, maybe not. About skijorring, I mean.

Last night was one of those nights that we all have from time to time when you have a dream or something and wake up in the middle of the night and start worrying about the people on the top of the bed. Ever since we got our new bed last Fall, I have trouble jumping up on it, especially in the middle of the night. TBC is really good about this. I go over to his side of the bed and stretch up as high as I can and he picks me up. So like I say, about 4 A.M this morning I woke up and wanted to make sure they were O.K., TBC lifted me up, but I couldn't seem to find the right place to go back to sleep. I tried the foot of the bed, but that wasn't right, so I moved up to the pillow, but there wasn't much room there. I lay on top of Margi for awhile, but she was pretty lumpy; I tried using TBC's leg for a pillow but that didn't work either so I jumped down and went back to my place at the foot of the bed. Maybe this will convince TBC to build me one of those flights of stairs which some dogs have for getting up on beds.

I just made TBC delete one of his not very nice editorial comments.

To change the subject, there is talk about going to the KW show in May. We thought we wouldn't be able to go because Nancy is graduating that weekend, but it turns out that her graduation is on Friday. TBC thinks he had heard that Mr. Lopaschuk was judging one of the shows. My favourite judge! If anyone knows, could they please e mail TBC?

Oh, and Margi's doing fine. I have her walking as far as the top of the hill now. Will you teach me how to do acupuncture next Nancy?

Sunday, February 24

Here we go gathering nuts in May,

Nuts in May

Nuts in May

Here we go gathering nuts in May

And they can't agree on the last line. Plus they don't understand why you would gather nuts in May and not November. Honestly! This was good for half an hour of discussion. They have no sense of perspective. A skunk let loose on the lawn last night, and a strange furry animal was spotted on our deck, and what was their response? Two minutes of discussion. But Nuts in May? 30 minutes. Really!

Friday, March 1

TBC has been trying to keep me away from the computer, because he is afraid of what I am going to write, but I'm a very understanding dog. I know that when you live with two very elderly people whose Betz cells are popping off like popcorn in a hot fire you have to make allowances. I am not without sensitivity.

It all happened on Wednesday when TBC and I went into the village as usual to get the Globe. We drove home and into the garage. TBC got out of the car, started to read the headline on the paper, closed the door of the garage and proceeded up to his study to read the business section like he always does. Half an hour later Margi called up to him, "Where's Hamish?". He replied, "I dunno" and continued what he was doing. Margi, luckily, thought of looking in the back seat of the car and there I was. TBC says that if I wasn't always so reluctant to get out of the car this sort of thing wouldn't happen, but I like going places, which brings us to a second problem. They don't know I know, but they are going to England on a home exchange this summer, and NOT TAKING ME. I suppose 8 hours in the hold of a plane in August would not be a great experience, and I do enjoy playing with Mrs. E and her dogs. TBC and Margi are going to have to deal with two cats (this is all hearsay, mind you) by the name of Trouble and Strife who live next door to the house they are going to be staying in, and bang the letter flap every morning to be let in. When TBC finds that I am not around to look after the problem, he'll be sorry.

Big party coming up tomorrow. Six dog people and two cat people on the guest list. Should be O.K.

Saturday, March 9

Well, our party went well. Everybody was in the living room when the last two guests arrived and didn't hear the doorbell so I had to let them in myself and take their coats and usher them into the living room and everything. A lot of good smells around, but all I got to eat was one napkin and half a toothpick. I did get a lot of patting.

The weather report this morning was predicting thunderstorms this afternoon, and TBC and Margi are going to be out for the afternoon, so I will have my work cut out for me.

Thursday, March 21

My goodness, time does pass. Here it is the first day of Spring and I haven't written anything for a couple of weeks. Things are about to get exciting, though. We are off to Ottawa to visit the kids and the cats for Easter, and then going up to Kincardine for a weekend for a wedding shower for Nancy, and then of course her wedding in May and we have cousins coming over from England for the wedding who are going to be visiting us after that, and then there is Nancy's graduation and the big dog show in KW right that, so I should have lots to report. What's a wedding shower? It rains weddings? There is more than one? I though Rob was the only guy that Nancy was marrying. Oh well, guess I will find out in due course.

Got locked in the coat cupboard last night. You might ask what I was doing in there in the first place, but I had squeezed in to check out the boots, and Margi shut the glass doors without seeing me there. Then they went off to the dining room and had dinner, and sometime later realized that I was missing. Margi thought to look in the cupboard and found me. Sigh.

April 3

Back from an exciting weekend in Ottawa. Talk about cat city! Griffen was O.K., but Sabine stalked me all weekend. She would climb up on things, and jump on me when I wasn't looking. Then she would sidle up to me and raise her paw at me as if she was going to swipe me. The only way I could eat was with Margi standing guard to keep her from blind siding me. She never actually got me, but she is one vicious cat.

On the positive side, Wyatt can almost walk, and would follow me around in his walker. When he has dinner he throws food all over the kitchen which produces good opportunities for an alert Cairn Terrier. We went for some good walks in the snow. They still have two feet in Ottawa. And we visited a bunch of people. The MacLeod's Sheba pretty well ignored me as a cat should, but she clawed TBC on the end on the nose when he tried to pick her up. How stupid can you get? TBC, I mean. He had probably been lulled into a sense of false security by Griffen who likes to curl up on his lap. TBC says that Griffen is the only cat he has ever almost liked.

Rob had borrowed his parent's van for the weekend so that he and Nancy could pick up the dining room table and chairs which we got them as a wedding present, and it was fun riding around in that. It is like a small house on wheels which you can walk around in and crawl under the seats and stuff.

Monday night we were staying at Rob and Nancy's apartment in Kingston, and went over to Rob's parents for dinner and I got to lie under the table. I was pretty well behaved, actually. Lots of talk about wedding plans and my role in the wedding. Somewhat minimal, but that's O.K.. Nancy's veil, which Margi is making, looks as if it will be fun to pounce on.

Slept all the way back, despite a vicious snowstorm. Have to get my teeth cleaned on Friday.

April 12

TBC has been playing mind games with me. He has spent hours talking into a tape recorder in the living room, and then plays it back, and I think he is talking, but he isn't, it's the machine, so I start barking, and then he records this, and plays it back, and I end up barking at myself, which is stupid. And then he gets mad at me because he is trying to narrate an historical video and doesn't want my barking on it, so I end up getting shut elsewhere. This whole effort also involves a great deal of consorting with Oscar, the golden lab across the creek, so TBC keeps coming home smelling of Other Dog. Apparently Oscar's heavy panting ended up on the video and my barking didn't, which doesn't seem fair. I will be glad when the whole thing is finished.

We are off tomorrow to Kincardine for a shower for Nancy. I know it sounds weird, but that's what they say. It has been raining for the last two days. Why do we need to go to Kincardine? I am confused.

April 15

Turns out that a shower is a party that you have on a farm. It was a great weekend. There were a bunch of kids there, and they ran all over the farm with me. Nancy got presents and I made a bunch of new friends. John and Betty and Wyatt were there and we went for a long walk on the beach and I played with Wyatt in the motel room. He is learning to crawl really fast. It was all lots of fun, and I am really looking forward to the wedding in three weeks.

April 23

Well, I didn't know she was going to turn out to be some sort of bloody Dominatrix or something. She had seemed like such a nice person. She has a new House of Pain. We drove for a long time, and no sooner were we there when she had me up on the table pulling my hair and telling me what a bad boy I was. When I tried to escape she would try to stare me down. I could imagine the whips that I am sure she must have had behind the door. All her dogs were locked up in a dungeon in another part of the house because I could hear them barking and yelping. TBC was wearing his leather jacket (trust TBC to get into the spirit of the thing) and would hold me while I struggled. I am sure he wouldn't have let things get completely out of hand. A couple of times she did ask him if I was still breathing, but even so, it was all pretty socially unacceptable if you ask me.

Saturday was a better day. TBC and I spent most of the day working in the garden while Margi was inside sewing for the wedding. We got half a square yard of topsoil in place. I helped him a bit spreading it around, but mostly my job was to sit on top of the pile and watch for cats. The cat next door, Gilmore, has two big patches on his forehead which are oozing pus and blood. They look like ghastly unseeing eyes. Really gross. Maybe we should have taken him with us last night and given him to you know who as a mascot.

May 9

It was a good wedding. I guess a wedding is a lot like getting a new owner, because now Nancy's name is going to be Mrs. Nancy Lock She and Rob are down in the Dominican Republic this week on their honeymoon, whatever that is, and we have been entertaining Janet and Darryl from England. They pat me a lot and we have had some good games of chase. In Kingston, we stayed at the Peachtree Inn for 4 nights, but made lots of trips over to Rob and Nancy's apartment. I guess there was lots of stuff to organize, and lots of people that I, as the wedding dog had to greet . In between I spent a lot of time in the car, but that was O.K. Yesterday we went down to Point Pelee with Janet and Darryl and TBC took me for a walk on the boardwalk as a treat for behaving so well all week. It was raining, and the others had to stay in the car. Come to think of it, it has been raining ever since Nancy's wedding, for which we had nice sunshine.

This weekend we are going to our first dog show in a long time. Hope I can remember what to do. And then there is the big KW show, and then back to Kingston for Nancy's graduation, and then John and Betty are coming here for Margi's birthday, so there is really a lot going on. When Nancy gets her official wedding photographs back there will be more of me for everyone to see because she made the photographer take pictures with me in them. If there happens to be internet access in the Dominican Republic congratulations again Nancy.

Monday, May 13

Hey, I had forgotten how much fun dog shows were. We did a show in Dorchester yesterday, and it was really great. It has been a long long time since we went to a show, but there I was sitting on my grooming table, looking down at all the other dogs. It was sort of a neat show, because the big dogs had to go outside in the rain to be shown, while the smaller dogs trotted around inside. We didn't win, but TBC and Margi thought I looked really good, and behaved well in the ring, and I got to play a little bit with another Cairn by the name of Chico. TBC says that I have been in 12 shows since I got my championship, and have taken Best of Breed four times, which he figures is pretty good. Next weekend is the big C.T. specialty in Kitchener, and that's always fun.

Friday, May 17

Freaky! TBC and Margi were watching TV yesterday and bagpipe music came on. I thought that was pretty strange, since bagpipe music usually means a parade or a performance, so I started barking, and then I was sure I saw Nancy in her wedding dress. Naw, I thought, but next thing I knew she started talking. I was sure it was Nancy, and kept running to the front window to see if she was coming. Usually I figure things on TV are maybe going on outside the other window, but Nancy always arrives at the front door, and I was sure it was her voice. She never did show up, so I don't know what was going on.

Last night I was working on TBC's non verbal communication skills. We were all sitting on the couch watching TV. Margi had gone to sleep, and TBC wanted to play squeaky toss without waking her up, so he mimed throwing my squeaky. I went over to my pile of toys and dug through it until I found my favourite bone which he had given me for Christmas a couple of years ago and we had a good game. You would think from here it wouldn't be too difficult for him to learn that when I look at him and look at the door it means that he is to take me for a walk, but he seems to have trouble grasping the concept.

We are off to Kitchener Waterloo for the big show.

Monday, May 20

Big weekend. It started with my meeting this really nice dog that I got to play with while we were watching the first show. She was sitting on TBC's lap for awhile. Well, she couldn't sit on my lap could she? So after we left the show I spent about 15 minutes licking his trousers. I don't want to be too graphic here, because I am a gentleman, but he had to change his pants before dinner. At least I am usually a gentleman. I admit that I shouldn't have peed on the ring steward's foot as we were leaving the ring for the last time after not winning. I didn't think Margi saw me, but one of her friends squealed on me.

In between these two little episode there was all sort of good gemuchlicheit, meeting and greeting and hanging out on my grooming table. I got to stay in the motel room during the banquet, which I have never done before. Usually I wait in the car while TBC and Margi have dinner, but there were so many other dogs at the motel that TBC figured a little bit of extra barking from Room 206 wouldn't be noticed. He should realize that I know enough never to bark in motel rooms, unlike some other dogs, I might add.

Speaking of barking, back in Port Stanley, TBC and I went out on the point last night after dinner to watch the fire works. Oscar was out in his yard as well, and we both barked ourselves silly. All in all an exciting weekend.

Monday May 27

Down to Kingston for Nancy's graduation, and this time I got to go to all the parties. She got a nice cardboard box for her graduation, which she let me sit in.

Nancy starts working as a visiting physiotherapist next weekend. She can now get pictures of me on the internet, so I really don't need to write this web page anymore, but there are so many friends who read it that I think I will keep on doing it. I do lead a pretty good life, and a life which is in some ways pretty exciting. I guess this is one way of sharing it with other people.

Saturday, June 1

Birds! Honestly! They are so funny. TBC and I were out getting the mail yesterday and there was a sparrow having a fight with a dragon fly in the middle of the road. It was a huge dragon fly, probably two thirds the size of the sparrow, and the sparrow had it by the wing.. Apparently the sparrow couldn't take off because of the size of the dragon fly, but refused to let go, and ended up hopping all over the road. I wanted to go and help the dragon fly, and maybe get a taste of sparrow, but TBC wouldn't let me. Eventually they both disappeared into the bushes, struggling furiously.

This morning I was out in the garden and another sparrow - at least I think it was a different one - it is difficult to tell with their accents - was going on and on and on. She wouldn't shut up. I don't know if she had laid an egg or just been screwed or what, but she sure as heck wanted everyone to know about it.

This is all leading up to a story that I heard at the show two weeks ago. One of the people there judges birds at bird shows. No, really, I'm not making this up. They have bird shows, like dog shows, and he judges canaries. I know his dog, whose name, in the interest of discretion, I won't mention. Anyway, he owned this prize Best of Species (?) canary, and he went out one day and left it in the sunroom with the Cairn whose name I am not going to mention. When he got home all that was left of the canary was a few feathers. The canary had been bugging the Cairn (at least this is what she told me), so she swatted it, and then decided she had better eat the evidence, but she missed a few feathers. I guess she really got in trouble for it, and said that it didn't taste all that good anyway.

Sunday, June 9

Well, John and Betty and Wyatt have come and gone. Wyatt is walking pretty well now, and was trying to throw a ball for me, but he can't walk fast enough to chase me. He is still a really messy eater, which means that I got shut in another room when he was having his meals.

It seems really quiet now that Nancy's wedding is over with, and she has graduated, and John and Betty and Wyatt have left. The captains and the kings have departed, and just us dogs are left. So I wake up slowly in the morning, haul myself downstairs to have breakfast with TBC, accompany him over to the village to get the Globe (my job is to bark at any squirrels or cats or rabbits or dogs we pass), wait for Margi to get my breakfast, and take Margi for a post breakfast walk. Then I usually go up to TBC's study and wait for him to decide that it is time to walk to the corner to get the mail. Then lunch with TBC (he always shares an apple with me), and after lunch we usually go up to St. Thomas or London to shop or whatever. The evenings are spent on the couch, reading or watching TV. So all in all a good life. TT might be coming to visit us next week.

Tuesday, June 18

Sometimes I talk a good fight, but I really am a very soft hearted guy. There was a baby robin that got itself trapped in my chicken coop on the weekend.. I didn't want to step on it, so I thought maybe I could herd it over to the fence where I thought it could squeeze through the spokes. I didn't want to scare it, but kept nudging it with my nose to get it to hop in the right direction. I finally got it over to the fence but it didn't seem to want to squeeze through. I was going to go and get TBC, but then it fluttered up to the top of the fence and flew away.

My half sister, Taylor Taylor is coming to visit this afternoon. I can't wait to show her around.

Wednesday, June 19

A nice visit from TT. She is a really nice dog, not bitchy or shy or anything. We had a great time on the deck, and then went inside and chased each other around the house. Then Margi wanted to show Chris how she grinds my claws and how she strips me. TT didn't like having her claws done. I shouldn't say this, but I think maybe she is a little bit spoiled. She gets to sit on a pillow on Chris's lap in their truck. Eventually Margi put TT on my grooming table. I kept trying to climb up to join her, as you will see in this photo. Margi says maybe she was using the wrong technique to persuade me that I wanted to be stripped. Well, hey, every dog has his price.

Then we went for a walk down to the end of the street. I kept bumping her with my shoulder just to say, "Hey, here we are, two cairns going for a walk. Isn't this great?" It was a hot afternoon, and every so often we would both lie down in the shade I wish she lived a little bit nearer, and we could hang out together more often.

Sunday, June 23

An exciting weekend. Rob and Nancy arrived in time for a late dinner Friday night and left just after lunch on Saturday to go on to a party in Stratford. They are in the process of buying a house, which is pretty exciting. They want to know what they can do to get it ready for me to come and visit. The house they have made an offer on has a swimming pool, which scares me a little bit, since I know TBC will throw me in. As soon as they left on Saturday we went up to a dog show in Lambeth. It was really hot. I didn't win anything, but TBC said I was looking good, and we came home to a late dinner on the deck.

Tuesday, July 2

A busy Canada day weekend. But first, let me ask you about the following e mail. TT writes:

"Hamish,

It is absolutely impossible to spoil a girl.

Luv, TT"

Do you think that's right? I know I'm not too experienced about this sort of thing, and I can't ask TBC. I know what HE would say.

Anyway, we had our historical society sales table set up on the main street all weekend, so had to keep going back and forth into town. We met some folks who had just acquired a 4 month old cairn puppy called BJ. They came home with us so Margi could demonstrate how to do his claws. Margi thinks she is some kind of benefactor to cairn kind these days, which usually ends up with me being used as the demonstratee. But I got to tussle a bit with BJ. He lives up in Union. Nice puppy.

Sunday, July 21

Dog, summer is tearing by, and I have been neglecting my web page again.

Nancy and Rob were down for a busy weekend, and we all did some hard work in the garden building a new walkway down to the lake. I uncovered an old tennis ball under a pile of leaves, and did a lot of supervision of the post hole digging. I don't know if I mentioned it already, but Rob and Nancy have bought a house of their own near Napanee and I guess we will be spending a lot of time helping them fix it up. There is a swimming pool in their back yard. I can imagine who is going to get thown in, but I guess that will be fun.

Another weekend the MacLeods came down from Ottawa and we went for some good walks. At one point Marg MacLeod opened the patio door and asked me if I wanted to go out, so I went out and sat on the front lawn while TBC fell all over himself trying to get me before I started running for the village. Pretty funny.

Yesterday before supper I was out on the deck with TBC. He knocked over a glass of wine which had about an ounce in the bottom which dripped down on the deck. He ignored it and continued reading the paper. Feeling that I should do something about the problem, I lapped up the puddle. Five minutes later I noticed that my right ear was feeling numb. I kept trying to scratch it, but that involved standing on 3 legs, which was not a good idea. I thought maybe I should go inside for a nap, but couldn't quite remember how to get there. At this point Margi arrived on the scene and told me I shouldn't drink on an empty stomach. So she gave me my dinner, which I polished off and then had a nap. By dessert time I was able to join TBC and Margi on the deck again, but it sure was a funny feeling.

You probably won't be hearing from me for a while because TBC and Margi are doing a home exchange in the U.K. while I get to stay at Marlene's place. I would have liked to meet the people who are going to be staying in our home, but it is always fun playing with Marlene's dogs, and I wouldn't have wanted to spend 6 hours in the hold of an airplane. So have a good summer everyone. Stay cool, and lick the ones you love.

August 27

Hi everybody. It has been a good summer. Since I didn't have access to a computer at Marlene's I couldn't write anything, but it was really great fun. She had lots of other dogs staying with her and we all got to play with each other in her basement and out in her yard and in the wading pool. And I would often sit on the couch with her watching TV in the evenings. TBC came home with scary stories about the cats, Trouble and Strife, who kept trying to invade the house that they were staying in. They would do things like jumping 6 feet to get in a window while TBC and Margi were asleep, and then TBC would have to get up and try to push them out the window. TBC says that when he was working on the computer in Nick's study Trouble would usually sit outside the patio door glaring at him. They say that this part of England has now become cat city with cats everyplace and dogs few and far between. There were once dogs around, but where have they all gone? You don't think we are becoming extinct, do you? TBC and Margi spent several days around Norwich, and didn't see a single Norwich terrier.

So I dunno. Maybe I had a better summer than they did The cats certainly would have been a problem. Can you imagine being sound asleep and suddenly finding a cat in your bedroom. It makes me shudder just to think about it. Gilmore kept hanging around our door for the first day or two after we got home. I suspect Nick of feeding him. You can't do that to cats, or they just try to move in.

Anyway, I am home now, and have things back under control. Nancy and Rob were here for dinner Friday night and Rob took me for a good walk. We are off to Lonsdale to help them move into their new house. They are having problems with frogs which may require my assistance, and have that swimming pool that I have to check out, and new carpets which may require a bit of conditioning. I will let you know how it all goes.

Monday, Sept.9

Nancy and Rob have a great house, out in the country where there is lots to see and do. There were what I think were coyotes yapping in the distance one night, so I guess I had better not do any exploring on my own. But they might be friendly. I dunno. It was very hot while we were there, and we went for a swim every day in their swimming pool. I wasn't sure whether people needed rescuing when they were in the pool or not, but I really didn't want to go swimming myself. I did a lot of barking, and struggled wildly when Nancy tried to throw me in the pool. Rob said that whenever she picked me up and got in the pool I looked like a dog who knew he was not long for this world. We went for a couple of good walks. There is a dried up streambed running beside their property, and we started following it down to the salmon river. That involved some pretty impressive rock climbing. At one point TBC put me down and said, "O.K. Let's see what a Cairn can do". I did a pretty impressive job of getting up the rock face, which was about 10 feet high.

Now we are back home. It is still hot, but at least we have air conditioning. We are going back to visit Nancy and Rob next month and do some more renovations for them.

Monday, September 16

Boy, what an exciting weekend. Big thunderstorm Saturday night. The Thornycrofts came over, probably to see how a cairn terrier copes with thunder, since all Oscar does is lie on the floor and sigh. Now I ask you. Some dogs have to do all the work in this neighbourhood. So I spent all evening dashing madly from one end of the house to the other, barking furiously and in between the bursts of thunder I would lick the Thornycrofts ears because they were sitting on the couch in the living room with the low back, probably being bored out of their minds by TBC's pictures of England. I got banished to the laundry room about 6 times . By the time I eventually got the thunder stopped it was almost 1:30, so we slept in Sunday morning until 11:00 o'clock or so and then piled in the car to go to Plattsville for the Cairn Fun Day. I heard the other cairns barking about a block away, and couldn't wait to get out of the car. I admit that I was so excited that I started squalling like a puppy. So we greeted Linda and Janine and Terry Lee and our other friends and I rubbed noses with a lot of dogs that I hadn't met before. My mother was there, but it started to rain so we left before I had had the chance to say Hello. It was still a good afternoon, and when we got home, just to top off the excitement, Dooby was back. For anyone who doesn't remember, Dooby is the big black pot smoking lab from the West coast who belongs to our neighbours son. He has a nasty habit of trying to hold ne down with one paw, but it will be exciting having him back. I don't know how long he is going to stay.

Thursday, September 26

Hey, am I ever an excited Cairn Terrier. You know I told you about Cape Cod? Well, no, maybe I didn't actually, but TBC and Margi and John and Betty and Wyatt are going to rent a condo in Cape Cod for a week. The condo doesn't take pets, so I am going to stay with Nancy and Rob. We were talking to them last night, and Nancy says I can either sleep on their couch while she and Rob are away working, or I can come with her in the car and do home visits with her. Won't that be ultra cool? All day driving around with Nancy. But before that, we are going down to visit Nancy for 2 or 3 days and then going on from there to Ottawa to visit John. Wow, eh? I had the alarm clock under the bed this morning trying to figure out how to set it so we won't miss any of this. Maybe if I swallowed it I could be a Cairn Terrier who went off at eight o'clock every morning.

Saturday, October 19

Back from several days visiting John and Betty and Nancy and Rob. Everybody seemed to spend all the time working flat out painting Nancy's basement (I wasn't allowed to help) and building a new room in John's basement, so it wasn't what you would call a really exciting weekend. I spent most of the time at Nancy's lying on the back of her couch looking out their big front window. TBC said I had to behave really well if I wanted to go back and stay with her for a week, so I did. At John's, the problem was the cats, who kept taking swipes at me when no one was looking. One night Griffen got lost, and everyone had to go outside and mill around looking for him. I don't know why they bothered. He and Sabine kept trying to sneak into our bedroom. It isn't very pleasant to awakened by a cat meowing outside your door, but what can you do? Now that Wyatt is 18 months old, Betty had put his cradle at the foot of our bed, and I discovered that that was a great place to sleep. Mind you, it was quite an achievement to get into it, and then there were problems with getting out again. The car had been pretty full and we hadn't taken my sleeping crate, which I think TBC was regretting. He is pretty good at lifting me up on the bed when I wake him up in the middle of the night. I tried this here at home last night and then started licking his feet in appreciation. What thanks did I get? A kick in the nose.

One day while we were at John's we went to a big party at the MacLeod's cottage. There were lots of people there for me to greet, and I scarfed up a big piece of pate covered with peppercorns which someone had tossed into the bushes. Later, back home at John's, I threw it up under the table. I guess I should have gone out to the kitchen, because they have really nice plush carpet in the dining room, but Margi cleaned it up.

Nancy read the latest installment in my memoirs out loud to us one night after dinner. TBC was shocked by some of the things I had said, and tells me that I have to clean up my language for the Christmas issue of the CTCC newsletter which I have been working on. So things are pretty well back to normal. It won't be long before I go back to stay with Nancy.

Thursday, November 14

No one would say my life was dull. I have spent the last ten days in the back of Nancy's car, driving all over Eastern Ontario. Of course, TBC had told me that I was going to be staying with Nancy and Rob for a week, but it was still a shock when he and Margi left for Cape Cod. It took a few nights to work out sleeping arrangements. The first night was fine, on their bed, but Rob kept worrying he was going to kick me off, and didn't get much sleep. As you can see, if you read the previous entry, this was rather a different household than the one I usually have to cope with. You wouldn't believe the number of walks I took them on, but they said they really enjoyed it. Nancy would take me for walks between each patient visit, so there was something new to smell every time. I got really good at pretending I was peeing when actually I was just smelling with one leg in the air. Anyway, not to lose the thread of my thought here, the second night they decided to lock me in my crate, which of course didn't work. It's not that I object to being in my crate, but I don't like being LOCKED in my crate. (Sorry Rob, bad pun) So that didn't work. At one point Rob was worried that he couldn't hear me breathing and got up to check on me, which of course woke everybody up. But eventually they got the hang of things, and let me sleep in my crate when I felt like it and on the floor beside their bed when I didn't. Rob fed me a lot of cucumber. When I wasn't out with Nancy healing the sick, I spent most of my time on the back of the chair in their front window. There were a lot of big dump trucks which would try to sneak up on the house from behind so that I would have to race to the back patio door and start barking at them and then run to the living room window and bark at them as they came around the corner.

Each morning Nancy would wedge my crate on the front seat of her car so that I could see out in both directions as we drove around. In between, while Nancy would see her patients I got the chance to catch a few ZZZs

After a week or so of this, I was sitting in Nancy's window when a gray car drove into the driveway. I got up to watch, and when it got almost to the garage I recognized our car. This got me really excited, and I gave TBC and Margi a great welcome home, and Nancy told them all about me getting my deer.

I told you about Nancy taking me for walks between patients, but I didn't tell you about it being deer hunting season. Well, one afternoon we were out for one of our walks beside a road, and I was down in the ditch smelling around, when all of a sudden I found the entrails of a deer. Unfortunately, Nancy heard me chomping, and hauled me up out of the bushes. I emerged with a long piece of bloody deer trachea clenched firmly in my teeth. I would like to claim that all I had in mind was a bit of divination, but that wouldn't be entirely true. A titanic battle ensued, with me trying to swallow, and Nancy trying to pry my jaws apart. She claims she aged ten years in five minutes, but that's just a figure of speech. She eventually managed to pry me loose. Alternate sources of protein are fine for dogs with CIBD, so she could have let me enjoy the repast. Then she wouldn't have had to go in to see her next patient with her hands covered with blood. HaHa. HaHaHa.

Dec 25

Merry Christmas Everybody.

I have been a very lazy dog when it comes to writing my web page, but we are all well. The usual busy month getting ready for Christmas. Nancy and Rob were down to celebrate her birthday earlier in the month, and that was fun with the usual balloons and everything. The next weekend we got a Christmas tree, going out to a cut it yourself place. They had a kid who, considering TBC's ancient demeanor, cut it down for us. It is a very fine looking tree and I have learned by now that you don't pee on Christmas trees. One of the highlights of the month was a visit from a young Cairn by the name of Raleigh. We had a lot of fun racing around the house together................. Then Margi put him up on my grooming table and started plucking him, which I thought was pretty rude. His owner had to give Margi twenty dollars to make her stop. With all the Christmas presents we have bought in the last couple of weeks that is probably a good thing. The twenty dollars, I mean. I have had a couple of e mails from TT. She sent me a really embarrassing e mail attachment with a mouse in a champagne glass singing "You are my snuggly wuggly plums" or something like that. And a nice calendar with pictures of her on it.

We are waiting for Rob and Nancy to arrive, and John and Betty and Wyatt, and then we will have a big Christmas dinner, and maybe open all the presents after that, or maybe wait until tomorrow morning. It is snowing, finally. I have been outside with TBC already this morning shoveling - well, digging actually. Most of it goes in the right direction. TBC says he has to stop typing for me because he wants to go and listen to the Queen's Christmas message (????- how weird is that?? Well, with TBC you never know) and to build a couple of fires in our fireplaces. Also, he isn't sure that he can get this posted because he got his computer rebuilt a few weeks ago and is still relearning how to use it. I will let you know how things go.