Sunday, March 3, 2024

Come On Summer

Yesterday we booked our first camping trip of the season. Starting with one night at Balsam Lake provincial park on 19 May because it's just too far for me to drive to Awenda Provincial Park in one day.

Podrick at Emily Provincial Park, Summer 2022

The sites we have at Balsam Lake are crap but they're pull-thru and near the bathrooms, so they'll do for one night. Since they're pull-thru I won't have to worry about when my sister and her husband arrive. We have four nights at Awenda starting on 20 May, the holiday Monday, hopefully most people with kids will be heading home. Awenda is located on Georgian Bay, only 10 minutes' drive from Penetanguishene and 20 minutes' drive from Midland, Ontario. The park has four beaches, one designated as a dog beach and 30 kilometers of trails. 

It's supposed to be a gorgeous park. When I was still tent camping, I lived quite close to this park but never had the opportunity to go; it was always filled up in the summer months. Hopefully we'll have nice weather and will be able to do some hiking, if not swimming, although I would expect in May that the water would still be very cold, so maybe wading. There are historical locations to see, if we have rainy or cooler days. Discovery Harbour in Penetanguishene and Sainte Marie Among the Hurons in Midland. Both of these attractions are dog friendly although I would assume like Upper Canada Village the dogs can't go in the buildings. 

We'll stop in Emily Provincial Park on the way home for two nights to break up the journey. Emily was the first park we stopped at on our trip West. It poured rain one day that we were there, so we didn't see much of the park. The second day we were there we drove to Peterbourgh to see the lift lock and were lucky enough to see it in action. 

Lift Lock in Peterbourgh, Summer 2022

I'm still planning on going east this summer. I had thought to go through the States but there doesn't seem to be a good East/West route, most highways seem to run North/South. There's also very few State Parks in New York with campsites with electricity and none in Vermont. So perhaps going through Canada like I did in 2019 is the best idea. I'll have to get moving on those bookings soon too. 

We also booked the flights for our trip to Scotland this week. Things are getting real.

COME ON SUMMER!




Monday, February 19, 2024

Downs and Ups

I think I've posted before that Liam has an eyesight issue that makes it hard for him to judge his take off point for jumps. It's believed that either the dog is near sighted or has a depth perception issue. I think Liam is near sighted. 

When we first started competing in agility he always tried to go to the back side of a jump. I think because then he was close to the jump and could now see it clearly. With time and letting him figure out what worked best for him he became better at doing the jumps from the correct side. In Dec, we were at a trial, and he reverted to going to the backside of most jumps. Needless to say, I was very discouraged, he tries so hard, and he does love to play, but I decided we needed a little break, and I didn't register for the January trial. I made up my mind if he did the same thing at this past weekend's trial we wouldn't register for any more indoor trials.

Yesterday, Liam did very well. He did all his contacts although his two on two off wasn't really there, he did his weaves, got the entries and didn't pop out and, for the most part, took the correct side of the jumps. In his first event, an Advanced Standard, he took down the bar on the last jump but other than that it was a very nice run for him. 


The next Standard wasn't as good. Liam got a refusal on a tunnel and an off course for taking the backside of a jump when he should have taken the front side. He still had nice contacts and didn't hesitate on the scary teeter.


Our last event was a Starter Snooker, since there was no teeter and no weaves, I knew Liam should be able to do this if he could only keep the bars up. Snooker is a game where you have to successfully take a red jump before taking another obstacle, you have to do this three times using a different red each time and then you run the numbered obstacles 2 through 7, and at Starters you have to accumulate 37 points in 60 seconds or less to qualify. We did red, then the A-Frame, obstacle 6, then red, then tunnel obstacle 7 then a red and the tunnel again before beginning the close. My only worry was getting Liam by the frame and to tunnel numbered 2. But he was a very good boy, he came with me and kept all the bars up. 

Liam - Starter Snooker Video

We got a qualifying score with 50 points. Liam now only needs one more Snooker for his Starter Games title. 


So, it was a shame about the one bar down but good news about all the bars he kept up. Liam and I will keep trying and having fun playing agility, although we are thinking about giving Hoopers a try. 


Monday, February 12, 2024

Nothing!

 Well, we're in that blah period with Christmas season over and it's not yet Easter with no real sign of Spring. We're having sort of a non-winter here though, there were some record high temperatures this past week, but we're bound to get some more winter before Spring really arrives.

Liam and I are in agility classes, and we go to practices on some Sundays, but we haven't been to a trial since Dec. We do have one coming up this weekend. Teddy isn't in any classes at the moment, so he only gets our walks and some scent work in the basement.

By this time the past two years we'd been making camping plans and reservations. There was a sudden death in one of my brother-in-law's families and they're waiting to hear when the memorial service will be so they're holding off on making reservations. I've made suggestions to my youngest sister, and she seems agreeable but so far, we haven't booked anything. When entries open for the Spring agility trials, I'll have to make a decision on what to do, last year our camping trips were planned around my agility.

We've made the booking for this year's big trip. We'll be going to Scotland at the end of Aug.  The same sister that I share a cabin with on the river cruises is going but it's another sister and her husband that are joining us. It's a self-driving vacation and we'll start and end in Edinburgh. We haven't booked the flights yet but are watching the prices if they start to go up, we'll book those. It seems we'll have to prebook most of the castles and things we want to visit so I've been doing a travel plan; haven't got much input from my sisters on that. 

I took down all the Christmas decor both inside and outside so there's nothing, no snowman outside to decorate for Valentine's, St Patrick's and Easter.  I hung the hearts I bought to decorate the snowman and bought a new garden flag and a heart that stands, so there's something out there.



Perhaps next time I write there'll be something to really write about. Tata for now.


Friday, January 19, 2024

Albert

So, another Christmas has come and gone, but I have to do one last post about the season and that's about my tree, Albert.   He didn't particularly grab my attention. I always look for a tree with a nice top and a fairly thick trunk. I try to find one that also has a relatively straight trunk, which Albert doesn't have. He has a bend in his trunk which meant that getting him to look like he was standing straight could be tough. But having looked at most of the other trees on the lot, I decided on Albert, although he wasn't Albert then.

Last year for the first time, I named my Christmas tree. Last year, one of the friends that helped decorate came up with the name, Gaston. All this past year, I thought this year's tree would be Friedrich; but somehow that didn't seem to suit this tree. I was out running errands one day after bringing him home when the name came to me, Albert. And so, Albert he became, and it suited him.  

As you can see in this picture, Albert leans somewhat but I assure you, he is standing straight in the tree stand. The slight bend to the left is at the bottom of his trunk just above the stand. You can also see that he has a bit of a bare spot to one side too but since the tree goes into a corner that's sometimes an advantage. Standing in the corner, Albert stood straight and tall but viewed from the dining room, you can see that he leans into his work.



Again, this year, I had friends come over to decorate; it makes things go so much quicker. I love to reminisce about the decorations. I have ones my parents gave to me, ones from family and friends, ones from places I've traveled to, ones for each of my dogs and some I gave to my parents that have now returned to me. 

To Mom with Love

Very Special Dad

Ode to Albert

The best place in the house to see the tree is sitting on the stairs. I often put music on before going to bed and just sit and watch the lights.  It brings back lots of Christmas memories. 


Despite his imperfections, or maybe because of them, Albert was a beautiful Christmas tree. It's always hard to take down the ornaments and put the tree outside. Albert got to stick around for a while as he missed his ride the first time, so he hung out by the porch for a week.


On the porch

Waiting for a lift

You were a wonderful Christmas tree, Albert. Thanks for the memories! You were a work of art!