Booming Times in the Office

There's a new building going up right beside my work and since we face the construction site, its hard not to take some time to watch what's going on once in while. Last week we got the notice that they were going to begin to do some blasting which will continue until end November or early December.  I brought my camera in to work this week and took a couple videos of them charging the holes and setting off the charges.  It's rather interesting to see how close they can be to the actual explosion by using the blast mats which contain any of the fragmentation from the bedrock.  What you see in the video happens three to five times a day, sometimes its a little more dramatic.

Definitely not as exciting as doing open detonations on a demolition range.  It will be interesting, though, to watch the building go up beside us but there's no doubt that we'll be losing our view of the Gatineau Hills.

Beckett's Agility Fun Trial Debut

Last weekend, I took Beckett to his first agility fun trial at Dogz, a training facility in the west end of Ottawa. We had trained there before so the location wasn't totally new to him. I decided before we went that I would try to run the complete courses (with treats provided at key locations) but if it proved too much for Beckett to handle we would just do short sequences. I also decided that we would not attempt the weaves at all but I didn't want to just run right by them. Fortunately in the Standard course, obstacles 3 and 4 (two jumps) were parallel to the weaves so I just did those two jumps a second time rather than run by the weaves. It was a good thing too, as it was 12 weaves that were set up on course and Beckett isn't even doing 6 weaves yet. We're getting there though.

It was beautiful agility weather, cloudy and cool with some sunny periods, although sometimes it was a tad warm when the sun was out which meant jackets on, jackets off. Tucker also came along as a spectator but I did take him over to the practice ring where he did a few jumps and tunnels for his favourite treat, chicken hot dogs. What am I saying Tucker's favourite treat is any FOOD!! Beckett also got to have some free play time with his best bud, Whistler, a sable Sheltie only 3 days older than Beckett.

In our first Standard run, I tried a false turn to get Beckett from the jumps to the tire, since we should have been doing the tire from the weaves, it made for a very awkward entry to the tire. The second time around, I did a front cross which worked so much better and put Beckett on a nice line for the tire and the next obstacle, a tunnel. We have to work on our contacts though, he likes to sit at the top of the A-frame now and usually stops way up on the down ramp of the dog walk but for a young fellow his teeter isn't bad.

In the Jumpers course, the first time around we did the Starters course and the second time we did the Advanced course. In the Starters course, he didn't get out to the second jump of a pin wheel and I wasn't in a good position, having tried a front cross, which put me behind him going up the field. When we ran the Advanced course, I didn't front cross but just stayed on his right side which worked much better. In his Advanced run, I wanted to try a hard false turn from a jump to a tunnel, unfortunately, there was another tunnel right there so in my mind I'm thinking "false turn, tunnel" so what did I do, but put him in the wrong tunnel. Even with the extra tunnel, he ran the course in 28.9 seconds and the standard course time for Minis was 47 seconds. I'm going to have to work on distance with that boy because when he gets going, I'll never keep up.

Some parts of the weekend were bittersweet though. Beckett looks so much like Ceilidh that there were times on the videos that it was her I saw. Two moments in particular stand out, in the first Starters course after running the course, we were practicing jumps to a tunnel with a rear cross and on the second attempt, Beckett refused the tunnel and began to spin and jump; it was classic Ceilidh. When I saw the video of the first Jumpers run, just the way Beckett sat on the start line and then sprung off the line, for the first few seconds I saw Ceilidh. At the beginning of the second Jumpers round it had started to rain but by the time it was Beckett's turn, the sun had come out again and there was a beautiful rainbow. I tried to take a picture of the rainbow but my camera batteries were running low. Luckily for me, Lyne had videoed a few seconds of the rainbow which I incorporated into my video on Beckett's debut. The video is long so if you don't have a fast internet connection, it will likely take quite a long time to download.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVl3msHlRq0

We are looking forward to our next fun trials, Krazy Kanines in October and Red Gate's in November and December. Maybe by then we'll try the weaves. Go Beckett Go!!

Family Adventures - Part Deux

Well, I promised to continue the story of my family adventures with three of my sisters and two of my nieces. On Friday, 20 August, Karen, Juanita, Maureen, Jessica, Kayla and I went downtown to take a cruise on the Ottawa river. We took cruise on the Empress of Ottawa and thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful day and sites from a perspective I had never seen before. Before we went on the cruise we had a few minutes to walk up to Parliament Hill. Jessica and Kayla had their picture taken with the Mounties, a very iconic Canadian symbol.

Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Ontario The Eternal Flame
Chateau Laurier Hotel (where my Dad's reunion was being held) and the locks to the Rideau Canal.

The Canadian Museum of Civilization, the domed part of the facade was designed to represent a Haida Indian ceremonial mask.

At the Rideau River Falls


The Parliament Buildings with the rotunda of the Parliamentary Library.

After the boat cruise we had lunch at Darcy McGee's, a pub on the Sparks Street Mall. During lunch, Kayla kept us in stitches, like what do you say when a waitress asks if Pepsi's alright after you ask for Coke? You say, is Monopoly money okay?!?

We then took a stroll down the Sparks Street Mall. The Sparks Street Mall is an open air pedestrian mall, it used to be very vibrant but now could use some rejuvenation. After a bit of shopping it was time to head home.

I like this shot with Parliament Hill in the background, the street sign for Sparks Street and Maureen, Juanita, and Kayla in the shot. The next shot is just taken looking back up the Sparks Street Mall. There are always musicians on the Mall during the summer months. And what with a Scottish heritage, how ken ye nae love a piper?! The next shot of a sculpture of a bear eating a salmon, that I took just to see the spider webs! The final shot is of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with the Honour Guard manned by Naval personnel during this the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Navy, although during a ceremony at the Cenotaph held for Air Force reunion that my Dad attended, the Naval personnel were replaced by Air Force personnel.

Dinner on Friday night was hosted by Juanita and Joe at their place. The evening ended as Jessica posted on Facebook, with an east coast kitchen party in the screen room.

Saturday was another shopping day. Maureen left, late morning, to head back to Kingston. I took Karen, Kayla, and Jessica to the Train Yards, an outdoor shopping centre, and to the Place d'Orleans Shopping Mall. I had Dad, Karen and Kayla over for supper as Joe and Juanita were attending a friend's wedding.

Sunday, was Dad, Karen and Kayla's last day in Ottawa. Joe took Dad and Karen to the Diefenbunker Museum in Carp while I took Kayla back to Place d'Orleans as a security tag had not been removed from a pair of jeans she bought. The Diefenbunker is an underground bunker designed to house the Canadian Government in the event of a nuclear war; it is now a museum to the Cold War. We had another wonderful dinner at Juanita and Joe's then it was back to my place. Dad, Karen and Kayla left my place on Monday morning extremely early, like at about 4:30am so that they would get back to Moncton early enough for Karen and Kayla to head back to PEI that same day. It was wonderful to have them up for a visit, hope it isn't so long before our next visit together. Perhaps Annette will be able to join us next time, so all of us sisters can have some more family adventures.

Family Adventures

Since my Dad was coming up from Moncton New Brunswick for a military reunion, my sister Karen and her youngest daughter Kayla took the opportunity and came up with him for a visit to Ottawa. They arrived on the 17th of Aug about supper time after what my niece called an "uber" boring trip. The 17th of Aug marked the 25th wedding anniversary for my sister Juanita and her husband Joe so after a family dinner out they came over to my place for dessert.

After they opened a few gifts, we all enjoyed cake and coffee.




Karen and Kayla stayed at my place while my Dad stayed over at Juanita and Joe's.





The next day, Karen, Kayla, my niece Jessica and I went down to the Byward Market to do some shopping (mostly just window shopping) but a few purchases were made.



We had lunch at Zak's Diner, home of the best milkshakes in Ottawa, if you ever have a craving for one.

After lunch we headed up to the Rideau Centre so that Kayla could hit all the stores she can't shop at on Prince Edward Island. The store she especially wanted to go to was LuLulemon, where she bought herself a pink hoody sweater.

After some wishful thinking in the Apple store, we headed back to Juanita and Joe's for supper.

On Thursday, my Dad headed down to the Chateau Laurier for his reunion. Karen and I prepared for a BBQ supper as everyone coming over to my place for dinner. My sister Maureen and her daughter Caitlin came up from Kingston. Caitlin was up from New Brunswick along with a friend for a week long visit. It was really nice to have so many of us together. But to Juanita and Joe's surprise, I had invited a few of their friends to join us after supper to celebrate their anniversary.

Juanita almost ruined it by working late so I was beginning to wonder if we'd even finish dinner before the guests began to arrive. All of the food trays that Karen and I prepared during the day were hidden at my neighbour, Julie's place so that no suspicions were aroused.

The evening turned out very well and everyone especially enjoyed the scrapbook Joe's sister Yvette had sent to them as a remembrance of their first 25 years together.

I can't believe I just blogged about something other than my dogs, amazing!! Anyway, stay tuned for Family Adventures Part II and our girls' day out cruising the Ottawa River and trolling the Sparks Street Mall.

Camping with Dogs

On the mid-August weekend, some agility friends, my sister and brother-in-law and I went camping with our dogs. We went to Sharbot Lake Provincial Park which is located about 2 hours from Ottawa. There were eight humans and 10 dogs. When the first group of us arrived Friday, it was a beautiful sunny day but not too hot. The weather the rest of the weekend wasn't perfect. It was cloudy and windy on Saturday but at least it didn't rain. On Saturday night we had a very noisy thunderstorm but luckily we got very little rain and were able to have a hot breakfast and pack up before the rain started on Sunday. So really, it was good weather to be camping with dogs!!

We had decided to reserve most all of the campsites on dead-end road so that we would have privacy in our area. That meant almost all of us had our own campsite and we also had a group site where we had our evening bonfires. I think next time we won't get as many sites, as most sites even if they said they were only for one tent would probably fit two.

This was Beckett's first camping trip and he handled it like a pro, even getting tangled in the picnic table many, many times a day so his Momma wouldn't get bored. Both he and Tucker slept well, even during the thunderstorm and even with squirrels in our campsite. Dogs running through the site after squirrels was another story and did cause quite a commotion.

Beckett didn't mind when I put him chest deep in water but he showed no inclination to go swimming even when the other dogs were splashing around retrieving toys. I'm thinking I should buy him a life jacket and see if that changes his opinion of water.

Tucker, an old hand at camping, enjoyed laying around the campsite and mooching food from us at the picnic table. But because of his age and hyperlipidism we didn't go for any long hikes, just short walks in the camp ground.


It was the first time that I had really been camping in years but now that I know that it's possible to get campsites in some of the parks around here on short notice, I will likely do a few more weekend camping trips next year. If we're not doing agility that is!!

I took a couple video clips of the other dogs swimming and I've attached the video here. The other dogs all seemed to be having so much fun in the water. It's my only regret about Shelties is that they don't enjoy swimming; my second Sheltie, Gryffon loved to play in water but not swimming.

Can't wait for next year's outing but maybe not at Sharbot Lake, the proximity of the highway made it noisy at night. Overall though, it was a great weekend of relaxation with the pups and friends.