What a day!

I got up around 8:30, took the dogs out for a pee, brushed my teeth, made coffee, quickly checked emails, trimmed Ernie up a bit, bathed & blowdryed him and quickly got myself ready and out the door to the vets we go. I spend an hour with the vets and leave Ernie there for more tests and they tell me to call at 3:15.

I then drive home to meet up with Ev so we can go out. I pick up the mail. We stop by the previous owner's of our house to exchange some mail and off we go again. We head back into town to our insurance agent to insure my car & our utility trailer and get some information about our house insurance.

We then drive to Access PEI where we register all three vehicles & get plates and exchange our old driver's licenses for PEI licenses.

We go out to the parking lot where I call the vet...it's 3:30. He's done. So I drive there and Ev goes home to get ready for work. Once I get there, I take some ibuprofen because I feel a killer headache coming on. I meet with the vet to discuss Ernie's situation which only leaves me more confused. They prescribed some ointment for his rash and I head back out to the front to settle up the account, wait for the prescription to be filled and book a return visit for a month.

Out we go, drive home. I see Ev didn't have a chance to make himself a lunch but notice he stopped at Sobey's on his way home so I'm guessing he picked himself up a sandwich or something from there to take to work. I feed the boys. Walk the boys. Send Ev an email. It's 5:45 and then it dawns on me...I haven't eaten a thing all day. No wonder I had a headache. I heat up some borscht that's in the fridge and finally sit down to eat.

Once I'm done I send Ev an email at work to call me to discuss what the vet said and he informs he didn't take or buy anything for dinner that he's going to come home and....wait for it....eat the soup....that I just ate! Oops.

I am a bad doggy-mama!

OMG! I am such a bad doggy-mama! Everytime I take Rookie for a walk by myself at the park next door, as soon as I take him off leash he bee-lines it toward the grass and trees. Not sure what keeps catching his interest - other dogs, squirrels, foxes? But it is nose to the ground and off he goes. Well, after he gets about 100 yards away, he suddenly realizes I am not there and even though I am in direct line of sight, his vision is so bad that he can't see me, even when I'm jumping up and down doing jumping jacks. He whips his head left, then right and then I think he's looking right at me but there is no recognition and panic sets in. He starts running, and most of the time he runs close enough to where I am that I eventually get his attention and the relief is palpable.

Well today while Ernie and I continued down the path I kept glancing back at Rookie. After he sniffed whatever he's sniffing and rolled in the grass, he stood up, shook off and then, once again, the terror sets in and he starts running. Unfortunately it was at the same time that Ernie decided to do a "big job" and he was running the wrong direction...back toward home. So I start running after him, clapping my hands, leaving Ernie easy pickings for any foxes watching from the nearby woods. As soon as Ernie saw me running he starts chasing me, not having completely finished the task at hand. As I neared Rookie (thank goodness he doesn't run very fast anymore) he finally heard me clapping and turned around.

Now if that doesn't prove me a bad doggy-mama, this sure will. It has been just over a month since Ernie was diagnosed with kidney failure. He goes back to the vet tomorrow to have some tests completed to see if the meds he is on are making any difference. Well, Ev and I have been so busy unpacking and then had company for a week that I have not been snuggling Ernie like I usually do. If I had been, I would have noticed that he has broken out in sores and bruises all over his belly. I found a sore on his back on Friday but last night he was boinking around wanting to get up on my lap. I picked him up and flipped him on his back like you would hold a baby. As I started scritching his belly, I noticed a big bruise like sore on his belly. Then I noticed another sore, and another and another. The more I looked the more I found. There must be about 6 of them in different stages of healing. OMG! My poor little baby. Of course I googled the medication and its side effects and sure enough, skin eruptions are a side effect. Well, shame on me for having my head in the sand. And thank goodness he goes back to the vets tomorrow.

I'll keep ya posted!

Some pictures from the past weeks adventures

North Rustico, PEI

Red Cliffs at Cavendish Beach, PEI

Cavendish Beach, PEI

Cavendish Beach, Prince Edward Island

My pal Deb @ Cavendish Beach

Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia

More Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia

Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia

Ernie does Peggy's Cove

Ernie bearing down so he doesn't get blown away in the wind!

Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia



Hopewell Rocks, New Brunswick...home of the highest tides in the world.

Where is it that I got this sense of direction...or lack thereof

and when am I going to get this town figured out?

My childhood friend arrives today from Vancouver and it's up to me to show her PEI and probably the rest of the Maritimes, but how am I supposed to do that if I don't know where I'm going? Ev gets off at midnight tonight and I have to pick Deb up around the same time so we decided I should go in to work with him today and then pick him up after I pick up Deb. No problem right?

Well it would be no problem if I would have dropped him off and then come home but I decided to drop him off and do a bit of running around...and now I have no idea how to get to his work? I have completely forgotten.

It seems I am able to get from Point A to Point B to Point C but the minute I add anything into the middle of that mix and have to get back on route I am hooped? And that damned GPS...well it isn't helping me. It just confuses me because it can't make up its own mind.

I can hardly wait to hear Deb laughing at my idiocy when I pick her up and can't figure out how to get to Ev's work. He may be taking a buffalo cab home;)

We are back....

We arrived home several hours ago from our friend's wedding. We left on Friday and went to Moncton, New Brunswick to do some shopping and then drove to Nova Scotia on Saturday. The drive to Moncton was spectacular. The Fall colours are breathtaking. Funny, someone on facebook told me to post lots of photos and I commented that my photo ops are dictated by the chauffeur. The reply back from a third party was 'get used to it and just point and shoot'. Well she doesn't have any idea how true that is. We took a bit of a detour because Ev is still looking for a vehicle for himself so we went to Bouctouche, NB to look at something he found. Since we didn't have the exact address, we finally had to pull over to consult the GPS and I was overjoyed that I had a brief photo op...except until the batteries on my camera died...after only 2 shots! We still haven't found our charger in our unpacking so I was out of luck until we could buy some new disposable ones.

Once we arrived in Moncton, it was all about shopping. Furniture mostly. And then we went right into downtown Moncton for dinner. I know I said it before, but I will reiterate, New Brunswick is amazingly beautiful. While my allegiance remains with PEI (and of course, BC) New Brunswick is one of the most spectacular places I have ever visited.

Friday late afternoon the rain started. And it poured and poured. When we got up Saturday, the rain continued. The entire drive from Moncton to Kentville, we could barely see the road and we commiserated for our friends on their special day.

On a side note here, the area that our friends got married in was the area we were meant to be transferred to originally so it was doubly exciting for us to see where we might have ended up. We even took a drive by the house that we had fallen in love with online and discovered, as is the disadvantage of looking at real estate online, that it was perched at the top of a very, very steep hill and the lot was much, much smaller than it appeared in the photos. Photography can be so tricky! It still warmed our hearts to see it in person. The other endearing thing we discovered in Kentville was that it goes by "Home of the Pumpkin People". There are Pumpkin People everywhere! Picture a scarecrow, of sorts, and replace the head with a pumpkin. Actually, most of them are dressed in normal street clothes and partaking in such things as soccer, curling, hockey, farming...you name it. Here are a couple of links:

http://www.novanewsnow.com/article-386952-Proliferation-of-Pumpkin-People-line-streets-of-Kentville.html

http://images.google.ca/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=kentville%20pumpkin%20people&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

It reminded me of when Ev & I drove to Tofino, where & when we got engaged. As we were driving through the Cathedral Forest there were all of these carved pumpkins hidden throughout the forest - behind trees, in trees, on rock cliffs - anywhere and everywhere.

Back to the wedding - as the day progressed, it continued to pour rain. The ceremony was to begin at 4:30 and even when we got into to car to drive out to the Berwick Heights Golf Club, it was still raining. But miracle of all miracles, as we arrived the rain stopped and while we waited for the ceremony to begin, the sky brightened!

Their ceremony and reception were both held at the Golf Club and let me tell you how absolutely amazing it was. The club sits high above the course so as the happy couple were saying their vows, you could see the magnificent fall colours showing in the distant background. The clubhouse was decorated in roses, lilies, cranberries, all complementing the surrounding landscape. How beautiful! I do have some pictures - by request I can't post any of the bride and groom, but I will of the background...in a bit...once I'm out of bed. I'll get to that later.

The evening was filled with a lot of laughter and love and just warmed your heart to be in the presence of two families that were so proud of their loved ones and shared in their happiness. What was a bit funny - since they both met up North - J worked with Ev and Christie is a nurse, there were very few people there that have had the honour to spend time with them as a couple. For a lot of those attending the wedding, it was the first time they'd met the other half of the couple, where Ev & I have spent many nights sitting around with them, having great chats and lots of laughs.

The food was magnificent as well. While they left to have their pictures taken, they served hors d'oeuvres. Prawns, smoked salmon provided by J's dad, Indian vegetables with tamarind sauce, roasted vegetables in pastry with goat cheese...num...num! Dinner was salmon baked on a plank, rib eye medallions with mushroom ragout, garlic mashed potatoes (not the ones out of the box like J loves). Dessert was a chocolate cheesecake with coconut and oatmeal crust served with fresh berries and a rum sauce. How could anyone top that? It was a fabulous evening and we would have stayed much longer if we didn't have the dogs sitting in the hotel room. We packed it in somewhere around 11pm.

As we started to walk to the car, I started feeling like a bit of a cold was coming on and it seemed to get worse as we drove the 25 minutes to the hotel. Throughout the night it continued to get worse. On top of that, my back has been giving me some issues. It has not been right for months but with all of the unpacking and moving, it has really been taking a beating and it has now decided to give out on me....combined with a somewhat stressful drive home today, I am now confined to bed with 4 pillows behind me and 2 under my legs.

The stress, you ask? Well, I am supposed to be the navigator but I do not live up to my mother's expertise. I plugged our address into the GPS and confirmed it was following the highway I wanted, as opposed to the back road we took through Nova Scotia. There is a difference between fastest and shortest route!

We both commented when we saw the sign for Pictou County which is where my Dad's family emmigrated to. It just didn't dawn on me at the time that this was not how we came into Nova Scotia...that is until I saw a sign that said PEI ferry....and then it was too late! My navigation skills had failed and instead of heading to the Confederation Bridge, we had driven to the ferry. Needless to say, the chauffeur was disappointed, at the least. Good news is that we just made the ferry crossing and literally drove right on without even putting the car into park. The crossing takes about 75 minutes. The only thing was that Ev went up above to smoke and I sat down below and overheard someone say we were on the ferry to Pictou Island - not PEI! How was I going to break this news to Ev who was already not my biggest fan. I approached, head hung low, back seizing with every passing minute and gave him the news and the disappointment was apparent. Not only had I completely failed my mother, I have failed my husband.

He headed inside to find an employee while I tried to find somewhere private so when he came back and I had a breakdown that no one would bear witness to it. I saw him chatting with the woman and then stoically approached me while I braced myself. "No.", he said. We are on the right ferry! Well thank God! But the tears still came. A different kind. Relief.

Unforunately, my back did not partake in the relief and seized as we drove home. Within 20 minutes of being home, I was lying on the floor with Ev attempting to stretch it, to no avail. I was hopelessly stuck on the floor with tears streaming down my face. Eventually, with his assistance, I was able to get to my feet and make it to the bed where I lie now...with Ernie snoring by my side, doped up on pain meds and muscle relaxants, 4 pillows behind me, 2 under my knees, an icepack on my back and my husband spoiling me rotten bringing me miso soup for dinner, hot chocolate for my stuffy head and now lying on the bed keeping me company. I guess he still loves me despite my bad navigational skills!

Today's F- Double-Ya.

This morning was beautiful. The sun was peaking through the clouds. No wind. Just calm. Since we could hear the mowers going at the park next door we decided to head to the other beach within walking distance.

This is the start of our walk. The beach is directly ahead. If you look close enough, there is an arch in the distance and you can see the water beyond it.

And when you arrive at the cliff's edge, this is the view. The tide was in so we couldn't get down to the beach. Tought to take, hey?

Then we start home. It's a small loop to return. Love, love, love this little tree covered road!

Just about home. That's our home and Ev's shop in the distance. Ernie and I are trailing behind.

This face says it all. Although I'm not sure if he's happy because he just had such a great walk or that he actually made it home;)

I told you Ernie loves cows!

What can I say? The dog doesn't like sheep, he digs cows. No cows were injured during the making of this movie, however, Ernie's gimpy knee was responsible for his near catastrophic fall down the nether region between seat and door. Great recovery Noodles!

What goes around, comes around.

In follow up to yesterday morning's post, when Ev sat down to read the blog, all he had to do was read the title and the headshaking started. Well. All I have to say is what goes around, comes around.

He wasn't meant to start his shift until 5pm but decided to go in early and get a work-out in. I sat back and watched him prepare for his day. After packing for what seemed like hours, I wondered out loud, "Where are you going? Are you leaving me because you've packed up enough stuff to last you a week?" He had his uniform, work out clothes and and a lunch box. He packed one bag. Didn't fit. Packed another. Eventually he walked out the door.

About 5pm I sat down to do a little surfing on my laptop and some movement through the window catches my eye. There is Ev, wearing his civies and sheepishly tapping on the door. He walks in, head hung in shame. Seems he forgot part of his wardrobe. The most important part. Socks, undies and the required undershirt. There they were, neatly folded and placed on a chair in the living room.

So instead of me screwing up his 4th day at work by calling him out of his course to come open the door for me, he did it himself! Basically a good half an hour late for work! I wonder how embarrassing that was?

You know when you comment out loud, we should hide a spare key outside somewhere....just in case!

Well you should heed your own advice...or at least I should.

It is pouring rain today bringing back fond memories of rainy days in Vancouver. Ev has a split shift as he had to go in for a course so he left at about 8:15 with a "I should be back around 1:00, 1:30ish." I set to work with visions of grandeur on all of the tasks I was going to accomplish. Oh yes, I was going to blow his socks off when he got home with all of the progress I planned on making. My task today - sort out all of my clothes - which is a whole other blog topic. I had several loads of laundry to do and I was also going to make homemade Doukhobor borscht.

I went upstairs and sorted some piles of clothes, made a couple of trips downstairs to bring up the last couple of boxes and around 9:30, I headed downstairs to switch over my laundry and fold the stuff from the dryer. All the time, I kept glancing outside for a break in the weather so I could take the boys for their morning walk. I won't lie. I crossed my mind that I should just attempt to encourage Rookie to do his business in the back yard but Ev tried that yesterday, without success.

You see, when Ev first moved to North Vancouver with Rookie, some 13 years ago, his landlady, Jill, didn't want pets in her basement suite but made an exception on the condition that Rookie not do his business in her back yard. So Ev trained Rookie to not do his business in the yard and we have never been able to break him of the habit. When we moved to our second house with our pal, Portia, she was not opposed to him doing a big job in the back yard. She actually had a company that came in and cleaned up the dog poop in the yard so we decided we might save ourselves at least one long walk a day and made an attempt to break Rookie of Ev's hard training. The only problem was Rookie was more determined than us. He held it in for 4 whole days. Occassionally he would make his signature helicopter turn indicating he was about to relieve himself, only to walk away before completing the task at hand. Finally, we conceded and returned to the routine of twice daily walks.

So at 10:00, with no sign of letting up, I pull on the closest thing to a rain jacket I own. I put on my baseball hat and the boys leashes and proceed to the front door where we have the usual traffic jam while the dogs decide who is the alpha male of the day and gets the priviledge of walking out the door first. As soon as Ernie took one step out, I could see he was not amused by the prospect of walking in the deluge. I wasn't too crazy about it either and if I had to go, so did he - I nudged him out. I turned to shut the door and it didn't catch, which is something we have noticed needs adjusting. I gave it a good slam and as I go to double check it - Oh Sh#t! It's locked! What the hell am I going to do? As I stood there for a few seconds contemplating the bashing I was going to take from Ev when he did get home, I just decided to take the boys for their walk and think it through.

I could go introduce myself to a neighbour to borrow their phone. But...I don't know Ev's number at work and I certainly don't know where he is taking the course at. I know how pissed he'd be if he got pulled out of the course when it's only his 4 official day on the job. I can't sit on the deck and wait until 1:30 for him to get home. Ernie was already shivering. I could check, once we got back to see if his workshop is open. I suppose I could go on a treasure hunt in there to find what items I appear to be missing from the main house - like the drawer from an antique pot cupboard I found out there the other day that Ev swore he hadn't seen....except he'd filled it full of tools and was using it as a storage unit?! I figured I could take the dogs for a romp on the beach but Ernie was already anxious to turn around and we were not even half way through our regular routine so I turned around and headed back.

I mounted the stairs and scanned the windows with the hope that one of the windows was left partially open. No luck. I tried my hand at the sliding window on the door itself to see if it had engaged when last closed. Nope! Tried to door handle - nope, still locked. And then I gave the door a nudge. Thank God! It still hadn't engaged when I slammed it the second time. I made it in and Ev would be no wiser for knowing my idiotic mishap...that is, until he reads my blog! My secret is safe for the time being.

So...the next time you tell yourself you need to stash a key outside, somewhere safe, heed your own advice or at least call the damn locksmith and have him fix the lock on the door.

I gotta poo....

What are you supposed to do when your husband, yes husband, states publicly, "I gotta poo."?

After a long and exhausting week, we decided to get KFC for dinner last night so we piled the dogs, aka donkeys, into the car and off we went. We first took them to the beach for a walk and Ernie, the bird dog, chased all of the seagulls away. I think he'd do the other birdman in my life proud...lol!

We order our food and as the young man loads our order into a brown paper bag, Ev turns to me and says, rather excitedly, "I gotta poo." And I'm like, "What?" He repeats himself a little more emphatically, "I gotta poo!" to which I reply, "So we need to drive home fast? Can you make it?" And he starts laughing at me. Turns out KFC has a campaign on right now where they give out those little plastic figurines and they are The Simpson figurines. Well Ev got the Indian character APU, the proprietor of the Kwik-E-Mart. Well I just about pee'd my pants laughing!

All I can say is WHEW!...at least we didn't have another case of ED to deal with!

Are you wondering where we've been?

We've been noticeably absent for a few days. We were on a bit of a push to get stuff done around here before Ev went back to work and now he's almost finished his first block. While he's been working, I have been trying to get at least one room finished but still haven't. Close, but not one room done yet. We seem to be out of space?!

What I don't get is where did all of this stuff come from? We had a garage sale before we left Grand Forks and we had a yard sale before we left Ulukhaktok and we still are filled to the brim. We also made the mistake of having everything that was delivered from Ulukhaktok put into our basement. Well now, as we are sorting, it means that we are having to take everything to either the main or second level. So, much to Ev's dismay, everyday he comes home there is a pile of rubbermaid containers stacked at the bottom of each set of stairs. Going up....going down. I'm hoping we should be done that part of it by the end of this next set of day's off. I keep telling myself that I can't do anything fun until I get all of this done, but I seem to be losing steam.

The weather has been phenomenal here. It's was 30 degrees on Wednesday and 28 yesterday. I have been passing a bit of down time during the day watching the birds feed. Ev & I mounted a bird feeder on our deck so we could watch the bluejays, which are different than the bluejays we have in BC - they are light blue. Since putting it up, we've also had something that looks like a dove come as well. And, it isn't afraid to stand its ground. The bluejays are a bit more timid so take off at the slightest movement. The dove just sits there. There was a traffic jam there yesterday - 2 bluejays and the dove.

I know that's kind of boring, but so is life right now. I promise, things will get more exciting soon. Ev and I are going to Nova Scotia on the 10th for a wedding and then my childhood pal, Debbie, is coming for a visit and I'm hoping we are going to take some trips around the island so I should have some pictures.