The Times They are Becoming Quite Different

I've put off mentioning it, in spite of all my complaining about the humidity I have been reluctant to admit that fall is coming. We're now at the end of August, and on my trip home from my mothers I noticed that the leaves are starting to change colour.

I've also noticed that there are more leaves in the bowls at the park.

And finally I can't help but notice that the humidity is turning into a coolish rain, on a fairly regular basis (all last weekend, and again tonight).

The sky looked so dark after work that I decided to drive Cadie up to the park. We had a good 25 minutes of tennis ball tossing in the baseball bowl, before we headed over to the trail. The plan was to go through the trail 3 or 4 times to make up for missing the walk up and down Mt. Pleasant. We got all the way around once when the rain started.

At first it was good, the leaves made a perfect canopy, and we didn't get wet at all. But then the rain really started and the canopy became saturated. Needless to say we only made it around the trail once before heading for the car.

Thankfully I had put a towel in the car last week. We were soaked! As you can see by the picture of Cadie above (taken after 20 minutes after coming in from the storm) so we sat on the towel and headed for home, where we've been hiding out ever since.

So yes, I'm afraid to say, but it is true, summer is coming to close and soon we will be in the full swing of fall. Let's just hope that it's a good one, and that we aren't getting soaked like this everyday from now until November, when the snow comes.

The Move Continues

.The move continues. I can honestly say that I have unpacked almost 30 boxes today, but I’m no where near done. In spite of that I’m pretty tired, and I know that I’m not going to have a ton of time tomorrow. But I think I have a plan, and I believe, perhaps naively that a plan will help you overcome almost anything.


Cadie is not fairing as well with the unpacking as she did with the packing. Every time I drop something, or make another loud noise she jumps and runs to hide in the bathroom. When she was very young we used to leave her in the bathroom while we were out, now that she is older, I am looking to let her have the run of the apartment, because she doesn’t like the bathroom. So, I can only conclude that she is not enjoying all of the chaos associated with the move. That being said, I think that I have another 2 days of pretty intensive unpacking to do. I am almost done with the closets and I am finished with the almost 20 boxes of books. One of my major jobs for tomorrow will be taking the empties down to the garage.

We had a rough start to the day, got up a little late, not too bad, but a little late. Then we headed out to the park, where we got rained on. Still, I’m dedicated to making sure that Cadie gets her exercise, particularly when I have a ton of things to do, that will keep me from hanging out with her. I figure that it’s not fair to expect her to sit still endlessly while I work, so I try to make sure that she is looked after before I dive, headlong into my chores.

That being true, Cadie got to go back to the park later this afternoon. This was great; the sun was shinning, the air was warm, it was a wonderful late afternoon break. The walk back was good too, except for one incident involving a couple of labs, and a family who, unfortunately just got too close to each other.

One of the real challenges in the city is the closeness to your neighbors. I love it, I’m a chatty person by nature, and so I like knowing that I can always find someone to talk to, even if it’s a stranger. The issue around this, is having space for larger dogs to run around and play. There is a growing tension between dog owners and non-dog owners in my neighborhood, mostly as it relates to the use of our path. The people with the biggest complaints are the joggers who get annoyed that they have to dipsy doodle around the dogs. I don’t have much sympathy for them, it’s not a track, if they can’t cope with city traffic, they should think about moving out. But I worry about the families. Dogs and families are synonymous to me. I get that there are lots of people who dislike dogs, but still, I think that dogs are a nice addition to most families. I wish we had better off-leash areas in this neighborhood, I think that would help ease some of the tension.


Anyhow, rant ended, my head is feeling a little better, and I’d like to knock off another 2 boxes before bed

The Best of the Simple Things

I woke up this morning feeling like my legs were made of lead, so I made sure that I got home in good time, so that I could get some veg time. Cadie was thrilled to see the snow. This is only her second winter, and while She doesn’t like the cold weather, she does love the snow. We got a good sprinkling of snow yesterday evening, so today’s trip to the park was particularly exciting. There were times that she was walking sideways. Of course, Cadie was not going to be given free range at the park. My thinking is that we got lucky on Sunday, and I am not keen to push my luck, especially not at rush hour. Cadie did get a good run, but I was holding onto the end of her leash the whole time.


Cadie and I have been following the Olympics. It’s so nice to come home after our evening walk and set up camp on the couch, with a hot cup of ginger tea and a big, fluffy blanket. Cadie comes and snuggles right up beside me, making sure that I get a good luck at her cutest face. There’s just something so nice about curling up under a warm blanket in front of the TV, especially when the world “outside” is so bleak and damp.

I also use these moments to try to keep up with Cadie’s grooming. I won’t lie, I won’t even sugar coat my thinking; I hate grooming. I hate grooming myself, and I hate doing it for Cadie. I mean, I know, it’s irresponsible of me, and I hate it about myself, but I am so lazy. As a result, when it is up to me to maintain Cadie’s grooming she tends to be more matted. I’m about to move to a new apartment, and I’m hoping that the move will jostle me into developing a schedule for both of our grooming, oh and the housework too, I’m not great at keeping up with that either. I’ve heard that a change of scene can make a huge difference to a person’s willingness and motivation, and I’m hoping that this is true. Now on the flip side, I once wrote an article on behaviour-change theory that said that it takes 3 years to successfully change behaviours. It makes sense, and I checked the references, and it seems to be air tight. This is less encouraging, I certainly don’t have the patience and focus for that. I’ll just have to restrategize ways that I can get the work done without having to commit myself to doing the work. I believe that there is a way.

Doggie see, doggie do

A surprising good day, it started out on a pretty rocky note, Cadie refused to get up, slowing me down quite a bit. I was standing at the side of the bed trying to coax her into getting up, but Cadie would only lift her head up off the bed, give me a huge yawn and lay back down. The good news is that she isn’t huge s I was able to force the issue without too much of a delay.

I had been hoping to get to the office early to try to wrap my head around a potential problem. As it turned out my problem didn’t really exist, so I started to feel better before 9 am. From there the day just sort of trickled away and I soon found myself back at home, a little late, but Cadie didn’t hold it against me. We headed out and had a great walk.

I know that I have lead you to believe that we are super urban, but we spend very little time on the sidewalk during the winter because of the snow. My neighborhood has a great walking trail, and that’s where we go every evening after work. In the summer when we get more light we’ll also do our evening walk on this trail, but it isn’t super well lit, so we stay clear during the winter months. It was a fantastic walk, the sunset was warmish, and the temperature fairly mild for a winter day, and there was a nice light dusting of snow. We were with good friends, and then we even made it into the park where Cadie got a great treasure, and found the biggest, and best stick she could handle.

I threw the stick for Cadie several times, and she did her best to run with it, but it was just a little too big for her to manage. Then my friend called for her dog and we headed home. Cadie has an uncanny ability to watch one dog do something, get rewarded and then copy this movement. When my friend calls for her dog to come, she, the dog, always gives my friend’s legs a tap with her two front feet before sitting. Afterwards my friend gives her dog a treat, and we laugh about how her dog treats her like she’s a Pez dispenser. Cadie has always come to my friend when she calls for her dog, but today, Cadie watch the other dog “press the Pez dispenser” and get a treat, and decided that this might work for her too. So she too pressed her luck and was rewarded with a yummy liver treat.

We walked out friends to the cutoff spot, and said good bye to them, so it was a good day for both of us.