Ann's Weblog

Pictured above is the view from our front door.

I awoke this morning to a blanket of new snow and thick fluffy flakes falling. It hasn't been very cold today, though, and almost all of this new white stuff is gone already. It is quite wet and muddy everywhere, but we always have to go through this stage in Spring.

Some boarders went home over the weekend and others arrived! I'm so lucky that it's quite busy. All of those Jack Russell terriers staying at once were SO entertaining, but now three of the four have gone home. I will miss their cute antics.

Myrtle is home from the hospital already. She is just amazing; I probably said that in an earlier post, but I certainly believe it. Shelly is watching over her in Calgary and said that Granny has had a good meal of the homemade soup I took down there last week.

I'm starting to be very concerned about my weight again. I need to "force" myself to go back to the gym or start walking, or both. The mechanics of maintaining one's weight or of gains and losses are no mystery to me, intellectually, but quite a few pounds have sneaked back on in the last year. I keep trying to "reduce the rations", but honestly, most days I just don't know how a normal person would eat LESS. The thought that I "just can't eat like most people" keeps coming to my mind. I MUST do something, so that I might feel better about myself and prevent health consequences (due to being overweight) later. Sometimes I wish that I'd appreciated my shape and size when I weighed sixty pounds less! It seems too daunting to look at taking OFF 40, 50, or 60 pounds, and I chastise myself constantly for putting it on. When I started this weblog, I suggested that I might reveal some of the "recurring" themes in my real-life journals, and now you know one of them: the struggle with weight.

We went to Zev-and-Sharon's last night for an Easter feast of steak and Grugere and salad and MORE. I took Vanilla Bean Cheesecake. It was a perfectly lovely evening out, and I helped Sharon set up her new computer.

I delivered "Key Lime Cheesecake" to the Beanery 2 Bistro in McBride this morning. The Bistro will be closed for all of April, so I'm having a break from cheesecake-making.

All else is "A-OK". We do manage to stay busy.

Blessings of this holiday to all of you. Happy Springtime too.

Thank goodness for a quiet day, too! I've had plenty of time to hug the dogs today. Pictured above is AURORA.

Yesterday when I stopped at the local coffee shop that I regularly bake for, Barb, the owner and my friend, asked if I could make another lime cheesecake like I had made for St. Patrick's Day. So today, I made a LARGE lime cheesecake, and a smaller Vanilla Bean cheesecake to take to our friend's house tomorrow night.

I had been hoping that my perennial roots and baby plants and packaged goods would have come on Thursday (while I was en route from Calgary) so that I could be POTTING over the Easter weekend. The sooner those roots and plants are in soil, the sooner they will look wonderful for spring perennial sales. They were supposed to arrive in mid-March, and I knew the grower was "behind" in the filling of orders, but now I'm getting a bit concerned. Perhaps I will hold my big sale later in May than I'd planned.

Other than feeding, watering and walking dogs, I've clipped a few toenails (on several dogs and the boarding cat, because I was asked), brushed many of them, and am now just working on the website. I did manage to take some pictures today: I've noticed that, now I've been uploading pet photos, owners seem almost "crushed" if their pet's picture doesn't make it to the gallery! I've added an email link inviting owners to send me a picture if their pet didn't make it onto the page. One owner of a favourite guest politely asked if I could take Aurora's picture from the side so that the scar on her forehead would not show: I assured her that I could "Photoshop it out", and I have. Both the owner and the dog are friends; it was no trouble!

The weather today in McBride is sharply cold and quite windy. Because of the wind, we've had some trouble with our Internet connection, at least for iChat Voice Chatting, but for working on my website I've had some success.

Might be back later. Take care, everyone!

Myrtle had her operation on the hernia in her diaphragm. Until recently, we thought the hernia was more of a weak spot than a hole, but it was actually a HOLE so big that nearly her ENTIRE stomach was in her chest cavity! I was there when the surgeon came around yesterday, so I got this information from him.

At any rate, Myrtle, despite her age and that she was high-risk in other ways, came through this surgery with the proverbial "flying colours". The nurses were remarking that they'd never seen a patient use their morphine pump so much (the at-liberty pain-control thingy) but I reminded them to look at the chart to see how much THIS patient uses at home in a day. Myrtle is accustomed to quite a high level of morphine (and in the hospital might have been suffering alcohol withdrawal as well). Perhaps Myrtle's pain in back will be more manageable with the other problems (breathing, eating) taken care of. Her surgery was done laparoscopically and that should make a huge difference in recovery, though it's still considered a major procedure.

All is well otherwise. I left the Pet Hostel in Gary's hands for a few days. One of those hands got fairly badly bitten by a "Shih Tzu" that is unpredictable, but he's just laughing at himself now. The dog has gone home, and Gary told the owner "no problems". All else at the kennels went smoothly.

Must get out to feed-water-walk the guests.

Talk to you again soon. ~Ann

Today I've posted a photo of "T-Bone", a very fine red border collie who is never any trouble as a guest at the Pet Hostel.

Why am I miffed? I made a quick trip into McBride with Gary an hour ago. While in the grocery store, someone who I consider a FRIEND and who has brought several animals to me over the years, came up to me. She said that her little dog (who shall remain anonymous) was getting so LONG and "staticky", that she took him to a groomer in Prince George. My friend said to me, "Oh, Ann, she made him look just gorgeous!".

My mind was awhirl. Had I done something to warrant this owner taking her business AWAY from me? Why was she bragging about the lovely job that another dog groomer had done? I couldn't help myself, and asked my friend, "Oh... why didn't you bring him to me?" and she chuckled and said, "I guess I should've.". I live 10 km. from her, and she took her puppy into "the city", 200 km. away, instead.

I prefer to think that she was being impulsive when she took her puppy to the groomer in Prince George, rather than think that she realized she was taking the job "away" from me. It is DEFINITELY her prerogative to do this, and she surely didn't mean to hurt or offend me by raving about the job. It is still hard not to take it personally. Why would someone NOT realize?

Everything else is just fine. I'm delivering the little Shiba Inu dog home tonight, along with a dinner for my customer who just had her shoulder joint replaced. I certainly empathize with the pain and difficulty.

So... supper is baked pork chops, roasted spiced root vegetables, and peas frozen from our garden. I didn't plan a dessert! Hubby remarked after our sandwich lunch that a nice big cream puff would be nice; I'm able but unwilling to MAKE one for him right now, but I might stop and BUY one.

The many pets at the Pet Hostel all seem content. Gary knows their routines and all their separate diets for while I'm in Calgary.

Everyone take care. Don't let my rant today bother you; I'm usually very easy to get along with.

Here are a small number of the treasured guests that are staying at the PET HOSTEL tonight.

We have 4 Jack Russell terriers Bernie, Emily, Luka and Buddy. There is an 18 year old dachshund named Cuddles, who is doing very well and feeling young.

Staying with us, as well, are Sheba the Shiba Inu, Aurora and Nikki who are Golden Retrievers, Missy and Max who are Yellow Labradors, Colleen who is a beautiful mixed breed who looks like Rhodesian Ridgeback, and Abby, a Great Pyrenees cross.

Also we are boarding a cat, Misty, and a budgie, Toohey. Colleen is going home tomorrow and another couple of dogs are coming.

All is well at our house. We went out for our USUAL Sunday morning breakfast, and it was quite pleasant. One of my friends wants me to build a web page featuring the bull semen that they have for sale, and if you don't know what I mean by that... request an explanation by posting a "comment" on my weblog.

Nothing too remarkable happened today. It takes some time to feed, water, clean up after, and play with our boarders, and I enjoy that time. I still hate to leave home to go to Calgary, but both my youngest daughter, Kim, and my oldest daughter, Shelly, have taken March 23 off to support their Granny at the time of her operation. So we'll be together at least at the hospital, and being with them is ALWAYS good.

Whew. Have finished feeding and watering our doggy guests and still will take several for walks. Also have to clean the kennels of course.

It is SO cold with the wind; Gary says it is only about -5 degrees C., but I think the wind chill factor must make it about -20 ! I had to come in to warm up.

We again have such a NICE NICE assortment of boarders, though when we have difficult ones, I probably WON'T proclaim it in my web log. I think for now we should be called "Yellow Dog Acres", because there are so many golden-coated dogs here at this time!

We have "Collen" who is in fact, reddish brown, "Nikki", a Golden Retriever, "Max", a yellow labrador, "Sheba", a strawberry blond Shiba Inu, and "Missy" another yellow lab. As well, we have THREE Jack Russell terriers (Bernie, Emily, and Buddy), an 18 year old Dachshund "Cuddles", a pretty grey cat "Misty", and a budgie bird "Toohey" (named after the Australian beer.

The Jack Russell terriers, despite the breed's reputation for being mischievous and hyper, are ABSOLUTELY delightful, except that they would like to eat the budgie. Therefore, "Toohey" bird is boarding in our bathroom, where he is chortling away happily. "Misty" is safe in a large cat kennel in my heated grooming shop, quite separate from the indoor dog pens there.

These days there is not much more going on than caring for the animal guests. Tomorrow another Golden Retriever and a Great Pyrenees puppy arrive. On Tuesday there is a new customer bringing her border collie cross, and I am going to be on my way to Calgary!

I'm feeling quite freaked about going to Calgary for even two or three days, leaving Gary with the whole business to run, even though he is absolutely, 100% able to run it as well as I. He used to work with sled dog kennels which had 60 to 80 dogs full time!

It's not a "frivolous" trip; I want to support Myrtle at the time of her abdominal surgery. My eldest daughter Shelly lives in Calgary and is providing a great deal of help and comfort all of the time, so in essence, I'm lending a little support for the support.

*SIGH* I wish the weather would cooperate so that today I could tidy the yard more. At this time of year, things look kind of messy, and items like flower tubs just look like so much plastic trash all over the place. Because of the autumn I had, with Dad falling ill and dying (with all the trips to Calgary), I didn't do even as much clean-up as I usually do.

Essentially, I leave vegetation as it is over the winter, as branches catch snow for insulation for my beloved perennials, and seed pods provide food for birdies. I like to call it "winter interest" in the garden. However, when spring comes, all the dead material needs to be removed because it is unsightly as the new growth comes out.

I'll be back here at some point with pictures of our boarders, or just post them in our pet gallery on the web site, or BOTH.

Keep warm, stay well. Back later.

I've been trying to discover how to get pictures into my "POSTS" on this weblog. When I surf around within blog.com, I see that others have pictures within their daily posts, but somehow my pictures end up ONLY in an album (available on the sidebar but not where I wanted them), or showing up with the dreaded "X" as in "photo not loaded". Ex-photos, as it were.

If the image LOADS, then, this one is of "Bandit" who stayed this week at the Pet Hostel. He is big and gentle and full of character. Gary and I spent a good deal of time talking to him and playing with him while he stayed at our "kennels".

Today in McBride they are having a "Daffodil Luncheon". I'm so proud of this town of 600 people, to support worthy charities such as this one, for the Cancer Society. I bought daffodils, but hurried home in case customers were wanting to drop off their pets. Everyone who had expected to arrive between 11 am. and 1 pm. is now LATE, so I could have stayed for lunch, but I didn't know it.

It's a very chilly day today, and overcast. It seems to alternate between blustery or "socked in" with bright and cheery! Ah well, today my disposition is cheery.

I'm going to "post" this little blog entry, and see if Bandit's picture loads successfully, and might write more later. At least the Internet is working for us today, although it is ponderously SLOWWWW.

Can't complain about the weather TODAY! There is still some wet, heavy snow upon the ground, but the sun shone brightly all day. The temperature was just around "freezing".

We continue to have trouble with our internet signal. Gary asked me yesterday if I had phoned our server, so I figured it was time to just let the provider know we still have FLEETING Internet Service. I'm fully cognizant of the fact that we are in a "fringe" area of reception. Well, I DID phone the Server guy, and described the problem, and he was condescending and mean, stating that as someone who had "marginal" reception there would just HAVE TO BE times that we were without Internet. (I wonder if there should just HAVE TO BE times that we don't PAY!)

Mr. Internet Server had been grouchy in the past, saying that if I had let them KNOW earlier I would have been on the list for when the technician came to our town! AARRRGH I feel that I just can't win, and I try to state my case and not let the guy ruin my day with his snarky and sarcastic retorts. So yesterday, when I got off the phone, hubby says, "Well, you have to EXPECT that he's not going to be conciliatory!". I felt like I'd been set up to get my feelings hurt, and I'm about ready to cancel Internet Service with the local guy and sign up with Telus dial-up (nothing faster available with THEM). As it WAS, I spent the afternoon fighting tears, trying to count my blessings and to remember that INTERNET is hardly essential. I think of all the people who don't even have enough to eat, and feel like a schmuck for placing such importance on such things.

Today, on the other hand, has been cheery and nice... (Internet has worked on-and-off) and I tidied the grooming shop in preparation for extra boarders for Spring Break. We have two large nice kennels out there for dogs, and a unit of cat cages; the building is heated and very comfortable. We always have the radio on in there, even if it's only for the seedlings (bedding plants) that I've started!

There are the same boarders here as yesterday, but tonight Bandit will go home. Several different dogs will arrive tomorrow, and at least one cat. It's a GREAT job, mine.

Must go make supper. Tonight it's just meatloaf and baked potatoes and vegetable and salad. Last night for dessert we had pecan pie, which neither of us really should be having, but it turned out so well and sooooo good!

Take care and stay well! ~Ann

Woke up to a skiff of snow covering everything, and this is quickly becoming a thicker blanket of snow. For one thing, I won't be uploading a picture of crocusses today.

One of the dogs I expected for grooming today isn't coming because the owner doesn't want to travel from Valemount while there's snow on the highway; I totally understand. I have a couple of other dogs to groom while they board here.

We have facilities enough to keep all the boarders dry and comfortable and happy. There are seven guests today; we don't allow dogs from different families to mingle "unattended", and usually they are entirely separate for the durations of their stays. One never knows when dogs can have a "misunderstanding" that results in a serious altercation and injury. We don't want that!

Perhaps later, I'll post a picture of the SNOW, although in our part of the country, it's not that newsworthy. It DID seem that spring had come early and would "stay". At least it's not very cold.

Stay well, look after yourselves. ~Ann

It's midnight in the Yahoo Garden Chat room; I've been chatting but I think I'll shut 'er down soon.

I've finally figured out that I can make paragraph breaks using HTML in these "blog" posts, though I HAD thought they were only allowed in the PAID accounts.

Tomorrow I have dogs to groom and a few here for boarding. One (human) client asked me to do her a favour: to treat her dog with an EXTRA measure of "suckiness" because she felt so guilty leaving him. Truth be known, we treat each pet boarder with the maximum custom loving so that they are happy and clean and comfortable and EATING. I reassured our client. The truth is that her big dog is absolutely no trouble at all, and takes his pills willingly, eats well, and so on. He is a very welcome guest.

The sun didn't come out today very much, and in fact, the crocusses didn't even open up so that I could take a picture for YOU. I should have taken a picture of the new old tractor to post here.

Talked to my stepmother today, and it seem the surgeon will do her surgery LAPAROSCOPICALLY if possible, but they won't know until next Wednesday, when they start the surgery. Her operation is for a hernia in the diaphragm, a DIAPHRAGMATOCELE. Surgeon said it's surprising that she can eat at all, since half her stomach is bulging into the chest cavity. This certainly explains her shortness of breath, too, and it's good that the doctors are finally taking her seriously. Sooooo this will be a RELATIVELY straight forward procedure or an invasive MAJOR surgery, and either one carries extra risk in an 82 year old patient. I'm planning to go to Calgary next week.

Putting myself to bed now. Take care all. Be good to each other.~Ann