Ann’s Weblog

I took a picture of the chickens that were roasting in the oven at 5 o’clock, and they didn’t look as wonderful as they turned out to be! So, I’m posting this picture from our niece’s collection of pictures that she took when she visited this summer. This view is facing EAST (in a south-east kind of way…) from half-way up a mountain near us. Our acreage is near one of the Fraser’s bends on the right side of the picture. A photo taken from up here makes the great river and wide valley seem small! More photos of the valley are at this web page on my site.

I’ve had just a fine couple of days. Today I met friends for our “usual” Sunday breakfast, and Gary wasn’t able to attend because he was farm-sitting elsewhere and then had horses to trim. We had a good time, but one of my friends rarely gets a word in edgewise because the rest of us talk a lot. Sorry, M. dear.

On Saturday, I got a phone call from a dog owner who was somewhat distressed. She had been given a pregnant little dog just a month ago; the vet told her not to have the dog groomed until after “Mischa” had given birth. The litter of 5 wee pups was born one week ago (mother dog is Shih Tzu, and the owner reports that the sire might be… Rottweiller!). The new mother dog was matted and filthy, so I agreed to take her right away. When she was clipped and bathed, we had a dog who was the picture of health and happy as can be! I did the grooming as quickly as I could, though Mischa didn’t seem stressed from the separation from the puppies, and I was told that the litter slept the whole time. All’s well there, now. I didn’t get a picture of Mischa, though I hope she’ll be a regular customer now. (Will those puppies be ShihTzweiller, or RottTzu…)

Because I had a dog to groom yesterday, I managed to stay away from a big garage sale! I was curious, true, but there is nothing that I need at this time; I was afraid that I’d come home with a pile of stuff just while I’m trying to “downsize” here. Maybe I have an iota of self-control, because I could have got there, had I tried.

Since the 28 pound cat, I haven’t had any work that wasn’t quite routine, but it’s all good anyway. My perennials didn’t arrive this week, but I’ll phone to confirm soon so I’ll know where I’m at. I need the inspiration to clean out the greenhouse in preparation! It didn’t help (the inspiration level) that it snowed here on Friday, again.

These are some of the daffodils, peeking out of the snow. We have hundreds still buried under snow, and look forward to the cheery displays in the next few weeks!

I had the most wonderful phone call late this afternoon. “Dee” now from Oakville, has been my friend since we were four years old in Calgary! We don’t call, write, or email very often, but when we do, we connect so well. The call made my day.. my week! We resolve to correspond more. Dee and I mostly talked of recent times, but she is also a beloved connection to happy childhood days when my mother was alive.

It’s funny… off and on today I have tried to chat with folks online in Yahoo Garden Chat, and Yahoo Messenger hasn’t been allowing it. There have been other ways to visit with the same people, but those “chat mechanisms” have not been working well EITHER! I’ve suffered some pangs of withdrawal. I spent some time (freed up because of not chatting) sealing the grout on the new kitchen floor, and it looks nice, if I do say so myself.

I’m doing some work on the other computer, our favourite, our treasured iMac, so I must get back to that. It is good to talk to you, loyal readers (visitors to this blog reached a new HIGH last week). Thank you.

~ Ann

This is the 28 pound cat I groomed today. He has the distinction of being the largest domestic cat that I’ve ever seen, and in 23 years of pet grooming, I’ve never handled one even CLOSE to Tommy’s size. His owner had warned me that he was badly matted and dirty, but “Hey, that’s what I DO here!”. It took about 3 hours to clip his coat short and shampoo him; he suffered this indignity by “going ballistic” a few times, and growled loudly throughout the spa treatment . Since he is essentially not a MEAN cat, he didn’t hurt me, and even though it is easy to chafe or nick a cat’s thin skin, I did not cause HIM any harm either. As you can see, he has an opinion about how satisfactory was the experience!

The two little dogs that I groomed this afternoon have been my customers all their lives. Cloe, on the left, is a young Shih Tzu, and Magic is on the right, and he’s an elderly terripoo. Neither dog is any trouble to groom or to board. They are waiting for a ride home (they LOVE to go in the truck), and before I delivered them, I combed out their mustaches, ears, and tails.

Has been a nice day in the neighbourhood… and here at home, too. I’m very tired, but we’ve had our dinner of chicken breast strips and oven-baked french fries and I’m “done” for the day.

While I was looking at statistics for this web log, I followed a link (that someone had come FROM when they visited it), and discovered that someone had put an excerpt from MY blog into hers! She entitled it “A Groomer’s Life”. While it is an honour to be quoted, I wrote to the other blogger and said that giving credit to other’s words is nicer. When I looked down the page, I saw that I was “quoted” again without credit.

Then I found a little blog entry, unrelated to MY web log, referring to “kennel ladies over fifty”. It was good for a laugh; the blogger thought that “being a bit odd” was in the job description for kennel ladies over 50! I’m that AGE, but am I “odd”?

Well AM I ? *Sigh*, if the shoe fits, wear it, eh?

Take care everyone! XXX OOO ~Ann

Much of the snow which fell two days ago is gone again. Spring will come, eventually. It always does.

We have two nice dogs boarding; when it is this nice, they stay outdoors during the day. Both are pleasant and well-behaved in the house as well.

This is Rogue, who has stayed with us regularly for the last couple of years. She’s very used to us and seems to enjoy visiting. We enjoy having her here, too.

This is Seiko, a new best friend of the Pet Hostel; she has been here a lot lately and we love her:

In case you didn’t catch this, “Seiko” could have been a “WATCH DOG”, had she turned out the least bit aggressive! As it turns out, she is quiet and polite and plays enthusiastically with our own dog, Lady.

Books from Amazon came in today’s mail. I ordered the movie “Tsotsi”, the story of misery and redemption involving a black South African gang member. I also chose a few interesting quilting books, with the idea that I may one day be inspired to sew creatively again, perhaps NEXT winter!

I’m anxiously awaiting the shipment of perennial roots that I ordered in November! These will arrive WELL before the orders of nursery stock (trees and shrubs). The roots get planted in quart-sized pots, and then I water and tend them, until they are nice-looking plants to sell in May. I’m finally looking forward to the end of winter; I’ve hibernated enough and am more anxious to work outside.

Must go rustle up supper, which tonight is roast chicken, basmati rice, steamed carrots and for dessert, banana cream pie.

Love you* for visiting. ~Ann

* except for one: you know who you are…

This is Teddy. It was this cheerful terrier mix who I groomed a couple of weeks ago, and when I followed his owner’s wishes, made look peculiar (my descriptive word, not hers). His owner brought him back for clipping today, and I scissored him all over, so that his coat was short and free of matts. This time Teddy’s owner and I thought he looked handsome.

~Ann 

On the left is “Lela”, for whom a new home is needed. Sad to say, many dog owners in our small town let their dogs run free, and the dogs come into yards to harrass or harm pets like Lela. I have been struggling to think of someone with a fenced yard or an acreage where Lela wouldn’t have to be tied and wouldn’t be stressed or attacked by other dogs. She is dainty in a home, happily sleeps in an airline kennel, and learns easily.

On the right is “Mocha” who is the pup I groomed on Thursday. He has a history of being patient while being clipped and washed, but ADAMANT about not getting his toenails trimmed. At this appointment, I conned and cajoled and out-maneuvered Mocha; not only did I get the job done, but he didn’t seem as determined to bite me as the last few times.

We had some new snow last night, after most of it had disappeared:

Gary is out moving snow around with the snowblower. It’s wet and heavy, and pushing/blowing some out of the way will channel the run-off later.

I guess that’s enough blogging for one day! Thanks for coming by to read.

~Ann

We went out for our usual Sunday brunch, and that was fine and dandy. We always cover a lot of bases… religion, politics, sex, and more.

We spoke of homemade bread, and thereafter I could hardly wait to get home to BAKE. I made Elephant Ears (pictured above), dinner rolls, sticky buns (with no cinnamon, because I didn’t have any), and a loaf of rye bread. Don’t be misled by the caption for this blog entry: I ate more elephant ears than Gary did, and I gave a couple of them to a weary client who was picking up his dogs and still far from home. Elephant Ears are no more than deep fried bread dough, dusted or shaken with sugar of your choice. Yummy.

Most of my work was cancelled today because the highways are covered with slush and folks didn’t want to drive; I don’t blame them. I will care for the boarding dogs, hang out with Gary, and maybe try to get some sewing done.

Oh, yes.. and I will check in with my chat friends from time to time, so that some people can accuse me of being there “all of the time”!

Stay well, folks. ~Ann

Saturday night, we went for dinner at the home of friends of ours in Dunster.

Our friend S. had asked in mid-week what my favourite dinner is. Although I have MANY favourite meals, I have always especially enjoyed the roast chicken that we have at their house, and these are are usually obtained from a local hobby farmer. I replied that I would love to have one of “Jim’s chickens”, thinking that my friend had one in the freezer!

As it turns out, our friends didn’t have one, and asked Jim, who said that he was COMPLETELY OUT of chickens and turkeys. S. decided to go out to Jim’s after teaching school that day, in order to buy some of Jim’s homemade sausage. When she got there, Jim led her out to his freezer building and showed her, conspiratorially, two precious frozen chickens and said that S. could pick one.

So we had a “Jim’s chicken”, made all the more wonderful by the adventure in the obtaining of it and the shortage of supply. All the rest of the meal was excellent, as always, and the red wine robust, and the company wonderful.

Here is a slideshow which features just a few of a friend’s pictures of australian animals:

Australian WildLife

I had a wonderful birthday with a lot to eat, flowers and other affirmations of affection. It was a very good day, and much as we might think that after a certain age, birthdays are just ordinary days, it is nice to have it “marked” somehow.

My enemy/enemies in the chat room have seemed to eased up somewhat, but mainly because I rolled over in submission. It seems that OTHER chatters can talk or type freely about people who lurk or make ugly attacks, but if I discuss this openly or speculate about who is doing these things, I get dumped on. Who really knows anyone in chat rooms anyway? It used to be something like having many “penpals”… one felt that they WERE able to know another person and feel that they were friends. Now if I try to guess at who is attacking me, I am supposedly “slanderous”, and then I am accused of taking the whole thing too seriously? I have been stressed and blue, and told to “go whine in my blog”, so now I have, and I hope I can be left alone.

I set a password for this blog, and within an hour, someone in the chat room knew it. I don’t know whether it was guessed or hacked. I should give up on chat altogether, but I would miss “friends” there.

Tomorrow I’ll try to get back with doggy portraits.

~Ann

So… I never did get back with pictures of the two boarders. One dog who was staying here was the chocolate lab named “Winston” who is pictured in the pet gallery on my website, and the other, “Lela” who is a new client, a lovely petite rottweiller cross. We just have one dog boarding today: Rosie, who is a coyote cross, very shy and furtive.

Day before yesterday, I set about to work on books again. I knew where SOME papers were: in boxes neatly stored IN THE BASEMENT. When we were expecting overnight guests (humans!) last summer, Gary offered to tidy the spare bedroom, and I invited him to gather books and paperwork into boxes and laundry baskets to take downstairs.

Therefore, I sat beside the wood heater that day, sorting out receipts and firing anything not pertinent to taxes… into the fire! Till slips for sweaters, do-dads, etc., that would not be used for Income Tax … all burned, until I was down to all that I should have kept in the first place.

Then I moved a small stack of brochures and VOILA! EUREKA! I found a necklace that Gary had given me some years ago which I hadn’t seen for about 8 months. Hubby heard the “whoop” from upstairs, this made my day, made my week, was incredible. I had confessed to Gary that I had misplaced the pendant and chain and hoped that it hadn’t left the house, but was worried that it had made its way to the laundromat, never to be seen by me, again. When we did our flooring in our house, I had hoped that said necklace would be found behind a bookcase or somesuch, but it wasn’t.

If there is a New Year’s Resolution that I make, unofficially, every year, it’s to become more organized. What a burden extra “stuff” is when you can’t find what you need (and then have to buy it anyway), and the “mess” preys on your mind. I kick myself often over this, but then justify some of my “collections” when I actually USE what I have, such as dishes for a crowd or “just the right” vase, certain bolt or tool, and so on. There’s a middle of the road between clutter and austerity, I guess.

The dog that I was going to groom this morning, Mocha, can’t come today because his owner is ill. I’m going “back to the books” after chatting with my friends online for a little while.

Oh, and to my enemy who has been reading this weblog: what joy to you get in posting my personal information in the Garden Room? Do you think anyone cares where I live or if I file my taxes on time? I believe that you once behaved as my friend and therefore got an invitation to this blog; I hope you can sleep at night. Seek help for your psychosis.

Thank you to my friends and family who read my ramblings. Love, Ann.