sofa king sam

sofa king sam
Originally uploaded by Julep67

I think that Bella is totally tuned in to Jamie and Annette in a semi-spooky way. When we got home last night, I called them to find out if they were back in town and if they wanted to pick up Bella last night or tonight. I got their machine and left a message. We went about our business, fed the dogs, got our dinner ready, just regular after work stuff.

While we were sitting down to dinner, Sam and Gracie were hanging out in the kitchen. See, they live in hope that something is going to fall from the table and into their mouths. They aren't greedy, they don't beg, they just watch us very closely, and they hope. Normally, Bella is with them but last night, she was sitting by the front door. Bella never sits by the front door, that is Sammy's spot. She's usually behind the chair, near the furnace register, snuggly and warm.

I tried calling her into the kitchen but she started to sort of cry, sort of softly howl. I think she knew that Jamie and Annette were back in town and she wanted to go home. It was the saddest thing that I'd heard in a while and I'd never heard her do it before. All evening, she was a little off, sort of clingy and sad. Eventually, we started getting ready for bed and the phone rang, it was Annette. She asked if we wanted her to pick up Bella at that time or wait until tonight. Given how sad Bella had been, I asked her to come right over. I think Bella was pretty happy to see Annette, after all, she'd been with us for 2 weeks and the accommodations had definitely changed since her last visit. What had previously been a very relaxing, pampered time had turned into non-stop puppy playfest and I think she'll be happy for the peace and quiet of her country home.

As much as the dogs have been wrestling and carrying on with each other, I think Gracie was missing Bella this morning. She seemed a little out of sorts and I think she was looking for her. Of course, she'll have forgotten all about Bella by the time we get home tonight but was interesting to observe all the same.

snack time

snack time
Originally uploaded by Julep67

You know, the previous Bella photo I posted is probably my favourite of the many many many photos I have taken of that dog.

This photo though, is probably better for a "good bye doggie" photo.

If I'd been thinking yesterday, and not all sick, I'd have snapped one of her sitting nicely in the back seat of the car as it backed out of the driveway.

oh well, next time she visits I will!

so long friend

what's that?
Originally uploaded by Julep67

Bella went home last night. She stayed with us for almost 6 weeks and we were sad to see her go. It was pretty cute though, how excited she got when her owner arrived to pick her up. She's an awesome dog and we will miss her a tonne. Hopefully soon, we'll have our own puppy.

I ended up staying home from work yesterday. I felt totally crappy all day and was pretty sick again last night. This morning I went to work (and am still here now) but may leave a little early. I've had a fever and a headache all morning but didn't want to take anything for it, for fear of upsetting my stomach again.

Stomach seems settled now though so I took a pill and hopefully my head will clear. So yeah, that's all that is new with me. Over the past 24 hours I've slept a lot and watched several episodes of "In Treatment" on demand and literally, nothing else.

bella helps with dinner

bella helps with dinner
Originally uploaded by Julep67

Primarily, Bella's role in dinner preparation is that of floor inspector. She likes to spend as much time between Mark and the stove as possible. If something splatters or drops onto the floor, she's there to make sure it doesn't make a mess.

She's been such a good houseguest. I can't believe that she'll have been here 2 weeks on Wednesday. On the weekend, in the middle of some snow flurries, we took her out with us to do some errands. She's a country dog and I don't think she spends a lot of time in town so driving around the city, stopping at different spots while one or the other of us ran in and out seemed to amuse her.

On our way out of the house, I threw a couple of doggie treats into a ziplock bag and placed it in my purse. I figured if she got away from us somehow, she'd come back for the cookie (cuz she's a whore like that). It didn't happen that she ran away but boy, she sure picked up the cookie scent after a few minutes in the van. Ever since then, she looks at my bag with a hungry stare whenever I pick it up.

We had a really quiet weekend which was nice. Mark was working on the computers yesterday while I did laundry. On Saturday, besides errands, we ripped the living room apart. We wanted to reconfigure our entertainment unit thing. When we bought our new TV in December, we just threw it on the shelf. We didn't want to tear everything apart until some cables came in for it (I'd ordered some from eBay). Anyway, this weekend we finally got it sorted out. It was a huge job but it was well worth it. I was able to do a proper clean in the corner where the unit is (the kind you can only do when the furniture is moved) and we're really happy about the height of the tv now.

So yeah, that's the news. Exciting stuff huh??

bella's here

We are once again dog sitting for our friends. The lovely Bella (a gorgeous and sweet natured Blue Tick Hound) is once again staying with us. This time, she'll be here for the entire month of February.

We looked after her for a couple of weeks in late November / early December. We'd never met Bella before that visit. We knew her owners' previous dog, Morgan, quite well (I'd known Morgan since she was a puppy) but Bella was a stranger to us. When she arrived in November, she was pretty nervous and it took her almost the first week to really chill into being here. It had to be odd, new people, a completely different place, city noise versus country quiet. I wasn't surprised.

Tonight though, she whimpered a tiny bit after Jamie dropped her off but it was really not long at all. Right now, she's sleeping in her basket. I placed it next to the furnace vent so she's toasty roasty warm. The house she lives in is a lovely log cabin on a remote lake north of here. They heat the house by wood stove so there are no blasting forced air hot spots to snuggle on. Her owners have gone to the Caribbean for a holiday. I guess she's sort of on one too, I joked with her owners that she's getting to spend a month in the warmth as well.

I'm so glad that she's here again, we really missed her.

from the 28th floor

from the 28th floor
Originally uploaded by Julep67

We have company staying with us for 2 weeks.

Our guest is Bella and she has lovely brown eyes and a waggley tail. On Sunday when we got home, there was a message on our voice mail from friends who were looking for someone to dog sit for their lovely dog. I used to dog sit for them all the time with their old dog, Morgan. Sadly, Morgan died a few years ago. They now have Bella. Bella, like Morgan was, is a Blue Tick Hound.

She's super good natured and lovely to be around. I'm just having a time adjusting to her being here. We often wander around in the dark and I now have to stop and think "where is the dog?"

Last night was her first night here. This morning was a bit weird for us. In addition to adjusting to having her here, we had a power outage. I woke up with the alarm at 4:15 a.m. I hit the snooze and then woke up about 15 minutes later, in total darkness. Our power was off until about 6 a.m. There was a pole fire a little ways away from here. Not good. Fortunately, we were able to get to work close to on time despite the outage and our morning being thrown off in a big way. We found out later that it was a flukey thing and that no one was hurt (we'd wondered if there hadn't been a big accident). All's well that ends well, right?