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Sunday 28 October 2012

Numbers 88 and 89

After more than ten years of thinking, discussing, and putting it off, we have a new addition to our family.  We have a new dog called Runner.  He's a Walker Hound that we got from the Lanark Animal Welfare Society.  They reckon he's somewhere between four and six years old (I give him two - maybe).


So here is the story behind this dog.  My husband has been hunting with the same group of men for about 40 years.  Before that, the group was their fathers.  And for all these years, the group has used Beagles to chase deer through the woods.  And all this time, my husband has never had a dog to bring to the camp.  When he was single, the guys let it pass.  When we lived overseas, the guys let it pass.  But they've been getting vocal about it now that we're back and have lots of land and he's retired so he can take care of a dog.


So we found a lovely dog.  He's people friendly; good with my son and his friends and gets along well with our other dog, Jake.  But oddly enough, this dog - despite all his people skills - has clearly never lived in a house before.  He was mystified by windows, the TV and stairs - he could get up alright, but didn't know how to come back down.  He didn't know what to do with a rawhide bone when I gave him one, had no idea what a Milk Bone biscuit was.  But he knows how to walk on a leash, was crate trained and mostly housebroken.  That being said, there have been no accidents for a few days now, so the soiling could have been a stress response.

So as part of getting the dog ready to go on the hunt, we had to get tags for him.  We live in the township of Drummond/North Elmsley so off DH went to get tags for both the dogs - it's the bylaw and since they're both fixed and chipped, it was very inexpensive.  But I had to laugh - Drummond/North Elmsley has a population of just under 7500. Of those, I figure 2/3 have a dog(s) - on my street alone, there are at least 8.  Yet when we got them tags, we got numbers 0088 and 0089.  I'm guessing dog registration isn't a big money maker for the township.

So I'll leave you with a final picture of the dogs.  This is a far more typical pose than the one above.  What you can't see is the two tails wagging furiously.

Saturday 13 October 2012

A Sudden Moment of Quiet

It's been wild around here lately.  For many people the summer is when things get really busy with everyone moving in different directions, but for us that happens in the Fall.  I haven't done much knitting - I haven't even been able to make it out to my regular Saturday afternoon knit group, but I've certainly been busy.  I've got most of the garden put to bed and lots of food in the cold room.  We've had people come for a visit, a new wood stove was installed, Chuck and I attended the 30th birthday for the Canadian Forces Intelligence Branch Association in Ottawa (he's the VP, I had to go), closed the cottage and celebrated Thanksgiving #1.  #2 is going to happen tomorrow.

Thanksgiving #1 was a riot of a celebration this year.  Friends who live in Perth Australia were in the US visiting friends in Washington so we invited them up to spend some time with us if they could work it into their itinerary.  As it happens, they were here for Thanksgiving!  So we spent the entire weekend playing the "Do you remember when...." game.  A weekend wasn't nearly long enough with them so I think we need to start planning a return trip in earnest.

I mentioned a while ago that I had made Chuck some socks for hunting.  So today while he's off golfing in a kilt at the inaugural Kilted Classic in Pembroke, I'm able to get a picture.  The socks were a huge success; he really likes them, says they're really warm and wears them all the time.  I think I'll need to make more.


My big knitting project now is Autumn Arbor Stole by Anne Hansen.  Mine doesn't look exactly like the one on her website because I'm making the smaller version.  I'm  now 10 rows away from having the first half complete.  Lace was described to me once as having the look of a "dirty tissue" until it's been washed and blocked.  I have to agree.  This looks like a total mess here, but I think it's going to be stunning when it's finally done.

Chuck is getting ready for a few weeks of hunting.  He's been out for ducks and geese already.  So far there's only one duck in the freezer but I'm sure there will be more.  He's going moose hunting this week and deer hunting in early November.  A deer or a moose will mean we need to get a new freezer but it will also mean I won't need to buy much red meat this winter.  

Speaking of deer, I hit one coming home from work the other day.  It was dark and raining and all of a sudden I had a very different hood ornament.  Lucky for both of us, I didn't hit it very hard so didn't kill it, and there's only minor damage to my car.



Even the headlights still work.  Still, I was lucky.  It was a small deer and I wasn't going really fast - it could have been much worse.