Recreation — Page 47 — You are in My World Now

The beef bone was bigger than the puppy!

May 19, 2008 by Tricia

Just a follow up on Midnight and her big bone … this is what she looked like back in January when we first bought her a big bone to gnaw on:

The bone was just about as long as she was and it was so heavy she couldn’t pick it up or move it around much.

This time around the bone is about the same size – 2+ feet in length, but she’s grown in the almost four months that have elapsed and this times she’s the one that’s a bit bigger than the bone. It’s still pretty big for her and I expect it will keep her busy for quite a while.

Later today I’ll try to take another picture of her and her new bone so you can see the difference.

Midnight got a Mammoth Bone

May 19, 2008 by Tricia

Yesterday afternoon we went to Petsmart. Midnight, our Lab Pup, was running out of her dog biscuits and we’d decided to take a look at choke collar since she’s been pulling so much when we take her for walks.

We’ve been using a Sporn harness on her since December, but lately even that wasn’t working. So when we got to the store (BTW this is the first time I was in Petsmart since my major allergic reaction) we ran into one of the Petsmart associates and asked about choke collars. The girl that was helping us suggested we try the Comfort wrap harness.

She went so far as to put the harness on Midnight and adjusted all the straps so it fit correctly. We then walked around the store to test it out. During our walk Midnight played with a few of the other dogs in the store. One small husky in particular was her main playmate – biting her ears! The harness held up and we didn’t feel the pull as much as we did with the Sporn harness so we decided to buy it.

We also decided to get Midnight another Mammoth bone. We got her one in January and there’s only a stub left that’s about 8 inches long. She’s barely been chewing on it lately. So … we took the plunge and bought her a big bone that’s at least 2 feet long.

A while after we got home from Petsmart and a side trip to the grocery store we fed Midnight and then gave her, her new bone. That was at 7 pm. It’s now a bit after midnight and we’ve just taken the bone away.

She never even asked to go outside to relieve herself the whole time she was chewing that darn bone! Oh, we did interrupt her and took her out to do her business twice during the five hour chewing session. I don’t think she would have moved otherwise.

Finally when I last took her out a few minutes ago I asked Chris to take the bone away and hide it on our enclosed back porch. She’s sniffing around trying to find it, but not complaining. It’s time for her to settle down and go to sleep!

I guess our puppy won’t be distracting me as much as she normally does for much of the next week as I’m sure she’ll be into chewing her bone for long periods.

Tell me about your best summer vacation

May 18, 2008 by Tricia

It’s a dreary and overcast day here in Toronto. It’s also fairly cool outside too. It’s times like these when I’m just waiting for the weather to warm up that I think about great vacations, particularly great summer vacations.

The best summer vacation that I ever had, had to be hands down the summer that I spent in Dominican Republic. One of my brother’s is a geologist and he and his wife lived on the island for over five years.

I was just 12 years old when I got to spend two months in the DR. I traveled to Miami on my own, by plane, and met my brother and sister-in-law in the city. After spending a couple of days in Miami off we went to the Dominican Republic.

I just loved the island and I even made friends with some of the children of the companies staff. Friendships that have lasted all this time. I believe I visited just about every area of the island, places that you don’t see when you can only go to an island for a week or two.

Unless I win the lottery I’ll probably never have a two month vacation on a Caribbean island or anywhere else again, but I can dream, can’t I?

Well, if the weather stays the way it is, perhaps Chris and I will book some time off and look for low cost flights to USA. I’m sure I could find some deals for flights to Florida or perhaps Las Vegas. I’m sure the temperature in both areas are nice right now compared to here, but still not too hot.

If you’re in the UK and happen to be looking for a great website where you can find cheap flights to the USA and other destinations worldwide you might want to visit Dialaflight. They have some great hotel and travel deals. You can use the website to book your complete vacation package including hiring a car to get around in once you reach your destination.

So tell me … when did you have your best summer vacation ever? Was it when you were a child or teenager? Perhaps it was your honeymoon? Where did your best summer vacation take place? Perhaps your replies will give me some new vacation ideas. I just love to travel.

My favorite tulips are blooming

May 18, 2008 by Tricia

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My lovely purple fringed tulips are in full bloom right now so I’ve been trying to either peek outside or go out into the garden more often this week so I can enjoy them while they are in bloom.

It’s a shame that such a lovely flower doesn’t bloom more than a week or two isn’t it?

It’s cool and rainy here in Toronto today. Actually with the exception of two days this week it’s been a fairly cool month. So unless we get a sudden hot spell like we did at the end of April I’m pretty sure that my lovely tulips should last the better part of the week.

I’m hoping that my bleeding hearts come up soon. I have them planted at the side of the house in an area that tends to get quite dry in the summer. I’m sure we lost a fern that had been planted there for the last few years due to lack of watering that area properly last year. Now I think we might have also lost the Bleeding Hearts. I’m sure it’s usually starting to come up by now most years.

Well, if we did lose the bleeding hearts at least I have some pretty pictures of it from years past!

How is your garden doing this spring weekend?

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information. GTS participants remember to check in at As the Garden Grows each week so that we’ll know you made a new post!

It’s the May 24 weekend already!

May 16, 2008 by Tricia

I didn’t realize until yesterday that this weekend is our famous May 24 weekend here in Canada. I have no idea why we are having our Victoria Day weekend so early. Very odd. I think the long weekend should be the following weekend, but I guess not this year.

Anyway, now that I’m up to date as to which weekend is our long weekend I now realize we have a few party invitations that we have to decide whether to accept or not.

Some old friends of ours are having an outdoor barbecue and party on Saturday night. I’m pretty sure we’ll go to that, but I’m not sure we’ll make it to another friends Sunday brunch if we go to the party on Saturday night!

On both Sunday and Monday evening we’ve been invited to join a few friends to watch the fireworks at two different areas in the city. Monday nights will be the most spectacular as the ones we’ll go to see are the Cities Victoria Day Fireworks at Ashbridges Bay.

Perhaps we’ll do what we did a few years ago to avoid the crowds. We went to the boardwalk on the beach with our folding lounge chairs and sat on the beach rather than going right to Ashbridges Bay park. It was much nicer to do it that way. Of course if it’s cold out it might be better to be in the crowd rather than sitting on a cold windy beach.

Any other Canadians planning on attending Victoria Day celebrations?