Packing, Strays & Sushi

Its been a busy few days around here, as usual! The stone dust arrived the other day... we got about half of the machine shed done that night, but haven't gotten back to it... between the weather and trying to get things organized for this weekend, there's just not been enough hours in the day.

We've pretty much got Jess all packed up.... we'll load the car tonight and just throw the last few last minute items in before we hit the road. My goal is to be on the road by 6am, we'll see how that works... leaving earlier gives me more time to visit back home... especially being as its kind of a short visit. I'm also going to attempt to make it to the bank in Kitchener before it closes so I can close our safety deposit box there. Its already empty, and I would've closed it before I left, except I forgot one of the keys was tucked away in a filing cabinet that had already been moved. Now I have both keys with me... so we'll see if I can make it before they close!

Jess and I have been riding the emotional roller coaster all week... clearly, going off to school is the right thing... she has to go start her life, doing what she loves and is so good at... but neither of us is really *ready* for this either. I know I speak for both of us when I say that we're both working hard to constantly maintain our composure... if either of us lets our guard down just a bit... there's tears. Should be a *FUN* weekend. We're pretty sure that we'll both be shriveled up and dehydrated by Sunday night. So needless to say, NO I don't want to talk about it... I'm sure we'll both survive... time is a good healer.

I'll be heading back to Ottawa Sunday night... leaving from Toronto... Monday, Shawn's taken the day off to spend with me, since we wont get to hang out this weekend together... the tree removal guy is also coming on Monday. Of course, Shawn is staying here with the dogs all weekend... someone's gotta hold down the fort.

Its rather hot and humid here again.... after all that nice cool weather... I've got the AC on today... it was unbearable without it, especially since we're doing Jess's laundry today.

Yesterday when we were about to leave to pick up Shawn from work and go have Mexican for supper, just as I was about to take the dogs out, I noticed there was a stray dog running around our yard. (This is stray #3 and I've only lived here not even 2 months yet!) So out I went in the pouring rain (without MY dogs!!) to try to catch the stray... he was kinda nervous, but friendly enough looking... unneutered male, likely a lab X border collie cross... mutt.

** Some time passed**

Ok, now to continue... I caught the stray dog in the dog kennel... locked him in there with a few dog cookies and called animal control. Since I was in the midst of taking my dogs out and they were in need, I decided to take them out one at a time. Buddy first of course... he initially barked meanly and was unpleasant. If he was polite, I just let him sniff through the fence.. if he was rude and aggressive, then he caught hell from me. Soon he just ignored the stray in his normal "I'm better than everyone" sort of way.

The whole time Buddy and I are out, Pixie is in the house with Jessica going NUTS. Angry barking, the whole bit. Jess and I switched dogs at the dog and it was Pixie's turn. For a cute, dumb, soft headed lab, she sure has a nasty side. Her tactic is to walk up to the fence and then snarl when the other dog looks her way. So, same as with Buddy, as along as she was polite, she could interact through the fence, but as soon as she was unpleasant, she caught hell from me. Well... in the end, she never stopped catching hell, even though I escalated her punishment. Nasty, poorly socialized animal.

Its funny though, she always used to be the more social dog at the dog park... friendly with other dogs and people... somehow that's changed... I'm sure its our fault somehow... but I blame Buddy :) He always makes antisocial noises and stuff, but when it comes down to it, its all beneath him and he ignores the other animals.

45 minutes later, the animal control guy showed up and loaded the dog into the van. Obviously this wasn't the same dog as before from across the street, but those people moved away and left their dog (the one we were maybe going to get) with the new tenants. The new tenants brought at least 2 other dogs... and maybe this one was one of theirs, I dunno... they are set back a ways and we can see some stuff going on, but its too far to really identify a dog.

I told the animal control guy that it was possible it was their dog... but that I didn't go over... they now have a gate across their laneway, as they let their 2 ponies have the run of the place... I didn't want to open the gate and wander in there with a dog that may or may not be theirs... with ponies running loose. They also have a large pack of kids, but they weren't visible at that point, probably due to the rain.

When animal control left, he went across the road and read their sign, but didn't go in... so I don't really know what happened... I guess he took the dog to where ever they take them here when they are waiting to be claimed.

Tonight was Jessica's choice of meals... I told her I would cook anything or take her out anywhere she wanted to go. She decided she wanted sushi and had looked up reviews of various local restaurants. None had glowing reviews... so she decided instead of taking a chance on unknown sushi, we would get it from Farm Boy and bring it home. Farm Boy makes their sushi onsite and makes it fresh... we've eaten it a bunch of times now with no ill effects.

After we picked up Shawn we went and bought a whole bunch of sushi and some sandwiches for tomorrow's trip. We pretty much ate all the sushi that we could... had there been more, I couldn't have eaten it... and I think both Shawn and Jess were full! I get the vegetarian sushi (no fish!) because I'm still not eating fish since I had a minor allergic reaction to shrimp a few yeas ago. Its good enough and the only "fishy" thing is the seaweed which doesn't seem to bother me at all.

We loaded everything in the car that is ready to be loaded... there are some more things that will have to wait until morning... like pillows :) Otherwise, I guess we're as ready as we'll ever be!

I know Jess is looking forward to going to school... and I'm looking forward to hearing about her adventures... in spite of all the tears and worries... its a good thing and we'll survive.