Tricia's Musings

Random Thoughts about life in general, living in the big city of Toronto



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Grey squirrel enjoying a day in the park

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This weeks theme is I Spy

trees at beach

I spied this grey squirrel enjoying a nice day in the park in the Toronto Beaches area and had to take it’s picture as it foraged among the trees.

I actually took this photo in January 2006. Yes, it was winter time and we’d gone to the beach because it was such a nice warm winter day. Now, warm here in the winter time means that it was perhaps 10 Celsius which really isn’t very warm at all, but when you’ve been experiencing weeks of below freezing weather just about anything above zero is warm!

We expect today to be another nice winter day and I think that later in the afternoon we might take our Labrador retriever puppy to the beach for the first time. I’d love to see her have some fun in the water, but I think the water will be far too cold so she’ll have to settle for running on the beach. I think she’ll be happy with that.

Hopefully I’ll get some great photos!





I need a few days in the sun

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After all this snow I need a break.

Last year when we were planning to go to Vegas I got a membership with a travel club that offers great last minute travel deals. I think I’m going to search through the latest deals and see if there are any short vacation packages that we can take advantage of in the next two or three weeks.

Chris almost always has Mondays off work so he’s pretty much got a long weekend each week. I think it would be great to go to one of the Caribbean islands, Mexico or even back to Vegas just for a long weekend. I know that’s a really short holiday, but I think I’d feel better if I went somewhere that’s warmer than here for a few days.

Yes it is finally starting to warm up here in Toronto and with any luck all that snow we got last weekend will begin to melt away soon, but I’ve had enough of all this cold and snow.

Do you ever get that way? You know, just wanting to get away for a few days of sun and fun?

My backs back!

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My back is feeling a lot better! I don’t think I’ll be able to say it’s completely back to normal for a few days, but three days of really taking it easy and gobbling down aspirin to take the inflammation down in my lower spine seems to have really helped.

We have a dog training class tonight and I was really dreading going if my back was still acting up. Midnight gets so excited when she sees the other dogs and she’s in love with the trainer who talks in a loud excited friendly voice so she’s alway pulling on her leash (and yes sometimes barking!) while we’re in class. I was afraid that if my back was still really bad and she started pulling on her leash and jumping around while in her training class that my back would be done for! As it is I’ll still have to be careful, but I think there’s less chance now that a small movement will throw it out again.

Did all the snow and the subsequent shoveling get to any of you’re backs?

Graduated from puppy training

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I’m pleased to let you know that Midnight graduated from her puppy training class.

She actually graduated on February 8th and we’re already going to intermediate dog training classes, but I forgot to make a post about her graduation. Actually … I even still had the photos on my camera up until yesterday!

Here’s the little grad:

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She was not at all happy to be wearing the graduation cap no matter how cute she looked in it. LOL

It was too big for her really so it sat lopsided and whenever she moved (which was often!) it pretty much fell off.

Prior to getting her cap and graduation certificate we had our last puppy training lesson. I guess it was more of a test to see how well the puppies had learned various commands throughout the course than a lesson. Or rather how well the puppy parents had learned commands as it turned out! We had to walk around with our dogs carrying a full cup of water and using only one had to control the dog and leash. … the floor was pretty wet after that exercise!

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Those are Chris’ feet BTW.

Another test was having the puppies stop at three different pylons to perform different commands like staying in place while sitting or laying down, listening to us when told to ignore something on the ground (food!) and finally sitting, laying down and sitting again for a treat … kind of a dumb trick.

The test that was the most fun was when the trainer paired up two dogs and had their owners stand a distance away and call to their dogs. This was to see if the puppies would go to their owners.

As you can see below Midnight failed … or maybe Chris failed. The other lab owner had a treat in her hand and Chris didn’t, so of course both dogs took off to see her!

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I’m thankful that the trainer didn’t grade the class. Midnight wasn’t behaving at her best that night and I’m sure she would have been near the bottom of the class if they’d graduated with grades!

If you have a dog did you do puppy training classes?

Longing for some greenery!

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After all the snow and ice storms this week, and of course after shoveling snow for approximately five hours yesterday and early this morning I’m tired of seeing white everywhere. I’d like nothing more than to see some green (yes green money too would be nice!).

I really can’t wait for Spring and better weather to arrive. As I write this post I’m lying on the couch. My back is aching from all the shoveling I did. Actually it’s not just aching, it’s spasming. Ow! I sure hope it’s better in the morning when I get up!

The photo above was taken last year I believe. It’s one of my hostas. I’d taken the photo while I was outside looking at the garden as it rained lightly. I think I took quite a few photos that day of plants and flowers with raindrops on them.

So were you hit by all the snow storms passing through Eastern North America? Are you more than ready for spring after that storm? I sure am! It feels like winter won’t ever go away. Maybe I should just embrace winter and look for some Winter Park real estate instead of pining for spring?

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!

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