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

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You are here: Home / Archives for Recreation / Our Puppy

What a beautiful day in Toronto

March 6, 2009 by Tricia

It was just lovely today here in Toronto. Warmer than most early to mid-Spring days! By 3 pm it had reached 18 Celsius (64 F)! We’re supposed to have above zero weather up until next Wednesday or so, but it looks like today will have been the warmest – unless something changes over the next few days forecast wise.

It was far too nice a day to stay inside. Earlier in the day I looked outside at the garden, there were still a few small patches of snow in the shady areas, but it was melting fast. For a few minutes I even contemplated doing a little yard work – tidying up the garden, but it’s far too early. I’m sure we’ll have some freezing weather before the end of March.

So … Midnight our young Labrador Retriever got the most benefit from the nice day. She got a nice long walk with me in the afternoon and then when Chris came home from work we all went out for a very long walk. All in all, Midnight probably got two hours worth of walks today.

In the winter when there’s lots of snow Midnight likes to roll in the snow. We’ll be walking along and she’ll jump on someone’s lawn or in a snow bank and either roll around in the snow or do a faceplant and slide her body along the snow as I walk along side her. I try to make sure the snow is clean where ever she does this. It’s pretty funny to see the faceplant slide. I’ve seen her push her body like that through the snow for 10 feet or more. I’m sure anyone watching must wonder what the crazy dog is doing.

There’s very little snow now – only in really shady areas. That didn’t stop Midnight though … she tried to roll in the wet and sometimes muddy grassy areas and even attempted her faceplant slide. Of course I stopped her each time as I didn’t want to bring a dirty muddy dog back into the house. LOL

She tried to roll in the wet grass a few times when Chris and I took our evening walk, but it was just too wet and muddy.

We did something different for our evening walk with Midnight. When Chris came home he told me that our hospital was finally getting two new Restaurants. Al we’d had before was the hospital cafeteria and a coffee/ quick food area in the lobby that was run by the cafeteria staff. The new restaurants or food places are Subway and a Panzerotto Pizza. The Subway shop isn’t open yet but the Panzerotto Pizza had opened today.

So we walked to the hospital and while I stood outside with Midnight Chris went inside and ordered us two Panzerotto’s (They are like folded fried pizza’s, yummy, some might call them Calazones?) and some chicken wings. The place was really busy and I ended up standing outside with Midnight for over 45 minutes! It was probably busy because it was just after 7:30 so a lot of staff were getting off work and visiting hours were about to end so maybe some of the visitors were getting food before going home too.

Since there were a lot of staff getting off work I wasn’t too bored waiting for Chris to get our food. I talked to a few nurses and other hospital staff that I knew. One ER nurse that I used to work with had just received a new Bedat watch for her birthday. Man was that a nice watch!

After walking home Chris and I sat down to eat our food. I’m soooooo full now. That Panzerotti was filling! I don’t think I’ve had one for several years and now I know why … they make you feel so stuffed! In fact the panzerottis were so filling Chris and I only had two wings each so there’s still 10 left for us to have with tomorrows dinner.

How was the weather in your area today? I’m pretty sure most of the Northern States and Canadian provinces had fairly nice weather today.





Filed Under: Canada, Items to Try, Our Puppy, The Neighborhood, Toronto, Walking Tagged With: calazone, dog, faceplant, friends, fun, melting, panzerotti, rolling, snow, spring, takeout, Toronto, walk, warm, wings, yummy

A lovely day for a walk

February 26, 2009 by Tricia

Midnight, my Labrador Retriever, and I took advantage of the nice weather earlier today and took a long long walk.

We were supposed to have a warmer than normal day that was filled with snow, rain and then showers, but to my surprise we didn’t get the bad weather – only the nice warmer than average temperatures. Not that 6 Celsius (42 F) is all that warm, but for February, especially after a very cold January, it sure felt nice … Spring-like even.

Midnight in kitchen

I haven’t been walking Midnight as often as I should since I haven’t been feeling all that well the last several months. Oh, Chris walks her – usually twice a day, but if I can walk her at least once a day as well all the better for her. It makes our evenings much more peaceful if we have a well exercised and tired dog!

For my own sake I should be out walking her every day as well! It’s good exercise and Midnight tends to pull on the leash (although she’s getting a little better and not dragging us around as much lately) so it’s a fast paced walk if I want to keep up with her!

We walked for 45 minutes this afternoon and then when Chris came home from work we all took another 35 minute walk.

Midnights still up and begging for a rawhide chew, but I expect that she’ll be tired out and want to sleep soon …

don't bug me I'm sleeping

I took this photo a few weeks ago when Midnight was napping on her favorite chair … I don’t think she liked being woken up to a camera in her face.

So … fellow dog owners, do you walk your dog several times a day or have a yard that your dog can get burn some of it’s excess energy off in?

Filed Under: Canada, Health Fitness and Beauty, Our Puppy, The Neighborhood, Toronto, Walking Tagged With: dog, Lab, Labrador_Retriever, long_walk, Midnight, Neighborhood, nice, spring_like, walk, walking_dog, warm, weather

Chris is home from the hospital and feeling better!

February 8, 2009 by Tricia

It feels like forever since I last made a post in this or any of my other blogs! In fact I think this is the longest absence I’ve had on this blog!

Well if you read the last post you’ll know why! Chris was admitted to the hospital with chest pains or rather a strong pressure feeling in his left chest and dizziness last Friday and he was in the hospital until early Monday evening. He had to wait until Monday before they could do the angiogram to make sure that his coronary arteries were clear (they were!), and then he was discharged on Monday evening to recover at home from the angiogram. He was also sent home with a prescription for cholesterol lowering medication (Crestor) since his good and bad cholesterol was sky high and his triglycerides almost non-existent.

So at this point he’s fine. They couldn’t find anything wrong with his heart, but he still has those symptoms (not now, but every now and then) and a permanently changed electrocardiogram reading that makes it look like he has that rare heart arrhythmia called Brugada.

We have to set up some out patient tests – like a 48 hour Holter monitor (like a 2 day constant ECG) and a stress test as well as followups with two doctors. Otherwise he’s all recovered from the angiogram and the needle in his groin and he’ll be going back to work on Tuesday.

One neat thing that happened or that might have happened this weekend … apparently there’s a big cardiology conference here in Toronto this weekend and one of the two doctors that discovered the rare heart arrhythmia, Brugada, that Chris might have (but tests can’t prove) are apparently attending the conference. So the cardiologist that first saw Chris on Friday when he was admitted asked Chris if he could discuss Chris’ case with Dr. Brugada himself at the conference. I presume he’ll also be taking Chris’ ecg as that is the biggest indicator that Chris might have this rare arrhythmia. Isn’t that cool? The discoverer of Chris possible heart problem might look at Chris’ case?

So I guess we’ll know sometime early this week what Dr. Brugada thinks of Chris’ ecg and symptoms. If he does think that Chris might have Brugada then Chris will have to have a pacemaker defibrillator installed which will shock him and get his heart going again if it suddenly stops due to this rare arrhythmia. Not a great thing, but I’d rather Chris have something that could save his life than living in the unknown and possibly losing him suddenly. That’s stressful!

As for me … well, Chris’ illness took a toll on my health as well. The hospital’s close by and within walking distance so I was trekking back and forth for four days bringing Chris things like my Laptop, dvds to watch on the computer, his big heavy pillow from our bed, clothes, toiletries, reading materials etc … and well of course my Crohn’s got worse, and so did my back. My back’s been bad for most of the last year and walking a block or two sets off spasms. I seriously think my vitamin D deficiency has weakened my bones and that’s why my back is getting worse and worse – the top of my left thigh – to below my knee is now numb (since Monday or so) as well, so something is pinching a nerve.

Plus I seem to have hurt my wrist last week – how I don’t know – maybe playing with the dog, so my wrist has been aching enough for the last week and a half that I’ve even wondered if it was broken! Hopefully it’s just a muscle or tendon that’s been pulled, but if this keeps up I’ll get it checked out this week -as well as getting a back xray!

So basically, Chris came home from the hospital on Monday evening feeling pretty good – well his groin and right leg hurt a lot due to the angiogram, but it’s better now … and I came home a mess! I was exhausted, had abdominal pains from the Crohns plus fevers, back pain and wrist pain … you name it. It took until about yesterday for me to start feeling somewhat better. That’s the main reason I haven’t written all week! Just feeling too crappy, plus the wrist makes it harder to type.

Ha, between Chris and I we’re a sad tale. LOL God forbid we start looking for life insurance quotes or anything like that. I’m sure the companies would just laugh at us right now.

I certainly hope that you have all had a better week than Chris and I have. I also hope that those of you who are getting some unseasonably warm weather (north east) are enjoying watching the snow melt away. We certainly are … although Midnight, our Lab, who likes to pee in snow banks is finding it strange.

Speaking of Midnight – the stress of the last week took a toll on her too. Between having three people she’s not used to in the house (the in-laws and Chris’ aunt) and the excitement that goes along with that, being in her crate for longer than normal while I was away visiting Chris in the hospital and of course missing Chris it threw her off. By Sunday she was barely eating her food (and she’s a Lab – they live to eat!). It took her until Thursday or so to start eating mostly normally again. She’s still being a little picky, but she’s pretty much back to normal. I guess she didn’t like all the changes and stress anymore than I did. I’m glad she’s pretty much acting like her old self as I was beginning to wonder is she too might be sick.

Also, thanks to everyone who left kind messages in my last post wishing Chris well. We really appreciated each and every comment. Thank you.

Filed Under: Chronic Pain, Family, Health Fitness and Beauty, Inflammatory bowel disease, Items to Try, Life with Chris, Our Puppy, Toronto Tagged With: angiogram, arrhythmia, back_pain, brugada, chest_pain, Chris, crohns, Doctors, dog, eating, heart, ill, sick, Sore, Stress, vitamin_d_deficiency, Walking, wrist

The Food Fairy

January 3, 2009 by Tricia

I swear that my Labrador Retriever, Midnight, believes in the Food Fairy.

Oh sure she knows where food comes from … you know, the top of the fridge (dog cookies), the fridge, the dog food bin under the table, the kitchen counter (mmm carrots!), occasionally our plates (tender pieces of chicken breast), and of course the kitchen cupboards.

Still, she’s convinced that there’s some other magical place that food comes from … I’m sure of it.

Why?

Well, you see, whenever Chris or I take her outside for a walk the first thing she does when she comes back in the house is to run into the kitchen to check her food bowl. Sometimes she actually finds food in her bowl and I’m sure she must wonder where the heck it came from … hence the reason I think my dog believes in the Food Fairy.

When food magically appears in her bowl what actually happened is that Chris or I stayed in the house and perhaps ate a granola bar while the dog was out and then placed the crumbs in her bowl. Or maybe I was preparing dinner when Chris took her out and I placed some veggie scraps (piece of tomato, carrot, cucumber etc) in her bowl as a surprise.

Ever since she started receiving these magical food offerings, which happen very rarely I might add, she’s always made a habit of checking her food bowl every single time she comes back in from outside.

Does your dog believe in the food fairy too?

BTW I’m still waiting for the money fairy to make a surprise visit to our house!

Filed Under: Humor, Our Puppy, Pets and animals Tagged With: appears, checks_bowl, crumbs, dog, dog_cookies, dog_food, Food, food_fairy, funny, Labrador_Retriever, magical, magical_appearance, money_fairy, odd, scraps, treats, veggies

Her favorite toy

December 27, 2008 by Tricia

photohunter7iq.png

This weeks Photo Hunt theme is squeaky

When Midnight was a young pup there was nothing she loved more than her blue squeaky toy.

She carried it around with her everywhere. For months our house was filled with the sound of her squeaking her toy continuously. I even used a spare one to call her back to me whenever she’d wander into another room (that worked great!).

Of course the toy was rubber and she loved to bite at the top of it (I think it had ears, but only for a short while) and eventually she’d bite through the toy with her sharp little baby teeth. Even though we had to replace the toys frequently they lasted longer than most of her other toys, even ones that were supposed to be more durable.

IMG_3089

For instance, that toy tire that’s beside her in the picture above had chunks bitten out of it within days of us giving it to her and it was made of a much tougher material. So I think she actually tried not to do too much damage to her beloved squeaky.

Once her baby teeth started falling out and were replaced by stronger adult teeth she’d go through her squeaky toys in no time at all so we had to take them away.

Labrador Retriever Puppy Midnight

I still have a few of her blue squeaky toys around though and every once in a while I’ll pull one out and make it squeak just to see her reaction. She still loves it.

Perhaps one day when she calms down more and hopefully loses her desire to chew each and every toy she owns to pieces we’ll be able to give her another squeaky toy.

Does your dog or cat have a favorite toy? Is it noisy? I must admit that the squeaks drove us nuts at first, but it made her happy and kept her occupied and that was helpful since puppies are a handful to begin with!

Filed Under: Our Puppy, Photo Hunters, Photography Tagged With: adult_teeth, baby_teeth, biting, chewing, dog, dog_toy, favorite, favorite_toy, Labrador_Retriever, Midnight, noisy, pets, PH, photo, Photo_hunt, Photo_hunters, picture, puppy, rubber_tire_toy, squeaky, squeaky_toy, teeth, toy_tire

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