ahem

Everyday as part of my breakfast I have two slices of whole wheat toast with margarine.

And everyday, when a little creature hears the toaster oven beep 3 times, he suddenly appears in the living room and nonchalantly glances over at me in the hopes I offer a crust or two or three.

Well, recently, this creature hasn't been coming around.  I'm not sure why, but I didn't read too much into it.

This morning, I sat eating my toast as usual and had to clear my throat.  A loud, "Ahem", came out and Gimli, who was hanging out in the foyer, slowly walked up the hall and into the living room.  He sat in front of the armchair staring at me in anticipation of his crust.

Then, because, you know I was chewing and not gobbling like a certain corgi, he became impatient and decided to wave at me to get my attention... because the corgi mind meld wasn't working.

 

It seems Lord Gimli is starting to take his nickname a bit too seriously...

Wordless Wednesday - Come on Sir Hiss!

Sir Hiss

I had been meaning to get a snake for Gimli.

Not a real snake mind you, but a stuffed toy snake for him to sneak around with and drag around.  I figured the only place I'd find it would be the zoo, so off we went this past weekend.

There were a bunch of differently colored snakes there for sale, a ghastly hot pink rattler, a yellow and blue one and a purplish looking one.

I feel I made the right choice...

I shall name him Sir Hiss.

This is my security squeaker

Gimli has never been the type of dog to go around on the walk with a toy in his mouth, so imagine my surprise when today, Gimli went for about half of our walk with one of his toys, a plastic squeaker thing, firmly in those little furry jaws.

I was getting ready for our evening walk and trying to be quick because the rain was threatening and Gimli already didn't want to go outside for fear the water would make him melt.  He came bounding into the mudroom with a toy and held onto it while I put on is collar and leash.

"Ok," I thought to myself and decided I'd just take him as is instead of wrestling it away from him.

We started our walk and he only set it down twice.

The first time, he had to pee.  He set it down next to those above ground transformer boxes and then walked about 6 steps away to pee on the grass near the curb.  Once he remembered he came out with a toy, he snatched it up and off we went.

The second time, he set it down in the middle of the dirt path and went looking for a place to poo.  Afterwards, I tried giving it back to him, but he would have none of it!  He looked at me as if I was a weirdo, I mean, why would I bring a toy on the walk?  As if!

We walked home with Gimli proudly walking along and me holding onto a squeaker toy.  I really am his slave...

Back to back

This evening I lay on the rug watching MasterChef when suddenly I felt a small body curl up behind me.

Gimli and I lay back to back for about half an hour.  My shirt was up a little in the back and his hair tickled a little.  My ponytailed hair tickled his face and we kept turning to see the other and sneaking kisses.

This is why I have a dog.

Wordless Wednesday - How you doin?

i am threeeeeeee!

hewo, Lord Gimli hier,

sunday wuz my bir-day!  i iz 3 years old.

i had a gud day.

Candy let me sleep in a little und when she came to open da crate i wuz too seepy to come out.  she thoght sumting wuz wrong wid me becuz i wuz walking sooo slowle.  But i wuz ok.  she put me on da bed so i could snuggles with her und Mike.  i got the first of my bir-day kisses on da bed, cuz i'm cute.

den we went for a walk und i wuz a good corgi und i didn't misbehave, i iz a big boy u kno!

Candy put on my spechul red bandanna so i wuld look nicee on my bir-day.

i had my usual food but also a surprises.

Hier i am waiting for my eeg

i must eat it bery dainty like

yum yum

after breakfast i took a lie down to rest

and i rested allll day long.

latur in da day, i got one of my prezzies.  i oberheard Candy say to Mike that i got 4 prezzies in total, but i only got one on sunday.  bery bad indeed!

what iz dis?

can i eat it?

i can't wait to pull out da stuff

den, becuz it wuz my bir-day, i got brushed and that evil clippy thing came out. i don't like the clippy thing and i alwayz curse it and make ugly faces to scare it away, but it neber works. don't you tink my face is scawwy?

 go away clippy thing!

i am so handsum with my wabbit! although i much prefer the real wabbit dat libes outside.  maybe dat's one of my other prezzies?

---

That was Gimli's birthday.

He was very lethargic and worn out all day because we went to class on Saturday morning, he did not have an afternoon nap afterwards and he had two doggie guests to play with on Saturday evening.  Thus, Sunday was a very quiet day indeed, with Mike and I taking advantage of his unusually subdued demeanor to snuggle and kiss him at every opportunity.

We love this little pile of fluff so very much and its hard to believe he's now 3 years old.

Wanna bet?

The Universe works in mysterious ways.

The other day I came across this leaf on a usually reddish brown leafed tree.

Just when we think we have it all figured out and all plans made, the Universe chimes in to say, "Wanna bet?"

We've had a strange bit of occurrences over the last number of months, nothing bad, just unexpected good things happening.  Things that I never imagined would happen, have.

Leaps that we'd never taken because we thought, 'nah, I'd never win this,' have paid off in spades.

The moral of the story?  Carpe Diem.

And now a bonus shot of Gimli, who doesn't make plans for his day... other than cookie time, dentabone time, dinner time, snuggles with Candy time, walkie time and look out the window time.

Wordless Wednesday - Silly puppy

Training wheels

Back in June, I wrote about Gimli's misbehaving ways on Father's Day.  See the post here - Dr. Corgyl & Mr. Hyde.

That Monday, I happened to find an Obedience school, Bold Canine.  I conversed with Amber and she recommended the Dog-Tastic class because Gimli was social but he had some issues that needed work.  Our first class was that Saturday.

Contrary to our classes at Petsmart when Gimli was a puppy, no treats were used.  The class was all about building up your leadership in the dog's eyes.  We were taught about "cycling", which is a tool used to focus the dog's attention on you.  We were to walk and whenever the dog strayed or turned his head, we had to jerk the leash and change direction sharply.  After a few days of practice, Gimli slowly started to understand.  Although, he was not happy about the changes and he did rebel a great deal in the first couple weeks.

(Foolish mortal, I am Lord Gimli.  Bow before me!)

We've been working toward what I call the Big 4:

• Toy/item possessiveness
• Barking in general
• Focus on me/Mike when walking
• Stay with distractions

We have 2 classes left in this session and I can see already the following changes in Gimli:

• I am most proud of his change towards me.  Its going to take time and practice and consistency, but I'm glad he's starting to recognize and act when I give him commands.
• He's getting better on walks.  He's not completely oblivious to other dogs, however when dealing with calm dogs, he's fine.  If the dog he comes across is hyper, then he reverts to his old behavior.  This we need to work on.
• We've started using the phrase, 'no bark', with him.  Gimli barks at anything and everything that stirs outside.  While this is a good practice, we need a way to silence him after a few barks.  I've found that if I calmly walk up to him, say 'no bark' and then move him away from the door, he quiets down much faster.  This is still a work in progress in that I cannot give the command on its own, but that's a level for us to achieve.
• I've been practicing with him in the park across the street from our house and making him stay while I walk away or jump up and down or provide some sort of distraction.  I also did some practice with him sitting about 15 feet away from a dog, as well as close to children and the volleyball players.  He's getting better, although I feel we need to up the ante a bit.
• The toy possessiveness continues to be a work in progress.  We are not where I want him to be, but we have moved past the crazy obsessed dog.  He still goes after toys if he "feels" you are going after them, but we are quick to stop this behavior.  I feel the biggest challenge to overcome will be telling the rest of the humans in Gimli's life that the tug of war and possessiveness he used to show is not a game and should not be treated like a game.

I can see the following changes in me:

• I realized by accident one day that if I make eye contact with him and maintain it, he is more likely to succeed and follow my commands.  This is great and I'm going to use it to my advantage wherever possible.
• Now that Gimli has made some strides, I feel more confident because I know Gimli and I can work together.  This in turn raises my self-confidence and so I'm less likely to become frustrated and annoyed when Gimli backslides a bit.  I remain calm and restate the command.  This state coupled with the eye contact works wonders.

Based on where we were and the tools we now have at our disposal, I'm confident we can get Gimli to a higher level of behavior.

Where's my invitation?

There was another royal wedding yesterday, for Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall, but with none of the fanfare we saw for William and Catherine.

Gimli was a little put out that he was not invited to the wedding.  He even had his tartan fascinator, it was a Scottish wedding after all.

Does this make my ear look too big?

Yes, this is my better side.

Just thinking of all the yummy food...

Of Mice and... Spiders?

  

This is a view of the field beyond the fence of our backyard.  Creatures live there.  Creatures like rabbits and mice and spiders and only when my imagination is running rampant, a beast with red eyes that only I can see or perhaps a tall skinny guy in a suit - see this link.

Last year being our first summer in this house, we were hit with these big, creepy looking spiders. They took up residence in the window wells of our basement and built elaborate webs.  I'd have left them alone except they started coming inside and scaring Mike, so I had to do something about them.  I set out with the bug spray and took care of all the outside nests.  We were spider free for about a year after that.

Until yesterday...

I woke and looked out the window in the hopes it was raining because I heard tiny ticking noises, which reminded me of the rain hitting the metal of the window.  It wasn't raining.  I dressed and took Gimli out for his walk, while Mike slept.  We returned, I fed Gimli and started breakfast when I heard Mike walking around upstairs.

Then, I heard this:

"Candy, can you come up here for a minute?"

My water was just starting to boil, "What for?"

"Um, something I need to show you."

I joined Mike upstairs and found him standing in front of the same window I had looked out before with the vacuum plugged in right next to it.  With the blinds drawn up and Mike standing about an arm's length away, he said, "Look at the window sill."

Here I was thinking the sill was somehow damaged, I look at it only to see this on the other side of the open window.

Yes, you're asking yourself, "WTF is that?"  I asked the same thing until I saw these fair sized little dead spiders lying next to it.  You can't see them in this picture because I had already sucked them up with the vacuum, but I assure you, they were all around it.

Mike suspects the ticking noise I heard was the spiders coming out of that cocoon thing and falling down on the window sill.

Inside that cocoon thing, there was one creepy dead spider, which continues to scare Mike even though its dead.  He won't even look at the picture!

I dislodged the cocoon and it went sliding down the roof.  I sucked up the remaining gross things and went back to breakfast.  I thought it was the end of the creepy things.

Until this evening...

After work, I was dragging the hose from the side of the house to water the plants in the front.  My flowering shrub is throwing out flowers and they look so lovely that I just had to water it in the hopes of more flowers!  I yanked the hose through the bottom of the gate when something moved in the corner of my eye.  I looked over to see a little black mouse scurry up the side of the house and toward the front garden.

Eeeek!  I can handle spiders, but mice, Eeeeek!

I lost track of it by the time I got to the front of the house, but I'm so very paranoid now.  I'm sure its coming from the field in the back and I'm wondering if perhaps we need a cat?  All the more reason to keep the garage door closed, see, who's paranoid now?

(I'm obsessive about keeping the garage door closed to prevent someone from stealing the snow blower and our food from the freezer or from just sneaking in and taking refuge in our house like that Japanese homeless woman who lived in a man's closet for months before he discovered her.  Its true, look it up!)

Wordless Wednesday - Something smells good

Crafty

I think something is wrong with me.

As I've mentioned before, our walls are that sickly white color that comes with a new house.  We are slowly starting to put up pictures/art.

I was under the impression that's all we'd be doing and I was ok with it.

But the other day I found myself at the Martha Stewart website looking at different crafts for Halloween and Christmas.

Today, I came across these Butterflies at the CurvyGirl Guide and I thought to myself that I could so do this.  I even have the idea to make black butterflies on a red background.

Where is this crafty side coming from???

Take off 5 years

 Today, one of my colleagues who I haven't seen in about 7 months said I looked like I was 25 years old.

insert image of Candy running around flailing arms like Kermit the Frog, YAAAAAAAAAAAY

That. just. happened.

Ok, so maybe 6 hours ago it did, except the flailing arms bit, that happened in my head.

Ma bellie is ok

Hewo gimli heir,

i wanted to say my bellie is all better.  dat day i ate some stinke poo dat i found in the grass when candy und i wuz on our mornin walk.  i am a greedy corgi und i ate it as fast as i culd so by da time candy saw me chewin da  poo, it wuz all gone into my bellie.

den my bellie hurt and i had stinke poos.

by dinner time the next day i wuz better agin cuz i was gibing candy the corgi look cuz i wanted some of her apple and plum and nectareens.

eber since we went to dat new class candy has becum mor attentif of me und my behabior so i dont tink i will be abl to eat anymor poos.

Tummy troubles

My little corgi bear is a little under the weather this evening.  He was fine all day, but then had some icky poops this evening.

He's playing and frapping like usual, just with some tummy troubles.  I gave him some pumpkin and hopefully that will help out his tummy troubles over the course of the night.

Til the morning, we'll just take it easy and snuggle, snuggle and more snuggles.

Wordless Wednesday - I love the grass!

Things I realized...

As I was doing a plank for 30 seconds on the floor of our room as my body shook on account I'm a weakling with no strength whatsoever...

The fibers in our Berber carpet are coming up.  Not just those little fibers here and there, I can actually see the white plasticky thing on which the carpet is embedded.

Yes my friends, paid extra money to the builder for Berber carpet that's not yet 2 years old and its coming up.

sigh

ps, does that mean I don't have to vacuum for fear of ripping up the threads?

Things to do for 2011 - July update

Right so I completely missed out on June's update.

1. Read More, nothing special, just reading.

2. Pay attention to my blog and post more - already started

3. Join BlogHer

4. Attend BlogHer 2011, wherever it is

5. Do what I need to do to get off one of my medications

6. Go to the Zoo - Spoke to a friend, we are going to go once the weather warms up.

7. Make a better attempt at brushing Gimli more than once a week

8. To achieve this, setup a grooming table in the laundry room - Started looking at grooming tables and reached out to a carpenter friend of mine.  Will be able to make a better decision in a few weeks.

9. Start expanding the list of meals that I can cook from memory

10. Start branching out and cooking different things, planning is key and laziness is no excuse - Started planning out our dinners a week in advance, we'll see how this goes!  This has worked out amazingly well.  We aren't wondering what to eat every day and our grocery bill has shrunk as we only buy what we need for that week's meals.

11. Eat more fruits and veggies

12. Cut my hair, and not just a trim either, goodbye long locks.- I did this!  See the post here: Hair today, gone tomorrow.

13. Get a 2nd corgi - This is on hold.  We met with the Cardigan breeder and while the older puppy she had was lovely, she was reluctant to adopt her out.  Oddly enough, I didn't feel the warm and fuzzy feeling with regard to the Cardigans, I think I'm a Pembroke lover after all.  Mike and I decided to leave it at that.  I was in touch with Gimli's breeder and she plans to breed this year, so there's that to look forward to.

14. Learn to walk two of them properly

15. Improve Gimli’s recall

16. Make a Pooh Bear gingerbread house

17. See The Lion King stage show -we went in June.  This was an amazing show!  It was true to the movie and some of the scenes, like the wildebeest stampede was well done.  If there's ever a chance to see this play, go see it.

18. Continue with the No Complaint experiment - ongoing

19. Take more visits to The Arboretum and see our coyote friend again - Gimli and I went again on 4/30 now that the weather is better.  It was only for about 1/2 hour, but this is totally something I can see myself doing every week or every two weeks.

20. Get off my butt and be more active -I've totally lapsed on this one.  I plan to pick it up again in a few weeks.

21. Play with Gimli in the snow - went out with him in February when we had snow, had a great time romping and wrestling in the snow.

22. Try to make a snow ‘animal’

23. Get more sleep - I'm not quite there yet though, but this is slowly starting to get better.  I find once I get into my spot in bed and on the pillow, I'll sleep straight through to morning, which is great for me!

24. Read Brene Brown’s book, The Gifts of Imperfection and apply it to myself

25. Woofstock? - we went in June, see the post here - Woofstock 2011!

26. Parasailing @Castaway Cay - not happening as its cost prohibitive.

27. Discover local restaurants in my city

28. See the Tim Burton exhibit- Saw this 2/26.  I found myself wondering what other things Burton would have done if time and space warped and he met Walt Disney himself.

29. Go to the Animal mass with Jeannie

30. Make it to Trinidad to introduce Mike to the rest of my crazy family, hopefully I'll still be married by the time we return.

31. Go to the Winter Walk with your dog - Unfortunately, this was canceled due to a lack of attendees.  I am still on record and they've said they will try to hold it again in Feb/March etc, so we'll see.  If they choose to hold it again, I will definitely attend.

32. Start a new job - started Feb. 1st

33. Eat at a Summerlicious restaurant

34. Write a letter to Queen Elizabeth II for her birthday and include pictures of Gimli. -Sent it out before we went on vacation.  And I got a response!

35. Lose anywhere from 5-10 lbs, I'm 122 lbs now.  Its deliberately vague as I'm really only striving to look better in my clothes.  I'm unsure if 5 or 10 lbs will do it, so starting off small. - am back to the drawing board on this.  I've gained back what I lost so I have to start from scratch to exercise more.

36. See Rammstein again - Went on 5/8 and we had an awesome time, post coming!

37. Go to the Dog Jog - Went 3/27, had a great time!  See post here: First Annual Dog Jog

38. Stop playing that soul sucking MMO that Mike and I started together, but I've been left in the dust - Officially canceled my account.  Have uninstalled and surprisingly I don't feel any need to return to it.  See my post about it here - Siren Song.

39. Do the Toronto Zombie Walk and bring Gimli along with us.  I had aspirations of going in 2010, but it didn't happen.  I feel this year will be different and I'd like to do it!

40. Take a Photography class this year.

41. Speaking of photography, I was looking through my pictures tonight and I was saddened there aren't more pictures of Mike and I.  This needs to be rectified.

 42. Start going to the Spa to get regular massages, budget permitting of course.

43. Sign up for the 5k walk at the Scotia Bank marathon later in the year. - Mike and I signed up along with my mom and brother and we are going to start training for it soon!

44. Return to the Church. This has been gnawing at me over the past few months and I keep telling myself to do it, but I haven't yet.  It seems whenever I put things down on this list, they start getting done, so here it is. - Working on this one.  Tried to go to Confession a few weeks ago, but couldn't find the priest at the Church.  Determined to go back though and try again.

45. Start learning German - I have wanted to do this for a long time and I feel this is the year to do it.  I ran through the trial version of Rosetta Stone and I actually picked up a few words/sentences.  Once our money situation levels out, I'll definitely order the first 2 Rosetta Stone levels and get started.  Soon I'll be able to actually sing the songs as opposed to wondering what they mean!


46. Train Gimli to listen - Based on my post regarding Gimli's atrocious behavior, we've started him on a training class.  We've only been to one class thus far, so I cannot really say much, but it is my hope it will help him to focus on us more and to ignore distractions.  I've seen some improvement since we've been doing our homework each night, but we have a way to go.

Pokey

For some reason, Gimli likes sleeping on the door stops.

I haven't the slightest idea why.  Here he is at a few months old.  That cannot be comfy.  In fact, when he did this, his head became so heavy, it slid off the stopper, which then woke him up with a loud, "Sprong!"

He came running out of the bathroom to hide.

Clearly, he has overcome his fear of stoppers as I found him in this position the other day.

Maybe he's using it for acupuncture?

Watermelon Head

Gimli's first watermelon slice.

Is there nothing this dog won't eat?

der Traum

Remember when I had a dream that I found Rammstein in my neighbor's garage and we hung out and Christoph traded me his autographed drumsticks for my Animal drumsticks, read about it here: and then remember when I found this on their website for sale,

yeah me too. (click the picture to see more images, taken from the Rammstein online store).

ps, if anyone would like to get me these for any reason at all, feel free.

i am freeee!

Hewo, its me agin,

i gues my last riting wuz enuff for candy to let me go outside for a bit.  i wuz so bery happy!

da minute i went outside, i let out a big frap all ober the place.  i had to peepee on ebeyting agin cuz da guys mobed stuff round.

und den candy und me played hide und seek by the castle.

candy had to go inside but wen she call me to come in, i gave her dis look.  i wanted to go see the big monster on the oder side ob the fence.

heer i am on the steps.  dey are much biggr than a corgi but i like them!

My sous chef...

I do most of the cooking in our house and as a result, Gimli and I spend a great deal of time together in the kitchen.

He knows if he's good and stays in a particular area of the kitchen, just in front of the fridge, I'll cave in and give him any number of things to eat.. like carrots and cucumbers.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that he gives me these kind of looks...

Rox from da mines of moria?

Hewo, Gimli heer,

i am bery upset with candy und mike.  i have been trappt in dis haus for the past 2 weeks.  i don kno why it haz to take so longg, are dey bringing rox from moria???

something is going on outside and i cannot go see.  i can only see from the window.

dis guys came and took away the grass in the front where I used to rolly.

and in the back, its even wurse!

this loud monster came and dug up the grass and then got stuk in the mud.  they could have asked me to help dig.  den another bigger monster came and pulled dat one out.

den this slab thing appeared on the ground.  i want to kno why nobody ax me to make sum dsinz, i culd do it.

and then these walls appeared too and i don't kno why they want to make a castle outside, but maybe its for me becus i am a royal corgi, just ask Queen Elizabeth!  it not finish doh, maybe a big monster came und broked it und dey want som roouns.

but we still cannt go outside to run around and play becus now these big flat stones came.

also der are plants and fowers in the front, ready for me to peepee on.

sometimes the work is loud and i want to bark a them but candy has me bloked upstairs with my crate and a skinny box.  i don't know why she is being so mean to me, all i want to do is bark at them and cober dem with kisses und hayr when they come in to use the washroom.

hrmph, i neber get to hab any fun.

Wordless Wednesday - Red is my color

Dr. Corgyl & Mr. Gimli

I had an entire post laid out in my head about our visit to Woofstock a week ago and how Gimli was such a well behaved boy.  Until yesterday happened and Gimli exhibited such a horrid display of behavior, an onlooker would swear Mike and I had never given him any training whatsoever.

I shall begin with the events of Woofstock.  Mike and I went to the festival a couple years ago, when we had no dog and the pain of losing my other dog was still too near the surface.  When Gimli came to live with us, I always wanted to take him to Woofstock and this year was the first time our schedules allowed us to do so.

We arrived and of course, Gimli was excited due to all the dogs and people and sights and sounds of the city.  He'd never been to Toronto either and I'm sure all that hustle and bustle was sensory overload for him.

Mike took control of him and through a series of slow introductions, Gimli calmed down enough so that he wasn't trying to get into every dog's face and get into every owner's pockets for cookies.  The atmosphere was still one of chaos, vastly different from the one at the Dog Jog, but at least Gimli was starting to calm down.  We walked by each vendor, sampled some cookies and Gimli sniffed a great deal of doggie butts and unbeknown to him, his butt was sniffed a great deal too.  Gimli doesn't like other dogs sniffing his butt and often puts up a fight, however I feel he surrendered and allowed the other dogs to sniff away.

We met a great deal of different dog breeds.  Gimli was finally able to meet another corgi, who was all too interested our cookie bag, than us.  Hmmmm, greedy little Pems!

 

We met a Spaniel and a French Bulldog.

We even met a little girl and Gimli was such a gentleman, he didn't try to jump on her, he allowed her to pet him.  I was soooo very proud of that moment.

Of course, Gimli was his usual dashing self and plenty of people took pictures of him.  See for yourself!

Then, a week later, Gimli turned into a monster.

We had guests over yesterday for Father's Day.  I was pretty sure, Gimli would be his usual rambunctious self at the beginning of the evening, but that he'd settle down.  Boy, was I wrong.

He was excited and then when people ignored him, he became more excited and very barky.  Then the whole toy fiasco started.

He fixated on one of his bones and decided he wasn't going to allow anyone near him by grumbling and showing his teeth.  Of course, our guests all thought it was funny and so the more they antagonized him, the more he hoarded the toy.

I told Mike about 3 times to take the bone away, he finally did and Gimli calmed down a bit.... Until he started doing the same thing with a different toy.  This time, it was full on throwing the toy back and forth, with Gimli going back and forth, sometimes giving him the toy, sometimes doing the "Automatic Corgi" so that Gimli was doing his entire routine like a trained seal.  Then, Mike made the mistake of showing the butt wiggle, so now that means its going to be added to the repertoire that Gimli will need to perform before he gets his cheese.

Needless to say, I was livid.  But, silly me, here I thought people would respect the rules in OUR house, just like I was made to during that wonderful summer, but I was wrong.  I bit my tongue, lest I get branded with ruining Father's day by exerting control over my dog and ending the fun and preventing Gimli's further regression.

After everyone left, we cleaned up and I went to bed.  I didn't say a word, I didn't even speak to Gimli, the rage was literally streaming out of my ears like in the cartoons!

Today, I found a training class that we're going to sign up for.  The first class is this Saturday.  I will do my damnedest to break him of this behavior and to make him focus on me and nothing else.

Failing that, I'll give him commands in only German, maybe that will help...