Wordless Wednesday - Last Weekend of Summer

Flat Gimli

In the weeks leading up to our vacation, I was feeling a little sad to leave Gimli behind, since we're together almost every day.  But, I also wanted to take him on vacation with us.  Seeing as its Disney, we couldn't, unless of course he becomes a certified therapy dog... hmmmmmm

Anyway, seeing as he isn't and he'd be more likely to run around and pester people for food and look cute and then want to go jump on Pluto and Goofy and the rest of them, we had to come up with a solution.

Thus, Flat Gimli was born... er made!  We took the story of Flat Stanley and improvised to ensure our little fluff could come with us.

You will need:
- A headshot of your dog/cat/rabbit/basilisk/owl/dragon etc
- Some thick paper, I'm not crafty so I don't know what its called, but it was thicker than regular paper, but not as thick as poster board.  (I'm so helpful, I know.)
- A stick of some kind on which to mount the picture.  Luckily since it was so close to Halloween, we found a wooden cat mask already affixed to a wooden stake, which we adapted for our use.

1. First, I chose a picture of Gimli's head.  Make sure its a close up one so that it can capture the spirit and personality of your dog.  A full dog's body doesn't do so well.

 

2. Take the mask and trace out a stencil onto the paper backing.

3. Cut out the shape from the paper backing and set aside.  Take the picture and arrange it around the mask to ensure the best fit.  Once satisfied, cut the picture so it can fit onto the mask.

4. Glue the picture to the paper backing.  I used Elmer's white glue and lightly covered the surface of the picture with glue.  You'll end up with something like this.

5. Once the picture and paper have dried, glue it onto the mask so that it covers the cat's features.

  

6. Tada!  You're done!

Now you can take your favorite creature with you wherever you go and take pictures like...

This one on the Go Carts

Or this one just next to the train.

We have a great deal more on both of our cameras so I'll be featuring them over the next little while.

Mike and I enjoyed taking "Gimli" with us and we enjoyed immensely the reactions of the passersby and the children.  For all the days we were there, there was ONE person who recognized him as a Pembroke Welsh Corgi.  And only because her daughter has one.  I guess Disney goers aren't corgi people, hrmph...

Green fuzzy feet

This weekend was the Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada and it also marked a good weekend to cut the grass, one of the few weekends left before it becomes very cold and the grass starts to hibernate.

Our very old tree had been dropping leaves like crazy, which we mulched to help feed the grass to choke out the weeds.  I'm glad to say our ugly weed population is on the decline, but there's far too much that still remains for my liking.

Gimli had a good time romping around outside, rolling around in the grass and playing with the squirting hose.

I think he's decided he's no longer a Welshman and he's going to try to be an Irishman...

Still cute, even if they are green.

Getting ready for Christmas?  Red & Green?

 

Wet little doggie

Remember when... vacations and diets

Remember when you booked a vacation to Disney and you knew you'd be walking around a great deal so you figured it would offset what you ate and so you didn't really worry that much, until you were getting ready to fly home and the pants you wore flying down were suddenly tighter and then when you stepped on the scale at home, you had gained about 10 lbs?

Yeah, me too.

Friends, the other day I was about 133 lbs.  I have since lost 2.  (I know that's not a great deal of weight, but for me, if it was that easy to gain 10, then its just as easy to gain another 10 and then all of a sudden I'm at 143 lbs... and Christmas is just around the corner.)

I'm tired of this dance and this game with food so Mike and I have decided to investigate a Bowflex Treadclimber.  I'm one of those people that will exercise, but when I get lazy to go to the gym, guess what happens next?  I stay home.  I just bought a few pairs of pants/jeans before we left and I'm not going to go out and buy them again in the next size up, I refuse to.

We will see how this goes.

Gimli's dog of the day on The Daily Corgi!

We returned from our trip last night and all went well, more on this in a few days, but enough about us!

Guess which little puff made dog of the day at The Daily Corgi?

 

Gimli!  That's who!  Today was especially lovely because it marks 3 years since this little fluff came to live with us.

You can check it out here: Gimli of Ontario, Canada.  Thanks to Laurie Eno, eternal corgi lover who puts all these pages together for each corgi each day!

Waiting

Mike and I are leaving on vacation tomorrow and we'll be leaving Gimli behind to stay with the in-laws.  I'm already a bit sad I'm going to have to leave him.  I've left him before, but its always a little sad for me because I'm very attached to him.

I'll have this to look forward to when I come home...

The Wonderful thing about Tiggers

Is Tiggers are wonderful things,
Their tops are made out of rubber, their bottoms are made out of springs,
They're bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy
Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun!
But one of the most wonderful thing about Tiggers is I'm the only one,
I'm the only one! RAWR!

As you can tell, I've watched Winnie the Pooh far too many times.

These were taken on our trip to the Toronto Zoo a few weeks ago.  I have yet to make a good enough post on it and update my 2011 list, but hopefully this weekend.

Something about sleeping animals, I don't know what it is...

Wordless Wednesday - Tranquility

Hawk's landing

We live on the edge of our city and our house backs onto a large expanse of land owned by a farmer.  As such, there's a great deal of wild animals that run around, although I've only seen our one rabbit friend.

On Friday, I came downstairs for lunch and noticed a rather large animal sitting in the grass on the other side of our gazebo.  I peered out the sliding glass door and found a hawk sitting with its talons firmly into its prey.  He stood there for a few seconds, lifting and dropping his talons further killing the prey.  Then, it started picking away the feathers.

I showed him to Gimli, who stared at him and then back to me with those big, brown corgi eyes begging to be let outside to go meet his new friend.

The hawk, then flew to the back of the yard where he proceeded to do this...

This was leftover when litterbug Mr. Hawk flew away.

One misty, moisty morning...

Last week, we had a foggy morning and I managed to take a few pictures around the house, enjoy!

Back from the vet

This morning we took Gimli to the vet because his little booboos on his belly and leg weren't really going away.  In truth, once we apply Polysporin to the area, they scab over and slowly go away, but then another one appears.

As we said before, in our Sick little corgi post, we suspected allergies since they came on so suddenly.  Since we are going away very soon, I wanted the vet to look at it to confirm our theory and suggest something to help our itchy, scratchy little corgi.

The vet visit went well, Gimli has lost weight and is now 28 lbs.  YAY!  At his last visit in January, he was 32 lbs and while the vet didn't say anything, she did emphasize the phrase, 'Oh, he's 32 lbs now!'

Our suspicions were confirmed, it is some sort of allergy to the weeds in the area.  We figure the allergy didn't flare up last year because we were in a new subdivision that had just been sodded and so no room for the weeds to flourish.  This year on the other hand weeds are everywhere!  We have no grass or weeds in the front yard, but the backyard is a different story.  I keep pulling weeds to keep them at a minimum, but weeds are weeds aren't they?  In the parks, the weed population is much worse and I've noticed a new type of weed so I've been trying my hardest to keep Gimli on the sidewalks and away from the itchy weeds.  Thankfully that weed hasn't reared its ugly head in our yard.

Gimli is now on Benadryl for the foreseeable future - until he stops itching or until the first frost, whichever comes first.  He's taking the adult pill form since the liquid form often contains Xylitol, which is fatal to doggies.

Its 10.12pm now and he's conked out on the floor.  I have to admit, I'm a little paranoid and keep staring at him to make sure he's breathing, but that's just me, he has scared me before!

How can you keep him away from the grass when he loves it so much?

Word to the Universe

Its that time again folks, that time as Mike and I prepare to board a plane in a couple weeks and my anxiety is running wild.  Combine the recent Russian airplane tragedy and the proximity to Sept. 11 and I'm positively going mad.

Its all I can do to curl up into a ball and rock back and forth in a corner.

The other day, I made a pact with the Universe, it goes something like this:

I will remain mean and nasty and evil so that whole, 'only the good die young', phrase will not apply to me.  In addition, the Universe and I have decided that in light of all the good things that have come into my life of late, I'm going to keep on keepin' on so the Universe can continue to send me good things, like a little sable corgi puppy that I can visit on my birthday weekend in preparation of him/her coming to live with us.

I've taken a stand in my life this year and done things that I want to do and on my terms and all have yielded wonderful outcomes.  Therefore, this will continue and I will continue to do things on my terms, which means getting on a plane to participate in a once in a lifetime opportunity and that's how its going to be.

“Fear cuts deeper than swords.”- Syrio Forel.

...

Yes, I mentioned a sable corgi puppy only because Gimli's breeder, hopefully, has a litter on the way with a due date of Oct. 22nd.  The dam is a lovely sable and the sire is Gimli's non-fluff half brother.  We won't know til later if the pregnancy will yield any pups, but we are hopeful.

...

You get a corgi frap if you can tell me where that quote comes from.

Vote for Gimli!

Gimli has become quite the little celebrity around here.

First, I entered him into the Corgi Butts: Corgis (with blogs) contest and he made it!  In the 2011 contest he's going to be Mr. March!

Then, I entered a few of his pictures for the CorgiPals Corgi Lingo contest and Gimli was selected as a finalist in two categories:

• June - Eyeliner
• July - Corgi Smile.  This picture makes me collapse into laughter every time I see it, check it out, I'm sure you will too!

If you can, go vote for the only red and white fluff representative!

In both contests, the winners will be featured in a calendar and the proceeds will benefit various corgi rescue organizations, so a good cause all around. My family and friends are going to receive so many calendars for Christmas this year...

Better puppy

Its been a few days, but Gimli is on the mend.  We cleaned up his booboos with peroxide and polysporin and they are slowly going away... so long as he stays clear of them.

He's back to his silly self and we are glad for it.

Sick little corgi

Lord Gimli isn't feeling well today.  He's been mopey and clingy all day and its because of these little booboos he has on his skin.

We aren't sure how he ended up with this little sores?, I guess, on his leg by the elbow or on the underside of his belly, but we are wondering if it could be a sort of allergy since on our walks we come into contact with weeds of all types.  He could have come into contact with one of the prickly ones and its irritated his skin.  He has no other irritation anywhere else, thus fueling our theory.  He's fine otherwise, plays with toys and eats, drinks and poops normally, which is a good sign.

We're going to give him a quick belly bath this evening to wash away anything that could irritate him further and see how he fares tomorrow, else a quick vet visit may be in order.

This is what he looks like today...

He's going to get lots of kisses and snuggles to help him get better and back to his silly and energetic self.

Squigly bear

Yesterday, I came downstairs for a snack and I found Gimli like this...

He was kind enough to stay still long enough for me to stifle my laughter and urge to pounce on that belly so I could grab the camera and steal a few pictures.

If you look close enough, you can see a piece of his tongue sticking out.  Every once in a while, we'll find him with his tongue sticking out and turning blue.

Such a silly little corgi!

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...