Author: gfox (old content)

Confidence Shots

On Sunday we took Heart out to Beaver Lake for a walk. The kids had a great time and walked a long way. Heart did excellent too. She sticks closer to us than Yoshi did, which is kind of nice when we are still getting used to her. She went up to many other people and dogs, and did so with confidence.

I took my macro lens out again. Excellent portrait lens, but some day I need to get out with my tripod for some real macro shots.


Serious girl.


Serious smile.


Cold day for sure. We had lots of fun tossing rocks, pine cones, and sticks onto the ice to hear the cool noises they made.


Trying for a nice picture.


Silly face time.


Heart is still a little unsure of what a camera does.

The sun was nice, but it was still pretty chilly out. I tried dressing as warmly as I could, and it was just enough to prevent me from feeling too cold, but I was definitely not comfortably warm. I swear my kids are impervious to cold.

Swampy Twirly

A few weeks ago we headed to the “boat” park (Veterans Memorial Park in Esquimalt) to listen to some Christmas Carols. Unfortunately we were late to the event, and they packed up early. As we were arriving a gentleman mentioned the park was a little swampy.

This was not swampy, but in fact lake-like.

Things went well there, until Elliot went down the twirly slide. He came off at Mach 1, and landed on his side in 4 inches of water. He got up quickly, shrieked for a little bit, then calmed down. We took off his wet jacket, dried him off, and warmed him up.

Sue and I figured that was the end of the park trip, but his jacket was still dry inside, so we stayed and played some more. The kids had a great time getting totally soaking wet, running around, playing, splashing. The were totally dressed for it though, muddy buddies and boots.

Staggering Progress

Once again November saw me shave completely and grown a Mo for Movember. Over the course of Movember I raised $480 for team Muddylaces. My goal was $500 so I am pretty happy that I got as close as I did.

This year’s results are staggering. Canda and Australia each gathered over $21 million dollars, with the total being well over $60 million. Amazing.

Even more amazing is the recognition and involvement of the event. Throughout Movember I saw men everywhere sporting the Mo. Well done guys! And thanks to all the ladies and women who put up with their funny looking guys for one month.

Here are my pics this year of my progress.


Sleep Bolted

Heart is working out very well for us. She is a lovable sweet dog that relishes any attention we give her. She is getting more and more confident while outside and that is very good to see. Heart is even starting to spend less time right by our side, which to me indicates she is feeling more comfortable in “her” house.

Some nights she even does not sleep in our bedroom, which is pretty nice.

Last night though, Heart did sleep in our bedroom.

Recently Amy has had trouble sleeping through the night which has made Sue and I very tired. Amy yells out for us to help her put her Bopp (blanket) back on. We’re working to get her to do it herself.

Amazingly, last night Amy did not call for us. Sleeping soundly I was rudely awakened when Heart got up and started making those horrible dog puking noises at 4:20 am. I bolted out of bed and tried to convince her to get outside. She puked a little in our room, then made her way downstairs and out the front door.

I waited outside with her only wearing a pair of pajama pants, while she puked a couple more times. Tired, cold, and wide awake I cleaned up the mess in our room, then climbed back into bed. A little over an hour later I finally got back to sleep.

What should have been a good sleep, wasn’t.

Lighted Horns

A couple weekends ago we went to the lighted truck parade. Like every year it was very, very, very cold. Even though I thought I dressed warmly enough, I was sadly mistaken. Once the parade got to us though, it was fine. I took a bunch of pictures even though my fingers didn’t want to move.

The kids enjoyed the parade. Elliot watched with his hands over his ears, and Amy was in her stroller with the top pulled down over top of her.

The trucks were pretty amazing. Every year they get more and more decked out. Despite the fact that I have seen the parade a few times now, I always forget how loud their horns are, how much they honk, and how fast they drive past us. Makes for a spectacular parade that is over quickly.

Back in the car we unbundled, got the heat going, and headed home.


Biking Favourite

A couple mountain biking videos for you today. Well, sort of.

Kris Holm is a unicyclist who used to ride some pretty gnarly trails (yes, on the unicycle). You can see some of this on youtube. Looks like he has gotten more into more of a trials/street form of riding.

NAUCC 2010 from Max Schulze on Vimeo.

The next video is sort of a promo for a Contour video camera. I love this vid though. It just gets me stoked to go out and ride. Mike Kinrade is know for his big mountain riding style and it shows here. Looks like he was just out having a great time with his buddies which is my favourite reason to go mountain biking.


Dog Duration

As many people already know, we got a new dog. Well, new to us. We are in the trial phase of adopting a 4 year old German Short Hair Pointer from the same breeder that Sox got Yoshi from.

We went and got her last weekend. All we knew at the time was that she was very timid, eager to please, she was in good health, and her name was Heart. The breeder felt she would do well in a house that could give her more attention. We also saw one picture of her.

Sox and I went up to Squamish last weekend to meet her and make a snap decision about whether we wanted to take her for a trial.

As soon as we got into her house, we could see the timidness. Other dogs were crowding around us to say hi, but she tucked her tail, backed away and peed on the floor. Within a couple minutes though we could see she wanted to come say hi. Any loud noise, or sudden movement would see her jump back and run to hide. Seconds later she would come back.

Sox and I talked briefly about her and decided to go for it. We loaded her in our car and drove her away from the only life she has ever known. She did well in the car and laid down for most of the drive. We took the ferry to Departure Bay, then drove down to Victoria. She was quiet the entire time.

That night we had a bed in our room for her and she curled up for most of the night, though she did whine a little at 2am. By midday Sunday she was way more comfortable with us. Her tail would come untucked a little and she followed us everywhere.

When we brought the kids home (they were at Gramma’s house), she was a little scared, but quickly got over it.

Every day since then we have seen remarkable improvements in her confidence. She doesn’t jump at every noise, she will sometimes wander away to sleep on her own, and she can even stand the kids running around screaming without going into a tizzy (tonight there were four kids in the house running around and she just lay on her bed watching them).

I am a little concerned about separation anxiety though. If Sox and I are home and Sox leaves the room, Heart will start to whine. If Sox leaves the house, there isn’t any whining. Yesterday she spent some alone time in the car and she handled that well. During this upcoming week we will spend some time leaving her alone in the house, slowly building up the duration.

Now, some things I never expected from having Heart. I am thinking about Yoshi a lot more that I expected. Heart looks similar to Yoshi, but is much smaller. Some of Heart’s behaviours, noises, and actions are a lot like Yoshi. Either this means they are pointer traits, or they are ancestral traits (Heart is Yoshi’s grand niece). I really, really missed having a dog around the house. A dog can complicate our life a little, but the companionship is amazing. The energy they give off fills a room, even when they are sleeping.

We have three more weeks to decide if we are going to keep her. We will have some work to do with her if we do keep her to build her confidence, but so far things are going really well. I can already feel myself falling for her. She is a sweet and gentle dog.

One thing Sox and I talked about before we got Heart is that we are afraid we will forget about Yoshi. After having Heart a short while and learning she is so similar to Yoshi, that fear is still there. Like I mentioned though, I am thinking about Yoshi a lot more. Maybe having Heart will help us remember Yoshi more than we would have without her? After losing Yoshi, a good friend said we had a Yoshi sized hole in our lives. Maybe Heart can partially fill that hole for us. We aren’t trying to replace Yoshi (nothing ever could), but Heart may be a good stand in.

Respect Email

Sometimes I don’t get people. I’ve put a few ads for things on UsedVictoria and for every ad, I put in to contact me by email.

If I was responding to an ad, I would respect that and do all communications through email.

Most people responding say something along the lines of:

I’m interested. Please call me at xxx-xxxx

.

WTF?? If I wanted to talk on the phone I would have got you to call me.

Also, if you do respond to an ad, please sign your name. Nothing like getting an email from zip32frooha@gmail.com and having no clue who I am talking to.

Lucked Lunch

Last weekend Sox’s dad was in town for a visit. We lucked out with some nice weather and took the opportunity to go for a walk on the Lochside Trail. Elliot rode his bike and the rest of ambled along. After the walk we went to Mattick’s Farm for lunch.

I’m still getting used to my new lens. I love the feel of the pictures when I use this lens, but I am still amazed and the shutter speeds needed for close up pictures.