Let's Hear an "Awwww"

It's kitten season. We were asked to take three feral kittens and tame them up for adoption. Kittens are freakin' messy and we have to clean up all the time after them, but they provide endless hours of amusement for us and the dogs, so it's not all bad.

Oliver has made friends with the older boy, Crosby. I think they're planning a slumber party on the weekend - nobody over 10 pounds allowed.


Buttercup the foster dog gets really excited whenever she gets to be near the kittens, and licks them practically to death. We were on the couch last night with all the kittens, and Buttercup jumped up, and then this happened:


Yes, he is latched onto something there. They must have stayed that way for five minutes. Buttercup was so happy, and the kitten seemed pretty content too.

Kittens are messy, but they're also fun. Now we are up to eight cats and three dogs in the house, but the three kittens are only temporary so we're not that crazy really.

No, really.

Saturday Outing

Yesterday Chani and I decided we wanted to go to an auction that had been advertized in a nearby town. We woke up bright and early, got to the auction before bidding started, decided we didn't want anything there, and instead took off on a mini road trip for the day.

We drove down the western coast of Nova Scotia. It's an amazingly beautiful drive and the area is full of little French communities. We stopped at a million yard sales, two community markets, and wherever else we felt like stopping.

That included this here redneck truck rally:


We also visited a lighthouse and climbed the little tower to the top.


We ended the day by stopping at a building supply/salvage depot where Chani fell in love with a big sculpture of a pig. It turned out that neither of us could even budge it, let alone pick it up, so she didn't buy it.

Inside the door to the building at the salvage place was this gem. In case you can't read it, his name tag says "Dump God". Further down on his body, it says "Hugo 1 Million Faces".


There's just nothing else I can say about that.

What's Up, Buttercup

Our current foster dog Buttercup has had quite the saga that I haven't been keeping you guys up to date on.


Two days before she was scheduled to be spayed, she went into heat. Vets don't like to spay dogs that are in heat because it's hard on the animal, so we had to cancel the surgery. Any adoption will have to be delayed now until after her heat and spay.

Then, we noticed that a few funny looking little nodules/pimples/bumps that have been on her face since we got her were starting to look worse. I hadn't worried up until that point because I had assumed they were leftover irritations or indications of stress that would go away on their own.

When they got a bit worse, I got worried. Then, one abscessed. Her face swelled.

We went to the vet. She gave Buttercup a hard look, asked a few questions, and diagnosed the problem: porcupine quills. They had been in her face for at least three weeks, and probably longer. Her former owner had not taken her to the vet for these injuries, and as a results poor Buttercup has a whole lot of tiny quill tips still in her face, aching and festering. Her body is trying to eject them, which is why the raised bumps are appearing on her skin.

The vet managed to drain the abscess and sent me home with instructions to help keep down infection while the quills are working out. Then, a few days later, another of the quills abscessed. This one was different. It got bigger than the last abscess and was in a more difficult spot. This time the vet had to sedate her to drain it, and sent me home with more instructions and medication.

So here's poor Buttercup, in heat, with a face full of needles. This dog has been through a lot.

Something went right, though. In the midst of her medical troubles, a kind-hearted woman with a soft spot for Rottweiler mixes found Buttercup's adoption profile online, excitedly submitted an application, and was approved to adopt her!


We've had a few long phone conversations and the woman has been here once already to meet Buttercup, although we still can't send her home until she's spayed. The woman will be coming again this weekend to take her on a walk.

We're very happy. They seem like a really good match. We get to keep her for another few weeks, and she's so easy that we're happy to do it. I think Buttercup's luck in life is slowly turning.

Summer Plants

Our friend Nay drove us to the car dealership on Thursday. Since it's an hour away and close to lots of places we don't normally get to, we decided to make a day of it and do a little shopping. We got our new car and the three of us drove in it to Wolfville, the town where Mark and I first met! It's a university town (we met in school) and the town if full of eclectic little shops and restaurants.

We got lunch at a vegetarian café that Nay knew about. It was fabulous in so many ways. Being vegetarian, you get used to censoring a menu - after all, there are usually only about three choices for non-meat eaters. To walk into a restaurant and be able to order anything--anything on the menu was really very nice. We got Mexican chocolate cookies for desert, and both Nay and I have resolved to try to make a similar type of cookie. They were amazing and chocolaty and spicy all at the same time.


So we did a little shopping after that and drove back to Bridgetown. I drove the new car to work the next day and didn't even crash it!

This weekend CAPS, our animal rescue group, put on a Father's Day Luncheon as a fundraiser. Chani spearheaded the effort and made about a million chicken pot pies and also a number of veggie pot pies. We held the event in a quaint little community hall that is probably at least 150 years old. It was a really nice atmosphere. Here's our ticket counter that was by the front door:


Nay and I took turns being the ticket taker. Meanwhile, Mark helped Chani in the kitchen:

The luncheon proved to be a success. We raised lots of money for the animals and Chani got a lot of complements on the pot pies, which were seriously tasty. Mark and I bought three uncooked ones at the end (the only vegetarian ones left) to take home for future meals.

We decorated the tables with fresh wild Lupins that we found on the side of the highway.


I always think of Nova Scotia when I see Lupins. They grow world-wide, but appear in such numbers everywhere in this province that it's hard not to make an association. I've never seen them growing wild in such extravagant excess anywhere else.

Meanwhile, life goes on. Our tulips and lilacs are no longer in bloom, but a bush by our driveway has suddenly burst forth with beautiful flowers. I think it's a Peony bush.


The vine growing on our shed is doing well. This is a... Virginia Creeper? Any guesses?


I really need to learn all these plants. I'm going to take a survey sometime and start calling all these guys by their proper names.

Sorry Y'all.

In what seems to be an established pattern now, I've welcomed your advice on a purchase, carefully considered your opinions, and then failed to buy what you guys recommended. The only person who actually recommended Kia over Mazda to me was also the only person who had actually owned a Kia (thanks Kim). Consumer Reports scored them pretty much dead-even with each other, so either choice would have worked in my mind.

Yes, we went with the Kia Rondo instead of the Mazda 5. After going to both dealerships and test driving them, the decision was an easy one.


Don't get all twisted up. We had very good reasons. First of all, the Kia people were willing to knock almost $6,000 off the listing price of the Rondo. Mazda? Well, Mazda didn't even really want to knock $1,000 off. I'm just getting started here.

We went to the Kia dealership first because I was honestly expecting to buy a Mazda 5, and I thought "test drive a Kia, then go test drive a Mazda, buy a Mazda = minimal driving between places". We took my parents with me to be back seat drivers. The sales guy at Kia sent us on a test drive and we all piled in. It was a fun little drive and we all oohed at various little components and features we liked, and everyone was comfortable. The car felt well-made and visibility was great. There were handy places to store things everywhere, and everyone had a good time.

We negotiated, told the guy we were going to Mazda and might be back, and left. So we go to the Mazda dealership and all get into the Mazda 5. Immediately, my parents (who are not tall people) began shrieking about how the headrest to the back seat was digging into the MIDDLE of their backs. Apparently the back seats are made for a midgets or six-year-olds or both, and we don't hang out with either of those types of people so that doesn't work well for us. Also, even when the seats were pushed all the way back, there was NO leg room in the seats where they were sitting. Have I mentioned that they are not tall people? The last row of seats had even less leg-room. Also, those seats are not comfortable, and they are all buckets seats, which wouldn't work out so well for my large dog.

Aside from that, the car felt cheap. Much cheaper than the Kia. Where the Kia had a nicely laid out series of lidded storage compartments between the two front seats, for example, the Mazda had a plastic bucket with no top. (Apparently nobody in the Mazda engineering department owns dogs.) The whole thing felt cheaper than the Kia. Mazda as a company might make higher end cars generally, but between these two models, all four of us felt strongly that the Kia seemed like a better quality car. I'd be derelict in my duties if I didn't mention that the Kia has much better safety features, too.

The Kia also had better versatility. You can fold down the last row of seats in the Mazda 5, but not the middle ones. In the Kia, you can fold down the last row AND the middle row to make a very flat, very large cargo space. We actually opted not to get the last row of seats - we wanted storage bins in the floor instead - but we can still fold down the other seats if we're transporting something big. Not so with the Mazda 5.

So, we all went back to the Kia dealership and finalized our deal. The sales guy told us that Kias today are a much better quality car than when they first entered the market in Canada.

I don't have to believe him.

I don't have to worry that much if he's lying though, because we have a five year bumper-to-bumper warranty, and a free LIFETIME warranty on the power train (which is engine and transmission). Oh, and also, our first year of service is free.

So the way I see it, Kia is fighting an image problem. They started making better cars, but have not yet shaken the junky reputation. So Kia won with the better price, nicer accessories (storage, stereo, etc.), better versatility, better safety features, smoother ride, better visibility, much better warranty, and pretty much everything else. Keep in mind, I went into this with a slight preference for the Mazda 5. Unfortunately, I can't think of a single thing that was better on the Mazda 5 than the Kia Rondo.


We're happy that the decision was such an obvious one. We got a really good deal on our new car and we're picking it up on Thursday!

My Birthday, Mark's "Gig"

Exactly one year ago today, a hard-fought real estate deal disintegrated on us. Oh, wait, that wasn't exactly it.

Exactly one year ago today, I turned 30. Wait, it wasn't as simple as that.

Exactly one year ago today, I turned 30 and a hard-fought real estate deal disintegrated on us at the very same time. Yeah, that was how my day went.

Here's to another year. It got pretty fun after the real estate nightmare was over!


Mark told me his band had a gig earlier this week. I was super-excited!

Then I found out that by "band", he meant only him and the lead singer. The other two guys were busy.

Then I found out that by "gig", he meant "open mic" at a coffee house.

Ah well. Performing their songs in public would still be a good thing to do, and fun for me to watch. I asked Chani if she wanted to come along with us, and she did. Yes, her husband is also in the band but would not be going, but who cares about those kind of details. We joked that she was more dedicated to the band than Captain D. was.

Then I found out that by "coffee house", the guys really meant "the cafeteria at the high school in the next town" (where the lead singer is a teacher). My dream of ordering a nice Mexican hot chocolate and enjoying myself in an eclectic atmosphere while listening to local musicians perform original compositions was replaced by a dream of sitting in a cafeteria on an orange plastic chair watching awkward 15 year-olds perform Guns 'n Roses covers. And by "dream", I mean "obligation".


Chani and I were delighted to see that they had covered our tables with large pieces of paper and provided coloured pencils. Then a skinny blonde 15 year-old stole our coloured pencils RIGHT OUT FROM UNDER OUR NOSES, laughed apologetically, and gave us four white pencil crayons with broken leads instead. I think Chani came close to swearing at her loudly--but I hear you get in trouble for that kind of thing, so I'm glad she didn't.


We made do with what we had and spent our time drawing caricatures of the various teenagers who performed.




Mark and Derick (lead singer) did a few songs and sounded really good, so at least the night was not a total loss.

Buying Stuff

We might be getting a new car this weekend!

We've decided on either a Kia Rondo or a Mazda 5. (Basically the same vehicle put out by two different car companies.) They're pretty compact vehicles that offer a good amount of dog and passenger space. You all know where our priorities in life lie.

Bring on the comments - this seems to be a subject that people have strong opinions on. And before you ask, yes, we have considered every other vehicle choice.

One of our friends has asked for a follow-up on our carpet buying adventure. If you remember, we wanted some sort of area rug in our living room and ended up buying from Flor, because it's high quality, environmentally friendly, and very adaptable.


Flor rates each of their carpets for the amount of traffic it can take, and the one we bought was not the highest rated kind. Nevertheless, it's held up very well in the six months since we installed it, with no visible wearing, fading, or fraying at all. The cats pick at it sometimes and that hasn't wrecked it either.

Our carpet is a series of 50 cm by 50 cm squares held together by special stickers that are provided by the company. I pulled back the carpet this morning to check on the stickers, and they are still holding strong.


None of them have come loose on us yet and the entire assembled carpet has stayed intact despite fairly heavy traffic and the occasional dog stampede. For those thinker-aheaders, you can order extra stickers if anything ever comes loose or in case you want to re-arrange the carpet tiles. We did not use up all the stickers that came free with our carpet tiles when we installed it, so we have spares.

I'm happy with it. We are still planning on buying more carpets from Flor for our bedroom, and possibly for Mark's office. Would I recommend it? Yes. If you're planning on buying it, go to the website and get on their mailing list. There are occasional sales and free shipping deals that they put out, so you could save some money that way.

K, end of review.

So it's my birthday tomorrow. Mark is going to make me some Vietnamese spring rolls to take to work tomorrow and share with Nay and Jay, and I think there's a vegan chocolate cake in the works. Chani, who doesn't care that someone else is already making me a cake, is making another. I think they will both be EXCELLENT!

My parents are coming to town too, so we are dragging them car shopping with us. They are bringing sushi for us, even though they don't like it. Isn't that sweet?!

Dogs, Ninjas, Pecans, Magic

Yes yes, another new week, another new dog.


We named this one Buttercup. I think she has been treated very harshly in her life, and I don't say that lightly. I've encountered horribly abused dogs before and I have to say, most of them don't give much of an indication of an abusive past. For example, we had a dog come into the SPCA once who had been beaten so badly that her leg had to be amputated. She was as happy as a clam in the shelter, and loved to be around people. You would never know anything had been amiss - she was just a contented friendly dog.

Then I would see dogs who tried to bite when they were handled, and they had the opposite sort of past than what you'd think: they were loved too much. They had been spoiled and coddled and never knew a moment of discipline in their life, and had learned that they only had to snarl to get their own way all the time.

So Buttercup is very timid and hand-shy. At the same time, she genuinely likes people. Despite her own fear, she slinks meekly toward people with the hope of being cuddled. She is quiet and low-key, and walks perfectly on her leash without pulling. I think she'll be pretty easy to adopt out.


So we were walking downtown today with our own two dogs (Buttercup is in quarantine right now) and we saw a ninja run down the road and into an alley. An honest-to-gosh ninja, running around with a black hood and mask and everything. It was pretty cool.

We're planning on going into The City this weekend to buy things we can't get around here. I need new work clothes, we have to go to a decent-sized hardware store, and we must socialize with Kristie the city-mouse of course.

Fun things always happen when you socialize with that family. We socialized with her sister Tanya last weekend, and ended up eating home-made sushi and being given a truck-load full of furniture, small appliances, and plants that they claimed they didn't need and had no room for. Oh yeah, and Tanya gave us a jar of AMAZING pecans that had been candied by a friend of hers, and I don't know what that person did to them, but they were pure magic. I would have taken a picture, but like I said they were magic, and they all seemed to disappear in a very short period of time. This is where they were:


If you find any more, please let me know.