Random thoughts....

Week of October 31, 2011....Halloween night. We had about 45 young and older kids, gave away all the candies except for a few that we kept for ourselves :-) As usual, Russell was kneeling on the floor by the front door and scared the little kiddies even before they got to ring the door bell. He always does that, one older kid even remembered Russell doing this last year. On Wednesday, we went to Washago to meet with Matt and Ali for a quick meeting. They are currently on a well deserved vacation somewhere warm. We then went to Huntsville to meet with our lawyer to sign off on some papers, additional bureaucracy related to us having to release the right of way to Hydro and Bell so that they can complete the task of supplying power to our property. We visited our site and there was more progress. I attach two pictures: one of the Stone Slinger and one of the foundation which is one step closer to being done. The Stone Slinger is used to dump sand and stones, rapidly, in the foundation in order to build up the base before pouring the concrete floor. We met Glynn Robinson, aka "Blackie", who was overseeing the work being done. We had met Blackie before as he did our septic system. By the way, Blackie is a prime hunting outfitter/guide. Speaking of hunting, not much will happen at our lot this week at it is hunting season and most of our tradesmen, actually most all tradesmen up North, are hunters. As long as they do not go after the deers or turkey on our property, we wish them good hunting!

Wednesday night, we took Cooper to his second training class. Cooper was good, although he was a bit tired and not as focused, but....he had a good reason for being tired. Fiona, one of our breeders' damns, had her 5 puppies early Wednesday morning. As a result, the Talemaker family, dogs and humans, including Cooper, were up most of the night and morning. I am happy to say that the five puppies are doing well, although Darlah's maternal energy and reserves are being used to the maximum as these pups need extra TLC during this critical early phase. Cooper was nonetheless happy to see us and we had a good time with him. We are, of course, waiting for the big day, Wednesday, November 9th, when we will bring Cooper home for good. We cannot wait as it feels like Christmas will arrive on Wednesday. We do not know what to expect when Cooper first steps into our home but he will certainly be well taken care of and pampered, without overwhelming him. Our home is ready for him.

Today, we came back from Montreal, where we spent the weekend with our respective families. It was nice to see everyone again. I had a nice lunch with my parents at the Willows Inn in Hudson. The weather was beautiful. Saturday night, we had dinner with Russell's mom in the old Pointe-Claire Village. It was also very nice.

A few other thoughts: our fall pots are planted, they look really nice with some twigs and magnolia branches. I will soon start Christmas baking, including baking for the dogs....more to come on that. Tomorrow night, we are going out for dinner, just the two of us, our last evening out, for a little while until the dogs can stay home alone....having dogs really is like having children, in some ways. They will change our lives, no doubt about it, but not for the worse. We are really looking forward to welcoming Cooper, then Maxine, to our home.

Until the next blog, have a great week.