The little buggers...

A few blogs back, I wrote that given the location of our house, up on a hill, we probably wouldn't be attacked by black flies.  I am happy to report that this is true.  Although black fly season has started in earnest, we have not had any up where we live.  We have, however, a lot of mosquitoes.  They are vicious little things and there are plenty of them.  So, we did what most people do in Huntsville, and bought ourselves bug jackets.  Without that jacket, I wouldn't have been able to do my planting this past week.  These jackets have come in handy, especially when we took Cooper to his agility class this past Wednesday.  It had rained, it was humid and the little buggers, including black flies, were all over the place.

While on the agility topic, we are very happy with the Coop's progress, so are the trainers. Last week's session was a lot of fun and Coop got to run a whole course.  He did most of it correctly and missed only two jumps.  I hate to say it but we are learning quickly that the dogs will do well as long as their handlers do well.  If our cues or hand motions are not quite right, then we cannot lead the dog properly through the course.  I must say that, at times, I feel like we are learning how to dance:  front cross, rear cross, etc.  A front cross is where the handler changes side in front of the dog's direction of motion.  Sounds complicated?  It is not, really, but it takes a little bit of coordination.  The trainers used their own dog, Spryte, to demonstrate the course.  Spryte is a 13 year old Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever who is deaf. She has competed in many agility trials in the past. Would you believe that I got to run the whole course with her and she did it perfectly.   I must say that I quite like this agility thing.  It is our hope that, perhaps one day, Cooper will get to do trials also.  That would be fun.

Last Wednesday night, we also started the first of six Focus classes for Cooper.  It is with a group of 4 dogs only, so each dog gets a lot of attention and practice time.  It is not as much fun as agility but this training is very important and will help strengthen his focus and recall.

This past week was busy with planting.  But there is something to be said about not planting before May 24.  At least that is true for the Muskoka region.  We had some very cold nights the past few days and some areas got frost.  We thought we had lost our hanging baskets but they seem to be perking up now.  For the next few days, we will leave them in the screened porch until the weather warms up. The perennials that I planted seem fine.

Given that yesterday was too cold to do any work outside, I decided to bite the bullet and attempt to do the BoatSmart study/exam.  It took me 5 hours, online, to go through each module and complete the test.  I passed with flying colours.  I now can ride our boat!  Yay!  But I will say that doing that test online is brutal:  each module is timed and it is impossible to go faster even if you want to.  It is very time consuming but the good thing is that I have my boating licence for life.

Not much else has happened.  Russell is doing well and continues with his fitness, same for me.  He has been buying himself some "tools" for the yard/property so he is a happy camper.

That's about it for this week's blog.  We will be going to Montreal for a few days and visit our parents.  While we're away, Cooper will be staying at Nathan and Darlah's, aka Camp Talemaker, where he will have nothing but fun.

I wish you all a great week and hope the weather warms up.

A good old game of tug-o-war...Cooper always wins!

Anne in the latest Huntsville fashion, a Chanel Bug Jacket!

May 24 weekend...Huntsville comes alive!

This is our first May long weekend in Huntsville.  This past week, we could see the Town coming to life bit by bit. Some cottagers and tourists obviously decided to get a head start early.  There were line ups at the stores, the traffic was "heavier" downtown and the gas stations increased their prices twice in one day.  Yesterday, being Saturday, was the craziest day at Robinson's Independent Grocer (aka Loblaws). I must say that I am not used to having to wait in line ...... Now that we are local residents in Huntsville, it is actually fun to watch the cottagers and tourists come through our Town and get ready for the season.

The local garden centres are also busy but nothing like the ones in the GTA so that is good.  Yesterday, I decided to bite the bullet and get some planting done.  We bought 9 purpleleaf sand cherry trees and I planted them in the back, just below our deck.  It was a nice little workout, especially for my lower back.  I woke up this morning barely able to get out of bed.....but I have lots more planting to do.   Given that it is cloudy today, we decided to go to the Bradford Greenhouse in Barrie.  Wow, that place is huge, even bigger than Terra Greenhouse and the selection of plants is amazing. We were looking for ornamental grasses for the front of our house and we found them.  We bought 12 plants in total, two different kinds.  We also bought two beautiful hanging baskets for the front porch. So, I have my work cut out for me this week ......  That's OK because I  love gardening and getting all dirty.  I find it very relaxing even though it can be hard work sometimes. We took Cooper with us to the garden centre and he was, literally, the star of the place.  Every person wanted to pat him and thought he was such a good looking dog.  At some point, we had him sitting in the cart and he was having a great time!

This past week brought two special events: on Thursday, we launched our pontoon boat,  "The COOP".  We met Chris, from Mobile Marine, at the dock and he showed us, or rather Russell, how to operate the boat.  We all went for a nice ride with him as shown on the attached video.  In our excitement, we forgot to put Cooper's life jacket on......but we did put it on when we went back on Friday.  The second big event was Cooper's second birthday on Friday. I attach a picture that we took of him.  For Cooper, I suppose it was just an ordinary day....although he did get a few special treats and he didn't have to work for them. As for us, we had fun calling him the birthday boy all day and doing all kinds of silly things with him.

Although I had two piano lessons left, I decided that last Thursday was my last lesson.  I will resume later in the Fall or Winter.  Taking these lessons was the right thing to do and I now have a good base.

That's about it for my blog this week.  Take a look at the attached video that Russell put together this morning.  He is very creative when it comes to adding music to the video. You will be able to see our house up on the hill. I hope you enjoy it.  Next week's blog will be posted on Saturday for a change.....I wish you all a great week ahead!

Cooper all decked out for his 2nd birthday !

Cooper was the perfect 'watch dog' as he surveyed the stern wake !

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers and women!

Although not all women have children, they all, at one time or another, give motherly advice to someone so they deserve to be celebrated today as well.  Also, moms of loving pets and canine moms (Abigail, Fiona, just to name a few) deserve well wishes also.  Last but not least, a very special and loving Mother's Day wish to my mom and Russell's mom.  We will see you both very soon.

Weather wise, today sucks.  It is cold, it has snowed and it is very windy.  Despite the weather, we went to a garden centre this afternoon and spent most of our time in the greenhouse where it was warm.   Luckily, the snow is not sticking to the ground.  Quite a change from last week but it will be short lived.

This past week turned out to be very busy.  We hired someone to remove all the brush and debris around our property.  It took Dave 4.5 days to get the work done:  8 truck loads of tree branches and old firewood that had been sitting on our property since the day we bought the lot.  Each truck load weighed 15,000 pounds for a total of 120,000 lbs of brush or 60 tons.  There is no way that Russell and I could have done this on our own.  This is a very good job done.  Now, we can see clearly through the forest and have a better sense of what we want to plant.  The next phase of this project is to regrade our driveway which will be done in a few weeks.

We also hired someone to clean all the windows and wash down the logs.  This is something that we had been meaning to get done since we moved but never got around to doing it. A crew of 3 people were in our house every day last week to do the work, one room at a time.  There is more to do this week, including the exterior windows.  Needles to say that it was a tad disruptive for us and for Cooper but we managed through it.

Last Wednesday, we went to Cooper's second Agility class.  Cooper did very well and got to use most of the agility equipment. The trainer was especially impressed when he showed no fear going up the A-frame which was almost 6 feet high. This type of training is actually more work for us than for Cooper.  There are certain things that we must do properly and certain rules that need to be followed, that is if we intend to do trials down the road.  So, it's fun but it's also work.

I had a root canal done on Thursday.  It went very well but took quite some time.  I will say though that we have a very good dentist.  He does very good work and is extremely conscientious.  I felt very relaxed through the procedure to the point that I was dozing off!  Dr. Markham called me at home Thursday night to find out how I was doing. I think that this is very impressive.  Thank you again Patricia for giving us his name.  I would not hesitate to recommend him.

My piano lessons are going well.  I have two lessons left.  I may continue in the fall/winter but for now, I feel like I have a good base and can play some nice music.

We are looking forward to this coming week for a few reasons:  weather permitting, we will be launching our new pontoon boat on Tuesday. Very exciting! Look for a video in next week's blog.  Yesterday, we bought a life jacket for Cooper.  I attach a picture that we took as he tried it on.  He doesn't seem to mind it.  Regardless, he is not going on the boat without it.  Speaking of Cooper, he will be two years old this coming Friday.  His birthday picture will be in next week's blog.

This week is leading up to the Victoria Day weekend. Huntsville will be hopping with all the cottagers and tourists.  I wish you all a great week and a nice upcoming long weekend!

Cooper styling his new PFD and thinking to himself there is no way I'll wear this thing!

Anne and Cooper share a Mother's Day snuggle...Happy Mother's Day

It's beginning to feel like summer......

Wow, what a great week we just had, on all fronts!  But I must say that the star of the week was the weather, summer like, sunny and hot, hot, hot!   The forecast is the same for the next few days.  Bring it on!

Russell and I are now "in the groove" when it comes to our respective fitness training.  After trying out many classes, I have found the one I like the best:  Body Pump.  It is a 60 minute weight training class which challenges all major muscle groups. It is a fairly high intensity class.  I just love it and it is extremely invigorating.  I plan on doing that class three times a week.  Russell had his first fitness session with a personal trainer at his gym.  He also went back to do some cardio. He will also be doing  some fitness classes of his own.  Good for him.

As for the Coop, he started Agility last Wednesday.  What a fun time that was, both for Cooper and for us.  Soon after we started, the trainer told us that he is a natural and he should progress quickly.  It is a group of 6 dogs with 3 trainers.  Cooper is the smallest dog, in terms of size, but he is the most agile.  The first twenty minutes of the class was mostly theory meant for the "humans".  Cooper doesn't like theory so he was a tad agitated.  All he wanted to do was get to work! As for us, we re-learned some important training principles.  It was a great day and the Coop deserved his nap when he got home.  We look forward to this week's class.

With the weather being so nice, we didn't do much indoors, including practicing my music lessons.  I went to my class last Thursday feeling like a student who didn't study properly.....oh well, this is suppose to be fun not stressful.  I do want to practice for this coming Thursday's lesson (I promised my teacher) so I plan on playing some notes early each morning this week before the day gets going.

We did some good yard work outside.  Russell raked the lawn in Cooper's dog run.  We will be fertilizing once there is rain in the forecast.  As for me, I deadheaded the plants and was happy to discover that most of them made it through the winter.  As I was sitting on the ground, minding my own business and clipping dead branches away, I heard some noise right next to me.  I looked and there was a garter snake looking at me.  I jumped, screamed, did all the things that most people would do if they saw a garter snake.....OK, I did all the things a city girl turned country girl would do.  Cooper was sitting on the front deck and barked up a storm when he heard me.  Good thing he was attached to his leash......I read about those snakes and this is what I found on Wikipedia:  they cannot kill humans with the small amount of mild venom they produce and they lack an effective way of delivering it.  I feel so much better now!

We spent a lot of time on the deck this past week.  It is such a beautiful time of year and the scenery is amazing.  The leaves are really popping.  We saw a number of boats on the lakes and we look forward to launching our own pontoon boat in the next few weeks.  This brings me to today.  We went to Avery beach for two reasons:  to look at our dock and to walk with Cooper.  We were happy to see that our dock didn't get damaged by the ice and flooding.  Many docks did.  I attach two pictures that we took today.  As for our walk with the Coop, well, although it was nice to walk on the trail with no snow, we didn't expect the trail to be so messy.  There was a lot of leaf debris, and small burrs, which of course stick to Cooper like a magnet.  When we realized that, we decided to cut short our walk.  It's not that we don't want him to get dirty but getting burrs out of a dog with a full coat is not a fun thing.  When we got home, Russell brushed him and he is now back to his normal burr-free fluffy self.

That's about it for this week's blog.  I hope you are all enjoying the nice weather, at least those of you who have it.  I hear that in some parts of Europe, it is still quite chilly.  Have a great week everyone!

Avery Beach dock.

Secure access to the dock is by the keypad entry gate near shore.