So long January!

Happy Sunday everyone!  A cold day for us but the sun is shining. When the sun is out, all is better!

Our little family is doing well. We had a good week. The best part of it was when we got Cooper's blood results on Thursday, following his visit with the internist on Wednesday. His protein blood levels are going in the right direction and his weight is stable. We're super happy about this. Next appointment is in three months. It's all good!

It's hard to believe that today is the last day of January. Where does the time go, I often ask myself.  February is going to be a good month with lots happening. Super Bowl, Russell's birthday and Valentine's Day, all good reasons to celebrate life, not that we need a reason to do so.

I signed up for another fun program with our pooches, this one called the Calendar of Love (Calendrier de l'Amour) which will last for the whole month of February. The program is created by the same trainer who did the Advent Fitness Calendar in December, in coordination with another dog trainer. This time, the platform for the program will be via a private Facebook group. As of today, 138 people have joined. Each day will bring a new activity, be it a physical exercise (different from those introduced in the Advent Calendar), a mental challenge exercise or a doggie recipe. It will be fun to exchange with this group. I'm very much looking forward to it.

Also starting tomorrow, we will have access to a new block of workout classes put together by our personal trainer friend from Huntsville. She did it for the month of January and decided to continue for February. The classes will be posted on her YouTube channel. I have truly enjoyed her workouts and I'm grateful to be able to rely on her for fitness. She has truly inspired me and I can honestly say that January 2021 was the best workout month since March 2020! So, all in all, I think February will be a great month.

Russell continues to make good progress on his ancestry. Last week, he signed up for a new genealogy site called My Heritage and got hundreds of new hints to follow. I have to say, it keeps him very busy. Today, he's also learning to make soap bubble photos. It's so important to have interests/challenges that we enjoy. 

Those are our latest news.  Earlier on today, I had a video chat with my sister and brother, it was nice to catch up. Cooper & Spicy are now patiently waiting their 3 pm dehydrated chicken treat. I will attempt to watch two or three episodes of "Virgin River" this afternoon with the hope to finish the series in the next few days. Then I can concentrate on "How to get away with Murder" and I may start "Little Fires Everywhere". I also started reading John Grisham's "Time For Mercy". It's a good read. 

Have a great week everyone! Stay safe and healthy!

Spicy and Cooper front paws up on the blue 
side of the BOSU! Nice work!

Cooper and Spicy step up to the next challenge, 
front paws on the black side of the BOSU....
more wobbly - good to work those muscles and 
balance.

Out on a cold walk...the snow is crisp and clean.

Russell's first ever attempt at making and 
photographing a frozen soap bubble....
practice will make perfect.

A cold January day

Happy Sunday everyone!

I'm doing my blog early today...gotta get ready for the 3:05 pm football game between the Buccaneers and the Packers. Go Brady Go! 

This past week was good and quiet. Although we don't seem to be doing a whole lot, our weeks go by so quickly. I can't imagine what it will be like when our lives go back to "normal" once this pandemic winds down.  On that topic, our COVID numbers have been going down steadily for the past 10 days. It looks like the lockdown measures are slowly starting to pay off. We're not out of the woods yet and we have to remain vigilant but it is good progress. 

On Wednesday, we watched the Biden/Harris inauguration all day, starting first thing in the morning when we saw Trump leave the White House for the last time. It was truly an incredible and memorable day. 

Our weather has been nice but cold for the past few days. It hasn't stopped us from going for walks though. During our outings, we noticed the many snowmen that were built since we had snow last weekend. It was really nice to see how people just got out there and decided to take advantage of this wet snow opportunity. In hindsight, I should have built one on our front lawn also, didn't think about it. 

Our friend Nathan had his quintuple bypass surgery on Friday. It's behind him now and we wish him the best recovery. 

That's my blog for today. As I'm typing, I am getting the stare down from Cooper and Spicy...it is almost time for their afternoon treat. They know! Today was bath day for them. They look and smell wonderful. Thanks Russell!

Have a great week everyone, the last week of January! Stay safe and healthy!

A solitary tree stands alone with a frozen Lake
St. Louis in the background. Only minus 13C!

Cooper, Spicy and I take time to sit with the
snowman on the pier in Edgewater Park.

The snowman who guards the pier. 

Sunday Funday

Hello everyone and Happy Sunday! 

All is good with us and we had a nice week. The weather was beautiful and mild. We went for lots of walks and soaked up as much of the sun as we could. Yesterday, we woke up to the start of a nice little snow storm. We got a sizeable dump of wet, heavy snow. I quickly realized in the morning that shovelling paths in the backyard was out of the question...so my snowshoes came to the rescue! It was a very good workout and it did the job. I have to say that snowshoeing was much easier on my ticker than shovelling. 

I went to bed last night and my last thought before I fell asleep was...tomorrow I will build a snowman. It was a fun way to spend a Sunday morning. Cooper & Spicy were right there with me and Russell took photos. I wasn't sure what to use for the eyes and mouth. In the end, I used some dried potpourri oranges and berries that I found in the basement. In hindsight, I should have thought about how to decorate my snowman before I built it...perhaps I would have been more creative 😄Maybe next time.

We got ourselves an air fryer. It arrived on Friday. Thanks to our neighbour Paul for the recommendation! I haven't had a chance to use it yet but I plan on doing so this week. Something different.

On the Netflix front, I settled on two new series: Virgin River and How to get away with Murder. Both are very different and very good. Virgin River is less intense that the Murder one so I've been alternating between both depending on my mood. This afternoon will be a Virgin River kind of day.

This coming week will be sunny but colder. Tomorrow, Cooper has a vet appointment for his monthly B12 injection as well as to have his anal gland checked. It seemed to have healed very nicely. Next week, he goes back to the internist for more blood work. He's a busy little fellow. On Wednesday, we will be glued to the TV to watch the Biden/Harris inauguration. It's been a long time coming. We've been watching Biden's various addresses, what a breath of fresh air he is. On Friday, our friend Nathan (from Talemaker Camp) will have major heart surgery. We are sending him and Darlah positive vibes. He will be in our thoughts. 

That's my blog for today. Russell has a couple of good football games to watch. It's that time of year, exciting playoffs. Have a great week everyone. Stay well and healthy!

Admiring our work of art, I think it's a pretty cute snowman

After a final sniff and walk around, they 
approve - job well done and fun!

Here is our happy potpourri faced snowman in
his finest, wearing Russell's hat.

When the snow is wet and heavy...snowshoes to 
the rescue. The pooches need their paths.

Cooper and Spicy enjoyed a little deck time
under the awning while watching me
tamp down the snow.

Good load of snow on the roof.

The little pier at Edgewater Park in Pointe
Claire on Friday.

A bright sunny day makes the frigid water of Lake
St. Louis shimmer...if you look closely you will
see a flock of birds in flight.

What shall I watch next?

Happy Sunday everyone! After a full week of sunshine, today is cloudy but not cold at all. We've had a pretty good January so far. We keep noticing how much brighter the days are. We no longer need lights on in the morning when we take the pooches out. How nice!

This past week was uneventful for us except for Tuesday. Cooper woke up with an inflamed anal gland. Our vet clinic was booked solid but he was seen between patients, lucky for him. All is OK now although Coop is on antibiotics for another week. Our vet gave us pain killers just in case but there was no need to use them. 

The events that took place on Capitol Hill on Wednesday made us really sad. The world is really messed up, in more ways than one. Let's hope for better months ahead on all fronts. 

Russell continues to make good progress with his ancestry project. On Thursday, just after our dinner, the phone rang and it was his distant cousin calling all the way from Luxembourg. She is 82. He found her about two years ago and they have been in touch since via Facebook. They spoke for quite some time. How cool is that!

Today, I finished watching the Queen's Gambit. I truly enjoyed this series, only one season and seven episodes. A very compelling story and really great acting. I highly recommend it, whether you like chess or not. Now, I have to decide what to watch next.....the options are endless but I do have a few ideas. I haven't done much reading lately, thank you Netflix.

I had four good workouts this past week. One from Obe Fitness and the other three courtesy of someone we know from Huntsville. She trained Russell for a while and is a competitive body builder (natural category). For the month of January, she will be posting many YouTube workouts each week. I can't wait for this week's videos. They are very well done and anybody can do them. 

We enjoyed many nice walks last week by the lake. The scenery is so beautiful. Yesterday, we met this older lady who simply fell in love with Spicy & Cooper. She said it was nice therapy to be able to talk to us and see our dogs.  In between our many walks, Cooper & Spicy had some fun in the basement. Their gym is just as nice as ours...and we share the BOSU and stability ball!

That's my blog for today. Lots of football games on so Russell is happy. I will now figure out which Netflix series to watch next, maybe Dead to Me, I don't want anyting too intense right now. Decisions, decisions. I wish you all a great week! Stay safe and healthy!

Cooper and Spicy's home gym....membership
is free if you are fluffy.

The wait game...both focused, 
the reward is on the small target in front of them.

The sun reflecting on the water on the 
shore of Lake St. Louis.

Not much ice on the Lake.

A new year

Hello everyone! I hope your New Year celebrations were good, albeit quiet I suspect. Here we are, on the third day of a brand new year. May it be a good one, filled with love, laughter, good health and hopefully a return to a somewhat normal life.

Our week leading to January 1 was quiet. We haven't done much at all except taking Cooper for his appointment with the internal medicine specialist on Tuesday. He had a good physical exam and his weight is stable.  He had some blood work done and we got the results on Thursday. Not what we were hoping for so we were disappointed. We go back in four weeks for a repeat of the blood work. It's a process and we hope the results will be better.  On the bright side, our vet thought Cooper looked and felt really good.  He is his old self and for that, we are grateful.

Yesterday, we had our first significant snow fall of the season, about 8 cm. The snow was so fluffy that Russell used a broom to create paths in the backyard. I later used a shovel to make the paths more defined. We had some fun retrieve games in the backyard and the pooches enjoyed it. I have to say that we've had a good Winter so far. Not trying to jinx it, just saying. This week is looking beautiful, relatively mild and sunny. 

Yesterday, as we were about to feed Cooper & Spicy, I noticed that it was brighter outside. Yep, the days are getting longer my friends, there is no doubt about it.

That's my blog for today, short and sweet. I wish you all a great week. Stay well and safe! 

Sometimes on a walk, you have to stop and smell
the bushes...Cooper is champ bush sniffer, 
Spicy not so much.

A little nap on New Year's Eve

A nice dusting of fluffy snow in the backyard.

Cooper and Spicy enjoy wide paths in the snow
for running and other 'activities'!