Goodbye October

Hello everyone and happy Sunday! Another beautiful Fall day, we've had so many of those lately. Last week was stunning, with two days in the mid-twenties. This week promises to be nice, with temps hovering around 15 celsius. Not bad for the beginning of November.

All is good with us. We're slowly getting ready for the next season. We decided to replace our sump pump last week. It was time. With a battery back-up and a generator, we have all our bases covered on that front. We also blocked off part of our backyard which always gets mucky at this time of year. Those baby gates have once again come in handy. I don't know how many times I've said to Russell....let's sell those. Each time, he said...we might need them one day 😏Yesterday, we blew and bagged the leaves on our front lawn. We have 22 bags for tomorrow's yard waste pick up. Our Fall clean-up is almost complete. We also got our driveway snow markers installed and tomorrow, Russell will get the snow tires put on.

Miss Spicy celebrated her 12th birthday on Thursday. It was a fun day...but then again every day is always fun as far as our pooches are concerned. It was special nonetheless 💝

Tomorrow is Halloween. Given the good weather forecast, we expect quite a few kids. We are ready with a little decoration outside and bags of treats. All those mini chocolate bars have been in our house for over two weeks and I may have had only one or two. That's it. Quite the self control 😂

I end this week's blog with a special thought to our friend Linda who lost her husband Bob to cancer last Friday. We met Bob and Linda when we moved to Quebec. Lovely people and we share the love of Havanese. The only photo that I have of Bob is one taken at Talemaker Camp (courtesy of Darlah) years ago when Cooper was visiting. Bob happened to also visit and he gave the Coop a nice back rub. We will always have fond memories of this kind man.  With much love to Linda, her Havanese Raven and her family 😘

Have a great week everyone!

A golden carpet of fallen maple leaves ready
to be bagged and our scary Halloween decoration

Spicy had an awesome 12th birthday and her
 pup-cakes tasted delicious.

Always generous, Spicy shared her birthday treats
with her best pal Cooper.

Spicy, like the unicorn, is rare and precious
and she is a cherished member of our family.

Cooper has the squirrel in his sites...

I caught this black cap chickadee as it left the 
feeder - busy little bundles of energy.

We lost a kind and generous man last Friday,
Cooper lost a favourite back scratcher.
Rest in Peace Bob.

Autumn's glory

Hello everyone! I hope you're all having a wonderful Sunday! I'm writing my blog on the deck, enjoying a balmy 21 celsius with nothing but sunny skies. A glorious Autumn day 🌞

This past week was good. We had a bit of rain at the beginning of the week so Russell and I decided to get some Fall cleaning done. We washed the living room curtains, vacuumed behind the sofas (found a few doggie chews), vacuumed all lamp shades, the sort of thing that we normally don't do on a weekly basis 😏. Once the curtains were back up, Spicy was quick to put her little nose into them. She must have thought they smelled really good 💖

Russell got his 5th Covid dose and his flu shot. I got my flu shot and will get my 5th on November 7th. All good on that front.

The rain and wind on Monday brought down lots of leaves. We did a good cleanup on Friday and Russell cut the grass for the last time yesterday. There are still lots of leaves left in the trees and the colours are at their peak, truly spectacular, especially the maple tree in front of our house. 

On Wednesday, we got a call from Dr. Javard who informed us that Cooper's 2M antibody test was negative, no Muscle Masticatory Myositis issue. Very good news! We sort of expected that but it was good to have it confirmed. We then called our local vet and got to see her on Thursday. The idea was to close the loop on Cooper's somewhat mysterious jaw/mouth problem. Dr. Stiles did a thorough exam, poked the gums, jaw, every tooth, with no apparent discomfort from the Coop. Given that the exam showed nothing unusual and especially given Coop's heart condition, we all agreed that it was best to leave things alone rather than investigate further under general anesthesia. Should Cooper have another episode down the road, then we will look into it. It could have been a simple tooth trauma that went away. The important thing is that all is back to normal including the return of the 3 pm crunchy treat which got the approval of our vet when we showed it to her (yes, we had to dot all the i's and cross all the t's) 😋 

Today, after our walk, we stopped by our local outdoor market and I got myself another batch of Delicata Squash.  I've been eating so much of it, it's a wonder my skin hasn't turned orange. After years of cooking the Delicata every which way possible, I decided to air fry it. OMG, a total game changer. So delicious! Smells and tastes like french fries! I had to take a photo 😀

Those are my little news for today. The rest of our day will be spent on the deck. Coop & Spicy will be hard at work watching the busy squirrels. Russell and I will enjoy every second of this beautiful weather.  Not much on the go for this week other than our Spicy's 12th birthday on Thursday. I will include her birthday pic in next week's blog. Have a great week everyone!

The maple stretching skyward with arms 
ablaze in Fall colour in our front yard.

A crimson maple in a neighbours front yard
as seen from our driveway.

Sailing into the Fall, last sail of the season before
dry-dock.

A Fall tapestry of colour courtesy of our maple. 

Cooper and Spicy pause for a break on our Fall
walk by Lake St Louis.

Spicy thinks the aroma of freshly washed
curtains is something that only her nose
can appreciate.

Cooper likes to nap under the 
coffee table.

Their afternoon vigil with lovely
sunlight.

Delicata squash, the best ever when air fried.

A beautiful Fall day!

Happy Sunday everyone! What a gorgeous day we're having. The past few days have been such a delight. I just love this time of year with all the colours. 

Today, we had the pleasure of seeing our nephew Sean and his girlfriend Julie. They came for lunch. It was our first time meeting Julie and she is lovely. They make a very nice couple. We had a lot of catching up to do. It had been a while since we saw Sean. Russell barbecued some chicken kabobs. It was delicious!

This past week was good. Our Cooper is back to his old self. We are still waiting to get the results of that special blood test, maybe by the end of this week or early next week. Then we will regroup with our vet and decide on next steps. Perhaps just a look in his mouth will do. We will rely on our vet's recommendation. Having said this, although Coop is eating hard kibbles again, we haven't given him a crunchy treat yet. Not chancing it just in case, for now anyway. So, all is good on that front. 

We had a few nice walks by the lake and admired the Fall colours. On Wednesday, an older man was using his brand new drone and he took a photo of us from up above. We chatted with him and watched him maneuver his toy for a bit. It was pretty cool although Russell is quite sure that he is not allowed to do this given the proximity of the airport. We haven't seen the other old man Erroll who always sat on a bench for quite some time. Perhaps he no longer walks given the time of year. We hope he's OK. 

We got some work done outside, blew and bagged some leaves and cut back more plants. We have quite a number of yard waste bags for tomorrow's pick up. 

Not much else is going on with us. We are following a Sorrento group on Facebook and making notes of some places to visit when we go to Italy next May. We are getting excited.

The hockey season has started and I'm happy about that. I never was that much into hockey until the HABS almost won the Stanley Cup in 2021. They are now a team that is rebuilding with many new young players. I think that my Human Resources background is kicking in when I say that I look forward to seeing the new talent flourish and grow...and I know that it won't happen overnight. The Montreal Canadians fans will have to be patient 😊I wish the team the best of luck for the new season! We are behind you 100%!

That's my blog for today. Football is on the menu for Russell this afternoon, Coop & Spicy will chill and I may watch something on Netflix or read a book. I finally finished watching Pretty Little Liars. This was the longest series that I ever watched. I quite enjoyed it, very different and entertaining. 

I leave you with some photos that Russell took of the Fall colours right at home and one of the Waning Gibbous moon taken this morning.  Simply stunning! Have a great week everyone!

The Waning Gibbous moon playing at the finger
tips of the autumnal foliage seen from our front yard

Limelight hydrangea in full colour in our front
bed.

The view from the back deck, quite the display
of Fall colour put on by the maples.

A maple in full red dress at
Edgewater Park.

Cooper and Spicy take turns watching 
us clean up the leaves.

Front porch sentry as we continue with the 
Fall leaf clean up.

Hello down there....photo courtesy of an 
older gentleman with his new drone.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! As I'm writing this blog, there is a delightful turkey aroma in our home. Our little munchkins have been sticking close to the kitchen, waiting patiently for a little piece of our twenty pounder tonight. Yep, it's a big one, lots of leftovers on the way. I will also freeze some for Cooper & Spicy and make a stock with the carcass.

All is good with us although this past week was somewhat disturbing. On Monday, Cooper developed a sudden jaw issue after biting on a small piece of dehydrated chicken, which he ended up not eating. We kept an eye on him for the rest of the day and we could tell that he wasn't himself.  It was timely that we already had an early Tuesday morning appointment with the internal medicine specialist, Dr. Javard. Mr. Cooper wouldn't let him or anyone open his mouth to examine the jaw so he was slightly sedated but even that didn't do the trick.  We then opted to get a 2M antibody test to determine if the cause could be masticatory muscle myositis (MMM). This test takes up to 14 days to process. 

Having said all this, Cooper's jaw has improved. He now allows Russell to brush his teeth. He does an almost full yawn, his bark is virtually back to normal, all those littles things that are different when a mouth is not fully opened. He is not 100% back to normal though. We still soften his kibbles. He will pick up his enzymatic chew but he knows better than to chew it. Our local vet is in the loop. We spoke to Dr. Javard again on Friday as we got the results of Coop's geriatric blood panel, all good on that front, which is excellent news. Given the jaw improvement, Dr. J is cautiously optimistic that MMM is not the cause. Could be a simple tooth trauma. Unless things go backwards, we will wait for the test results then get a full dental x-ray done under general anesthesia in the next two weeks or so. Just another day in the life of our pooches. Oh, and the 3 pm crunchy treat hasn't been so crunchy for Cooper but I came up with a solution 😍Miss Spicy gets her crunchy though 😋

Other than dealing with Cooper, we didn't do much. We stayed home most of the week as we were either waiting for a phone call from our vets or keeping an eye on the Coop. Yesterday, we did go for a walk though. It was sunny and the air was crisp. This morning, Russell gave both a much needed bath. The rest of the day will be spent just lounging around, waiting for dinner...and bonus, the sun is shining now!

That's my blog for today. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. As for us, we are thankful for what we have and appreciate each day to its fullest. Have a great week everyone!

Our Thanksgiving floral center piece, wonderful
colors and textures.

Cooper and Spicy and the glory of Fall

Two munchkins just hanging on the couch.

Cooper has his usual big smile while 
taking a nap post Dr. J's visit.

These two always enjoy their deck time on a
warm, sunny Fall day.

Hello October!

Happy Sunday everyone! It's a wonderful Fall day here in Beaconsfield. We are in for a nice stretch of gorgeous weather this week. This time of year can be so beautiful with all the colours that are starting to pop everywhere 🍂🍁

This morning, we drove Blu-Belle home and she got reunited with her human mommy after staying with us for 12 days. It was a bittersweet moment for us....a little sad to see her go and happy that she is back with Lillian once again. We wish Lillian a speedy recovery, no doubt BB will be of great comfort to her. She is a sweet dog. Cooper & Spicy are roaming around in the house as I'm typing this, wondering where Blu-Belle is. 

This past week was good. The three pooches kept us busy, in a good way. Blu-Belle got quickly accustomed to the 3 pm treat. One day, I found her leading the way to the pantry! We spent quite a bit of time on the deck despite a few rainy and cool days. Those deck days are not over yet, not by a long shot! Russell did a wonderful job at grooming BB while she stayed with us. He gave her a bath yesterday so she was all fluffy when she went home today. 

Tomorrow is voting day in Quebec. It will not be necessary to stay up late to find out who will win. We already know 😏

On Tuesday, Cooper has a follow up appointment with his internist, Dr. Javard. He will have to fast as we are doing a full workup. Fingers crossed for overall good results.

I will start my physio exercises for my knee this week. I reviewed them all the other day (step 1) so I know what to do.....I just have get started (step 2).  I also have a date for my routine colonoscopy, November 3. Can't wait for that!

That's my blog for today. I leave you with a few photos of the three amigos and one taken during one of our walks. The colours by the lake are starting to be really nice. Have a great week everyone!

The rudbeckias have given us another year of 
wonderful bright color and now they fade
into Fall.

Blu-Belle loved to explore the 
backyard with Cooper.

The three amigos waiting patiently for the 
3 o'clock crunchy treat.

Cooper is the leader of the pack but
the ladies - Spicy & Blu-Belle
 rule the roost.

Spicy and Blu-Belle ready for 
some quality deck time.

Fall colours beginning to pop on Lake
St. Louis.