road trip

 Sean , mugs and I are always keen to get out of the city on weekends if possible. This weekend we headed east to Drumheller. We took the scenic route, checking out an abandoned house on the the way there and the Drumheller Coal mine site on the way home.

shame on you...

Dog shaming... enough said

It's christmas in heaven..

It's that time of year again, and picking out a tree with Sean and mugs feels like "its Christmas  in heaven" except the fact that is was super windy out there today. We managed just fine picking out our tree while mugs did her own chop job to the willows. When we returned home it was decorating time.

wicked bail (skills)

You can take the girl out of the prairie, but you can't take the prairie out of the girl :)

Mom's November visit

 Our retreat at the Banff springs was heavenly. We went to the spaaaaaaah

and wandered around the hotel the next morning after brunch.

 They had just started decorating for Christmas, the place was spiffed up in record time.

 We shopped a bit. Don't you think I look Russian in fur?

 After returning to Calgary, we tried re-create the Fairmont experience with high tea

We also tried to find our inner zen with yoga and tai chi...If only muggins could
express her inner joy as this dog does.......

Nanton, sweet Nanton

This weekend we went on a road trip to Nanton, AB. We visited Nanton Aviation Museum. Sean noted how much it has evolved and improved since visited (a decade ago). I enjoyed reading through old magazines, looking at the exhibits and Sean most enjoyed the hangar with the  planes and flight simulators. Nanton is such a neat old town, with plenty of antique stores to check out. We acquired  a 1970's board game that is the Napolean version of risk. Can't wait to check it out!

birds of a feather flock together

We woke this Saturday morning to what sounded like terrible wind, a high whistle it was. Only after we opened the curtains we discovered that the entire yard was peppered with birds! Each tree in our yard was bustling with activity, as they exchanged places and bullied each other around. I'm still not sure what the fuss was about, as our yard was the only one with any action. We were thankful they cleaned up our crabapple trees before muggins could make a mess of them. I will have to ask dad what the heck that was about.

the big rock

We took Muggins on a road trip. Though it looks like she is in jail in the first picture she is actually quite cozy in the back of Seans Volvo station wagon. Yes that's right, he has a (feels like) new set of urban wheels to cruise around on now. We went to explore the "Big Rock" near Okotoks, the largest rock in the Foothills Erratics Train. This is a group of rocks that were carried by ice along the mountain front and dropped as the glacier melted some 10,000 years ago.

Glow away

 Swinging a lantern= instant endowment

glow fetch on Sean's birthday

Fetch!

Leading up to last winter, Muggins was reluctant to go in the water. It seems those feelings resolved spontaneously over the winter. Here is mugs retreiving from the waters of the Bow River. The cold doesn't phase her, similar to how she doesn't seem to feel anything and everything she whacks with her tail.

chill man, chill.

 I am attempting to amuse myself and muggins in the backyard. This is a ramp for her eggie- to help roll it out of the pool. She doesnt' get the concept, she just wants to eat the plastic.

I tried using it like a horse jumping fence and she jumps on it, but gets really really exited and jumps on me 4 or 5 times after the track is done. We have work to do still.

mugs

 This is our new skill we are working up, cleaning up after herself. Next she will learn to pick up her own poop. I wish!

 Here she is keeping cool. She leaned how to lift the toy out of the pool by using her head to lift it. Smart girl

This eggie is a godsend. It keeps her entertained.

house updates

 The living room was a work in progress, I made the drapes and some pillows and Sean made the wood wall, topping it with  his caribou

 Here is our bedroom updates...all the rooms were previously white, all white.. stark white

the masculine room has themes that you could expect, hockey, hunting and the scout-  a neat little vehicle. You should google it.

This guest bedroom was the only painted room in the house when we arrive. It was hardhat yellow- no joke. Now it is oh so tranquil and lavendar.

Dear (potentially) Angry birds,

I did not say anything when you helped yourself to our grass seed, and I looked the other way when you accidentally crapped on my hammock, because I'm sure this was not an intentional act to gross me out. I'm hesistant to say anything because I like seeing your cute little fluffy bodies hopping about our lawn, and I don't want to spoil the relationship, but stealing our worms? That's just ungracious. Something has to be done. I spied on the birds in the neighborhood with binoculars this weekend. None of our neighbors were crazy enough to be outside in the pouring rain and therefore were not creeped out by my nosy behavior. Sean and I spent a significant time sitting on the front porch. No one does that anymore, eh? You'd be surprised how relaxing it is to hear the rain and listen to the chirping, while checking out the action. Trying to identify their songs with an app on my iPad called iBird was a fun challenge. I might have freaked them out a little by the range of calls coming from the front porch, but the robins hung around out of curiosity I imagine. After a large downpour we would head out with a pail and collect earthworms, or as Aristotle would refer to them- intestines of the earth. I have these cool neoprene boots Sean calls my moose hunting boots to wear. They are fearlessly large boots and I love em! Luck was in our favor this weekend, we walked to the grand opening of our local Rona and were given free flowers to take home. As many as we could carry. We also found a compost someone put out on the street as a giveaway- can you believe it? Sean's dad surprised us Friday night with a delivery of mussels and lobsters we feasted over the entire weekend. Score! Sean was a good sport trying to learn cribbage one night by lantern light. I haven't had so much fun since I was a kid in slush pants and duck boots. All you need is a nice cup of tea to keep warm.

Weed ‘em and reap

These are perrenials I picked up and plugged into baskets just as quickly, but I figure as they are perrenials I may be able to take credit next year?
I swear Sean must be sneaking the plants booze because they do so well with him and yet I can not be trusted to their care.
The bouquet of choice this year consists of sedum angelica, coleus, hearty geraniums and fuschia, as these were the only things that survived the winter apocolyse of flowers last year they have earned their place in the lineup.

 I didn't even sprout my own herbs this year, but they are looking ever so chique! Voila, instant gratification here I come.

Fiddleheads fail

I confess, I fed us fiddleheads raw in a salad last week, and no I did not think to boil them first, and yes we had a giant bike ride when we noticed that one of these things just doesn't belong here (in the belly). I had some mild discomfort and he had a full two day onslaught. Need I say more? Just google fiddleheads and you will see you should not eat them RAW. whoops. He will not let me forgot that I owe him because I poisoned him- do you know how awful that sounds?!?

silly mel

Ummm, you're doing it wrong. 

 It appears from my après - ski glow I like to hit the slopes of Mars, and to add to it, I had to walk into work like this on melanoma monday- yeah, a citywide initiative! I was the voluntard for the whole thing. Wear your sunscreen, ok kids. I could not even look people in the eye, I didn't want to see their reaction for three days at least!

 Sean thought it would be fun to capture a time lapse of me "reading", while it appears I do everything but when sitting on the couch. I think there were 5 of 100 picture of me actually reading. Good thing he didn't catch me picking my nose like I usually do when he leaves the room. He did capture some classic Mel faces- just not the mirror face, or the dance face- to be continued..