Our weekend at Algonquin

We had such a great time! The weather was AMAZING, the bugs not bad at all and the park was absolutely beautiful. We saw 6 deer, lots of chipmunks, a peasant, and a moose! I even saw my first ever shooting star! The only thing we didn't see was a bear! Oh well, next time! We'll definitely be going back!
Tadpoles.
This look will be hitting the fall runway 2006. Sure to be a hit!
Katie enjoying the fire. That's also her, "I think I'll put peanut butter on your tent tonight!!!" face!
Me and Snugs chillin' early in the morning.
Steve and I taking down the tarp.

Some funky mushrooms.
A pretty flower.
Me while taking a water break on a hike.
Pretty lake.
Steve and the dogs.
Steve (The Cook) Dickinson. The food was great thanks to Steve!
A stranger fishing. Cool pic though.
Waiting for breakfast.
The sunset.

We saw a moose! A little too up close actually. She jumped out of the woods, about 3 feet from the bumper of our moving car! Fortunately, Steve wasn't going that fast! After the shock wore off, we backed up and got this pic. Man moose are big.
Vegas thinks he's a lap dog. He's cuddling here with Marc.
This was taken on the hike that Steve and I did around one of the lakes (4.5 km). A really nice hike. Beautiful scenery.
There is a 300 ft. cliff (gorge) and a hiking path follows along it. The view was amazing. The pics really don't do it justice.
Vego.
Another pic of the gorge, taken from the top. It really surprised me that there was no guardrail! There was a sign however warning that falls would be fatal. Very comforting.
Steve and Jes swimming together. Man Jesse was a tired puppy!
Katie.
Me. Jes is in the water swimming (surprise...man he loves the water!)
Steve chillin' out.

My last day of work

Well it's getting into the late afternoon hours and thus is bringing my last day of work to an end. Another chapter in life is about to close and I'm curious to see where the next chapter will open. I'm actually looking pretty forward to finishing here. It's been a great learning experience and it's been a fantastic opportunity but the last couple of months, since we found out that we were closing has been dreary and it just hasn't felt the same. Some of the daycare providers came in to the office today and brought me a big bouquet of flowers, which really made my day. I've met a lot of great people in the last few months and have learned A LOT! Here's to taking the positive experiences with me and looking forward to the future! Oh what bright, new and exciting things lie ahead...

Cari

The vet's verdict

Yesterday I took Jesse to the vet to get his chipped tooth looked at. Looks like at best he'll need a root canal, and at worst, he'll need it extracted. There's only one specialist in the Montreal area that does this and even he travels between Quebec city and Montreal. Our vet said that it'll cost minimum $1000, but probably more like $1500. So, Steve called the dog insurance that we've been paying $50 a month to for 4 years and it turns out they cover a whopping $250. Great. Plus Jesse will need a consultation with the dog dentist, blood work with our vet and then the day surgery. AND the vet said, as soon as possible, as it will get very infected because the nerve is exposed. Poor puppy. Anyway, not exactly what we need right now, seeing as I'm about to be jobless in 4 days but what can ya do??? Jesse's worth it! It was so cute yesterday...Steve had Jes outside and I left to go to yoga and Jesse was crying after the car and trying to run after it! They really make you feel loved, that's for sure!

Cari

Attack Dog

Who needs to kick and scream at bears when you have Jesse. In this pic he just finished attacking the pillow, this is his victory pose......I feel bad for the bears.

Steve and I are pretty excited for our big first camping trip of the season! We went to Canadian Tire last night and bought some stylin' new camping gear. We each got a pair of very sexy water shoes and mosquito net hats. Yup, we're going to look so cool out there!!!;) We're staying at my cousin's house (Kathy and Joe) on Thursday night in Ottawa to help cut down on the drive on Friday. The place where we're going is about 5 hours from Montreal, 3 hours past Ottawa. I'm a little worried about the wildlife. Apparently moose are very common there (I'd love to see a moose!) but so are bears. Steve was reading me the info they send on what to do if a bear comes into your campsite. Surprisingly, you're supposed to confront the bear and try to intimidate it. The more aggressive you are the better, so throw stuff, scream, jump up and down, whatever. Playing dead works only with grizzly bears, not black bears. Anyway, here's hoping that all bears stay a safe distance from our campsite!

Cari

Camping countdown

Okay so camping reservation is confirmed. Nothing but the great outdoors from Friday morning to Sunday evening. Can't wait. Katie and Marc are coming with us, which makes this Vegas' first big camping trip...the puppies should have a great time together!

Well, once again the Henley/Dickinson luck strikes again. And by luck, I mean lack there of. With only 6 work days left, including today, I'm soon to be unemployed and looking for things to fill my time. Seeing as our laptop just broke and has to be sent away for 4 weeks, that time won't be filled with much blogging, emailing or job searching for that matter! Who knew I had come to be so internet dependent??? If I can take something positive out of this, I'll say, at least this way I'll be more motivated to get out and exercise, my number 1 goal for my unemployed ass. Steve and I started on the weekend, walking hardcore and playing tennis. My butt muscles are feeling it today, which is good, considering that's where I want to tone up the most. Hopefully, with more time to cook, I can find some healthy recipes (although not on the net!) and feel fit as a fiddle in no time! Please just don't let everyday feel as hot as yesterday! The temperature was reading 35 degrees Celsius inside our apartment. Brutal.

Right now, we're trying to plan our camping trip for the upcoming long weekend (St. Jean Baptist in Quebec), however, we haven't been able to confirm our reservation because the entire Ontario Parks system is down. Yup, Steve and I definitely don't have any horse shoes shoved in any unfortunate places ;)

Steve's birthday pics

Celebrity Birthdays

Celebrity Birthdays June 15th:

Jim Belushi, 1954
Courteney Cox, 1964
Mario Cuomo, 1932
Helen Hunt, 1963
Waylon Jennings, 1937

Happy Happy Birthday Steeeeeeve!!!

Happy Birthday to Steve!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yup that's right...the big 29!!!! That's 2...9. 29. He he he!!! Have a great day Babe!

Cari ;)

frustrated

So after a fairly discouraging interview yesterday, in which they knew I only spoke English, yet asked that the interview be done in French and then requested that I answer some questions in French, even though the position was for someone speaking English, I am more than ready to pack my bags and leave this province. Montreal is a cool city, but I'm tired of dealing with so many closed doors, simply because I am not bilingual. It's tough and after 3 years, my brain needs a break. What I wouldn't give to see street signs in English and shop at Staples, not Bureau en Gros. I'm not saying that I'm not open to learning the language, however it isn't possible to become bilingual overnight and frankly, I want to find a job I like now, not years down the road when I finally can say that I speak French. Just voicing my frustration...

Cari

Our friends came over this evening for dinner. This is their little guy...so adorable. In this pic, Shamus is giving Jesse kisses.
Shamus and Jesse.
He's really growing up! Quite the little man these days!

Ouch!

So remember those cute but cheap sneakers I was going to buy? Well, it turned out that I ended up getting plain old boring sneakers that were pretty damn expensive, all because it was supposed to help me with the problem I have with my arch falling when I walk for any extended period of time. So, we went for a walk today (see me showing off the new shoes) and yup, no help at all. Problem still there. $200 later and I could have just bought those cute sneakers at Payless for $40 and got a second pair at half price. Sigh. I guess next I'll try the fancy insoles. Anybody have any thoughts on the falling arch thing? I can't be the only one with this dilemma!

Jesse's new friend

Our friends, Katie and Marc just got a new puppy, Vegas. He's so cute and Jesse really, really likes him. They play so well together. Here's a few pics of our last "play date". I like the way Vegas has his eyes closed in this picture, prepared for any slober coming his way!
Vegas, with his ears taped. Jesse likes to try to chew on those!

You should hear the noices they make...too funny! In this pic they actually look a little mean, but it's all fun and games for these two!

Bored at work

I'm at work and basically doing everything I can to procrastinate. I'm the only one in the office and it's sooooo boring. I've been out sick for the last 2 days and my boss is still out. It is nice to be out of bed and back to the land of the living. Let's see what I can come up with to write, in order to kill some time...
I joined yoga again and I'm really looking forward to starting next week. It was a pretty good deal, 10 classes for $100.
Steve and I are planning to go see "The Break Up" this weekend and I'm looking forward to buying some new shoes after work. Something cute, comfy and cheap which isn't an easy find (comfy AND cheap).
Oh! and I have an interview on Monday with the agency that took over the area that I work in now. Wish me luck.
And that's it. Back to work I go.
Cari

A couple of pics

All of the pieces are in place and glued down. Hopefully we'll finish it this weekend.
Just cause he's so darn cute.

Good Ole Exercise.

So Steve and I just took a lovely walk with Jesse.

Destination: Grocery Store.

Purchase: McCain cake.

At least we walked to buy it, right? In all fairness...we could have driven...

Riiiight.

My addiction.

So I have never had an addiction...not a single one..not even a coffee craving once in awhile...until now. I think I might just be addicted to Vanilla Bean frappucinnos at Starbucks. They are soooo good and the homemade whip cream is what puts it over the top. Not a day goes by that I don't crave one of these things! I've been trying to be strong, as for one, they are not cheap and for two, they are straight to the butt goodness, if you know what I mean! But today, I can't get my mind off of getting one! I think I'm going to go...every girl deserves to have one weakness right???

Project Update

Well the dresser is almost done, I just have to do the final sanding and stain it, still a lot of work but its getting near the end. Its taking a little longer now that summer is here, but thankfully Cari is really good at reminding me that her clothes are on the floor and it would be nice to have that dresser to put them in........

Here's another project that "we" are doing. We wanted to put tile on the top of our outdoor table, that now has glass on it. The project got moved ahead because Cari broke the glass top. (see pic below)

Broken Glass....

We got the tile's from the Purdy's. It was the left over from the tile floor Darryl and I laid in his kitchen.We got scrap plywood from the hardware store for $5 bucks

The top is on.. Laying out the tile.

Steve (Carol loves me) Dickinson

Porky Puppy

At our last vet visit Jesse weighed in at 60.4 pounds, that's 5 to 6 pounds over his ideal weight. So for the last month and a half we have been running the living shit out of porky..... We throw a ball and the dog runs, while we stand there. (we need to start running to) We went into the vet last night to weigh pork chop and he was at 59.4 pounds, down a pound! So all the hard work was worth it (he worked, we watched)

We recently changed Jesse's diet to a raw food diet (barf diet,stands for...Bones And Raw Food). For those that don't know its basically raw meat, veggies and oils. His food looks like a hamburger paddy, and if you cooked it, you could eat it. I learned a neat thing when I was researching this diet, dogs can eat chicken bones, they're actually really good for them, and their teeth. BUT! the chicken has to be Uncooked. It's when you cook the chicken that it becomes deadly for them to eat because the bone dries out and becomes brittle and will splinter. Dogs stomachs can handle raw chicken with little problems, we found that out when jesse was a pup and he swallowed a whole raw chicken breast that was on the counter...and a tea bag....but that's another story... Anywho, we really like the raw food diet, his craps are small and his coat is nicer. We started out feeding him half raw food and half normal dog food. The Raw food was really expensive, a 6 pound bag was $28, he would need a pound a day, a little out of our budget. But recently friends of ours got a puppy from a breeder, and it turns out the breeder also makes and sells raw food for $13 dollars for a 10 pound bag.....that works with the budget. We used to buy the raw food from a Dog food store that was near us, so the mark up was really high, the breeder makes the food himself so it's a lot cheaper. If you can find a good supplier then I recommend giving this diet a try.


Steve (dog runner) Dickinson

Thunder Storm

Got this lucky snap tonight when a thunder storm rolled by.

Steve (storm chaser) Dickinson

Okay so scratch yesterday's post. After I wrote that I got yet another letter in writing stating that my last day will be June 27th, 2006...4 weeks "as per my contract". I think this one is finally for sure, as it came from the government and the board of directors. It's soooo hot here today! 42 degrees with the humidex! I miss N.S. summer weather. What a difference the ocean makes!

Cari