When Lucy Met Olive

Posted on February 23, 2017 by Mama Cormier

….it definitely wasn’t love at first “bite”

Puppies and old dogs don’t always mesh. A and J were looking forward to introducing their new dog, Olive to G’s and B’s older dog, Lucy.

The experts say that there’s something about puppies that older dogs recognize as being non-threatening. They instinctively know that these frisky young pups, although somewhat annoying to older dogs, are harmless and in need of nurturing and gentle instruction in the hierarchy of the canine world.

I guess Lucy had not read the chapter on caring for pups. A while back she had been attacked by another dog in the dog park and in her defence she has been wary of all new dogs that she meets. Olive learned very quickly that Lucy was less than pleased to meet her. We ended up keeping both dogs on leashes in the house during dinner time. Food issues between two dogs can be quite unpleasant and since Lucy is about four times bigger than Olive we erred on the side of caution during mealtime.

As the day progressed Lucy relaxed a bit, literally, and slept on the couch while Olive pranced around the house and stayed clear of Lucy. Luckily Lucy doesn’t feel the same way about our granddaughter. Winnie can sit on Lucy and dress her up and Lucy reaps the rewards at dinner time when Winnie drops food by her high chair. It’s what I would call a symbiotic relationship.

Winnie is a little unsure of Olive. She’s not used to such an ‘active dog’ but over time I’m sure she will grow to love Olive as the rest of us have. As for Lucy, I think that she will stay out of Olive’s way and be somewhat territorial but time will tell.

The next challenge will come when the girls bring Olive over to our house to meet Frances.

” Say what??? Who’s coming over for dinner?”

WPC – Shadow

Posted on February 8, 2017 by Mama Cormier

…..I usually try to avoid photographing my shadow but this week’s theme is shadow

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photo 5-94 photo 3-17

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One Word Photo Challenge – Dog

Posted on December 18, 2016 by Mama Cormier

…thanks to Jennifer Nichole Wells for this week’s photo challenge and the word dog

Frances and Lucy always make great subjects for photos. Frances is our dog and Lucy belongs to our daughter’s family.

WPC – Relax

Posted on December 4, 2016 by Mama Cormier

….what makes you relax

This week’s WordPress photographic challenge is relax.

Back to Normal

Posted on January 24, 2016 by Mama Cormier

….what a productive day!

Yesterday I started the day with a very long walk with my husband and Frances, our Super Dog. It was extremely cold but we extended our walk and when we finally got back home, I had already exceeded my goal of 10 000 steps for the day. We were suppose to go to Hamilton to visit with our daughter and her family but the plans changed and they were coming to us instead.

Time to clean-up. I started in the kitchen, moved to the bathroom and washed the floors. I was hoping to get to the living room but they arrived early. We enjoyed a simple lunch together and then they had to leave to visit family on his side. B’s dad had not met Winnie yet so we volunteered to look after Lucy (their Bassett hound). This meant a another walk, albeit a short one. When that dog doesn’t want to go any further she puts on the brakes and there’s no budging her.

When the two dogs settled into their own quiet spaces I decided it might be a good time to clear away the remaining Christmas ornaments that were piled on top of the coffee table in the living room and on top of the piano. I pulled out all the boxes from under the stairs and started to reorganize the stockings, ornaments, lights, candles and Christmas cloths and skirts back into their preselected bins. When I returned the boxes to their place under the stairs I must have hit my head at least three times when I was backing out of the closet.

Frances is enjoying the new ‘normalcy’

The only evidence that we celebrated Christmas and will probably be around for awhile

Once the decorations were all put away I vacuumed up any remaining pine needles from the carpet and washed the hardwood. I also decided to polish the piano. Seeing that I’ve haven’t done this in years the wood practically drank up the polishing cream. When I was done it felt good to get so much accomplished.

After I took Lucy for her ‘short’ walk I noticed the most amazing moon hanging over the city so when I returned home I took my new camera, set it on ‘hand held night shots’ and returned to the park, without the dog, and tried to capture that image. I posted a few of these shots on WPC.

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Later in the evening, G and her husband and the baby returned. We spent some more time together. While B helped me with my camera and cleaned up my computer, my husband played with the baby. She gets stronger every time we see her and she desperately wants to crawl and loves to stand when you hold on to her.

I now know a little bit more about my new camera and I was given some very useful tips about keeping my computer virus free. I updated some of my software after our company left and I was able to write a post for this blog before I went to bed. By the time I did finally go to bed I had logged 17 000 steps for the day. Not bad. All being said and done, I had a very productive day despite a nagging headache. Wonder where that came from? Haha!

Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge – The Back of Things

Posted on October 3, 2015 by Mama Cormier

….thanks Cee for this challenge….I’m always taking pictures of my husband’s back because he’s always in front of me

Before you think that this is a cultural thing, it’s not. When we go on our walks I always stop to take pictures and he keeps going.

Lucy and a Trip to Hamilton

Posted on May 2, 2015 by Mama Cormier

…..my daughter and son-in-law have moved to a larger home

On Thursday and Friday, our daughter, G and her husband packed up their tiny apartment and left Toronto to start a new life in Hamilton. We offered to dog sit so that their Bassett Hound, Lucy, wouldn’t get underfoot. Lucy is a lovely dog but not the easiest to look after.

One of the things that Lucy likes to do is take over the chaise lounge and she won’t stop barking until the offending person gets off. If you’ve ever heard a Bassett Hound bark you know how irritating it can be and Lucy is relentless. By the way she also loves to be covered with a blanket.

Our dog Frances gets along with Lucy in short spurts. After awhile she becomes very territorial and she refuses to let Lucy pass to go up the stairs or down the stairs. We always have to separate them at meal time and Lucy finishes first so if Frances doesn’t finish we have to put her food up high and out of the way.

Lucy’s nose is always close to the ground; a very common trait of Bassett Hounds. When we work in the kitchen she is always underfoot, hoping that we drop something. She also loves kale and if we’re not careful she’ll pull it out of the fridge when we open the door. On several occasions when Lucy has been taken for walks down Yonge St. she’s jumped up onto to a city planters and pulled out the ornamental kale to chomp on. Our daughter is mortified when this happens.

Today our son-in-law returned the moving truck. We put Lucy in the car and picked up BT and drove them back to their new home in Hamilton. This was Lucy’s first exposure to the new house. We were a little worried about the stairs but a new carpet has been laid and Lucy was very comfortable going up and down the the steep staircase. Normally she doesn’t like stairs.

Lucy checked out the backyard. Clearly she’s going to need to be trained as to where she can and cannot walk and pee. The flower beds are definitely out of bounds. The front porch quickly became a popular spot to hang out with her loved ones. She’s content to be near her family and she didn’t bark at the folks that walked by the house. Hopefully that part won’t change.

The new house will be a bit of an adjustment for Lucy. There are still a lot of boxes that need to be unpacked and before we left BT started to paint the living room. I’m sure Lucy will learn to love her new surroundings and why wouldn’t she. She has a big backyard to play in and lots of new places to explore in the house and outside in the neighbourhood. I didn’t see any planters with ornamental kale but if they exists she’ll be sure to find them.

When we got home our daughter sent us a photo of Lucy. Apparently she has already decided where her new favourite place in the house is. So typical!

Update on my Ongoing Saga

Posted on August 18, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..thanks to all my concerned followers; here’s where things stand today

My son-in-law has just come out of surgery and the surgeon is 99.5% confident that all is well. My husband’s visit to the surgeon this morning confirmed that the thyroid has to come out and they set a date for October 9th. He just called me from the hospital and he’s waiting to see my aunt. Apparently they took her downstairs to put a tube into her chest to drain the liquid that’s been building up and she should be feeling somewhat better. He said that the Hagen Das ice-cream that he bought her was melting in his bag. I suggested that he take it to the kitchen across the hall and put it in the freezer until she is well enough to eat it.

I’ve just picked up our daughter’s dog, Lucy, so that they have one less thing to worry about. Now I’m worried because didn’t she grab a toadstool and swallow it before I could get it away from her. She seems okay but I’ll have to keep a close eye on her.

On my way home from picking up the dog I ran into a lot of construction and I ended up making a wrong turn. In hindsight it was probably a blessing because I ended up on the highway north of the city and it was moving quickly. Unfortunately I exited too soon and I came down the street that runs by the school. I decided to quickly stop by and check out the library situation. The good news is that someone has put all the shelves back on the wall. The bad news is that they didn’t return the books, the heavy wooden book cases haven’t been put back in place and my office is still jammed with boxes and furniture. I guess I should be thankful for small blessings and hopefully sometime this week the book cases will be returned to their rightful places. With lots of help I can deal with putting the books back on the shelves.

Lucy looks okay (basset) and Frances doesn’t seem concerned.

I’ve just checked the internet and vet sites recommend inducing vomiting. Great! I’ll call our vet and see what she says.

The fun never stops!

Share Your World – Week 32

Posted on August 11, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..more great questions from Cee at Share Your World

Do you prefer ketchup or mustard?

I like both but over the years I’ve grown to like mustard more than I did as a child. Now I prefer mustard on my meats and ketchup on my eggs, fries, grilled cheese and mac and cheese.

If someone made a movie of your life would it be a drama, a comedy, a romantic-comedy, action film, or science fiction?

This is a tough question. It certainly wouldn’t be an action or science fiction film. It would have to be a combination of the first three genres. The romantic comedy would be my teenage years and my relationship with my husband. The comedy portion would include the years raising my children and my years teaching children. Finally the drama would occur when dealing with the deaths of parents, friends and colleagues and the break-ups and disappointments suffered by our children and the divorces of friends and family. Luckily there is more comedy than drama in my life.

If you could be given any gift what would it be?

The gifts I would most cherish would be peace of mind and happiness.

For potlucks or parties do you cook it yourself, buy from a grocery store, or pay for catering?

This depends on the day and the time of year. If the party is on a week night and I’m working I will purchase something special from a deli or take away from a restaurant. I will cook something myself if the party is on the weekend or in the summer when I’m not working.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am grateful for time together with my daughters and their significant others. G and her husband had dinner with us last Friday and A and her partner came by the house on Saturday and helped us clean out the garage. Cleaning the garage and taking everything to the city transfer station was a huge job and I can’t thank J and her family enough for all their hard work.

Later on Saturday G and I drove up to the cottage together and spent a couple of days enjoying each other’s company and the fantastic weather. I’m also grateful to D at the cottage for helping me dig a new outhouse hole.

This week I’m looking forward to visiting my aunt again, helping my friend A organize her basement and garage some more and seeing my friends G and L. I’m also looking forward to working on more art projects from my on-line summer camp.