Camping: It Totally Rocked

Not sure if I've made it clear, but all in all, camping rocked.

We drank.

We slept.
We went for long walks...

And on the drive home we found THE ONE AND ONLY NON-DISGUSTING OUTHOUSE in all of British Columbia THANK GOD oh my GOD I thought I was going to DIE if I had to wait one more SECOND I SWEAR to GOD I would have peed all over the JEEP like ALL OVER IT that is how close I was to DYING of too much pee.

So I took a picture of it for your viewing pleasure.


You're welcome.

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Camping: My Yogi

While we were camping I decided that I wanted to take the opportunity to get a little meditation back into my life. That's right: Meditation. Some version of the following is what generally runs through my head when I "meditate":

Ooooooomm... Ooooommmm..... ommmmmm... Om-I forgot to iron my pants for today.... ahem... ok- ooommm... You know, I should wear skirts more often, it's not that I don't like skirts, but... helloooo... oooommmm. Ok, "ooomm" isn't working, that is kind of pretentious anyway... "Pretentious"? Holy crap Shauna, who do you think you are? You're calling people who devote themselves to the mountains and forgo sarcasm forever and EVER "pretentious"?... Shut up! Shut up! shutupshutupshutup.... Okay. Self love. Let's try self love... Centering... Love.... Loooooooooooooooooooooooooooove... love... Hold on! Hold ON! Pull it together, you were doing it FOR A WHOLE .83 seconds! Fight it!!! Fight it, you can DO it... FIGHT IT WOMAN!!!!.... Seriously, what pants am I going to wear today...

Yeah. So a super, duper zen experience. Eckhart Tolle totally rings me for tips every now and again.

In this photo Kayloo is watching the pandemonium of what seems like dozens of crazy, deliriously happy kids (my little cousins) at the end of the dock. She is thoroughly and totally wrapped up in their every squeal, leap and splash. She is absorbed in curiosity and eventually compelled to join them at the end of the dock and when she came back I can only describe her trot as joyous.

So, wishing y'all a joyous trot today. Or at the very least that you remembered to iron your pants...

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Camping: Connoisseur Only Different

Ok. So I would definitely recommend this wine- it's organic, it's Chilean... it's all good.

I also like it's name: Cono Sur. Like "connoisseur" only different and easier to spell. Get it? I did, which might have been part of the reason I bought the bottle in the first place.

But the real reason I am posting this photo is that I am so excited that my camera can do the whole "blurry in the background, focused in the front" thing. That is some fun stuff. I have a (grabbing a camera and copying, copying) Canon Digital IXUS 850IS. Yup. Turns out the IXUS can do the blurry thang.

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Camping: Mickey Crashing Out II

Apparently all my dog does is sleep. Here is Mickey Crashing Out I.

One of my Little 2nd Cousins: Is Mickey sleeping again?

Me: Yup.

Little Cuz: Mickey sleeps alot.

Me: You guys chase him around a lot.

Little Cuz: Does Mickey want to play right now?

Me: I don't think so.

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Camping: Cruisin'

At one point my uncle took my mom, dad, aunt and I on a Boat Ride. Capital "B" capital "R" because boat rides are Wicked. Boat rides are the kind of thing that makes you feel like you're cruisin', and the only things cooler than cruisin' are the following:

1. being a black belt in some kind of martial art
2. being Pool-Shark-Good at playing pool

I am a black belt in flailing around, hitting hard and letting the Mean Streak Take Over and I can single-handedly make one, single game of pool last over an hour and a half... so cruising it is.

My mom, aunt and I played the If We Had a House on a Lake, Which House Would We Have? game. This is a pretty good game. It is similar but different to If We Had a Villa What Would It Look Like? and If We Had a Beverly Hills Home with a Swimming Pool, An Amusement Park, a Drive Thru Ben and Jerry's and a Full Time Man-Servant, What Would It Look Like? For some reason my dad and my uncle weren't interested in playing.

This game consists of comments such as the following:

• It's nice, but eek- look how far you would have to walk to the water. What is that, like, 45 seconds?
  
• 0/10. No space for the outdoor spa, which is clearly a Top 5 criteria.

For some reason the fact that we don't actually OWN a cabin on ANY lake does not stop us from being so judgmental.

In any case, we didn't find our Dream Cabin and would have had to combine 8 designs to even come close, so needless to say, we won't be purchasing a cabin by the lake this summer. Drat.

While we were gone Mickey and Kayloo hung out under their fancy tent, away from the crazy hot sun and guarded the beer.

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Camping: Tin Foiled Goodness

See that tinfoil in the background behind the fire pit? So did Mickey. Actually, he smelled it before he saw it and he was compelled by a force not unlike The Force to investigate. At which point he was scolded to within an inch of his life. And so now he is doing the dog version of moping where we can all see him and eat tin foiled goodness right in front him without regard for his discerning palette. Ha. ha.

Tough life this little guy has.

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Camping: Kayloo & the Thong

Camping was HOT. Holy-Crap hot. Speedos-Aren't-A-Good-Idea-Unless-You're-Michael-Phelps, hot. Thong-Bikini-Bottoms-Are-NEVER-A-Good-Idea-Oh-My-God-That-Image-Will-Be-Burned-Into-My-Retinas-Forever, hot.

And I forgot my bathing suit.

You know, this should not surprise me. The last TWO work trips I went on I forgot my glasses, which is a serious problem considering my contacts dry up like potato chips and I am blind enough to run into dark doorways because I CAN'T SEE THEM. I even forgot my glasses when I went to Mexico where the whole Grand Master Plan was to sleep in, sit on my duff and read trashy magazines. Waking up in the morning and FEELING my way to the bathroom, trying to avoid breaking my toes on every corner I couldn't see wasn't originally a part of the itinerary. But you know, it added a bit of sport to my mornings and gave me an excellent excuse to start drinking before lunch.

Kayloo had the right idea. I should have just grabbed a thong and plopped right down in the lake. My family was there though. That could have been... awkward.

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Camping: Mickey Crashing Out I

I think this photo very nicely captures our camping experience. It was lazy. It was sunny. And sometimes after all the water and hotdogs and laughing and sunscreen the only thing to do was crash out on the floor.

I love summer.

Stay tuned for more "Mickey Crashing Out" pics...

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Camping: Darn Near Perfect

Our 8 hour drive ended up being closer to 11 because we stopped 50 billion times to let the dogs out/eat/humour Shauna and let her get close ups such as this one.

If you look closely at this photo you'll see a dew drop and a wee little ant on this darn near perfect wild rose.

Actually, scratch that. I'd say it IS a "perfect" rose. Anything to do with flowers is pretty much perfect. Besides, a dew drop AND an ant? Those extra 3 hours in the car with one pup this close to chucking kibble and the other one this close to blowing the car up with her gas was totally worth it.

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Camping: Flushing Toilets ROCK

We went for a long weekend camping trip last week. Camping is wicked. I'm NOT talking about roughin' it in the wild with only a loin cloth, gun and strip of burlap to get us through. No, no. I'm talking about a cabin, running water, electricity and a cushy bed to cuddle into after a nice glass of wine and a full belly. Oh yeah. That's my kind of camping. The toilets flushed. There were showers. Hell, we even had lasagna for dinner one of the nights.

But we still had a camp fire to serve the VERY IMPORTANT PURPOSE of roasting marshmallows. So, as you can can very plainly see it WAS real camping.

More pics to come...

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Sometimes It's Hot

You know what, guys? Sure thing- sometimes it's all about being sophisticated and whetting your lips with a lovely Pinot Grigio or maybe even a randy tipple of Blackberry wine.

But sometimes it's hot and the best thing to do is grab a pomegranate cooler and lap up the sugary sweetness one bubble at a time. These occasions MAY even require that you get a wee bit tipsy. And they most certainly call for a streak through the nearest sprinkler if you're game (and your neighbours aren't prone to heart attacks).

Kayloo Pulling a Jedi Mind Trick

Kayloo camps out by her food dish on a regular basis. Sometimes it is time to eat, sometimes she is just trying to pull a Jedi mind trick and WILLING it to be time to eat.

The girl likes her chow.

These pictures are all taken on separate occasions. I would take more pictures to prove this strange behaviour to you, but she is a dog and all of the pictures would basically look the same. As you can see.


Here she is at it again.


And again.

You'll notice that the pictures of Kayloo's head cocking antics are taken in the same location. Please note that there is no chain tethering her to this part of the house.

Please also note Kayloo's ears. As if you could miss them.

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I Can't Get Fooled Again

Here is a photo of Mickey racing around with my camera case:


And here he is having stolen the treat bag (same day):


To quote George W. Bush:

"Fool me once, shame on... shame on you... Fool me, you can't get fooled again."

Thanks George.

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A Beer Good Enough for Prince George

I mentioned the other day that John and I went to an Organic Festival. One of the first signs that greeted us was for lemonade and we smiled and nodded and murmured, "Oh, what a nice pretty sign, it's so pretty, (sigh) so cute. Oooh. Ahhh."

And then angels started singing and THE CLOUDS PARTED AND OUR PRAYERS WERE ANSWERED BECAUSE WE WEREN'T GOING TO BE ASKED TO GET THROUGH THE ENTIRE DAY ON LEMONADE ALONE - IT WAS DECREED!!!

That's right. This wicked Organic Fest had a Green Drinkery. Yessireebob. We were at a dang good festival.

My first "taste" was the Lotusland 2002 Pinot Noir (above). I liked it. I was a happy camper. Granted, I was sitting in the sun, downing a generous glass of wine and everyone was practically BEGGING me to feel all high and mighty as I was supporting the organic wine industry... but still, I think that Pinot did it's part to brighten my day.

The discerning wine drinker will note that the picture above is not of a glass of red wine and a glass of white wine. No, no. The glass on the right is a glass full of BEER. Beer? Beer! There is a good reason for the departure from the pure "Wino" side of "Fido & Wino" however as this is a very special glass of beer. Oh yes.

Drum roll please.

Let me introduce you to... NATURELAND!!!

John tasted NatureLand's Organic Lager and said it rocked. This is all lovely and good but the real kicker in all of this is that the Pacific Western Brewing Company- which brews NatureLand- is based in PRINCE GEORGE!!! I grew up in Prince George! This is amazing because Prince George has also voted, year after year, to keep a giant wooden man (Mr. PG if you will) as the mascot for the city (I'm not kidding, google it). Who knew good 'ol PG had it in 'er to whip up some tasty organic brew?

Pacific Western: If you're reading this, call me! (nudge, nudge, wink, wink)

Flowers Are Pretty

Flowers are pretty. See? Even dogs think* so.

* "Think" meaning, "Aw, I think it's so pretty that another dog/person peed/spit/sneezed/threw up right on this flower here."

My Dogs Love Each Other

I have this picture that illustrates just how much my dogs love each other:


No, hang on...


That's not it either...


I'm sure I had one.


Hmmmm....

Never mind.

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A Gold Medal White

I took this picture on Saturday... what a wicked day! John and I got back from this Organic Festival (which was not lame AT ALL) and then my neighbour started pouring us wine. How fantastic is that?

The dogs were chillin', we were gabbin'... life was good, lemme tell ya.

As most of you know and many of you have commented on, John and I are red drinkers, not white drinkers (that makes it seem like we are PROLIFIC drinkers... we aren't. Really. You know what I mean). In any case, we may become prolific drinkers because this wine called Barefoot, a Pinot Grigio from California rocked. As you can see, it won a Gold Medal so my review can't be that far off.

Overall Review: Thumbs Up (obviously)!

PS- And it's $9! Should I mention that? Seriously people, it is really very nice!

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It's True: Mickey Had a Nose Job

A few people have asked and, although I have struggled with what is for "us" as a family and what can and should be divulged to the public I have decided that the time is now to stand up and let my voice be heard.

Yes, the rumors are true: Mickey had a nose job.

Please see above a recent picture of Mickey. And here are some pictures from before the "procedure": walking around with a stick, fighting with another stick, and sleeping after playing with several sticks. You'll notice that these days you can clearly see Mickey's eyes.

To the naysayers I say this: Stand down! I am a mother, and as a mother sometimes I have to make the hard choices: Chicken or beef? To pick up or to hide the poo under a leaf? Educational "training walk" or jaunt on over to the park where Little Sally and her crazy Jack Russel pup can run the pants off the dogs and get them off my back for the rest of the night? Tough choices indeed.

Some of you might think that 1 year is to young to go under the shears, but you know what? I'm glad I was strong enough to fight the good fight. I'm glad I dared to introduce Mickey to a woman strong enough to pin down all four flailing legs and tenacious enough to groom away through the flatulence.

And will I do it all again? Damn right.*

* I'll probably take him back to the groomer when his little hair/whisker things get too long and they start poking him in the eyes again.

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Bongs and Bras and Naked People (oh my!)

So, I went down to Berkely, CA last week and this is what greeted me in the lobby:

And this what greeted me in my bathroom:


Bras in display cases and naked people. What is it with me and pictures of naked people in weird places (read about more nakedness here)? Clearly I did not do my homework before arriving at the hotel. Perhaps if I had I would have been prepared for the bras, the naked people and the bong lamps. Bong lamps? Oh yes, bong lamps:

It's actually called a "Custom-Design Bong Lamp" and I could have had one of my very own for a cool $275.

They even had a whole bottle of Gia Domella, Cabernet Sauvignon right in the room, which I did not have because I would have had to drink the entire bottle to myself (waste not, want not) and that would make me an alcoholic. Ahem.


Overall Review: I didn't drink the wine, but I give it a Thumbs Up because how cool is it to be in California with bongs and bras and naked people?