Duty - Loyalty - Integrity - Courage

I found four drafts of this post from July. We were in Montreal and staying at a hotel that didn't have enough bandwidth to upload this post. So here you have it. But just the once.

A little about today. After finally settling into our Montreal hotel room at 3am, we woke at 10 to get ready for the drive into St. Jean. The occasion? The end of course ceremony for Platoons Hobson and Cairns. This is where 14 weeks of physical and mental fortitude would culminate in recruits becoming graduates, and the beginning of the next chapter in their military lives. By tomorrow, all of the privates will have shipped out to various bases for further education in their chosen trades. In the meantime, it was a chance for them to do their thing in a parade square and for family and friends to see them again.

The Reviewing Officer was Colonel S.M. Cadden. In his end of course speech he thanked the families and likened the graduates to resources that are being checked out of the library. They may be returned worn or tattered around the edges but they will be taken care of. They are part of a team now. Not the biggest military in the world, but the best. Here's the thing. Seeing Keelan on parade in his dress uniform didn't make me feel like I'd loaned a book to the army. It was more like I'd donated my heart. And the thing about a donation is that it isn't a loan at all. He isn't really mine to give (our children never are), but he was mine first. He was once an infant that I held close. I marveled at blonde curls and blue eyes. I watched him grow, sometimes by little bits and sometimes by big leaps. He is still the baby brother to his sisters. He is his parents' only son. He is my parents' first grandson. He is the best friend of the son of my best friend. He has made this commitment because he has a deep sense of honour. Remember all of that if you cross paths with him. And not just with him, but with any other soul who cares enough to put their life on the line for yours. The parade was hard. If only because it meant 2 more hours to get through before I would be able to look at him close up. At the reception after the parade, we were able to mingle with the newly-minted private. He's thinner now, most of the muscle he spent months putting on in preparation for basic training gone in a three month race to the finish. But he looks good. Tall, tanned and more confident than I have ever seen him. The absolute best part of the day? The hello hug from Keelan. And the whispered "You smell like Mom".

The Finer Points

2:00 am

Me: Pssst? Hey. Norm?
Norm: Phhferggh.
Me: Hey. Wake up.
Norm: Mwuh?
Me: I ran out of sleep.
Norm: What?
Me: I can't sleep.
Norm: Try harder.


2:00 pm
Ring (bbzzzttt, vibrate)

Me: Hello?
Bree: HOW THICK IS THE CARAMEL SAUCE SUPPOSED TO BE WHEN YOU TAKE IT OFF THE HEAT?!
Me: Uh, hi. I'm fine thanks for asking. How are you?
Bree: Oh. Sorry. I love you. BUT THIS IS A CARAMEL EMERGENCY!!

City Dogs in the Country

They wouldn't fool anyone. Shiny, sleek, pampered, riding in the truck on a foam padding that is covered in a few layers of furry blanket. It doesn't matter how muddy the truck gets (or how broken the windshield: blasted wind, rain and trailer-trucks), one look at those dogs and you know they're from the city.

If you need a more obvious giveaway though, all you have to do is get them near horses. The dogs and I spent Saturday night with my mother at her cousin's cabin about three hours northwest of Calgary. As we pulled onto the barely-there track that leads to the cabin, we stopped so that my mom could unlock and open the gate. I opened the windows so the dogs could get a good snout full of country air. Cue the horses. Two of them trot over to the barbed-wire fence and the dogs immediately sound the alarm. There was absolutely no shutting them up - it was worse than having a motorcyclist tailing me (that used to send them over the edge, until we waited three hours at a standstill in a ferry lineup with a motorcycle right behind us). So I get out, and figure I'll demonstrate how harmless the horses are. Snuffle, snuffle, pat, pat, pat...and the dogs are now howling and rocking the truck. As if they think I'm going to be eaten alive. The horses, are, to their credit, staring in amazement rather than galloping for home.

Once past the gate, another obstacle awaited. Because having your windshield crunched just is not enough. This tree was laying across the road. (Dog added for perspective). It was a big tree. We could have walked on to the cabin, found some axes, walked all the way back, hacked it up... nah, we just lifted up and moved it off to the side. Eat your spinach boys and girls.

Kittens are also vile beasties that must be snuffed out of existence. See the kitty?

No? That's because it's long gone. On one of our walks, the dogs were bounding around when I noticed a grey and white kitten hunkered down in the grass, trying its best to be invisible. I don't blame it. And in retrospect I should have ignored it, but who can resist the mewling of a little baby kitten? Not I. So...I bend over to pet it and Rory and Gotham pick that moment to come and investigate. Neither one of them has even seen a cat since they left their breeder's house as pups. Now the kitten is petrified - it's the only explanation I have for why it didn't run - and Rory gives it a little poke. I move Rory off and Gotham decides that a bigger poke and a pounce are in order. NOW the kitten begins to hiss and put up a fight and all three of them are off into the bush. F&*#!  Now imagine if you will: two small saplings, just wide enough for a dog at full tilt to barrel through, or, wait, no, not really quite wide enough...I don't know which dog it was because they were pretty far by then, but one of them has a pretty good bounceback.

All the bad things vanquished, the remaining walks were typically Ridgeback. As was the time spent drying out and warming up in front of the wood stove. Unless they were listening to the crazy rooster from the neighbouring property, just one more thing that rankled Gotham.

Bounding through wet, waist-high grass. My shoes are still soaked.

Gotham in an unusually unrefined leap.

Rory...just waiting for Gotham to reappear. Because when he does: LOOK OUT!

Those last two shots? A little Blair Witch Project flair, no? Not particularly good shots, but you get an idea of the breakneck speed at which they'll chase each other around the bush. It was crazy.

Sunday morning dawned bright and with the promise of warmth. It also dawned with me very very sleepy. The country is a quiet place at night. Except the howling, hooting, barking, tweeting and all manner of other animal noises. This didn't bother Rory at all. But Gotham? He kept me up all night just because I knew he wasn't sleeping. Every time I'd click the flashlight on, Gotham would be laying beside my bed, with his head up and aimed to the window, ears on full alert and eyes wide open. He was barely able to keep them open. They'd start closing and he would jerk himself awake again. Pitiful. If he could talk, he would probably tell me that three weekends of adventure in a row is too much for his delicate countenance. Mine too.

Why am I tired?

1: Spent the morning cleaning house.
2: Didn't get my Saturday nap.
3: Hopscotch (more like leapscotch, or at least jumpscotch, my nephews don't 'hop' anywhere), neighbour's goldfish pond, making pizza, spinning till you're dizzy at the playground, getting creative with sidewalk chalk. Interestingly, I was more of an observer than a participant and although Connor is now bathed and fast asleep, I think Xander still has some spark left. Not me.

3.

Dance Lessons

I haven't posted for a long time. And finally I get my paws on a computer and what do you know? Blogger has changed the setup again. Here's to hoping I get this right.

KP isn't posting stuff - you'll have noticed that I'm sure. But I did want you to see me and Gotham at the park. Because really, I know you can never get enough of this right?

That's me, in the red.  That ear sticking up? That's Gotham's. Ridiculously uncool.

When I'm done showing Gotham the school of hard knocks, he likes to play shadow tag with himself. I won't tell you the other embarassing thing he does, because KP's gonna post about that another time, I'll tell you this though...it has to do with running after a B-A-L-L. Totally insane. And very unRidgebacklike.

Hear that? It totally sounded like "UURNGMPH!" He's not as easy to knock over as he was a few months ago, and he's getting really good a deking me out, but once I catch him, it's game over.


Here are some interesting ones. Cropped so you can see close up how extremely tough and crazy we are (KP says just crazy). Pretty gnarly, huh?

But really, we're just softies. Don't tell anybody.

Early Morning

If you're looking for reno photos and stories don't read any further. Frankly, I'm quite enjoying not tripping over tools and materials and not having to scrape layers of dust off of everything. So the tools have been put away since the first week of December, poor lonely things. Norm has since acquired some new tools but he seems content enough to play with them in the garage. That, or he knows it won't be pretty if they come out of hiding. At least not right now.

If, on the other hand, you like early morning walks by the river at the tail end of winter, this post is for you. We went early yesterday too, but no camera. I guess they wanted a do-over because this morning they weren't taking 'no' for an answer when they woke me up. Whine, whine, whine, the "we absolutely MUST go to the PARK now" incessant, in stereo, whine. It's that or they knew there was no dog food and the store doesn't open till 10am. Wouldn't want to miss the store opening.

Weird noises in the mist

What's down there? Rory? Is that you? C'mon out!

The sun is coming! The sun is coming!

A little less brown every day.

The grass isn't always greener.

Always be on guard.

LAST ONE IN THE GULLY IS...well, the last one in. 

Gotham knows Rory is stalking him from the gully...he'll get pounced any second.

Sometimes Rory lets Gotham keep up.

Heading home for breaksfast. They don't know we ran out of dog food yesterday.

Free at last!

The great thing about -29C is that when the temperature finally hits -3 it feels like a heatwave. The dogs actually WANT to be outside, so today was a good day to let off some of their pent up energy. You can see it in their eyes. "Can we go now...now? Huh? We're ready...can we go? How 'bout now?"

As absolutely adorable as Gotham is (new babies always steal the limelight), we wouldn't want to forget the real star of the show. 

Besides, as you can clearly see from the expression on Rory's face, Gotham has a lot to learn. "Really? Doesn't he know the ground is too cold for stalking? Make him stop, he's embarrassing me."

It really is a beautiful day.

And Gotham, at seven months, is finding his feet. And his legs. The playing field is leveling out for those wrestling matches and chasing Rory.