more fun in the back yard

 We have had two cold weeks this winter, one in November and the other a couple of weeks ago.  It's been lovely the last few days.  It was warm enough to be in the sunroom this afternoon without a coat!  It's unbelievable weather for the end of January.

The dogs and I have been happy to be in the back yard in such lovely weather.  I found out about a new game that Cooper adores.  Dan keeps saying that Cooper has no interest in doing his business and only wants to play when he takes them out.  Cooper keeps bringing in a little squeaky ball and Dan keeps throwing it back out because he says it's Cooper's favorite toy.  I didn't understand why he figures it's Coop's favorite toy because Cooper only retrieves it two or three times when I throw it for him before losing interest in it.

Turns out I wasn't playing the right game with the ball.  Cooper doesn't want to fetch the ball nearly as much as he wants to play goalie for a soccer match (I know that most people in the world call the game football but that's a whole different game in Canada).  Dan doesn't throw the ball - he kicks it.  So I tried it.  Goodness, that dog would play that game all day long!

I'm not very good at getting the ball by him.  Dan is much better playing faux soccer than I am.  Cooper doesn't seem to mind my ineptness though.  I captured a bit of the game on video for you yesterday.  I'm a worse soccer player when I'm holding a camera than usual and then Austin got into the game by "killing" my feet, to boot!  (Get it, feet/boot, I kill me.)

Meanwhile, Robbie knows he looks gorgeous against the snow.

 

So does Bentley (when he stands still) but boy is it tough to get an outdoor picture that shows his dark face nicely.

If you would like to see some real soccer moves here's a video of David Beckham impressing some cameramen while shooting a Pepsi video.  There is some controversy over whether it has been digitally enhanced but David Beckham says that it is all legit.

more wacky winter weather

The unseasonably warm weather continues here in the prairies.  We got a fair amount of snow last weekend and then it warmed right up again; most days have been above freezing.  I took these pics a couple of days ago.

The snow was melting and dripping off of the eaves and downspouts.  We don't usually see that happen until March.

The snow on the grass was slushy and wet.

There were lots of puddles in the street.

Environment Canada is forecasting 11 C for Monday!  That's 52 F at the time of year when we are usually in the deep freeze.  Snow enthusiasts aren't very happy with all of this warm weather but I say bring it on!

Thanks for all of your comments on my last post about leaving the dogs at home when we go to Mexico.  They will be safe and sound at my sister Darcie's place while we're away.  We're dogsitting her two dogs while they're away this winter and then she'll return the favor for us.  The dogs are used to going to her place with us but we decided to do a trial run by leaving them there for a couple of hours on Tuesday, just to see what they do.  They were fine so I'm much more comfortable about going away now.

in with the new

Happy New Year to all!

I have to admit that it doesn't feel like January yet.  Likely that's because we aren't seeing really cold temperatures.  Although it's cooler this weekend than it has been, the temps are bang on normal (-10C or 14F) and aren't supposed to stay cold for long.  In fact, Environment Canada's 7 Day Forecast is starred with an asterisk "denoting an abnormal temperature trend" because Tuesday's through Saturday's highs are above the freezing mark again, a couple of them at 5 and 6C (41 and 43F)!

So what do a couple of homebodies like Dan and me do when the winter weather is milder than I can remember?  Book a Mexican holiday, of course.  We are nothing if not ironic.

First, a little history.  The last time we went on a vacation was when Geoff was about 6 or 7 and we booked a rustic cabin at Clear Lake, MB.  It was a lovely vacation for the most part.  I'm not entirely sure why we haven't gone anywhere since.  As for flying, I've been on a plane once in my life at the age of 12.  Yeah, I know.  I might as well be a dinosaur.  So now that Dan is retired we have been tossing around the idea of a warm winter vacation.  Dan's sister recommended we contact her travel agent, the amazing Evelyn Poole, so I sent an email to her on Friday at suppertime and before 10 pm we had booked a week's vacation in Puerto Vallarta in late winter.

It hasn't really hit me yet.  At this point, I'm wobbling between feeling tentative and excited.  I hope my health problems don't flare up and I hope my dogs aren't miserable because they have never been without at least one of us around.  It's going to be particularly hard on Bentley because he is such a little velcro dog and I have spoiled the stuffing out of him.  On the other hand, it's Puerto-freaking-Vallarta!!

I will leave you with pics of said Dachshund.  I bought a C-shaped pillow (meant for nursing mothers) to have on my lap while spinning so that my shoulder doesn't have to support my arm in one position which caused tendonitis in my right shoulder in the summer.  The pillow was on the living room sofa when Dan called me to see how Bentley had burrowed through it.

"No, don't leave me when you go away!"

"I can't face it."