YEEEEEE-HAAAWWWWWWWW!!!!!

The papers are graded, the exams are all marked, the final grades are calculated and submitted....
I am F I N I S H E D!!!!!!!! My semester is O V E R!

(And no, for those of you not familiar with academia, I don't get four months of summer holidays. The next 6-8 weeks are professional development time - to catch up on those endless professional journals, revise curriculum, review new textbooks, become familiar with new technology, etc. Our holidays run from late June to mid-August, 40 working days in total - which sounds great if you are one of those who only get 2 or 3 weeks per year. But when you go flat out for 8 months - doing marking, prep, teaching, answered endless emails from students, holding office hours, giving up many evenings and weekends - well, that 40 days seems far too short!)

What I love about May and June is that it is totally unstructured time. And that means I can read when I feel like reading (academic material or for pleasure), work outside when I feel like working outside, ruthlessly clean out my files when I feel like being ruthless, and actually eliminate the piles of work on my desk without more piles appearing. And the critters think it is pretty cool too, 'cuz their mom works from home for the next four months and if she goes to the university at all, at least one of them gets to come along.

So my friends and family can expect to see me/hear from me a wee bit more frequently now. Especially if they issue a dinner invitation...hint, hint, hint.

Piggies build a cave!

The piggies have been very industrious the last couple of days, turning the big blackberry bush in the new part of their yard into their very own outdoor shelter. Just as kids will build tree forts, or put blankets over chairs to make a house, it appears that little piglets like to build their own special hideaways also.

And, just like kids, when mom (or Foster Mama, in this case) tries to sneak close for a candid picture, their radar is on full alert and the split second opportunity for an absolutely adorable image of them peeking out of the door is gone.

But nonetheless, cute piggies are cute piggies no matter what they are up to, so here are some of the images that made me smile the past couple of days:

Room for Two

"Wanna have a look, Foster Mama?"

"I'm so proud!!"

"Foster Mama, you're too BIG - you can't come in!"

Can three piglets fit?

Piggy play time

Serious face

Napping in the Sun

Straw Pig

Look how big they are getting!

"I need brushing!"

"You okay, bro?"

The Days of Whine and Hoses

Forget about building a better mouse trap. There are dozens of excellent four legged, furry mouse traps just waiting in shelters – the best mousetrap one could hope to own. What other mousetrap will not only catch the mouse but also dispose of it and then give you a cuddle as well???

What the world really needs is a better garden hose. You’d think, at a time in history when we can put people on the moon, talk to others a world away without wires or cords or heavy equipment, and manufacture electric cars that can detect obstacles when backing up, you’d think that someone out there could invent a garden hose that doesn’t kink, twist, catch on obstacles, or require buns of steel (or arms of steel, or back of steel) to haul around.

It is a gorgeous day with bright blue sky, lots of sunshine, and a cool breeze blowing, so I decided to take a couple of hours off from the marking frenzy and do something about the jungle out there in my yard. After I mowed the grass, I planted a dozen or so trees around the water tank, transplanted a few flowering shrubs, and then hauled out the hose to soak everything down. The yard work itself took me about two hours. The wrestling match with the hose took nearly two more.

If I buy a conventional hose that doesn’t kink, it is too heavy. Those green coiled “never kink” hoses that look like a giant slinky, while flexible enough, constantly tangle on themselves and every obstacle within fifty feet – which is probably why you can buy them dirt cheap at virtually every thrift store and garage sale. As for the handy-dandy machines that supposedly allow you to roll your hose around the yard and then turn a handle to uncoil or coil it……well, there’s one heck of a lot of those showing up at thrift stores too.

I want a light weight, durable, never-kink, never-twist, easy-to-coil, and long- enough-to-reach-all-over-my-very-large-yard hose. Is that too much to ask???

A morning surprise!

I was outside with the dogs at sunrise today, watching a robin in the bare oak tree in the back yard and listening to her sweet song. Suddenly I saw something drop onto the grass below. Too big for a birdy poop. Surely it wasn’t.....couldn’t be.....no way.......YES! She had dropped an egg while perched on the branch, and it had landed safely onto the soft grass below!





How amazing! There was no nest in that tree, and she sat for a while before flying away as if to say “Well, that’s that!” . One tiny blue egg, the promise of life, or simply wasted fertility? I carefully moved it out to the pasture, where it will no doubt be consumed and provide nourishment to others. Such is the way of nature.

Life on the farm

I was rushing through the barn chores this morning because the dogs were impatient to get into the fields. They don’t understand the concept of “sleep in late” – it doesn’t matter one whit to them that I was up until after midnight last night and want to sleep in a little this morning. Morning is morning, and routine is routine. “Get with the program, Mom!”

Consequently, with only one cup of coffee and no breakfast in my belly, there was no way around it - I was going to have to get outside with the critters. Snow on the ground, freezing temperatures, and a very brisk cold wind made for a slightly unpleasant task without the aid of a warm breakfast and another coffee.

Water dishes were frozen, the ground around the barn was 2 inches of mud under its crusty surface of snow, the pigs were starving (or so they said), and with my frozen fingers and with grey cells misfiring I didn’t quite latch the gate from the stall to the centre part of the barn as I traipsed back and forth with hay and shavings and five gallon jugs of water.

Now, normally this isn’t a problem when I’m working in the barn. The piggies are outside eating their greens while I do these tasks, having already downed their grain like it was their last meal on earth. However.....

Because it was cold, Mama Soda and son Swizzle decided to slip back into the stall, unnoticed by me. And one of them, ever observant when it comes to access to food, noticed the not-quite-shut-gate. As I washed the mud from the water dishes, I heard “thump, crash, thump, thump, ooof, oink, thump, crash” from the centre of the barn. I swung around and this is what I saw:

Jackpot!!!


The little monsters had knocked off three large containers and several empty water jugs to root out the one and only plastic bin that temporarily holds excess pig feed that didn't fit in the newly-filled metal garbage cans with hard-to-remove lids.

Now, pigs LIVE for food. Getting them to abandon such a wonderful treasure trove of goodies and return to their stall was quite a challenge. All the other pigs heard the commotion, and came running into the barn to crowd around the now-closed stall gate, intent on joining their mom and brother. To open the gate to get the two recalcitrant pigs back where they belong is to let ten others join in the fun and chaos reign supreme. Pigs can be stubborn, independent, wild and quick - it's rather like trying to herd cats! Big, noisy, heavy, hard-to-move cats!

The whole adventure was exacerbated by the dogs, who were barking up a storm. Charley was barking because joggers dared to run down “her” road, Sadie because she wanted me to hurry up and take them into the pasture, and Belle because....well, because she’s a sheltie. It’s what shelties do. They bark. A lot. In a very shrill, persistent voice. I think they figure they have to make up in noise what they lack in size.

Deep breaths, Jean, deep breaths. Block out the barking and squealing and grunting and think out a solution.

I decided to lock the rest of the pigs outside in their yard, so I could open the stall gate wide and herd Soda and Swizzle back into the stall. I went into the pigyard through the garden gate, slipped on mud and nearly landed on my butt, called to the pigs who came running outside, and quickly closed the barn door.....only to have the bottom section fall off its hinges. Aargghh! I’ve known those screws were pulling out and the wood was rotting for a while now. Rebuilding the door was one of those things on my “to do” list for summer. I guess it has just moved to the top of the list for today – or at least a temp fix.

The pigs run in and out as I try to improvise a barrier across the doorway. Sadie decides barking isn’t working so tries another tactic. She chooses to sit silently by the pig yard fence and give me the slightly-lowered-lid look that clearly says “WILL you hurry up???!!!” while sitting on my newly planted trees:

Sadie, the tree hugger

Barrier in place, pigs in the yard, Sadie sent to wait by the pasture gate, I returned to the centre area of the barn and after a brief conversation with Soda (which you can hear here, though the picture is very dark except near the end; all noises except my voice and some high-pitched piglet squealing are courtesy of one very vocal mama pig) I finally manoeuvered Soda and Swizzle into the stall.

Reverse all steps – go to pig yard, remove barrier, let Soda and Swizzle join others, double-check all gates, and finally ("FINALLY!!", says Sadie) head out to the pasture with the dogs.

Such is life on the farm on a cold, brisk, spring morning.

My Belle was on the News tonight!

and I MISSED IT!!

I sent the weather person on Channel 9 (CTV-BC) some photos I took in the snow this morning in my pasture. He loved the one of Belle and told me he was recommending it be put on the news. I totally forgot there was a 5:00 PM news, and turned on my set in time for the 6:00 News - apparently it was shown at 5:15!!! It wasn't shown on the 6:00PM version - they showed someone's pretty flowers in the snow instead.

Waaaaa...Belle had her 5 seconds of fame and I wasn't there to see it! Oh well, she'll always be a star to me.

More about Lis'

I noticed that I had well over a hundred hits on my blog yesterday (instead of the average 50 or so), and a quick check showed it was people searching for info on Lis' Kristof (see blog entry "An Indomitable Spirit").

One of the dog forums has just posted this information:

A friend of Lis' set up a guestbook for people to learn more about Lis' and a place to leave her a message. Lis' asked that the link be posted on her forums and for others to feel free to pass the link around - it is a central place that she can check on:
Click here or go to http://books.dreambook.com/leilahlafs/lisicles.html

I also found someone had posted the letter and video on a public message board with the embellishment that Lis' died three days after the run. Not so. She is up and around and visiting with family and close friends, according to those who should know! I'll never understand why someone would make up something like that to a story that needed no embellishment to move people to tears!

I don't believe it....

IT IS SNOWING!!!!! White on the ground, thick white flakes coming down, skies heavy with it.
And I planned to take my car in this morning to have my winter tires taken off. HA!


More pics from this morning:

snow on the skunk cabbage

Charley and Sadie, conspirators

Belle

Charley and Sadie playing

out in the pasture
Sadie, coyote watching

snow by the creek

The piggies, on the other hand, are staying where it is warm and dry! They do NOT like cold, wet stuff!

I’m a GRANDMA!!!!!

And here is the newest family member:



(Okay, my family can pick themselves up off the floor now).

I am so very, very happy to announce that my daughter and son-in-law have adopted their first dog, Becky. And I am so very proud that, in doing so, they chose to give a home to a senior dog! I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree (or maybe that should be, the pup doesn’t stray far from the bitch!) after all.

Becky is thought to be an Australian shepherd/border collie cross. She is likely about 10-12 years old and was adopted from the Vancouver Animal Shelter. My daughter tells me she is the sweetest girl in the world, quiet and cuddly indoors, happy and active outdoors. She likes to play ball and go for walks, and she is great with other dogs and kids. She is a lovely, gentle girl who is going to be spoiled rotten by her human caregivers.

My daughter met Becky several days ago when she accompanied a friend to VAS. It was love at first sight, so she went home and talked with her husband about it, and they went back the next day to apply for her. It has been a bit of a roller coaster, because yesterday they learned someone else’s adoption application had already been approved. But it was obviously meant to be that Becky join our family, because the people withdrew their application and now Becky is on her way to a new life with two very caring doggy parents who will make sure she always and forever has the very best of life.

Welcome, Becky. I can’t wait to meet you!

An indomitable spirit: a tribute to Lis' Kristof

A friend drew my attention to this amazing woman, and this wonderful video. If ever we need a reminder that others have far greater challenges than we and that a positive spirit can ease a world of pain, this is it.
Bless you, Lis', for reminding us that in our mortality there is immortality. How we live our life is far more important than how or when we die.

First, the letter from Lis' to her friends:

To all of my fellow agility competitors and friends,
Last Tuesday I was admitted to hospital, for eight years I have fought breast cancer. I have been diagnosed now with AML Leukemia and have been given approximately three weeks to spend on this wonderful earth. I have chosen not to do any more chemo as I believe I have received and given all this life has to give and take.

With the help of my dear friends in Dallas we were able to talk the Dr's into spring me out of hospital today. Tomorrow at the Dallas Agility Working Group's trial I will run my darling Chinese Crested Diva for the last time - it wont be pretty, no one will be able to guess who's handling style I will use and I don't even know myself - just staying on my feet will be an achievement and to run with my very best friend and to be among friends will be enough to give me the energy I need to get through the day.

I am thrilled I will also get to watch the veterans parade and to pay tribute one last time to all the great dogs that have helped form this sport that I so love.

If you want to do anything for me pray that Diva and I can achieve a super Q, it is all we need to become ADCH together, but even if we don't get it - I know I am blessed to share what time I have with my dogs and my friends.

Please wish Angela Lancaster all the very best with my dogs in the future, she is going from the cheesiest Yorkies to a couple of naked Cresteds and I know my dogs will continue to be well loved and respected and they will be in the agility ring again at some time to play.

Many thanks for all your love and support over the years, I am indeed one of the lucky ones that get to say thanks in 'person' before my time.

Remember this weekend to enjoy your friends, dogs and should success come, enjoy and embrace it, if it doesn't never forgot the love of this game and the friendships we have forged. Thanks to everyone who helped me with my journey I sure do appreciate you all.

Run Fast, Run Happy
Lis' Kristof
Dallas, TX

And now, the video of her last run: Click HERE.


(For more information on Lis' Kristof, agility, and Chinese Cresteds, check out Lis' own website HERE. )

Bits and Pieces

Whenever a day or two passes where I fail to post, I get at least one email saying "Are you okay????". Since I am lousy at maintaining friendships through letters, phonecalls or emails, my blog is the means by which my family and friends can tell I am still alive.

So, yes I'm alive. And well. Just bogged down. It is semester end and the final term papers are piled high, the exams are either waiting to be marked or (in one case) waiting to be written, participation marks need to be assigned, and final results tallied. For the next week or so my paid work takes priority over nearly everything else. And my creativity is directed at finding a polite, constructive way to say "this is a cr*ppy essay" for the umpteenth time. That's not to imply my students all write cr*ppy essays - the well written essays are easy to comment on; it's the others that tax my creativity! Bad essays take at least three times as long to mark as well-written ones. And I get cranky.

Sleep would help. But when I do academic work at night, my brain is buzzing and it is hard to sleep. Last night, I shut down early, went to bed at a reasonable time, tossed and turned and finally slept.....to be awoken at 4:30 by Sadie's frantic barking.

Sadie has been with me about a month. As is usually the case with adopted dogs, it takes at least a month for their true personalities to emerge. Quiet, gentle, sweet Sadie has become a barking, hyper watchdog!!! She barks at every person, dog, bird, squirrel, or mosquito that dares to pass by. Thank goodness I work from home a lot so I can put a stop to it and shape her behaviour before it gets out of hand.

Last night, she obviously heard something that neither Charley or I could hear. (Belle, of course, can't hear anything as she is deaf but she observes Sadie barking and so she joins in!). I went outside, flashlight in hand, but could see nothing. Sadie insisted on coming out with me, and frantically tore back and forth near the pasture gate, whining the whole time. Nothing, Sadie, there is NOTHING!

And then I heard it: Martin's distinctive alarm cry. Sadie was right - there was something out there. Martin only sounds the alarm for two reasons: a bear or a strange, unaccompanied dog. He is completely calm around coyotes (an everyday occurance here), so I knew it wasn't that. I'm guessing a bear - it is that time of year.

There's not much I can do about the bears. Martin has managed to survive them for 8-10 years of living by himself in the pasture where he was abandoned. I take every precaution with garbage to make sure I don't offer them food on my premises - having even decided against bird feeders despite my passion for birds.

I like bears - as long as they stay away from me and my critters. They are beautiful animals, and the sight of them stretching up tall in the fields across the road, or climbing the apple trees in the old orchard nearby, or lumbering along the edge of the property are scenes I feel lucky to observe.

But I need to have a talk with them about their nighttime meanderings. Or with Sadie about her response. I need my SLEEP!!!

And now, time to get ready to go torture another group of students with a final exam.

Tumultuous weather, beautiful night

Today’s weather fit the old saying of “if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes and it will change”. We had it all (well, maybe not quite ALL – a internet buddy in Alaska had a big dump of snow!) – we had torrential rain, hail, gusty winds, light showers, and brilliant sunshine. Mix and repeat. Several times.

But now, just as darkness falls and I go outside to close up the barn for the night, it is a magnificent evening. The air is still and fresh, the sky is clear, the moon is bright and the stars are just beginning to appear. Soon there will be a blanket of starlight above me.

I stand at the pasture gate and say goodnight to Martin, and listen to the music of thousands of frogs performing evensong along the creeks and ponds in my neighbourhood. A lone robin harmonizes with its clear sweet voice from a still-bare tree branch. A coyote howls from the fields across the road, and I hear the soft whoo-whoo-whoo of an owl nearby.

And once again I feel so richly blessed.

Rainy days are good for some things

Generally, I don’t much like rainy days. But sometimes, especially in spring, they come as a welcome relief. Today, for example, if it had been sunny I would have been chomping at the bit to get outside and do some more clean up on the garden.

I’m not much of a gardener – I’d love to have a beautiful garden but I hate the work that has to go into it, work that seems to involve an inordinate amount of bending, pulling, lifting, tugging, lugging, wrestling, crouching, squatting, pushing, and other physically tortuous activities for this overweight, arthritic, aching body. (Somehow, hauling hay and building fences and scooping poop doesn’t seem half so tortuous!).

Yesterday morning, my friend Ellen helped me plant a couple of dozen little trees to form a privacy hedge between the driveway and the fence along the top of the piggy yard. There are several other plants and hedging trees waiting to be planted, as well as several emerging plants that need transplanting from an area where I had heeled them in over a year ago. And of course all those little newly planted trees need to be watered generously for the first little while.

So I was very glad to see the rain this morning – heavy rain gives me every excuse to ignore the plants for another day. Of course, the grass is growing longer by the minute and the weeds are already claiming their turf in every bare spot of soil in the flower beds…but the yardwork will still be there tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after when I get back to it.

Meanwhile, I am persuaded by both the rain and a pile of papers to stay indoors and mark student essays, maybe throw in a load of laundry, clean the house a little, get my taxes ready, catch up on much needed inside work.

Oh shoot…the rain just stopped and the sun is trying to peek through. There goes those good intentions. I do believe I hear the piglets, the plants, and the great outdoors calling me.

Pretty Pittis!

Arlo, the cool dude!

Well, the Walkin’ for Raven: Pitbulls with a Purpose was a successful event, with a number of really great dogs and their human companions showing up and raising a good sum of money for the Cystic Fibrosis foundation.

And I learned a lot while I was there. I was amazed to read that approximately one in 2500 Canadian children is born with CF, and one in 25 Canadians is a carrier of the mutant gene. Thankfully, CF is no longer the death sentence it used to be when I was a child. Back then, children with CF seldom lived past four or five; now improved diagnostics and treatment protocols have enabled about half of those with CF to live into their late thirties and beyond. With the availability of lung transplants, that median age could be greatly improved.

Today, I met Eva, a 24 year old who had a double lung transplant last fall and is now enjoying all the activities she has always wanted to enjoy. One of the topics we talked about was the need for people to register as organ donors – while the majority of people in BC say they would be willing to have their organs donated after death, only 16% have actually registered. And so many people with CF die of lung failure in their 20s and 30s, when they might have been given the gift of life. You can register right this minute by clicking here .

And now for some pictures of just a few of the pretty pittis I met today. I have a terrible memory for names, so I apologize that the names are missing from most. I knew I should have written them down!





Sadie, the ladybug. She is SUCH a sweet girl!!!

Pitti kisses are the best!

I'm a little princess, but my straps keep slipping!



Naked Arlo - he's the cool dude in the photo at the top of this entry!

It was great fun. Good job, Zoe and Raven!

A wee reminder

Tomorrow, Sunday April 13th, is the "Walkin' for Raven: Pitbulls for a Purpose" fundraiser at Mill Lake Park in Abbotsford, B.C.

Even if you don't have a dog to walk, come out and meet some really cool pitbulls who are raising funds for children with Cystic Fibrosis. And come out to meet Raven, a really neat five year old girl with CF who loves the animals with all her heart. And, hey, don't forget to say "hi" to me - I won't have my dogs there (or the piggies, cat or alpaca) but I'll be helping with pledges, donations, raffle tickets, etc. and look forward to seeing you.

The event starts at three o'clock at the covered picnic area #4, which is off Bevan Ave on the south side of the park.

See you there!