Month: November 2013

Lakers

Lakers

A cool thing about living near the Great Lakes, in the middle of North America, is seeing lake freighters large enough to be oceangoing ships steaming past.

The St. Clair River, linking Lakes Ontario and Erie with Huron, Michigan, and Superior, is a great place to see lakers. The channel is about a mile wide so you can get pretty close.

The 740-foot-long Baie Comeau is a new addition, being commissioned last summer. Here she is downbound for Quebec City. I timed my lunch at work to take a few photos, including this one.

Free range

Free range

Wandering Allen and Connie’s yard, looking for tasty bits.

Raw chicken feet . . .

. . . a yummy dog treat!

Faye and I are pondering switching the dogs to a raw diet. She went to the market yesterday, saw the chicken feet in the butcher case, and decided they would make just such a treat for the dogs.

Raw bones are OK for dogs as opposed to cooked ones, and feet/toe bones are very unlikely to damage stomachs or intestines. All are fine tonight.

Kendal inhaled two, possibly sensing they were food as they passed through his mouth. Stella worked on hers for a while before finishing. Achilles, interestingly, took the most time to savour his, possibly because he has bad teeth and the foot may have been uncomfortable to chew and crunch up. Here are some photos. You have been warned. 🙂

The cattle dogs. Kendal had already made his disappear.

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Faye used the rest of the feet to make a stock, which is nearly solid and will probably need to be diluted.

Photo of us

Photo of us

Our friend Reg (more Faye’s friend than mine, their friendship began some time before I came along) observed that there were no photos of Faye. After some discussion we realised that was simply an oversight. Here is one of the first photos taken of us.

I will tell the story of our first week in more detail in another post but I had decided to show Faye my version of Austin TX. Part of that showing included a visit to Mt. Bonnell, a scenic overlook, with my dog Moonpie. A stranger volunteered without being asked to take a photo of us so here we are.

I *think* we were beginning to realize that we got along, had shared interests. Do not think that we had any clue where our meeting was going to lead.

Early morning walks

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My walks with the dogs are good ways to begin interacting with the world, to accept that I have to go to work to continue having and enjoying these walks. We often see, smell, hear interesting things. This morning the first sense to hit me was that it’s breezy this morning, which is a harbinger of today’s rain and the approach of tonights’ cooler weather. the second thing to hot me was the smell of onions. Whether of our green onions or the ones on someone’s farm, I don’t know.

Robins are still here, I hear them calling when we walk. While walking Achilles and Stella in the half light this morning one almost swooped in to land on a yard within Stella’s reach. It quickly swerved away. As I opened the door to head out with Kendal we saw a bird, some species of raptor, trying to make headway against the south breeze. On opening the gate as we got home the first few raindrops hit us.

Time to head to work.

Curled up pup

We allow the dogs on the furniture.

Sometimes they allow us on it.

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Bo the dog

Bo the dog

Taken with my PlayBook.

During apple pressing on Sunday, Allan and Connie’s dog Bo wandered in and out of the scene. Bo is a CoLabSki (can you parse out the breeds?) and a friendly, open boy. He likes meeting people and other dogs. A while ago Faye and I stated there with our crew and everyone got along fairly well. Bo found a loose apple and happily munched his way through it.

Achilles

I invited Achilles inside and he declined. Chili dog is by and large a very good boy in the back yard. He very rarely digs, does not bark without reason, is content to watch, listen, and smell the world. Achilles is generally welcome to be outside unsupervised as long as he wishes.

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Apple press

Apple press

On the go much of this Fall Your Clock Back day. Off to the Auburn Pancake Breakfast which Margaret, my mother-in-law likes to do, visiting with Raymond and Gwen along with making the acquaintance of their new dog Levi, Allan and Connie who put apples through a grinder/chopper (?), putting the resultant product through a press, and making juice (which was delicious!). The photo shows the results of chopping apples which will then go to the press. Home just after sunset to find three dogs more than ready to go outside to pee, then come back in and investigate the dog smells on our pant legs.