March 15, 2010

Dreaming of sunny days

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Okay, it has now officially started.

All it took was a couple of days of sunshine and slightly warmer temperatures and I’m now pining for the road — the wind rushing by my face, leaning into the curves, exploring new places and seeing the scenery.

And I think Jake is feeling the same way. He’s been spending a lot of time in our front window lately, staring out towards the road, his chin resting on the windowsill, that tongue out just enough to let us know he wants something. How long will it be until we can get back on the bikes and go — a month, six weeks, sooner, later? I really hope it’s soon.

I’ve been thinking about some of the road trips we took last summer, particularly about our trip to PEI and Cape Breton. There was one day that I remember when we rode along the north shore of PEI. It was one of those days — it was sunny and warm, with a bit of a breeze and it was like we didn’t have a care in the world. We weren’t going anywhere in particular. We were just going to see what there was to see. The theme parks were all crazy busy, we could see the cars jammed into the parking lots from the road, but we didn’t need their rides — we had our own.

We stopped in North Rustico for a late lunch. It was a little fish and chip place by the side of the road beside the water. The food was great and they had picnic tables so we could set ourselves up and settle in, which is exactly what we did. Jake had a few nibbles and some water, and probably a bit of my fish. (Jake loves fish. I think he’d walk over hot coals for tuna.)

It was just a perfect summer day. After we ate, we wandered along the water. There were even ospreys in a nest overhead.

That’s the kind of day I’m waiting for.

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March 8, 2010

It really is a small world sometimes

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Is the world really small or is it just full of coincidences?

I wonder about that sometimes, especially when we travel and meet people we know or at least people who know people we know.

Our RoadDog is such a people magnet that we end up chatting with a lot of strangers. It doesn’t seem so unusual to bump into people when we aren’t far from home, but when we’re hundreds of miles away I often ask myself “what are the chances?”

Steve and Jake and I stopped at a winery while we were touring around P.E.I. last summer. Actually, we passed the winery, had a brief chat on our radios about how nice it would be to have a bottle of wine at the cottage we were going to stay at, turned around and went back. And by the way, we ended up buying two bottles of wine — a red for Steve and a white for me. In our defence, we were going to be staying at the cottage for several days, but I digress.

I went inside first to scout out my choice while Steve waited outside with Jake. Then Steve went inside, supposedly to see if he agreed with my choice, came back out to tell me he wanted a red and disappeared back inside to make our purchases.

While he was doing that, Jake and I were wandering around the beautiful grounds around the winery’s store. In the distance, I could see the grape vines and beyond that the ocean. It was a really pretty place.

Two couples rode in on two cruisers and asked me to take a photo of them. Actually, they invited Jake into the photo as well and we ended up chatting. That’s how I discovered that one of the men is an uncle of an acquaintance. That led to further discussions and so on. They were lovely people and we ended up spending the rest of the afternoon with them. They led us into Montague and pointed out the road to our cottage. Then they took us to this incredible diner. It’s just like something out of the fifties. Cars drive in and flash their lights and a carhop goes out to take orders and later returns to deliver them. It was a bit surreal and the food was fantastic.

We ate at a picnic table and Jake had a great time with his new friends. All because we stopped to buy wine. It was good wine too.

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March 1, 2010

Is that fervour or fever?

10:54 am | 1 Comment »

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I think I owe our dog an apology. Actually, I think maybe Steve and I both owe Jake an apology.

For the past 17 days, our house, even a big chunk of our lives, has been all about the Olympics. I’ve referred to myself a number of times to family, friends and co-workers as an Olympic addict and I think most of them thought I was kidding, but I really wasn’t. From Day 1, I was hooked.

Steve and I are both very patriotic to start with, Steve probably a little more than me. We are both proud Canadians, proud of our country, our flag, our people and the essence of what it is to be Canadian. Maybe that’s why we were addicted, with Canadian athletes competing on Canadian soil.

But even before the opening ceremonies, I was there. It was partly the news person in me, wanting to see how everyone dealt with the death of the Georgian luger just hours before the big kickoff. But those opening ceremonies got me. I was up until 2 a.m. watching to the end. I think the following night it was 1:30 a.m. when we turned out the lights. Over the past few weeks, we haven’t had a lot of sleep. To be honest, we haven’t had enough sleep. Yet, somehow, the Olympics kept us going. Like so many Canadians, we watched with awe and pride from Alexandre Bilodeau’s first gold medal to Joannie Rochette’s courageous bronze to the men’s Olympic hockey gold. ( I was just about to head to the kitchen for a glass of wine, unable to take much more, when Sidney Crosby finally found the back of the net for that win.)

I even sat in our living room wearing my red Olympic mittens for the entire third period of the women’s gold medal game. It was a promise I made to my stepdaughter who was there in the stands in Vancouver for that win. I couldn’t be with her (jealous though I was), but I could wear my red mittens and be with her and the rest of Canada in spirit.

Throughout it all, Jake has been bewildered and somewhat ignored and if there’s one thing our RoadDog doesn’t like it’s being ignored. We didn’t neglect him exactly — we fed him, took him out, took him for a couple of walks in the park, treated him to a few Timbits, even managed to give him a bath one night (I’m sure he just loved that, boy dog that he is). We played ball with him in the living room, but I think he sensed our distraction since we occasionally stopped to stare at the TV.

He looked at us as we watched at that noisy electronic box night after night. He jumped to attention as we occasionally shouted about what was happening. But mostly when 10 or 10:30 p.m. rolled around, he just wanted to go to bed and we just weren’t co-operating.

Oh well, it’s over now and I’m both glad and sad — glad that our lives can get back to normal, at least as normal as they ever are, and sad that those 17 days of wonder have passed. I’ll apologize to no one for being a patriotic Canadian, except maybe our RoadDog.

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February 22, 2010

Stop-over in Shelburne

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For some reason, I really enjoy visiting the Shelburne waterfront.

I’m not sure what it is that is so appealing to me. Maybe it’s because the historic area is so well preserved. Maybe it’s because the scenery there is so beautiful. Maybe it’s because the times when we’ve visited there have been other people milling around, but it’s never been overly crowded. Maybe it’s because we always seem to stop there in beautiful weather, when the sun is shining and there’s a light breeze blowing off the water. Probably it’s all of those things.

I also have to be honest that part of the attraction is The Bean Dock. It’s this tiny little restaurant/coffee shop right there overlooking the water. We’ve eaten there twice now and both times it’s been a great experience, not just the food but the whole experience.

Steve and I discovered The Bean Dock two summers ago. We were spending the night in Shelburne and happened upon it while walking along the waterfront. It was perfect. We ordered food and brought it outside to eat at a picnic table. Because we travel with Jake, we eat at a lot of picnic tables, but more often than not they’re the ones sitting on concrete in the sun outside fast food restaurants. The Bean Dock was a welcome change with its cheerful surroundings, green grass and great views of the waterfront and harbour.

We stopped there again last summer, this time for a late lunch. It was idyllic — well almost. Jake wasn’t completely thrilled when Steve brought out two steaming cups of coffee and no Timbit, but was happier when I produced a dog treat from my pocket. A few minutes later, a waitress appeared with two delicious grilled sandwiches. We made a couple of trips back inside to choose some munchies from their fabulous selection of sweets and I was careful to choose one without chocolate so I could share with our beloved, begging four-legged friend (I know I shouldn’t but you can’t understand until you see that hairy face by your feet with just a bit of his tongue sticking out as if to say “Me too, please.”)

After lunch, we took Jake (or maybe he took us) for a walk down towards the visitor information centre and back. It was all so pretty and peaceful. I can hardly wait to go back this summer.

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February 15, 2010

Just a few more miles

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Do you know how sometimes when you’re traveling you tell yourself just a few more miles and you’ll stop either to eat or for the night or whatever. Sometimes that works out incredibly well.

It happened to us last summer when we were riding around the Cabot Trail. I was getting really hungry. It seems like I’m always hungry when we’re riding. I’m not sure if that’s from the fresh air or if we just don’t stop often enough to eat (more than a Tim’s that is). We were travelling around the northern part of the trail and chatting back and forth on our radios about how we should really find somewhere to eat, when Steve suddenly turned left off the main road and headed toward Neil’s Harbour. We’d never gone that way before and really weren’t certain what to expect, but we will definitely remember that left turn in the future.

We rode a short distance and ended up at a fantastic little restaurant overlooking the ocean. Well, the Chowder House was actually set back away from the water, but the picnic table Jake and I claimed while Steve went for food was pretty close to the edge. It was just fantastic. Jake and I wandered along the shore, which had beautiful cliffs and rocks on three sides, with the sun glinting off the water and a breeze blowing just enough to keep us cool.

The three of us ate wonderful lobster sandwiches (yes, we shared with Jake — our boy is a big fan of lobster) looking at the sea. I was convinced that if I looked in the right place at the right moment I’d see a whale. You can ask Steve — I really was convinced. It was just that kind of place. Unfortunately, I never did find the right place at the right moment so no whales. I know they were there though. I just didn’t see them.

But it really didn’t matter. Our adventure to Neil’s Harbour was perfect just the way it was.
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February 8, 2010

Where the buffalo roam

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Sometimes you just have to see what will happen.

When we visited P.E.I. last summer, Steve and I thought it would be fun to stop at Buffalo Land Provincial Park. Well, to tell the truth, we actually thought it would be fun to see how Jake would react to seeing a herd of buffalo, or even one buffalo for that matter.

Until we visited the island, I had no idea the buffalo park even existed. I came across it while reading a tourism guide looking for places we could visit with the third, rather hairy member of our little family. It seemed a good fit — small hairy creature (sorry Jake) meets large hairy creatures, all at a safe distance of course.

Buffalo Land Provincial Park is a bit south of Montague on the eastern end of P.E.I. It has a 100-acre enclosure where a herd of about two dozen buffalo graze. I don’t know any of the particulars about how a herd of buffalo ended up on the island, other than that the original buffalo were a gift to the P.E.I. government from the province of Alberta. Who knew?

Anyway, we arrived late in the afternoon and, sure enough, there was a herd of buffalo. Actually, there was a whole flock of Canada geese, too.

Unfortunately, the buffalo were quite a distance away from us so I’m not sure Jake appreciated how big and hairy the creatures were, but he spent about five minutes just staring at them as they moved around in the distance. That may not seem like a long time, but I can assure you that anything holding Jake’s attention for five minutes is quite extraordinary. He clearly knew they were some sort of creatures and he seemed to be quite curious.

Maybe another time he’ll get a closer look. But not too close, of course.

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February 1, 2010

Wow, you do pay attention!

11:26 am | 1 Comment »

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Okay, I’m impressed — and a little disappointed.

Those of you who answered our little RoadDog quiz did a bang up job. I don’t know if you went back through old posts to get the answers, which had to take a lot of time, or if you really remembered all those answers, but you folks know a whole lot about our Jake.

Some of the answers were obviously pretty easy — you could hardly read regularly without knowing that Jake likes Timbits — but some of you even knew the tougher ones. It kind of makes my little heart feel all warm and fuzzy.

On the other hand, I confess, I didn’t get as many responses as I had hoped, but I can’t really fault anyone for not sending in your answers since I’m not much of a quiz kind of gal myself.

The winner is Beth, who earned a grand total of 24 points. I’ll be sending Beth off an email later today to get her mailing address, so I can send her the prize.

For those of you who want to check your responses, or learn that one answer that you just couldn’t remember no matter how hard you tried (don’t you hate it when that happens), here are the answers.

1. Jake was born in Saint John, New Brunswick.

2. His birthday is September 11.

3. His favourite human treat — that’s a really easy one — Timbits, of course.

4. Jake likes a lot of fruits and vegetables. He loves apples, pears, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and cantaloupe and he’s absolutely crazy about green beans. He also likes yellow beans, carrots, turnips and potatoes. He does not like parsnips, just in case anyone wants to know that.

5. The first time we tried putting Jake on Steve’s bike to see how he’d react we put him in a T-Bag, a sort of upright duffle bag that fastens to the backrest. I know, I know, it wasn’t the best thing to do, but we made sure he had lots of air and couldn’t get out. Steve only took him a few feet down the road, then turned and came back. Jake loved it and RoadDog was created.

6. Jake’s carrier was built in Liverpool, by Tony at Custom Cycles.

7. Jake burps right after he finishes eating. (He really is a boy dog!)

8. Jake first went wandering into a cold lake in the White Mountains in New Hampshire. As long as his feet can touch the bottom, he likes streams and lakes.

9. Our RoadDog prefers stuffed toys with squeakers. Rubber balls come in second.

10. Jake is the unofficial mascot for the Maritime Motorcycle Touring Association or MMTA.

11. Jake gets PMS — parked motorcycle syndrome — in the winter. Symptoms include minor depression, moodiness and sad glances toward the road looking for bikes, even though you know they aren’t there. The only cure is spring. Steve and I get it too.

12. I dressed Jake as a little devil, complete with red horns, last Halloween. We were both so embarrassed.

13. A garden hose makes Jake go nuts, but it has to be spraying water. As long as it lays quietly in the sun, so does he.

14. Each Labour Day weekend Jake, Steve and I, turn into wharf rats as we attend the annual Wharf Rat Rally in Digby.

15. The three of us enjoyed our first in-restaurant meal in Bar Harbor. It was so cool to be able to have Jake with us right there in the restaurant with lots of other dogs around too.

16. Jake has toured through New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island with us, as well as Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. And Steve insists that I give a point to anyone who included Nova Scotia since we do so much touring here. I thought that was too obvious, but I let him win this one.

17. We were in New Hampshire a few years ago when a woman who worked at a motel asked Steve if we had a ferret in the carrier. To be fair, she was apparently expecting other guests who were travelling with a ferret (not on a bike), but Jake was deeply offended. Okay, not so much, but Steve and I were a little surprised.

18. Our RoadDog climbed Mt. Washington.

19. Jake’s Baddeck girlfriend’s name is Muin. As I said, it means bear in Mi’kmaq.

20. Our RoadDog doesn’t wear a leather motorcycle jacket, but does wear really cool sunglasses (Doggles actually) and a leather bandana, or sometimes other bandanas.
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January 25, 2010

How well do you know RoadDog?

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This week I thought I’d do something different. Instead of telling readers about Jake and his adventures, I thought I’d check to see how well you faithful readers (I hope you’re out there somewhere) know RoadDog.

Every now and then I bump into someone or hear from someone who tells me they read this blog. Sometimes it really surprises me, either because you’re total strangers and I can’t imagine how you found us or you’re people I know who I would never think might be interested in the happenings in our little family. Regardless, it’s always great to hear that you’re reading and get your feedback.

So this week I have a list of questions to find out what you remember about what you’ve read. The answers have all been on the blog at some point so you can go back and look if you want to do that.

You can just take the quiz for fun or you can send me your answers at lbrown@southshorenow.ca. You could post them in the comments area below, but that will give everyone else the answers. Jake helped me choose an appropriate prize for the person who gets the most correct responses and I’ll post the name of the winner and the answers here next week. (Mom and Dad, you can play, but you can’t win. Sorry about that.)

So let me ask you, how well do you know RoadDog? Have fun.

1. Where was Jake born?

2. When is his birthday?

3. What’s his favourite human treat?

4. Can you name a fruit or vegetable that he likes? I’ll give you a bonus point if you name more than one.

5. What did Steve and I put Jake in for his very first test run on Steve’s bike? (Oops, maybe I shouldn’t bring that up again.)

6. Where was his custom carrier built? I’m looking for the town, but I’ll give you an extra point if you name the business, too.

7. What does Jake do when he finishes eating? (He’s such a boy dog!)

8. You may remember that Jake doesn’t like to swim, but where did he first go strolling into the water, much to our surprise?

9. What is Jake’s favourite kind of toy?

10. What bike club does Jake belong to? (Well, Steve and I belong and Jake is the unofficial mascot, so to speak.)

11. Like most riders, Jake suffers a condition this time of year. I wrote about it once. What’s it called?

12. What costume did Jake wear for Halloween this past October?

13. What yard implement makes Jake go crazy?

14. Each September, Jake turns into another type of critter for a few days. What does he become?

15. Where did we take Jake to eat in a restaurant for the first time?

16. Which provinces and states has Jake visited with us? (I’ll give you a point for each correct answer.)

17. Jake and his carrier get a lot of attention. Someone once asked us if we had another sort of critter inside the carrier. What kind of animal did they think was in there? (Jake was not impressed.)

18. Steve and Jake and I all climbed a mountain together a few years ago. What mountain was it?

19. Jake met a girlfriend a few years ago in Baddeck who looked a whole lot like him. What was her name? I’ll give you a hint. It means bear in Mi’kmaq.

20. Our RoadDog doesn’t wear a leather motorcycle jacket, but he has some pretty cool riding gear. What does he wear?

Now wasn’t that fun! Send me your answers. Remember the person with the most right answers wins a prize from RoadDog and I’ll post the answers next week.

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January 18, 2010

Regrets and repairs

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Sometimes Jake is a little too rough with his toys.

I’ve often said that Jake is such a boy dog. Well, when it comes to his toys, let’s just say it’s all a bit rough and tumble. While the rubber and plastic balls he loves to chase can take it, the same can’t always be said for his favourite stuffed toys with the squeakers inside them.

You see, our boy likes to grab his toys and shake them. I don’t mean he shakes them gently either. I mean he shakes them as hard as he can. I’m guessing it has something to do with his instinct as a Cairn terrier, since the breed was developed in Scotland to hunt rodents in piles of rocks (Scottish cairns, hence the name of the breed).

Jake has never caught a live animal and I honestly hope he never does. He shows a great deal of interest in squirrels and chipmunks around our yard, loves to sniff out deer and rabbit tracks and, frankly, doesn’t seem to be too thrilled with cats. I don’t know what he’d do if he caught a small creature, but I’m not really sure I want to know. I’m not convinced it would be pretty. For a big dog with short legs (don’t forget, he is not small, just vertically challenged), he has incredibly strong jaws and teeth.

So our dear doggie takes out his energy and instincts — who knows, maybe even his frustrations — on his stuffed toys. And sometimes they suffer. When Jake shakes a toy and lets go, it sometimes flies across the room. More than once I’ve found toys laying on the desk or against the wall on the back of the sofa. I think I even once found one on the dining room table.

And sometimes those strong teeth and jaws of his make holes in his toys. We usually know when that happens, because we find the white stuffing, typically in heaps under the dining room table. It seems once the hole is made our dear Cairn can’t stop himself from pulling out as much stuffing as possible before we find out about it.

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That ends with us gathering up the stuffing, and often the squeaker too, then I stuff it all back in the critter, get a needle and thread, and repair it as best I can. While I sew, Jake sits at my feet or sometimes stands with his front paws against my leg, and watches. He never takes his eyes off me while I have that toy. He can’t help himself, but he really seems sorry that he hurt it.

The most recent casualty was the frog he got for Christmas, but it’s all better now and is once again flying around the living room landing who knows where.

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January 11, 2010

Going through withdrawal

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I’m not too sure, but I think our RoadDog may be going through some sort of holiday withdrawal.

Jake hasn’t quite been himself this past week or so. Don’t get me wrong, he’s still driving us crazy running outside to play in the snow whenever we’ll take him. In fact, he’s been quite proud of himself lately as he ambles over the snow banks in our yard.

But when he’s inside, he seems a little mopey. Jake was anything but happy on the January 1 weekend when I took everything away from the tree, packed up Christmas and put the decorations in the attic. I haven’t been doing any baking this past week or two either, so the treats coming out of the kitchen have pretty much dried up as well.

Actually, I’m thinking that might be the problem. (If you’re a vet, you should maybe stop reading now.) Jake ate quite a few gingerbread cookies over the holidays. I had never made them before and decided they’d be quite festive. I even decorated them with white icing.

When I went looking for a gingerbread cookie cutter, I found a package of four — boys and girls in two sizes. I mostly used the larger ones, but did cut out maybe a dozen or so of the smaller ones because they were just too cute. We quickly discovered that our Cairn is a big, I mean really big, fan of gingerbread cookies. Steve and I rapidly learned that we couldn’t open the container without finding Jake at our feet, big brown eyes looking up at us, that tongue out just enough to be too adorable.

Needless to say, Jake ended up eating quite a few of those small gingerbread cookies. Maybe his lack of energy isn’t depression so much as sugar withdrawal. I may have to go pick up a couple of Timbits. After all, it’s January so we can’t ride and a RoadDog has to have some sort of fun.
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