Warm and Breezy

Yesterday the dogs were out, Pearl has to be on leash as she is an elopement risk, but Ralph just lies around in the sun.  While I was preparing lunch they started barking. I looked out the door and a young white-tailed doe was half way down the driveway. She just stood there looking at the dogs as if to say, “Are you kidding me?” Two < 20 pound dogs trying to frighten a 140 pound deer that had to be close to five feet tall. She ran off down the driveway with Ralph in hot pursuit. She went into the woods on the other side of the road and Ralph came back when I showed him the bag of treats. She came back again today and we named her ‘Maggie’.

Earlier this week we all went to Sydney. The primary purpose of the trip was to get a new vet for Ralph. Ralph has haemophilia.  When Brigitte took him to the vet in Port Hawkesbury, the vet was clearly uncomfortable with treating him. He said, “I’m just a country vet. I can’t deal with this”. The vet in Sydney was fine in dealing with Ralph. They have staff with dogs to provide transfusions. I pointed out that in an emergency the cryoprecipitate (blood clotting agent) can be shipped from Winnipeg overnight. The vet said, “Nothing comes to Cape Breton overnight”--clearly a realist. Brigitte is having his medical records forwarded to her.

The next order of business was to visit the Kubota dealer. I had a Kubota lawn tractor for the 22 years we were in Puslinch and have been very pleased with it. Unfortunately a comparable model is quite expensive, so I will keep shopping around. The next stop was the Napoleon dealer and they can order the model of woodstove we want. The last stop was to be a marina to look at boats. However, when we got to the address it was in a subdivision with a boat for sale in the driveway. Oh crap!

Today is Father’s day. Brigitte prepared a nice meal and we took it up to the folks. We have a small garden plot by the trailer. While Brigitte was cooking I turned over the soil and pulled the weeds. It was 30 degrees and the black flies were merciless. There were also deer flies. When we got back down to sea level it was 21 degrees—what a relief. 

Paul