She got used to traveling, different motel every night ... what a dog, but did find the city lights and sounds distracting when I wanted her to pee downtown Toronto. As a result she spent more time in her crate; we didn't want her to have an accident in the hotel room.
Before that she got some running and excitement time at the Davies. We had time to make a quick visit to Brantford as my dentist appointment wasn't until 4pm. Dr. Weir did beat me up this time or perhaps I just wasn't as tolerant. My gums took a beating as he did the prep work on the final two lower crowns ( I hope ) for this lifetime. I go back on the 22nd for "installation". Both sides of my mouth were involved; the two so-called eye teeth. Some time in the not-too-distant future there are three uppers that are at risk of fracturing and will need to be done as well.
While I was in there, Sandy went to The Bay at what used to be called Oakville Place. She was back before I was finished and brought Cassie into the waiting room, much to the delight of all the staff and patients. She got lots of attention. She was on leash until she chewed through the leash -- what a dog ! -- we'll be so happy when those razor sharp puppy teeth are gone and she's not teething, which produces the need to chew.
Out with my temps installed and onto the big city; we headed to the never ending traffic that is Toronto. We didn't do too badly even though the Gardner is down to two lanes. Once checked in and Cassie squared away, we crossed the street and had dinner at our Sushi place. It's been a while since we've been there as the last couple of times this has been a Monday night and they were closed.
In the a.m. we checked out, packed up and then parked at Jarvis & Queens Quay, leaving Cassie while we went to the St. Lawrence Market, getting breakfast and picking up some favorite meat items (peameal & sausages) and veggies.
The peameal is also called back bacon, often called Canadian Bacon in the U.S. At one of the motels on this trip they had so-called Canadian Bacon in the breakfast spread but it was simply a rolled ham, not back bacon at all, not even bacon. I would have been embarrassed to identify myself as Canadian along side that non-bacon.
After that short hop we headed north. Traffic was good all the way to Barrie and we stopped to see Stef, also giving Cassie some time with her cousin. She was initially a little scared of Mya, who is so much bigger especially with all that fur, but eventually she got into nippy puppy play. That running around was enough to keep her quiet for the rest of the trip.
I thought that I'd organized things pretty well with the Barrie-destined stuff in one box but no; Stef's orbital sanding disks and Kylie's underwear (don't you just love internet shopping ?) were in a box that was buried under other stuff. We'll bring those with us next week.
I realize this is out of order, but I should mention the border crossing. There was no traffic and the fellow seemed quite bored. He asked where we lived (Florida) and what we were bringing in, not our status in the U.S. or where we were going or how long we'd be, all typical questions. I enumerated what we were bringing in -- two bottles of wine, plumbing and other stuff for the cottage, some Christmas gifts and a bunch of bicycle parts for my son-in-law. He never asked value of anything, Aaron definitely lucking out on that score. I had a printed list all ready just in case and it was a long one as we were piled to the ceiling.
Back in the car again, our next stop was Parry Sound. We had lunch at Swiss Chalet and then picked up some more grocery items. I've got wine waiting there too but we were too crowded for that; another day. Cassie stayed in the car.
The next stop was sooner than expected. I had expected to stop at the top of the driveway or at least some way down the driveway before our normal parking spot but some kind soul had cut the tree. I thought that it might have been Art but when I talked to him, no. He thinks that it might have been Ernie ... I'll have to call around, find out where I should direct my thanks !
Apparently we had quite a wind storm with a number of trees down in the area. I'll take a look around today; I hear that there are more down the road.
Here's the view of our tree from down the driveway. This fell from left to right, looking up at Osprey from the driveway. It's a not-so-big pine, wouldn't have taken more than a couple of minutes to cut and roll pieces out of the way.
Jason also lost a little tree alongside his deck. It's leaning on his roof; no damage. I'll likely clean that up today or might decide that it's less likely to cause damage if there are 2-3 of us to tip it up and move it off. I don't want to drop it on the handrail.
... and an evergreen down between Jason and Donnie.
Here's another view of Jason's tree. I'll also put the grill cover back in place and run some string around over the top so that it can't blow off again although it probably wouldn't anyway.
Otherwise, everything is ship-shape. The generator is working although it's saying "battery problem", which means that the starting battery is probably in rough shape, frozen and not charged all last winter. I'll check the voltage today to see if the built-in charger is working, perhaps attach the battery minder to see if a little TLC will help it. Otherwise I'll bring up a replacement in the Springt.
Our little dock had come unattached from Jason's at the outside corner; rope breaking or coming undone. I pulled it back in tighter and re-tied. There's still water in the cove; level higher than normal for this time of year but still down significantly from when we left in October.
It warmed up fairly quickly inside. The furnace had already raised the temperature to 60F before we got there; I had turned that up via remote control (welcome to your thermostat). Cranking up the electric basement heaters and the wood stove took it the rest of the way to 68F, which is where I usually have the heat set in the winter when we're here. It will get up over that today with the wood stove running all day and not being very cold outside.
We've got some overnight frost on the deck this a.m., definitely a curiosity for Cassie ! When we arrived yesterday she got out of the car and made twice as many trips up and down the embankment as I made bringing in our worldly goods. She would tear up the hillside and then come partway down the hill, finishing up on the stairs, clearing three at a time from landing to landing. Full of energy, she burned through a bunch over the course of an hour and a half before it got dark.
We've got her blocked in the kitchen but her crate is in my den. I brought her in there later while I watched TV and then she slept overnight, not making a peep. I think that the time in the crate with me in the room assured her that this was an ok place to sleep. We'd initially thought about having the crate in the laundry room but this is a better solution; keeps her out of the way.
Onward ... today we'll stay put but tomorrow Sandy will probably make a trip into Sudbury.
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