It's A New Era!

Janet would have blogged for us last week, but she was exhausted!  She turned 60 years old last week and the non stop parade of parties and festivities that Phil had arranged have nearly wiped her out.  It was one huge event after another!  Phil was brilliant about keeping it all a secret, so Janet was super unimpressed.  She said some bad words.  More than once.

Sorry, we don't have any photographic evidence of the soirees.

But, you know Janet....always looking for the silver lining in the dark cloud.  She says that being 60 is a whole new world.....of discounts!  If she had been 60 instead of 59 years and 361 days, she could have save $3 at the Highland Games.  She thinks this is just the tip of the iceberg!  We doggies kind of think getting old and getting cheaper go hand in hand!

However, at her work, they did surprise her with a piece of cake:

The really sad part is that it would appear once a person turns 60, their intelligence diminishes.   Here is Janet with a coffee disaster at work.

It's the old "fill up the already full container" trick.  Janet was the only person working behind the counter, so was unable to blame it on someone else.

See how clever I am?  The door was closed, but not tight.  I was able to use my nose, first on the door knob and then on the door to open it for myself.

See how lazy Noodles is?

Noodles thinks she is sitting on some kind of a throne and dictating orders.

See how tired we are after all the birthday celebrations?

Noodles....seriously, put your head on the bed.  It's way more comfortable!

We are still waiting for our baby and it's been one full year since Briana and Ted got married!

A Touch Of Royalty!

Janet was so excited!  This is the 150 Anniversary of the Victoria Highland Games.  They have never attended previously, but Janet was always curious.  Turns out this year, Prince Andrew came to officiate the games!  Janet loves, loves, loves the Royal Family.  Super bonus - Phil's friend/client is a super important person at the Highland Games, so he gave Janet and Phil a heads up as to where the Prince would be wandering.

There were some seriously strong, large men there.

Here is Prince Andrew with Phils' friend Randy Stewart and in the Six Degrees of Separation Department, the man the Canadian Naval uniform is Simon, who is from the UK and transferred from the British Navy to the Canadian Navy and used to live next door to us.  Janet said they were so close to the Prince on three separate occasions, she could have reached out and touched him!

Janet said there was lots going on and they didn't know it at the time, but this Pipe Band (they now know this means Bagpipe Band) were getting ready to greet the Prince.

There was way, way more going on.  Janet and Phil watched some Sheepherding trials.  Cousin Brad and Girlfriend Kim said they watched the Duck Herding and told Janet it was really cute.

We aren't sure if we are cut out for this kind of work.  Janet said they listen to small whistle sounds to tell the puppy to go left or right or lie down.  I might be able to swing this, but there isn't a hope in hell (...OK...I'm goin' for the bad words!) that Noodles will listen.  Having said that...will I be afraid of the sheep?  Sadly, I probably will be.

They also watched some very large, strong men participating in the event they guessed was the  "tossing the huge stone" competition.  Prince Andrew stayed the entire time and chatted with all the competitors.  We think Prince Andrew sounds like a great guy!

See the big stone in the air?

This might be more our style!

No new baby yet at our house, but we did see a super cute puppy at the beach today!

We Had A Happy Mother's Day!

It was  Mother's Day yesterday!  I'm going to help Janet celebrate her big day, by pulling some weeds for her.  I'm not sure this is a Janet approved activity as for the precious few amount of weeds I pull, there is a lot of soil in our water bowl.

All that weed pulling was pretty exhausting, so I decided to rest for a bit.  I have my head on my Club Paw as it is quite elevated.  They think I don't know about my disability, but I can hear their whispers.

They also went for Chinese lunch today at Sun Wah.  It was Jer's last day in Victoria before going back up North and Brad and Kim came as well.

Brad and Kim were really kind and sweet and brought Janet a bouquet of flowers for Mother's Day.

Their delicious lunch.

Phil kept harassing Janet to wash his squash gear, but she was reluctant to go there.  When she finally went downstairs, she discovered Phil hid 19 roses on top of the dryer.  They were a little wilty looking, but Janet says they have revived in water.

On Thursday, Brad came and helped Janet with the veggie garden.  After Brad left, Janet planted the tomato plants Neighbours Jack and Gwen gave them. Many thanks to Our Cousin Brad.

Yesterday, Janet went for a 24K bike ride.  This is what she spotted.

A knit pole cover.  Cool!

Super cute buddy!

It's Summer!

Janet says we shouldn't get too excited.  It's unbelievably beautiful out, but she says it won't last and we need to prepare for "Junuary".

Some summer activities:

Paper and latte on the patio.

First patio lunch of the season!  17 Mile Pub.  Phil had a burger and Janet had Thai Chicken Salad.  This was AA (after accident!).

We didn't get to go because Janet says we are dead weight in the walking/exercise department.  She also said this looked way better than it tasted.

Yesterday, Phil and Janet drove to Sooke so Phil could put up a real estate sign and go for a hike.  Phil didn't take a ladder and used the bottom rung of the already in place sign to affix his sign.  This is also AA.

See that thin board at the bottom?  Skinny Minny Phil assumed he could stand on that board to attach his sign.  Guess what!  The board broke and Phil fell to the ground.  The whole time, this is out of Janet's sight and she is reading her book.  When she walks over to find out what the hell heck is taking so long, he is on this big ladder.  WTF, Janet thinks to herself.  She was pretty sure they hadn't brought the ladder with them.  Turns out Chubs Phil had gone to a nearby store and borrowed one.  Who doesn't tell their own wife they are injured?  Probably someone who anticipates the response will be "hurry the f*** up, I want to go for lunch!"

Check it out!!  Technicolor Gut!  Arm burn!  Four stitches to the hand!

Bronwyn has been making pulled pork in her slow cooker for some time, but Meg is a new convert.  Meg is so-o-o- correct.  Pulled pork, where have you been all my life?  Janet made pulled pork for the first time from Pioneer Woman and served it with homemade Guacamole, homemade Pico de Callo and Mexican Rice.....did we mention homemade?

If anyone knows of a photo workshop for avocado, please let Janet know.  It was more way delicious than it looks through the lens of this famous food photographer!

Yummy!

We Get To Go In The Yard!

Probably, for the normal dog, living in a normal household, this would not be all that big of a deal.  Just to set the record straight, we are normal dogs.  It's the household that is somewhat questionable.  We used to go in the backyard all the time, but then Noodles started to trample on plants and wouldn't listen and Crazy Lady had had enough.

We don't know what brought this on, but it sure was fun!

After wrestling around on the lawn for awhile, we started to chew up some wood pieces and made a really big mess.  We had a ball, but didn't think ahead about the future....these wood pieces might be our undoing for another yard visit.

 While we were having a really good time,  Stumblebums Master Gardeners, Phil and Janet were making a pathway for the raised garden beds.  Poor, poor Cousin Brad.   He's going to help Janet with the veggie garden and we are worried for his sanity by the time Janet gets a handle on what's going on. Fortunately, he appears to be a really patient person and may want to seek out a career with the mentally challenged after he's done with Master Gardener Janet.

Jeremy has come home for two weeks.  Turns out, he is Mister Great Outdoors!   He went fishing with some of his local pals and they caught a 56 lb. halibut!  They gave Jeremy this really large bag of halibut fillets.  Janet weighed the bag and then priced it out at Thrifty's Foods.  $150 worth of halibut!  Huge score!

Phil always buys an assortment of fruit to add to his breakfast cereal.  Look how beautiful his breakfast looks:

Janet took some of his fruit and made Three Berry Muffins from Best of Bridge.  She couldn't find the 12 cup muffin pan, so used the six cup pan.  It was a bit overflowing!

My back is sore, so I am walking really, really slowly.  Half the time, Janet is semi-dragging us.  Two ladies asked her this morning if we hadn't wanted to go for a walk.  We really wanted to go, it just hurts my back.  Janet worries about how much longer I will be able to walk down the big stairs on the deck.

My vicious face...not really, just yawning!

Noodles vicious face.....not really, just more yawns!  It would be great if these two could ratchet up their lives a little so we weren't so bored.

We like to leave the pretty Christmas lights on our big tree in the front yard on, all year long.  They look so pretty!  Believe or not, this is deliberate.  Phil removed all the other Christmas lights.

Pretty.  Even in a really lame photo!

This little bunny was on Janet's bike ride on Thursday.

Look at the camera, super cute bunny!