Adventures in JanetLand!

Oak Bay Avenue has been a full on circus for more than a week.  They are paving, but not the whole street.  The traffic and hold ups are huge!  Janet took me for a big walk the other day and this is a small sample of the vehicles involved in the process.

This is Janet's fancy pants slow cooker.  She has used it 3 times in the last two weeks.  Most recent was baked beans with ground beef and bacon.

Yay!  Shirley has borrowed Phil's electric car to take a driver's license test(s)!  Third time was the charm and Shirley was super happy!  We think Frank was even happier!

Remember how I told you Noodles doesn't mind the vacuum?  Lucky for her she is really old because Janet didn't want to make her move, but instead vacuumed all around and Noodles never batted an eye!

In Victoria, it has been our version of super hot - 29F.  We have not had any significant amount of rain for at least a month.  Check out how many people flock to the beach closest to our house - Willows Beach.  We are so lucky as this beach is 2 1/2 blocks from our house.  Janet says we are super lucky to live where we do - Willows Beach, Bowker Creek, Oak Bay Village.  We agree!

Check out that really blue sky!

Janet had some leftover steak and turned it into Steak Salad with Chipotle Dressing.  She has not made Steak Salad before and they really enjoyed.  She doesn't want to turn the stove on!

This is how I sleep when it's super hot out:

And how about those Adventures in JanetLand?

On the right is map to all the shops in the Fabric 'hood!

Karen made a quilt for Toyoko (Toshio's wife) and wanted to take it to Tokyo.  Some investigation revealed that Toyoko is not well and is not expected to live for a whole lot longer.  End result - Very spur of the moment, Karen and Janet are going to Tokyo tomorrow.  We doggies don't know any of these people and haven't a clue where Tokyo is.  Janet will be gone one week and says she is worried about leaving Noodles as she is really old and creaky.

This might very well be the first pair of sandals EVER that Janet can wear all day.  She is super chuffed as she is sick of wearing runners 24/7.  The problem is Janet's feet are very narrow (the last remaining narrow part of her body, so a guy would think she would embrace it!).

She also bought some super cute clothes with asymmetric hem lines which Janet is a major sucker for!

Big Food Day!

Every now and again at Janet's "work" (Janet actually does work, she just doesn't get paid for it which is why we use "finger quotes"!) they have special meals.  This past Thursday was the Mother of all special meals!  The most fabulous local moving company, Two Burley Men hosted a food truck extravaganza in the courtyard.  Two Burley Men have grown from a very small company to a huge local success and are very community minded.  Janet thinks everyone on a local level should use them when they need to move as they are also good value for the money.

Janet initially thought Burley meant brawny and strong, but it turns out it is their last name.

Janet made Cobb Salad with chicken.

I've had an upset tummy for a few days, so now we are eating the special "sick doggie meals".  Sick as I am, I can barely manage to inhale the special meal.  A bigger question is how do I manage this thin facade of illness to get the special meal for a few more days?   Cooked rice, cooked ground beef and cottage cheese - it's so yummy!

I am quite afraid of the vacuum as was Rockers, but Noodles doesn't seem to mind.  Janet was putting the hose away right over her whole body and she never flinched!

And look else the people had for dinner:

This was a learning curve for Janet.  She has what is probably the world's most fabulous slow cooker, made by All Clad which is underused.  It was a gift from two of her children.  She has made a decision to make more use of it.  First up was cooking back ribs in the slow cooker with broth until they were tender and then finishing them off on the BBQ, thus cutting down on the heat the oven throws.  All was well, but Janet let them cook too long in the slow cooker.  Better luck next time, Sister!

I was as busy as could be, chewing up some papers:

Do you think these might be important receipts?  Don't you think it's cute how I hold them in my paws?

Talk to ya' later!

If We Could Learn To Type

Sometimes, Janet can be really lame about making posts on our blog.  I'm doing some research to see if I can find a College of Canine Secretarial Skills where I can learn to pype (that's typing with paws instead of fingers).  If there is a seniors discount, I might convince Noodles it's in her best interests to attend.  It might be a tough gig for her though, as mostly she sleeps throughout the day and all night long.

Just so you know,  Janet hasn't been all that busy so I can see precious few reasons for not blogging about our rich and diversified lives!

Last weekend, Janet decided the potted bamboo in our back yard needed to be split.  Truth be known, they should be been split 5 or 6 years ago, but she says time flies by!

Jeremy happened to be here, so he jumped right in the give his 66 1/2 year old father a hand.

I'm pretty sure they picked the hottest day of the year thus far for this really difficult task.

Mr. Brawny ripped off his shirt and got busy!  Too bad he didn't put on any sunscreen and his back was a perfect colour match for our new red lawn chairs.

We also gave support, of the mental variety, but opted for a nice shady spot.

They had a small party!

Based on Janet's photos, you might think the only thing they ate were burger condiments!  They also had Seven Layer Dip with chips, Guacamole and Grilled Shrimp, two salads, hamburgers and smokies (from The Whole Beast - everyone loved them!), buns and cheesecake with fresh local strawberries.

Here is another example of my attempts to keep cool - I went to sleep with my head under the bed.  You do NOT want to know how much dust is located under the bed!

Janet retrieved her runners and socks from the bedroom and them set them down in the kitchen so we could go for a walk.  She looked high and low for the socks a few minutes later and was beginning to think she was losing her marbles.  Turns out Noodles played a trick on her!

Look at the pretty roses from the yard next door!  These were cut off prior to Mr. Deer entering the yard and knocking the rose bush over.  He does love his hostas!

Believe it or not, one day Phil Birthday Forgetter (no, she hasn't let go of it yet!) made lunch with some BBQ pork, veggies and the Japanese soup noodles he loves.

Yummy!

See ya' later!

See, there is the sock again!

Janet Turns 62 Years Old!

Every year, Phil never fails to celebrate Janet's birthday in an unimaginable fashion.  The parties!  The galas!  The extravaganzas!  This year he managed to set the bar at a whole new level - he absolutely and completely forgot!  Janet guesses the only bright spot is the bar can't go any lower!

Meg and Finley facetimed on Janet's birthday at around 6PM which was exactly when Phil remembered and bolted from the house in record fashion.

It appears Janet has moved on and forgiven this oversight.  She's down to telling him to f**k off, Birthday Forgetter a handful of times a day now.

Turns out you can still find a cute and appropriate card really late in the day and under huge pressure.

And, flowers:

After Janet's fabulous birthday, we piled in the car a few days later and drove to Squamish for Mr. Baby's 2nd birthday party.

They went to Sushi Sen for lunch and gift opening.

We also went to a birthday party at Alice Lake.

That's cute little Violet in the foreground, chasing some bubbles.  She is Finley's buddy.

This family just wandered around.  Lots of small children wanted to pet them, but most of the parents' decided Momma Goose might take exception to that.

Noodles had some relaxation at our hotel room.

Noodles slept for so long in the exact same position that Janet went to see if she was breathing.  She couldn't see her chest rising and falling so put her hand on Noodles side.  Still no action and Janet is getting very nervous.  She shook Noodles hard before she finally batted an eyelid!  She gave Janet quite the fright!

Before we went to Squamish, I heard Janet and Phil say they wondered how I would be with Zambo.  What is a Zambo?

Now I know!  I spent my weekend doing this:

and this:

and some more of this:

I might look stupid and sound stupid as I relinquished my breakfast to keep up the sentry, but you should see my stalking skills!  Unmatched in doggie land!  I was as silent as could be.

Finally on the last day of the weekend, we doggies had Janet send Mikey an email for his birthday!  May sure is a busy month for birthdays!  Noodles and I pooled together our respective allowances to purchase him a gift card at Everybody's Brewing - a restaurant they like in White Salmon.  Noodles is older than I am so she gets more allowance and had to chip in the larger portion.