The Iron Lung

Yesterday, Janet went to a 9AM Beginner Yoga class for one hour.  When she arrived at the studio, one instructor was ill, so they combined the beginner class with the more advanced class ( a 90 minute class).  The instructor, Charles, said if any beginners wanted to leave at 10AM, it wasn't a problem; just please let him know.  Janet quickly called Phil to tell him  not to come until 10:30AM and told Charles, "No Worries!"  Janet wasn't concerned as she has done lots of 90 minute classes....as would anyone who will be in the beginner program for the rest of her foreseeable life!  We doggies have decided that the reason Phil insists on driving Janet everywhere, if possible, is because he doesn't want to pay $3.50 for parking if he can pay $0.10 cents to drive her in the Leaf.

Let the games begin....at 9:35AM, Janet is already checking her watch and thinking to herself "what the....".  I won't go there as as previously stated, I'm only 9 years old.  She dragged herself out to the curb at 10:30.  Lucky for us, Phil was there with the portable iron lung!

Phil isn't home tonight, so Janet made our dinner.  See how I am relaxing and Rockers is standing?  He's not actually standing, he is doing his continual clockwise walk between the kitchen and the dining room while the veggies are being grated for our dinner.  He started doing this about a year ago, and does it every night without fail until the grating stops.

Here is our food, before it's mixed up.  We usually have carrots, zucchini and bananas with raw chicken.  Added in are our Chinese herbs for our arthritis.

More Food!

After our last post, you might be thinking Our People eat pretty well.  Yesterday, Janet whipped out the Kitchenaid Mixer, got out a bunch of baking ingredients and went nuts for about an hour or so.  There were dishes all over the place and flour flying around like crazy.

What was she making?  We thought perhaps it was a lemon loaf, and she had neglected to put the glaze on the top.

Nope, for sure it's not lemon loaf.

End view.

Turns out, it was supposed to be bread.  Who ever would have guessed by what appears to be a  seemingly dense and heavy interior.  Janet was upset, as it took her some time to make bread this.  We heard her tell Phil that it took the dough twice as long to rise than the recipe called for.....what planet is this woman from?  We are sporting sub-Arctic temperatures in the kitchen on a good day!  We also heard her tell Phil this morning when she had toast that it tasted like sh.....whoops....poop.

Alas, not to worry.  She found a practical use for it.  Even with the front door open and the wind whipping in, the new door stop did the job!

Lastly, here is Noodles greeting Janet after she comes home from a hard shift at work.

Too lazy to get off the bed.  I'm not interested  (read too afraid and nervous, but Meg might be reading  this) in getting up on the bed.  Janet finally tired of us sleeping on the sofas and decided if something is going to get ruined, let it be a bedcover instead.  She even put a dog blanket where Noodles normally sleeps, but Noodles only kerfuffled it all up.

Food!

I used to let Janet get out of bed, read her newspapers with latte in hand before I started to begin my "breakfast on demand program".  That was so 1970!  Now, the minute her feet hit the ground, I am all over her to get the show on the road.  Of course, she caves like a house of cards.  Even Noodles is so caught off guard, she comes into the kitchen with her full on sleepy face on.

Here is our food.  24/7, seven days a week, 12 months out of the year.  Don't get us wrong...we really, really like it, but why can't we have some variety like Our People have?

Here is a sample of what they ate in the last week:

Home made pizza.

Pork stir fry with tofu.

Homemade Beef Barley Soup with homemade Buttermilk Biscuits.

Vietnamese Pork Bhan Mi with Salad....it goes without saying that we doggies know squat about photography, but even we think a different coloured plate would have been more suitable.

This is Noodles, relaxing in what totally looks like a non relaxing position.

And, here she is helping Janet make their dinner.

The Weapon

Today starts out like any ordinary day.  Janet reads her newspapers and Phil makes her two lattes.  After cleaning up the kitchen, Janet says she is going to do a drop in class at yoga for 50+.  Off she goes and Phil (why Janet is not permitted to drive herself anywhere is a complete mystery to us doggies) picks her up at noon.

Cranky!  On two accounts - if they can make  "lose 10 pounds in an instant" bathing suits, why can't they do the same for yoga?  And, who knew so many people over 50 were so fit??

To add insult to injury, Janet was quite proud of her new yoga togs that she purchased at Costco a couple of weeks ago.  Then she noticed today, they now have a logo on the outside, that was not previously there.  Now, not only is she a lame ass, butt, she looks like a cheapskate as well!

Here is where Janet goes to yoga.  It's on Fort Street, close to downtown.

Sooooo...what does Cranky do when she gets home and the floor is all covered with dog hair that she just got rid of yesterday?  She whips out The Weapon!

OK, OK....it doesn't look like much, but buyer beware!  She combed, and combed, and combed both of us, despite having done this last week.  I am way more tolerant than my sister, who turns her head and makes faux "biting" motions.  Thankfully, she doesn't have any follow through, but it makes her feel like she's controlling the situation.  

We are lying bum to bum to console ourselves.  I never attempt any of the faux "bites".  As a Ring Pup contender, I know it's really important to "Keep Calm and Carry On".

More on Janet's Work

Once a year, the Culinary School at Camosun College comes to cook dinner at Our Place.  Each year, the menu is really interesting and there are a boat load of people, all dressed up in chef's togs.  They bring all the food from Camosun, in a multitude of trips, finish off the food and serve.  Normally, people come to the counter to pick up their meal, but on a special occasion, they are served at their table.

Here is the menu:

As you can see, it looks pretty good!

This is a very small fraction of the people that came from Camosun.  Janet said she thought there were between 50 and 75 people.  You can see the women on the right hand side of the photo?  If Janet serves lunch (and, sometimes she helps out with dinner on Tuesday and Wednesday if they are short handed) this is where she and another volunteer stand to serve soup and sandwiches.

What do you think?  We doggies think it looks outstanding!

Generally speaking, they only serve dessert at Janet's work if it's a special meal.

Desperation in a Jar

Only Janet, approaching 59, and two times the Mother of the Bride this summer would be so concerned about how she looks.  She is really hoping there is not too much focus on the Mother of the Bride.  We heard Janet tell Lolo on the phone how quickly she was powering through the" Kiehl's Powerful Strength Line Reducing Concentrate".  Could there be a more industrial sound?

Well, wouldn't you know it, Lolo showed up with a great gift for Janet:

Hope in a jar.  Desperate times call for desperate measures! Janet welcomed with open arms anti-wrinkle cream as a gift.

Enough about Janet....how about us?  On Sunday, we were most likely among the last people in Oak Bay to take down their Christmas lights.  We were so late, it was almost a draw..take them down now, or leave them up for next year?  Here is Rockers, doing everything he can to project his inner calm.....hello, Meg?....Ring Pup Material, if I do say myself.  I know I have no hope to be Ring Pup, so I just wandered from yard to yard, that I am totally not invited in to.

No leash, and being a really good boy!

Here is another photo of us, after going on our 180 50 minute walk with Janet.  See how cute we sleep together?  We really love each other. 

If Rockers were a human, he would have a really bad looking face when he woke up - can you see where is lip is all stretched out over his leg?

We Had A Busy Friday

On Thursday evening, Janet told Phil she was going to go to yoga on Friday.  By the time Friday rolls around, Janet now says she is going to be "too busy" to go.  Then, we heard Phil pull out his trusty "you'll wish you had gone later" card.  Worked like a charm!  At the end, Janet was so glad she had gone.  This class on Friday, that she had never previously attended was a dream come true...Pure Solid Gold Yoga!  There were many others in the class who were as lame inexperienced as Janet.  She felt a bit better.  We doggies are delighted that Janet isn't holding on to the dream of becoming a yoga instructor.  If we thought was the case, even for a nano second, we would have Phil hide all the sharp knives.

After yoga, we cleaned the house and then guess what?  Janet started to make dinner because Lolo and Steve were coming.  Yay!  We love Lolo 1) because she is excellent and 2) she reminds us of Meg and Briana. We like Stevie too, but we LOVE Lolo.

They had WildFire Rustic bread with black olive tapenade and olive oil with balsamic.  For dinner, they had Tuscan Bread Salad and the pasta dish from the new WhiteWater Cookbook.  Dessert was the ice cream cake Janet made a couple of weeks ago.

This morning it was beautiful and sunny out, so we walked to Willows Beach.

See all the doggies actually being permitted to walk and roll in the sand?  We are not among those lucky guys.

This is as close as we get.  Cranky Pants says she spends too much time vacuuming up our dog hair from the floor, never mind throwing some sand into the mix.  A real Cruella de Vil, if you ask us!  For a person who, generally speaking, seems to be quite nice, there is a dark side to her when it comes to cleaning.

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