VACATION! And Theo's first LONG trip

Trip to Canada – August 26 to September 8

Vacation at the family cottage in Canada (Rice Lake, Keene, Ontario).

September 2, 2017

Catching up on the trip so far. Saturday, August 26, we stopped overnight at my sister’s house in NY.  We weren’t really sure how Theo would do on a long trip, but come to find out he did GREAT!  He loves the bench in the back and falls to sleep on it.

Theo did really well at Joanne’s house.  He was too excited about meeting Dory (Joanne’s new kitten) and Dory taunted him some once she realized we weren’t going to let him get to her.

Sunday, we drove the rest of the way to Canada. Once again, Theo did great. We ended up on some dirt roads in NY thanks to Waze (we forgot to turn off the dirt roads options).  Luckily, we made the right decision on getting new shocks all around on Jeepy.  They have made the ride nice and Jeepy makes less noise.

Before crossing in to Canada, we stopped at a gas station/bait store in Thousand Islands.  First time I ever saw live bait inside a store.  While I was walking Theo around, I found my first painted rock.  It was done by a young girl. Her aunt posted a comment after I posted that I found it.

We stopped in Hastings, Ontario at the grocery store on the way and picked up a couple of groceries.  While I was inside shopping, Dan walked Theo around and found another painted rock. 

I didn’t get approved to the group until today (September 2), because they finally messaged me to confirm that I had selected the correct group to join. 

Monday (August 28) was going out to the grocery store (along with the Dollarama and alcohol store).  We found the BEST cookies ever at the grocery store and have gotten more.  They are brownie like cookies.

Tuesday, Dan went and played frisbee golf and Theo and I just hung around the house.  We have been walking two miles every morning.  Theo got to see his first cows.

Wednesday, we went to the Peterborough Pete’s scrimmage.  It wasn’t like last year when they had a couple of different vendors and even the concessions stand was open.  This year, the store was open and that was it.

Thursday, we had a bunch of fun at the Escape Maze. Every room has an old time theme.  The one we did was Rosie’s Tavern.  The different with the rooms up here are that they only give you 45 minutes.  We did really well – we got out in 40 minutes.  Another cool thing is afterwards, we got to dress up and got our picture taken.

They also have outdoor mazes that we might go back and try.  If not, we’ll probably at least go back and try another room.

Friday, we went to the Farmer’s Market in Keene.  We were hoping that they would have tomatoes since we needed them, but of course, they did not.  We did pick up some homemade raspberry strudel.  We also stopped at the Emporium (an antiques place) and then at the general store to pick up the tomatoes we needed.

We started to do some geocaching too.  There were two that were basic that we could see on the app and on our way back from town.

Today, Saturday, we did some geocaching on our walk, so Theo got to experience his first geocaching.  We went to Keene to the thrift store and I got a couple of shirts and Dan got a puzzle.  We stopped by the library, but didn’t see any books that we wanted (to buy).

Then we headed to Hastings to the Medieval Festival that we went to last year.  It wasn’t worth it.  Entrance was $10 each.  Maybe if you have kids, it could be an all-day thing, but there wasn’t that many vendors or things to do.  We walked around, went back to 2 vendor tables that we saw things we wanted (Dan saw a keychain and I saw 2 painted rocks that I wanted), then headed out.  As we were heading out, Dan saw another painted rock, so we grabbed that.  We tried to find a geocache, but it was right by the port-a-potties.  We tried a few minutes and then said forget it.

Then we went to the store to get more groceries.

Dan’s been working with Theo on training, and we have been letting him run around with a long lead so we can grab him if need be.  He’s doing well.  We are waiting to see if the neighbors come (they are supposed to be coming) and if they will bring their pups.  We’ll see how that goes.

I’ve been working a little on the business – trying to figure out a schedule, doing some accounting and FINALLY reading some (business) books that I have been meaning to read.

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Catching up again!

Sunday we didn’t do anything, but hang out around the cottage. I read a lot and did some work. The neighbors were here, so we got to catch up with them for a little bit and Theo got to meet their two dogs.  He did well.

Monday, Theo and I chatted with the neighbors again in the morning before they left.  Then we went to the Trans Canada Trail and did some geocaching.

Last night we had crazy thunderstorms.  The thunder just rolls like crazy around here with the hills.

Today, we got up and geocached on the trail again. This afternoon, we’ll be heading to the city for some shopping and for our annual dinner at Berc’s Steakhouse.

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Tuesday afternoon, we did a bunch of running around to different stores to get a couple of things.  First was the bank, which was right by a bookstore, so we spent some time there.  I picked up 4 hockey books. Then we went to Walmart and GameStop. Then it was dinner time.  We were the 1^st of 3 couples who came in for their anniversary and they sat us all near each other.

Wednesday, we did more geocaching in the morning on the trail and hung out the rest of the day. In the evening we walked Theo over the Elmhirst and found 2 more geocaches on their grounds.

Today, we went to Robert Johnston EcoForest Trails for the geocaching. The geocaches were AWESOME there.  The person put a lot of time and effort into the caches.  One was a combination lock that you had to figure out the puzzle to get the right numbers.  The other was a cage that you had to work the log up the cage to get it out.  It took a few minutes, but Dan got it.

The weird thing was as soon as we got them, they were disabled and now they are no longer listed.  While we were walking out, Dan noticed one that showed up on his app that I didn’t have.  Come to find out, it was just posted. So we hurried out and got our first international “first to find” cache.

This afternoon we went back to the Escape Maze.  We did the poker room.  We did really well, considering that is was the hardest room that they have.  We didn’t make it out in the 45 minutes, but we only went over by like 2 minutes.  It was a tough one, but definitely a lot of fun.  I felt like I was the weak link because it was about poker, but there were some clues that I caught that Dan didn’t, so it all worked out.

On the way back we stopped and got a couple more geocaches that were on the way. Then we stopped at Patricia’s Gift Shop, which I thought was going to be like an actual gift shop, but it was an antique store and then at the general store.  This evening has been packing up.

Neither one of us is ready to go home – it’s been nice and it’s gone by fast.  Plus we don’t look forward to the 10 plus hour drive.

We almost got one of our former fosters!

I always wonder how our former fosters are doing.  And since I have friends at the shelter, we were contacted yesterday that Lil' Pete was returned to the shelter due to allergies.

I was so interested in seeing him again!  He was one kitten I was really thought about keeping.  So, I left the scrapbooking crop I was at for lunch and then after lunch we headed up to the shelter.  The crazy thing was, I was working on his scrapbook when I got the text that he was back at the shelter!

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do - just visit or actually adopt.  With just getting Theo, it was a hard decision to just pass on the opportunity, but we (or should I say, I) decided that it would be better to get Theo used to everything before adding to someone to our family.

Plus, if we adopted him, we might not be able to foster anymore (especially if the kitten(s) are sick.

We so enjoyed getting to see him again and so happy that we got to see him again.

Settling in nicely

Theo is doing great!  He is totally at home with us and loves meeting other people and dogs.  The dog part he just kind of sniffs and I can't tell if he is ok with the dog or not.

Today was the first day I actually saw him wag his tail after sniffing another dog.  It was a puppy, so maybe that's why.

Yesterday, I came home to find the TV remote on the floor.  I think I probably had it on the couch and he pulled it off.  In the process, he turned on the TV (without the cable).

Also yesterday, he got to meet Esa's boyfriend, Moby.  Like I mentioned, I can't tell if he liked him or not.  I also got to introduce him to Kurt, our neighbor who has a lab (Xena), who Theo had met on the weekend.

The biggest introduction was to Chrissie and David Casey - Chrissie is/will be Theo's doctor, so they came over to see Theo as a family friend before poking and prodding him.  He was all over both Chrissie and David, so hopefully he will be ok when Chrissie comes in as the doctor.

A couple of days ago, we got the harness out to see if he would be ok with it.  It was tough the first time putting it on.  He wasn't sure about it, but he didn't growl or anything.  He just wouldn't keep still.  Now, he's doing great putting the harness on - even when we have issues with hooking it (when it doesn't line up right, it gets stuck).  He does so much better on walks with the harness.  He was kind of choking himself with the pulling of the leash with his collar.  He still needs to work on the loose leash, but he is getting there.

We are so happy with him.  He is so calm and fits right into our life.  He doesn't mind us touching him anywhere.  He loves to mouth/gum your hand in play, so we need to watch his mouth because when he gets wound up, he goes right for your hand - still only mouthing, but he doesn't know when to stop.