Occasional musings from a Left-coast Canadian ExPat in Oxford.
After six long months (for reasons entirely of our own doing), our wee family is finally intact again – we’ve got our dog back! Moving your pet internationally is not for the faint of heart, or the thin of wallet! Oy. The dog’s new nickname is Million Dollar Baby. Even with the elimination of quarantine … Continue reading Dog Days
The reality of hanging out with an infant all day is that not much happens worth blogging about. But we have had some progress on a few things I mentioned recently, so for those who’re interested, here’s how life is shaking out these days: The Dog We had a session with a trainer who confirmed … Continue reading Up-to-the-Date
I’m not sure exactly when, how or why it happened, but we suddenly find ourselves in possession of one Aggressive Dog. Yes, it’s the same dog we’ve always had, except Sasha has decided to stop being completely submissive and start being mean. So far it’s only to other dogs, but considering how completely docile she’s … Continue reading Barking Mad
We got Agnes the lamb from a livestock auction. A fairly typical one, from what I can tell after reading up on them. It was the saddest place I’ve ever been. I am not generally one to be overly sentimental about animals. I’ve had my share of pets die. I eat animals regularly. I was … Continue reading SOLD!
Remember Agnes? We’ve finally come full-circle and are taking her back to the mainland from whence she came. This time in little pieces! After a summer of mowing my in-laws’ lawn with her flock-mates, she headed off to the slaughter house and came back as about 55 pounds of meat. We cooked up a roast … Continue reading Baa Baa tasty sheep
Now that we’re not going anywhere, we’ve picked right back up on our micro-farming project. You may remember posts from last summer and this past spring on our construction efforts on building the pig shelter and fencing in the yard. Well, they’re finally being put to use! Except, we’ve gone from pigs to sheep! Between … Continue reading Project “Lamb of God”
My job for the past number of years has been marketing technology products. For the most part I love it – the amazing ways people are finding to manipulate machines to improve lives (even if it doesn’t always work out that way) is fascinating. The communities are exciting; the innovation is inspiring. I love the … Continue reading Penned In
Look at that, another wedding anniversary! We’ve been so busy lately, it really crept up on us. Plans include a quiet dinner at home with a bottle of the good wine. One of the bigger challenges in the past months has been dealing with the wacky health (physical and mental) issues our damn dog’s been … Continue reading Two Years
My dog ate my door. No, that is not a type-o or a euphemism or a metaphor. MY DOG ATE MY DOOR! We came home from our trip, picked the dog up from the usual dog-sitters, brought her home and carried on with life as usual. Except suddenly, life “as usual” is not good enough … Continue reading Dog-Gone It!
I’m moving to Tuscany. Continue reading Dog-gone it
I was pretty surprised the first time I was chewed out – no pun intended (you’ll get this eventually, I promise) – for expressing this long-held and apparently errant belief. It doesn’t help much that the people “in the know” have been battling the stereotype for quite a while, so they tend to get a … Continue reading Clearing up Misconceptions
I only wish I were talking about Neil’s stanky running shirt again. Despite the fact that it had only been 3 days long, this week has been exceedingly busy for me. I’ve had 4 interviews in 3 days and managed to pick up a freelance project. Combine that with an evening volunteering, the sudden heat … Continue reading Odiferous
You know, I had a WAY better title for this one, but do you think I can remember it? Of course not. Anyhow, I’ve been really excited to write about this, but was waiting for everything to finalize and the training to finish before I put it out there for internet posterity. Sasha is officially … Continue reading Dog Days
I wish I could share more at the moment – I can’t, but soon! In the meantime, enjoy this video of my dog, licking the dregs out of an ice cream container. Dog! Eats Icecream! from Jen Continue reading Things are Afoot!
In this neighbourhood, the mean dogs come out at 4:00pm. Generally I walk the dog either around 11:00am, or 3:00pm, depending on my schedule for the day. The other day I had to go out at 5:00, and in an effort to avoid the wearing of pants as long as possible (one of the very … Continue reading Mean Dogs