Whippet Snippets

Good things: Hammer hiking

If there's one thing good about the Hammer, without question it has to be all the hiking trails. Today the pack explored just a few of the 40-odd kilometers of trails within the Dundas Valley Conservation Area.

The forests provided some well-needed shade from the humid 30 degree weather. Beautiful fields, gentle streams, and old farmlands dotted the landscape.

Halfway through the hike they reached the Trail Centre, which is a replica of a Victorian train station featuring real CPR trains.

On the loop trail back they encountered the Hermitage, a stone mansion built by a Scottish settler in 1855. Unfortunately it was ruined by a fire, but you can just imagine how opulent it must have been.

Two girls and a cake

Ribsy was off to Toronto today to attend Mabelle the whippet's 1-year-old birthday party. He had never met Mabelle. But since he's going to be spending a few days with her in June, it was very important that they hit it off.

Now, Mabelle is a pretty brindle gal who is known to flirt, tease and break hearts. And did Ribsy ever fall for her...

...so much so that he forgot he doesn't, er, have the capacity to conquer her. And Girl forgot she had a Sports mode on her camera to capture the furious fur-flyin' action.

Oh Mabelle, please be mine forever, begged Ribsy.

Then the rest of the guests began to arrive - Toby the English Springer Spaniel, a pair of Boxer puppies named Edward and Charlotte, and Ribsy's Number One Fan and her whippet gang of Scout, Emma, Hazel and Finnegan. RNOF baked a special liver pate birthday cake for the occasion...

Ribsy may be in luuuuv with Mabelle but food is food. Here he is, moments after stealing Mabelle's piece of cake. If you look carefully in the background you will notice poor Mabelle sniffing the ground where only a millisecond ago her tasty treat had lain.

And then Toby snatches the second piece meant for Mabelle!

And even Edward and Charlotte make quick work of their share of the cake. 

At last our girl finally enjoys a piece of her own birthday cake. Notice Boy restraining Ribsy as he hovers like a shameless hawk.

Licking the sidewalk, licking fingers. The cake was that good! Thanks RNOF!

Here's Ribsy's other gal pal Hazel leading the way as the rest of the whips come for their share of the cakey goodness.

Where's the cake? Where's the cake? Where's the cake?

Look! Conjoined whippet twins! Actually, Ribsy and Hazel do look so much alike.

Ahhh...they would have made such beautiful fawn puppies together!

Nothing tops this day, thought Ribsy as he drifted off to sleep on the way home. Two cute girls, liver cake, lots of playtime. Life doesn't really end when you get neutered.

The Snipshot

Ribsy is in recovery mode, probably wondering why Boy and Girl would do such an awful thing to him. Leaving him alone, finding out he's different now, somehow, feeling groggy and confused...

Other than a nose rubbed a wee raw (whenever he gets stressed he does this) Ribsy appeared remarkably well yesterday. He can't go running for a few days yet, and he's a bit lethargic. And oh yes, he looks a bit different.

Since Ribsy is Girl's first dog, this has been an overwhelming experience for her, too. She didn't know, for instance, that the testicles still, ahem, hang around. They'll eventually get sucked up into his body, according to Boy. She didn't anticipate that it'd affect his bowel movements either. Most of all, she is not sure whether Ribsy is cheesed off at them, if he's simply recovering, or if the 30 degree plus weather is really getting to him.

Girl's just glad it's all over with!

Nailing the sweet spot

Ribsy wagged his tail eagerly, excited about the prospect of an early morning romp at the park. Sweet! However, his joy was, er, cut rather short. Boy and Girl dispatched of him at the vet's office, and the next thing he knew, he was feeling sleepy, so very sleepy. A full 'snip-shot' will be revealed tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Boy and Girl made the most of their 'get out of pet-ownership jail' card. After Girl fought her own creative battle in Toronto, they went on a mission for blintzes, and hunted some down at a semi-Jewish jaunt called the Free Times Cafe, located on College St. Boy wolfed down a blintz ("sweet cheesy") and latke ("fried and flavorful") combo plate. 

However Boy decided that that was not enough so the blintz blitz continued up the street at Harbord Bakery. In business since 1926, the Jewish bakery has plenty of down home charm and sweets to match. Boy scooped up the last blintz, and perhaps it was because it was so late in the day that this one failed to deliver the blintz bling. "Whippy, not cheesy."

The duo walked it off with a boardwalk stroll at the very Californian-esque Beaches, where they encountered swarms of volleyball league players, black flies and kiteboarders. And a sweet temptation truck or two.

And then they drove home on the QE nightmare only to find out that America's sweetheart Jordin won! Blake is better off without the title anyhow.

The 'test'

There's no place like home, thought Ribsy. Warm and cozy. Tucked. Life is great indeed.

He has no idea whatsoever. Girl wonders what it's like not knowing that something dreadful is up ahead. Would it be better not knowing about life's challenges? She's got her own battle to fight tomorrow, and she must ask herself, who's better off?

Who's she kidding? They both are. Because they have each other.

Damn! thought Ribsy. What is going on tomorrow?

Stuff you need to know

As reported by the BBC, the Lowry Gallery in the UK is in need of an extremely vital element for an art exhibition debunking the myths of northern life in the UK - a stuffed whippet.

Unfortunately, Girl only has the real thing (what do you mean by 'unfortunate' thought Ribsy) and not the stuffed specimen at left. However, all you crafty birds and heavy duty knitters out there can attempt to crochet one together using this pattern!

Good things: All that matters

The Good Things list is a short one this week:

1) Borrowing a Wayson Choy book (All That Matters) from the library and loving it.
2) Discovering that a friend has the other Wayson Choy book (Jade Peony) on her bookshelf.
3) Meeting 3 greyhounds in one day.
4) A discussion, albeit very brief and perhaps more apt to say, a fantasy, about the faint possibility of moving to Toronto.
5) Hope that things will get better.

Dog 2.0

With all the hoopla over Facebook, Ribsy thought it would be a good time to boot Girl off the MacBook in order to remind all the doggies that a time-wasting cyberpark exists for them, too. (Although what would happen if Ribsy did sign up for a Facebook account?) Dogster also has friend, group, and notes capabilities, along with the requisite popularity indicators, such as the number of rosettes and bones you get tossed. Ribsy's glad that Girl and Boy love him, regardless of how many times he has been corralled on Dogster. After all, it's the people who care enough to be part of your real life that matter.

Storm (and Blake) watcher

A severe thunderstorm has engulfed the area, with warnings of golf-ball sized hail, intense rain, and tornado-force winds, along with the requisite thunder and lightning.

Yet Ribsy sleeps contentedly beside Boy as they await to cheer on Blake Lewis in American Idol. (Ha ha, no only Girl luuuuuuvs him in this household. Actually Ribsy may too, as Blake is  blond and small like himself. It's hard to say, really, as he's not allowed to vote.)

Back to topic. Luckily, Ribsy has not developed a phobia of storms that has plagued other dogs. According to this article, the phobia can be so severe that some dogs have jumped through glass windows. Yikes!

This is not to say that Ribsy doesn't have his own issues to deal with - namely, his separation anxiety. But good news on that front: Project SOK is up to 50 minutes thus far. Enough time to enjoy a jumbo Freezie and a few pages from a good book at the park.

Leaky whippet

Whippets are normally extremely refined. They don't jump up, barrel you over, or beg uncontrollably for food. Ribsy earns high marks for his good behavior with people of all ages.

Enter Barnaby the drooling whippet. But still refined.