Darcy Wanted Out...

... and Darcy usually gets what she wants - one way or another!

Supervising the Staff

It's about time we had another Big Project around here. Two years ago, we ripped out the old deck and built an new, smaller one. And of course, three years ago we spent the whole spring and summer taking out the pool.

Those projects were pre-Darcy. Projects post-Darcy are on a whole new level of interesting!

This year's goal was small compared to the others: just levelling and re-sodding the area where the old deck was. We ripped up the old sod, and lugged in some topsoil. Then we levelled it. You may remember that Duncan advised a roller for that job:

Not Darcy. She doesn't need any tools, she just rolls it herself. Notice how she leapfrogs right over Duncan near the end? He's gotten very good at ducking:

Finally, it was all ready for its last inspection before laying the sod:

(which, apparently, smells quite interesting): 

This whole "working" thing is tough, and not at all what Miss Darcy is accustomed to. She needed a nap (right where the next roll of sod was to go): 

before she was ready to taste-test the sprinkler:

Bald is Beautiful!

I was sitting there a few days ago, peacefully reading, when a small haystack galloped through the living room waving a flag. Darcy had been helping Daddy organize the crawl space:

It's traditional, as spring approaches, for us to realize that our dogs are looking a bit shaggy in their winter coats, but this was getting ridiculous. So with less than two weeks left in winter (yay!) we dove in with combs to try to get them ready for spring haircuts. No problem with Duncan - he's shaggy, but his coat always combs out nicely. Darcy, not so much. Her coat mats if you blink at it. Apparently, we've been blinking a lot. Under all her fluff, she was so matted we couldn't comb her out without hurting her.

We had to bring out the dreaded clippers.

By the time we finished, Darcy had almost disappeared. Her hind end and legs are almost bald, and the rest of her isn't far behind. And what little hair is left is pretty lumpy and uneven (she wasn't entirely cooperative...) Who knew that our big girl, who outweighs her brother and nearly always wins their battles, was such a tiny little thing? Who knew that she had such a funny little tail under all that fluff? We felt very sad to have reduced her to this:

(Her worst angle. Head-on doesn't look too bad.)

Fortunately for us, she's very forgiving. Other than occasionally peering at what's left of her tail with a puzzled expression, she doesn't seem to mind her new look. And it won't be long until her coat grows back!

Oh yes: she may look smaller, but she can still win against Duncan:

Mountsberg

Last Thursday we decided to go to Mountsberg Conservation Area for our morning walk. (We have treated ourselves to a Halton Conservation annual pass, so expect to see lots of walks at their parks coming up.) It was a grey, damp, muddy day, but Duncan and Darcy didn't seem to mind. 

First we hiked the big loop at the bottom of the map. It's called the Wildlife Walkway - only about a mile long, but many interesting smells, and at the far end there's an enclosure for bison. We did see some bison, but they were way down at the far end of the field so D&D weren't impressed. 

After our hike in the woods, we strolled down the path to a little dock on the shore of the reservoir and explored a bit. By now, they were beginning to look a bit muddy:

Finally, on our way back to the parking lot, we found the remains of a big snow-hoop. Duncan and Darcy had a great time jumping through it - even though Darcy cheated and jumped through first to steal Duncan's cookie - and as a bonus it helped to (temporarily) clean their paws:

By then the buses were arriving, full of kids on school trips, so we hopped in the car (with the back seat carefully covered in an old blanket) and headed home.

Artistic Endeavours

So after a long, mostly puppy-related pause, I have recently started painting again. Duncan and Darcy have been very good about it, curling up under the desk for a nap or sitting quietly and staring (rather critically) at the easel while I work.

It was after I was done working yesterday that the trouble started. It seems that Darcy has discovered her artistic side. She decided to dye her hair.

Purple, she felt, would be a good choice. It would match her spiffy matched set of purple harness, collar and leash, of which she is quite proud.

I'm don't know how she reached the palette that I had so carefully moved well back from the edge of the table, but she did. She managed to reach the leftover blobs of both ultramarine blue AND anthraquinone red. The result had a certain colourful asymmetry that was quite stylish, but she got a quick trip to the bathtub anyway.

Fortunately, the inside of her mouth was still its natural colour, and I've been careful to use only nontoxic pigments with the dogs around anyway, so we didn't have to try to explain a purple dog to Megan's colleagues in the emergency clinic. Unfortunately, the bath didn't quite do the trick, so a major haircut may be in Darcy's future. Stay tuned...

Whodathunkit?

Who would have thought, back when we had to walk the dogs a block apart so Darcy wouldn't beat up Duncan all the way down the street, that this would ever happen? They now walk together very nicely – most of the time – and even check sometimes to be sure the other is close by.

And to prove it wasn't a just fluke photo of a split-second pause in hostilities, here's a video from yesterday's walk, on a new-to-us trail along the Bronte Creek ravine in north Burlington:

Well, This is Depressing...

Duncan and Darcy have had their annual tune-ups this week - physicals, vaccines, and a couple of other little tests that all turned out well. But sadly, what has long been suspected is now official:

Duncan's baby sister is bigger than he is.

He weighed in at 14.1 kg (31 lb), she was 15.2 kg (33.5 lb). No wonder she wins so many of their wrestling matches!

Merry Christmas 2016!

Duncan and Darcy wish you a slightly belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

They had a wonderful Christmas, with all their kids plus Jax home for the holiday. The tree was penned in for a few days, due to Darcy's theft of several ornaments during the Great Tree Collapse, but we were able to get rid of the x-pen by Christmas Day, and she was a model of good behaviour from then on. Well, mostly.

They got new toys, including a most excellent tuggy-rope from Grandma, and of course lots of treats:

and they spent an afternoon exploring a field at Mount Nemo, although the trails were to icy to hike on:

Jax, meanwhile, spent most of his time safely curled up in the basement away from the dogs, where he borrowed Erin's tablet and began to develop a serious TV addiction: