Category Archives: Life With Rumble

Awesomeness On Sunday

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This weekend was GORGEOUS, weather-wise. The concept of spring weather has hit Vancouver in full force and people are just loving it! So Chris and I took full advantage of it.

Yesterday, Chris and I hiked east, then south around Science World the Telus-sphere and along the south side of False Creek. We were going to go as far as the Cambie Bridge like usual, then back over into downtown, but given the absolutely phenomenal day, we kept going all the way to Granville Island and hiked around there. Then took the bus back into downtown, wandered some more, had some lunch (Taco Del Mar for the first time in years), did some `browsing`at Chapters and then made it home.

March 22, 2009 along the sea-wall.

March 22, 2009 along the sea-wall.

Today (Sunday), we took the dog with us. After some domestic chores in the morning, we kitted up the dog (harness, leash, cookies, water) and headed for the dog park at Bute and Nelson in the West End. It`s a 2.5km hike according to Google maps and Rumble just loved it. And when we got there, there were about 30 dogs. Looked like they were having a Beagle meetup like the Schnauzer meetup we went to because about half the dogs were Beagles. Rumble had a great time. One big dog handed Rumble his ass when he got a bit too familiar, which is good. Rumble needs to learn he`s not always the top dog.

Then instead of going straight home, we decided to take the scenic route and headed straight south to Sunset beach and picked up the sea-wall going toward home. The sea-wall is always interesting. People roller-blading, biking, hiking, boys holding hands with other boys, dogs playing in the ocean etc. So much to see and do.

By the time we got home, we`d gone about 8km in total. Google clocked it at 6.5, but they insisted we must have taken Pacific Boulevard which is much more direct (ie: shorter) than the sea-wall.

Now we`re all wrecked. The dog is crashed. I`m doing my blog and Chris is fighting with the computer. Nobody is moving much. Rumble actually looks a little scared we might want to play again. Poor guy.

Rumble’s Day At The Park

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Sunday March 1, 2009.

On the first day of March, Vancouver was both wet and sunny. Sometimes at the same time, but mostly it alternated between the two. The smell and feel of Spring was in the air and it was easy to forget the horror that was this past Winter.

Through Meetup.Com I’ve been following a small group of Schnauzer parents (never owners) who wanted to get together and let the kids play (puppy playdate). Deb, the owner of the Meetup group hadn’t been successful in getting people to visit Richmond, but one of the members, Gerson, managed to put one together and rally the troups for a gathering at David Gray Park in Burnaby.

The weather forcast wasn’t overly cooperative at first predicting 87% chance of rain. However, it turned out to be a gorgeous spring day, for Vancouver.

Chris and I bundled Rumble and headed out to Burnaby, first taking the Skytrain to Patterson Station and then (mistakenly) walking south on Patterson to (really) Rumble Street. The weather was awesome and we nearly regretted our choice of coats etc. The walk was amazing and the view south was spectacular and fairly clear (see the picture – taken by Chris).

Once we got there we had a GREAT time. The park was HUGE and nicely fenced. To top it off, there were a TON of dogs. We actually had a hard time getting Rumble into the park because he was freaking out and sniffing at the fence. He thought we were going to take him away from all the other dogs.

We finally got him inside and he went bonkers after we un-leashed him. He ran around and shoved his nose into so many unmentionable puppy-parts you wouldn’t believe it.

Chris and I spent a good bit of time talking to some of the other parents (Schnauzer parents and non-Schnauzer parents) which was nice. We met Sharon and Dave, parents of Max who is from the same breeder Rumble was adopted from. And of course I met a ton of puppies, mainly because I was wearing the cookie bag. Never underestimate the power of food.

There were mostly medium to large dogs. In fact, Rumble may have been about the smallest dog there. We saw a Wiemeraner, Beagles, Labra-doodles, Shiba Inus and of course your average-unidentifiable “generic cute dog.”

Check out the videos. Overall it was a success (except two instances when Rumble went a little mental) so we’ll definitely be going again. But we won’t be walking from the Skytrain. All 3 of us were just wrecked by the time we got home. Rumble didn’t want to get out of his bag!

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rumbleathomeThis is how I choose to believe that Rumble spends his days when we have to leave him home.

99% of the time, he comes to work with me, but on very rare occasions he has to be left at home. Either because I need the mental break, or I have a bunch of errands and things to do, which he would just get in the way of.

I know from watching him on the uStream feed that Rumble DOES actually spend quite a lot of time that way. Or close to it.

Chris and I both feel guilty about leaving the little guy at home. We didn’t get a dog so that we could abandon him 8 hours a day, so these are very rare times. 3-4 hours at a stretch when we go out on the weekends, and the occasional 6 hour day when I leave him at home until Chris arrives.

You should see him go CRAZY when we come home. He really does miss us.

Left holding the bag…

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I’ll get to the bag part shortly…

Nobody seems to be quite sure what’s going on with Granville Street. The 1200 block to be specific. The City of Vancouver did a lot of work this summer. On at least 2 separate occasions they tore up the west side of the street to lay new pipes and do other work. Then they tackled the east side.

Now, for some unexplained reason, they’ve denuded the street. They’ve chopped down every tree in the 1200 block of Granville Street leaving behind 4 foot high “stumps” in most places. In at least 1 place the stump is only a foot tall.

Our best guess is that they are going to be working on the power lines that run overhead and are doing it for safety. Nobody is happy though. The street looks very open and clean(ish) right now, like some of the pictures we see from days gone by, but Vancouver loves its trees and we’re all sad to see mature trees go for no visible reason.

They’ve also removed the 2 public garbage cans from the east side of the street. There was one outside of the Two Parrots restaurant at the north end of the street and another outside 7-11 at the south. Both are gone.

So in the morning, and lunch I take Rumble for a walk around the block, and when he poops, now that there are no garbage cans, I’m “left holding the bag”.

Get it?