I hope you are all out and about for Canada Day! Canada's all about getting out and enjoying the natural world -- in heat (like here) or not (maybe Alberta -- I'm not sure what it's doing there but if it's hot, I think it would be pretty unpleasant with the flood waters.) We are going down to Rocky Point Park to see what's up there and eat a piece of cake for Canada's birthday!
Yesterday, I did something Canadian! I registered my sons for their respective sports for the fall. Anthony for hockey, of course, and William again for soccer (tried hockey but it didn't take). Then I booked Daisy into a kennel for the time we're going to be away. It is hard to think of leaving her behind, but she's carsick and driving and hotels are no fun for a nervous Nelly like Daisy. This place seems quite nice -- it's called Balanced Dog (like in the dog whisperer, I guess) in Surrey. They have spacious day kennels for the dogs in a nice shady area and then the canines get to go inside the house at night to sleep. I hope Daisy doesn't think we've abandoned her there.
Mr. Allison made such a nice speech at our staff goodbye on Friday. He spoke about the loss of his dog, Rocky, which happened this year. He said we could learn from our pets -- they live life moment by moment -- they appreciate their food and their walks and their owners and open their hearts to the world. Maybe we can do the same thing. Of course, thinking about poor Daisy, I don't think she enjoys the same open nature that Rocky had. She is so frightened of everything and when she hears a fire cracker or fireworks, she's terrified. She's anticipating something horrible that will happen after the big noise. We can learn from her, too. She had a very difficult start to her life -- left in a dumpster, pregnant with thirteen puppies to whom she gave birth at the SPCA, and then she was adopted and returned twice to the SPCA. The lady there wanted us to be absolutely sure that we wouldn't bring her back and we were. We're "dog people" and thought if anyone could help Daisy it would be us. She has found her "forever" home with us and we accept her, warts and all. (She has no physical warts, but lots of emotional ones). The other night she heard a fire cracker (set off by a teenager who lives near us -- note to any teenagers reading this - tsk!) and she was so scared, she tried to wedge herself behind our dryer. Mike tried to pull her out and she held on with her front paws and succeeded in ripping off the control panel. But we still love her. We can learn from Daisy's experience that you mustn't give up. Something nice might happen -- someone might help you when you're in desperate circumstances. While there's life, there's hope.
Let's think about how lucky we are to live in Canada on this Canada Day. What a wonderful place -- safe and sound and peaceful, for the most part. It's our responsibility to keep it this way. Share our good fortune with others. Cherish the natural environment and work to ensure that we don't destroy the habitat we share with all the other living things here. Try to be good citizens, which means, to me, that we must know what's going on and participate in our democracy, not just on voting day, but every day!
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