New Year's Greetings!

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been a little busy settling into my Calgary home, missing my parents a great deal, and having to accept the fact that I am now a senior dog. Yup, I was told by my vet that I am an old girl, and that's why I am suffering from incontinence. I don't mean to pee my bed (or Kunou's - sorry pal), I just can't control my bladder. So I'm on some estrogen supplements and they are helping, but not enough because some nights I still wee my bed. Thank you to Uncle Andy and Auntie Ang for cleaning me up all the time.

So have a look at the movie that I made for you. The song is one of my favourites, it's called "When I See you Smile" by Bic Runga. I hope you enjoy it!

Super Storms!

I always thought the weather in Toronto was a bit crazy:
we used to live downtown and the lightening was so bright,
but the thunder that came after was
even louder than I can imagine!
Calgary has strange weather too.
One minute it will be hot and sunny,
the next minute it's dark and raining
with lightening bolts and thunder!
I'd say the weather in Calgary is a bit bipolar.
We're having a super storm, so the weatherman on the news says.
Mama was trying to capture the lightening on film,
but I don't think her timing was very good.
She did manage to catch a passing airplane though.

In the afternoons I get to play outside,
if it's not raining or hailing. I had never seen hail
before I came to Calgary. It hurts when it falls out of the sky!

Kunou will sit next to me, if and only if, he gets a cookie.
He's kind of sneaky too, when I eat my cookie,
(inevitably some will fall out of my mouth) Kunou is
on my crumbs like a fly on poo. Without fail, Kunou picks
up my leftovers. Seriously, if this is the only way he'll
be my friend, so be it.

Learning to Settle In

This is my first post from Cowtown!
Uncle Brian and Mr. M. drove Mama and I to the airport.
Uncle Brian stayed with us until Mama had to board her plane.
We miss him so much!

My plane ride here from Toronto was quite uneventful.
There were two other dogs in crates that rode alongside of me
in the cargo, we pretty much slept through the 4 hour flight.
When we got to Calgary, Uncles Allen, Andy and Auntie Ang
picked us up from the airport. They were shocked when
they realized that Mama's luggage was 30lbs overweight!

I've been at Uncle Andy and Auntie Ang's now for almost a week.
This is Kunou, he is "sleeping". I think he's
pretending, so I will leave him alone.
We're going to be best friends,
he just doesn't know it yet.

Every time I bring a toy over to Kunou for us to play,
he runs away and hides under the kitchen table.
He probably think it's cute, because I can't reach him under there.
I am patient, so I wait for him to come out.

I love that Uncle Andy and Auntie Ang have a backyard.
I love going out there to run and sniff the tomato plants.
I know, the tomato plants are poisonous to dogs,
so I don't eat them. Just sniff.
And I like the smell of the compost bin too!

Kunou has a bunch of toys that I have never seen before either.
When no one is looking, I steal them from the toy bin.
Problem is, now they all smell like me,
and Kunou doesn't want to play with them anymore.
Oh well, more for me!!

Bon Voyage!

Today is my last day in Toronto.
Mama is cleaning like a mad woman!
Look how much room there is
in the apartment now, it's nuts!
I haven't seen it like this since we first moved in.
Mama had to get rid of so much stuff!
Thank you to Auntie Trish who took a lot of it.
And the nice cleaning lady, Wendy, she's fabulous!

I've got all I need for the move:
Bear, and kibble.

I'm not sure about the flight though,
I'm a bit scared. Actually I think Mama is
much more scared than me. She's a
big scaredy cat. I know it'll be fine.
I just don't know what to expect.

I just wanted to thank everyone for being so
kind to me. I will miss you all. I really do
hope we can see each other again.
Come and visit me in Calgary, I promise
to show you a good time!!
The next time I post I will be doing so from Calgary.
So stay tuned!!

Just Checking In

My goodness! The last time I posted was almost a month ago...
Much has gone on since my last post:
Mama has finally finished school, yay!
Papa is still in Japan and he's slowly turning into a robot.
I went for a sleepover at Uncle Brian's house over the weekend.
And we are in preparations to move to Calgary.

It's pretty hectic in the apartment,
Mama is putting things into boxes, into the garbage,
and into big bins hoping that Auntie Trish,
Auntie Ada, and Thomas Ojichan will
take them off her hands.

I guess this is what happens
when you live somewhere for a long time,
you just accumulate stuff.
We also have all of Papa's stuff, and all of Obaachan's stuff too.
We have A LOT of stuff. If you live in Toronto and want
free stuff, or cheap stuff, drop me a line and
I'll let you know what we have to get rid of.

It'll be interesting to see what the apartment looks like with
less stuff in here. I wish I could help Mama more, but
she says I just get in the way more than anything.

I haven't really thought about leaving Toronto,
I've been here since I was a baby! I think that I
will miss my friends the most. Especially Uncle Brian,
Auntie Ada, and Thomas Ojichan. They are always so nice to me.
I will be sad I think, but I'll try to keep it together for Mama,
whom I know will be more sad than me to leave her friends.
Good thing we will always keep in touch!
Promise to keep in touch, and I will do the same!

That Sure Didn't Take Long...

It's happened, I reluctantly went into the crate to fetch Bear.
Mama: 1 / Aiko: 0.
But then she put in a nice comfy blanky for me,
and I immediately barfed on it when I went back into the crate.
Mama: 1 / Aiko: 1.

I Got Mail!

Kunou sent me a package in the mail today!
I wonder if it's him inside that box?
He sure is small enough to fit in there!

Oh look what's inside!
It's a clock!
But I can't tell time...

Oh no, wait, it's a little toy!
A ratty looking toy!

Ah it's a cat! With no face, but still a cat in body and spirit.
But it's used up...

And it smells like something I'm not familiar with.
Is that Kunou's aroma?
Did he send a toy just for me so I can get used to his scent?
That's so nice! I guess I shouldn't try to eat him
when I move to Calgary and move in with him.
I suppose I should send a toy of mine too so
he'll know what I smell like.
But I don't like to share....

I really do enjoy playing with Kunou's toy,
I don't know if I'd want to give it back!!

Stupid People Live in My Building

I went to bed at around 1:30am after watching the Red Sox
clobber the Rockies. Did you see Daisuke hit that ball in the third
inning that allowed the Red Sox to score 2 runs?
Daisuke san, anata wa sugoi desu!

I woke up at 4am to the sound of girls
in the hallway outside the apartment.
They wanted to be let into the apartment across the hall.
They were talking SO loud!
They were banging on the door so loudly,
and tried to rip the handle off the door!
Geez, you'd figure that if someone didn't answer the door,
even after all that ruckus, that maybe NO ONE IS HOME!
Or that they don't want you in their home.

Anyway Mama got so mad that she almost told them off,
but Papa held her back, saying that it was just
stupid drunk girls and they won't come back.
After 10 minutes of trying to break into the apartment,
the stupid drunk girls finally left. Too bad none of us
were able to get back to sleep.
Must be remnants of full moon madness.

Full Moon Madness

There is something strange in the air these past few days.
I think it has something to do with the full moon,
and maybe that Halloween is around the corner.
I've run into weird people in my building who scream
at me when I walk out of the elevator - ok maybe
I might have charged out, but I really had to pee; and
then the weirdo guy on my floor that said I wasn't a regular dog.
And then there was today, Mama and Papa went to the vets
to pick up my potassium citrate pills, only to be
frustrated because the incompetent girls working at the desk
couldn't find the pills and said that they may have
been given to someone else. Why would they do that?
I thought I liked going to the vets, now I am thinking twice.

Hiking in Algonquin

We were supposed to go camping again with Uncle Brian,
but Mama and Papa had too much work to do
and couldn't afford the whole weekend for fun.
So we went hiking in Algonquin Park on Saturday instead.

The fall colours are making an appearance already.
Can you even see me? I'm camoflauged!
There were SO many tourists, they were really loud
and quite obnoxious really. Mama and Papa were
feeling a little bit clusterphobic from the hordes of people.

The first hike we did was a really short 0.8km loop,
it was called Hardwood Lookout and it was really
scenic. So braving the crowds paid off for this reward.

All the nature smells were great!
We eventually went back to the Highlands Trail
that we hiked on the first time we came to
Algonquin Park to go camping.
It was a lot less busy, but not as pretty in terms of foliage.

I met this dog, she was going portaging with her family.

She was really friendly! And very brave,
she crossed the broken bridge all by herself!

The bridge is used to cross this small river.
It was all broken and in the middle of being fixed.
We managed to get to the middle of it
before Papa made the bridge crack loudly
with his foot in the wrong place.

I was so scared, and I didn't feel safe at all.
I couldn't wait to get back to solid ground!

We also ended up going a bit further than last time.
We saw this nice little pond. Maybe a
dinosaur lives inside it.

I was just minding my own business, sniffing the flowers
when I got stung by a bee. I must have made it angry,
because all of a sudden this bee was in my face.
I tried to run away, but it kept poking me.
Papa grabbed me and then Mama pulled out the stinger
from my right cheek. Good thing I wasn't allergic to bee stings!

We took a small break on the way back to the car.
I was so tired. I was hungry, thirsty, and
not really in the mood to play after that stupid
bee stung me. Mama and Papa were so
proud of me that I kept up hiking with them for
almost 3 hours! I'm proud of me too.

Bring out the Salami and Cheese

Raptors take game 2, 89-83, against the Nets. Nuff said.

Happy Earth Day

Finally some nice weather!
I've been waiting too long for the sun to come out and stay out.
I just love it!

I found this stick in the park.
I love sticks.
I love to chew them up and spit them out.
I love to carry them around while I walk too.

I don't love swallowing chunks of sticks,
because the next morning,
they come back up.
That's not a fun time for me.
Or for Papa and Mama who have to clean that up!

Happy Febuary

It's Feb 4 today and it's freezing cold. The temperature is -14C with a windchill of -26C, that's just ridiculous! Two days ago, a couple of groundhogs predicted an early spring because they didn't see their shadows. Sure doesn't feel like spring is anywhere near us!

Mama loves it when I lay like this, she says it reminds her of a turkey. It doesn't hurt when my back legs are splayed out like this, but I don't do it very often.

Like always, I love cuddling on my warm couch when it's blistering cold outside.
If you watch this video, please turn the speakers up!

Brr....-18C

It's definitely winter time. Mama and Papa don't take me out for walks when it's colder than -10C outside. Well it's more like I don't want to go out for a walk. I'd rather stay inside and sleep on the couch. I can't wait to come inside after a very quick pee break.


Inside my warm building is where it's at! What do you do when it's so cold outside?