Aruba – One Happy Island!

November 30, 2008 Maurice 3 Comments

We struck out for Aruba by driving across the border to Seattle and picking up a flight to JFK in New York, then on to Aruba. Peter and Pam were just a bit anxious to get going, so we got to the Seattle airport by 430, for our 11 pm flight! The flights were both long, but the second one was one of the worst flights I’ve experienced. Why some parents feel they can let their children scream and yell and misbehave so badly is beyond me.

We arrived in Aruba to find they’d just had a brief rain shower! Not a great omen! The people here are supposed to be the friendliest in the Caribbean, but they aren’t! The ladies in the car rental were rude and obnoxious. I’d suggest you don’t rent from Alamo, unless you like attitude, no smiling, and slow service.

We drove from the airport to our timeshare with no incidents – we didn’t get lost once! The architecture here is interesting, with a wide range of tastes. We’ll get some photos up of some of the strange and unusual in a few days, as we explore more by foot. It’s a larger timeshare than the one we had on the Caymans. The complex has two swimming pools, and two hot tubs, so it’s spread out over about twice as much area as the Cayman timeshare.

The timeshare itself is roomy and spacious. It has a slightly musty smell, which is a little off-putting. But this is a common problem here in Aruba, and the Caribbean in general. We’ve brought our Timmy Ho’s coffee with us, as we usually do! I’m sitting by the pool, using my wireless laptop to connect to the web and upload this update. I have to admit tho, there are TONS of mosquitoes here – we’re going to have to get some OFF right away, or Pam will be swollen and red in no time!

We had a Balashi (Aruba’s locally brewed beer) or 5 in Coco Locos, the pool bar. Peter made friends with staff, quite quickly, as you can see from the pic! It restored our faith in the island’s motto – One Happy Island. Very friendly ladies for sure!

I wanted a quick dip in the ocean, but the ocean was not clear and I couldn’t see a thing! Note the pic of my hand – kinda blurry huh!? Not what you expect in the Caribbean, so hopefully it was because of the rain shower stirring it up. The beach was very nice of course, with the fine white sand the Caribbean is famous for…

We had dinner at the Sawasdee Thai restaurant. It was not good. The food was average at best, and a far cry from “Thai” food. It was basically Chinese food with spices, and poorly spiced at that. That’s a shame, because my favourite Thai restaurant in Vancouver is of course, the Sawasdee, and my fave on the Caymans was called the Sawasdee too!

I’m not sure what we’ll get up to today (Sunday) since Pam and Peter are still in bed, but I’m sure we’ll get some beach time, and I’d like to wander around Oranjestad and get a feel for the place and a couple pics of the architecture so you can get a sense of where we are.

All About Max

Serpentine Off Leash again

November 23, 2008 Maurice 1 Comment

Today was a glorious fall day – sunny and warm. After spending some time with the Christmas lights, Max and I headed off to the off leash park. He gets very excited now as we get close. He has an eager little sound that he makes as we take the S-curve into the park. He can hardly contain himself and he lets out one eager bark as we enter the park.

As soon as I release him he’s off and running with who ever will run! As I “do the loop” he stays with me, playing with whoever is around. It’s a smallish park, but lots of space to give them time to get a full head of steam.

It’s situated under wires carrying electricity. The mountains are visible in the distance. And on a nice clear day like today, it seemed like they were barely 30 minutes away! (Oh wait – they are barely 30 minutes away!)

All About Max

Dog behaviour

November 19, 2008 Pam 2 Comments

Max has some interesting behaviours. He’s a kisser, a hugger and he loves to play. He loves car rides. He loves to lay on his back and screw around on the covers like he’s trying to scratch his back. He has no problem with a towel being draped over him, much like the horses of King Arthur’s realm did. All he needs is a jouster on his back and he’s in! He is very attentive, he knows how to sit, lay down, stay, shake a paw. Mostly he knows how to show us how glad he is to be with us. He is great off leash as well as on. Previous owner notes show that he can clear a 4 foot fence. He has made no effort to try to escape. We do not chain him in the back yard as his previous owners did as per their notes. There are a couple of behaviours he does that we will try to work with him with:

Barking – when anyone knocks at the door, rings the bell, or even when friends come to the house, this guy barks. He is not friendly like Buck was, where a wouldbe robber might have gotten hit by a wagging tail.. this guy has a fierce bark and he’s not afraid to use it. He barks even though he can see friends are no threat, and we invite them in the house. I’ve been looking at Cesar Millan’s site and seeing what sorts of things he recommends to the owners, and we will try some of his techniques. He has a show on called the Dog Whisperer, and to me, he’s amazing with dogs. M and I are assertive and calm when we go on walks and when we discipline, however we are goofs when we play 🙂 hee hee. We will try 2 approaches with the barking, an assertive “enough” when he barks and also ignoring his behaviour and having friends and family not make eye contact with him when they first come in the house, and to just talk with us.

Allergies – he does seem to be itchy around his muzzle. It is probably a food allergy as he does have some. He has hypoallergenic food which we are feeding him but we are also adding in some turkey and chicken to see how he does with it. I confess he does get whatever sauces come with it, and he does like veggies. Also i’ve gotten him to enjoy some apple, cherries and he likes to have a bit of my morning coffee, just a finger dipped in the coffee/cream/sugarfree vanilla syrup.. I suspect it’s the cream he’s going for, but he loves to lick my fingers. I’m not going to give him his own bowl because the last thing I want is a hyper dog lol The vet suggested we stick to one type of meat, try him on it x 6 weeks and see if he shows signs of being allergic. He loves chicken, but we do think he is allergic. He does not have signs of an ear infection (typically how his allergies manifest) but he is notably itching on his muzzle and feet. We will discontinue the chicken in a week and put him back on straight kibble and see how he does.

Mouthing – he does tend to mouth (ever so gently ) when playing so we will try to cure him of that. I’m going to have to read some doggie books to see what the best way to deal with that is. 🙂

Overall this is a pretty well adjusted boy but he does seem over protective of the house and us. No issues when walking past people on the sidewalk etc, he barks if they reach to try to pet him. He has started to show some “let me at em” attitude if he passes another dog on a lead. Off leash he would be fine..

…Pam…

All About Max

Something about Max!

November 18, 2008 Maurice 2 Comments

I just wanted to say a few words in praise of Max. He looks to be about Buck’s size, but now that I’ve lived with him for a while, I see he is much smaller. He is very quick, and light on his feet. You can’t really hear him, but you know he’s there.

He likes to greet me when I get home with a physical greeting. He does things like pushing his head into the back of my knees as I walk! When he comes at me from the front, he runs into my legs… as I type it, it sounds silly, or he’s blind or something! But it’s very endearing, it’s clear he’s trying to get close.

He’s got this great trick of throwing this rubber play bone or a ball back to you. He goes and gets it, tosses it on the way back, then tosses it over to you. Quite funny.

He likes a hug good night… he comes on the bed for a hug, then goes an lays on his blanket – Pam has tried and tried to get him to stay, but nope, a hug and last couple of days a scratch or two, but he still gets off. When he curls up, he can look very small.

We go for a walk every morning at 7, and he’s waiting at the bottom of the stairs for me. When i sit on the steps to put on my shoes, he sits beside me, putting his bum on the top step, and his front legs on the step lower. It’s really cute – I’ll have to get Pam to take a pic of it.

He’s a small guy, but he has tons of spirit. I’m really glad we have him in our lives.

All About Max

Meet and greet

November 16, 2008 Maurice Leave a comment

The meet and greet went pretty well at Anna Maria’s place. Their home is on a nice secluded piece of land out Mission way. There is a big fenced play area and all the dogs in the place got along with Max.

He barked at Anna Maria and her dad, but quieted down after he found out they didn’t pay any attention to him. They have a couple chows there, so it was interesting to see him with 2 females. One is a younger purebred Chow and she and Max were chasing each other quickly. The older female was playful for a while. I think they’ll get along just fine.

SPOT MAX!

Anna Maria and Max went for a walk around a fenced area and when she called him and turned and left, he came scampering, so she figured he’d work out well. She’ll give him some vigorous walks, that’s for sure.

BTW – all the pictures on this blog are “clickable” for a larger version of the picture. Some are in the “NextGEN format” so that when you click a picture, it “zooms” on the page – the old format shows you the picture on a page by itself.

In either case, the pictures are always clickable.

All About Max

Cool thing today

November 16, 2008 Maurice Leave a comment

Max and I were doing some work in the yard – nothing major – raking some leaves, making sure the Christmas lights are ok – when I saw this pretty cool spider’s web.

I’ve tried to get a good picture, and I hope this one does it justice. The web was glistening with water, so it stood out quite well at certain angles.

As you can see here, Max is extremely excited to see me working on the lights again. He gets so excited, I’m worried he might have a stroke. lol He’s just got to calm down. We’re heading out to meet all the other dogs at Anna Maria’s place in a little while.

Holidays, Something About Us

Christmas 2008

November 13, 2008 Maurice 1 Comment

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The following pic is from mid November or so – before we left for Aruba.

Here is the first picture of the house for 2008. It’s very early yet. Only one small blow up – and no reindeer.

Pam and I made a Santa’s sleigh this year – it’s not out yet either. We’ll save a bunch til after mid-December. Don’t want to peak too soon! LOL We’ll add almost daily for a while.

November 13th Additions

Here is a new pic of the house with a few blowups stuck up, once we got back from Aruba.

Well somehow I got talked into putting up the reindeer. It was the little girl next door – it was all her doing! I swear. I went to tell her that i had some deer to put out, and I wanted to add after I got back from holidays, but she was so excited, I couldn’t tell her then now could i? It would cruel to the poor kid.

The picture on the left is looking at the house from across the street. Pam ‘suggested’ I add the blue lights around the chimney – it’s a “net light” designed to go around bushes – but looks cool there too.

Here is another picture – this one showing the star on top of the tree – this is the other item I added today. The star had a variety of patterns it runs through, flashing, fading, chasing. It was given to us by the neighbours when they moved away.