Post vacation

We had a great time at Tumbo and Cabbage Islands in Canada. The weather was perfect, we hiked, and I got sunburned (twice). We headed to Stuart Island in the San Juans for the end of the trip and had a floating dock all to ourselves. That has happened to us before. The entire harbor will be full; boats will take up all the mooring buoys and even anchor out, but we are the only ones at our little floating dock which can easily handle 3 more boats. It is unsettling. My husband feels slighted. I began to wonder if our boat had BO (boat odor).

We got back Sunday afternoon and that night Mickey had a seizure. It has been seven months so I cannot complain, but it is unsettling all the same. We are thankful it didn't happen until after we got back as dealing with seizures on the boat would be tough.

He had two more the following day, but none last night. We are taking him to the vet Thursday to get his blood levels checked. They have to be sure he's getting the right amount of medication. We were hoping to eventually wean him off one of the meds but now I doubt we can.

I picked the kitties up from the kennel they stayed at. Boo was hiding under a blanket. All I could see was her little nose and one eye. The woman at the kennel asked me if I called her Boo for peek-a-boo because she hid that way most of the time. I said no, the name came from a childhood storybook I had. I haven't seen her do that before so I felt doubly horrible. Shadow seemed okay. He's 12 and has gone through this several times before, although he HATES the carrier and meows the entire way in the car. Boo doesn't make a peep. They both settled back into routine quickly at home but Boo hid downstairs for half a day and actually growled at me when I picked her up once. I don't blame her. I'd growl at me too. She forgave me, however, and crawled under the covers with me that night, plastering herself against my side most of the night. She generally sleeps at my feet. Sigh.

Vacation here we come

We are heading for the Gulf Islands in Canada tomorrow night on our boat--my husband, Mickey and myself. I have to put the kitties in a kennel which I hate to do. I feel horrible leaving them behind, as I walk away and their little faces look at me like I am abandoning them. I don't know how to make them understand I will be back.

We will be gone almost a week and are hoping for great weather like we've had today in Seattle. On our last trip up there we made our way up the Straight of Georgia on the wrong side and hit really rough water. We were headed for Desolation Sound but couldn't make it so we high-tailed it across the Straight to the Gulf Islands. It was a lucky find and we hold a dear place in our hearts for the area that became our refuge after a harrowing time near the Fraser River. Poor Mickey was turning green that trip.

I'll post again next week.

A whale is equal to a cow?

Japan is doing what it was expected to do at the International Whaling Commission talks in South Korea and is claiming it has the same right to slaughter and eat whales as other people do cows. It is insisting countries such as Australia and New Zealand, countries close to Japan's whaling waters, are "imperialistic" in their anti-whaling stands.

In the past Japan has culled many more whales than the agreed-upon number and claimed it was for scientific research, a loophole that allows the taking of whales for scientific advancement and study.

I am a vegetarian and don't eat cows either, and don't see the need for it, so saying eating a whale is the same as eating a cow particularly bothers me.

Japan has threatened to walk out of the talks, which it might as well do anyway since they are not going to listen to other countries' appeals to stop the slaughter.

Too smart

I know how I'm about to come across, so I want to give you warning ahead of time. This is going to be equal to a parent putting one of those "My child is an honor student at xxxx school" bumper stickers on their car.

My husband and I are are always amazed at how smart Mickey is. He's a Keeshond and they are supposed to be one of the brighter breeds, but sometimes you get a dog of a smart breed that just never read the specs and missed out. However, Mickey did come with the brains to go with the looks.

We believe he can reason things out. My husband Brad plays a game indoors with Mickey where he keeps a tennis ball away from Mickey. He'll throw it against the wall and when it bounces all over, he'll go after it just like Mickey does to see who can get it first. (Mickey's pretty fast.) To make it more interesting, at times he'll sit cross-legged in the middle of the floor and place the ball just out of arms reach. Mickey will stand next to him and stare at it, waiting for Brad to go for it and then try to beat him to it. Brad tries to fake Mickey out so he can grab the ball first.

One day, while Mickey and my husband were both sitting on the floor, tensed, waiting to go for the ball, Mickey went around behind my husband and licked his ear, which, of course, distracted my husband. As soon as my husband was distracted, Mickey went for the ball and got it.

Last night as they were playing that same game, Brad swore Mickey was trying to get him to look out the window to distract him. As they both stared at the ball, Mickey would glance behind Brad out the window, then quickly look at Brad and back at the ball. Brad had the strongest desire to turn around and look out the window, but he knew it was a trick.

That's almost eerie. Maybe next he'll start wearing sponges on his nose (see post below this one).

Dolphins use sponges as tools

I read a report on Discovery Channel News that says dolphins use sponges as tools when probing the sea floor for fish. The dolphin puts a sponge over its snout to protect itself while probing. They believe the technique is taught from mother to child.

Scientists label this a "material culture" and it has only been seen in chimpanzee and orangutan cultures before. This is the first they've seen it in marine mammels. You can read the full story here.

Mickey and the Schipperke

We went to James Island with our boat for the weekend and got a spot on the dock. Shortly after we docked another large boat pulled in across us. The people had a little black Schipperke that was perfectly content on the bow of the boat. She saw Mickey and got very excited but didn't bark.

Mickey, used to being the center of our attention, particularly when we are on the boat, became very jealous as we talked to the people and petted the Schipperke. She was such a sweet dog. We brought Mickey over to introduce him to her, and they touched noses and seemed to be fine. But any time we turned our backs to Mickey and petted the little black dog Mickey would start barking.

I haven't seen him that jealous before. He needs more socializing.

Maybe I should plant a nest on the site

I read a story on Animal Planet where construction crews stopped blasting and working on roads in Canada because two bald eagles are nesting near the work site. The work is being done on the road between Vancouver, BC and the Whistler ski resort for the Olympic games in 2010.

The eagles are endangered in Canada and protected by law. The crews need to determine if a little bald eagle is on the way.

We have a sand and gravel mine about to start production near our home. One of the concerns I brought up to the judge at a hearing (our community tried to stop them from being allowed to operate so close to our homes) was that many bald eagles live there and excessive noise will stop them from breeding. They are protected in the US as well as Canada. No one seemed too concerned at the time. Maybe we should move to Canada.