Category: hiking

No easy task…

Moving from one country to another is no easy task and we know this from firsthand experience! There are jobs to obtain, living arrangements to make, and stuff to haul, plus, plus, plus…

Once we received the official letter of approval and decided on a date, we had to decided what “stuff” was worth shipping, hauling, and/or keeping. We ultimately decided that not much of our belongings were going to make the trip back to Canada. We had about 2 months to get ready, I started right away with the sorting, selling, and packing started to ensure all tasks were completed and reduced the stress. Basically, everything needed to go except for personal items such as clothes and toiletries, and a few keepsakes. I started with the stuff we had in storage, if it was stored, did we really need it? I shipped a box or two of Christmas decorations (of which plenty broke and now I have one box worth, I shipped off season clothes and a couple of boxes of keepsakes. Much of the rest was sold (couches, chairs, tables), donated (dishes, kitchen items, clothes) or trashed (9-year-old mattress). When it was time to leave, we could fit what we kept in each of our cars, his & her carloads!

Now that we are packed, where will we live? Knowing that the Vancouver BC area was having a housing crisis, I wasn’t sure what we were going to be able to do. I know I haven’t mentioned it often throughout this process, but we also had a 103lb German Shepard that needed to travel with us. We did end up deciding that the doggo needed to stay with grandpa for a few months until we could get settled but we were still looking for accommodations that would allow for this dog, who would join us is a few months. I made many attempts at reaching out to landlords and apartment complexes, but no one would even give me the time of the day to ask questions because I was not in town to meet with them or discuss rentals. Trying to find a rental that allowed big dogs made our search even more difficult and frustrating. I had tried on a few occasions to have my daughter (who was local) meet with landlords, but still, the lack of responses was discouraging. There would be no way that I was going to find housing from long distance. So, we couch surfed for a few weeks in October and rented an Airbnb for November, which gave us some time to search while we were local.

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Jobs, well that was the easy part of this whole adventure. As an RN who has worked in the local health authority before, it was easy enough to contact some people I knew and step through the process; although there were a few hiccups (which I’ll highlight at another time) being an ED trained RN, pretty much ensures that the jobs will always be there when I need it! Jerad on the other hand, although he looked for work, he wasn’t hard pressed to find anything right away. He was incredibly lucky that his employer in Denver agreed to have him work remotely until mid-November as he was in the middle of a few projects that they needed completed, this bought him some time to get settled and find work!

Ok, so we have a plan, a short-term one, but a plan none the less!

fullsizeoutput_1e3c Trudi

Living with Indy~The phone call

As a doggie grandparent, do you worry more about the pet than if they were your own?

Taking care of my son’s dog for a few months, is a big responsibility. Indy doesn’t know us and she has made some big adjustments. She is learning so many new things, or maybe just different ways to do things she already knows. Previously, I had told a stories about her fleeing out the back of the car and getting under the fence, but we have tried to be consistent with training and she’s showing an improvement with listening & manners. She’s seems to be staying on the property, and sits patiently at the door before going outside! Exiting the car is improved but still a work in progress (aren’t we all).14624E0F-2DB6-4647-A257-5D238B4B5BDA_1_201_a

We’ve been taking her on daily walks and one day a week she visits doggie daycare for some playtime! She’s new to the daycare center and at the time I am writing this she has only been there 3 times in total. The first visit was an assessment day, this day was supposed to be a time where the staff get to know Indy and hopefully introduce her to a few other dogs they think might be a good fit. Due to circumstances, that I don’t recall, Indy didn’t get introduced to any dogs that first  day, so the introductions would need to happen during the next visit.

Visit 2, She was introduced with another dog, also named Indie (but spelled different), and from the report they played well and looked like they could be a good pair. Things were looking up for Indy, she had a friend indeed!

Visit #3, we had a routine drop off and as usual Indy was excited to be at the daycare. Approximately 3 hours after dropping Indy off, I received a phone call from an unknown number. I usually don’t answer calls from numbers that I don’t know, but something told me that I needed to take it. The kind person on the other end of the phone, introduced herself and reminded me where she was calling from. She started by saying, “Indy is ok”…wait, what? That’s a sure fire way to instill panic!

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The story goes that the two Indy’s were “playing” and got a little excited and our Indy received a scratch “near her eye”. Apparently it bled, was assessed by the owner, and an antibiotic cream was applied. Given the details that I received and the urgency behind the voice, I figured this was pretty serious. When I asked if Indy needed to see a Vet, I was reassured that the bleeding had stopped and it looked ok. I was told that the 2 dogs were separated and were now “resting quietly”.

Oh goodness, the thoughts that I had…which Indy got vicious? were they fighting or playing? how bad was this scratch? how much blood? are they downplaying it? will Indy be allowed back? So many questions…

When I arrived to pick up the doggo and inspected her “scratch” I literally couldn’t see any mark nor evidence of the “incident”. I am certainly happy that there wasn’t anything to worry about but I had to laugh and how much emphasis was placed on the scratch, the urgency behind the call, and the seriousness of how it was all handled. I guess being an emergency room nurse, not much phases me, and perhaps if this had been another doggie grandparent perhaps this situation would have gone entirely differently, which is why I expect the facility treaded so carefully! I am happy it was nothing but it sure reminded me how differently situations can be perceived!

Do you have a story about something that was taken more seriously that you expected? I’d love to read your comments!

fullsizeoutput_1e3c Scratch Inspector (Trudi)

(some images obtained from google/internet, no copyright infringement intended)