Vacation will make you do that...

Yes, I have been rather lax on my posting these past couple of weeks. But I was on vacation for one of them, which I think is a good excuse, and well, it takes a while for me to get out of vacation mode during the first week back.

We spent the week on Eels Lake, just North of Apsley and South of Bancroft. I'm certain that we picked the only good week that summer has had to offer so far. So we had hot weather, lots of swimming and surprisingly little bugs. Though, the fishing left something to be desired.


We even missed a tornado that ravaged part of Milton's downtown core. The storm moved quickly across Southern Ontario, with tornado's active in certain areas, and warnings in others. We prepared ourselves, somewhat hard to do when your living in a wooden box for the week - where do you go when there's no basement and you're in the middle of the woods, but luckily we only got a nasty storm. Check out some of the images from the Weather Network:

Tornado
Damage
Trees Down
More Damage

Jumping from the swim raft

The dogs, and us, got to enjoy the water on an almost daily basis, and Brandy, my Jack Labrador Retriever, is loath to leave the water for any reason, preferring to spend hours fetching objects from the lake for us to toss back in again. Even objects that we haven't tossed, such as a random leaf meandering on the lakes surface, was enough to make her insane about getting it out of the water. And if you haven't heard a dog scream, go swimming without my little one and you'll be surprised at the noises that can come out of this little creature.

The Dig

It was also fantastic to see the dogs actually being dogs, living in the great outdoors for the week. You could tell that they enjoyed themselves, especially Brandy, who got to utilize her instincts by digging us a rather large hole. On the hunt for something unknown, which we had to kibosh since it wasn't our property. She was intent on finding what ever it was in the ground, and I was surprised at how quickly the hole expanded. The little dog excavated earth very well, going as far as pulling roots out of the way and any other object that was in her path. It was great to see her do something very instinctual like that, and after the stoppage, she seemed very proud of her handy-work. Not too worry, I filled the whole back in nicely, so we'll never know what she was after, but I think the fun was in the dig itself.

The hole

Unfortunately, now that I am back, I have to return to work mode (and I'm not talking about the portraits or my business - I enjoy those). Fortunately, I have come up with some new ideas for the business which I will reveal in a later post. As well, I have been working on a landscape of Burns Creek Conservation Area, which will also be revealed in a later post. For now, some more photos from our vacation take top priority on this blog so enjoy!

Eels Lake Sunset off the dock

My Jack Labrador Retriever enjoying the water

Little Retriever with good form

The double stick retrieve

Lot of large wild mushrooms on the property

See, she likes the water...

Ah ha! Proof, she likes the water!! Brings back some good memories. (Bancroft, ON)

Swim, Swam, Swum

My little dog, she likes the water. Except when you put her in a tub, hold her in place and make her tread. I know, it's not nice, but it's not water torture for bad behaviour. She is recovering from a luxated patella surgery, over 2 months in, and the vet suggested swimming as a means of rehab, building back the muscle in her somewhat atrophied rear left leg (the colourful one).

I can attest that it is working, as I can see much improvement in her surgically altered leg. She is a muscley little creature anyway, so it's great to see the progress, as the leg was looking quite out of place on her pumped up little body.

In her earlier years, she wasn't one for swimming. Never showed any interest in the water, and especially loathed bath time, giving me that "look" when ever the deed was required. We bring the dogs camping and cabining with us in the summer, up to the land-o-lakes: semi-northern Ontario. Needless to say, avoiding water is not an option up there, especially when the temperature reaches 34 celcius in the shade, and your only protection from the sun is a bit of leaking tent fabric that doesn't sheild you from the bugs, and just barely deflects the sweltering suns rays.

So, on one of those days was her first time, and she screamed. We were at an out-of-the-way shallow lake (Coe-Island Lake, Bancroft, ON), with a nice easy, gradual slope, and we thought this would be perfect for a first time swimmer. Not a chance, she wanted to splash on shore, diddle around, do her own thing, but not involve her body touching water in any way, shape or form.

We tried to entice her in, we'd wade out a bit, and call her, HA, not a chance. We held her near shore for a bit, so she could get her paddling down pat. Then hubby carried her out a little ways and plopped her in. Right back to shore, no hesitation. We called her back, not a chance in hell. Hubby, once again, scooped her up and plopped her back in a shallow section. Right back to shore, no questions asked. We decided, perhaps we could coax her if we weren't so close. Out further we went and called her, very enticingly I might add. Oh did she scream, screamed with her mouth wide open, screamed like someone was killing her, screamed like when she watches the other JRTs race and she wants to chace the knot halfway through the rope instead of the tail tied to the end like she's suppose to be focusing on.

Suffice to say, that technique did not work either. We came back to shore and threw a stick for her own entertainment purposes, and the lightbulb over the head thing happened. Idiots, she's crazy about moving objects, throw the stick in the water and she'll chace it. Tadaa, that worked, and the rest is history.

I now have a smooth coated, tri-colour Jack Retrieving Terrier. Her form in the water is unparalled, and her speed, unmatched. She will retrieve any object you throw out there and bring it back with pleasure for you to throw again. She jumps in puddles and mud holes now just for the heck of it, and will swim and swim, so much that I know have to stick with her when I send her in the water because she'll take off. This is much to my displeasure, as I'm not a fan of swimming. I'll do it, yes, but not because you've thrown something for me to retrieve. She enjoys water retrieving so much that we can't even take her fishing anymore because she assumes that the large-mouth bass lure you've just cast out (hoping for the big one) is for her to fetch and bring back ... scream, oh does she scream.

So why, oh why does she harbour so much anger and resentment for the "tub". Perhaps its the fact that there is nothing to chase, or its because she has to stay in one spot and can never reach the edge - that would piss me off too. If it was bigger, I would make it entertaining for her, throw her ball, a kong, a stick or maybe a T-bone. Then she wouldn't have evil thoughts about me during her rehab sessions, I swear she's given me the finger every single time. Little bugger.