Friday was travel oriented yet again

It was Friday and an interesting one in the world of Regalridge.  Lee was up and running at 6, making Mrs Field's chocolate chip cookies to take to Tatamagouche for Shelagh.  Chantelle was off to Elmsdale and Ken tried to get ten hours of work in to the two he had before the van had to be out of the driveway.  Ken also had a meeting in Tatamagouche so there was a time mandate - always a challenge.  There was a quick side trip to McDonald's for a milkshake to accompany the cookies and then off through the wilds of Nova Scotia's heartland, over the mountain and on to the care facility.  It was a challenging day with Shelagh.  She is deeply stressed and terribly unhappy with her circumstances.  These are not easy days.  On a brighter day, Ken's meeting went well and the Tatamagouche residents were given a better understanding of emergency care in Nova Scotia.  While we were away, Tom applied another coat of oil stain to the stair treads - that, of course, meant shingles by bedtime on the steps and that lovely scent of stain to accompany us to bed.  And The Project continues. 

The kennel is ticking along.  Lord Tippy departed, palace in tow, early in the day.  We anticipate that his regular subjects may pay a price for having decamped - look out folks.  Jake, Abby and Shadow had a great day with the sunshine and good weather supporting their management of their exercise yard.  They are a great trio, love the exercise and the opportunity to keep an eye on the changing complexion of the surrounding fields as spring arrives and colours change.  Sophie is managing her area nicely, still relieved that Piper's educational period is finished and beginning to put into play all that she has learned - look out for a new dog, folks!  Briggs and Brady are happy with whatever comes their way as long as they are together.  They are neighbours to the two Labs and the Sheltie in their own exercise yard and are still exploring the nooks and crannies.  That little Dachshund nose is determined to root out any varmints it unearths while the Golden watches overhead for errant birds.  All is protected as long as those two are in the area.  Trebia and Barrett relieve Sophie in yard four and have set up a race track around the perimeter.  Barrett is pretty sure he needs a passing lane on the straightaways but so far the little Cirneco is leaving him in her dust.  He finds that endlessly fascinating and at the end of each race, tells her so to her absolute delight.  Their songs are things to be documented, with Barrett crooning and Trebia providing percussion.  She desperately wants to find his timbre and emulate it but alas doesn't have the pipes.  Still, Barrett repeats the refrains so that she can try - they are fast friends after all. 

The house dogs are doing well.  Sophie continues to soldier on, played ball with Tom and had a good long sun bath in a lovely sheltered area of the property.  Even during these difficult days, she loves to be outside - always our greatest outdoor lover.  She had a spa evening with Chantelle, thought it a particularly odd ending to what had been a good day and harrumphed her way to the house.  Patti is bouncing along and Clem is doing better - that potion is a wonderful thing.  The little crew is the little crew - in charge of their universe and happy to take on the job.  They are barking all of us through our days and nights, keeping an eye on the birds and encouraging them to clean up the mess they are making under the feeders - or at least that is our interpretation. 

Dinner was take away - Lee is fond of Fridays for that reason alone.  And we move into the week end . . .