MUNGO EATS Latin America

I had a big day today. I let the cat out of the bag. Maybe I let the dog out of the bag? Anyway, I told my boss that I am going to be opening my own clinic in a few months time. Up until now, I have been keeping this a secret. I wasn’t quite sure how he would take it, and I was not really sure that I wouldn’t be fired on the spot.

Today, I invited the boss out for coffee. Lunch would have been too awkward, if things went bad. Then I broke the news to him. He actually took it quite well and he seemed pretty excited for me. We will see how he feels after he has a little time to think about it.

So for all of you out there that do not know what is going on, here it is. I will be opening my own clinic, in Marda Loop in a few months time. Lorraine Westermann, from Signal Hill Animal Clinic, will be my business partner. I will only be working on dogs. That’s right, I will be opening the first “dog only” clinic in Calgary. Actually, it will be the first “dog only” clinic in Canada. I am so excited about it. I finally get to make my own decisions. Of course, it will be difficult at first. I will be working long hours and I probably won’t draw much of a salary, but I am still so excited!!

So all you dog owners, mark your calendars and come and see me in “the Loop”!!

This morning we were all up bright and early.  We piled into the car and drove off to Rosemary, Alberta.  Now what, you may ask, was there to do in Rosemary, Alberta?  A ski race?  A biathlon race?  Nope.  Waiting for us, in Rosemary, Alberta, was a litter of 10 Rhodesian Ridgeback puppies (and 7 adult Ridgebacks).  I guess we have decided that it is time to get dog number two.  We happened to hear about this litter, by chance, and strangely enough, they were born on Christmas eve (so was Mungo). 

We were planning to get our next dog from Mungo’s breeder, but I just don’t feel right about shipping a puppy from the east coast to Calgary (a six hour trip).  I could go GET the puppy in Halifax.  When we heard about a litter closer to home though, we thought we would try to get on the list for these little ones instead.

It turns out “getting” on the list is the easy part.  Just because you are on the list though, does not mean you get a puppy.  So even though we went to see the litter today, I am still not sure that one of those little bundles of joy will actually make their way to our home in a few weeks. 

Oh well, it was still a great visit.  I LOVE puppies.  I love everything about them.  They are beautiful, they smell good, they are silly, and they can fall asleep in any positions.  We sat on the floor in the room full of puppies and it wasn’t long before our laps were filled with snoring little fluffs.  At one point, Sean had 4 puppies sleeping on his lap, quite the feat really when you consider the size of Sean’s lap.  When they sleep, they all pile onto each other.  Feet, tails, ears are all mixed together and it is hard to tell where one pup ends and the other starts.  It truly must be where the term “dog pile” came from.  It is just a mass of brown, but a very good mass of brown!

So I will keep you posted.  If we are “awarded” a dog, I will let you know.  I am sorry that I don’t have any pictures of the puppies.  I was so excited to see them, I forgot to bring the camera in from the car.  I told myself, I would just take a peek at them and then I would go back out to the car to get the camera.  Who was I kidding?  There was no way I was leaving that room, not even for a second.  I should have known that.  So you will have to wait for picture too folks.  Adds to the suspense. 

Let’s talk about hair.  My hair.  Generally I don’t talk about my hair.  Generally I do very little with my hair.  I wash it, but I don’t blow dry it, I don’t style it, I don’t color it, I don’t fuss with it.  Most times, I hardly even know it’s there.  Except for when it grows too long and starts to get in my eyes.  Then it bothers me and I know it is there.  I have been wearing my hair extra short since we went on our big adventure trip.  Initially, I cut it short because I thought it would be cooler.  Now that it is short, I realize that it is more convenient to have short hair.  Until it starts to grow over your eyes and ears.  Then it is not convenient…it is annoying.  It is an amazing thing though.  It doesn’t grow all at once.  Length gets added on on a daily basis.  One day however, it crosses the line and becomes “too long”. 

When this happens, I get it cut…immediately.  I can’t be bothered with making a hair appointment, I need the hair cut NOW.  I therefore am one of those “walk-in” people.  My friend, Lorraine, is horrified to think that I can just walk into a salon, any salon, and ask them to cut my hair.  I don’t always see the same stylist.  In fact, it is much more likely that any given stylist will only do my hair once.  It usually works out okay though.  I am not too picky about my hair, and I don’t have “difficult” hair.  I do have a few little cowlicks, but no curl, no wave, nothing that requires a “skilled” stylist.  Generally, as long as they notice the two cowlicks and make sure they thin my hair like crazy, it turns out fine.  USUALLY! 

Today, the hair cutting gods were not in my corner.  The gal that cut my hair failed to notice one of the only two cowlicks on my head, and the result was that I am now channelling my “inner Spock”.  I have little points of hair in front of my ears and my bangs are cut more or less straight across.  Although I feel very “logical”, I don’t really feel very stylish.  Oh well.  The good thing about short hair is that is will grow out in a week or so.  Maybe I can wear a hat until then.  I wonder how many funny looks I would get if I was sporting a toque inside.  Likely no more than I will get with this horrible haircut.  Patience…patience.  Until then…Live long and prosper!!

Just a quick post folks, to let you know how the weekend ended up. 

Sean did well in his race on Sunday, but came up just short of the gold.  He missed one shot and I think this was the difference in the standings.  The fellow who won gold finished just 9.5 seconds faster than Sean.   It takes about 30 to 40 seconds to ski a penalty loop, so had Sean shot clean, he would have come in first.  By the way, the fellow that beat Sean was HUGE!!  He was at least a head taller than my boy.  Take a look at him on the podium at medal presentation.

In any case, he was pretty satisfied with his results.  Just so you know, the races are not all work.  There is often time for play.  Edmonton had a ton of snow, and the boys took full advantage of it by building a fort, having snow ball fights, diving into the snow, and of course dumping each other into the snow.  Here are a few “fun” photos.

We had no issues on the drive home, although there were still tons of people going into the ditch.  The highway was clear, except for a few snowy patches, and it seemed every time there was a patch of snow, someone went into the ditch.  I am not really sure why, unless they tried to slow down on the snow??  Not sure.  In any case, we had absolutely no problems on the drive. 

We are in Edmonton tonight, we being Sean and I.  Sean has a couple races here this weekend.  Seems like a long way to drive for a bit of skiing and shooting, but he was determined to come, so who am I to refuse.  I was chosen as the team driver (team Sean, that is), and although I gave some excellent suggestions as to why Dad would be a better driver, I did not sway Sean. 

We drove up last night.  I had to work until 6, but I managed to sneak away from work a few minutes early, so that we were driving by about 6:15.  Initially the drive was great.  The roads were clear and dry and there were not too many cars on the road.  Perfect!  I had the tunes turned up and we were cruising. 

When we hit Red Deer, a light rain started.  It was still above zero, according to the thermometer in the car, so besides turning on the wipers, we were still doing well.  So we continued to drive and count down the kilometers.  About an hour out of Edmonton, people started driving slower.  The rain had changed to snow.  Visibility was still good, but only one lane of the highway was clear.  It was okay though.  As I mentioned, pretty much everyone had decreased their speed and all was fine.  Funny thing is, even though 95% of the population felt that the roads should be navigated at a slower speed, the “super intelligent” remaining 5%  did not agree. 

These are the people who felt the rest of us were wimps and “why the heck were we going so slow!!”  These brave souls would pass in the snowy lane at great speeds, to beat us slow-pokes.  Even after they started seeing cars in the ditch, they continued to pass.  After all, they knew best. 

A semi driver was among the “brainiacs” we encountered.  He was passing beside us and I slowed down a tiny bit more, because he was kicking up a bit of snow (remember, there was snow in the other lane).  One minutes the semi was there, the next minutes, he was gone…into the ditch….right in front of us!!!!Damn FOOL!!!!!  Slow and steady boys, slow and steady.  The tortoise is your friend!!

We made it in one piece, no concerns.  Sometime it is best to go with the flow, follow the crowd.  That is what we did and here we are. 

There is a crazy amount of snow in Edmonton, but today was quite warm, above zero.  Perfect day for a race.  Sean started the race…literally.  He was racer number one.  He had a great race.  He shot all his rounds clear, which was great, because in this race there were no penalty loops.  If you missed a shot, you were given a 40 second time penalty.  No missed shots, no penalties.  He out-skied the competition and finished first.  Pretty goo.  He was especially happy with this finish, since his last race was such a bust. 

Tomorrow Sean races again and then we will head back home.  This time we will be travelling during the day, and there is no rain in the forecast, freezing or otherwise!