Well, Yes, We Are Still Alive!

Sorry for the long pause between posts. We hope that just makes you that much happier to read this installment.

After a very pleasant and enjoyable winter, we left our home in the California desert in early April. As you may recall from previous entries, we had a good winter with lots of cycling, hiking, visiting, and get-togethers of all types. The dogs, too, had a good season. Benny was busy doing what he does best:  making sure his bed was safe.

Benny the Bed Hog

Rocket completed three levels of classes in Nose Work, which she absolutely loved. Ben would even get out of his bed to help her with her homework … anything if a treat would be involved.  

At the end of the season, Rocket took a set of classes to brush up on her obedience skills. I am thrilled to report that in addition to the Canine Good Neighbour certificate she earned in Edmonton last fall, she was successful on her test for the America Kennel Club’s Canine Good Citizen award. Wow, she is now recognized internationally for her good manners (or maybe it’s more a reflection of her skill at showing off for the examiners!).  When she wasn’t busy at school, doing homework, or patrolling the yard for lizards, she kept busy guarding the house from her perch in the study (just don’t let her know that is a c-a-t perch).

Rockie on Duty

Once the calendar flipped over to April, the mercury in the thermometer really started to climb. For us snow birds, the temperature was just getting too hot.

Too hot

When these kinds of temperatures come to stay, it signals that it is time for us to prepare for our spring migration. We wrapped up our winter activities, got end of season visits in before everyone began to make their way home, and started shutting down the house and packing up the van. As Sandy was getting the deck umbrellas prepped for winter storage, a small bat flew out of one of them. We were sorry to disturb its daytime nap, but appreciated that it stuck around just long enough to pose for a photo.

Bat

April 10th saw us pull away from our winter home and start the three day drive back to Edmonton.  We followed the same route out of the greater Palm Springs area as last year. And at about the same place, amidst a series of small rolling hills, Benny erupted again. He has only ever gotten car sick twice, and both times were pretty much in exactly the same place.  After I got his bed cleaned up, he determined he had had enough of the riding arrangements we had made for him and decided to spend the entire three day trip contentedly laying on top of Rockie’s crate.

Double Decker Dogs

That first travel day was an eventful one. First Ben’s performance, then the van's oil light came on just as we approached Las Vegas. We made our way to a large Honda dealership that, fortunately, was able to get the van in right away.  Considering the heat outside, we were very happy that they let us bring the dogs into the building after we took them for a bit of a walk about. Perhaps the dealership had heard about Rockie’s certified good manners!

Waiting for the Van's Oil Change 

After staying over night in Utah, Day 2 saw us make our way through Idaho and into Montana. Along the way, we discovered two rest areas that catered to our canine travel mates.  One with a nice on-leash walking area in Idaho, and one in Montana with a nice fenced in off-leash park. The dogs appreciated both areas and we were already beginning to wonder why we had left the desert warmth as it was chilly enough we had to get out our jackets and long pants!!

Travelers’ Dog Park

With Benny once again riding high atop Rockie’s crate, we hit the road on Day 3 for the final leg of our journey. The further we progressed, the more snow there was on the ground. Really? And it was cold, to boot! Not exactly what we were looking to find on April 12. Usually, by then our tulips are starting up, the snow is all but gone, our neighborhood pond is ice free, and the geese are nesting. Well, guess what? None of that was the case this year!

First Day Home

Fortunately, the sun came out the day after we got home and the remaining snow melted quite quickly over the next week.  It was still about two weeks before ice was off our pond, but in the mean time, the sun was started to get warm.

Rockie finds some sun

Two days after we got home, I had to fly to Ottawa for a meeting at the Medical Council of Canada. This meeting was my final professional activity and I have now bidden farewell to my medical career. 

It was with mixed emotions that I attended this meeting.  I wasn’t looking forward to my last meeting of a committee doing very interesting work.  I will  miss the wonderful colleagues and fabulous people I had the honour to work with the passed number of years. But, I thought at least spring will be pleasant in Ottawa.  Some lovely walks along the Rideau Canal and Byward Market would help take the sting out of my farewell. Well, I was wrong. It seems the entire country was locked in the never ending winter of 2018. The whole time I was there, if it wasn’t snowing, it rained until it began snowing again. 

In the Deep Freeze all the way to Ottawa.

When I returned to Edmonton, it was still too cold for us part time desert rats to get out on our bikes. We had set a goal for 2018 to get some kilometers cycled every week of the year. Well, the third week of April we watched that goal go unfulfilled. Cold temperatures and daily winds of 20-40 kph, with gusts of 50-60 kph made us think we would be warmer and safer at home.  When we finally got out for our first ride back home, there was still snow to be found on the protected side of hills and ditches.

Bundled up for our First Ride at Home

Springtime weather in Alberta can be a challenge for cyclists, especially if they have just spent a winter in the desert warmth.  The weather will either be like an early summer, or winter revisited, or bounce back and forth between the two.  As mentioned, we were teased with about a week of mild weather in late April, during which we got out for a few early rides.  Unfortunately, however, the weather deteriorated as this spring served up day after chilly, windy day. We pretty much went into hibernation mode during May and June while we waited for the warm temperatures to return and the blasted wind to settle down. With the calendar changing over to July, the weather has finally improved and warm, even hot, days are getting us motivated to get moving.

So, now that the weather is finally decent, and we have mobilized from our spring hibernation, we have places to go, people to see, routes to ride, and camping to be done!! 

Bikes and Boxy Ready for Adventure

Keep watching this space as we have some adventures planned to tell you about that we hope you will find interesting.