Shaun 2002 - Feb. 28, 2020

 

Shaun

After an hour of tests at the vet’s

you sat on my lap so quietly 

waiting for the verdict.

They said you were in great shape for a dog so old,

and with a bit of attitude. 

I was so proud of you,

you were so patient and good

so content to sit there.

A few weeks later you were gone

The last week I made your favourite, spaghetti 

to be sure you would have some,

then let you finish mine.

Going for a walk

two days after

I turned down a side street.

Because I could not face the curve of Northmount drive

where you liked to stop and lift you leg against every other poplar,

as we waited impatient to get home.

I wonder now, as we walk the neighbourhood whether

the other dogs will unexpectedly smell you against this tree,

that rock and find,

as I do while standing at the kitchen counter

or rolling over in bed,

some happy memory of you.

First Draft (it took a year)

Remembering

The next two photos are Wendolene and Shaun's mugshots 

from the Calgary Humane Society.

Wendolene 1999-Oct.14, 2012

In May 2006 we wanted to adopt a couple

of adult dogs who could get along. At the Humane

Society we found Angel and Curly soon named Shaun

and Wendolene ( from Wallace and Gromit ) who had come from the

same home and had to remain together. Wendolene had a deformed

front leg with one claw and teeth so rotten you could smell her

breath across the room. She immediately jumped in Helen's

lap.

Despite this, she was indomitable, ruling not only Shaun

but all of us with a loving but iron will. Although arthritis

had slowed her down and a recent diagnosis of Cushing

Syndrome weakened her, she still could rob the spaniel

puppy Whateley that we got from Animal Services few weeks ago 

to be a companion to Shaun. I remember her proudly sitting

in the living room with her good paw on his kong. While we knew

time was limited we had hoped for more time together but

Wendlone passed away Sunday Oct. 14, 2012

Adoption Photos Above

Xmas 2009 Wendolene is slowing down but

she refuses to be pulled in the wagon which

is donated to a child. As normal Shaun is

along for the ride but Wendolene calls the

shots.

She loved treats, naps and walks.

On one of the first if not the first walk we proudly

took with our new dogs we saw two young men

walking a Weimaraner and another dog of equal size

down the sidewalk on the opposite side of the road

Wendolene ( under ten pounds at the time ) immediately

slipped her new pink collar and raced across the street

to give battle while Shaun frantically struggled to join her.

Life had just gotten more interesting.

In later years many walks ended the same way.

A recent trip to the Research Park pond

You will always be remembered, 
always be missed 
always be loved.

Goodbye Little Girl

"I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
In summers that have been;

Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.

I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall ever see.

For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green.

I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago,
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.

But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door."

              by J. R. R. Tolkien

"For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together. 

For nature it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad."  

Edwin Way Teale  

Autumn Across America, 

This weekend we could not make it to 

the park so these photos are from last 

weekend. Fall was in the air and the leaves.

Shaun

and Wendolene were in fine form.

The were few ducks and ducklings left.

And a small flock of Pine Siskins had joined 

the Waxwings.

"The morns are meeker than they were,

The nuts are getting brown;

The berry's cheek is plumper,

The rose is out of town.

The maple wears a gayer scarf,

The field a scarlet gown.

Lest I should be old-fashioned,

I'll put a trinket on."

Autumn 

  Emily Dickinsen

Friday I had to visit one of our locations in

central Alberta so we decided that the entire family

minus the cat would drive up Friday ( mostly Helen )

stay in a hotel overnight and wander home Saturday

visiting a couple of birding spots on the way. This

would give us an idea of how the dogs travel. This trip

 is about 4.5 hours the trip to the cabin about 8 hours.

The dogs were not happy about hours in their new

kennel and Shaun was paranoid about a night

in the hotel, he gets that from me but they did fine.

However it is still winter here so birding consisted

of magpies, crows and skeins of returning geese.

Out first stop was Beaverhill Lake. We never found the

actual observatory but we did find the lake.

"This natural area is internationally recognized for its wetlands

& diverse bird populations - more than 270 bird species have

been reported, with 145 known to breed locally. Beaverhill Lake

was designated a RAMSAR site (wetland of international significance)

 in 1987. The two-day Beaverhill Lake Snow Goose Festival attracts

6000 people to the site annually."

Government of Alberta

http://www.albertaparks.ca/siteinformation.aspx?id=436

Beaverhill Lake has dried over the years and is now more

wetland than  lake. As such these photos are pretty

typically of a prairie wetland in the winter.

Next we decided to stop at the

Miquelon Lake Provincial Park

"Miquelon Lake is at the south end

of the Cooking Lake Moraine. The park is

dominated by trembling aspen, balsam poplar

& white spruce forests."

Government of Alberta

http://www.albertaparks.ca/siteinformation.aspx?id=81

Despite numerous maps and mapbooks

we did not find that either. We did find a

nice spot to stop (dogs) along a gravel

road. There was still a fair bit of snow once

you got off the highway into the trees and no
visible birds. It is still winter here. Then

"Home again, home again, jiggety-jog;"

Mother Goose

"Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting 

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things."

Wild Geese

Mary Oliver

"The wind is gusting, the dog runs full speed

towards nothing but happiness,"

 

Waiting to Wave

            Jonathan Carroll

                   

“Dogs are minor angels, and I don't mean that facetiously.

They love unconditionally, forgive immediately, are the truest

of friends, willing to do anything that makes us happy, etcetera.

If we attributed some of those qualities to a person we would say

they are special. If they had ALL of them, we would call them

angelic. But because it's "only" a dog, we dismiss them as

sweet or funny but little more. However when you think about it,

what are the things that we most like in another human being?

Many times those qualities are seen in our dogs every single day--

we're just so used to them that we pay no attention.”

Jonathan Carroll

These are the last photos from our trip to the mountains.

For Shaun and Wendolene this is the longest car trip they

 have been on with us and they were very well behaved.

I always think of the mountains as the home of large animals

but I was surprised by how many plants had insects on them.
Plant identification is based on Plants of Alberta, Royer &
Dickinson, Lone Pine Publishing.

Feel free to disagree.

Mountain Fireweed

Mountain Goldenrod

Below we see a Hoverfly surrounded

by aphids Some Hoverfly larve feed

on aphids the adults feed on nectar

and pollen. Bugs of Alberta

Common Red Paintbrush

 

Twinflower ~ Linnaea borealis

"I stop in the gravel by the side of the road,

completely ringed by mountains so impressive

they must be fake."

                 Starting Out in the Afternoon

                                           Jill Frayne