Kelowna Bits 'n Bobs

Other than visiting my sister and her family, my goal while in Kelowna was to get a big box of apples, so that I can make (and can) apple sauce.  I've made about half of it now - I ran out of jars, so will have to make the rest tomorrow.

(For what it's worth, that apple peeler/corer was a waste of money.  I ended up using a carrot peeler and a knife that worked much better.)

This is my sister's dog Derby.  Besides my own dogs, she's my all-time favourite - and she has the best ears ever.  She's 14 1/2 years old now and retired from agility and flyball; but has taken up obedience classes to keep her border collie brain active.

Even so, she gets more neurotic every year.  In the last few years, she's been afraid to walk around inside the house, so she lives on the area rug in their living room.  They don't know why.  She can be coaxed off the rug, but always goes back as soon as they let her.  They take her for lots of walks every day, though, and she's happy as a clam when she's outside.

See that pinecone at her feet?  Derby is a fetching machine.  We didn't have a ball handy, so she brought me a pinecone to throw instead.

Brazen is their other dog.  My sister "co-owns" her, and she was always intended to be part of a breeding program.    Now that she's got her confirmation, has finished obedience training and is an accomplished agility dog (she went to the nationals this year), people started asking about getting one of her puppies and the other co-owner began pushing to get a litter out of her. 

Last year, she was bred but ended up miscarrying.   After she miscarried, Brazen carried around a rubber squeaky ball around with her everywhere, and even tried to nurse it.  The ball became known as Brazen's baby.  After months of this, my sister had to take the Baby away from her.  Then, a few weeks ago, my sister was cleaning out a cupboard and came upon the Baby at the top shelf.  She accidentally squeaked it, and Brazen came running.  Shortly after that, Brazen (who hasn't been anywhere near a male) started to lactate again and has developed mastitis.  

(I know breeding isn't the popular choice when so many dogs are in the shelters.   She's not my dog, though, and I don't have any say in the matter.  Please don't post any nasty comments about it.)

OMGshe'sgonnatalkaboutshoesagain!  Sorry - this should be it for a while, though.

I've been worried about my inability to wear shoes.  If I wear them for more than an hour or two, my feet either hurt something fierce or my toes go numb.  It's not that big of an issue most days because I work from home, but with my upcoming trip to Italy, I was worried that it would be a serious problem.

I was talking to my sister about it, and she told me about a store where she's been buying shoes lately.  She seized up her back last year and could barely move for months.  Her doctor sent her to see this guy at the shoe store, who sold her the miracle of all shoes, and now she swears by him.

I tried to avoid them at first... I probably tried on 10 pairs before I agreed to try these on - just to see how they fit - but ultimately, they are the only shoes that seemed completely comfortable when I put them on.    I ended up bowing to sisterly pressure and buying them, and am now the owner of some seriously ugly shoes.    And, unless something drastic happens, I think I'm going to wear them to Italy too.  I've been wearing them almost non-stop since I got them, and they are the only shoes I own that don't hurt or cause my feet to go numb after a few hours.

And then, to add insult to injury, my sister sent me home with these.  They are one of two pairs that she wore after she hurt her back, and she swears that they work, despite their looks.

I figure that I might wear them around the house and yard.  If people can be seen in public wearing crocs, these can't be that much worse.... can they?