5C's Que Pasa

The pups are doing really well. Having never been outside and loving it has made it easy to potty train them. Sometimes they actually run to the door to go out. Our job is to watch them while they are awake and get them outside as needed. We have had very few accidents. We don’t use wee pads during the day. Of course it is cold here and so they start to shiver very quickly. Colin always takes them out and I greet them at the door with hot towels to warm them.

We had snow Tuesday morning and they loved it. Carlie is trying to eat the snow.

Looking outside at the birds and the doxie statue.

Carlie’s eyes are so expressive.

A bit later in the day. They have enjoyed sitting in the sun in this area. Love Ciela’s foot placement.

We picked the twins up on Tuesday and our first night with them was in Canmore at the hotel. They did really well and only whimpered once about 2AM and settled down on their own. However they did get us up and out of bed about 4:30AM and that was when our day started Wednesday morning. Yesterday morning, Thursday, they slept about 3 hours and then started to cry extremely loudly, It was worse than any operatic soprano singing off key at full volume – times two 😯 Colin peed them and we resettled them into their crate. About 15 – 20 minute later they were screeching/screaming, so loud that it hurt our ears. Colin held them and calmed them but as soon as he left them in the crate it started all over again.  It was so loud that I thought a neighbour might call security. Finally we gave up and were up about 4:30AM. I fed them at 5AM and they were rather hungry. During the day they are great.  Generally they are up for an hour and then nap for 1 -2 hours. Sometimes they get up for 10 minutes and then go back to sleep. Other times they play hard for up to 90 minutes. Wrestling is their favourite pastime. I think that is because  they are sisters.

Carlie

Ciela.

They did rest more during the day yesterday, maybe because they wore themselves out. We are getting to know which is which a bit more. Colin still says”she did it” and I go which one? They are starting to notice things outside the windows. Having our windows ceiling to floor makes it fun for them. Ciela barked at the doxie statue sitting on the back steps. One drinks a lot of water and the other holds her poop for a long time so we are always watching her just in case. They love their playpen and use it for playing with toys and wrestling. Other areas are used for different things, they are creating their own play routines so by observing them we know what signs to watch for. Today they learned to come when called to eat. For the first Ciela came into the kitchen and asked for food. She ate 3/4 of her meal while Carlie ate only 1/4. Next meal one will eat more than the other.  They always leave kibble in their bowls. It didn’t take them long to figure out that sitting under the fireplace was the best place to be.

I discovered that Ciela has wrinkles on her forehead. A good way to tell them apart.

We have come to love them both so very very much.

Sometimes they play separately in different areas and in the past day have actually slept separately, one in a dog bed under the fireplace and the other in the crate. I’m glad to see them being somewhat independent. Today Colin took them out separately which was fine except one time Ciela became upset and started crying for her sister. They do tend to know where the other is even if they are not together.

We found out today that their sister who was supposed to be picked up this week now has new parents.  The first couple who have never ever had a dog had a change of heart. However another family who already has a two year old female from our breeder is picking her up Sunday.  So nice that she will have an older sibling to bond with and teach her the ropes.

Thank you all for your lovely comments. I just don’t have a single moment to reply to them. I haven’t even turned on my iPhone today. Today was a marathon day but more about today tomorrow.  First I need to share our last day on the road. ****Breaking news!!!***** We just lost a puppy 😳 We have given them just a wee bit more room to roam today. I am here working on this post and Colin is make a salad for our late dinner. He said, “we only have one pup”. We called ( they still don’t know their names ) and finally got flashlights and looked everywhere.  I began to panic. There was one dog in the crate. We kept looking. Finally Colin doubled checked the crate.  There were two but one on top of the other so it looked like one 😕  Plus they are so dark. It is going to be an interring next few months.

The girls did really well in the Canmore Resort. We had a one bedroom apartment and they stayed in the living room.  We did hear them peep about 1 or 2 AM  but they settled right back down. However at about 4:35AM they let us know that it was time to get up. Seriously! So we were up for the day at 4:45 and they were eating breakfast at 5AM.  They then played and played and ran everywhere. Meanwhile one was watching the girls while the other was packing up. We did not leave until 8AM.  So much to take down to the car, yea for heated underground parking. It was -17C. Moving the crate and then setting it up again in the car was a wee chore as everything had to be in the right place.

We were driving at 8:05AM. The view from the front of our hotel.

So many beautiful mountains in the Banff area and all the way home.

The sign says ” You are in AVALANCHE country “.

You can see how high the snow has been piled on the right by the plows.

Our first avalanche control was just before Field, BC.

The girls were so good and just kept sleeping in their crate. Colin was happy because it was sunny for the most part and the roads were dry. Very little sand with larger chunks in it hitting the front of the car or the windshield. I was just counting the miles until we got home.

So much fresh snow.

We were stopped just before Rogers Pass for more avalanche control or as the fellow said “they are dropping the bombs today”. We actually heard one loud boom. Fresh snow on the pines and hoar frost on the others.

Through it all the girls quietly sat with us. I opened the door to the crate and they relaxed on the armrest between the seats.

We finally got to Revelstoke where we peed them and then put down a clean wee pad to put their food on. they were distracted with the cars driving by and the people as well.  A huge first for them to be out in the world. It was a balmy 6C and they had the sun shining on them. It was a slushy mess everywhere and there was no way we could put them down.

Back on the road, they were a bit more playful.

They did get back in their crate and slept the rest of the way home including a stop in Armstrong to pick up more wee pads.

We kept them in the crate while we unload very quickly.  Then we put the wee pads from the back of the Jeep on the lawn and they went right away.  They loved running around. Sadly they are able to walk right under the front gate which we had made lower just in case we got new pups one day. So we have them now but they are so tiny. They don’t mind going outside but if the wind is blowing and it is freezing like at night, they cry. We will easily be able to find a temporary fix for the gate until they grow more. But right now they have a penned area on the lawn reserved just for them.

Setting up their area is a work in progress.

More stories and photos tomorrow.

Just before Christmas there was a significant windstorm. A huge tree came down in the garden area.

Some plots were damaged and others were not. Ours was, we are right of the  black iron gate in the middle of this photo.

As you can see the front area of our garden was smashed.

The weight of the felled tree was enough to crush our metal garden gate.

Quite the mess.

You can see where the limb broke off.

Fortunately the heaviest part did not land in our area.

Another winter first for us. We will be able to clean it all up come spring. A reminder of the power of Mother Nature.

**********We have arrived home safely.  As you can imagine we are much too busy to create a new post. Loving and enjoying our chocolate stash. They are surprising us every moment. The loved coming home here and played hard for two full hours before a two hour nap and then dinner.  Of course they are still wrestling. They took to being outside immediately, amazing since they have never been outside a home before. So we started potty training and they have been great.  Now we take them out and they do their business immediately. However we are to get 2 -4 cm of snow tonight.  Yikes, tomorrow is a new day.

We spent last night in a king studio suite at the Hampton Inn and Suites. If you click here you can see the great room we had for only $103.00 per nite, senior rate. You have to click on the kingsstudio suite ( last one ) and where are photos to scroll through. I think it was one of the nicest hotels we have ever stayed in. We also got a hot breakfast delivered to our room this morning. We wished that we had arrived earlier yesterday so we could have relaxed and enjoyed our suite.

Our final destination was a 25 minute drive east to Barnwell, Alberta where our wonderful breeders Cindy and Roman allowed us to come into their home to meet our twins. It was cool and snowflakes were falling so it was most welcome to meet them inside.  They have not been outside yet. Today Ciela, Carlie and their sister were seven weeks old and one day.  So difficult  to tell them apart. We knew which two we had picked but I was drawn to sister #3 as she was drawn to us. She was thiner than Carlie who was the runt but is now the larger of the three by very little. Her bones are larger. But #3 was not a twin.

The mountains come into view at the west side of Calgary. Spectacular with the first coat of snow.

First time locked in.

We stayed for over an hour but did need to get on the road. Colin warmed the car and we wrapped them in receiving blankets and hustled them to their new crate in the car. They settled right in and went to sleep almost immediately. 45 minutes later they woke up and quietly played and went back to sleep. We never heard a peep until we passed through Calgary and were heading due west on Highway 1. At that point Carlie let us know that she had to go potty.

Going for a big bite. Good teething ring.  I actually did have something to chew on.  It worked.

The widest wide load we have ever seen – just coming into Calgary.

Calgary is so dirty, look at the mess to the side of the road.

Calgary has grown so much that it is almost impossible to drive through it. The Jeep’s GPS was of no help as so many streets were new.  My paper maps were a joke.  Fortunately I had the presence of mind to use Google maps on my iPhone. We saw a vehicle from Arizona today and one from Alaska.  There was also a fellow towing his 5th wheel while his wife followed in the car. Both plated Texas. We were the only BC vehicle to be seen.  I was worried we would get into trouble crossing in to Alberta.

With roads so slushy and wet there was not place to pull over to the side of the road. I discovered a fuel station via Gas Buddy about 7 minutes away.  Carlie was frantic. We stopped and Colin went to open the back of the car where we had a blanket covered with a wee pad. He came and got the first one while I got out and brought over the second one. I then took the first one back into the car. They didn’t get too cold.  the sun was shining but the snow was drifting. They went right back into their crate. I sat there with the crate door open while Colin fueled the Jeep. They were happy to stay where they were.

Can you see that sweet paw?

Such a mess no matter where you stop, you have to walk through this.

Such different personalities. They appear to be able to do some things without the other. They are difficult to tell apart. One has a thicker tail than the other but you have to see them together to know which is which. Also one is a bit darker but unless they are close you don’t notice. Carlie does tend to hang back more and is slow to warm up at times, she does things at her own pace. They are both wonderful wrestlers and we are now tonight hearing their voices. They can be loud or soft. So fun to watch.  The only problem is that they are so dark that it is difficult to photograph them. Tonight they are playing in their crate as well as wrestling in it. Once we get home tomorrow we will be able to set things up ever so much better. We think that they have done a great job of being in a car for the first time ever. Today was close to four hours.  Tomorrow will be seven hours including an on the road feed and play time 🙄 They are very special puppies. we are so lucky that they came into our lives.

We have so much stuff for them and we used 90% of it.

The set up for tonight at least. They have a bedroom, a bathroom, a small play area and a feeding station in the octagon play pen as well as a family room.

The highlight this evening was wrestling.

Hope you enjoy the read.  We are both exhausted and tomorrow is a huge day for the four of us. Please excuse the lack of proof reading.

Once we got our personal things into the Jeep it was rather full with just enough room for two munchkins. The drive was 812 km and was supposed to take just over 9 hours. We left at 6:30AM and arrived at 7:00PM our time. 12.5 hours on the road. We stopped three times for fuel and bathroom breaks. Breakfast was a cheese and egger from A & W at 9:00AM in Revelstoke. The next food we had was pizza in Lethbridge at 9PM.   We were beyond exhausted.  We spent hours making our final ‘lets go’ decision based on weather reports, storm info, etc.  Today Monday was to be a bit bad but worse weather ( snow ) was incoming on later Wednesday evening. We will be home Wednesday afternoon so this really was our window to get the twins picked up or this may have to wait  two or three weeks. Over all the weather and the roads were not as bad as we thought but other events created the long day.

Lovely to see the sunrise over Kalamalka Lake as we neared Vernon.

About an hour later we came across an accident. It took time for the police and ambulance to arrive. Had we been five minutes earlier we might  have missed it.

The truck on the left lost his canopy but the car pulling the ( perhaps too heavy ) trailer faired much worse.

Oops! The ambulance did transport at least one person. This was our first delay of the day, just over thirty minutes.

We were next stopped thirty minutes later for snow removal.  They did let the ambulance through. We were moving about twenty minutes later.

Finally we got to Revelstoke for my much needed bathroom break. We filled the Jeep @ 139.9 per liter but did get 8 cents off per liter. Fuel at home is currently 134.9. This is where we picked up breakfast which was tasty but didn’t keep us full for the next twelve hours.  I made sure that Colin did have a protein bar and we shared a few slices of banana bread as it was getting dark out and the road seemed to be never ending. The other two fills we did were at 131.9 and 113.9. Again we got 8 cents off per liter.

Some neat things to see.

It was foggy, slushy and wet with the occasional patch of black ice.  And the pooling water was quite something. Water was spraying several feet up above the car. A first for us.

However we only drove for 45 minutes when we were stopped. We were flagged down and were told that we had to stop at this point as they were doing avalanche control. So the options were to turn around and drive back to Revelstoke ( 45 minutes ) or stay put for two ( yes” 2 “) hours. So we stayed. We talked, we read a bit but did not go for a walk on the wet slushy mess of a road. It was either snowing or raining during this extended stop. When we started driving again we were already close to three hours behind.

Around the corner and yet again about a mile further, we saw how they were doing avalanche control, shooting shells up into the mountain. Serious stuff.  We think they were doing this because a much warmer system was coming in softening the snow.  There never was a winter storm as had been mentioned in the news.

However the roads really were a mess.

More ice sculptures.

Some blue sky around Banf but then it got messy again.

At times we saw snow banks that were much higher than the Jeep and many signs were covered in snow. One of the worst things was the gravel on the roads. As cars passed on the left they sent grit flying everywhere. We have a few new chips in the window. Wonder  how the front of the car made out.  Alberta roads and Alberta drivers!  May be time for a new front end paint job?  Each time the gravel hit we thought that the windshield would crack.  Not yet 😯 The Jeep has never been so dirty. Even the door handles are filthy.

Finally we have arrived in Lethbridge, Alberta for the night. It is late, we are tired but ordered pizza to fill the gaps.  Tomorrow is a huge day for us so with no further adieu, goodnight.