great horses and a movie

Back in November, Mrs Tree Hugger and I went to see the Royal Lippizaner (who knows if I spelled that right??? I sure don't!) Stallions perform. The show was very enjoyable. I'm not the greatest at judging light in a dark place, but a few of the many pics I took turned out ok. Here are a few of them for your enjoyment.

There's a little more below the pics about our day today.

The classic picture you always see in their advertisements...that amazing jump. It drew an understandably awed response from the audience.

They were very precise in their movements, very in unison. They're also quite beautiful horses.

This particular horse was some different breed or of some different ancestry. It was the only one with those elaborate braids. It wasn't used in group performance but in special solo stuff. It was more fancily adorned when ridden and the rider was dressed up more like royalty than a soldier. There's a pic of this horse in performance at the top.

The group together was especially enjoyable. Their precision together was amazing.

Just thought this one was cool because I liked the shot. Good color, beautiful animals.

We just got back in this afternoon from seeing the Star Trek movie. Aside from a few details that I, a died in the wool Trekkie, thought weren't right, it was awesome. Any Trekkie who knows their Trek trivia will not particularly like the way they messed with things, but the story itself and the action were great. Mrs Tree Hugger and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

If anyone wants to discuss said details with me, email me. I'd love to dive into geekdom with you!

On the way to and from the theatre, we take a route that takes us down a very picturesque parkway. On the way home we saw three ground hogs! I've only ever seen one hanging out on that parkway in any given day. To see three! Well they must be happy that warm temps are finally here....as are the humans that saw them.

We're going back to the Tulip Festival later this week. The buds that we saw last week are in bloom now. Being the picture taking nut that I can be, I can tell you there will be more beautiful tulips coming.

Tulip Festival, as always...beautiful

There are plenty more than these five. This is just a sampling. It was, as usual, beautiful.

I always love the purple ones the best.

Daffodils growing amongst the tulips.

Always gotta include some orange, don'tcha know??? :-) Go Big Orange!

I really like these, what TreeHugger calls, variegated flowers. Very pretty mixed in with the brilliant reds.

Been a long time, eh?? I spent the winter being lazy...what can I say?

Today, Mrs TreeHugger and I walked around the Canadian Tulip Festival at Commissioner's Park, here in Ottawa. It's held every year, as some of you who know us are aware. The festival shows some amazing color and tons of opportunities for great pictures.

The festival's roots go back to WW2 when the Dutch royal family took refuge here in Canada and showed their appreciation by sending many, many tulip bulbs. Now the numbers are boasted at over a million per year. That's a very simplistic version of the story, but it's enough.

The pics posted here are just five out of over 30 that I took today. A good half of the tulips were still buds, so we're going back next week for some more amazing color.

We took a two day trip in March to Toronto to have our taxes done and see TreeHugger's daughter. We saw some old friends and enjoyed the time tremendously. I forgot the camera. :-(

Then a few weeks later we took a day trip down to Watertown, NY for some Cracker Barrel and shopping. I always enjoy a trip down to the US. It's delicious eatin' and a chance to pick up goodies I can't get up here. I brought home some biscuits and CB gravy. Yowza!!

I also broke down and finally joined Facebook last month. That's been fun. Even with email available to people, I'm still in touch with folk, via Facebook, that I wasn't in touch with before. Go figure, eh??

Hopefully, I'll be more active with the blog during the warm months. I will be taking more pictures, that's for sure.

I'd love to hear from any of my friends or family....gimme a holler!

playing picture tag

Okey, dokey. I've been "tagged" by my friend, Theresa, to play picture tag. She said to go to My Pictures and chose the fourth pic file and the fourth pic in the file. My fourth file ended up being pics of my beloved Tennessee Lady Vols in their 2008 post season Southeastern Conference tournament. The fourth pic was titled, by me, "CP as usual" meaning Candace Parker, getting fouled and abused, and usually not called. This particular game was the title game against LSU, which, of course, we won. heh heh heh

A very merry Christmas, happy New Year, joyous holidays to all from LePewman and my beloved TreeHugger.

more liberal drivel

If I had access to emoticons on this blog, I'd post a HUGE smiley face.
The hollywood farm girl used the word "hope" as the title of her post election blog. The text had one word - "indeed". That's it. I'm agreeing.

I know there's a hell of a job ahead of him. It will probably be the hardest job any new president has ever had to tackle. I think he's got the cojones to do it, though. I think he's smart enough to surround himself with the most brilliant people. I think I've rarely seen a man so confident, yet so humble. He ran one of the best campaigns for president ever. He's a very, very smart man.

I'm still boasting that huge smiley face.

warning -- liberal election day thoughts

I remember being just stunned that George Bush was given the election in 2000. I remember being embarassed that he wasn't ousted in 2004. Personally, I think he's been one of the worst things to ever happen to my country. He's a cocky, arrogant SOB who doesn't care who he hurts as long as he and his get all they can scrape away before they hop in their get-away car. He can't be gone soon enough. He's left a stench on the office.
I'm hoping like I've rarely hoped for anything in my life that McCain gets sent home packing....whichever home he runs to....and that Sara Palin becomes just a very bad memory.
I'm hoping that progressive people with intelligence and patience will be willing to stand in long lines and vote.
I hope voter intimidation will be snuffed out. I hope the election won't be stolen by unscrupulous and fear mongering Republicans who hired computer hackers to make sure the Nazis stay in power. Yes, I said Nazis.
The people in power right now are Nazis. They don't care who they hurt or how badly they hurt people. They don't even care who they kill or how many. How's the number 4,000 sound??
They just want to keep the power. McCain has become their lackey.
We need a long national shower to clean off this filth from our collective soul.

our furry children

Tasha and Casey our first year in Canada

Tasha and Casey many years ago in Memphis

new, sweet Becky

Becky again

Cheyenne and Becky

sweet Cheyenne

and little Becky, again

our two babies

People who know us know that when I moved to Canada, I brought my two cats with me to join Tree Hugger and her dog. My two girls were Casey and Tasha. Tree Hugger's dog is Cheyenne.

Of course, Cheyenne quickly became our dog and Casey and Tasha became our cats. Both of us loved all three babies quite a lot.

Realistically, though, Cheyenne has always been her Mama's baby and Casey and Tasha were always my sweet babies. Tree Hugger does have a human daughter, just so you know.....

Tasha lived to be 18 before she crossed the Rainbow Bridge last year. Casey joined Tasha just this past July. She was 19. I was very saddened at the loss of my baby girls. I had no desire whatsoever to have any more. I was content to let Cheyenne be our only fur baby.

Well, in the seven years that cats were in the house, my sweet Tree Hugger got used to having a little fur one to hold and cuddle. You see, Cheyenne is not a cuddling kind of dog. She's a good dog, very sweet and fun to play with, but she's no cuddler. When Casey left us, my sweet Mrs just really, really missed having a fur baby to hold and love on.

She went one day to do some shopping with a friend at PetSmart. They went to the back of the store and both fell in love with this cat for adoption, named Becky. She came home talking about Becky. How Becky put her paw on the glass at the same time she did. "We bonded," she says. "She reached out to me!" my wife says. "This has to be a decision we both make" she says. This was less than two weeks after Casey died. "No, no, no." I say. "I don't want another cat!" I say.

Well......as you can see, we did indeed adopt Becky. I really didn't want to, but I just couldn't stand the thought of 1): a sweet cat just languishing in a cage and 2): my wife wanting something that badly that I could get for her. So just two weeks and two days after my sweet Casey left us, we went and got Becky out of that cage and brought her home.

Now, when my girls came to Canada, they had lived with a dog once before. They had seen and ignored a dog before. They basically did the same with Cheyenne. The three of them coexisted very well for six and seven years. I bet Cheyenne thought she would finally be the sole object of affection in the house once Casey was in heaven. Au contraire, sweet dog.

Becky doesn't ignore Cheyenne. She runs under the dog, she runs through the legs of the dog, she lies down next to the dog and she swats the dog in the face if she so desires! Casey and Tasha were 12 years of age when they came here. They were already settled in their ways. Becky is all of 4!! A mere infant compared to Cheyenne's almost 15 years. None of us had had a young 'un in the house for many years. She's definitely livened things up around here. She's what a young cat is supposed to be.....frisky!

I don't have the depth of feeling for Becky that I had for Casey and Tasha, but I am fond of her. Tree Hugger, on the other hand, is head over heels for our new kitty. She and Becky are very bonded already.

I thought it was about time to show off the newest member of our little family here.

autumn around the neighborhood

Hello again!!

So here are a few pics from our first week home and one leftover pic from the vacation.

I had commented that I wouldn't post pics of friends here, since that is their domain to do or not do. One friend, however, has pics of her own sweet self posted on her blog, so I didn't feel reluctant to post a pic of us with her. She lives in Huntsville, AL and we went to high school together. That's the pic in the middle of the bunch here.

All the other pics have been taken since we got home.

As some of you may remember, we live two blocks from where the RCMP (Canada's version of the FBI), or The Mounties, have the stables for their famous Musical Ride. They practice there and stable the horses there and perform there every year. These horses are beautiful and very gentle. Wherever the Mounties go perform, the crowds are invited afterwards to come pet the horses and ask the riders questions. Tree Hugger often walks the dog at the stables. In all but the coldest weather, the horses are usually out grazing or hanging out. It's a large, rolling campus that also contains the Canadian Police Academy, so Mounties have classes there as well as the horses.

A couple of the pics are a little washed out...sorry 'bout that. One, though, turned out pretty well. Tree Hugger is always telling the horses how beautiful they are. Of course, they love her and think the dog is amusing.

The scenery pics were taken around the stables or in our neighborhood. In the week we've been home, most of the trees have lost the majority of their leaves. Peak time doesn't last long, but it sure is exquisite.

Autumn is my favorite time of year. I just wish its beauty would last a little longer.

I hope everyone is enjoying cooler temperatures wherever you are.

I just got through with working the weekend. Now I have Monday and Tuesday off. Don't days off come close to making life worth living??

Peace to all.