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Dad called this morning to let me know that Trixie had to be put down due to internal bleeding from some unknown cause. Seeing that Trixie is 14 years old, it didn’t make much sense to find out what the cause was considering the damage has been done.

I must admit that I am pretty sad that I won’t see Trixie anymore. I have been hoping that she would be around one last time before heading up in a few weeks to Lumberjack Fest. I know that’s selfish of me…I am happy to see that she did not suffer before moving onto Doggie Heaven.

It hit me 3 years ago that Trixie won’t be around forever so I remember taking the photo above because I thought I should have a few pictures of Trixie and me. I remember being frustrated because Trixie wasn’t the most agreeable dog so every time I would sit and try and have her look at the camera with me she would either run off to sniff at something or tackle me with her slimy nose. Ha ha! I had a good laugh that day.

Trixie was half husky, half Alaskan malamute, I believe. A true Northern dog who would stay out in the cold all day long (unless it was 40 below and then she would curl up and hide her face away from Dad when he woke up in the morning. This was her way of saying “Are you crazy? I’m not going out there!!!) and pull ME for a walk (not the other way around!).

Trixie was a great dog but man, did she have a nomadic streak to her. She could never go off her chain/leash or else she would take off! I remember many times having to take a pack of weiners with me to chase after her and lure her back to the house. I remember this one time where she got as far as the Labries and turned around. I thought she was being nice to me and would come back. With a weiner in my hand I approached…slowly, slowly, more slowly, oh, not too fast! Then, I *swear* Trixie laughed at me with some wild eyes and took off. Damn you, you dirty dog! Ha ha ha…man, it was good times chasing after her. Even if we couldn’t find her, we would come home and awhile later she would literally come home with her tail between her legs and head straight for the doghouse. I think secretly everyone in the family loved when she roamed the wild which was Kapuskasing but as authoritative figures, Mom and Dad always made up excuses like “Oh, what if she got into someone’s trash? That’s not good!” I would like to think that she always found some cool dogs to hang out with for awhile, sniffed some butt, ran around and then at the end of the adventure, well it’s time to go home to the coolest family in the world!

I must admit that I haven’t lived in Kap for about 9 years now so Trixie hasn’t been a constant factor in my life so I haven’t seen her in the later years of life…one year she grew this lump and Dad wanted me to touch it. Ewww…that thing was gross! I have no idea what this thing was but she lived with it for the past few years.

Memories are flooding back now of every little thing that she would do. Bark to get in, then bark to get out in the span of 30 seconds. Everyone always yelled at the dog for this but I thought it was hilarious. I wonder if it was her secret way of playing a game with us. She was a clever dog.

The odd thing about Trixie is that she never once came down into the basement. Perhaps she was scared of the stairs. I had always wanted to bring her down to the basement and I remember saying this to Mom and Dad when I was up last Christmas. I wanted her to have a sneak peek into where we went to watch television or to get our laundry. I remember when she first came home and we realized that we would have to set up her blanket (a He-Man and the Masters of the Universe blanket nontheless) up in the kitchen. Trixie was always fond of strange foods…such as carrots. You always had to give her the carrot after dinner. She would even wait by the fridge for it. I’m sure I’ll have all sorts of memories flooding back throughout the next week….

Here’s to the greatest dog anyone could ever know. I was scared of dogs before I met Trixie and she made me love her, and the rest of the canine species (except for the small yappy ones. What a waste of a dog. Get a dog that you can throw around a little and put on some ski-doo mitts and have her tear into them. That didn’t turn out to be a good thing when we DIDN’T want to play with her!). I will miss Trixie and the way my room smelled like old, wet dog when I returned the first time from college. I let her sleep in the room though that one night but she decided to leave the next night because she was cool like that. I suppose she figured if she could have my room for four months, then she can give it up for a week or two.

We’ll miss you Trixie. I hope you’re up there eating all the weiners and carrots that your heart desires.

Shannon and Maureen’s wedding went off without a hitch…other than the fact that the church was not unlocked until 2:25 and it was a 2:30 wedding. Being an usher didn’t help me out any and I had to do unruly crowd control on 150 guests. I even had to tazer one rogue who wouldn’t take no for an answer. I felt that on the Lord’s grounds, this was appropriate as he was trying to break into the church. Sorry about that Duncan!

However, in all reality, things went well. Ushering was reduced directing the herd of cattle when they entered into the church (bride side, groom side) since there was just this mass flux of people. I ended up taking my excellent, excellent viewing position by the musicans up at the front of the church. That’s a bonus of getting to be part of the wedding – you don’t have to be in the back wondering what’s going on up front (aka “Did Shannon cry?” Shannon most definitely did NOT cry at the wedding and we have had many witnesses confirm that, so James, suck it up and pay off the bet ya baby!)

Playing a Mozart tune with Caroline went off alright. I messed up this one chord change which I had kept messing up all along during the practices. Do I really care? Not really…only the musically adept people in the crowd noticed which consists of 1% of the population. I like those odds.

Jason graciously hosted us at his house before the reception started and then we headed off to the Irish Hills Golf Course to start the night off strong! The MC was great, the venue was great, the speeches were great (old and cheap women…Duncan, you art brave!…heck, while I’m at it, let’s all remember how I got a shoutout from the bridesmaid during her speech. Awesome.), the food was great.

I took stage to play Mr. Jones to start off the night. After viewing the video taken of the event (aka, very dark, but you can hear me play) I can now safely say I am an accomplished wedding singer and am now charging $50 (or free drinks all night) to play at any further events. My apprenticeship is done!

The rest of the night resulted in a flurry of dancing and mayhem, where around 11:30, the ties come off and the shirts unbuttoned. I even brought my trusty pewter beer mug which Shannon gave to me as a gift. Thanks to those who brought it to me after I had left it at the reception! But where are my sunglasses? That’s the real question. I just bought those suckers for $9 at the Beer Store!

The highlight of the night was definitely Joe. Joe is currently up in Nunavut making tons of cash working for the Coast Guard. In the true spirit of Joe, I brought a framed portrait of him (seen above) and carried him everywhere. Joe got in more pictures with ladies than he would have in real life. Ha! I even had him on the chair next to me during Mr. Jones. Let me apologize to all the people who asked myself and Maureen (and whoever else) if our friend was dead. He is not dead, just cold and very sober up in Nunavut. Joe, here’s to ya. Rumour has it, Joe’s picture went home with a lady at the end of the night. Booya.

By only disappointment was that by 12:00, there were only 4 people left in the room who were over the age of 40. I won’t knock the families too much, but bring out your dancing shoes next time!

Special props go out to Vero who looked very pretty in her party attire. Tu es tres belle, mon cherie!

Congrats Maureen and Shannon! I hope you enjoy your move to Deep River and life together as Mr. and Mrs.

Oh my, oh my, I am chilling out right now after kayaking with Eric and Mike around Petrie Island. iTunes randomly stumbled upon a hidden gem – Kings of Convenience. Do yoruself a favour and listen to some tunes. Very mellow summertime goodness.

Well, I suppose an update on the Canada Day weekend is in order. The above picture sums up the good times had with Maureen! Ha ha, man I love that picture. My rule of thumb when bringing a digital camera out to the bar is not look at the pictures right away…save them until the morning after where everyone may have a good laugh!

Friday, I skipped out on some wine action at work (which I contributed to. Very disappointed someone took off with the box of wine considering I wanted it left at work!!!) to pick up Maureen down at the University of Ottawa. It was cool seeing her and I must say that I think she has myseteriously become a super confident person with a little more ambition than usual – getting a drivers license for one…applying on receptionist jobs out of town…I believe it has to do with the new boyfriend John, who is definitely cooler than Maureen. ;-P

Drinks were had, Katie and Miguel showed up and we headed to the Heart and Crown for Mike’s birthday. Good times were had and Mike was a trooper considering his first batch of friends left around 10 (they had been there since 4) and then he stayed with teh second batch (aka us) to watch the band. So many people came out of for the event and I believe there were a good 20 of us owning the dance floor. Rumour has it that the hippy winners of the last Amazing Race were also in the bar – proof in the form of photos by Amy and Krista. Hello celebrity sighting!

Friday night also introduced the moustache on Ryan’s face. I thought it was a gem of a ‘stache but Vero had other thoughts. It was quite the hit of the night. I have since shaved it off, but will continue to grow it again after Shannon’s wedding this weekend which I am an usher. I suggest you take a look at the photo gallery for goodness on that front.

Saturday came with aspirin for Mike and Maureen and we moped around until the afternoon jaunt to Duncan’s for a kickass BBQ. The old homestead is looking in fine shape and I was impressed with his Belgian waffle making skills. The night progressed with my introduction of bocce ball which I have now taking on as my professional sport. I am like Umberto Granaglia. Well…not yet.

We headed down to the crowd of 80K in the downtown core to check out the fireworks. We arrived fairly late as parking was hell but ended up seeing the fireworks behind the Supreme Court. I have heard they got cut early due to the rain. What happens to unused fireworks? Do they last until next year?

The rain started to get harder and harder as we walked back to the car. Fortunately we split up and Miguel, Katie, Paul, Sarah and Mike picked us up some Elgin Street Diner poutine for a treat at home. At one point I was thinking of just bailing out of the car with the eight poutines in my lap but figured one would suffice. I must be getting older (or wiser) as I used to be able to eat an entire poutine but now can only finish half. Judging by the leftovers, I notice everyone else feels the same way.

Sunday rolled in and Maureen left to see Rebecca. Maureen, we enjoyed your company and I’m sure glad that you left so much beer. We ended up taking it easy while watching some Heavy Metal Parking Lot – a documentary about metalheads waiting for a Judas Priest concert back in 1986. Pure hilarity as mullets, metal, and meandering men in one piece zebra suits adorned the video. Turns out that this heavily bootlegged video has made its way through 20 years of fandom and just got released in DVD form for its 20th anniverary edition. I am curious how the bootleg market thrived without the Internet. Nowadays, I can get anything I want on the Internet…but how woudl I have started out in Kapuskasing? Would anyone have heard of Heavy Metal Parking Lot? I highly recommend this one to Troy as he was probably the same age as most of these people and most likely dressed like them.

We then played bocce ball (how I love thee) for aproximately six hours unti we couldn’t see the balls in the dark anymore. Katie and Miguel unfortunately had to leave that night to get back to Toronto. Paul, Sarah, Mike and I then played Euchre and watched some vids/pics from the years gone by and had some laughs.

Monday said goodbye to the guests, a little cleanup and then we went to the beach with Mike, Vero, Annie and Eric. A good day but volleyball was cancelled that night due to flash floods everywhere in Orleans. It was pretty bad but I didn’t realize how bad it was until I read the newspaper the next day and found out a power line went down in the middle of the Queensway, manhole covers blew out of the streets, basements flooded, and people were swimming in the streets. I applaud those individuals brave (read: stupid) enough to swim in the streets now realizing that it’s water spewing up from the sewers. Mmm…boy, I’m thirsty right now.

Let me put a shout out to Vero who is the best girl in the world for so many reasons that I really don’t need to write them down here…but we definitely appreciated you driving us home all weekend long.

iplaying: Gold in the Air of Summer – Kings of Convenience (Riot on an Empty Street). I am really digging these tunes.

It’s all about BBQs. Do any other country love BBQs as much as our nation? Doubtful. But I would love to meet them.

Weekend plans are looking good – my sister and John are coming up, as well as Miguel and Katie. Mike’s birthday is on Friday night which should be good times. Saturday will consist of checking out the Portugal World Cup Game at Duncan’s where there will be a BBQ happening. Then we’ll go downtown in the evening to check out the fireworks.

Sunday is up in the air but thoughts are leaning towards going to the caves in Gatineau Park. It will be a most excellent trip if we end up going! We will see how we feel when the time comes.

Other random goodness:

• I was checking out the kitesurfers at Petrie Island the other day and it looked pretty cool. Then it turns out that one of Krista’s friends just got his instructor’s license so I was asking him a few questions about it. Seems like an expesnsive hobby to start up in with lessons – but after that no problems.
• July is looking to be a full month of events. Shannon’s wedding on the 8th, visit with Vero’s extended family on the 22nd, then Lumberjackfest on the 27th. So I think if I have anything major to accomplish around the house, I should think about July 15th!
• Picked up the new Keane and Billy Talent albums the other day. Stellar releases! I’ve given more focus to Billy Talent so far, however Keane is always playing in the car.