Spring Vacation Part One: Leaving Our Pets Behind

I have been on vacation for the last week and despite my best intentions I did not write a single blog on this, my personal blogspot, or on my Temple Treats site. My main vacation destination was Moscow (pronounced Mos-coe), Idaho. Two of my very best friends from college were graduating and who knows where they will end up (one already accepted a position in Tacoma, WA) so I thought I would try to get the three of us together for post-college fun while there was still time.

My boyfriend and I left Stella and Nellie with my mother and brother and took a flight to Calgary. The first thing I did after landing of course was call my mother and inquire as to the status of Stella whilst ignoring my boyfriends eyerolls and distinct "you are wasting money" sighs - the first of many on this trip.

The brief call with my mother only served to heighten my worries about not taking Stella with us. My mother had only had her for one night and a few short hours of morning but she had already broken one of the cardinal rules of Stella-sitting. My mom had left Stella alone in the house withut crating her! She had to run Joe his lunch at school down the street and because Stella was snoring so intently in her doggy bed, my mom decided not to wake her. Exactly 8 minutes later when my mother returned (she apparently timed this debacle), Stella was found cowering and shaking in the closest thing she could find that resembled her crate, Nellie's cat carrier. Poor Stella!

I explained to my mother for like the umpteenth time that a house is too big for a little puppy to be left alone in and that Stella needed her crate to feel safe. My mom was lucky that Stella did not act out by tearing the house apart. That dog could do a lot of damage in 8 minutes! I patiently went over the list of do's and dont's for Stella sitting with my mother one more time. I had emailed her a copy of the list already and she swore she did not need another copy but I made a mental note to email it to her again anyway when I arrived in Moscow.

Calgary was incredibly confusing, to say the least. They have like four streets named 4th street, four more named 3rd Street, and the map of calgary looked like a hodge podge drawing of what some who had never before seen a map thought one should look like. It took us about 3 times longer than what it should have to get us out of Calgary and then we were on our way!