31/Aug/17 was I ever that small

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

Geesh, I was really small at one time.  How did I ever get so big?

So that is my "Throw Back Thursday" picture.

The Big Guy has been walking me quite far each morning.  Tonya comes along for the walk.  He's been telling me that his weight this week, is doing really well.  He is rather looking forward to his weight in tomorrow morning.  Guess we will have to wait for the final picture to see what the numbers are.

Have you seen his weight loss stuff?  He's got this YouTube channel, where a bunch of people are all trying to get healthy.  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL3Y4VI7t3KF8SOEMo8X7DQ

You will also find all his other recipes there too.

It's supposed to rain today.  So far, no rain.  But according to the weathernetwork, it already is raining.  I think they messed up there.  Then again, it could be a heavy mist and it isn't making things soaking wet just yet.

Tonya made some cheesie keto biscuits.  Boy oh boy, do they ever smell delicious.  But she will not give me any.  She says that I can have kibble.  If it wasn't for that training collar, I might be tempted to knock over that container that's on the counter.

Bye bye for now.

30/Aug/17 I will chew my bone way over here

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

Each time I've got it into my head to jump up and chew on my leash, I hear this annoying tone in my ears.  I stop and try to find out where it's coming from.  Then I go to chew again, and there is this sound again.  When I don't chew, or jump, there isn't any tone.  I wonder if I should STOP chewing on my leash and jumping on the humans?

The Big Guy was saying that he got a message from my non-furry brother.  Turns out they will not be coming to visit this weekend.  They have been on the road a lot this week.  Their car doesn't run on air (although part of it does, it mixes it with fuel, I'm smart).  They had to drive all the way to Toronto and drop off my non-furry cousin at Art College.  I will have to wait till October to see them.  They will be having turkey I bet.  I wonder if they would share any turkey with me?

Tonya was cooking up this new thing that she cooks.  It doesn't really have a name.  But I was watching what she puts in it.  Some things, like the sausage, I would love to have.  Same with the cheese.  Nom nom nom.

We went for a long walk yesterday.  I've been sniffing places where I've peed before.  I see that other dogs have peed there too.  Not happy with that.  So I peed on those places again.

It's getting cooler at nights.  I like the cool on my fur.  I am not a doggie that likes the heat too much.

Bye bye for now.

29/Aug/17 stop looking at my bum

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

Yesterday morning, we ONLY went for a 2 K walk.  I was pretty happy to get home.  Tonya put me out on the deck and I went to stand in my pool to cool off my paws.

But when it was time for the Big Guy to go to work, he screwed up and he left the keys to the house inside his jacket.  But his jacket was hanging up inside the locked house.  So he got to go for a second walk yesterday morning.

This meant that Tonya had to walk home.

The Big Guy had one of his co-workers drive him home.

But because Tonya wasn't wearing very good shoes for walking, she got a blister on the walk home.  She was asking if the Big Guy wanted to go for a second walk yesterday, but he said "NO".  Guess he felt he already did his second walk.

The Big Guy got me this new training collar.  When we start our walk, I tend to jump and grab the leash.  I had NO DESIRE to do that yesterday.  He didn't use the static discharge, only the tone.  But it was enough to get my attention and I didn't want him to push the OTHER button.  He was rather happy and gave me praise for not jumping and biting on the leash.

We got Tropical Storm Irma coming to visit Nova Scotia.  Not too much rain.  Not like the amounts they got in Texas.  Boy someone's going to get an ear full on that storm.  First off, they told people to stay home.  Then their homes went underwater.  That's bad.  We're lucky, we live on a hill, well, not really a hill, but an elevated position.  Not likely to get flooded where we live.

Bye bye for now.

28/Aug/17 I'm a pretzel, all twisted up

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

Yes, sleeping all twisted up is comfortable.  You should try it.

Did you see how far those two walked me yesterday?  I thought we were NEVER going to get home.

I got right into my pool to cool off my paws.  Here is the video.

When we stopped in at my non-furry brother's place, Terry said that he used to walk all around North Sydney.  Geesh, don't give the Big Guy any ides.  I'm sure he will want to try.

Did you see my video of me with my new bucket?  

It was a lot of fun!  

When the Big Guy gets up, he puts this "new" collar on me.  It is a training collar.  Not sure that I like it too much.  But when Tonya gets up, I can get over excited.  He wants to teach me to be calm and not so jumpy/barky.  If everyone can stay calm, we all win.

Today was the first day that I didn't get excited.  As a matter of fact, I didn't want to jump at all.  I can remember what the training collar felt like.

Bye bye for now.

27/Aug/17 I look like poop

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

The Big Guy was making his coffee this morning when I just laid out across the floor.  The Big Guy though, wow, Max looks like a giant turd.  So he took my picture.  Like, WTF?  That isn't nice.

They went grocery shopping and brought back some stuff that got my attention.  Especially the ham.  Oh I was sniffing that.  That was up until he put it in the freezer.  I can't sniff through the freezer door.

They also made this chicken stew with the remainder of the butternut squash.  They were smacking their lips saying how good it tasted.  It didn't take very long to make, so I wonder if he's going to make it again when my non-furry brother and my non-furry sister, Marcel and Kim come for a visit.  I think they are going to be taking my non-furry Memere here too.  I can't wait to see them all.

Yesterday the Big Guy took me for a walk while Tonya stayed home to clean the house.  She said that she could build two small dogs with the amount of fur that I've lost.  

The Big Guy gave me some chicken skin the other day and I got the diarrhea.  It wasn't nice.  He tried to pick it up, but he said it was like trying to pick up Jello.  Not good.  

They keep saying, no more human food for me, but I only have to wait a day or two and I get the human food after all.  Then my poops get loose and they say, NO MORE HUMAN FOOD.  They are such push overs.  I only need to stare at them when they are eating.  Not so much the Big Guy, he doesn't give in so easy.

I heard that the Big Guy is going to be making some beef and broccoli today.  Since they are on their no human food kick, I bet I'm not going to get any.

Bye bye for now.

26/Aug/17 I'm sexy and I know it

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

It's hard to contain all this handsomness.  But I try.  

I'm pretty sure that we are not going for a walk this morning.  Those two humans I live with...  they are hung over.  I seen the Big Guy eating some left over bacon.  He didn't share at all.  Not impressed with him at all.

It was raining yesterday afternoon.  This caught us all by surprise as the Big Guy was hoping to have a BBQ last night.  Instead, he pan fried his steaks.  On his cast iron skillet.  He really likes those cast iron pans he owns.

Tonya gave me a few pieces of her steak, but she didn't give me the bones.  Nooooo...  she threw them off the deck and guess who got them.  Sea Gulls.  They swooped down and gobbled the steaks bones up and then flew away.  Free loaders.

There is a canvas roof that is above the BBQ that's on the deck.  Well we had some big winds and the roof is finally coming apart.  Tonya said that we could probably sew it back up.  But the Big Guy has other ideas.  He wants to just remove that roof and put up some corrugated fiberglass for the roof.  He seems confident that he could make it work.  I will bet you that he will NOT want my help.

Looks like the Big Guy is going to go for a nap on the couch.  He needs his "quiet time".  We will see about that.  It could be "play time" and he just doesn't know it.

Bye bye for now.

25/Aug/17 is that food on the floor

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

Did you look at the view counter?  As of RIGHT NOW, I've got 16,955 views of my blog.  Thanks for all the support!

All my non-furry brothers and sisters are in Kingston Ontario right now, along with my non-furry Memere.  They are swimming in the pool and having fun.  I am pretty sure that they wouldn't want me in their pool as I shed a lot of fur.

All this week, the Big Guy has been taking me for morning walks.  It is cooler in the morning to go for my walk and when we get home, I am tired and have been sleeping all day long.  So this is good as I've been allow to stay outside of my kennel while they have been going to work.  So far, I haven't destroyed anything or chewed on their stuff while they are gone.

Today is garbage day, so I will get to sniff all the new smells that are out there.  I can't hardly wait.

With the weekend coming, normally the Big Guy will want to BBQ stuff.  I wonder what he is going to BBQ today.

The roof over the BBQ has finally let go.  They could build another canvas roof, but the Big Guy would like to get that fiberglass stuff that is corrugated and see if he can't make a roof from that.  Then he will see if it can stand the snow load.  Although he doesn't see it being a problem as it is only a small roof.  There shouldn't be that much snow.  Guess he will find out.

Bye bye for now.

24/Aug/17 who says dogs can't look up

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

I'm not sure if the Big Guy is going to walk me this morning.  It's been raining all night.  It still is raining now.  So he may wait till after his work tonight to go for a walk.

Tonya and the Big Guy got me some new food.  It's pretty much the same as the other stuff, only the kibbles are much larger.  They don't fall out of my mouth when I get them from my bowl.  So that's a good thing.

My non-furry Memere says that my food sounds so delicious.  It is crunchy.  I can tell you this, if it wasn't tasty, I wouldn't be eating it.  They tried me on cheaper food and I went on a hunger strike.

Tonya and the Big Guy have been "trusting" me the last few days and have not been putting me in my kennel during the day when they go to work.  So far, I've been laying by the back door and I haven't been getting into anything.  But I'm sure if I screw up something, I will be back in my kennel.

They have to cut me some slack though.  I'm still just a dog.  I'm smart for a dog, but not so smart as a human.  I know they want me to do stuff, but I get confused by what they want.  I am so happy to see Tonya that I loose my mind and forget that I shouldn't be jumping on her.  Then when she yells at me to get down, well, that only makes me MORE excited.

Bye bye for now.

23/Aug/17 I have a big tail that will knock stuff off coffee tables

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

Yesterday Tonya was enjoying her morning coffee.  I say "was" as I got up, wagged my tail and the coffee cup flew off the end table and on to the floor.  She drinks her coffee black.  I am not sure what all the fuss is about.  It was OK, not good though.

Tonya read the blog from yesterday and seen that the Big Guy would like for her to have her own XBox controller.  She priced them and she is NOT getting a controller any time soon.  She said they are very expensive.  They are.  Wireless controllers are about $70.00.

We have gone for our walks in the morning.  There is a lot less people to see in the mornings.  But it means that Tonya can't sleep in when she walks me in the morning.

The Big Guy sprayed my leash with this sour apple stuff.  It still hasn't made me NOT biting my leash when we go for walks.  That doesn't make him happy.  I also jump when I'm biting on the leash.  He keeps saying that he is going to get me a training collar.  Not sure that I'm going to like that collar very much.  Actually, I'm sure that I'm going to hate it.

It's actually kinda warm out this morning.  So I am looking forward to my walk.  Tonya says that it's too warm in the afternoon to go for walks.  But she did buy me a new water bottle.  But the Big Guy says that it's too heavy to walk around with.  That would be for when we go to the dog park and I wouldn't be sharing my water with the other dogs.  Tonya is scared that they may have some disease that they could pass along to me.

Bye bye for now.

22/Aug/17 a face that mom loves

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

Yesterday was a solar eclipse.  I'm not sure what the hype is all about.  We didn't see much of anything here in Cape Breton.

I heard my non-furry aunt, put tin foil across her sun glasses and put pin holes in the tin foil so that she could see the eclipse.  She said it didn't work.

I also heard that my non-furry memere arrived safe in Kingston Ontario.  She is visiting my non-furry brother and his family.

I got a bit of a change in my schedule yesterday.  Normally we go for walks in the afternoon.  Yesterday we went for our walk in the morning.  I head the Big Guy say that we will be walking again this morning.  Tonya says it's too hot in the afternoon to go for a walk.  To me, morning or afternoon, it doesn't matter that much to me.

The Big Guy wanted to watch this TV program called "Game Of Thrones" last night.  He kinda likes that show a lot.  But he also said that everyone dies on that show.  Must be hard to watch a show where you start liking a character and then they kill that person off the show.  But a lot of people watch it so it can't be all that bad.

Tonya wanted to sit outside last night.  But she got cold and wanted to come inside again.  The Big Guy was pretty happy about that as he got to play a new video game that Tonya bought him.  It is 4 board games.  Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, Scrabble and Risk.  He hopes that Tonya would like to play as well and would like to get her an XBox controller for her.  He would like to get a few more board games so that she would play XBox with him.  Like Backgammon.  I know she likes that game and the Big Guy isn't so good at it.  He has downloaded a demo for the game to see if she will spend the $6.00 on the game.

Bye bye for now.

21/Aug/17 yes, you can go AROUND me

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

Yesterday I got to spend the day OUTSIDE my kennel while Tonya and the Big Guy went shopping.  I didn't let them down and I didn't get into anything.

They did look at this training collar.  But it was just a little too expensive for them to buy it just yet.  It has several settings on the collar.  It will give a warning beep.  Then a warning beep with a vibrate.  Then it will also zap me.  I can't say that I would look forward to that.  I think the Big Guy would be zapping me a lot.

For those of you that don't live in Cape Breton, you will not know just how muggy it was yesterday.  You just didn't want to move at all.

Tonya bought me a cookie from Bulk Barn.  I am not sure that I will getting another one of those any time soon.  It made quite the mess.  That is, unless next time, I get to have it outside.  I guess we will see what happens in future.

I am hoping to see my non-furry Memere in a few weeks.  She is so nice to me.  But I can be very scary to her as I am so big and think that I'm still a puppy.  This is why the Big Guy is thinking about getting me a training collar.

The Big Guy is also on the hunt of an all metal leash.  When we start our walks, I jump and bite on the leash.  He thinks that getting a chain one, it will stop me from jumping.  Yea, right...  lets continue to think that.

Bye bye for now.

20/Aug/17 I'm a lap dog

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

So the Big Guy had some yard work to do yesterday.

The flower beds have seen a better day.

The wooden ties are rotted and need to be replaced.

These are the "before" pictures.  This tree, or what's left of it, was between both garages and the Big Guy didn't want it growing any longer.  He is always worried about stuff falling down on top of other stuff.  We get hurricanes and trees don't always fair so well after a hurricane blows though.

This is a picture of the stump that is left behind.  But to get to this stump, you have to walk all the way AROUND the neighbor's house.

What a difference when it's all cleaned up.  There is a guy that's going to be coming by to grab this wood.  He will burn that for winter heat.  The Big Guy was going to keep it, but honestly, he thinks that burning a fire in the fireplace to keep warm, is a bit over the top.  He will get a small generator and that will run the furnace and a few other appliances when the power goes out.

It's raining today and I'm thinking, cause we are expecting about 30 mm of rain, we may not be going for a walk.  If we do, I bet it will be a quick walk.  Guess we will see.

Bye bye for now.

19/Aug/17 my John Lennon look

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

Tonya decided that the glasses weren't enough.  That I needed a head band as well.

Yea, that's funny.  At least she thinks it was funny.  The Big Guy laughed, but not as much as Tonya.

They had some guy come into the house yesterday to fix their new dishwasher.  It wasn't draining.  Turns out, it was really simple to fix.  The drain line was plugged in the basement.  Once they fixed it, the dishwasher is working again.  The Big Guy LOVES doing the dishes in there as he finds that they are super clean when they come out.  They have been washing their dishes by hand for the last 3 weeks.

I think the Big Guy is going to be mowing the grass today.  It's supposed to rain later on and then rain all day tomorrow.

We went for a walk last night.  Not the route march the Big Guy has been taking me on, but a REASONABLE walk.  We seen Bailey.  She was out in her yard.  But she was inside her fence.  The other dog that is with them, he was tied on.  When he seen me sniffing Bailey, he barked A LOT!  I don't think he approves of me.

Tonya says that my breath stinks.  I think it's kibble breath.

The Big Guy chopped down a tree last weekend, well he still has to chop it up so that it's put away.  He says that he will be doing that today.  Then, I think he also plans to mow the lawn.  That way, when it's raining tomorrow, he doesn't have to do that.

Bye bye for now.

18/Aug/17 would you PLEASE pat me

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

In the mornings, when the Big Guy gets up, I NEED him to pat me.  I've been sleeping all night long and now that I'm up, I want to be with both him and Tonya.  But I need to be patted and loved up a bit.  But what does he wan't to do?  He wants to drink his coffee (that I'm not allowed to have) and email his mum.

I helped the Big Guy put out the garbage this morning.  I was sniffing the bag and tried to put my head inside the bag so that I could check out what was in there.  Just in case there was something that should NOT have been in there.  Can't be too careful.

The Big Guy is going to be working from home today.  Something about a repair guy is dropping by.  The dishwasher will not empty.  I offered to lick the plates clean.  But apparently that doesn't meet Canada's Healthy Guide when it comes to hygienic practices.  They must be concerned that my tongue will not clean the bottom of a tall glass.  That's about the only thing wrong I can see.

I didn't get a walk last night.  The Big Guy says he got some blisters on his foot from the long walk we did the other night.  We will see how he feels today.  Perhaps a short walk.  Then a LONG walk coming up again soon.  I can feel that.  I can just bet he's going to go for LONGER walks once his feet get better.  He says it's to loose weight.  

I have a non-furry Uncle Haas.  I think he should be walking too.  He says he got a bad heart.  But wouldn't walking help?  I'm not a Doctor and I wouldn't know these things, but I would think that some exercise is better than none.

Bye bye for now.

17/Aug/17 I'm dying here from another long walk

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

Did you know what those two humans did to me last night?  They walked me all the way to Bettie's again.  Only this time, it was in the reverse direction.  But I got to see a few new people at the restaurant and they were nice enough to get me a bucket-o-water again.

There is a guy that works with the Big Guy.  His name is Chad.  He talks to his wife about me quite often and how she really has to see me.  Well she works at Bettie's and her name is Krysta.  So last night, when I was getting my water and Tonya told her my name is Max.  She looks at them and says, "Are you Mitch and Tonya?"  Then she introduced herself and said that she was really happy that she was able to meet me.  Now she knows why Chad talks about me all the time.

The Big Guy didn't quite understand the walking application that they got on their cell phone.  It said that they walked less distance, but burned more calories this time.  But were talking something like 0.05 km less distance.  That's like the length of his driveway less.

There was a stand off in North Sydney yesterday.  Something about a man with a knife in a building and the police were all around the house.  This used to be in the first apartment where Floyd used to live on Caledonia.  So we made sure not to walk in that direction.

I don't think we will be going for a long walk tonight.  The Big Guy has a water blister on his foot.  I guess I'm lucky that happened, otherwise, we would probably be walking far again tonight.

Tonya emptied my pool and I couldn't cool my paws off when I got home.  But she did have my new water dish inside the house.  So I had a BIG drink from it.  I laid down to drink from the water dish, I was that tired.

Bye bye for now.

16/Aug/17 I was being patted, what do you want

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

Last night, we went for a "reasonable" walk.  Not those long route marches that we've been going on lately.  Tonya has been talking about bring water with us during these walks.  The Big Guy says no cause that is "dead weight" that someone has to carry.  I can get a drink when I get home.  Now if we were gone for a few hours walking (shudders at the thought), then that would be different.

The Big Guy fixed this rat trap that fell apart the other day.  He didn't see any rats in the trap, but one of the hinges came off the board.  So yesterday, he took the time to put it all back together.  He put more peanut butter on the trap and reset it.  He's been getting a lot of them (rats) lately.

Tonya and the Big Guy had BBQ'ed steak last night.  You should have seen the Big Guy eating the meat off the bones.  In the past, I would have got at least 1 of the bones.  But not this time.  I tried getting the bones from Tonya's plate, but she surprised me and pushed her plate towards the Big Guy.  He collected the bones and to my surprise, put them into the green bin.

They also cooked up some chicken wings on the BBQ.  They smelled good too.  But instead of leaving them on the counter, he put them in the microwave.  Like what the hell?  He's never done that before.

Oh...  he must be remembering the hot dogs that I ate.

Life is going to be tough.  Kibbles and water for the old dog.  Sigh...

I seen Bailey yesterday on our walk.  She was in her back yard.  It's fenced in.  They have another dog there, but he isn't all that nice.  He snapped at me.

Bye bye for now.

15/Aug/17 this is comphy

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

Did you see what they did to me last night?  They walked 3.1 km with me.  Just about killed me.  I was so tired and thirsty when we got home.

But that's OK, I got even with the Big Guy.  As we were walking, I was having my second poop.  But it just wouldn't fall out of my bum.  It was stuck to my fur.  Well I turned and planted my shitty arse on the Big Guy's leg.  HA HA  Now he has shit on his pants.  How do you like that "Mister-We-Are-Going-For-A-Long-Walk"?

We stopped at "Bette's Home Style Cooking" for a small break while the staff were shutting down for the evening.  They gave me a bucket of water.  I was thirsty and it was so good!

They have a cat and they don't own it.  But it keeps coming back for visits.  I here they feed the cat some fish.

We sure did walk far.  I NEEDED to go into my little pool when we got home.  My paws were so hot.

The Big Guy took this small blue pill when he got home.  It's call "Aleve".  He said that it helps with his knee that is full of arthritis.  That doesn't sound like something that I want to get.  Tonya and the Big Guy says that all this walking will keep my weight down.

Bye bye for now.

14/Aug/17 cooling my paws off after a long walk

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

Did you see where we went this time?  We walked and walked and walked.  Geesh, didn't we walk.

We walked all the way up to the post off in North Sydney, to the boys house where we hardly stopped and then walked back home again.  While on our route home, we stopped in to see a cousin named June.  She had a stoke a while ago.  But she is doing a lot better now.

So not quite 2.5 km.  The Big Guy wonders if we had only gone one more block over, would we have got that extra bit.  Here is a video of our walk.

When I got home, I could only envision me just standing in my pool.

They think it's funny how I cool off my paws.

The Big Guy also went around the back of the neighbor's property and removed the tree that he cut down.  I could hear him grunting and groaning from the exertion of moving the tree.  Then he comes around the road, pulling the tree with his lawn tractor.  He was pretty happy that it worked.

Tonya didn't get a video cause it was over just as soon as he was in the driveway.  But he says that he has to cut it up and put it away.  That's another job for another weekend.

Bye bye for now.

13/Aug/17 I need to go outside

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

So as everyone knows, I ate 16 hot dogs for lunch yesterday afternoon.  I wasn't much interested in having supper last night.  Then again, why have kibble when there is delicious hot dogs on the counter.

I bet that's a mistake the Big Guy will never repeat.

Yesterday the Big Guy put my lead on the chain link fence across the yard.  Then he got out his chair saw and cut up the debris that was sculling around in the back yard by the garage.  That's all cleaned up now.  Tonya said that he did a pretty good job at it.

He also cut down the tree that was between his garage and his neighbor's garage.  To get to the tree, he had to walk around his neighbor's house, then across the neighbor's yard and then to the space between the two yards.  So that's OK.  But the first time he went back there, the chain fell off.  So he had to go all the way around, fix the chain saw and back all the way around.  Then the chain was on backwards.  So all the way around, fix it, and back around yet again.  This time, the tree was down.  He still has to go get the tree from the neighbor's yard.  He can't just let it stay there.  He's going to clean it up.

Tonya also got him to clean up her flower beds.  So now they are all chopped up.  Now the beds need to be cleaned up.  He was going to move her little cement fountain.  Some where that I can't get at it.  Then he's going to remove the garden ties that are there and cut them up too.  So he still has a lot of work that needs to be done.

The Big Guy has been trapping the rats that are coming around his yard.  So far, Big Guy 6, Rats 0.

He has made sure to put the rat traps where I can't get to them.  At least that's what he thinks.  I am SURE that if I were to put some effort into it, I would get those traps.

Bye bye for now