31/Aug/20 so are you going to stare at me, or go cut the lawn

 

Good morning world.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home, in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.

The Big Guy is rather torn.  The lawn is looking weird.  Some parts of the lawn have grown.  Then, there is other parts, it hasn't grown at all.  But with the rain we got yesterday, the stunted parts of the lawn should grow.

The Big Guy believes he may sleep in tomorrow.  Vice getting up at 4 in the morning, he may sleep in to 5:00 or even as late as 5:30.

As the Big Guy has been looking at the weather network, he's been seeing that the temperature is getting lower and lower each week.  The other day, he worn he fall jacket when they sat outside.  Tonya made fun of him for wearing a jacket.

Today, is what would be the Big Guy's "Friday" shift.  It's the end of his work week.  For the rest of the world, it's Monday.  The Big Guy doesn't seem to mind having 3 days off in a row.

When the Big Guy is at work this early, he has to have the light on so that he can see what he is doing while he is at work.  But that means he can't look outside to see what's going on.  Although he does understand, it's only 6:00 in the morning.  What does he really expect to see outside at this time of the morning?

The Big Guy forgot about the people that he works with, some of them are in Texas.  So, for them, it's only 4:00 in the morning.  They still got several more hours before they will be able to see anything outside.

The Big Guy also takes calls from New Zealand and Australia.  So the sun is just setting over there.

We certainly do live in a connected world.

Your Blast From the Past

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Max our Bernese Mountain Dog playing with the Big Guy

Bye bye fur now

30/Aug/20 you don't make me treats any longer

 

Good morning world.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home, in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.

It's been over a year since the Big Guy has taken the time to make me some doggie treats.  The last batch would have been slightly under cooked and that allowed some mold to grow on the treats.  Those treats were thrown out to the sea gulls.

I would think, if he were to make the treats from peanut butter, they might last longer.

But he has also figured out, the time and effort, the pay off isn't there.  You can purchase pre-made treats for a lot less.

But that would be the same for making home made cookies.  Yes it is less expensive to purchase cookies from the store than to make them.  But home made cookies are pretty good!

Yesterday we had an "active shooter" in the Sydney Mines area.  People on Facebook are pretty upset that there wasn't any public alert about this.  The police did get him.  But the police also figured that this guy was only after specific people and not after the general public.

Still, it would have been nice to know as Tonya and the Big Guy were sitting out on the front deck when they seen two police cars zoom past their house.  No sirens or anything like that, but you could tell, they were hustling to get somewhere.

Tonya also has purchased some peanuts and they were feeding the Blue Jays.  They were commenting on how pretty those birds are.  I managed to get a few peanuts from Tonya.

As I'm typing this blog, the rain is falling and you can hear it hitting the metal roof.  It does make a very distinctive noise.  Not the same as asphalt shingles.

The Big Guy often wonders, what it would sound like if he were to sleep in the attic.  I guess he could find out if he really wanted to.

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Max our Bernese Mountain Dog gets a new treat dispenser

Bye bye fur now

29/Aug/20 what's left of Hurricane Laura will visit my house today

 

Good morning world.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home, in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.

The nice folks that live in Louisiana were devastated by Hurricane Laura.  It was a category 4 hurricane when it made landfall.  There was some really heavy winds and a lot of rain.

What's left of Hurricane Laura will be visiting Cape Breton later on this evening and tomorrow morning.  We are expecting about 20 mm of rain.  That is less than an inch of rain.

Yes we do get hurricanes in Cape Breton, but certainly not the intensity that they do in the United States.  By the time they get to Nova Scotia, they would be a Cat 2 hurricane at the worst.

When the Big Guy lived in Winnipeg, new subdivisions came up with a novel idea about power lines.  Just run all the power lines, under ground.  That way, during storms, when a tree falls, it doesn't take out the power grid.  Now those huge power lines that goes from the power station to the city, they still exist.  But inside a sub division, this is a lot different.  But so far, the only place the Big Guy has seen this, is in Winnipeg.

A few years back, during a blizzard, the Tonya and the Big Guy heard a snap outside their house.  There is a big bolt that is attached to their house.  It was the span wire that goes to the power pole across the street.  That bolt let go.  So the only thing that was holding the power lines to the house was the Weatherhead.  Which would slowly be ripped off the house.  They called up Nova Scotia power and they sent out a crew, in the middle of the storm to hook up a new bolt to the house and then attached the span wire to the bolt to take the strain off the power lines.

So, although Nova Scotia will not get hurricanes that amount to much, they will get blizzards.  Which can dump a lot of snow.  When the Big Guy lived in Cole Harbour, they had a storm that they dubbed White Juan.  It dumped over a meter of snow on the city.  They were stuck in their house for close to a week before the street was plowed out.

After the snow plows had done their job, they immediately went to the grocery store to get some fresh food for the house.  Things like bread and milk, they ran out after 3 days.  But, thankfully, they never lost power, fresh water, or sewage.

Vive la difference.

Your Blast From the Past

Your Daily Video - 

Max our Bernese Mountain Dog outside in the snow

Bye bye fur now

28/Aug/20 do you have a joke that can make me laugh

 

Good morning world.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home, in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.

It's garbage day today.  Blue bags if your in the right part of the city.  Tonya's sister is on the opposite week for blue bags.  She will often call us to find out if it's her blue bag week.

Yesterday Aurora came for another visit.  She got some new toys that she didn't have before.

Some are loud.  Especially the new guitar that she got.  Now, it's just a plastic guitar.  Runs off of batteries.  She was having fund with that.  Myself, I didn't mind it so much.  She sort of scares me.  For a little person, her hands dart so quickly.  At least with bigger humans, their actions are more deliberate and I can tell when they are going to pat me.  With her, I'm always being told to be careful.

My way of being careful is to try to be at the other end of the room where Aurora is at.  Sometimes, she will walk her unsteady walk towards me.  That's when I will get up and move away from her.

I'm sure as she gets older, she will run after me.

She has grabbed at the fur on my tail.  But since I've got such a powerful tail, I will just walk away and leave a few hairs in the hand.  Believe me, I've got a few hairs to spare.

I've also noticed that the oppressive heat seems to be gone.  Again, I know that heat is subjective.  But for us folks that lives in Cape Breton, we're not used to the heat.  The normal temperature is now about 21 C.  Which is is about 70 F.  

They are saying it's going to be a hard Winter this year.  "They" are the folks on Facebook.  "They" seem to say a lot of stuff.  "They" take offence to a lot of stuff.  "They" also think they are lawyers.  "They" also think they are well educated.  "They" are experts at a lot of stuff.

I was seeing that there is another city called "North Sydney".  But that one is in Australia.  That's on the opposite side of the planet.  It was in the news the other day.  But that city is a lot bigger than my North Sydney.

Your Blast From the Past

Your Daily Video - 

Max our Bernese Mountain Dog barks at other dogs

Bye bye fur now

27/Aug/20 I'm bigger than piggy

 

Good morning world.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home, in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.

We were sitting outside and we were enjoying the evening.

Three planes flew overhead.

Tonya asked the Big Guy if he had some binoculars.  Of course he does, but they are put away.  By the time he would have got the binoculars, the plane would have been gone.

Tonya asked where the planes were coming from.

Well, the Big Guy has always been a bit of a smart ass.

He told her that there is a Daddy plane and a Mommy plane.  Then went to a bar and they hooked up.  Daddy plane is a fucker and took off and left Mommy plane to raise baby plane by herself.

Of course, the Big Guy rather thinks that he is rather funny.

For some reason, Tonya didn't think much of his humor.

There is this Cat 4 hurricane that is hitting the States that border the Gulf of Mexico.  They are more worried about the storm surge.  I guess that stuff is nasty.  You get a wall of slow moving water that just goes everywhere.  There isn't much you can do about it.

Yesterday, it was like a Fall day.  The Big Guy thought it was rather cold to be sitting outside on the back deck.

Well he looked at the temp and it was only +18.  The temp isn't going to be much better today.  I guess Summer is all done.

Your Blast From the Past

Your Daily Video - Max our Bernese Mountain Dog and Martini

Bye bye fur now

26/Aug/20 I'm winning at hide and seek

 

Good morning world.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home, in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.

As a little Big Guy, he used to play all sorts of games, outside.

Now, the kids play video games.  They didn't have that when the Big Guy was little.

They played:

1, 2, 3, stop light

Red Rover

Mother May I

Simon Says

All Around the World

Hop Scotch

Skipping rope

Tag

Then, there was everyone's favorite.

Hide and seek.

If you counted to 100 by 5's, there was a sing song that you would do.  Then, before you would get to 100, you would cry out, while your eyes were still covered, "Anyone that is right next to me, is automatically it!  Ready or not!  Here I come!"

You would turn around and start seeking.

One time, Tommy MacEachern, he went to the store while we were seeking for him.  Of course we gave him a "Olly olly oxen free", but he never showed up.  About 5 turns later, he showed up and hit home and declared "Not it".  We said that he cheated, but because he was older than all of us, he got a "buy" and we thought nothing more of it.

Your Blast From the Past

Your Daily Video - Max our Bernese Mountain Dog enjoying the day at the dog park

Bye bye fur now

25/Aug/20 sailor sailor don't look down, ain't no nickles on the ground

 

Good morning world.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home, in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Who would like to drop by for some fish chowder later today.

The Big Guy is going to be cooking and baking throughout the day.

Yes, he is going to have some fish chowder.  He got the scallops, muscles, shrimp, and crab.  Of course there will be potatoes and onions.  Right there, that means I can't have any.

But he was told, by Tonya, to make some biscuits.  Normally biscuits are round.  Well not today.  He seen some place to make the biscuits square.  We will see if that makes for a better biscuit or not.

Then, he also plans to make a cast iron bread.

He found the last time he made it, it was in the 5 quart dutch oven.  The bread was too tall.  Today, he plans on making it in the 7 quart dutch oven.  So it should be lower and wider.  We will see if it turns out OK or not.

Then, of course, the bread and the biscuits will be served with butter, not margarine.

So if you want to drop by, there is likely going to be a lot, so your more than welcome.

Your Blast From the Past

Your Daily Video - Max our Bernese Mountain Dog isn't too sure about the baby

Bye bye fur now

24/Aug/20 is that walker a sign that I'm getting older

 

Good morning world.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home, in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Yesterday we had visitors for supper.  Aurora, Colby and Mylynne.  Floyd stayed home as he wasn't a big fan of mashed potatoes.

I tried to stay away from Aurora.  She has little hands and they move faster than normal people.  At least with bigger humans, they "telegraph" that they are going to reach out.  Small children, they don't have any signs that they are going to reach out and grab at your fur.

Tonya put Aurora in her rocking chair yesterday.  She slid right out of the chair when she wanted down.

Later on, after supper, Aurora was walking around the house, trying to discover stuff.

She was told "No No" quite a bit.

They have a water station in the dining room.  It's a 5 gallon water bottle and there is two taps.  I can't reach the taps just yet.  But I can certainly reach the plastic mesh that is on top of where the excess water would go if it were to overfill the glass.

Yes, I was told "No No" and to drop it.

They are blaming the Big Guy for showing me the water station.

At one point, she was over at my feed station.  She thought it was grand to play in my water bowl.

She went back to my water bowl several times.  Each time, she was told "No No".

She doesn't listen very well.

After everyone had left, the Big Guy took a long nap.  I didn't bother him.  He was up really early yesterday morning to go to work.

Same with this morning, he is at work again, really early.

He said to Tonya, he is really going to enjoy this early shift.  When he got off work at 3:30 yesterday afternoon, he said it reminded him of when he was working in the Navy and got to leave work early.

Your Blast From the Past

Your Daily Video - 

Max our Bernese Mountain Dog is watching TV with me

Bye bye fur now

23/Aug/20 it's still not cold enough for me to be comfortable

 

Good morning world.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home, in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.

The Big Guy is at work.  It's oh-dark-early.  The sun isn't even up yet.  But this is nothing new for the Big Guy, as he is normally up before the sun is anyways.

Tonya is still sleeping and she will be for the next few hours anyways.

I was seeing on the news that there is going to be two tropical depressions that is going to be hitting the folks that live around the Gulf of Mexico.  That means a lot of rain for them.  Both storms will hit within 24 hours of each storm.  So it will be like...  here we are, storm 1, did you like that?  No?  Well here is storm 2.  Boom-chaka-lacka!

The temperature is dropping.  Not like last week.  Man oh man, I was so uncomfortable.  Normally in the Maritimes, we don't get temperatures above 30 C as we live close to the Atlantic Ocean.  But the normal high temperature for us, is around 22 C.

The folks in Death Valley California broke a record this year.  It was 55 C, or 132 F.  Yea, that's really warm.

The Big Guy has said that he would really love to be able to drive through Death Valley, just to put the check in the box.  But that is way too hot.  He said that he isn't an idiot and that he would actually prefer to drive through in February, when the temperature is normally around 23 C.

Then again, there is a few other places he would also like to visit.

Like the Barringer Crater. He knows it's a big hole in the ground, but he would still like to see it.

Your Blast From the Past

Your Daily Video - 

Max our Bernese Mountain Dog turns into a Minion

Bye bye fur now

22/Aug/20 if you could turn the light off so that I can nap

 

Good morning world.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home, in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Tomorrow is the "big day" for the Big Guy.

It will be the first day of his new shift.  He will be starting at 5 in the morning and will work till 3:30 in the afternoon.

I'm pretty sure he will rather enjoy being off that early in the afternoon.  If he would work 8 hour shifts, he would be off at 1:30 in the afternoon.  But he rather prefers working 4 days and having 3 days off.  Otherwise, he only gets 2 days off.

One of his co-workers is concerned about how many calls they will be getting that early in the morning.

Normally not that many as not a lot of people are up that early.  But because the company is international, Disney, Australia and United Kingdom are awake.  Disney+ is also available in Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland, and India.  But the Big Guy and his friends from work, only take calls in English.  Sometimes, customers who speak a different language will call in and they have to be able to figure out, what language they are speaking and then transfer them to the correct speaking person.

Well, I gotta go outside and have a pee.

Your Blast From the Past

Your Daily Video - Max our Bernese Mountain Dog and the bassinet

Bye bye fur now

21/Aug/20 can you see me in this picture

 

Good morning world.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home, in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.

I really am in this picture.  You can see me as I'm hiding in side the "arm" of the chair that the Big Guy would have built.

Did you also see the picture of the new coffee mug that the Big Guy has for work?  He has to get up about an hour earlier than he used to.  Normally he is up by 5 in the morning.  Well, now he has to get up by 4 in the morning.

The first one he got, there was a crack in the mug.  But the company sent him a new one right away.

So he's pretty happy about that.

The sales pitch to drink from this coffee mug...

Coffee so strong, it will wake the dead.

Of course the Big Guy was pretty happy with that sales pitch.

Yesterday the Big Guy made some Teriyaki steak.  Of course I wasn't allowed to have any of that.  There was onions and other stuff that was with the steak.  Onions are not good for dogs.

The Big Guy was pretty sure that he would be having that as left over's today.  But he also seen that Tonya put some hamburger out.  He isn't sure what he's going to be having for his supper today.

However, I do suspect that there is a lot of people out there that can't say the same.  A lot of people are unemployed due to this Covid stuff that's happening.

I hope they can find a cure really quick and that everyone can get immunized for it.

Your Blast From the Past

Your Daily Video - Max our Bernese Mountain Dog gets brushed

Bye bye fur now

20/Aug/20 the ice water left in this ice bucket is so refreshing

 

Good morning world.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home, in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Yesterday I got to have quite a few left overs from different people that came for a visit.

I had hot dogs and hamburgers.  Some with BBQ sauce.  Some with ketchup.  Some with mustard.  Some with relish.  No one had cheese on anything.  I guess that was because Tonya didn't put it out.  Oh well, their loss.

Most humans will not finish everything on their plate.  So as I would wander around, I would be given a small bite to eat from each person.

None of them gave me salads though.

Then again, I'm not a rabbit.

Neither is the Big Guy.  He doesn't eat a lot of salads.

They have a lot of what the Big Guy calls, left overs.  We will see just how many I can get out of Tonya.

This should be a challenge as she has not been feeding me that much human food these days.  The Vet got after her about me being over weight.

Your Blast From the Past

Your Daily Video - Max our Bernese Mountain Dog has expressive eyebrows

Bye bye fur now

19/Aug/20 it's raining out and I have to go pee

 

Good morning world.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home, in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.

We really did need the rain that fell yesterday.  It's been really hot and dry.  The grass was all brown and there was leaves that was falling off the trees.  There was also a total fire ban for the entire province of Nova Scotia.

I know that a lot of my readers are friends with the Big Guy on Facebook.  So you would have seen that Aurora came for a visit yesterday.

I didn't stray too far away from Aurora.

She drops a lot of her food.

Her food is rather yummy.

They cut it all up into small bites so that it's super easy for me to lick up and swallow without even having to chew it first.

After they had left, I wandered around the house trying to find other food that they would have dropped and that Tonya didn't have the chance to clean up.

You would know...  I didn't find anything.

Crap...

Oh well, back to kibble and water for me.

Your Blast From the Past

Your Daily Video - Max our Bernese Mountain Dog looks forward to Aurora dumping her food

Bye bye fur now

18/Aug/20 this is me with my good side towards the camera

 

Good morning world.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home, in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Starting at the end of this week, the Big Guy is going to be getting up a lot earlier than he normally does.  We're talking 4 in the morning.  But that will be so that he can be to work by 5 in the morning.  Then he will be working till 3:30 in the afternoon.  Then he is done for the day.

He says that he is looking forward to getting up that early.  But I also think, he is looking forward to being off work early in the afternoon.

I'm pretty sure he will be happy about not working into the evening.

He has always been a morning person to start with.

Of course, Tonya would much rather sleep in.

Which is something that her sister doesn't really understand.  She will often call her when she is still in bed.

That is when the Big Guy has to deal with "Grumpy Bear".

This is a "Care Bear" reference from a TV show that was on a long time ago.

They also used to call Melissa that too...  Grumpy Bear.  That the Big Guy's oldest daughter.  I've never met her.  They didn't have this bear, but if they did, his second daughter would be "Angry Bear".  Then there would be "Missing Bear" which is the Big Guy's baby daughter that he hasn't heard from in over 2 years now.

There was someone that won 17 million dollars in Cape Breton.  I bet "Missing Bear" wouldn't be missing if she would find out that he won that kind of money.

Your Blast From the Past

Your Daily Video - Max our Bernese Mountain Dog picnic table part 1

Bye bye fur now

PS.  We didn't win the 17 million dollars.

17/Aug/20 my preference is to lay "in the way"

 

Good morning world.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home, in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Yesterday Tonya went to her brother's place and they had what is known as a boiled dinner.  They had ham and vegetables.

Tonya brother back a plate for the Big Guy to have for himself.

Nothing for me.

Then again, even if she had brought back something for me.  The ham would have given me the "trots".  Something that isn't very pleasant at all.

Tonya did do something that I consider very unusual this past week.

She got me some dog treats.  Nothing bizarre about that.

But it was the size of the dog treats that she got me.

They are small.

Normally she gets the large dog treats.  Hell I am a large dog.  But when I go to chew them up, I certainly do leave some treat crumbs behind.  With the smaller treats, not as much crumbs left on the floor.

I guess the crumbs are like lego blocks to humans.  Especially the Big Guy as he will walk around the house in the dark.  But he knows where the treat crumbs are and he will wear his slippers when walking around the house.

Your Blast From the Past

Your Daily Video - Max our Bernese Mountain Dog has expressive eyebrows

Bye bye fur now

16/Aug/20 I'm all tired out from playing with my chewie bunny

 

Good morning world.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home, in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Tonya has purchased me toys from the Dollar Store.

Yea...

They don't last very long.

Mister Chewie Bunny, he's different.  Although I've managed to rip into his ears, so far, he's lasted the longest of all my toys.

I can chew on him and I can't rip him apart.

I will bring him to the Big Guy and he will hold on to his legs while I pull on him.  This guy is meant to last.

I really love paper bags.

They come apart.  Sometimes in long strips, sometimes in little strips.

I guess paper bags to me are like bubble wrap to humans.  They just love popping those little bubbles.

Oh well, what ever floats your canoe...  humans...  weirdos...

Your Blast From the Past

Your Daily Video - Max our Bernese Mountain Dog destroys the paper bag

Bye bye fur now

15/Aug/20 you really could move that bag of potatoes away from my head

 

Good morning world.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home, in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.

So the "heat wave" finally broke.  That's not to say that it will not come back though.  The weather can be finicky at times.

Just like the internet connection.  Because it's wireless, it does have hickups.  But thankfully, the Big Guy works in Tech Support, so he is able to quickly do some troubleshooting.  Horray for him.

The weather is calling for showers this morning.  Then some more rain on Tuesday.  Some sort of tropical storm that is coming our way.

Thankfully, no mention of a hurricane.

The Big Guy also got some news from work.  He will be starting at 5 in the morning, starting next week.  He is pretty happy about it.  He gets up early in the morning to start with.  So for him, this is really just him getting up early and going to work.

He used to do the same thing on the ship.  He would wake up really early and get all his work done.  Then he had the day to do with what he wanted.  The Coxn of the ship didn't much care for that though.  So he would give the Big Guy extra things to do.  The Big Guy was the only guy in the fleet doing both Petty Officer of the Watch and HQ1 watch keeper in the same day.  So the Big Guy got up even earlier and got his daily work done.  It drove the Coxn batty.  When Sea Training caught wind of what he was doing to the Big Guy, they didn't approve.  Things didn't change though.  The Coxn still made the Big Guy do both jobs.

The Big Guy says, he misses being in the Navy.  Obviously not the shit jobs, but the camaraderie that he finds he just can't get outside the Navy.

Your Blast From the Past

Your Daily Video - Max our Bernese Mountain Dog and it's warm in the kitchen

Bye bye fur now