Sweet and Lowdown

I sort of debated posting this because I would have to listen to my mom admonish me for the millionth time about putting Raimi in a crate. I'm not saying she's wrong ... However, something good came out of it so I can look on the bright side of things when I want to (need to). I also learned that when you love something a lot you can forgive pretty much anything.

Apparently you can get hummingbirds out here which are a rare enough sight in Calgary's inner core and was not something I thought I'd see. My parents get them up the coast but they are on an acreage and don't have a half dozen evil neighbour cats just waiting to snatch pretty things out of the sky. But what with a special 'new home' for two of the cats and the reduction in male callers for those two cats I thought I'd try a hand at hummingbirds next summer.

Walmart - that shining beacon of savings - was offering feeders for $3 each and the nectar packets for $1. Can't beat that deal so I bought two of each. I planned to store them in the trailer/shed until the first blooms of spring so I set them by the back door yesterday afternoon. This morning my neighbour popped over and requested a favour that required my absence from the house for about 25 minutes so I shut away the two puppies and left Raimi and Halo in the kitchen per usual.

I came home to an interesting sight. On my bedroom floor I could see the remains of some cardboard, red plastic and two intact hummingbird feeders(phew). The red plastic was packets, which obviously used to contain about 2 cups worth of sugar base for hummingbird nectar. Raimi ate as much as he could and then mashed the meagre balance into my bedroom rug. I'm sure Halo tasted it but she doesn't have the call of the sweets like Raimi.

When I say Raimi has a sweet tooth I don't mean it's a cute thing to watch him eat a jujube and get a good laugh. I mean he will go out of his way to get sugar like no other addiction. He has twice eaten an entire candy dish of jujubes(once because he escaped the smell of his room when Leeloo pooped in her crate and once when Halo was whelping and no one was supervising him in the livingroom). He is a sucker for some candy. Doesn't matter what kind as long as it's sweet. He'll even eat chewed gum if I'm not careful about putting it into a garbage he can't access.

So there's my bedroom, sprinkled with a hefty dose of sugar which is wet since they have been licking it into the carpet. That carpet has needed a clean since before I left Calgary and I figure this is a sign that I need to clean it. The truck has also required a clean since leaving Alberta because we've been to the beach several times and it was full of sand, sea salt and I think Archer peed in there a long time ago(but it's hard to tell over the wet dog/sea salt smell).

Anyway, off we went to rent a Rug Doctor and thus I spent the better part of today being mortified and embarrassed by turns at the state of the truck(black sandy water), my couch(black water), a livingroom rug(murky brown) and the sugar coated carpet(4 complete water changes until it came out a murky brown and I ran out of cleaning solution and motivation). So all is clean and shiny, Raimi successfully navigated his sugar rush and the other dogs got the cow hoof and t-bone toy I found under the truck seats - so everyone is happy.

I have come to the conclusion that once Halo is gone I'm going to make the expen slightly larger and put Raimi in it until Archer gets a bit bigger. Then I'll revisit my options since I think the boys will lose patience with each other the older Archer gets. We'll have to wait out that dynamic. I have a problem leaving a Raimi in a crate for more than 5 hours at a time and often, when I'm running errands(depending on the day), I can be gone for that long. If I'm working it could well be longer spans of time. He is a huge dog, gets cramped easily, likes to be able to stretch out, destroys rooms he's shut in and is too large to crate with Leeloo and Archer as the pen is set up now. Until another option is finalized I just have to be extra careful what I leave out, shut the bathroom door so he can't play with the toilet paper, and make sure they all go for a good walk before being left alone.

I know, I know. Utter. Spoilage.