Thursday, June 25, 2009

No dogs

Montreal can be a tough town for quadrapeds. Once, we were stopped by a police officer for walking Sam through a park... on leash. She let us off with a warning - and informed us that all the parks have well labeled signs at every entrance. We're not sure we agree, but we did see this sign a few weeks ago.
As you can see, Outremont has its fine priorities in order - $50 seems like plenty of incentive for not driving a car through the park and $100 was enough for us not to walk a dog head through the park. But this scofflaw risked a $100 fine and rode his bike anyway.

Outremont may be the only place that bans dog heads, but other places ban other kinds of dogs.

On Esplanade, they ban pooping dogs.And in a schoolyard up the street, they ban big (trained killer Doberman) dogs.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

La Fête nationale du Québec / Saint-Jean-Baptiste

Today is la Fête nationale du Québec (Québec's national holiday), which is also referred to as la Fête de la Saint-Jean-Baptiste. We went to the parade - which was SO much better than Montreal's Saint Patrick's Day parade.

The parade consisted of huge, rolling tent-people giants preceded by signs declaring their identity and surrounded by interpretative dancers/artists clarifying their historical significance.

There were a variety of generals, priests and nuns - even Jeanne Mance (our street's namesake) - and some generalized weird stuff. Some pictures:



Unfortunately, we missed the names of most of the giants - here are two that we caught.

Fanfreuleuche - had a children's television show and fixed up classic fairy tales to her liking.
Felix Leclerc was a famous folk singer and and Quebec nationalist.


Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Sam goes to the emergency room

After leaving Sam at home for our kayaking trip on Saturday, we took him on a hike to Parc des Chutes on Sunday. We went with friends, so Sam was demoted to the back of the Scion. When he jumped in the back, he gave a little yelp - which was odd, because I've only heard him make that noise a few times in his life. But it was a quiet noise, and he was excited to be going. As the day wore on, he kept making little yelps, but he was still having a great time on the hike. Here he is with S near the waterfall.


By the time we got home Sunday night, he started yelping louder and finally vomited, and around 8:00 PM we headed to the emergency vet, Centre vétérinaire DMV, in Lachine. It's apparently the only 24-hour veterinary care in the Montreal area. We waited a long time, but we couldn't have been happier with the clinic. The vet poked and prodded Sam until he admitted that something hurt - which turned out to be his back. She didn't have a good theory as to why he was in pain - the sensible explanations were for toy breeds or very ill dogs. We went ahead and got the xray - and while you'll admit he looks good ...


.. there still isn't a solid explanation for his condition - he probably pulled something being nutty Sam. We got home between 2 and 3 AM. He has to spend 5 days on strict bedrest - no playing in the yard, no walks ... and he is getting meloxicam each night.

Happy Birthday Mike!

It's Mike's Birthday today!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Kayaking at Parc de la Rivière des Mille-Iles

You may recall that last fall we went for a hike at Parc de la Rivière des Mille-Iles. We tried to rent a canoe, but Sam was not allowed. This time, Sam got to stay at home and we rented a kayak.

There is a lot of water around Montreal. The park (shown by the marker on the map) is on the Rivière des Mille-Iles.


We paddled in the open water.


And, around the islands.


We think we may obtain a kayak or two ... very soon.