She's KILLING me!!!!!

*WARNING*: You will need your speaks ON (volume all the way up preferably) for this video. Therefore, please don't watch this video in a public place (ie, in the office) where people will look at you in awe thinking you take in joy watching animals being slaughtered.

I'm not an early bird. Most mornings, I prefer to lie in bed and do an extra 15-20 minutes of stretches, yawns, and face rubs (against the mattress or pillow) after I become officially awake. Usually I come out of dreamland (dreamland with BOYZ to be exact) when mum gets up. Every morning after she wakes up, the first thing she does is to come kiss me (like EVERYWHERE), pet STINKY (she doesn't kiss him because he landsharks her face) before she goes in the bathroom to get ready.

Sometimes before she kisses me, she would ask me "Are you gonna give me A-hhhhhhhhh KISS-KISS?". I have never said "YES" to that request, but I have always responded by one or more of the following: head-budding (her nose), head-rubbing, nibbling with my SuperTEETH (at her cheeks), pawing (at her face), groaning, moaning, and tail thumping. After the ritual, mum usually goes in the bathroom grinning from cheek to cheek.

While she's in the bathroom, I usually watch from the comfort of MY bed, STINKY run laps around the bed that I'm lying on. Periodically, MY poor mattress would receive random shark bites at its sides. Eventually, after mum comes out of the bathroom, I again watch her from MY bed, put on her dog walking jacket, attempt to calm STINKY down before she gives up, put STINKY's collar and leash on him, reach for my harness, and it isn't until she turns the door nob do I actually get up & out of the bed. A SuperDALE needs all the rest she can get!

This morning, I had a near death experience. Yes, my 10 years of life flashed before my SuperEYES, and I almost DIED.

(mum: get ready to see my drama queen to the fullest extend!)

Did you see I choked from howling at one moment??

Seriously, you can dub my pitiful voice with any of the following lines and it would make A LOT of sense!

When I first hear the most dreaded question, before she even touches me....

Line 1: Oh My DOGGGGGGGGGGGGGG...PLEEEEEEEESE DON'T KIS..(too late already)

Line 2: PLEEEEESE DOGGGGGG DON'T LET IT STA......(too late)..RTE......

During the torture......

Line 1: Please GOOOOOOO brush your TEEEEEEETH.... I can't BREAAAAAAATH ...

Line 2: STOPPPPPPPPPP... I am the KINGGGGGGGGGGGG of terrieeeeeeerrrssss...you CANNNNN'T do THIIIIIIIIIS-ooooooooooo

Line 3: Such INDIGGGGGGGGGGGGNITIEEEEESSSSSS..... I'd rather DIEEEEEEEEE-woooo

Line 4: all the BOYZZZZZZZZ are WAAAAAATCHINNNNNNNNG.... you're EMBARRASSSSSSSING MEEEEEEEE-ooooool......

Sadly, I'm almost certain that I'm not the only one amongst my friends who has suffered a near death experience. LeLe & Trish (The Airechicks), have you had similar experiences? I know my goodest gurrrrlfriend Maggie suffers the same (mum: but she's way more polite than you!!!), and its good that Noah of the Leuradales is all the way in Oz otherwise he'd be in trouble too because mum thinks we look like replicas.

(mum: This morning, when I gave Sunshade my usual wake up "kisses" (usually not that many), she started howling while thumping her tail against the bed (wagging). Something about the sentence "are you gonna give me a kiss-kiss?" has always gotten her excited and wound up, but she has never howled in response!! It was hilarious because it certainly sounded like she was being killed by my kisses. I didn't have my camera handy, so grabbed my iphone.

This is why I rarely need to watch TV. I get more than enough entertainment just watching Sunshade and Jaffa. They never seize to come up with new quirks to make me laugh, surprise me. Sunshade is my 10 year old girl, my animator, my heart!)

Whistler Weekend 4

This post is a continuation of the last post. Like I said, I just couldn't add more photos to the last post even tho my day hadn't technically ended.

After our 4 hour snowshoe expedition, we drove back to the village because mum wanted to see the Olympic Celebration Plaza.

Well, here it is,


Yes, it was still under construction,


This is where medalists from the Whistler venues will be saluted every evening, as well as the stage for outdoor live concerts.


Just a little bit past the Celebration Plaza, we came to the ticket booth.


There was a crowd of people gathered around the mesh fence next to the booth. Mum, of course, wanted to go see what they were looking at. (I'm not the only nosy, curious gurrrrl here btw)

As it turned out, there were pages attached to the fence with lists of Olympic events that you can still buy tickets to,


These left over tickets were still selling at the regular prices of anywhere between $30 to $200.


Since mum and the D-Guy missed the initial ticket releasing dates, they missed out on getting tickets to events they wanted to see (Figure Skating & Canadian Men's Hockey). Now those tickets are selling at anywhere between $700 to $10,000 Cdn PER ticket!

They stood in front of the mesh fence for the loooooongest time considering getting tickets to one Olympic venue just for the sake of "Olympic atmosphere" (so they said). I being the patient dogter, laid there around the ticket booth for the lonnnnnnngest time too just waiting for them to make up their mind....


While I was waiting, I must have had my picture taken with at least 5 different tourists. And I heard so many people say "Ohhh what a good dog, whose dog is it...??" (yes, mum took my leash off because she was too busy fighting the crowd around the mesh fence!). Some people even had the nerve to say "OMG! HE's so cute, I want a picture with HIM!"

When they finally made up their mind to get tickets to the Ladies Giant Slalom Final, they were told that they couldn't because they could not provide proof of transportation. (mum: the main highway to Whistler will be closed to the public during the Olympic period. So to get to events happening in Whistler, you would need to pre-purchase bus/shuttle tickets for that day. Once you present proof of transportation, then you're allowed to buy tickets.)

There was no way they could have gotten tickets to any of the events happening in Whistler, so they were gonna forget about it. But just before leaving, mum just HAD to ask about tickets to Figure Skating (even tho she has checked online a gazillion times already and found them to be unaffordable). (mum: $700 + per ticket)

And guess WHAT?


They cracked!!! D-Guy spent $405 + tax on ONE ticket for mum as a valentines day pressie (and mum let him!!)


You know why it's only $405 instead of the $700+??


Because her seat could look anywhere from this,


To THIS!!!

She could end up paying over FOUR HUNDRED dollars to see a beam or post...

(mum: They couldn't tell me how obstructed the view would be, but said the view could be blocked anywhere between 10% to 50%. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that its not 50%... It's a ticket to Men's Free Skate. A regular (non-obstructed view) ticket for this event would have only been $150 had I not missed the release date.... Sigh.. you pay for your mistake!)

Finally, we LEFT the ticket booth,


Can you believe it? I thought we would never leave!


Because I was such a good gurrrrrls all day (waiting for them, and helping them carry their glovie & toque), mum bought me an ice creaaaaaaaaaam!!!


It's from COWS, apparently they have Canada's Best Ice Cream!


(Please note, the picture above was from my last Whistler trip taken in October. Mum..*ahem* I mean, "I" haven't had time to post about that trip yet)

It was sooo good!!



YUM-YUM VANILLAAAAAAAA!!



I needed the calories since I'd burnt so much from trekking in the snow for 4 hours,



Second last bite,


Last bite!!!


Can I have a second cone??


The answer was no..., but I did have some KFC from mum's dinner before we drove back to Vancouver,


I had a great time on this trip and I hope I'll be able to visit Whistler again once the Olympics is over. But for now, I hope visitors and athletes from all over the world will have some ever lasting memories from Whistler and the games.

Whistler Weekend 3

This afternoon, mum and the D-Guy decided to go to the X-Country trails to do some snowshoeing.


They didn't have their own snowshoes, so we made our way towards the rental place first,


I haven't had any formal obedience training since I was a pup, (mum: you mean since you were a stinky?), so I decided to do some heeling, on the right hand side tooo!


Wasn't that a perfect HEEL? Are you guys impressed?


Then I decided the heeling exercise should end as I wanted to go ahead faster, so I promptly ended the exercise.


D-Guy must have given mum the "heel" command as well because she was walking beside him, being very slow.

I got a little annoyed, (mum: NOOOOO....never!)


Told them to speed up,


And not waste any more precioO-OOOOWLS timO-OOOOWL!!


D-Guy got the point and quickly sped up towards the rental place,


If D-Guy were a dog, he'd be a Golden Retriever or Lab or any of the easy going breeds. It usually takes him a while to understand what it is that I want him to do (mum: not everyone speaks Sunshade-nese!!), but once he understands it, he'd always try his hardest to perform my commands. Mum on the other hand would be a pure pure extra pure Terrier. She always understands what it is that I'm asking of her right away, but she goes and does what she wants. In this case, I was telling her to hurry up, she understood it by just looking at my facial expression, but she just kept on playing with her stupid camera while walking the same turtle speed. Now sometimes, if what I'm asking of her just happens to suit her needs, then she responds readily (ie, if somebody told her the rental place was giving out ice cream or hot chocolate or any type of foodie (she's a foodie too, like dogter like mother), then she would have sped up upon my first requisition.)

When mum finally made it to the rental place, she continued to play with her camera while I was given the task to be the responsible adult and WAIT,


I kept my SuperEYES on the 26 year old camera playing kid so she didn't get kidnapped,


(mum: thank you Sunshade for sharing my age.....) Np mum *wink*!

But then I realized that given her size and weight, it would have been hard for anyone to really kidnap or rather, adultnap her. They would need a crane or bobcat to move her anywhere, which would then be too obvious to miss. So I decided that it was ok to take my SuperEYES off her, and I laid down and WAIIIIIIIIIITED,


Waited for soooooo lonnnnnnnnng......


When the wait got to be too long, I decided to go scout out the snowshoeing trails so we didn't waste more time looking for the trails later,


FINALLY, they got their snowshoes. I again, waited patiently for them while they struggled to put those funny shoes on.


Once they started walking in those funny shoes, I got a little confused.... So I gathered them up (with my SuperHERDING skill),


And asked - Why are you SNOW-shoeing on gravel?


(mum: Whistler was really lacking snow....)

They told me there was only one snowshoeing trail that I was allowed to go on, and to get there, we had to walk on the gravel path first. It made sense to me I guess, a special trail for the SuperDALE. (mum: there was only one trail were dogs were allowed to be on.)

In an attempt to speed mum up, I decided to reduce the weight she was carrying, and helped her out,


Who knew? She was STILLL the slowest one with the speedy Golden Ret.... *ahem* I mean, D-Guy leading the way. I was second even with all that extra weight I was carrying!!


Then I met a doodle, now that's a DOODLE, not me!!! You see what he was looking at?


Here, you want a closer look? Can't get any more clear than this!


He was of course looking at this!


Everyboy knows a world famous MUSCLE BUTT when he comes across one I tell ya! I told him to pick up the latest GQ magazine before I was on my way.

The gravel path finally ended and we came to the start of the SuperDALE snowshoe trail,



I made sure mum was ready to hike. Told her that the ground condition was very icy and slippery, so she should be careful and follow me closely so she wouldn't get lost,


She quickly fell behind,


Even with my helping her with HER extra weight,


Since my helping didn't seem to have made any difference, I decided I might as well not help,


We continued to follow those paw signs to make sure we're on the SuperDALE snowshoe path,


Mum always says that I don't act like a gurrrrrl, that I eat like a piggie (you should watch her eat!!), that I'm a tomboy. So I thought maybe I should show her otherwise,


I enjoyed the flowers and the butterflies around me, listened to the happy chirping sounds of birdies.. *gag*, appreciated the beauty surrounding me,


I sat like a gurrrrrrlie gurrrrrrl,


That was all the gurrrrrlie stuff I could do and put up with.


I decided that it was time for me to imitate a sitting polar bear (I do have SuperPOLAR-BEAR in me),


I do admit, it was a little difficult to keep my balance, even with all that muscle on my bottom. See, even the polar bear was having difficulty keeping his balance,


Time to get GOOOOO-ING!!!


I walked for about 5 steps before mum told me to stop........


Why?

Need I say? She wanted MORRRRRRRREE pictures......


You can examine this picture carefully, see if you can pinpoint two features of mine that I've never grown into after 10 years,


Did you get them??

They are MY SuperNOSE and SuperFEET!

I met a big, 100+ lb boy Oorang Airedale once when I was about 8 months old, and guess what, my SuperFEET was bigger than his!! Here are some pictures of Oorang Airedales (usually 100+ lbs) in case you were interested.

Let me show you a few pictures from way back when....

I was 3 months old, look at those HUGE feet, (mum: look at Miss Personality already!)


HUGE feet and nose at 3 months,


Huge nosie at 3 months,


The ever growing SuperFEET and SuperNOSE at 4 months,


Sorry about getting side tracked.... (mum: Sunshade was an adorable SuperSTINKY!)

Since my feet are usually covered by my thick coat, I suggest you take one last look at those SuperSizedFEET,


Fun time!!

READY?

SET.......

CAAAAAATCH!!

We continued with our hike. When I saw that D-Guy was holding his toque in his hand, I nicely offered D-Guy to hold it for him,


He accepted my offer,


And I did my job well!


I even extended my offer to carrying it for him during the hike. I'm such a caring gurrrrrrl!


But my SuperFEET got a little cold, so I found a little piece of soil that wasn't covered by the crunchy snow,


And I rested there for a bit to warm up my feet,


Mum didn't want me to wear my booties because they didn't provide as good of traction as my bare SuperPAWS did on those icy slippery surfaces (you know, how she's ALWAYS worrying about me hurting myself)

When I wasn't looking, mum took a bad angle shot of my MUSCLE BUTT that could have totally destroyed my world renowned reputation,


So I stopped and had a little chat with her,


I also instructed her on how to take proper shots of the famous muscle butt,


Mum sort of got it.......


Except she included one extra butt that's more saggy than muscular..... (I'm sure no specification is needed on which is the MUSCLE BUTT, which is the saggy butt)

I often stopped to make sure we were on the right track,


And then I would lead the way!!!




I came across a special rockie in the middle of no where, can you believe it? Must be doG sent!


I was ecstatic, I rubbed my face all over it, and scooted it around with my face for a bit,


Then it was nap time (with a great view as I was facing down hill),

I guess nobody ever taught mum to not disturb one that's resting, she did it last time, and she didn't stop talking here.......

Once I was recharged, I got up,


Hustled the hoomans,


And continued to lead the way,


All the way to the top of the mountain,


Can you see that spectacular view of the Whistler mountains behind me??


Can you see it???????????


HEY! I'm ASKING you!!!!!


Isn't the view boooooootiful??


Of course, these epic mountain views just wouldn't be the same without the SuperDALE doing some much needed digging!



After my epic digging session, we continued walking and ran into a few doggies. You see the one dog that was walking in the opposite direction of his hooman? Do you see what he was looking at?? (The other two were obviously gurrrrls)


Yes of course, he was drawn towards this FINE butt!


It's sexy even when its not in motion, not to mention when its in motion!

As we continued our hike, I once again helped the D-Guy carry his toque,



Such responsibilities made for a tired gurrrrrrrl,


A well deserved rest was needed!


(mum: I just LOVE the picture above!

We had been on the mountain for about 3 hours by that time and Sunshade was ready to nap anywhere, anytime!!!)

Since I had been helping D-Guy carrying his toque most of the time, when it was time to get moving again, I nicely offered mum to carry her glovie for her. It was only fair that I help her too.


She, for some unknown reason was going to decline my offer (she had been holding on to that glovie for the longest time because her right hand was constantly pre-occupied with the camera). So I insisted,


I insisted even more when she continued to decline my offer,


Finally, my offer was accepted.


This is what I don't understand, mum knew what the ultimate end result was gonna be (that I get MY way), and yet she felt the need to challenge me before she surrendered??

(mum: OMdoG! *gasps* I'm such an AIREDALE!!!!!)

Even tho she made no sense, I still did my good dogter deed,


And carried her glovie for her on the way back,


Alternating with D-Guy's toque,


In order to keep things fair.


We sort of missed the paw signs on our way back, so D-Guy decided to go scout out a safe path. (except that path looked rather steep and slippery...)


I thought I'd help by marking, so in case we got, we could trace MY mark back!!


I followed D-Guy from way up here,


Until I felt the path was safe to go down (it was my duty to look out for my clumsy mum...),


We headed back over that icy wooden platform,


And finally, we were back at where we started, 4 hours later...


(mum: I couldn't believe Sunshade had the energy and stamina to hike and frolic in the crunchy snow for 4 hours straight. Other than the occasional short breaks, she was leading the way most of the time. Snow brings all the puppy-ness (or stinkiness..hehe) our of her, she absolutely loves it!)

There was a playground across from the trail exit, and I just HAD to go over there!


I LOVE hooman pup playgrounds,


I honestly think they were made for ME!!


I went under the slide to dig a hole when my feet got cold,


Then I heard someone mentioning "snowball"??

I'm ready......

Throw it!

GOT IT!!

After the fun, being the responsible gurrrrl that I was, I picked up the hoomans' belongings,


Continued to look after and carry them like I had been doing all day long,


It was getting dark, so we made our way back to the snowshoe rental place. Yes, I walked under that trailer. Still very agile after 10 years,


I saw the ticket booth,


And quickly made my way over.


There I waited for the hoomans to again, struggle to get their funny shoes off,


Seriously, I've gotta be the most patient dogter EVER..... (mum: yes, at times.)



I continued to offer my luggage carrying service,


Even after our snowshoeing expedition was over,


I think I should be tipped (with foodies please) for all the hard work I'd put in today,


We made our way towards the parking lot,


Under the bridge, there was a hooman doing graffities,


I wasn't quite sure what he was drawing, but the wall sure looked colourful! (I'm NOT colour blind btw!)


On the other side of the graffiti, I saw a creek. If you remember what I told you in my last post about how I'm just naturally drawn towards water (except bath water), well, this was no different. I just had to climb down those big rockies to creekside!


The hoomans didn't go down with me. In fact, they actually left me down there and WALKED AWAY!!!

I had to run after them, can you believe it??


That was how I was treated after I carried both of their stuff all day today??? HMMMPH!


I moped...toward the DaleMOBILE....


(mum: Sunshade is always EXTRA slow leaving a fun place when she realizes we're heading towards the car LOL!)

Dear mum:

Do you know how you can tell that you've been taking WAY TOO MANY PHOTOS??

When my one blog post uses over 120 photos (after sorting through the original 300+ photos that was taken), and that isn't the end of my day yet!!!

Your concerned dogter,
Sunshade