A Series of Unfortunate Events.....

Sometimes it takes a few unfortunate events to create opportunity for more pleasant events. Take the past 24-48 hours for example. Two days ago my parents were supposed to go to the lake for 4 days. My mom asked me to take care of Riz and Peanut while they were away which in turn meant that we would have to stay at their house. This was both a good and bad thing. It was good because it meant that I would get to sleep in my basement dungeon room which admits very little light, therefore creating a blackness paradise which is perfect for sleeping in. I would also have full access to the treadmill which is always a good thing, and there's lots of great place to walk. Staying at the folks house was also a bad thing because it meant no internet (how can one survive??), smaller bed and you can't walk to town in less than 10 minutes (like here at Pam's house). But these are minor problems and really no big deal at all.

Since I was working night shift and Chris has been working lots with Jer lately, that meant that no one was around to watch Riz for the first night...so Pam volunteered to take her for one night. This was fortunate. But then some unfortunate events took place which included traffic jams and the flaring up of my mom's bad knee which lead to my parent's calling off their trip to the lake. That sucked. But then I guess Pam went down to the parent's house the next morning to walk the dogs with my dad when she turned her ankle in a camouflaged hole and tore a ligament (or something like that) in her ankle. Poor Pam.

This lead to two very fortunate events for me! I don't want to sound like a selfish jerk for saying this, but since Pam is now all gimpy for a while, that means that we get to take care of Splash for a while. YAY! In turn of having Splash here, that meant that I got the opportunity to walk her in the mornings again and was able to learn about a hiking trail which is only minutes from the house which I never knew existed. If my parent's had gone to the lake then Pam wouldn't have been down there to walk the dogs that morning meaning that she wouldn't have hurt herself. Then I would have woken up this morning and done a regular boring workout in the living room and gone on with my day. But since I have Splash, I had to get out and take her for a good walk (she's part border collie so she needs a really good amount of exercise every day) and stumbled upon a fantastic trail. Is it wrong to prosper off of other people's misfortunes?

The thing I love about sunny mornings is that they inspire me to want to go and explore. There's nothing that one can't do on a sunny Sunday morning. That may sound cheesy but I am a firm believer in it. The original plan was to do the walk to Bingy Bay and back, but when I walked down by the highway I glanced up at the lookout point just above the hospital and felt inspired to hike up there and go to the Canada flag that someone placed up there years and years ago. On the way up the Raven Cliff Trail, we ran into a man walking his two dogs and he explained all of the trails in the area which I was heading in and I decided to take advantage of the weather and early morning and explore around the mountain (don't tell my mom that I walked around a mountain by myself with only a dog and leash as my line of defense against cougars and grizzly bears).

Tip of the Day: A dog and a leash will never be enough to fight against a cougar or a grizzly bear...unless you're Macgyver.

Following the hike and a quick shower was a trip down to my cousin Victor and Helen's house for their daughter's first birthday party. It was nice to be able to mingle with the family for a couple hours. We don't get to see each other enough. Everyone was discussing having a big backyard BBQ before Chris and I head back to PEI (which I am still in firm denial about). I hope we are able to pull that together before September 5th. Fingers crossed!

Now it's off for a swim and dinner with the family!