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Almost a real Viking now
Not much in way of real writing lately.
Update on the last week or so...
Last weekend took the doggies to the vet. Got Lizzy her vaccinations and a look over. The vet says she looks great, and I have to proudly say, she does. She's about perfect weight, her ears are gleaming-clean, and she's overall in pretty good shape. Anna just tagged along. Both beagles were microchipped in preparation for the trip through the states, as that is the only ID that crosses borders, just in case they run off at some point. The needle to deliver the microchip was huge. They offered to take the dogs out of the room to administer it as it makes some people (those afraid of needles) nauseous. I sent Jason away with the second dog, but chose to stay myself as the lab work made me sufficiently non-squeamish, as long as it isn't *my* blood. Lizzy yelped and was very upset. Anna had a horrible time. She has so much skin in her scruff that the first attempt got shot right through. I helped stabilize the skin for the second attempt, for which Anna was thankfully scared into great docility and silence, and the second attempt was successful.
Sunday was the dog walk in the park for charity (local humane society). Jason and I raised $62 dollars for the cause. 40 from my office, 2 from his. Remember, my office has <20 people, and his office is nearing 300. Cheap bastards. The dogs thought it was great. We saw they were doing the microchips for only $35 (we paid 50 the day before - rats). We got free cookie samples, got Lizzy measured for a harness for carting (not sure I'll do it, but I am thinking about it), did the 2.5 km walk and picked up some clickers for clicker training. They seem to be responding well to the clickers. Months of training haven't taught Anna "lie down" but a week of clicker seems to have done it. Must pick up a book or take them to obedience classes to learn more about this wonderful method.
Monday I arrived at work at 5:30 am or so. I mailed the parcel (neckline) that day, so it should arrive some time this week. I left the next day (Tuesday) at about 6 in the evening. Wednesday I worked 9-midnight, and as a real kicker, got a parking ticket, which I will have to dispute. Took a wee break and then did 3am-4pm Thursday. Worked out to 25 hours of overtime in 4 days, but I made all my June 30 deadlines. Thursday night I just went home and slept. Friday I was supposed to hand in my CASB and get to Quad War in time to teach at 5pm. We left Edmonton at 5pm, with no CASB done and Jason hadn't packed his toiletries, belt and pouch or bow and arrows. Considering *I* was the one with no sleep and I ended up packing 80% of the stuff and doing all the shopping, getting $ and driving, I'm amazed we got there at all. I had all my things anyway, so to heck with him.
Friday we got in too late to accomplish much of anything. I gave Fenrick the 2 cases of beer I'd brought for him. Volkmar hadn't packed any food other than meat, and no cooler for said meat. Jason and I had a stove but no meat, and with the beer gifted away, plenty of cooler. We traded and it worked out rather well. He had some home-made deer sausage that was just to die for. They (him and parents) made something ridiculous like 180 lbs of the stuff.
Friday night was a party. I still don't know who was hosting, but they had blender drinks, so I wasn't going to ask too many questions. In case anyone ever wondered, horn+blender drinks=alcoholic slush up your nose. I wouldn't highly recommend it.
Saturday morning I attended Inga's "mark making" class and found out that I suck at cutting quills and at calligraphy. Many blobs and an inability to make marks straight vertical. I tended towards angles that simply are not present in the original scripts. Not sure if I will try to pursue this at all as I suspect it will just be immensely frustrating.
Later Saturday morning I taught my brocaded tablet weaving class. I wasn't entirely impressed with it as I hadn't had the time to prepare class notes, or even to photocopy anyone else's. There was also one woman who seemed to think this was a private session or that she should be co-teaching. There was also one annoying hung-over git in Inga's class. Made me aware of some things I should be careful of not doing as a student. While I was in classes Jason took the doggies gopher hunting. They were in heaven. As a result of this pre-fighting work-out, they spent the second half of the fighting sleeping in the tent.
<td>Saturday afternoon was fighting. It was hot (for Alberta, average summer temps for Ontario) and I didn't honestly feel much in the mood while armouring up. Glad I toughed it out though as the fighting was pretty great. Four field battles in which we kicked some serious ass (I think even I managed to kill someone) followed by two castle battles. In the defenders side I died rather quickly. In the offensive side, where I had 3 resurrections, I didn't die once, didn't even get close enough to the action for it to be an issue.
For more pics, follow this link: http://eveinedmonton.tripod.com/quad2005.html
After the battles I did a quick pick-up with Inga in which I know she was intentionally dropping her guard and leaving openings for me to find because there's no way I would have hit her otherwise. I hope I found all the openings she was trying to leave and did a decent job. She's always very positive and flattering, so it's hard to tell when you're not doing well with her.
Saturday night was Viking court. Fenrick kinda sold me out for my helm oopsie (thought I gave the loaner back after the last war and it was just sitting there in my armour bag while everyone else was tearing their homes apart looking for it) but then because I'd bribed him so well, offered to take my punishment. The court was not happy with that and instead chose to make it a competition between us, with the loser taking the punishment. Fenrick basically assured me he will be throwing the contest. I owe him that coat in a serious way and will try my best to get it done in the next couple weeks.
Saturday late night it rained and rather than party in the wet, I chose to go to bed. Sunday morning it was still raining. It rained the entire time we packed up, but I was able to back the van right up to the tent and use the trunk as a roof, so most things came home dry. The tent itself was soaked, but luckily it was dry and sunny in Edmonton and only took a few hours out in the sun to get it dry enough to pack up. Unfortunately, my "guaranteed to be dry" tent appears to not have been sealed in the seams on one side. I will have to go back to Canadian Tire and see if I can get a replacement as it leaked like a sieve. We were just lucky it wasn't raining hard at all.
Overall notes from the weekend:
Camping with two dogs is easier than camping with one. We were able to just leave them in the tent while fighting as they were perfectly happy to curl up together and nap, and didn't miss us at all. Made attending parties at night WAY easier.
Stakes are vital to a good encampment. Volkmar had also made himself a yurt and was trying it out for the first time that weekend. He'd made a few miscalculations (roof didn't reach the sides much less over-lap it) and in his hurry to get there had neglected to pack any stakes. As I was re-enforcing our tent from the gusting winds on Saturday afternoon, his flipped right over. We spent the next hour taking it apart and packing it up for him.
Just have to fight in one more war and I get to be a full member of the household.
Must sleep now.
Update on the last week or so...
Last weekend took the doggies to the vet. Got Lizzy her vaccinations and a look over. The vet says she looks great, and I have to proudly say, she does. She's about perfect weight, her ears are gleaming-clean, and she's overall in pretty good shape. Anna just tagged along. Both beagles were microchipped in preparation for the trip through the states, as that is the only ID that crosses borders, just in case they run off at some point. The needle to deliver the microchip was huge. They offered to take the dogs out of the room to administer it as it makes some people (those afraid of needles) nauseous. I sent Jason away with the second dog, but chose to stay myself as the lab work made me sufficiently non-squeamish, as long as it isn't *my* blood. Lizzy yelped and was very upset. Anna had a horrible time. She has so much skin in her scruff that the first attempt got shot right through. I helped stabilize the skin for the second attempt, for which Anna was thankfully scared into great docility and silence, and the second attempt was successful.
Sunday was the dog walk in the park for charity (local humane society). Jason and I raised $62 dollars for the cause. 40 from my office, 2 from his. Remember, my office has <20 people, and his office is nearing 300. Cheap bastards. The dogs thought it was great. We saw they were doing the microchips for only $35 (we paid 50 the day before - rats). We got free cookie samples, got Lizzy measured for a harness for carting (not sure I'll do it, but I am thinking about it), did the 2.5 km walk and picked up some clickers for clicker training. They seem to be responding well to the clickers. Months of training haven't taught Anna "lie down" but a week of clicker seems to have done it. Must pick up a book or take them to obedience classes to learn more about this wonderful method.
Monday I arrived at work at 5:30 am or so. I mailed the parcel (neckline) that day, so it should arrive some time this week. I left the next day (Tuesday) at about 6 in the evening. Wednesday I worked 9-midnight, and as a real kicker, got a parking ticket, which I will have to dispute. Took a wee break and then did 3am-4pm Thursday. Worked out to 25 hours of overtime in 4 days, but I made all my June 30 deadlines. Thursday night I just went home and slept. Friday I was supposed to hand in my CASB and get to Quad War in time to teach at 5pm. We left Edmonton at 5pm, with no CASB done and Jason hadn't packed his toiletries, belt and pouch or bow and arrows. Considering *I* was the one with no sleep and I ended up packing 80% of the stuff and doing all the shopping, getting $ and driving, I'm amazed we got there at all. I had all my things anyway, so to heck with him.
Friday we got in too late to accomplish much of anything. I gave Fenrick the 2 cases of beer I'd brought for him. Volkmar hadn't packed any food other than meat, and no cooler for said meat. Jason and I had a stove but no meat, and with the beer gifted away, plenty of cooler. We traded and it worked out rather well. He had some home-made deer sausage that was just to die for. They (him and parents) made something ridiculous like 180 lbs of the stuff.
Friday night was a party. I still don't know who was hosting, but they had blender drinks, so I wasn't going to ask too many questions. In case anyone ever wondered, horn+blender drinks=alcoholic slush up your nose. I wouldn't highly recommend it.
Saturday morning I attended Inga's "mark making" class and found out that I suck at cutting quills and at calligraphy. Many blobs and an inability to make marks straight vertical. I tended towards angles that simply are not present in the original scripts. Not sure if I will try to pursue this at all as I suspect it will just be immensely frustrating.
Later Saturday morning I taught my brocaded tablet weaving class. I wasn't entirely impressed with it as I hadn't had the time to prepare class notes, or even to photocopy anyone else's. There was also one woman who seemed to think this was a private session or that she should be co-teaching. There was also one annoying hung-over git in Inga's class. Made me aware of some things I should be careful of not doing as a student. While I was in classes Jason took the doggies gopher hunting. They were in heaven. As a result of this pre-fighting work-out, they spent the second half of the fighting sleeping in the tent.
</td>Saturday night was Viking court. Fenrick kinda sold me out for my helm oopsie (thought I gave the loaner back after the last war and it was just sitting there in my armour bag while everyone else was tearing their homes apart looking for it) but then because I'd bribed him so well, offered to take my punishment. The court was not happy with that and instead chose to make it a competition between us, with the loser taking the punishment. Fenrick basically assured me he will be throwing the contest. I owe him that coat in a serious way and will try my best to get it done in the next couple weeks.
Saturday late night it rained and rather than party in the wet, I chose to go to bed. Sunday morning it was still raining. It rained the entire time we packed up, but I was able to back the van right up to the tent and use the trunk as a roof, so most things came home dry. The tent itself was soaked, but luckily it was dry and sunny in Edmonton and only took a few hours out in the sun to get it dry enough to pack up. Unfortunately, my "guaranteed to be dry" tent appears to not have been sealed in the seams on one side. I will have to go back to Canadian Tire and see if I can get a replacement as it leaked like a sieve. We were just lucky it wasn't raining hard at all.
Overall notes from the weekend:
Camping with two dogs is easier than camping with one. We were able to just leave them in the tent while fighting as they were perfectly happy to curl up together and nap, and didn't miss us at all. Made attending parties at night WAY easier.
Stakes are vital to a good encampment. Volkmar had also made himself a yurt and was trying it out for the first time that weekend. He'd made a few miscalculations (roof didn't reach the sides much less over-lap it) and in his hurry to get there had neglected to pack any stakes. As I was re-enforcing our tent from the gusting winds on Saturday afternoon, his flipped right over. We spent the next hour taking it apart and packing it up for him.
Just have to fight in one more war and I get to be a full member of the household.
Must sleep now.