SO much has happened since my last blog post – I guess it is
time to actually get everyone up to speed.
For those of you who skipped a few entries, I decided to
move to Calgary to be with the pups. This happened rather suddenly, and I had
the daunting task of having to travel back to Ontario by Greyhound for 3 days
and then start the arduous process of sorting and selling and packing my stuff.
This was heightened in its intensity by the fact that i only got back to
Ontario on July 15th, and had to vacate my apartment by July 31.
So for the first week home, i sorted stuff and held a yard
sale, which was to finance the transportation of the rest of my stuff i wasn’t
selling back to Calgary. This was an exceptionally stressful week, deciding
what was of value and what wasn’t. Suffice it to say that I hate holding a yard
sale, and – if I have the choice – I shall never EVER do so again. I have never
come across a cheaper bunch of assholes than yard-salers, haggling over a
dollar. It’s enough to make anyone go postal. I was glad when it was over.
The following week was packing in earnest and finally
transporting my boxes to the company shipping them across Canada for me. I
managed to complete it all by the deadline with some help of some friends, and
made my flight back to Calgary on August 1. The flight was awesome – brief,
almost turbulence free – and direct. Despite the hour and a half delay in
departure, it was great to be back with the pups and back in Calagry, away from
the humidity, and, quite frankly, the myriad of bad memories Ontario holds.
Seeing Roscoe’s bright blue hair was a shock, but was also truly awesome! He is very proud of
it!!
The day after I arrived home was Roscoe’s birthday, and he
and Berith had booked an appointment for them each to get a PA done. Beriths
went without a hitch, and you can read more about it on his blog here:
http://www.thehydrant.org/
With Roscoe, however, the piercer was not sure quite what to
do. I don’t think she has had to deal with an uncut penis before, and, she said
she would prefer not to attempt the piercing, but would rather her boss did it.
While it was annoying and frustrating at the time, I have huge respect for her
admitting she wasn’t comfortable with the procedure, even though, at the time
it truly upset Roscoe. They rescheduled his appointment for the next day, and
we went back to the shop to have it done. Different piercer and we were in and
out within 20 minutes, one freshly pierced puppy.
Now, some of you may know that I am a bit of a sadist, and I
have to confess that watching two puppies occasionally cringing when they walked or bumped their penises did
bring a slight smile to my face. But its actually not all that nice to see
those one cares about hurting.
Friday evening was wonderful! My friend Scott W, whom some
of you may recall moved out here a few months back, and his boyfriend Kota had arranged a “Happy Birthday
Berith and Roscoe, and Welcome back Johnny” BBQ with friends and members of the
community. It was an awesome affair, with great food and awesome company, and
the even flew by entirely too quickly!
Sunday afternoon, and we suddenly were dressing smart casual
and headed to Scotts place, final destination unknown. We piled into Scotts'
car, Scott and I in front, and Berith, Kota and Roscoe in the back and hit the
highway. It soon became apparent that we were headed to Banff, about an hour
and a half away from Calgary, in the Canadian Rockies.
Scott and Kota were
treating the three of us to Dinner at a charming restaurant called the Saltlik
Steak House, and the meal, and company were, of course, excellent!! Have I ever
mentioned in my blog posts how much I love the taste of beef? I really do enjoy
a slice of dead cow. And I’m sorry if that is politically incorrect, or offends
you in some way – but I was raised eating animals, and I don’t see anything
wrong with it.
After dinner we took a brief excursion around Banff and saw
the fantastically beautiful Banff Hotel, as well as a stop at Cascade
gardens... which was disappointing as there were no cascades, only all the
mosquitoes in Alberta. Still the Gardens were beautiful, without the water.
The drive home was quieter as we were all full and tired, Roscoe
with his head out the window, Berith asleep and Kota nodding off comically in
the middle while Scott and I focussed on the scenery. It was an awesome and
unexpected surprise and truly appreciated and enjoyed.
The rest of the week passed uneventfully, until Very late
Wednesday night, when Roscoe started feeling unwell. We thought he had food
poisoning. All day Thursday, he was throwing up, and experiencing very bad
stomach cramps. We treated him for food
poisoning, but just after midnight, we decided the pain was too bad for food
poisoning and it could possibly be appendix, so I drove him to ER.
Roscoe and I spent the night in ER, and everyone who saw him
for diagnosis concurred that it was, in fact, appendix. So they scheduled him
for Surgery and took him in for it at 5:30am. As he was wheeled away, I left
the hospital to come back and pick up Berith to head back to the hospital. I
wanted to make sure Roscoe had both of us there when he came out of surgery. We
had to wait almost 4 hours before they released him from recovery – they were
concerned about his breathing being shallow, and think he may have sleep apnea
too.
After a while Berith and I came back to the apartment so I
could get some sleep – i didn’t sleep much or long =- perhaps an hour or two at
most, before running a bunch of errands and making it back to the hospital to
see Roscoe. Scott and Kota were already there, and the four of us escorted
Roscoe on a long walk around the hospital, before they left and Berith and I
settled Roscoe back in his room, and headed home.
Berith and I met Scott and Kota at the Eagle for a short
while. Its kind of sad, the Calgary Eagle is closing its doors on September 2nd,
and will not be around for a while. They are battling to find a new location,
and, quite frankly, I think they all need a break for a while. Owning and
running a bar can be a huge underlying stress, 7 days a week. So after Pride
this year, Calgary will not have an Eagle – at least in the short term. (http://www.calgaryeagle.com/)
Managed to sleep quite well last night, despite being alone
in the apartment, and am currently preparing to face Saturday, and visit Roscoe.
The word from the hospital is that they will now be keeping him until Monday,
as, upon closer examination, they found a hole in the appendix, and are afraid
of infection. There are other situations going on, but I will be blogging about
one in particular in a separate post, as it is more emotional and less
`newsy`.
Feel free to comment or ask
questions, as always! Johnny.