Adopt a Weimaraner

If anyone is looking for a Weimaraner dog, I am fostering one from Dogwood Rescue.

Dauma is 6 and a half years old. She is very affectionate. She loves to snuggle and give kisses. She likes to get up on couches and beds to snuggle with people. Dauma is perfect for someone who likes a snuggly dog on the furniture. She’s very playful and loves playing with squeaky toys.

She is housebroken, crate trained, knows how to use a doggy door, good with other dogs, and good around horses. I don’t have cats, so it is unknown how she is with them. She’s good riding in the car and has romped at off leash dog parks with no problems. She walks well on a splitter leash with my dog.

Her new owner should take her to obedience school for bonding and to refresh any prior training Dauma has had. Dauma needs to be watched if any food is left out on the counter or table. She walks around the kitchen with her nose up in the air cruising the counters and will steal someone’s dinner if she gets the chance.

Dauma does not like being alone, and would probably do best in a home where someone is home most of the time, or takes her with them in the car when they go out.

If anyone wants to meet Dauma, please contact Lichen at Dogwood Rescue 604-926-1842. Dauma is in Cloverdale and I can bring her to the off leash park at Clayton if anyone is interested in adopting her and wants to spend some time with her.

Here’s Dauma’s profile on Petfinder.

http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=14457676

Drive Through at Coast Capital

I heard on the news this morning that the Coast Capital branch here in Cloverdale became a drive through branch in more ways than one. Someone drove their car through the building last night or maybe early this morning. Probably had a little too much Christmas cheer.

Depending on the damage incurred by the car, this has got to be quite inconvenient for Coast Capital trying to find repairmen on Christmas Eve.

At least the driver was caught and will be liable for the damage.

Playing at the Clova from Dec 23 2009 - January 5 2010

OK, the mystery of what is playing at the Clova on Wednesday December 23 has now been solved. I walked past this morning and see its Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, playing nightly at 7pm until Tuesday January 5. This makes sense because the 23rd is the premier date for the chipmunks, and whenever the Clova gets a premier first run movie their contract is to play it for 2 weeks and not to play any other movies during that period.

I also noticed that the special this week is for anyone wearing Santa hats to the movies admission is $4. Regular admission is $7. Tuesday night is $4. Bring a reusable popcorn or drink container and fill up at the concession for $2.

Playing at the Clova from Dec 18 - 22 2009

I walked past the Clova this morning to see what is playing there starting Friday. The Clova will be closed on December 24 and 25 for the holidays. Though they are playing a matinee on the 24th.

The curious thing is they have the showtimes up for December 18 to 22. The mystery is what about December 23? I have no idea. Maybe it was a typo on the notice they put in their window?

7pm: Brothers

9pm: 2012

The second show is a long one. Lets out at 11:40pm. Times approximate. If they are delayed starting the first show due to huge concession line ups, it throws things out for 10 or 15 minutes. Admission is $7 for one or both movies. Tuesday nights is $4.

Stray Dogs

I don't know if I find stray dogs or if they find me.

I do know that there is nothing as panicking as having one of my dogs disappear. Somebody left a door open or the back yard gate open and all of a sudden I have no dog. I quickly search the yard - we're on a quarter acre with hedges, bushes, and trees with all kinds of hiding spots - I check the neighbor's yards, and then I'm in the car searching. Fortunately the couple of times its happened I've found my missing dog within half an hour. But it still freaks me out. My dogs have their City of Surrey tags and also a tag we made at PetSmart with the name, Kerry's cell phone number, and our address. Anyone catching our dog, as long as the collar hasn't come off, will be able to contact us right away.

A few months ago a beautiful golden retriever showed up while Kerry was working in the yard. No humans in sight. No tags on his collar. We got a leash on him and walked him around the neighborhood hoping that someone was looking for him. We finally took him home, took some photos, and posted on the Internet. We took him for another walk. This time we ran into someone walking their dog who recognized the dog as belonging to their neighbor. He had his cell phone on him and called the neighbor who was out in her car searching. Apparently one of her kids had left the gate open. We met up in a few minutes and she was very thankful. And she was heading to PetSmart the next day to get an ID tag made for the dog.

A couple of weeks ago we came home. It was night and pouring rain outside. Standing at my front door is a large Rottweiler. Staring me down. Now I grew up with a Saint Bernard and friends of ours breed Rottweilers so I'm good with large breeds. Its just you never know if a dog is mean or friendly. This one's collar was on so tight I couldn't get my fingers around it. I got my front door open and brought him inside. I towelled him down and he just loved it, rolling around the living room floor. He was not neutered and appeared young, probably 8 or 9 months old. He also was not house broken, so we put him out on the sundeck, which is covered. He wolfed down a bowl of dog food. He was hungry, but overall in good condition. This dog wasn't malnourished. I took pictures and posted him all over the Internet and searched for lost dogs. We took him for a walk around Cloverdale, wondering if he would lead us to his home, but he didn't seem to know the area and had nowhere in particular he wanted to go.

The next day we took him to the vet to check for a micro chip but there wasn't one. We contacted our breeder friend. We had a man from Aldergrove come out and look at him. His 7 month old Rottweiler was stolen from their yard, but it wasn't his dog. I stood out on the street for an hour with him, hoping someone looking for him would drive by and see him. Finally we took him to the SPCA and hoped his owners would look for him there.

I checked the SPCA's website yesterday and the Rottie is now up for adoption. No one came looking for him. Sad. But hopefully he will find a good home.

We can't stress enough to people we meet who don't have ID tags on their dogs to get one made up. Costs about ten bucks. But it might return your dog home sooner if someone catches it.

Here's a couple of photos of the stray Rottie if anyone is looking for a friendly male. He's at the Surrey SPCA.

The Missing Mailbox

Further to my post about the mailbox in Cloverdale at the corner of 176th Street and 58th Avenue, yesterday I drove past and the mailbox is missing. Gone! Hmmm. Wonder where it is....

You'd think if Canada Post removed it, they would have replaced it. Perhaps the same person who took my slightly rusty Frosty the Snowman has helped themself to a slightly rusty mailbox.

Pancake breakfast at the Cloverdale Legion on Saturday December 12

I walked past the Cloverdale Legion on 57th Avenue today and saw their sign up with upcoming events. Just a reminder about their pancake breakfast tomorrow morning, Saturday December 12. $4 gets you pancakes, eggs, sausage, coffee, and orange juice. They're located just west of 176th Street, across from the firehall.

Another bad driver in Cloverdale

Today its lightly snowing in Cloverdale. Sort of sticking to the ground, but not to the streets that have traffic regularly driving on the road.

I had to mail a letter and killing two birds with one stone took my dog for a walk. We're in the crosswalk at 57th Avenue and 176th Street. I saw a pick up truck from Abell Pest Control approach, driving down 57th Avenue, but I know he has to stop at the 4 way stop, so no danger to me.

Wrong! I'm nearly halfway across the intersection and Abell decides not to stop at the stop sign, and careens into a right hand turn in front of me, and sped off down 176th Street towards Highway 10. Going too fast for me to catch the license plate number.

The man was in his forties. Should have known enough to stop at a stop sign and that pedestrians have the right of way in marked crosswalks. It was just after noon so I'm very visible. I'm also walking a border collie, so we're at a brisk pace. My dog does not dawdle.

It just amazes me that companies with their names clearly marked on their vehicles employ poor drivers. Talk about bad advertising.

Canada Post security?

I had to mail a letter so I walked down to the mailbox located on the corner of 176th Street and 58th Avenue today at noon. The mailbox is unlocked. The bottom part where the mail carrier unlocks it is wide open. Oddly enough some people have put their mail in here. I can see it, quite visible through the open door.

I tried to close it, but the door is in the locked position and only dropped down again. It would appear the the Canada Post carrier emptied the mailbox on Thursday December 10, closed it, locked it, but didn't ensure it was in the latched position. So eventually it dropped down. Surprised it didn't drop down while Canada Post was still there.

I decided I wanted to make sure my letter gets where its going so I walked up to the mailboxes in front of the old post office on 176A and 57th to put my letter in.

When I got home I tried to phone Canada Post to let them know about the security breach, only to get a recording that all lines are busy and to try back later. I realize its the holiday season and lots of people are probably phoning with questions about their parcels, but shouldn't Canada Post anticipate this and hire extra seasonal employees? All I could do was use their feedback form on their website and let them know about their unlocked mailbox. Someone will probably read it next week.

In the meantime anyone can come along and remove the mail inside this box.

So if you're mailing anything today, use another mailbox. The one at 176th Street and 58th Avenue in Cloverdale is not secure.

Playing at the Clova from Dec 11 - 17 2009

This week at the Clova in downtown Cloverdale:

7pm is Planet 51.

8:45pm is Ninja Assasin.

Second show lets out just before 10:30pm. Times for the second show are approximate. Sometimes the Clova is delayed starting the first show due to crowds in the lobby lined up at the concession. They don't start playing the movies until most of the patrons are seated.

Admission is $7 for one or both movies. Tuesday night is $4. Bring your own reusable popcorn and drink container and fill at the concession for $2.

Photos from Cloverdale's Santa Parade 2009

It was below freezing on Sunday night, December 6. Plus a blowing wind, dropping the temperature even further. Despite the chill, there was a huge turn out for the Santa Claus Parade. A great turn out of floats and some of the big rigs did a fantastic job of Christmas displays.

We found a sheltered alcove by Mason's furniture and I hopped up on the planter to take photos. Really tough to get a focus due to the moving lights.

Bylaw officers working 64th Avenue

Over the past few months, on the odd occasion I've received a local newspaper, there are letters written to the editor from people who live on 64th Avenue. I believe from people who live in the condos that are located approximately in the 164 block, across from where the old Bose farm used to be. Their complaints are the large trucks that roar down 64th Avenue. They can't enjoy spending summer days on their patios due to the noise.

These people have a point. There is a no trucks exceeding 10,000 kg (I think, I could have the weight wrong) on 64th Avenue between Fraser Highway and 152 Street. I've seen the sign thousands of times just after I cross the Fraser Highway heading west on 64th. But because I don't drive a big rig, I don't pay much attention to the weight limit. Those trucks should not be speeding along 64th. They should be on Highway 10 or other designated truck routes.

Their complaints to city hall are relatively ignored. They are told there aren't enough bylaw officers to catch the trucks and they're busy doing other things. They were told to take photos of the offending trucks and then sue them in court. What kind of response is that? Yep, our tax dollars are hard at work in Surrey.

This afternoon we were driving east bound on 64th Avenue heading into Langley. Just after the Cloverdale Crossing Mall, across from the skateboard park, we saw two SUV's with emergency lights flashing and a large truck hauling heavy machinery pulled to the side of the road, right about where it begins to be 2 lanes coming up to the mall. At first we thought it was the Department of Highways doing a safety check, but as we got closer we saw the SUV's belonged to the City of Surrey Bylaw Enforcement. I knew right away they were pulling over large trucks and ticketing them for being on a route that has a maximum weight limit for trucks. And just then we see a truck cresting the hill from 180th Street. I watched in my rear view mirror. Yep, a bylaw officer ran on to the street, and signaled the trucker to pull over. Got him!

Caving in to resident complaints? On Wednesday, December 9, our tax dollars were indeed hard at work in Cloverdale. But whoever they caught today was probably only a drop in the bucket.

The first Christmas theft

Don't you love driving by and looking at the houses that are beautifully decorated with Christmas decorations. And then if you read the local newspapers there are always letters to the editor in December from people who've had their decorations stolen from their front yard and wanting to get them back.

We decorate the inside of our house, but don't do much outside, other than string lights on our sundeck railing.

A few months ago we were at a client's house who was getting ready to move and had a lot of garbage outside including a slightly battered, rusty 18" high metal snowman holding a welcome sign. It has a couple of prongs to push it into the ground. Its kind of cute so I asked if I could have it and they said sure because they were just throwing it away. I also have two larger signs, a snowman and Santa Claus that stand on their own. They were also rejects, about to be tossed in a dumpster by a former martial arts studio Kerry used to go to, so he grabbed them.

I put the three of them out in our front yard. The smaller snowman in the garden in front of our front yard, and the larger snowman and Santa further away. Kerry is hoping that someone will steal the larger ones.

This morning when I came outside to walk the dog, the small snowman with the welcome sign is gone. So somebody had to come up within three feet of our front door to steal it.

Oh, well. Its not like it cost me big bucks. It was just a garbage rescue. But it was cute and it was too bad that some low life thief decided they needed a well worn snowman more than I did.

Shoddy delivery for the Leader in Cloverdale

Following up my other post about the Surrey Leader, I have a few things to say about their sketchy delivery. And here I can’t fully blame the Leader. They must have a dickens of a time keeping delivery people employed because we keep getting notices in our mailbox that they’re looking for delivery people in our area. Sometimes weeks and months will go by without getting a newspaper, so that’s why I’m not too certain how many days a week its really delivered. I know its supposed to come on Fridays, with the Cloverdale Reporter inside, but it rarely arrives in my mailbox. Not that I care so much whether or not I receive the Leader, but I do like reading the Reporter because its style is more like how the Leader used to be many years ago covering community events and people who live in Cloverdale.

We had one good delivery person, a man in his thirties, this past summer. We regularly got the papers. But then he quit. Hopefully he found better work elsewhere and delivering the Leader was just a temporary situation for him. He was reliable, which is a whole lot more than I can say about any of the others. In the past couple of years there was one lazy sucker who’d deliver multiple copies of the Leader to my house. How many newspapers can I read? I just assumed he got paid by the paper and it was easier for him to dump multiple copies to some of his houses to make his route go faster. I stuck them in my recycle box. And then one day the delivery person, and I’m sure it was a kid, really ticked me off. In the summer we have designated days of the week and times we can run the sprinkler. I went outside and set the sprinkler in my front yard. From where it was set up, it was also getting our sidewalk inbetween the garden and house wet, including the area around the front door. When I came outside an hour and a half later to move the sprinkler, I had several soaking wet copies of the Leader sitting on my front doorstep. Now that kid had to run through the sprinkler in order to get the papers to that spot, so there’s no doubt in my mind that he knew the sprinkler was on. He could see it going back and forth, and the sidewalk and front door were wet. He could have put the newspapers in my driveway, four feet away from my front door. That area was dry, not being reached by the sprinkler. But no. He has to put multiple copies of the Leader on my front door mat. What a nasty, soggy mess. I picked it up and took it right to the recycle bin, only to discover that wet newsprint runs and marks up your hands and your clothes. I complained to the Leader about that. One soggy newspaper would have been bad enough, but a stack of them was another story.

That’s the only complaint I’ve made. Ever since then I’ve only received one copy of the paper delivered to my house. I don’t complain about not receiving the papers. This is one case where its better not to receive.

But what happens to the copies of the Leader that don’t get delivered? Its possible there is currently no delivery person in the area during that time. It seems the Leader goes through 5 or 6 delivery people a year in my neighborhood. I see a lot of things when I’m out walking my dogs. Over the years I’ve seen bundles of the Leader dumped in local ditches, in the alley that runs east and west between 177B and 179th Streets, behind 59th Avenue, in Cloverdale Creek, off 57 Avenue, close to 173 Street, and in the dumpster when I lived in Dogwood Gardens. Its very clear that the people who are getting paid per paper they deliver are finding it easier to dump them in mass quantities somewhere. I’m sure nobody complains that they’re not receiving the Leader.

Once again my copies of the Surrey Leader and Cloverdale Reporter that should have been delivered yesterday didn’t arrive. Though I did get the Leader this past Wednesday.

Hit or miss. That the delivery style of the Surrey Leader.

The Surrey Leader

When I was growing up in Cloverdale, the building on the northwest corner of 176th Street and 57th Avenue was home to the Surrey Leader. Sometime in the 1980’s the Surrey Leader relocated to a new building and their old building became a pawn shop and now La Belle Vie, a retail shop, is located here.

The Surrey Leader used to be a subscription only weekly newspaper, delivered on Thursdays. My parents had a subscription for many years until my mother cancelled it sometime in the mid or late seventies. It used to come in folded format, similar to the format still used today by the Vancouver Sun.

Two or three years after my mother cancelled her subscription, a copy of the Surrey Leader arrived in the mailbox. My mother phoned their office to find out what was going on. The receptionist told her the newspaper was now being delivered for free to all houses in Surrey and asked her how she liked it. “I don’t like it at all,” my mother responded. “The reason I cancelled my subscription a few years ago is because all your newspaper ever writes about is abortion and the school board. And after all these years, the newspaper I received today, that’s all you’re still writing about.” So my mother was an unhappy recipient of the free newspaper. We referred to it as the Shitty Leader.

Over the years the newspaper has transformed to a tabloid style of print and after all these years no longer devotes half its space to abortion, though the quality of the other articles is debatable. It eventually became a twice a week newspaper and then three times a week. How much of the Shitty Leader does one need dropped on their doorstep? I think it has again returned to a twice a week paper. I’m really not sure because delivery is sketchy.

When I was growing up the Surrey Leader included photos and articles of locals getting married. As I reached my late teens and early twenties I recognized a lot of former classmates featured in the wedding section. Somehow this feature has long since been dropped from the current edition. There were more articles about people in the community doing good things or interesting things. More articles about people involved in the arts, local kids doing good in Scouts or Guides, and high school band concerts. I think this had more to do with the weekly newspaper. The Province and the Sun, daily newspapers, covered the news. A weekly newspaper didn’t cover news so much because it was usually stale news by the time it hit the mailboxes, but it certainly covered community events.

The current Leader, covers some events, but its more news than coverage of local people.

Playing at the Clova from Dec 5 - 11 2009

Playing at the Clova from December 5 - 11 is a movie that Kerry wants to see - Pirate Radio, so I guess we'll be heading downtown one night next week.

Starting nightly at 7pm is Pirate Radio.

The 2nd feature is Whip It. Oops, by the time I got home I forgot what time it starts, but it was after 9pm, I think 9:10 nightly.

Last show lets out around 11pm. Times are approximate. The Clova doesn't start the movie until the crowd around the concession has diminished. Bring your own reusable popcorn and drink containers and fill them up for $2. Admission is $7, stay for one or both movies. Tuesday nights are $4.