Bear's travel day

Oh dear—I see people are in this folder, which only has pictures. I'm in another time zone and should have gotten myself organized and written about it. I'm tired today, as yesterday was a long day. 

Thanks for the tips on the tech stuff. The SENT folder is the next one to investigate, as there are all those big files I've sent over the years. What I do not understand is that even after deleting many emails and attachments, the file size has increased, NOT decreased. What the heck is going on? Well, I hope to get to the bottom of that. 

And NO—I didn't have a chance to watch all the videos on the Gordie Howe International Bridge, and I missed the one on dogs and birds of prey. I shall go in and check that out. I find all this stuff fascinating. I know there are shows on TV or streaming services about "How did they do that?" or whatever, and I really do not need to find them since I'd spend all my time watching them. 

So yesterday was an adventure. Little Bear and I were off to the airport. I'll tell you part of that story, but first, here are some photos of Little Bear on his last day at our house. Remember -- the little guy is HIGH MAINTENANCE!!!

He went for a walk in the forest. He's gotten very used to the forest and loves to sniff every leaf and tree. Now that he's back in his urban environment, he sniffed every tree, lamp post, and blade of grass on our walk from the train to the apartment. 

I LOVE the forest

When he was dropped off back in January, his mom thought he needed a lot of stuff, but we didn't need much of it. He needed his sweater and one coat, and that was about it. He's a big boy and survived just fine at our house without all the extra stuff. 

I told him to pack up all his stuff, and he just looked at me. Fortunately, I was able to pack it all in my office backpack. 

MOM brought a lot of stuff for me!

Murphy will miss the little guy if for no other reason than she was the one who thoroughly licked his plate clean! Oh, Murphy!!! 

Murphy cleaning Bear's plate

Then we had some fun trying to get some pictures. That was not going to happen with Lexi, but Murphy, Bear, and I had fun at the dinner table as we tried to get a group shot. I was trying to stay out of the shot! It was not easy with those two. 

Murphy: I LOVE the little guy!

Oh, what fun times we had

Bear was able to explore the backyard one more time. He was so hesitant about it the first time he came to our house, and each time, he got braver. He loved it and often spent time climbing on the rocks. With the scare of the hawk, we never left him unattended in the backyard. Either one of the girls was out there to babysit him, but even then, I watched him all the time. Yes, HIGH MAINTENANCE is the way to describe Bear. We haven't seen the hawks in our backyard, but I can see them flying in the forest, so they are always around. 

Exploring the backyard

His favorite spot in the house was the bed in the front window. Thankfully, he learned how to climb up and down the stairs, so he was pretty independent. Otherwise - it would have been a nightmare! But he would spend hours up there watching the world go by. Now, the only thing he can watch out the window in his apartment are the birds. He could look at the mountains, but they don't move, so what's the fun of that? 

Checking out the neighborhood and sitting in the sun

And while it looks like he's adoringly looking up at DH, he just wanted food!! That little devil!!!

Where's the food?

Anyway, we were off to the airport yesterday morning. As I walked into the airport, I heard my phone ding, and I looked at it and CRAP -- the flight was delayed by 3 1/2 hours due to maintenance. What exactly does that mean? Well, it means my flight is delayed by 3 1/2 hours, and I have Bear with me. We checked in and through security, and my backpack got flagged. Oh -- that's his hairbrush!! 

I got a Tim's and a cookie and was going to find a spot to sit when I remembered that I had a lounge pass. This is the perfect time to have a lounge pass, so we walked there, and yes, we got access. We found a comfy chair to sit down, and I let him out of his carrier. He was pretty excited about that, and no one said a word. They frown on dogs being out of their carrier in the main terminal. He was NOT allowed to run around but stayed in the chair with me or was on his leash. 

I had something to eat. Bear got a few snacks, and everything was good. 

Then we got a notification that the flight was further delayed by one hour. Good grief!!! Finally, I wandered down to the gate because we had to stop by the pet relief area. At first, he was like, "What the heck is this?" Then he did his business, and we were off to the gate, where the flight was further delayed by half an hour. 

I was wiped by now. How can it be so exhausting to wait when I can do so much in a day and not be tired? 

It was a huge plane, and we were in row 55, which wasn't even the back of the plane. I was asleep before the plane started to taxi. It was almost 2:30 when we were waiting to take off on the runway. We should have been in Vancouver by the time we took off. I'm on a quick turnaround, which was a large part of my visiting time. Sigh...............

But all was good—I had an ebook, watched a movie, and slept. Bear was very good for the entire flight and mostly slept. Around 5 PM EST, I gave him the remainder of the snacks, and he went back to sleep. It took forever to get off the plane just because of the sheer number of people. 

Then we had to find the pet relief area—we had no idea where it was, so we went outside, and he did his business. Then, we took the Skytrain to get into Vancouver. The train was easy and super cool, and soon, we were off the train and walking to the apartment. Although Bear was very whiney on the train. He was tired of being in his carrier and probably hungry. I can't blame him!

OK -- so I might be good with the GPS in the car, but I SUCK at it when I'm walking. And after TWO false starts, I got in the right direction. Why is that? I had the same problem in Spain last year. I am just not good at it. 

But we finally arrived at the apartment after Bear slowly sniffed his way home. I don't know who was happier to see each other!! But they are reunited again! And I can leave knowing that he is in good hands. 

I have more to say about the day, but it's time to edit this rough draft and then get on with the day because I'll walk back to the train (much faster and lighter) and get ready to catch my flight home. Which hopefully will not be late. If it's late -- that's going to be a nightmare! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!