We've made it home to Vancouver! But this update will contain mostly Kamloops pictures, like the one above. I have 89 pictures to post from the last 4 months, so this update is going to be even longer than the previous (Christmas) one. So let's dive right in!

We made it safely back to Kamloops after the Christmas holidays, and of course Murphy brought all his new toys with him, including his caterpillar.

 

He got right back into his scampy ways, stealing the towels from the bathroom and parading them out into the living room, so as to start a game of chase. No game of chase? Well then he had a new, comfy spot to lounge!

That's all the pictures I have from January, and, due to school stress induced retrograde amnesia , I have no idea what else either he or I got up to that month, so let's move on to February.

Murphy and I explored a couple of different parks in Kamloops. One is Kenna Cartwright Park, a big provincial park with flat trails and hilly trails, wide open fields and dense forest. The picture at the top of the update shows Murphy and me posed against the north end of Kamloops, with the smokestack of the pulpmill to the left of the picture. The two pictures below who Murphy posed against the east side of the city, and Murphy hiking with Natalie, a friend from school, and Jean, a woman Natalie lived with.

The second park is coming up later in this update.

One of the few truly great things Kamloops had going for it was a salsa company called "Fresh is Best". They make awesome tortilla chips, salsa and guacamole. Apparently Murphy shared this opinion, as the following pictures will attest:

Needless to say, I sat back and laughed at him. And caught it all on film, of course. Another delicacy Murphy enjoys? Stamps. Preferably international stamps. Apparently, domestic stamps just weren't up to his standards.

 

To the left we have the evidence hanging from his ears. What killed me is that he was just nonchalantly wandering around the living room, like nothing had happened, like I wouldn't notice stamps dangling from his ears. I laughed my ass off at him. On the right, the mangled remains of my stamps.

But his true love when it came to stealing, other than towels of course, became dental floss. Who'd have thought I'd have to make sure my container of dental floss was well out of his reach? Here we have Murphy trying to chew his way inside the container. I don't even buy scented dental floss, so there's really no way to account for this new found obsession of his.

Other new behaviours that Murphy developed in Kamloops? Standing on the coffee table. He'd do this to see outside, to get my attention, to signal me that he was displeased with what I was doing on the table, or just to piss me off.

 

He especially liked to stand up there if I was on the computer, with my back to him. I think he liked the surprised reaction he got when I turned around to find him staring at me, at eye level.

Now back to the second park we found in Kamloops that really let Murphy burn off some energy. This one was an actual dog park, or as the sign reads, a "Playground for Pooches"!

Above, detail of the sign at the entrance to the park.

These pictures were taken on one of the few snowy days we had this winter. Kamloops usually gets more snow than Vancouver, but this year the city had very little snow, hence why I took my camera with us this day.

 

Unlike this snowy day, there were usually a fair number of other dogs coming and going at the park. It's out in the middle of nowhere, right next to some sort of agricultural reserve run by the government. Luckily, since I had a dog, the only apartment building that would take me was about 5 minutes from the middle of nowhere, so it wasn't that long a drive to get Murphy there.

Murphy really enjoyed this park, even though it was just a fenced off grassy area with a few trees.

And when we returned home from the dogpark and all its snow it was straight into the bathtub to melt off all the snow that had accumulated on his paws. And on the days with no snow? Then when we got home it was straight into the bathtub to wash off the dirt. Either way he'd then go snuggle in what became *his* quilt.

 

After this snowy day Murphy didn't get to go to the park much, until I hit final exams, when it served as a great study break. But during February and March most of his walks were taken with Jason. Jason is in my program, one of the few people who live near me. He and I got to know each other better over walks with Murphy. It was pretty much the only exercise either of us got while in school. As a nice bonus Murphy fell head over heels for Jason, and Jason for Murphy. So of course Jason and I started dating near the end of February. But more on that in the next update!

Email me!

Meghan

Here's the link to the next update: June 4, 2003
Here's the link to the previous update: January 9, 2003

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