No problem! I love your blog! :D And you look very familiar. Have you gone to the AHEA convention? Oh no, I'm hijacking my own thread! :auto:

I think a lot of people would pick the Inukshuk based on it's name, but as soon as they saw it they'd know.

Yuppers. They had not heard of The Drinking Gourd. Cryin' shame.

:grouphug: will pray. :grouphug:

My dd (who now attends school) was asked to write a list of 10 items (that you can see) that represent Canada, especially to people of other countries. Here's her list... and can you guess which one the other students laughed about or questioned? NONE of them had heard of it before... 1. maple leaf 2. loon 3. hockey stick 4. inukshuk 5. maple syrup 6. Royal Canadian Mounted Police 7. CN Tower 8. the Drinking Gourd 9. beaver 10. moose

Survey says... :party: FWIW, I'd enjoy life in any of those top 5 countries... just please don't give me jumping spiders, poisonous snakes, et al. :lol:

I'm extraordinarily biased on this, as we have a REGISTERED guide dog for my son. There's the big difference. Registered. Canada (and other countries) require certification from a governing body (Assistance Dogs International) whose mission is to "Establish and promote standards of excellence in all areas of Assistance Dog acquisition, training and partnership". This is our second registered guide dog. Both required extensive training and then the family received extensive training. It is a sad fact that the U.S. is a laughing stock in service animal circles. They truly are. There are no governing rules so anyone can "train" any animal any time and call it a service animal. Without some form of standard, they really make the rest of us look bad. :glare: Oh well. That man (and MANY others) would have a very rude awakening if they ever visited Canada! As for where they are allowed: anywhere the public goes. This does exclude private property, private (golf) clubs, private beaches, and churches. In those cases, we must get permission from the person responsible for the premises. We've never had anyone say no, but we do not take the dog to other people's homes. ETA: if you'd like to see pics of my boy with each of his guide dogs, you can see them in pics that are on my profile. They're very cute!

Well. I do believe ya'll just solidified my confusion! :lol:

Oh please do not type the name without spaces or something, I'd be beyond horrified if the parent googled and this came up and *gasp* they saw that I didn't know how to pronounce their precious baby's name! :willy_nilly: :svengo: Anyhow, I saw the name in type, but haven't spoke to the parents yet. How do you pronounce it? It is a boy, btw. Thank you for saving my butt! El-LEE-iss Eh-LIE-iss EE-LEE-iss EE-LIE-us El-L-ohfortheloveofpizzacouldn'ttheyjustnamehimEli?

I'd sub applesauce for the butter, splenda for the sugar, omit salt, and yes, do another flour or perhaps use ground almond meal instead of flour.

WOW. Thank you for posting.

Thank you all, I hadn't realized it varied so greatly by where you live!

do they state the cause of death or coroner's results? I know you can apply and pay to get a legal copy, perhaps only family members can I'm not sure, but can one just find one online to look at for a specific person? Anyone know?

I understand your friend feeling like she's in a bit of a pickle. However, how would she feel if a child's face were attacked next week? In my humble opinion, your friend who was bit would be just as guilty as the negligent dog owner. She is aware that this dog is a threat and she should tell others who are at risk. Seriously, ask her how she'd feel if 5 year old Ashley down the street was bitten. Ask her how she'd feel if she had the opportunity to warn Ashley's parents but chose to honour the dog owners request instead. Oh, and if it were my dog, it would be put down. It could no longer be trusted. I have 2 dogs and love dogs, but people have to come first. As awkward as your friend feels, she will be doing the right thing by disclosing the information as it is a risk to the safety of others.

:grouphug: How sweet that you got her horses. :grouphug: My sister lost her best friend last month. It's so hard. :grouphug: Continued prayers for peace as you grieve your loss.

Kids who lie have so much power. They can destroy families, lives, friendships, everything. As hard as it will be, you really ought to limit contact. She does need counselling, and I'm really glad that her family sees that. If left unchecked, who knows where that girl would be 10 years from now. :grouphug: Believe it or not, I truly can sympathize with everything you're going through. :grouphug: We had to cut ties with dear friends who made up horrible lies and calculated plots including producing phoney evidence to scare my dd into believing someone was going to kill her. I'm sorry, but no kid should have that kind of power without being hauled into some serious counselling to fix it. :grouphug: Here's hoping your niece can get some help.

Wow, a resurrected thread! I wrote this in April LOL! We did the castle stay with one super fine meal and the rest were average meals. Don't regret it one iota! If I had to do it again, I'd probably do the same. :001_smile:

We're toying with this idea. We have lots of very sturdy metal poles, but no plan yet. Exact opposite of you. Let's get together! ;) I bet you want to know where we got our poles... well, our 16' trampoline (with poles that hold the mesh wall up) was hit by lightning a couple years ago. Actually, the lightning hit a huge tree which then fell on the trampoline. Do you have Freecycle there or some sort of free classifieds? You could post that you'd like to take old trampoline poles off someone's hand. They connect really well, are strong, etc. You just need a wrap-around clamp to attach to the top and hang the swing from.

okay, ONLY because this is a spelling thread, I thought we could all giggle about this... one of my favourite sites! (Totally meant in fun, OP)

Yup, 2-3 weeks. We kept our son off both for months... it was hard but doable.

Denise, I'm in the same boat as you, except our home has mega oak detailing. We do have laminate in the kitchen, bath and hallway because ceramics in Edmonton, Alberta is just silly considering the -40 weather in the winter. Yes, the dogs will scratch it. But more importantly, if you drop something heavy like my son does all the time, huge gouges will come out. We're looking to replace and are having the same questions as you. Laminate does chintz down a house, imo, but I'm from a brick & ceramic tile or marble city and live in a siding & laminate or carpet world :glare: Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore! :tongue_smilie: One of the floorings we were considering was cork, due to the insulating (weather & noise) factor and the beauty of it. It does cost more, but I don't know how it would hold up to doggy claws. It's not the kind of cork from a corkboard ;) it is much sturdier than that, but I've never researched the dog marks on it. Good luck! I'll be watching this thread!

Hopefully. The size of it does scare me. Poor boy is just not... umm... used to 1" solidness with corners, ykim? :crying:

No words of wisdom here, but many hugs and prayers. :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

Thank you, all! :grouphug: We are still waiting for this letter tile to show itself. He's keeping food down fine, so we don't think it's lodged in his throat or esophagus. It's just a waiting game now.

:iagree: Those are excellent book suggestions!