Argufying and Grumbulating: What's with this April-uary weather?

Here we are, April 28th already and if Spring is in the air, it certainly hasn't shown itself here in Vancouver.

Can’t deny my pangs of envy upon seeing the floods of pre-Royal Wedding news coverage from England. NOT because I’m a royalist (which I’m not, in fact I care very little about all this gushing over the Royals and ye olde “Wedding of the Century” mallarky) but rather because everyone in England is clearly dressed in summer clothes, merrily basking in the sunlight and unseasonably warm temperatures they’ve been enjoying for the past several weeks.

And where are we at in Vancouver? Oh yeah, right on target for the coldest April in more than 75 years, that’s where! - averaging 8C when we should be nearer 14. Boo-hoo and WTF!!!

My birthday is a mere 3 days away and I’m just a tad grumpy about still wearing my Winter clothes, heavy coat, gloves & scarf and constantly feeling chilled – something is seriously wrong with this picture. (Although they do say you feel the cold more as you get old(er)….sniff!) 

If I’d ever got off my bum and learned to ski, I’d no doubt be much happier – since even the local ski hills have fresh snow…which is way more than they had during the whole of last year’s 2010 Winter Olympics. But wouldn't you know it, the one day Lorne and I were all set to lose our snow-shoeing virginity on his birthday (April 10th), things warmed up enough that particular day that non-stop pouring rain completely foiled our plans. Ohhhh, the bitter irony.

Hopefully things will soon begin to improve because mostly I'm fed-up of hearing myself sound so completely fed-up about it.  :-)

Argufying and Grumbulating

I decided to use "Argufying and Grumbulating" for my 'why oh why' postings - a forum for a wee rant/Victor Meldrew moment about things that make me go 'Grrrrrrr'. The title is one of my favourite terms that my Dad made up. When we were kids, if he and my mum were about to leave us on our own for a while, he'd always recite the rules, "I don't want to hear of any kicking, fighting, scratching, biting, thumping, screaming, hair-pulling or argufying and grumbulating".

So unfortunately my first theme makes you ask yourself - what kind of person does THIS to a dog?

This horribly neglected and death-defyingly emaciated dog, now named Trooper by the SPCA officers treating him, was handed in recently by a man who maintained he'd found the poor dog wandering along the highway. As it turns out, the guy is in fact the owner and had knowingly neglected him to this horrific and miserable state. Handing in this bag of bones with matted, feces encrusted fur is perhaps the only 'kind' thing he's ever done for this adorable golden retriever who currently weighs just a third of what should be his normal body weight - and less than the bag of dogfood they're now feeding him at the SCPA. Officers/vets had to shave off his fur because it was so matted and foul and underneath they found sores indicating he'd also be kept in a confined space for a long time.
I cannot for the life of me understand what kind of person knowingly lets an animal suffer in this way, in an ongoing state of unbelievable physical as well as emotional neglect. Vets are amazed he even survived at all in this state although a couple of days more and he most certainly would have died and you have to wonder if the owner would even have noticed.

Thankfully Trooper's now recovering and receiving lots of love and warmth with a caring foster parent via the SPCA - and he's even gaining a little weight. What a wonderfully loving and forgiving dog, despite the sad and absolutely unnecessary trauma he's endured for quite some time.

There's now a petition to make sure full charges are laid against his former owner. I vote we shove him into a birdcage and leave him to starve while he lies in his own filth. Oh wait....sound familiar?