So I have discovered that heavily populated places are the loneliest places in the world. Take Calgary, a city of around 1,200,000 people and counting, after living here for almost 5 months, I have only had actual conversations with 11 residents of the city. Those 11 people are Greg, James, Lori, Kayla, Sarah, Shayna, Liz, Theo, Shawna, Kylie, and Joe. Greg is my husband...in case you weren't aware. James and Lori have been married for almost 2 years and are our best friends in the city; we hang out with them often. Kayla is a friend from Redeemer. Sarah is Kayla's sister. Shayna is Kayla and Sarah's cousin. All three of them live together. Liz is Heidi Dunham's sister and she's married to Theo; we had them over once. Shawna lives in the basement of our house with her boyfriend (who's name i still don't know even though I've lived in the same house as him since July). Kylie and Joe are our landlords.
Ok I guess that's a tiny exaggeration. I've talked to a couple random people at bus stops, people that were in my classes when I was still in school, a couple people at churches we've visited, and Kayla's parents, but I haven't hung out with any of them.
Another heavily populated place within the city of Calgary is Centre Street Church. There are around 7,000 people who attend. The main campus is just a mile or 2 away from our house; however, there are multiple other campuses around the city. Main Campus has a Saturday night service and 2 Sunday morning services. Greg and I have decided that we're just going to make it our home church because we're sick of church shopping and the only ones we liked more are a half hour away (still in the same city of course). We just decided that for sure on Sunday so we haven't really gotten plugged in yet, but we're hoping to join a small group so maybe we'll meet some people there.
One of our biggest blessings in Calgary comes in the form of James and Lori. They are a fantastic couple. James is 20 and Lori is 21. Both of them love playing games, eating food, talking, and studying the Bible with us, and we could not imagine a couple that we get along with better. Maybe it would be if they liked camping more and snowboarding less, but we need some differences I guess.
Yesterday, I was making pie because we had some pears that were going bad. Since Greg doesn't generally eat many sweets, we had James and Lori over to help us eat it. We had them over for a supper of pork chops, potatoes, applesauce, and green beens. After supper I put the pie in and we taught them how to play killer bunnies. When the pie was ready, it was hard to tear everyone away from the game to eat it. Then we ate cake, finished that game, and played a game of Keiser (a fantastic 4 person game they taught us). Somehow it was all of a sudden almost midnight so they headed home. It was a really fun night; every time we hang out with them is great. We just finished a couple-series called Love and Respect, and I learned so much through it. It's great to have Lori around to talk to too. Every once in a while I randomly invite her over in the middle of the day too which is always fun.
If we didn't have James and Lori, I don't know how I would keep my sanity in this city. I would only know one person well. As it is I only know 3, but 3 is better than one!
I'm hoping that soon we'll meet more people and actually get a little bit connected, but as it is, I'm so happy for what we have as far as people go.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Monday, November 18, 2013
Riot
One day Greg and I were down building a playground in Coaldale. After work one day Greg, Brendan, and I stopped at the animal shelter just to see what was there. Greg and I both fell in love with a dog named Riot. He is half pit bull and half black lab. The problem was, he was already on reserve for another family. We asked them to put him on reserve for us just in case the other people changed their mind. (I know...it's weird putting a living creature on reserve). The next day Greg got a call at the playground saying the other people did pick him up. I was so sad.
When we were just slowing down on the playground build, Brendan said we had to hurry and pack up because he needed to be home by 6:30. Then on the way instead of passing by the shelter to drop Brendan off, Greg pulled in the shelter. Apparently the other people had returned Riot almost immediately because he didn't get along with their dog. We got a dog!
I was so excited! Greg and I took him on a walk by Brendan's house, and he was good except for barking at some little dogs. We didn't mind that because we hate little dogs anyways. At Greg's parent's house, we let him run off leash in the coulees. We played fetch with a water bottle and just had a lot of fun. We had to keep him in the back fence so that he wouldn't run away, but all of a sudden he was outside wagging his tail and roaming around. He had just soared over the fence no problem. Then we put him in the little back shed. It's just about 10*10 and made out of plywood. He was fine in there for the night. We took him for a walk and fed him in the morning, but the we got back from work, there was a hole in the bottom of the shed, and Riot was gone. We drove around town looking for him to no avail. A couple hours later, he showed up again! That night we went to Fort Macloud to eat supper with Greg's brother and family and to pick up a 6ft fence/kennel. Then we went back up to Calgary. We set the fence up with Riot on a leash then we all went inside. Riot was very well behaved. We designated one chair in the kitchen that he could sit on while we ate, and he sat there during each meal. We also had one chair in the living room that he could use. He would only go in it. He never peed or pooped in the house.
He was a great dog; however, we made the grave mistake of introducing him to the lady who lives in the basement of our house, Shawna. She didn't say anything to us about not liking him, rather she talked to our landlord and said she would not live in a house with a pit bull as a matter of safety. Our landlord came over and talked to us. He pet Riot and really liked him, but he couldn't get Shawna to agree to let him stay so he said we had to get rid of him. We were so ticked at the whole situation. All of Shawna's reasons seemed crazy to us. There was no way we were going to let Riot escape. We had him tied up AND in his fence anytime we weren't home and in the house when we were. There was no safety issue to be had. Plus, she said she never would've moved in if she would've known a pit bull would be living upstairs. Do you think we love her shitsus who bark for an hour strait every time she leaves the house?
Reluctantly we brought him back down to Lethbridge to return him next time we went down. He convinced us that maybe he wasn't perfect. He growled at Greg's dad and little sister. He also had a problem with Jackie (the dog Greg has always liked). He was fine with Teddy (the dog Greg hates). We found out about his problem with Jackie when suddenly Riot lunged from one side of the table, under it, and on top of Jackie in about a second. He might've killed Jackie had Greg not quickly pulled him off of her.
The next day, we brought him back to the shelter. I was on the verge of tears the whole time. I had really fallen fast for that dog. I know by all logical reasons, I should've been happy to get rid of him: he tied us down a little, he was apparently moody around people we cared about, he would cause strife with our neighbour, he would cost money, he would be extra work. All of that stuff seems super valid, but as I sit alone in our house, I really would love to have Riot here with me.
We think he was a beautiful dog, and he was super muscular.
He might've been a little bit of a glorified lap dog too.
When we were just slowing down on the playground build, Brendan said we had to hurry and pack up because he needed to be home by 6:30. Then on the way instead of passing by the shelter to drop Brendan off, Greg pulled in the shelter. Apparently the other people had returned Riot almost immediately because he didn't get along with their dog. We got a dog!
I was so excited! Greg and I took him on a walk by Brendan's house, and he was good except for barking at some little dogs. We didn't mind that because we hate little dogs anyways. At Greg's parent's house, we let him run off leash in the coulees. We played fetch with a water bottle and just had a lot of fun. We had to keep him in the back fence so that he wouldn't run away, but all of a sudden he was outside wagging his tail and roaming around. He had just soared over the fence no problem. Then we put him in the little back shed. It's just about 10*10 and made out of plywood. He was fine in there for the night. We took him for a walk and fed him in the morning, but the we got back from work, there was a hole in the bottom of the shed, and Riot was gone. We drove around town looking for him to no avail. A couple hours later, he showed up again! That night we went to Fort Macloud to eat supper with Greg's brother and family and to pick up a 6ft fence/kennel. Then we went back up to Calgary. We set the fence up with Riot on a leash then we all went inside. Riot was very well behaved. We designated one chair in the kitchen that he could sit on while we ate, and he sat there during each meal. We also had one chair in the living room that he could use. He would only go in it. He never peed or pooped in the house.
He was a great dog; however, we made the grave mistake of introducing him to the lady who lives in the basement of our house, Shawna. She didn't say anything to us about not liking him, rather she talked to our landlord and said she would not live in a house with a pit bull as a matter of safety. Our landlord came over and talked to us. He pet Riot and really liked him, but he couldn't get Shawna to agree to let him stay so he said we had to get rid of him. We were so ticked at the whole situation. All of Shawna's reasons seemed crazy to us. There was no way we were going to let Riot escape. We had him tied up AND in his fence anytime we weren't home and in the house when we were. There was no safety issue to be had. Plus, she said she never would've moved in if she would've known a pit bull would be living upstairs. Do you think we love her shitsus who bark for an hour strait every time she leaves the house?
Reluctantly we brought him back down to Lethbridge to return him next time we went down. He convinced us that maybe he wasn't perfect. He growled at Greg's dad and little sister. He also had a problem with Jackie (the dog Greg has always liked). He was fine with Teddy (the dog Greg hates). We found out about his problem with Jackie when suddenly Riot lunged from one side of the table, under it, and on top of Jackie in about a second. He might've killed Jackie had Greg not quickly pulled him off of her.
The next day, we brought him back to the shelter. I was on the verge of tears the whole time. I had really fallen fast for that dog. I know by all logical reasons, I should've been happy to get rid of him: he tied us down a little, he was apparently moody around people we cared about, he would cause strife with our neighbour, he would cost money, he would be extra work. All of that stuff seems super valid, but as I sit alone in our house, I really would love to have Riot here with me.
We think he was a beautiful dog, and he was super muscular.
Crazy how you can miss a dog...especially when you only had him for 2 weeks.
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