We have decided, on the advice of our breeder, to hold out on Echo's neutering. She convinced us that if he doesn't have any "bad" male traits yet, then to hold off on that until 12-14 months as it will result in a better looking dog.
She said as long as he doesn't get a sniff of a female in heat, he'll most likely be fine, but if he does he could "change" in a matter of a week. But that we should also do it if he starts showing any "strong male behaviour" like lifting the leg while peeing, or aggressive advances at other dogs.
So we'll wait... Marnie is counting the days.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
TV Room
On the weekend, we managed to get most of the room done upstairs, minus some painting. Chris came over to help me mount the TV -- it looks awesome. We need to find new furniture for the stereo components, though, so we're constantly on the lookout at Winners/Homesense and other furniture stores. This week we are going to stop at Ikea to get some "hidden" shelves or whatever they're called for the two walls near the windows. Dad's old entertainment unit was taken out which made the room look so much bigger. While moving that heavy sucker, I think I hurt my back. Chris and I both struggled to lift it to get it out to the garage. I bet it weighs 160 lbs..
We also made the decision to put Echo's crate into the spare room/office once we get our new computer (2.5 weeks after ordering, and it's still not here...), and put the new computer into the living room with the TV near the front windows. We will have to pick up a smaller computer table as well for that. The large computer table will go into the basement as a craft table for Marn.
We love it so far, and are looking forward to getting it all done. We are going to have to try and get most of it done - at least the painting - before next week as we want to have it ready before our neighbours come over to watch LOST! (they may not be able to come, though).
Michelle's visitation and funeral are on Wednesday and Thursday in Markham. Marn and I took both days off, but I'm not sure what we're doing yet. We may try and meet up with our friends either before, or after one of the visitations, and then go back for the funeral on Thursday. A lot of my friends from around here are staying overnight, but I don't think we're going to do that. It's going to be a tough next couple of days....
We also made the decision to put Echo's crate into the spare room/office once we get our new computer (2.5 weeks after ordering, and it's still not here...), and put the new computer into the living room with the TV near the front windows. We will have to pick up a smaller computer table as well for that. The large computer table will go into the basement as a craft table for Marn.
We love it so far, and are looking forward to getting it all done. We are going to have to try and get most of it done - at least the painting - before next week as we want to have it ready before our neighbours come over to watch LOST! (they may not be able to come, though).
Michelle's visitation and funeral are on Wednesday and Thursday in Markham. Marn and I took both days off, but I'm not sure what we're doing yet. We may try and meet up with our friends either before, or after one of the visitations, and then go back for the funeral on Thursday. A lot of my friends from around here are staying overnight, but I don't think we're going to do that. It's going to be a tough next couple of days....
Monday, January 29, 2007
the worst news...
Yesterday I received a call letting us know that our friend Michelle, who has been fighting breast cancer over the last year, had succumbed to the disease at around noon. She died in hospital surrounded by her family, after arriving home from a family vacation in Florida last week. 2 weeks ago we received an email from her explaining that after yet more tests, the cancer had spread into her liver and spine. She never did tell anyone what the doctors had told her, or what time line they gave her, but it was apparent from the email that the news was devastating. We never for a second thought that we would have to deal with this only 2 weeks after that email.
Mid-December she had a full hysterectomy and second mastectomy to try and stay ahead of the cancer.
She was a beautiful person, full of life and happiness and that's how we'll remember her. She leaves behind her husband Terry and 2 children Nate and Noelle.
We will miss you, Michelle!!
Taken January 23, 2007
Mid-December she had a full hysterectomy and second mastectomy to try and stay ahead of the cancer.
She was a beautiful person, full of life and happiness and that's how we'll remember her. She leaves behind her husband Terry and 2 children Nate and Noelle.
We will miss you, Michelle!!
Is this someone dying of cancer?!
Taken January 23, 2007Thursday, January 25, 2007
Snip, Snip
It's getting close to the time that we wanted to neuter Echo, so I thought I'd check into it at our vet's to see the costs and what the procedure is like, etc... What happens is, he goes in the morning for blood work to see if he'll be allergic to the anesthesia or any other health issues, and if that's OK, they perform the operation that afternoon. He then stays overnight for observation and then we pick him up the next day. Because of his size (the top of the cost structure) it's going to cost about $230 for the operation, $70 for the blood work, and then $35 for the "pain package". Sheesh, that's an expensive procedure! We were originally going to wait until he was at least 10 months old - and we may still do that, but I thought I'd look into it now. "Technically" we can do it anytime now. The vet's usually recommend it at around 6 months, but our breeder suggested waiting until at least 10 months so that he takes on more of the masculine attributes. I've emailed her again to ask her what she thinks.
When you snip male dogs too soon, they grow really tall and never really fill out the same. Their heads also remain thin and pointy more than usual. For example, there's a Dantry Dane owner with a male from a few years ago (I think he's 3 years old now) who got it done at 4 months... Why? Because he was going in for surgery for something else, so they thought to do it then. This dog is now 41" at the shoulders and really lean (skinny)!! That is incredibly tall. Echo is about 35" now; his dad is 36 and his mom is 32. So, we think (hope) he's about done in height. He's definitely getting thicker fast than taller now. We don't want him to get any taller so the dilemma is, do we snip him now and risk him growing taller, or wait and let him fill out more - which he most likely will anyway.
He is not showing any aggression towards people or other dogs at all, so that's not even a consideration for doing it now. The most "aggression" he has is when he starts bugging you to play with him. He'll stand there and bark at you and run around - sometimes gets out of control. But, with a firm voice and sometimes having to grab him, he'll calm right down again. This could get worse as time goes on... At the dog park, if another dog (ALWAYS another smaller dog) barks at him for getting too close, or for whatever doesn't like Echo, he cowers with his tail down and backs off - that's good (sometimes I'd like him to stomp on the other dog once to put it in his place, but that's asking for trouble). So, having him intact so far has not even been an issue. That may change though if he starts getting a smell for other females in heat.... OR starts showing more confidence towards other more aggressive dogs. It's something we'll have to keep an eye on more closely in the next few weeks/months. We're not even technically allowed to take Echo to the park anymore since he's over 6 months and not neutered. No one has questioned us on him, but they do ask how old he is occasionally.
Update on the painting:
We haven't done anything else since the one wall was painted red on the weekend. I want to get started on the green tonight, but if not, it will definitely get done this weekend. Then maybe on Sunday get the TV mount on the wall!
Also, with our TV, we get free High Definition for a year, so that should be coming soon too! Actually, it was 12 months of the standard HD box, or 10 months of the PVR HD box, so we went with the PVR model. Can't wait for LOST in HD!!!
When you snip male dogs too soon, they grow really tall and never really fill out the same. Their heads also remain thin and pointy more than usual. For example, there's a Dantry Dane owner with a male from a few years ago (I think he's 3 years old now) who got it done at 4 months... Why? Because he was going in for surgery for something else, so they thought to do it then. This dog is now 41" at the shoulders and really lean (skinny)!! That is incredibly tall. Echo is about 35" now; his dad is 36 and his mom is 32. So, we think (hope) he's about done in height. He's definitely getting thicker fast than taller now. We don't want him to get any taller so the dilemma is, do we snip him now and risk him growing taller, or wait and let him fill out more - which he most likely will anyway.
He is not showing any aggression towards people or other dogs at all, so that's not even a consideration for doing it now. The most "aggression" he has is when he starts bugging you to play with him. He'll stand there and bark at you and run around - sometimes gets out of control. But, with a firm voice and sometimes having to grab him, he'll calm right down again. This could get worse as time goes on... At the dog park, if another dog (ALWAYS another smaller dog) barks at him for getting too close, or for whatever doesn't like Echo, he cowers with his tail down and backs off - that's good (sometimes I'd like him to stomp on the other dog once to put it in his place, but that's asking for trouble). So, having him intact so far has not even been an issue. That may change though if he starts getting a smell for other females in heat.... OR starts showing more confidence towards other more aggressive dogs. It's something we'll have to keep an eye on more closely in the next few weeks/months. We're not even technically allowed to take Echo to the park anymore since he's over 6 months and not neutered. No one has questioned us on him, but they do ask how old he is occasionally.
Update on the painting:
We haven't done anything else since the one wall was painted red on the weekend. I want to get started on the green tonight, but if not, it will definitely get done this weekend. Then maybe on Sunday get the TV mount on the wall!
Also, with our TV, we get free High Definition for a year, so that should be coming soon too! Actually, it was 12 months of the standard HD box, or 10 months of the PVR HD box, so we went with the PVR model. Can't wait for LOST in HD!!!
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Finally Painting!
Well, we have finally decided on colours for the room upstairs above the garage. It wasn't easy twisting Marn's arm to go for some colour instead of the beige/browns that we both like, and what's already on the walls - everywhere.
We are really excited to get it done because the only painting that we've done in the house in the 2+ years we've been there is in our bed room. I'm really getting sick of the drab beige/browns everywhere, although I still like it on the main floor living room.
I started on the weekend with the Deep Cranberry-like RED - wall behind the couch, opposite the TV wall. In certain light, it also takes on a burnt orange colour... We both really like it. For the three remaining walls, we have a creamy grey-green sort of colour. Hard to explain, but hopefully it'll look nice together (It does on the (Martha Stewart) pallet, and also next to the green painters tape I had on the wall!). I think we're going to start that colour tonight. For our TV wall, we're actually going to paint a lighter cream/off-white colour rectangle that will sort of frame the TV that will be mounted on the wall. The reason for that is to breakup the green wall, but also so that the ambilight from the TV is not affected as much from having a colour behind it.
This is SORT OF the colour scheme... it should give you an idea until we're done when I post a before and after shot. (I couldn't remember the colour names when I 'created' this, but it's close...)
I've also discovered (again) that I'm a pretty good painter, except when it comes to NOT hitting the ceiling! We're going to have to purchase a small ceiling white can of paint to try and patch up my miss-hits during this room, AND our bedroom which hasn't been fixed yet -- And I've only done one wall so far!
We are really excited to get it done because the only painting that we've done in the house in the 2+ years we've been there is in our bed room. I'm really getting sick of the drab beige/browns everywhere, although I still like it on the main floor living room.
I started on the weekend with the Deep Cranberry-like RED - wall behind the couch, opposite the TV wall. In certain light, it also takes on a burnt orange colour... We both really like it. For the three remaining walls, we have a creamy grey-green sort of colour. Hard to explain, but hopefully it'll look nice together (It does on the (Martha Stewart) pallet, and also next to the green painters tape I had on the wall!). I think we're going to start that colour tonight. For our TV wall, we're actually going to paint a lighter cream/off-white colour rectangle that will sort of frame the TV that will be mounted on the wall. The reason for that is to breakup the green wall, but also so that the ambilight from the TV is not affected as much from having a colour behind it.
This is SORT OF the colour scheme... it should give you an idea until we're done when I post a before and after shot. (I couldn't remember the colour names when I 'created' this, but it's close...)
Monday, January 22, 2007
Echo update
Echo, over the holidays, stayed with Marn's parents and we are eternally grateful for that. We both know that he's a very large dog to take care of, and especially because he's a puppy. They did a great job and I think probably got spoiled with attention while we were gone.
I think he gained at least 10 lbs while we were gone and probably 1 inch in height. I'm sure his size was exaggerated because we had just spent 2 weeks with Mariner, who is a small and skinny dog, but he's still big! I don't know what he weighs now, but if I had to guess, it's 135lb - at least! We measured him just the other day and at the shoulders, he's now approximately 34-35 inches -- almost full height, we hope. Yes, I said 35 inches at the SHOULDER. Add his long neck and huge head, and he's easily 4 feet tall when stretching his head up to the tip of his nose. I also tried to pick him up a while ago, and almost couldn't...
It's funny; we know he's big, but a lot of the time he doesn't SEEM huge to us until we see him with other people. Like Teresa, for instance! They came over the other weekend to pick up their skis and boots and stayed for a tea... Echo looked MASSIVE next to Teresa. I think it's partly that we don't see him next to other people very often, and also Teresa's not very tall. He'd look up and lick her face no problem. LOL. I wish I had a picture... He was pretty excited when they came over and he can be hard to control when he gets like that. It's something we're going to have to work on really hard for the next few months. I don't want him going down into the entrance part when people come over. First, there's not enough room for him, and second, he knocks people around trying to say 'hi' and get by them when he is down there. It's annoying and frustrating.
But he's still the greatest dog, even with his largeness combined with tendencies!
I think he gained at least 10 lbs while we were gone and probably 1 inch in height. I'm sure his size was exaggerated because we had just spent 2 weeks with Mariner, who is a small and skinny dog, but he's still big! I don't know what he weighs now, but if I had to guess, it's 135lb - at least! We measured him just the other day and at the shoulders, he's now approximately 34-35 inches -- almost full height, we hope. Yes, I said 35 inches at the SHOULDER. Add his long neck and huge head, and he's easily 4 feet tall when stretching his head up to the tip of his nose. I also tried to pick him up a while ago, and almost couldn't...
It's funny; we know he's big, but a lot of the time he doesn't SEEM huge to us until we see him with other people. Like Teresa, for instance! They came over the other weekend to pick up their skis and boots and stayed for a tea... Echo looked MASSIVE next to Teresa. I think it's partly that we don't see him next to other people very often, and also Teresa's not very tall. He'd look up and lick her face no problem. LOL. I wish I had a picture... He was pretty excited when they came over and he can be hard to control when he gets like that. It's something we're going to have to work on really hard for the next few months. I don't want him going down into the entrance part when people come over. First, there's not enough room for him, and second, he knocks people around trying to say 'hi' and get by them when he is down there. It's annoying and frustrating.
But he's still the greatest dog, even with his largeness combined with tendencies!
over due update - Christmas Travelling!
So, we've been reprimanded twice for not updating the blog in a while - and I don't blame them! It's been 6 weeks since the last post, but I'm blaming the delay in posts on the ramp-up to Christmas, Christmas and New Years itself, and the "wind-down" from all of those happenings....
First of all, Christmas and New Years was a blast, and I'm really happy that Marn and I were able to go out West to spend it with my family. I'm not sure that I'll ever be able to go out again after the grief from Marn's family that we were not going to be HERE for Christmas. Just kidding. They were OK with it (as long as we never go again). We actually had a nice turkey dinner just last night to make up for the missed dinner at her parent's house, even though we had an absolutely fabulous Christmas dinner at Adrienne and Dennis' place!
The start of our holiday as most of you know turned out to be a nightmare. I'm going to recall it here for "the record, so feel free to skip this post.
It started the 20th of December when I logged on to the American Airlines website to double-check our flights to make sure that nothing changed, literally 30 minutes before we ere leaving for Buffalo. Well, when I punched in our info, a message came up to call their customer service personnel. Great, I thought... Somethings happening for sure. Turns out that, yes, something is happening. They canceled both our departing and return flights and rescheduled them for different times. Our flight that was originally departing at 11 AM on the 21st is now leaving late in the afternoon. When I asked them why I wasn't notified of this, they told me that it was up to our travel agent to tell me. So after getting all the information, I called our travel agent, but unfortunately didn't get through to her. I was going to complain and try and get our hotel night for free, because with this time change, we didn't need it after all. AA also told me that they made this change back in August. AUGUST! And we weren't notified?!
Anyway, we left for Buffalo and didn't get to the hotel until about 11:30pm that night. We were tired. The hotel also screwed up our reservation, and was expecting us 1 week earlier. I hadn't checked but they already charged our credit card for the "no show". So after getting that straightened out, we got our room "for free". I'm still going to go after our travel agent to pay for that room.
SO, at the buffalo airport, everything seemed to be going fine, except that our flight wasn't there on time. The departure got pushed 1 hour later.... Still not there, so got pushed again.... and then again. NO ONE from American Eagle came over to tell us what was happening. I don't remember exactly what time we left, but I believe it was 3 hours later than scheduled. The reason we found out was that Chicago wasn't accepting a lot of flights because of bad weather and that the whole Denver airport was shut down because of a huge snowfall. Bother Denver and Chicago being 2 of the biggest airport hubs in the US, really screws up pretty much every flight in the US. I was thinking the whole time that we're going to miss our connector to Seattle, but I had no idea what was in store.
We get to Chicago and it's total chaos. Canceled flights, delayed flights, people stranded, people walking and talking on every phone and cell phone in sights.... Word was spreading fast that flights were being canceled every minute. And as soon as we stepped off the Jetway, I overheard someone say that their Seattle flight was canceled, so because of my past experience from going to Savannah through Chicago and the problems I had with that, I grabbed the first AE agent that we saw - no one was quick enough to do that at this point in time. She confirmed that our flight was canceled and informed us that they do not rebook you or reschedule you on to other flights to make up for it! So, I asked her what was next and what our options were. She told us that the next flight to Seattle was at 9:30PM and that we'd have to fly standby for it or any other flights out. She was particularly on the ball and also put us on standby for the next flight out after that which was 7:30 the next morning. They had nothing to Vancouver directly as a different option. She also politely stated that we couldn't be confirmed on a flight until Sunday afternoon - Christmas Eve Day! If that was our only option, we were going to turn around and fly back to Buffalo. The last little bit of hope that the agent gave us, was even though it didn't look good to make this next flight, it was worth a try because of the sheer amount of cancellations and delays that were happening. She said a LOT of flights were not going to make it in tonight.
So we waiting as numbers 23 and 24 out of a total of 75 people on the stand by for the next flight to Seattle... as if that many people were gong to make the flight! Why they put those people on the list, I have no idea? We waited until 12:45 in the morning after the flight was delayed by 3.5 hours! During this time, Adrienne was already in Seattle waiting to hear from us about whether we made the flight. She had to be there for Branko who flew in directly from Toronto. Well after the 3rd delay I called her to tell her to go back home and not wait for us. It wasn't looking good. It turned out that we did not make that flight. Our numbers were down to 4th and 5th by the time they closed the flight. It was worth a try, but probably ended up better to not be on the flight as we'd be in Seattle after 2am with nothing open.
When we found out that we did not make the flight, we went back to the agents and confirmed that we were on the standby list for the 7:30 flight, and to inquire about a hotel room. "They are all booked, the closest one I have is a 45 minute shuttle bus ride away. Oh, and we will cover 50% of that cost." ??? Only 50% after all the hassle you put us through? "We didn't cancel the flight, air traffic control did, so it was out of our control".... fine, never mind. "If you're interested, we will be putting up cots in the B wing of the airport for stranded passengers".
Nice, eh? Marn and I were hungry so we grabbed something quick because everything was closing down soon and found our way to the gate for the next morning. Curled up in a corner somewhere and tried our best to sleep.
The next morning couldn't come soon enough. I was ready to tear the speakers out of the walls as we heard the same announcements over and over again. Why they continue to play when the place is practically closed down is beyond me! Let us sleep for crying out loud!!! "Can I have your attention please. The department of homeland security has raised the national alert level to, Orange..." It's been "Orange" for over two F@#$% years, do they have to announce it every 10 minutes!??
ok, so I'm glad I got that off my chest. Can you tell I was grumpy about that? :)
The next morning as people woke up and made their way to the gate we slept at, I could tell this was going to be an interesting day. We ran into some of the same people that we were waiting with last night. Most of them slept on the cots that were set up, and after hearing the stories, I'm glad we didn't go there. One woman said they came around with a loud speaker and woke everyone up at 4 AM so that they could clear the cots out before the airport opened. How nice.
We did make this flight, AND there were no delays. We were actually one of the first people to get cleared for flight from the stand by list, even though we sat at numbers 10 and 11 when it first went on the board.
So now we're on the way to Seattle without a clue on how we're going to get to Vancouver. We didn't want to ask Adrienne and Dennis to come and get us (again) as it's a 2 hour drive each way and they were there last night. We actually asked in Chicago if they would fly us to Vancouver, and they agent "booked" us on that connector, so we were hoping that that would work. But we found out quickly that she "reserved" us on that flight and that we would have to pay for the flight. bummer. We arrived in Seattle at 11:30AM and went to the shuttle bus area to find out our options. Through Adrienne we found out that there was a bus leaving at 1:30 to Vancouver and had a stop close to them in Surrey. Perfect! It was $45 each, and would be our "last option" if we couldn't find a better ride. So we wonder down to the car rental place and one after another ask if they had a one-way Canadian car rental. "No" was the answer everywhere, and I was ready to give up and not even ask the last company, Dollar Rent-a-car. I had never heard of the place, and I was sure it was a mickey mouse outfit, but Marn insisted and so we asked. "why yes we do! We have one left". !!! I'll take it, I said before even finding out what make it was, or how much it cost. If there was one thing that I wanted, it was our own fate in driving ourselves! It turned out to cost $110 USD for a Caravan... ahh, just like home. Dennis later informed us that Dollar Rent-a-Car was quite large in the US, with barely any presence in Canada (although they have a depot at the Vancouver airport).
We FINALLY pulled in to Dennis and Adrienne's place at about 3 pm honking the horn all excited to make it... and no one's home. humph... nice welcome!
It turned out Adrienne left with Teresa and Branko to get some groceries and Dennis had to leave to pick up Madison from school. The dog wasn't even there to bark at us.
Not 5 minutes later we heard some barking and kiddies yelling, and it was Den and the kids with Mariner coming back from school, so we got nice big hugs from them then and shortly after that Adrienne, Teresa and Branko came back.
What a nightmare start to what ended up being a great trip.
... and the terrible flights didn't end there, oh no.
On the return flight, everything was normal until we got to Chicago again and on the way to Buffalo. First of all, we waited 45 minutes for a family to make the connector, and then as we were taxiing down the runway we just stopped and sat and waited. I was thinking, it can't be THAT busy that we're waiting for this long.... The pilot comes on board and says "sorry to bring you bad news, but we have a hydraulic failure and we need to switch planes. There's also no open gates right now, so we're going to have to wait here until one opens up. Good Lord, what NEXT! I thought for sure that my car would be stolen or broken into at the hotel in Buffalo.
We finally did get on our way after a pretty quick transfer and we made it to Buffalo in just over an hour - I think the pilot threw it into overdrive for that flight. We were "only" about 1.5 hours late on that flight.
Thankfully, our car was still in the parking lot, and YES, it did start up first time.
We headed home at about 1am and got home right around 3am. Thankfully we were on BC time and it didn't feel as late as it was, otherwise we were considering staying overnight.
First of all, Christmas and New Years was a blast, and I'm really happy that Marn and I were able to go out West to spend it with my family. I'm not sure that I'll ever be able to go out again after the grief from Marn's family that we were not going to be HERE for Christmas. Just kidding. They were OK with it (as long as we never go again). We actually had a nice turkey dinner just last night to make up for the missed dinner at her parent's house, even though we had an absolutely fabulous Christmas dinner at Adrienne and Dennis' place!
The start of our holiday as most of you know turned out to be a nightmare. I'm going to recall it here for "the record, so feel free to skip this post.
It started the 20th of December when I logged on to the American Airlines website to double-check our flights to make sure that nothing changed, literally 30 minutes before we ere leaving for Buffalo. Well, when I punched in our info, a message came up to call their customer service personnel. Great, I thought... Somethings happening for sure. Turns out that, yes, something is happening. They canceled both our departing and return flights and rescheduled them for different times. Our flight that was originally departing at 11 AM on the 21st is now leaving late in the afternoon. When I asked them why I wasn't notified of this, they told me that it was up to our travel agent to tell me. So after getting all the information, I called our travel agent, but unfortunately didn't get through to her. I was going to complain and try and get our hotel night for free, because with this time change, we didn't need it after all. AA also told me that they made this change back in August. AUGUST! And we weren't notified?!
Anyway, we left for Buffalo and didn't get to the hotel until about 11:30pm that night. We were tired. The hotel also screwed up our reservation, and was expecting us 1 week earlier. I hadn't checked but they already charged our credit card for the "no show". So after getting that straightened out, we got our room "for free". I'm still going to go after our travel agent to pay for that room.
SO, at the buffalo airport, everything seemed to be going fine, except that our flight wasn't there on time. The departure got pushed 1 hour later.... Still not there, so got pushed again.... and then again. NO ONE from American Eagle came over to tell us what was happening. I don't remember exactly what time we left, but I believe it was 3 hours later than scheduled. The reason we found out was that Chicago wasn't accepting a lot of flights because of bad weather and that the whole Denver airport was shut down because of a huge snowfall. Bother Denver and Chicago being 2 of the biggest airport hubs in the US, really screws up pretty much every flight in the US. I was thinking the whole time that we're going to miss our connector to Seattle, but I had no idea what was in store.
We get to Chicago and it's total chaos. Canceled flights, delayed flights, people stranded, people walking and talking on every phone and cell phone in sights.... Word was spreading fast that flights were being canceled every minute. And as soon as we stepped off the Jetway, I overheard someone say that their Seattle flight was canceled, so because of my past experience from going to Savannah through Chicago and the problems I had with that, I grabbed the first AE agent that we saw - no one was quick enough to do that at this point in time. She confirmed that our flight was canceled and informed us that they do not rebook you or reschedule you on to other flights to make up for it! So, I asked her what was next and what our options were. She told us that the next flight to Seattle was at 9:30PM and that we'd have to fly standby for it or any other flights out. She was particularly on the ball and also put us on standby for the next flight out after that which was 7:30 the next morning. They had nothing to Vancouver directly as a different option. She also politely stated that we couldn't be confirmed on a flight until Sunday afternoon - Christmas Eve Day! If that was our only option, we were going to turn around and fly back to Buffalo. The last little bit of hope that the agent gave us, was even though it didn't look good to make this next flight, it was worth a try because of the sheer amount of cancellations and delays that were happening. She said a LOT of flights were not going to make it in tonight.
So we waiting as numbers 23 and 24 out of a total of 75 people on the stand by for the next flight to Seattle... as if that many people were gong to make the flight! Why they put those people on the list, I have no idea? We waited until 12:45 in the morning after the flight was delayed by 3.5 hours! During this time, Adrienne was already in Seattle waiting to hear from us about whether we made the flight. She had to be there for Branko who flew in directly from Toronto. Well after the 3rd delay I called her to tell her to go back home and not wait for us. It wasn't looking good. It turned out that we did not make that flight. Our numbers were down to 4th and 5th by the time they closed the flight. It was worth a try, but probably ended up better to not be on the flight as we'd be in Seattle after 2am with nothing open.
When we found out that we did not make the flight, we went back to the agents and confirmed that we were on the standby list for the 7:30 flight, and to inquire about a hotel room. "They are all booked, the closest one I have is a 45 minute shuttle bus ride away. Oh, and we will cover 50% of that cost." ??? Only 50% after all the hassle you put us through? "We didn't cancel the flight, air traffic control did, so it was out of our control".... fine, never mind. "If you're interested, we will be putting up cots in the B wing of the airport for stranded passengers".
Nice, eh? Marn and I were hungry so we grabbed something quick because everything was closing down soon and found our way to the gate for the next morning. Curled up in a corner somewhere and tried our best to sleep.
The next morning couldn't come soon enough. I was ready to tear the speakers out of the walls as we heard the same announcements over and over again. Why they continue to play when the place is practically closed down is beyond me! Let us sleep for crying out loud!!! "Can I have your attention please. The department of homeland security has raised the national alert level to, Orange..." It's been "Orange" for over two F@#$% years, do they have to announce it every 10 minutes!??
ok, so I'm glad I got that off my chest. Can you tell I was grumpy about that? :)
The next morning as people woke up and made their way to the gate we slept at, I could tell this was going to be an interesting day. We ran into some of the same people that we were waiting with last night. Most of them slept on the cots that were set up, and after hearing the stories, I'm glad we didn't go there. One woman said they came around with a loud speaker and woke everyone up at 4 AM so that they could clear the cots out before the airport opened. How nice.
We did make this flight, AND there were no delays. We were actually one of the first people to get cleared for flight from the stand by list, even though we sat at numbers 10 and 11 when it first went on the board.
So now we're on the way to Seattle without a clue on how we're going to get to Vancouver. We didn't want to ask Adrienne and Dennis to come and get us (again) as it's a 2 hour drive each way and they were there last night. We actually asked in Chicago if they would fly us to Vancouver, and they agent "booked" us on that connector, so we were hoping that that would work. But we found out quickly that she "reserved" us on that flight and that we would have to pay for the flight. bummer. We arrived in Seattle at 11:30AM and went to the shuttle bus area to find out our options. Through Adrienne we found out that there was a bus leaving at 1:30 to Vancouver and had a stop close to them in Surrey. Perfect! It was $45 each, and would be our "last option" if we couldn't find a better ride. So we wonder down to the car rental place and one after another ask if they had a one-way Canadian car rental. "No" was the answer everywhere, and I was ready to give up and not even ask the last company, Dollar Rent-a-car. I had never heard of the place, and I was sure it was a mickey mouse outfit, but Marn insisted and so we asked. "why yes we do! We have one left". !!! I'll take it, I said before even finding out what make it was, or how much it cost. If there was one thing that I wanted, it was our own fate in driving ourselves! It turned out to cost $110 USD for a Caravan... ahh, just like home. Dennis later informed us that Dollar Rent-a-Car was quite large in the US, with barely any presence in Canada (although they have a depot at the Vancouver airport).
We FINALLY pulled in to Dennis and Adrienne's place at about 3 pm honking the horn all excited to make it... and no one's home. humph... nice welcome!
It turned out Adrienne left with Teresa and Branko to get some groceries and Dennis had to leave to pick up Madison from school. The dog wasn't even there to bark at us.
Not 5 minutes later we heard some barking and kiddies yelling, and it was Den and the kids with Mariner coming back from school, so we got nice big hugs from them then and shortly after that Adrienne, Teresa and Branko came back.
What a nightmare start to what ended up being a great trip.
... and the terrible flights didn't end there, oh no.
On the return flight, everything was normal until we got to Chicago again and on the way to Buffalo. First of all, we waited 45 minutes for a family to make the connector, and then as we were taxiing down the runway we just stopped and sat and waited. I was thinking, it can't be THAT busy that we're waiting for this long.... The pilot comes on board and says "sorry to bring you bad news, but we have a hydraulic failure and we need to switch planes. There's also no open gates right now, so we're going to have to wait here until one opens up. Good Lord, what NEXT! I thought for sure that my car would be stolen or broken into at the hotel in Buffalo.
We finally did get on our way after a pretty quick transfer and we made it to Buffalo in just over an hour - I think the pilot threw it into overdrive for that flight. We were "only" about 1.5 hours late on that flight.
Thankfully, our car was still in the parking lot, and YES, it did start up first time.
We headed home at about 1am and got home right around 3am. Thankfully we were on BC time and it didn't feel as late as it was, otherwise we were considering staying overnight.
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