Agility Competition:

Bentley and I competed in our first ever Agility Competition this weekend. For those of you unfamiliar with this activity, it is basically an obstacle course for dogs. There are a series of jumps, hoops, tunnels, planks, poles etc. that you must lead your dog through. The goal is to get through the course in the fastest time with the fewest faults. You cannot touch the dog or the equipment, and the dog must complete the course in the specified order. You are allowed 3 attempts at each obstacle before the judge tells you to move on. They are not allowed to relieve themselves in the ring and if they decide to stop participating because they become distracted by something, you are automatically disqualified from the event. They call this taking a "vacation".

This competition was purely just for fun. Even if you never compete with your dog, this is a great activity to do with your dog. You both get exercise and you establish a very special bond. Especially for a dog like Bentley who is a ball of energy and so eager to please and learn new things. Bentley did very well, considering he has only been to four Beginner classes and was competing against dogs who have already graduated to Intermediate. He placed a 2nd and two 4ths. Apparently he has a lot of potential!

On the first event, the full beginners course, unfortunately we were disqualified. This was because I got the hairbrained idea that using a leash (allowed for the beginners, but I don't usually use one) would be helpful for guiding him to each piece of equipment and to keep him from being distracted by all the spectators and other dogs where he may be tempted to "take a vacation". Ironically, the leash became the distraction!! You see, it is not possible to hold on to the leash at all times, and when Bentley realized there was a leash dangling around his neck he thought: "oh cool, a toy!!". So, he grabbed the leash in his mouth, gave me an evil little face and took off accross the ring, trying to engage me in a good old game of "chase me". From here, I knew my efforts would be futile....but tried anyways to call him back. The judges deemed it a "vacation" and it was all over for that event!! It was a teensy embarassing....but funny as hell. It was very entertaining and comical for all. Lesson learned.

On the second event, I left the leash behind and we regained some credibility. This event was called "Jumps" and is considered a "speed" event. It is a course made up of just jumps and tunnels. Bentley does very well at this...although he gets so excited he can get a head of me, causing him to double back over a jump sometimes (fault). Also, because he is a Border Collie with a strong herding instinct...he has the urge to herd me by nipping at my pants (another fault). We are working on this. Anyways, we placed fourth in this event. The final event we competed in was called "partners". Here, you partner up with another dog and owner and do half the course each. We competed in this event twice with two different partners. We placed 2nd with our partners Julie and Marshall (shown in the last picture in the far right) and placed 4th with a young kid, Trevor and his dog Maddie.

The people with Bentley and I in the last picture are some of the people we have gotten to know down at the unofficial dog park on the beach. Marc and Tess (shown in the middle) competed in the Advanced division, and cleaned up with 3 first place finishes and a 2nd. Julie and Marshal did very well in the Beginners divison with two first places and a second. It was a fun day overall with lots of prizes and good play time for Bentley. Bentley crashed out cold the minute we got in the car.

Yesterday, a big picture of Bentley and I, with Bentley in mid air over a jump, on the front page of the North Bay Nugget......Ah geez....I'm really going to get razzed by the guys at work, I'm sure!!

First 4 months:

Bentley and I have been in North Bay now for just over four months and I have found that I have a lot of people to keep in touch with. So, I decided to create a blog for those of you who may be interested in our adventures in Ontario. Here is a quick recap of the past four months.

Bentley and I left Vancouver on a beautiful sunny morning in April, giving me a chance to catch a beautiful view of the north shore mountains and the Pacific Ocean one last time for what will likely be quite a few months. I missed them as soon as they were out of view. We arrived in Toronto under grey skies and pouring rain. However, this did not deter my enthusiasm for the opportunity that lay ahead. After spending a few days visiting with my sister in Port Perry, we hit the road for North Bay. We checked into a little cottage (Torbay Cottages) that was right on Lake Nippissing. This would be home for quite a few weeks until I found out where I would be based. It was a very cute, little, split level unit with a bed that slid under the kitchen. Best of all, they allowed me to have Bentley with me. To manage Bentley's endless energy, we took many walks and runs on the beach. Clad in winter wear, it was my first reminder of the long winters here. Up to the end of April I donned a toque and gloves on our early morning walks. The lake was still frozen but beginning to turn to slush when we first arrived. But, by the time I was done my training, it finally began to feel like spring. More and more open water was visible every day through May and North Bay began to look less dreary as things began to bloom.

While I attended ground school and did my training in the aircraft, Bentley was treated to the best Doggy Day Care in North Bay. Spoiled pooch. The benefit for me of course was that he was so worn out at the end of the day from playing with all the other dogs that I was able to get some studying done. In my groundschool were five guys. Two were Dash pilots and the rest of us King Air pilots. There was a range of different amounts and types of flying experience, and age (thankfully, I was far from the oldest!). There were many interesting stories. In the end, the two Dash pilots went to Africa as expected, three of us King Air pilots got based in North Bay and one went to Timmins. The training was very thorough, with a battery of exams. The flight training in the King Air was somewhat humbling and stressful at times...but a ton of fun. Considering my experience, I did very well thanks to the standardized training I was already accustomed to at Pro IFR.

Unfortunately, before my training in the airplane, I fell over on my foot going down a flight of stairs and injured my foot very badly. It was more painful than when I broke my wrist. Fortunately, I did not break any bones....but it was severely bruised and swollen with some ligament damage. I could barely do up my shoe the first couple of days and barely walk on it for a week (Bentley stayed at Daycare the whole week). This posed somewhat of a challenge in the airplane whenever I had to deal with a simulated engine failure, which requires full rudder input. But....I just had to grin and bear the pain. It took about six weeks before I was able to run on it again.

As soon as the training was over and I knew that I would be based in North Bay, I took on the task of finding us a place to live. This was not an easy task. There were not many apartments available, and none that were too thrilled about pets. I finally found a place after convincing my landlords, who thankfully were dog lovers, that I was very responsible and that Bentley was very well behaved and would be less noisy and less destructive than most people's children. It is a small, 2 bedroom, ground level apartment that is on the end of a triplex. It is more expensive than most places around, but that was the cost of finding a place that allowed pets, I suppose.

Next, I headed south and spent a fun day at IKEA with my sister and my nieces and found everything I needed to furnish our little pad. I have my own little porch with a bit of a front yard. Bentley and I spend a lot of down time there. For my birthday, I bought myself a Muskoka chair (that's right....I can call it that, because I am in Ontario and because it has a brass plate claiming the fact!!). This has become my usual spot to catch up on my reading, email etc when I am at home. I got some pots and planted flowers (yes, me gardening!!) to brighten up my little spot and to distract from the pigstye of my neighbours. That is where I am right now. After we moved in, I spent a week putting together my IKEA furniture, and about a month and half dealing with the horrors of Bell Canada.....I will save you the rant. I will just say that instead of ending their calls with "thank you for choosing Bell", I think they should apologize for it!!

We have since settled in to our little abode and are making the best of what North Bay has to offer to stay occupied. There is nothing really too noteworthy about North Bay, really. Apparently, it is best known for being the "Gateway to the North". This is because many major highways and rail lines go through it, hooking up to many other Northern communities. It is your typical Canadian city with a Walmart, Home Depot, Mall, Tim Horton's etc. (aka "Corporate America"), and a historic section. Unfortunately, the historic section needs some TLC. It seems there is a Subway and Mac's Milk on every other corner. Probably the most noteworthy thing is the lack of multiculturalism. The majority of people are white and english speaking. However, there are many french speaking people as well, since we are only about a 1/2 hour from Quebec. The waterfront is very nice with a couple of carousels and a miniature train for kids. There is a big boat down at the marina, the Chief Commanda, that does sunset and dinner cruises. The old retired one is docked permanently and has become a restaurant. The lake itself is beautiful. It is clean, with beautiful sandy beaches. It is fairly shallow, so it is really warm to swim in. It is fairly big, so the waves can be huge on blustery days.


One disappointment is that there are no kayak rentals right on the lake. I was hoping to get some paddling in. There is a place that rents them about 15 minutes out of town...but you would have to get it to the lake yourself. This would be a difficult task for me on my own, and also because I have no roof rack on my little ride. Once winter comes, I plan to do some snowshoeing and maybe some cross country skiing with the dog. Unbelievably, there actually is a ski hill in North Bay, but it is only about 300 vertical feet!! By the sounds of the amount of snow they get here, I might have to go check it out if I get too anxious to ride. From what I hear, hockey is a big deal in North Bay. They have a junior team here that is supposed to be pretty good. I think they are called the Skyhawks...but, I'm not even sure what league they play in. But, since I don't plan on becoming a Leaf's fan, I hope to make it to some games. At least I have satellite TV, so I can catch some Canuck games!! I am not sure there is any adult rec hockey. I havn't seriously looked into it yet, but I'm not getting my hopes up. I am hoping I might be able to talk some of my coworkers into some scrimmage on the lake once it freezes over.

The shopping in North Bay isn't the best...just your standard mall stuff, but no Bay where I used to get my MAC makeup. Makes me look forward to a trip to Toronto and Vancouver. I was happy to find a decent hairdresser and spa, however. Also, as most of you know, I am somewhat of a picky eater. I am not exactly in farm country, so it is kind of a bummer that there is no local market with fresh produce....just the standard grocery store stuff that is usually imported from the US. I did find a good health food store. To my dismay, there are no Indian restaurants in North Bay!! Apparently there was one for a very short time, but it did not do very well and it shut down. I did find a place that makes pretty good Thai, however. Also, to my horror, I discovered that there is no Starbucks!!!! The closest one is in Sudbury...about an hour and a half drive away. There must be 20 Tim Horton's though, (yuck) and people line up for miles for it. Fortunately, I did find a coffee shop that makes a decent cappuccino and what they call a cappuchillo (actually better than Starbucks Frappuccino). Whenever I am on a charter to a place with a Starbucks though, I make sure I indulge. Yikes, I really have become a bit of a diva!!

When it finally started to feel like summer, and after being apart for almost 3 months, Rob came to visit us at the end of June for a week. It was so great to spend some time together without a phone attached to our ears. I didn't realize how much I missed him until it was time for him to leave. While he was here, I had some minor household projects that required his expertise (eg. hanging a mirror, stabilizing an IKEA table with non standard legs) . After that, I tried to make it as relaxing as possible for him, since he likely worked every day since I left! I showed him around North Bay and took him into work and showed him the airplane I am flying. We had a nice dinner at a fine dining restaraunt to celebrate 2 birthdays and our upcoming Anniversary in August (the 2nd right??). He bought me an IPOD for my birthday and filled it with some good music, saving my sanity from the mind numbing easy listening and old rock station that is here. We drove down to visit my family and Lynne & Dwight, and spent a day at Canada's Wonderland with Kayla and Sara. Then on the way back to North Bay, we stopped at the Muskoka Store (a bit of a tourist attraction in the Muskoka's). It was a great visit....but too short. Rob and I talk almost every day. We use the "Mike" system on our cell phones. It's like talking on a 2 way radio. Honestly, I really hate communicating that way (unless I am talking to an air traffic controller). We also talk over the computer on MSN or I call him on my computer with yahoo. It is cheaper than talking on a traditional phone...but the sound quality could be better. Hopefully he will be out to visit again in the fall, and hopefully I can make it back for a visit to BC in the winter (gotta get in some snowboarding and maybe a game of hockey!!).

Except for the violent storm we had a few weeks ago, the summer has been pretty nice weather wise, with only a few very humid days. The bugs really were not that bad at all. Bentley and I have had a lot of beach time (I am definitely tanned) and have explored many of the beautiful hiking trails in the area. We go for a run every morning along the waterfront. Bentley has definitely become somewhat of a water hound. One day he decided to chase after a duck and her ducklings and soon discovered that he could swim when the mother duck lured him away from her babies. Ever since, I can barely keep him out of the water. His favourite thing to do is to "save" sticks from drowning. To my delight, early one Saturday morning while on a run, we stumbled upon a small park on the beach that was full of dogs and dog people. North Bay does not have any dog parks, but this one apparently is an unofficial one, if you go early enough in the morning. It seems that a large group of people get together on the weekends so their dogs can socialize, and then they all go for a walk along the trails along the lake. One of the people in this group turned out to be my boss's wife. It turns out we have a lot in common (except that she is a new mother with a darling four month old little girl), so we have hung out a few times. Through this group of people I have discovered a place to take Bentley for Agility Training. We have been to about 4 classes now and he is doing very well. It is a good way to spend time with the pooch because it challenges him mentally and physically.


I am really happy that I brought Bentley with me. If he was not here I think I would find myself extremely bored and lonely. Although, I might sleep in once in a while!! He is an amazing alarm clock. Every morning at 6:00, give or take 15 minutes, there is a cold wet nose in the back of my neck!! It is tough for me to socialize with the other pilots because most of them actually live in Toronto or Ottawa or somewhere else and tend to drive home on their days off. I did go to one social gathering that included a bunch of wives of other pilots who are mostly away in Africa for a couple of months flying the UN contracts. It was nice to have some female company for a change. As you probably guessed, there are not many other female pilots here. I have recently bought a new digital camera with some birthday money I had. I am hoping to take a photography course at the college sometime in the fall or winter. Until then I have been experimenting with it and will share a photo journal on the blog.

The good thing is, I have had the opportunity to visit my grandmother, my sister and her family and other family members quite a few times in the last few months. For the first time in 15 years, my sister and I got to celebrate our birthdays together. I will also get to attend Wynn & Karina's annual corn roast on the Labour Day weekend, for the very first time. It is a bit of a family reunion every year, so I will see some relatives I have not seen in years. Incredibly, one day on my way to work, I ran into Diane (my dad's cousin) at Zellers. She was a couple of people behind me in line at the cashier and recognized me. I guess it helped that I was wearing a pilot uniform....how many five foot tall, female pilots bearing a family resemblence could there be in North Bay?? Incredibly, on another day, Bentley and I were on our way home from Agility class when I heard honking beside me. I looked over and there was Aunt Flora, Aunt Germaine and my Grandmother!!! They were on their way to Hailebury to visit other family members. What are the odds of that?? We went out for lunch and had a nice visit.

Being in Ontario, also enabled me to attend my girlfriend's wedding and see many old high school friends. Some of which I have not seen since high school! There are more friends and relatives that I have yet to get together with, so I am sure I will have a fairly full social calendar for the rest of the summer. Fortunately, I seem to get most weekends off (how ironic, now that Rob and I are at different sides of the country!), so I plan to make a few more trips before the winter driving conditions become an issue.

Anyway, as for the job, I am enjoying it so far. As a First Officer on the King Air, I am learning a lot and gaining very valuable experience working in a crew environment. The King Air is a fun airplane to fly. It can be humbling, but also very inspiring as well since I know I am now on the road to bigger and better things. I recently completed the requirements and finally received my Airline Transport Licence. For those non aviation types, this means that I now qualify to act as Pilot in Command (as Captain) of an aircraft requiring 2 or more pilots. So, when I have the experience necessary, I will be able to upgrade to Captain on the King Air. This is also a minimum requirement for the larger airlines that I hope to work for eventually, so this is a great milestone to finally achieve. I have mainly been doing the charter flights, but have also started to do air ambulance flights as well. I have really enjoyed the charter flying. I have met some interesting people. Sometimes we get a day or more layover somewhere. Some hotels are better than others, but most of them have a gym and some even have a spa!! The one in Toronto has a pilot lounge with free snacks. It can be fun when more than one crew is on the same layover, because we will all go out to dinner or something. I have gotten to see some places that I have never been before (although some I may care to never see again!) and a few of the trips have even allowed me to spend some time with relatives. On one layover in Toronto, I had a nice dinner and did some catching up with my cousin, Giselle. On another layover in Moncton, I got to visit Rob's Aunt, Uncle and cousins. While in Moncton, my crewmate and I rented a car and drove to the Fundy National Park to see the Hopewell Rocks. On one layover in Thunder Bay, I treated my self to a pedicure at the spa. Sometimes I feel like I am on vacation. We mainly fly within Ontario, but I am told there are the occasional charters to the US as well. I have not done many air ambulance flights yet, but I can honestly say it will take me a while to get used to them. Last week we flew a seven year old little girl, who broke her arm in four places, from Earlton to Toronto. I found out afterwards that she was at risk of losing her arm. I will probably never know the outcome. Fortunately we do not do much advanced care, it is mostly primary care like patient transfers etc.

Well, that pretty much covers the last four months. I miss you all in BC and look forward to seeing more of those of you in Ontario. Since I am soooo bad at keeping in touch with everyone...I will try to post often. I would love to hear how all of you are doing as well.....so please email me whenever you get a chance, or hopefully you can catch me on MSN.

Luv, Leanna