Sidewalk Days 2018 =18=

Sidewalk Days is finally here! This is an event in Moose Jaw that's a little bit like a giant farmer's market for a few days. A large section of Main Street gets closed off and a bunch of companies and product sellers from within and from outside of Moose Jaw all set up tents and show off their stuff. You can get quite a few free things and can enter free draws and things just from walking up and down the street. It's a fantastic way to get some free entertainment and a lot of exercise from doing so much walking.

It was at Sidewalk Days two years ago that I got a couple turtle necklaces for Carley to wear and only a couple weeks ago that the first one finally broke. We also got her first purse at that same Sidewalk Days which unfortunately didn't last as long due to the zipper breaking and then the dog chewing on it. That was our first experience with the event and now we totally love going to it. I'd even take the dogs with us, but this year it's so very hot out and we still haven't mastered having two dogs and a baby on a single walk, so perhaps we'll give that a try next year.

So far this year we've gotten two balloons (one came off the string and floated away), some cool hot pack things which are normally quite expensive but we got for something silly like 75% off, we've entered a few free draws, bought tickets for a 50/50 draw, got information for a new place which does a doggie daycare during the day and grooming as well. It's been pretty fantastic and we still have to go back to see a couple more booths later today including one which is filled with tons of lego characters made to represent many different celebrities, mascots, and characters.

If you've never been to this event, you should make plans to come to Moose Jaw next year around this time. You can find some pretty cool things going on with some cool stuff to buy or you can just walk up and down the street and learn about the stuff going on around the city.

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== Happy Birthday! (A Month Ago) ===

     Alright, I know this is late, but happy birthday to my sweet Isabelle! I still find it difficult to believe that she's already been around for over a year; she still seems so itty bitty small.

     Now that I've been spending more time with her and getting to know her better, I find myself beginning to understand more of what she wants in certain situations and how to handle her in different moods. She laughs at some of the weirdest things and she turns on the waterworks at the drop of a hat for reasons I won't even pretend to understand. Soon enough she'll be talking and communicating more in a language that I'll have an easier time understanding... I hope.

     With her so close to walking, it's only a matter of time before she's getting into even more things than she's already getting into. She's cruising around the furniture like no tomorrow and every once in a while she gets brave and lets go of things and just stands there sucking on a toy or her hands. Not a single tooth has popped out of her gums yet, but she's almost walking.

     Time seems to be flying by with this tiny little girl. In no time at all she'll be past all this baby stuff and moving out of the house and I'll be wondering what I've been doing for the past 20 years. Ah well, I'll just have to try to keep up with her and we can all learn and enjoy the experience together.

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== What's Wrong With People? ===

     The first thing that comes to mind right now is simply... what's wrong with people? I hardly know how to start telling you all about this other than to simply hang my jaw open in disbelief at the sorts of things that go on in the world. Now don't get me wrong, I love it here in Moose Jaw; there are just some things that are a little bit odd happening of late. Let's just get right into story-time shall we?

     This past week, we've had a couple odd things go on while I've been gone to work. It seems like this first started when my parents were over and Carley saw a man walking down our back alley. Naturally, she didn't think much of it; there's no reason to give much thought to a person walking by. The real oddness starts a couple days later when someone walks by unlocking the back gates of every house in the area. What makes sense for someone to ever do that? As strange as that was, we didn't think too much of it other than to realize that we should put a lock on our back gate just in case something like that were to ever happen again. It certainly wouldn't be fun to have Furgle run away especially since we lost his tag and need to get him a new one.

     Do you think that's strange? You'll never guess what happened the very next day. Someone walks by (whom Carley thinks is the same guy all three of these days), reaches over the fence, and gives something to Furgle. Carley didn't think much of what it could have been at the time, but was pretty pissed about someone doing something like that. Now, when we have company over and Furgle is being too crazy, we put him downstairs in the office to chill out for a while. Usually he voices his opinion on how he would rather be with us by howling like a banshee in the basement being chased by a cop car, but on this night he sounded like he was going mental. Almost like he was throwing himself at the door.

     It wasn't until later on that night after company had gone home that we let Furgle out and Carley noticed his heart was pounding and he was pacing so badly that he just couldn't lay down for longer than a minute. At this point, Carley thought about it and asked what the symptoms of a dog eating chocolate are. I didn't know, so we looked it up and realized what the man gave him earlier Carley believes was about a cup of chocolate in total. I'm so flabbergasted that someone would do that I'm unable to process what even could go through the mind of someone to want to do that. The good news is that Furgle is fine now and he isn't having any issues of any sort. He just needed a little bit of time and rest to get back to normal.

At this point, all I can say is... what's wrong with people?

~ Kyle Welykholowa