Finch Couples Like My Branches

We have quiet a few finch families that comes to our place, but this pair comes more often:

They are liking our branches right now.

We have so much dark days in the winter here.  Very rainy...but looking at them is so peaceful.

Nice couple...and she saw my apple house:

The Birds Love This Bird Swing

My wife got this bird swing for the birds to play and eat food on the platform.

As you can see from the picture, the chickadees and Finches love it! 

They are sharing space in the picture below:

Chickadee and Finch on bird swing

They like to hop up and down and go around playing.

Hummingbirds Love Our Decorated Branch

We picked up branches from the park and my wife put decorations on the branches.

They look like real walnuts and cranberries, and the birds love them.

Hummingbirds love them and chickadees and finches love them, too.

Honest Advice About Pet Insurance

 From my experience of owning dogs, I would like to offer honest advice about pet insurance.

For a long time, I have wondered, is the insurance worth it?  Why am I paying a monthly fee for something I will not use?

However, I can say, at the end, it was worth it in my case.  Here are my calculations:

(You will have to do your as now, the insurance fee will be different than 15 years ago.)

My basic insurance fee started at 22 dollars a month that covers accidents and illnesses.  (at the end, it became 26 dollars.)  For simplicity, we will put it as 25 dollars a month.

25 dollars x 12 months x 13 years = 3000 dollars life time.

When dogs are young, they are healthy.  I did not use insurance for the first 10 years:  0 x 10 years = 0 dollars.

However, the last 3 years, my medical bill including 4 kinds of medicines for heart disease, all the diagnoses and blood work and surgery fees.

The total bill is more than 10k.  My insurance covers more than half of that, minus the 500 dollars a year deductible.  I still covered more than what I paid.

So...if you love your dogs, and if you are not super rich, I would suggest looking into some coverage.  

However, if the monthly fee is way more than you can afford, then maybe you can think about it.

Lots of Chickadees On My Balcony...Chickadee dee dee!

Lots of chickadees now come visit in the morning.  Sometimes, I feel maybe the flock is about 10 or more, and they visit my place non-stop.

chiu chiu chickadee dee dee~~~

Here is a picture of triple chickadees:

Triple chickadees

They stayed on the branches my wife set.

 

They really like to perch and play and hop, so we put up small branches and houses for them to use.

X'mas Gift for Chihuahua: Pet Ottoman House

I bought an Ottoman house for my little chihuahua babies.

They need something like that to protect them from my monkey kids...haha

Pet House Ottoman from London Drugs Canada

This is bought from London Drugs in Burnaby, BC.
It can be a space saver and can fit two small dogs or a medium dog.

My kids often step on my dogs when they run around my house, so this is good safety feature for doggies.
(Perfect Christmas Gift).

Product Review: Animal Planet Pet Stairs

Previously, we had a 3-step-doggie steps for our chihuahuas.

However, it was still not tall enough for our small dogs.
To climb up to our bed (they sleep on human beds....don`t ask me why.)

Anyways, they needed a 4-step pet stairs, and we finally found one after all these years.
It is a perfectly built, strong, wooden set of stairs.
(It is foldable and you do not have to assemble it.)

chihuahua with animal planet pet stairs

My chihuahua was happy to get it.
It does take some time for him to get used to it.

Animal Planet Pet Stairs

4 steps doggie pet stairs chihuahua animal planet

Dog Food: Nutrience Bison Canned Meat

I went to PetSmart to buy some dog food for my two chihuahuas.

Nowdays, they have exotic pet food that sounds better than human food. haha
Check this out: Bison Meat Can:

Nutrience Bison can for dog food

opened bison dog food can

My dogs absolutely loved this can.  Maybe I should get it again for them....
It is amazing what they can make dog food with these days.

Purina: Frosty Paws Dog Ice Cream

Summer is hot even for my two little chihuahuas.  I found a tub of doggie ice cream in Target.
It is made by Purina, called "Frosty Paws".  My dogs love ice cream, and they love this one.
I found this one at the ice cream section of Target store.  I was amazed that they actually have this product for dogs in Target.  It cost about 4.5 dollars plus tax.

purina frosty paws

Hand Made Dog Sleeping Bag

Here is something my wife made that is so practical for my chihuahua, which I think is brilliant.

In Japan, they started selling fancy sleeping bags for dogs who like to snug in blankets.
My wife thought: why not save money to make something practical and utilizing unwanted blankets at home?
Using thick fleece blanket not used at home and wires bought at local dollar stores, she made the sleeping bag shown below.

sleeping bag for dogs....hand made

Both of my chihuahuas enjoy the doggie sleeping bags very much these days.

They are so cute when they snug in there.

Cute Affordable Doggie Bed for My Chihuahua

I found a cute $5.00 dog bed  in London Drugs (BC, Canada) and thought it is time to buy a new one.  Here are the pictures of my two chihuahuas with the new bed.  It is such an incredible deal!!  The size can fit at least 3 chihuahuas comfortably and has a cute bone shape decoration in the middle.

 

  

 

The DOG (my Chihuahua)

For pet lovers, remember the Dog?  It was super popular in Asia around 10 years ago.  A company created big headed dog characters and released a bunch of cute products: posters, plush toys, key chains....you name it.  It was released in North America as well.  Check this picture....my Chihuahua has big big eyes and looks like "the Dog".        http://www.thedog-clubs.com/pup-ography.html

にほんブログ村

Product Review: Furminator Part 2

My wife gave a bath to my two Chihuahua dogs today and they enjoyed drying their fur under the sun.  (Good timing because Vancouver is sunny today...how rare)  She tested the Furminator after bath and found that it is even easier to brush and de-shed after bath.  As you can see, I got a bunch of coat off when they are only small short hair Chihuahuas.

にほんブログ村

Grocery Shopping in the States Part 3

Here is the third part of my series about my last grocery shopping trip to Bellingham, Washington State.  I mentioned that there are many products unavailable in Canada, and I will introduce a couple of them.  There are new types or new lines of detergent products that are not introduced in Canada yet.  For example, Dawn has a couple types of them.  One is a collaboration with Olay, the skin care line.  They claim that it can improve skin condition in five uses.  I am not sure if this is just an exaggeration, but we will give it a try.

Also, we found a new product of the dog snack "Milk Bone" in a big jar format.  Usually, this kind of new value packs don't come to Canada, so it makes my dogs happy if I make the trip down south and bring some goodies dog snack back.

 

Chihuahua and Dog FURminator

For those with dogs, I would recommend using the product "Furminator" to get rid off those annoying shedding fur.  At first, I did not believe spending 50 dollars on a shedding tool is any better.  I thought it was too expensive, but after get this PetSmart Limited Edition FURminator, my mind changed.  It was so effective on getting rid of the loose fur and it also has a eject button, so the user does not have to pick them out.  Now, I know what the buzz about this Furminator is about.

Here is a picture of my Chihuahuas sleeping in front of the heater after the Furminator treatment.