White Bus Black Dog

We can hardly go back and edit all the countdown posts, but we are making our abrogation public. We no longer expect to leave Halifax on May 1, and will have to mark May Day in some other momentous fashion, because we have a LOAD of stuff to get done before blast-off. Most critically, we have not been able to assemble our wind turbine because we cannot figure a way to attach it to the bus.

Revision of history from White Bus Black Dog on Vimeo.
Talking about history revision: Kate Beaton has a book! If you have never read her history comics, this promises to be a wonderful introduction to them. Edit: Oops, look like she sold out in a day. Go read her archives, at least.

We had some big news yesterday, but we couldn’t update you because our internet was down.

This is Gordon. His family can’t take care of him anymore because they had to move. Their new landlord is scummy and is terrorizing them with ridiculous threats and surprise inspections, all in an attempt to make sure they get rid of their dog.

Gordon’s mom, who we’ll call Patty, posted an ad on the internet: One Jack Russell, free to a loving home.

Within a couple of days, Patty had sifted through all the responses and was sure she’d found a nice place for Gordon with a couple in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. Patty dropped him off. .

A couple of days later Patty was on the internet. Missing her dog, she looked through the animal classifieds. There, on the first page, she saw a shadowy picture below a bold headline, written all in capital letters: Jack Russell Terrier. Two hundred and fifty dollars. Patty was stunned.

Gordon’s new family was trying to sell him, for a huge profit! Patty called them up. She demanded they give Gordon back.

They said no. So Patty arranged a dog napping. That evening she got her boyfriend to call and set up a meeting, posing as a potential buyer for Gordon. They got in the car and they drove, planning little except to get Gordon back. After an uncomfortable confrontation, they did.

Yesterday we adopted Gordon. We’re big people; Muddy’s a big guy, too. Gordon looks small, but he’s holding his own so far. We hope he can make himself a space in this family: the only one he still has to convince is Muddy.

So, White Bus Black Dog, day minus four, and now we’re plus one.

Pack from White Bus Black Dog on Vimeo.

Today someone took away the wicker chair Muddy had torn to bits, Paul bid on a Bike Again bike, and Bethany went to the market to retrieve lots of goodies (including but not limited to cheese curds, Nova Scotia apples, Tofu jerky, homemade sushi, Colombian empanadas and fresh bread).

Edit: Paul won the bike! Revolutionary red Raleigh.

Giving Muddy a bath was probably the most annoying thing we did today, especially because he decided later to create a network of trenches in the yard. Cutting wind turbine blades was way easier today than yesterday: in fact, I feel like we have become Masters of the PVC. I’ll post some pictures on another entry (or maybe wait until we have the whole turbine done?). There is a major problem with this wind turbine idea in that we don’t know how we are going to attach it to the bus, but we are persevering anyway, until the assumption that we will figure that part out when we get to it. We will have to, I guess.

Busy busy busy from White Bus Black Dog on Vimeo.

Paul makes faces from White Bus Black Dog on Vimeo.

I can’t believe it is Day Minus Eight already. I spent much of the day fretting over this article for J-source, my exam, and scholarship applications. It’s like being in school still! I asked Paul “So, where are we going first?” just now, and neither of us could come up with anything. Labrador? P.E.I.? The original plan was to take off south ASAP, to get out of the cold, but now Unforeseen Circumstances Which Must be Kept Secret mean we will be in Ottawa on May 12, so we don’t want to stray too far afield in the in-between.

School is expensive, grease is free from White Bus Black Dog on Vimeo.

Back-lit and ominous, Paul has an awkward phone conversation with Bethany.  Never again will this method be used for an update. Terrible.

Day minus nine from White Bus Black Dog on Vimeo.

Rain, shopping and salvage from White Bus Black Dog on Vimeo.

Day -11: A bad day from White Bus Black Dog on Vimeo.

Day -12 from White Bus Black Dog on Vimeo.

First video update from White Bus Black Dog on Vimeo.