Our 1800 mile quest for a puppy!

Back in April, we lost Mac, our best friend and companion of 15 years.  Both Mr. PQ and I vowed that it would be a long time before we would entertain the thought of getting another dog.  However, even with our beloved Frankie, I never would have believed that a house could feel so empty without a dog…but it is.

We recently decided that we couldn’t wait any longer and it was time to fill that void.

I had been in touch with Westie breeders in Nova Scotia without too much luck.  Either their dogs hadn’t been bred recently or their puppies had already been promised to good homes.  They offered to add my name to their lists for when the next littler of puppies came about but we I couldn’t wait that long.

So last week I started checking out other sources for Westie pups and much to my amazement, there were several offered on Kijiji and most were a long distance away. On Tuesday, I found “our” puppy.

♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥

We made contact with the owners and were told that there were only two male pure-bred puppies remaining from the litter, that the mother was on the premises, that they were vet-checked, had their first shots, were dewormed and that all the medical records were available.

Perfect!

Were we ever excited!  The puppies were located in Grenville, Quebec, about 900 miles from where we live in Nova Scotia and about 20 miles from where we used to live before moving here. 

We made arrangements to pick up the puppy on Saturday at noon.

I started to make some quick phone calls to see if there was room at The Calico Inn for Frankie…yes!

I called our friend Percy to see if he would feed and water the girls while we were away and take in our mail…yes!

I called the ferry service to see if there was a spot available on the Thursday afternoon ferry…yes!

We were good to go!

Yes, it was going to be a very short, whirlwind trip but we decided to turn our adventure into a mini vacation at the same time.

Last Thursday dawned bright and sunny, a perfect day for traveling.

After we dropped Frankie off at The Calico Inn, we caught the 4 o’clock ferry from Digby, Nova Scotia to St. John, New Brunswick and settled in for what promised to be a smooth three hour crossing. There was no wind to speak of and the Bay of Fundy was as calm as a sheet of glass.

After leaving port, Mr. Painted Quilt and I just kicked back, relaxed as best we could and tried to enjoy the beauty that surrounded us.

The Fundy coast of Nova Scotia is rugged and mountainous and the raw, natural beauty is a sight to behold.

The photo below shows the relatively narrow gap that locals refer to as “The Gut”.  This is the entrance into the Annapolis Basin from the Bay of Fundy and the south western shore of Nova Scotia. Digby, from where we set sail, is just around the corner of the peninsula on the right.  If you look at the coastline straight ahead and in the distance, our house is located somewhere in the center.

We stayed in Bangor, Maine on Thursday night, shopped on Friday until  around noon then continued on our way to Montreal through New Hampshire and Vermont.  No quilt shops this time…just personal and household items…and a new puppy toy or two.

The scenery in New Hampshire is breath taking, the aroma of the pine trees in Maine is intoxicating and the mountains in Vermont are as green as they say.

After a long day’s drive, we arrived at our friend’s house on the west island of Montreal at around 7 p.m. on Friday evening.

Stay tuned for the rest of the story…