Dogs are the Best

ThoughtCo

“Never judge a dog’s pedigree by the kind of books he does not chew.” ~ Unknown

 

BoredPanda

“Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joy ride.” ~ Unknown

 

FundRazrviaCathyRuggiero

“There is only one smartest dog in the world, and every boy has it.” ~ Unknown

 

email from Bill Lites

“It is not an easy thing to inflate a dog.” ~  Edward Abbey

 

email from Bill Lites

“Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.” ~ Unknown

 

email from Bill Lites

“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.”  – Will Rogers

In Memory of Sweet Mona

A good online friend of mine, very talented Paul Miitaru of Romania, lost his sweet pet, Mona. I wanted to share a couple of his photographs of her to pay tribute to her memory.

“My Mona” – Paul Militaru Photography

 

“Mona” – Paul Militaru Photography

SO sorry for your loss, Paul. Mona definitely won the lottery when it came to finding you.

Beautiful Animal Portraits

Eddie and Ginger – Niki Firmin Pet Portraits

 

Gary Wing Commissioned Portrait

 

Cilke and Geena – Niki Firmin

For the Love of Cats

RJ Bennett – LinkedIn

 

RJ Bennett – LinkedIn

 

email from Bill Lites

 

email from Bill Lites

 

Mithunh Photography via Mara Spirig – LinkedIn

 

Lettie De Winnaar – LinkedIn.jpg

 

Jeff Jett – Linkedin

 

RJ Bennett – LinkedIn

 

*The photos supplied by Jeff Jett and RJ Bennett have been carefully gathered and posted on LinkedIn in an effort to preserve the animals and their habitats. Photographers are credited when possible.

Drop-Everything-Dog-Washing

If you haven’t already, meet Amber, our 94-pound, two year old yellow lab “puppy.”

Sweet, huh?  Loveable, yes. But FULL of vinegar.

We were sitting in the office, each at our own computer, enjoying a rare day of having the front and back doors open to receive a nice breeze, when a truly awful smell permeated the room. It was SO bad I almost got physically sick.

I got up to find that Amber had found ‘something’ that had been dead for several days and brought it to the front door. Isn’t that SWEET.

I yelled, help – asking for my husband to get rid of the ‘something’ while I started handling Amber.

We chained her up to the deck, hosed her down, poured doggie shampoo all over her and I scrubbed, and scrubbed. We hosed her off, soaped her again… several times before we thought maybe we had done enough. We changed the chain so she was on the deck and couldn’t get off and left her to dry.

I went inside and was STILL smelling the awful smell from just walking her through the house from the front to the back door, so I sent around with Febreze – probably one of the biggest tests of its life, spraying everywhere as I walked through the foyer, the office, the living room, the back porch, the kitchen, the pantry, the two half baths, the dining area, several times.

Then I went to the sink and used the metal soap bar thingie that you’re supposed to use when you’ve been cutting up garlic or onions and can’t get the smell off your hands, then soap, then the metal bar again….

I then went out and toweled Amber off to the point that she could come in. I couldn’t smell it anymore, but maybe my nose died!

My husband didn’t say anything when I let her in, so maybe we’ve met the challenge.

I will never understand why doggies love to find something truly awful and roll in it.

Sweet doggie – BAH! HUMBUG!

Gary Wing Art

Gary Wing – LinkedIn – “Baby Owl”

Stunt Woman

Doug Powell via email from Marsha Koenig

I went outside to clear my overloaded brain and check on the veggie garden.  I heard Amber (our 94-pound lab PUPPY) barking behind me, somewhere over by the greenhouse. I continued on toward the garden and all of a sudden, she bounded out of the shop and was running toward me a breakneck speed!

I averted getting knocked down flat on my back by making a quick turn and running toward a tree. She skimmed past me, then turned on a dime and tried to jump up on me, tongue lolling as she laughed.

I yelled, “DOWN!” To my amazement, she did it!  This is probably a fluke that will never happen again, but I feel empowered right now. :0)

(By the way, the veggies are doing fine.)

“Doe – A deer. A female deer…”

“Doe in Summer Woods” – Peri Ann Taylor – fineartamerica.com

I’m feeling rich right now.

We just came home from Friday Lunch Bunch with our good friends. On the way to our house, we saw a doe right at the road’s edge, looking out at us. We slowed down to take a good look while she continued to look at us. Then she darted back into the woods.

I love living outside of the city limits, where we have neighbors, but all of us value space, privacy, and natural surroundings.  It makes me feel rich to see deer, dogs, cats, horses, turtles, road runners, eagles, hawks, buzzards, rabbits, squirrels, and other animals as we go to and from town.  :0)

In an Ideal World

All kids would have a dog –

Jeff Jett – LinkedIn

 

Email from Bill Lites

 

Email from Bill Lites

 

Email from Bill Lites

 

Email from Bill Lites

 

Email from Bill Lites

Bethany Kerr Watercolors

 

Bethany Kerr Fine Art

 

Bethany Kerr Fine Art

 

Bethany Kerr Fine Art

 

Bethany Kerr Fine Art

Cats are a Quality of Life Thing

Alina Ciuciu – “Now I Need to Sleep” – LinkedIn

 

Vintage Dragonfly Mosaics via Cathy Ruggiero

 

Tetiana Shevchuk – LinkedIn

 

TheCatHouseontheKings.com via Cathy Ruggiero

 

Animal Wallpapers – Desktop Nexus

 

Our Abby

 

Our Smoke

What – No Raccoons?

shutterstock.com

We trapped two raccoons – one each night, and relocated them about 5 or 6 miles away from us – both in the same creek so they could hopefully find each other and enjoy their lives elsewhere.

Now it has been two days with NO raccoons. The humane trap is set – with Ritz crackers and peanut butter – door open – but was empty again today.

We don’t know if we got all the raccoons that have been eating all of our birdseed and then trashing the feeders, grill covers, and the cup of the trap – or if they are playing a sly game with us, lulling us into complacency once again, only to return in force in a bit when our guard is down.

Our dogs have quit freaking out every time we take them out. Amber, our 94-pound yellow lab PUPPY, has finally quit barking at the empty trap, and no longer is afraid of going up on the deck.

Molly, our sweet, elderly cocker spaniel/schnauzer cross, followed Amber’s lead and barked like a nut when they went out for their last outing of the night.

We have to admit that we don’t miss having to put the trap full of raccoon into the bed of the truck and driving way out into the country behind our house to relocate yet another critter first thing in the morning….

Another Day – Another Raccoon…

National Geographic

Awwww! Such a sweet little guy – right?

WRONG!  We caught another raccoon overnight in our humane trap. This one pooped purple all over the part of the deck he was on and destroyed the cup inside the trap that was holding the Ritz crackers and peanut butter we use for bait! And this was after he – and we think there is a whole family – ate every bit of seed from all the feeders, except the hummingbird feeder, AND the glass bottle squirrel feeder we have attached to the window!

We drove out about 5 or 6 miles and let him out at the creek where we let his brother/sister/father/mother/? out yesterday morning, giving him another chance at life.

When we got home, we had to replace the cup (this is a plastic cup with a hole drilled in the middle of it) that we attach to the back of the humane trap. I made more bait and we have it set up for tonight now. We had to hose off the porch where the sweet little guy tried to dye it purple.

And now we go on with our day – only to probably do this again tomorrow morning….

NOTE 1: Amber is now to the point where she makes a wide berth around the whole deck when we let her out. She barks at the EMPTY trap…

NOTE 2: The weather was perfect this morning. We saw all kinds of wildlife on the way to and from relocating the raccoon –

• turtles
• squirrels
• three deer
• cows of all different colors
• dogs
• cats
• burros/donkeys
• birds

Challenging Morning

A couple of nights ago we put out a humane trap on the deck, since “someone” had been not only eating ALL of the birdseed we were putting out, but ALSO trashing the feeders!  Yesterday morning we caught the culprit.

Pixabay

The raccoon was, of course, upset to be in the trap. He had pulled the bottom of the cover of our grill into the trap with him, I guess trying to get out. So we now have a grill cover that looks like something you would use as a decoration on Halloween, with LONG “fringe” along the bottom…

Amber, our 94-pound lab PUPPY, was in a frenzy over him, barking loudly non-stop. I have no patience with barking and wanted to bring her inside. My husband insisted that she would tire of the barking after awhile. He sat out on the deck with them, hot apple cider in hand, for almost an hour. Maybe she WOULD tire, but not in the hour he spent!

We put the humane trap in the back of the truck. Amber wanted to ride in the back seat, as usual.

We drove about 5 or 6 miles south of us, finding a creek that ran under the road out in the countryside. We stopped and my husband let the raccoon out.

I like the idea of ‘relocating’ the raccoons, giving them another chance at life – but not in our yard! This morning there is evidence, though, that he has friends or family near. :0(

Amber finished off our morning by rolling in something black and yucky, getting it all over her. We had to chain her up and hose her down. We let her dry out on the deck for awhile, and then I finished her up, toweling her off so that she could join the family again.

All this happened before 10 in the morning, so we were exhausted before the day even got a good start!

 

Your Happy Photo for the Day – Friday 5-24-19

Anwar B. – LinkedIn

Pet Portraits by Niki Firmin

“Alfie” by Niki Firmin

 

“Hilda” by Niki Firmin

Your CUTE for Wednesday

email from Bill Lites

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished – Or Amber’s Playtime

birstall.co.uk

I’ve just come in from hour # 2 weeding in my flower beds. I’m going to try to get out there for one more session, but this may be it for the day.

I’m making reasonable progress out there, but the monsoon season has made for monster weeds. I can’t tell what’s in the planters at the moment, so I’m having to go slowly, pruning everything and then figuring out what is good and what to get rid of. Slow going.

Earlier, after my first session, I discovered that Amber had black, yucky STUFF on various parts – mainly her stomach, legs, and hips. I rushed to get her back outside, too tired to do anything more than that. After I rested, I used a couple of micro-cloths to clean her up.  I felt good that she was now presentable enough to join us inside.

My husband came out for the second session to keep me company while I weeded after he sprayed weeds around the yard and cut back the wisteria which had grown like a weed in all directions. As we were talking, we noticed that Amber quietly walked over to one of the collapsed brick planters and plopped down in the middle of the watery stuff. As she stood, we saw THAT was where all the yucky black stuff had come from. She was covered AGAIN and quite delighted with herself!

I was so tired by that time, we took her around to the back and hooked up the hose. She wasn’t cooperative about turning as we needed her to as we sprayed, but she didn’t freak out, either – a really good thing. My husband changed the washer between the hose and the sprayer and changed out the sprayer because we got as wet as Amber did. :0)  I used a dog towel to get her as dry as possible before letting her back in. Since it continues to rain off and on most every day, I’m not sure what we can do about Amber’s love for ANY type of water….

Happy Mother’s Day

RJ Bennett – LinkedIn

 

Elena (Livia) D. – LinkedIn

 

Jeff Jett – LinkedIn

Happy Mother’s Day!

Incredible Owls

RJ Bennett – LinkedIn

 

RJ Bennett – LinkedIn

 

RJ Bennett – LinkedIn

 

RJ Bennett – LinkedIn

 

RJ Bennett – LinkedIn

*These photos are taken from talented photographers all over the world. They are posted by RJ Bennett – LinkedIn – and others in an cooperative effort to preserve owls and their habitat.

Your CUTE for Friday

Geert Weggen – Just Something

 

Geert Weggen – Just Something

 

Geert Weggen – Just Something

Good Morning!

Tim Fitzharris

Your CUTE for Thursday

Geert Weggen – Just Something

 

Geert Weggen – Just Something

Your CUTE for the Day

Geert Weggen – Just Something

1st Hummingbird of the Spring! May 2nd

Tim Fitzharris

 

We were sitting at the dining area table this morning -groggily trying to wake up – when we saw the first hummingbird of the season (that we’ve noticed) at the hummingbird feeder!  I had mainly put the feeder out to welcome the first hummingbirds, not actually having seen one.

He was only at the feeder just a second, sipped a bit and then flew off. We went out and got the feeder, filled it with fresh food, and put it back out. We feel so rich when we see hummingbirds dive-bombing each other at the feeders. We will put out several, so there is more than enough food for all, but nature overcomes. I hope this is a good year for the hummers.

Gorgeous Animals

R J Bennett – LinkedIn

 

Jeff Jett – LinkedIn

 

R J Bennett – LinkedIn

 

*These photos represent the work of several talented photographers all united in a effort to preserve these magnificent animals and their habitats.

Just a Little ‘Somebody’ To Start Your Day Off Right

Balu _ Marni Via Mara Spirig – Linkedin

Your Sweet for the Day

Jeff Jett – LinkedIn

Happy Start to Your Morning

Beautiful Wildlife – Lettie De Winnaar – LinkedIn

Poor Amber

Poor Amber was bitten/stung by ‘something’ yesterday. The whole side of her mouth was swollen, but she didn’t seem to be in any pain. I have no clue what we’re dealing with.

She is better this morning, with much less swelling. She had a good appetite this morning and drank some water. I’m monitoring her. She’s in Molly’s small bed, seemingly comfortable, sleeping off and on.

Since she’s somber (but still wagging her tail) I’m hoping she learned to stay away from whatever it was in the future that stung or bit her.

Beautiful Horses

Signed by the artist, but I can’t read the signature. Sorry. Posted by Elena (Livia) D. – LinkedIn

 

Ada Dalilah via Elena (Livia) D. – LinkedIn

 

Jeff Jett – LinkedIn

 

Jeff Jett – LinkedIn

 

Robert Hagan via Elena (Livia) D. – LinkedIn

*The horse photos are taken by various talented photographers and posted by Jeff Jett on LinkedIn.