When I got up to let Amber out, I saw a roadrunner in the front yard! He was skittering along some rocks that divide our ‘civilized’ front yard from the ‘wild woods’ beyond.
As I watched, he crossed the whole front yard and then went into the side yard. He was just beautiful.
I love the way they run, head down and body straight, and then suddenly stop – head up and completely still for a second – and then flatten out and run again.
Filed under Amazing Animals
Amber is acting like herself in every way except for food handling. She is eager to eat, playful, energetic, sleeps fine, seems happy, but she is still battling upset stomach.
Because of this we found some dry and canned food that is supposed to be easier on her stomach. We just got back from the store and fed her. We’ll see how she does with this, fingers crossed.
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
“Handle every situation like a dog. If you can’t eat it or play with it, just pee on it and walk away.” – Unknown
“Ever consider what our dogs must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul, chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we’re the greatest hunters on earth!” – Anne Tyler
“A dog desires affection more than its dinner. Well – almost.” -Charlotte Gray
“If you’re uncomfortable around my dog, I’m happy to lock you in the other room when you come over.” – Unknown
“A boy can learn a lot from a dog — obedience, loyalty, and the importance of turning around three times before lying down. ” – Robert Benchley
“Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.” – Groucho Marx
Filed under Amazing Animals, Favorite Quotes
“Everything I know, I learned from dogs.” ~ Nora Roberts – The Search
“Dogs do speak, but only to those who know how to listen.”– Orhan Pamuk (author, My Name Is Red)
“Dogs’ lives are too short. Their only fault, really.” – Agnes Sligh Turnbull (author, The Wedding Bargain)
“Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.” – Roger Caras (photographer and writer)
“Some of my best leading men have been dogs and horses.” – Elizabeth Taylor (actress)
“The better I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs.” – Charles De Gaulle
Thanks to AKC Staff (American Kennel Club) for these quotes.
Mr. Contact
Frogmouth – SanDiegoZoo.org
Pink Backed Pelican – @AriaaJaeger on X
Potoo
I just LOVE these birds. There is something endearing about them. My absolute favorite is the Shoebill Stork, but a close second is the Pink-backed Pelican.
Filed under Amazing Animals
This is our cat, Abby, who decided to be companionable while I was working at the computer yesterday by taking a nap on the lower shelf of the computer table beside me.
I started trying to figure out how old she is. My husband keeps a general log on his computer of significant events, so I checked that.
I found an entry that we adopted Abby in February of 2011. We answered an ad in the newspaper advertising a ‘lap kitty.’ I’m not sure how old she was when we got her, but when we took her to be checked by our veterinarian, he told us she was pregnant! We weren’t in a position to be able to take care of a litter, so reluctantly Abby had an abortion, was spayed, and got the shots she needed all at one time. She is now 12 or 13.
She has the run of the house, preferring to sleep in a cat cube on top of the wood pile in the garage at night. She also eats there. The rest of the time she is inside sitting on my husband, me, or the middle of one of the dog beds in the house. She is, indeed, a lap kitty. She is very affectionate, though she has one of the wimpiest purrs I’ve ever heard. You can FEEL the purr, but it’s hard to HEAR it.
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
SikImagery on X
Paul Browning Photography – @Paul_Browning_on X
Filed under Amazing Animals
Amber woke us this morning, barking. She sleeps on a big bed in the utility room downstairs behind a dog gate. Usually she sleeps until one of us comes down groggily making our way to start the coffee. We got up and dressed, not sure why she was barking.
We let her out, with her barking like a maniac, but didn’t see anything in the garage and nothing in the yard that we could see of concern. She then barked to get back in and be fed.
She met me in the bedroom, just finishing making the bed, greeting me with a happy grin, lots of nuzzling and tail bashing into furniture and me in her glee to begin another day.
We ate and finished morning chores. I came in with my coffee and sat in front of my computer. All of a sudden, Amber was here, wagging her tail and smiling at me. We talked a minute and I petted her. She continued. I asked her if she wanted to go back outside. She ran toward the door. I obligingly got up and went to the front door, opening it. She didn’t follow me. I finally decided she didn’t want to go out. She followed me back to my computer chair.
She has had her breakfast. She got the rest of my husband’s cereal and milk.
The answer: SHE. WANTS. MORE!
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
I have spent three days off and on trying to get a good picture of a sweet little bird who sits on a feeder in our dining area window and talks and pecks at the ‘bird-in-the-window.’ If you look carefully at the pic above, you can catch a glimpse of him just below the butterfly.
Here he is, right before he flies away. I sat and sat, camera at the ready, trying to get a close-up, but he catches the movement on the other side of the glass and flits away. You can see him a little better in this pic, just to the right of the butterfly.
Here is the final pic that shows him either before or after he pecks the window. I hear him when I’m reading in the living room. When I try to sneak into the dining area, he’s gone. (Below and to the right of the butterfly this time.)
I’m thinking I’ll take the butterfly down for the day and see if I can luck out. I don’t know what kind of bird he is, but he’s lonely and thinks the bird in the window is really good-looking. :0)
Filed under Amazing Animals
We are home from doing errands. We got sprinkled on several times, but didn’t actually get caught in any rain. We stopped at the bottom of the driveway to see if our humongous trash can was empty. It WAS, so I laboriously dragged it up to the place higher up on the driveway where we keep it.
As we started up the driveway from there, we saw a doe and her fawn cross our driveway! They were at least 2/3 of the way up the driveway from where we were, but we could see them clearly. In fact, Amber, who was in the back seat, went nuts. :0)
By the time we were traveling up, the deer were gone, but it was a really pretty sight. Amber was teed off, but she didn’t need to get out and scare them, really, though she certainly WANTED to.
We are home for the day now. Severe thunderstorms are forecast until around 1pm, so we’ll keep an eye out. I’m hoping we’ll just get a bit of rain and the temperatures will cool off while I can get out and weed the second planter. Fingers crossed.
Filed under Amazing Animals
unknown
This is our Abby. She not only gets along with our dog, Amber, she dominates the 95-pound yellow lab.
This is Amber, the poor bullied dog.
This morning Abby got Amber to bark at the front door so that SHE could come in. When I saw what had occurred, I gave BOTH Amber AND Abby a treat. :0)
Abby is now sleeping in the exact middle of Amber’s huge bed in the living room, daring Amber to try to use it. (Amber is lying down behind my husband’s recliner.)
Filed under Amazing Animals
Amy Watts-amysdrawings.com
anyutaanna.blogspot.com
Tiffany White – FirstforWomen.com
American Kennel Club
Filed under Amazing Animals
National Geographic
We made a big circle in our errands this morning. As we were going down the driveway with the humane trap and the raccoon that was in our garage this morning in the bed of the truck, two deer jumped across the driveway.
Plastic Pollution Coalition
We got my husband’s haircut, then went to Ace Hardware. There we saw a friend we haven’t seen in a long time. He had a possum on his shoulder! The possum was pure white with bright black eyes. I spoke to both of them, but wasn’t drawn to try to touch the possum. We got two big bags of sunflower seeds for our birds.
Tahlequah Daily Press
We stopped at the local grocery store and then headed out of town to relocate the raccoon. We passed a dog who tried to chase the truck and then saw a bunch of rabbits running along the ditch beside the road. I had never seen that before.
When my husband let the raccoon out by the creek, he just walked out of the trap, not in a hurry. He was a big one, too.
On the way back to the house, we passed a pasture full of cows, and more deer as we got close to home.
It looks like the cold weather is bringing the animals out. My personal reaction was to fix us some lunch and then cuddle under my throw to take a nap. Later I’ll fill the feeders and also put out some suet cakes for the birds.
Filed under Amazing Animals
Dominykas Niaura – boredpanda.com
Filed under Amazing Animals, Awe-Inspiring Photography, love
Filed under Amazing Animals, Awe-Inspiring Photography, love
Filed under Amazing Animals, Awe-Inspiring Photography, love
Wow. My head is still spinning. When we were about half-way down our driveway this morning, a ‘parade’ of SIX deer leaped one at a time across the driveway in front of us! We have had TWO jump across the driveway as we started back up the driveway in the distant past, but we stared in amazement as one after another kept leaping. We unconsciously counted them, agreeing that we had seen SIX.
I’m not sure why they were all in the yard. I guess the sound of our truck coming down the driveway spurred the decision to cross the driveway and go somewhere else. We have so many trees we didn’t see anything until one leaped across the driveway. Then the ‘parade’ of gorgeous animals started.
Such a stunning sight!
Filed under Amazing Animals, Delightful Surprises
Just in case you needed a bit extra today.
Filed under Amazing Animals, love
creativeartworksblog 