This worked out different than I imagined

 So nothing quite happened as I expected it to happen when I drove to the Foster home to see Bentley. There was Bentley with his absolutely stunning colored coat and sleepy eyes. There was one of his sisters who was white and black in typical Terrier colors. 

Tucked into blankets was another one. The tip of her tail was white, three paws had a touch of white and ----  she had a few white hairs on her nose along with her chest.

She looked up at me and I knew right then that it was her I'd come for. I don't know how that happened or why but it did. She chose me when I sat down.

I had 'wanted' the one with the beautiful colored coat and I had thought I wanted a male pup. But her choice was me. It happens that way. I've been chosen by mules, dogs, and humans for some weird reasons. I knew it when I felt it.

Those eyes said. "Hey, I am here to steal your heart!"

She is so tiny and petite! I got a history of her vet check, vaccinations, and her date of birth. 

I visited a long time with the Linda the foster mom who does an incredible job of caring for her charges. We are following each other on FB so she can see how things go with us. 

Do you remember how sick and miserable I was on Christmas Eve? I was missing Rich so badly and had Influenza A. I was beside myself. Her birthday is Christmas Eve. [Charlie's is December 28th]

She cried for a while in the crate on the drive home and then was quiet and peaceful. 

The meet and greet was pretty anticlimactic, though Charlie decided that he really didn't want a lot to do with her.

We did some walking and potty stuff along with the usual puppy stuff. A lot of indoor - outdoor until she realized that she could go on the grass and snow like Charlie did.

After outdoor exercises and a meal. Pup sort of moved up by my feet and looked at me. I put her next to my feet and covered her up with a blanket.

Charlie deemed her safe to check out and ....sneaky doodled up to check her out.

....and she didn't move. She didn't attack with bared fangs and claws. She just looked at him sleepily and closed her eyes in comfort.

Her name on her paperwork is Brooklyn. I thought of calling her Brooky, Lena, ...I listed a question on Social Media and got 40+ offers of names. 

Overnight was good. We did a before bedtime outside walk and she did all the appropriate things she needed to do. I put her in her crate on a nightstand next to my side of the bed so I could hear her if she woke up.

Charlie took his place on the other side of the bed and we all fell asleep from our busy day.

At 1am, she started barking and crying. I'd slept in my sweats so grabbed a jacket and hat and took my charges out. Without hesitation, my new pup did her business and was ready to go back in.

We all slept well until I got up at 4:30 thinking it was 5:30. Back out and jobs done!

We did chow time in separate places and then play time and another trip out.

Charlie was conflicted. He wanted to be in the same area as me and her but he didn't want her to be too close. Here she is growling at her reflection in my stove and pouncing on the Kong.

Then they both crashed like good little dogs.

Charlie is pretty sure that the pup is going to eat him alive even though she has never tried to bite or scratch him.

He asked me why I brought a female Hannibal Lecter into our house. A tiny bundle of energy that curls up and falls fast asleep. He said she is just daring him to walk by so she can pounce. 

Well then. 

She has earned a name I can call out with two syllables.

Welcome Home

Hannah

Photo from the Foster Home she was at. 

This morning I woke up still missing Rich, still grieving, but the huge hole in my heart didn't hurt so bad. In fact I felt true happiness for the first time in months. 

Oddly enough, one more thing. 8 years to this day, I brought Charlie home to our home. How weird is that?

Uh oh, the hike and my heart strings....

 

We went for a hike on Thursday and to my huge surprise not any other human had used this trail. In the past few years when I did this trail, it was really tromped down between snowshoes and fat tire bikes.

We did find deer and coyote tracks in the snow that was up to Charlie's chest. He popped through the snow like it was nothing. He did get tired halfway through, so we sat on a log and had snacks and water in the warm sunlight.

He must have got a second burst of energy because he really went for the gold. Little dog who loves snow play.

This afternoon we are having this:

Photo taken looking across the pasture. So is March going to come in like a lion then?

We got seven inches of snow in a short space of time.

The girls were just fine as it was a fluffy snow with no winds. Here they are after they left their hay pile and took a walk to the heated water tank. This morning they are napping in the warm morning sun in their leftover hay.

The heavy snow band was very narrow and heavy.

I did this thing while waiting out the snowstorm. I went on line and looked at Petfinder.com out of curiosity. I had this sudden horrible urge to ... to... add to my house.

Tell me I am crazy and stupid or that it isn't a good idea to add another distraction of love to my house.

Is two better than one? Is it? I don't have any photos of years ago when I had two larger dogs living with us and the kids. The dogs were always a joy and a lot of work. 

I do have photos of me raising Rich's hound dogs along with Morris my Jack Russel and having Charlie pair of with the big ol' coon hound, Dixie.

This is how that experiment worked out....

Just go ahead and tell me I am crazy and that it is a stupid idea. Please. Because my Heart 💓💕💖💔is really having a go of it. 

It's always been a thing with me.....

I will be meeting Bently tomorrow at noon. He is the one with the colorful chest.

Flowers and Monsters

A word about the flowers. When I went to get groceries, I walked by the 'flower' stand at Wally World and was so surprised at the price that flowers have gone too. 

I used to buy flowers at this time of year once in a while just to brighten the house up. These weren't the freshest, but it was a small bouquet that I could see spending $5 on for some photo challenges and experimentation.

The roses do have a nice scent to them.

I don't watch much TV so sometimes I need to occupy myself with something. Experimenting in photography is always a choice.

I used a flashlight and another little light called Small Rig to play with the light and dark.

 

I even tried some ICM. I sort of like it and sort of don't. But it was fun trying it out on the tiny flowers.

I need a lot more experimenting to try and come up with something artistic and beautiful.

Then of course I couldn't help but make good use of the lighting to feature my Fuggly Monsters.

They are so ugly and fearful, they are sort of cute. 

I have no idea why I love monsters and dragons so much. I just think they are neat. Not real life human monsters ---> they are horrid. I like fantasy monsters. Toy monsters are the best of course.

Happy day

This photo showed up in my cell phone's memories of February 2018. This was one of the last times he was able to use his beloved skid steer. 

His smile was infectious. Plus he was a an awesome plow guy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So Monday my friend Pat said she was ready to go with me on a snowshoe adventure. Off we went. 

 Charlie led on the trail below the caves.

It was quite a feat climbing the steep hill in snowshoes, but it would have been worse without the extra traction.

The warm weather last week did do a number on the ice sheets, but I am always impressed by them. I never fail to think Wow when I see them.

I convinced Pat to climb up into them with me. It took a little coaxing, but she was brave and did it.

Here she is taking a picture of me while I am taking a picture of her. 

Her photo gives one a clue as to how large these formations actually are. You can barely see me behind some of the ice.

We trekked some more in the area and then headed back to the parking area. I then took her to the biggest Ice Cave in the area at Wildcat State Park. It was only a few minutes away.

Again, the warm weather last week didn't make the ice formation look as beautiful, but it was still quite impressive.

I nabbed the following shots from Pat's FB post. I had no idea she was taking shots of me.
Apparently this is my best side. 

Here is Charlie and I going around to the back of the ice at the large ice formation at Wildcat. I look positively tiny!

This is what I found with my camera on the backside. The sunlight coming through the ice gives off oddly beautiful shades of green and blue I assume from the minerals in the ice.

I was hooked on looking for ice in the winter the very first time I saw these strange colors and beautiful shapes.

Multicolored ice is more common than one would think.  Here is a photo from two years ago in another location. Note the colors in the ice. 

I imagine it is from the clay, the limestone, and the dirt the ice absorbed? 

I know there is a lot of crap going on in the world today. But I had to choose nature to go out and find the joy that it brings me. And I got to share it with a friend.

So it was a happy day.

I stayed home sort of

We had some very heavy and wet snow late Thursday through Friday mornings. Enough so that our county actually closed a couple of roads due to accidents. 

I knew it would be a while before our driveway got plowed out. Frank and his red truck showed up and Charlie gave the alarm.

I enjoyed seeing the snow once more as things were getting pretty dull around here. I shoveled a path for the boss dog to get out and do his business without trying to snow swim and did the chores early so the gals had plenty to eat.

They ate, took snow baths, and then slept in the sunlight when it cleared up.

Charlie and I decided to make use of my snowshoes and check out our woods.

When we hit the back pasture, Charlie took off running and bounding through the snow. He literally charged along.

I followed at a slower pace but kept him within eyesight.

 Our planned short walk became a long walk. 

We headed to the valley and the creek to just check things out. I learned to snowshoe on this land with all sorts of obstacles since this wild wood has no groomed trails.

Charlie is relentless and full of energy while we are in the wooded areas. He leads along the routes we've taken all of his life and seems to know exactly where we should be going. Sometimes, I just let him pick the route.

One would think he'd get cold right away with snow up to his chest and walking through the creek. That is rather rare for him. 

The temps have to be below 10 F for his back feet to get cold. He has a water repellent thick hound dog coat which keeps him insulated. 

He'll actually sit in the snow to wait for me when he gets ahead.

We followed the valley and came to the snowmobile trail. It hasn't been groomed or used all year long. But it is an old logging road that is nice and wide. We chose to go up that 1/2 mile climb to get to the ridge and circle around to go back home.

Charlie found deer tracks and gave them a good once over as he headed up the hill.

I followed, very happy that I'd chosen to use my snowshoes.

It was interesting when we got to the ridge. The fields that for years had been corn and soy beans were rotated to hay last year. The fields were snow covered but at one point as we were coming across the field it looked like this.

It was as if the sky and the land were almost one...except for the clouds moving in.

The deer had been out digging for food. We saw coyote tracks along with a trail going down into a sink hole where the racoon den up.

This was probably the hardest leg of our hike. Open fields, snow, sky, clouds moving in, and cold winds in our face.

The valley had protected us from the winds.

We made it to the road and I took off the snowshoes and we went home. I had a cup of hot chocolate and Charlie got a treat.

This past week I purchased a 'dog stroller' for Charlie. Eventually, he won't be able to do long walks with me but he still will want to go just like Morris did in his elder years. 

So I figured we'd eventually use this to walk on the easier paved and graveled roads. He does drag his feet on those trails so ... here it is....

And this is the look I got. If this doesn't make you laugh, I don't know what will!