Damn it was Hot!

The dogs and I took a walk just after sunrise hoping to get some exercise before the dangerous heat moved in.

It was hazy and humid as you can probably see behind Charlie. [He seems to be doing fine even with his bad tooth situation right now. I don't know if he is just excellent at hiding his pain or he is stoic. My bet is on stoic.]

The heavy dew was amazing at showing spider webs that are springing up all over the place. In a few weeks the meadow behind Charlie will be full of webs for Orb Spiders. I was able to actually find one tiny spider between two webs. It took quite a few shots to get this little spider in focus, but I persisted.

The web below is likely built by a Funnel Weaver. I've yet to see one, but can appreciate their beautiful webs.

The bees are incredibly busy on these flowers. Horse Nettles. I've been fighting them in a section of pasture for a while. I tend to think of them as beneficial to bees so I am leaving most of them alone. When they are flowering, I can sit in the grass nearby and watch the bees swarm the flowers.

They are toxic to humans and animals so there is that. I'd like to get rid of them but not quite sure I should, I'd rather support the bee population. Perhaps I'll just make that spot smaller and keep them from taking over.

The morning quickly turned incredibly hot with the humidity. I picked a large bunch of Queen Anne's Lace along with a few of the Zinnia's that decided to blossom this year.

I thought I'd do a little photographic 'study' of them while indoors and beating the heat.

Your eyes are not betraying you. Some of the ones I picked have a pink hue to them. I left most of the flowers alone that I noted the pinkish color. I thought all Queen Anne's Lace was pure white.

By late in the afternoon the 'heat index' had risen to 115. I went out a few times with the dogs. I stayed out as long as I could and then brought everyone inside.

Hannah played ball and took all of her toys out of the basket and spread them around house. She was bored.

I read for a while and then decided to try and find something to watch.

I found a program that absolutely captivated Hannah.

It is a series of videos by a guy named Rocky Kanaka that goes into Dog Shelters and basically 'sits' with dogs that are non responsive or deemed not very adoptable. It is called Sitting with Dogs.

Hannah had a keen interest in what was happening.

The weather broke overnight. It is still muggy but the temps are in the 70's for today so I will celebrate by getting out and about.

Hiking and doggos...

We were brave souls. Since it was so cool out, I packed up the dogs and we headed to the Reserve to walk/hike along the paved old 131 trail.

My reasoning was that it was nice enough to take a drive and a hike with the dogs and it would be a good way to work with Hannah on some more leash work on a somewhat busy path where we could see horses, bicyclists, walkers, and runners.

The dogs can be off leash now at the Reserve and are only required to be on leash during the nesting season for birds that have ground nests.

I chose to let Charlie drag his leash even though he never chases a bike or horse but will decide to visit hikers with a waggy tail. His recall is excellent while Hannah is still learning so much. Both dogs wear a training collar.

If they get loose and for some reason run off, I can locate them and use the buzzer or the vibration mode to distract them from the chase. They know if the collar vibrates, they should come to me and get a treat. This works so well!

I may have explained before that I got a collar for Charlie after he scented something when he was just a year old and took off through our forest. I spent 45 frightening minutes looking for a 7 inch tall young dog, calling and crying. When the foliage grows up past his height he can literally disappear.

At 8 years old he still is a 'hunter', but he is more reserved about chasing too far. The collar reminds him to come back to me.

The walk started out wonderfully. We were hiking when a heard a voice call out....

Bicycles coming!

Two ladies on bikes came up behind us. I told the dogs to sit. I knelt next to Hannah who always barked alarmingly at any stranger and asked her to sit. I held her 'sit' treat [a Cheerio] above her nose and she glanced at the bikes and at me and at the bikes and me...

and held her sit!

She got 3 Cheerios as did Charlie and a lot of praise. 

The next distraction we ran into was an older couple on some horses. Now, Hannah is more used to the Mules at home. She has been exposed to the Mini Donkeys, mini Goats, and Horses at Kristi's farm so they aren't as alarming to her as they used to be.

I made her sit once more and she did. The couple on the horses said, "Oh what nice pups. You don't have to do that, our horses are okay with dogs." 

I explained that I was training Hannah and she needed to understand that she should be quiet on the trails and not bark like she used to.

They stopped and asked what kind of dogs I had and said nice things about how I was working with my little dogs. 

What I did expect was that we would get attacked by mosquitoes and deer flies as we were hiking a paved trail next to the Kickapoo River. I had sprayed well before taking the trail, but man those bugs were insane! 

All the horses we saw had fantastic riding fly masks which made them look like Medieval Mounts.

Hmm. I like summer, hate bugs. 
So I like winter so much more!

We finally made it to the pond with the floating dock and bench. There was a nice breeze and surprisingly NO bugs!

The View

Water and snack break.

Another view from the bench.

Dogs under the bench in the shade.

See that scummy green water? Guess who decided to go for a little swim? Yes. Hannah. She got covered in duckweed and mud. Hmmm, so smelly and so wonderful! She was sooo happy!

So much for keeping her little seroma dry! [I cleaned that spot off]. That spot is almost perfectly healed at this point!

I decided that we would turn around at this point and call it a good day. The temps were warming up in the valley with no breeze and I didn't want Charlie to get overheated.

Hannah pranced, Charlie hiked like a trooper. The deer flies zoomed in and the skeeters, attacked often until we got out of the valley.

Next week, I'll let the dogs stay home while I take my bike and do the 9 mile paved trail. I usually do that when the weather is hot and buggy because I'm going fast enough to avoid insects, yet can still enjoy the outside and the wild flowers.

Found these on our walk, but stopping for any length of time was asking to be covered with Bitey Insects....

I see that the weather for this weekend is going to be very steamy and dangerously hot again. I guess this afternoon I'll be scrubbing water tanks and refilling them along with making sure the mules and pony have access to good shade.

Thank goodness I spent yesterday afternoon mowing most of the yard. 

I think I'll pick up some items to make a noodle salad and some cold meals for this weekend.

In sanity?

 I'm not going to blame MN or Canada for the fires. The dry remote areas are on fire and firefighters are trying to hard to contain the fires. 

The winds changed and sent the smoke into the Midwest and other parts of the US.

This morning I checked the Air Quality site and was rather surprised that the particulates were this bad. My eyes stung yesterday. I could smell what seemed like a garbage fire and camp fire mixed in.

Now. I don't want to criticize some folks, but when I posted this on social crap-media and commented that I'd not go to work out at the gym, I got some comments from others that said it 'would not be a big deal'.

Now our gym is simply an old garage for repairing vehicles. The bay doors are always open in the summer and there is no A/C. I don't mind working out in the heat, but breathing in heavily polluted air seems counterintuitive to exercising for better health.

Especially if you are working out and increasing your rate of breathing.

Yes, by noon, the Air Quality should be much better if the smoke moves off like it did yesterday afternoon. But I'm an aged athlete and I don't feel like working out and smoking a pack of cigarettes at the same time.

According to the DNR website along with medical websites, they caution against breathing in particulates --> smoke. It is not a gas, it is pieces of burnt plant matter among whatever else burned up. Think of breathing in miniature pieces of burnt matter and it changes they way one would think of the smoke.

That is my opinion and decision. Meh.

Here are two photos of this morning when I did chores. Little Richard looked as if he was in fog. Don't worry, I move him a few times a day in this heat so he can get into the shade. He also spent most of the heat days in a tree shaded paddock.

I grabbed this shot of Charlie when I was watering some flowers on the porch. 

At least by noon there will be a breeze to move the nasty smoke out of our area and move it towards Madison which will be horrible too.

I did get some plants watered so the won't wilt in the sun and heat.

Brown atmosphere...yuck!

Thankfully I was able to see the workout that we were to do and did the home version. It was nice to do it with the dogs watching to monitor me. 

Hannah is on towels because some pup thought 
it would be awesome to dig in the garden

while I was sprinkling in it.
She had mud up to her

eyeballs.

Gotta love a pup! 
She harmed no flowers in her morning 

adventure.

😁😂👇

But THAT look when I asked her:

What did you do?

I think I'll work on the stick house today. It is coming along nicely.

Flowers

I took flower photos Monday morning while weeding the gardens early. I did it before the sun broke through the clouds and made things much hotter.

Petunias

 Lilies!

Love in the Mist

This first shot is when the lens fogged up
from the humidity. I took it anyway
before setting the camera in a
camera bag to acclimate to the weather.

I should have remembered to stick it in a camera

bag and set it on the porch to slowly acclimate.

These are one of my current 

favorites!

They are so easy to have in the garden and they will reseed themselves. 

Love in the mist is surrounded by another easy
keeper called Creeping Thyme. 

So easy that I have to mow it back. However I would rather
have this in the yard than grass! 

It smells
nice when mowed or stepped on!

Creeping Thyme

This sunflower plant seeded itself between the round stepping stones 

just off the porch.

I let it grow and the dogs enjoy its shade!

Borage.
The flowers are edible and

taste slightly like watermelon.
I often decorate salads with these.

I had fun with this borage stem. 
I used a double exposure trick
with fern leaves. A bit of 
fun on a hot afternoon edit.

Morning Glories are another flower that

reseeds itself.

I have pulled all the little ones that I didn't want

growing from seeds spread last year.

I am allowing one plant to spread and provide

shade for the porch also.

I don't have just blue and purple flowers. The Zinnias and Cosmos of every single color are coming along nicely in the gardens I planted at the start of June. 

My nasturtium is doing its thing also. Soon, I'll have flowers and leaves to add to my salads right next to the porch.

And...

Hannah.

I am still dealing with her itchy incision. If I leave it uncovered in the morning, she goes after licking it. I imagine the whole area itches because her fur was shaved off.

I can't wait until she is all healed up.

She is such a high energy dog! 
Here she is helping me this morning inspect the meadow. I have to admit, it looks rather lovely right now with all the wildflowers blooming in the area I didn't mow.

Her new healing outfit with gauze over the incision and an Ace Bandage covering the area better so she can't pick at it.

Oh Hannah. She loves to give me the 'look'. She is driving me crazy!

Controlled Chaos

Some days I wonder why I thought 2 dogs were better than one. The extra demands, the extra attention, the extra training, and the extra effort along with considerations seem in some moments --- a stupid decision.

Then after a day of yard work, play, and walks, the 2 of them fall sound asleep next to me as I read a book on the couch.

And I know... 

 My blood pressure drops low, my heart rate slows, my heart fills with something warm. 

My longer hikes are slowed to an older dog pace while the pup races back and forth on her line that is tied to my belt.

The slow, quiet walk allows me more time to stop and look. There is no hurry. Charlie doesn't hurry when the weather is warm. He even asks for me to carry him so his short legs can take a rest [or he is tricking me into giving him a ride!].

Hannah bounds into quite a few photos that I try to take of the wild spring flowers. But she is learning that usually what I am looking at is nothing that is interesting enough to chew on, eat, or roll in.

Bellwort

Fern Curls

Jack in the Pulpit

Wild Ginger

The Crooked Kickapoo

Mayflowers

We take about 4 hours to explore the trails. I keep thinking I should hurry up and then I remember that I don't have to rush.

There is so much to look at on these out of the way trails.

The dogs get a drink and a dunk
in the foundation of an
old artesian well house.

We head back to the parking area and I think...

Maybe the chaos isn't so bad. 

It is keeping my mind busy and my body active.

Charlie goes to his side of the car and waits. I put him in his car seat and he settles down for a nap. Hannah tries to climb into the car too, she is ready to fall asleep in her crate.

When we get home the two dogs get up on the porch bench and watch me do yard work and hang out laundry.

I eventually join them on the bench and open my book on Hiking Wisconsin. I turn down pages of trails I am interested in and are labeled 'Dog Friendly'. 

Maybe this two dog thing is really worth it.