Charlie feels icky by Hannah

 Oh oh oh. So Valmom is a very cleverish human person. Sneaky sneaky!

In the morning she got out her hiking vest and the squishy water bottles and set them by the door. We saw our treat bag and the water dish which meant a big walk!

I, for one, was going to make sure she did not forget me. I had my hiking vest on and blocked the doorway. 
I like 'rides' and hikes.

"Charlie," I nosed him. "Charlie! We are going sniffing!"

Charlie ignored me, he was grumpy because he did not get any breakfast. He sat on the floor and stared at Her intently.

"Whatyah doing?" 

"Staring at Her. She will realize she forgot my breakfast."

"Bark at her, pick up your bowl and tell her!"

"I don't do histrionics."

I had no idea what that meant. I'm still a puppy and learning the ways of the world. 

I left him alone as She was having her coffee and reading which is her normal morning thingy. 

When She picked up her keys to the house and the hike vest we ran to the door and She let us scoot out. We were going for walks! Sniffs! Adventure! Water, bugs, rabbits, smells!

She put us in the car seats and when she turned the car around I got out of mine and tried to sit with Charlie. My tether kept me in my seat so I settled down. 

Charlie whines in the car all of the time. He groans he moans, he even makes little barks. I asked him why he did that.

"I'm giving her directions. I'd be a better driver. Her turn signal always makes me nervous so I tell her."

I dunno, humans and Charlie don't always make sense to me. But I am going to just go along with it because I'm still a puppy.

Charlie got really agitated when we pulled up to the stoplight in town. 

"Hannah, this is not the way." He whined and carried on while we were stopped. 

"Maybe we are going to Paisley's house," I suggested. Paisley lives at the farm where She took Sunshine the mule for the summer.

Charlie stood in his car seat and sniffed out the window and then gasped, "Maybe we are going to the Office of Shots! The place where you just went."

I had no answer for that. Charlie hates the Office of Shots. I don't really care one way or another. I've been there 4 times already and the humans there are so nice even when I had something called surgery. Lots of pets and love with a few pinches here and there.

I reached over and licked his ear. He seemed to be very nervous. It got way way worse when She pulled into the Office of Shots parking lot.

"No No No!" Charlie barked. "Not here, Not here! Let's go hiking! No!" He turned around and around in his seat and got all tangled in his tether.

Valmom came around and picked Charlie up from his seat and carried him in the door. She told me to 'Stay'. I can do that so I did.

She came back without Charlie. SHE fooled us! She pretended we were going for a walk/hike/sniff and took Charlie to the Office of Shots!

Then we were back on the road.

She said to me, "Charlie has some bad teeth so he needs to see Dr. Grimm who will take out the bad teeth and clean up his good teeth."

I whined, her words sort of came out 'Charlie Blah, Blah, Blah." 

I forgot all about that when we arrived at the hiking place and she put on her vest and hooked me up to the long line.

Oh the smells the sights! A rabbit smell, deer smell, and horse poop! 

15 seconds of Hannah on the trail.

We hiked and smelled a long way through the woods. She said we did 5 1/2 miles. The bugs were awful, but She said I did so well with following directions and coming when she called my name.

The rest of the day I waited for Charlie to come home. 

I waited all day. I really missed Charlie. 

Late in the day She told me to 'Stay' when She left.

Guess who She got!

My bestest friend, My Charlie!

Oh but he didn't feel good. He said he felt icky and very tired. His face was swelled and he was miserable.

I think She felt almost as awful as him.

She said he had 5 teeth removed.

He got some mush food for his supper.

She said that the Doctor said that we had to be separated for his safety. I wasn't allowed to play with him.

Since he smelled like the Office of Shots, I left him alone but lay down near him and watched for the old Charlie to come out.

Valmom decided we needed lots of quiet time. She read with Charlie on her lap and we went to bed early.

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

This morning....

Insects are cool

Insects....Love them or hate them.

I used to hate them with a vengeance. 

Years ago a neighbor girl who was 9 years old used to ask me to go 'bug hunting' with her. I went along, she had her net and she'd net insects and tell me what they were. I'd photograph them.

She and her family moved away, but my fondness for searching for insects continued.

Below is the much disliked Japanese Beetle that everyone really dislikes. They do quite a bit of damage to certain plants and are horrible pests. This year's batch has been mild or they dislike the flowers I've planted.

 My absooooolute favorite insect in July is the Hummingbird Clearwing Moth. They are hard to spot but patience is a virtue. Every day starting mid July when the Monarda or Bee Balm in the garden start to blossom, I go out no matter how hot is and sit in a shady spot to watch for them. 

They are fast like the Hummingbird which is also active on my Bee Balm. Each year I think about taking the outhouse down but the growth of flowers around it bring in the bees, hummingbirds, and the Clearwing beauties.

The one below was by the house which surprised and pleased me. 

I used rapid fire tracking and took two shots and composited them together for the shot below.

 

I like to do that with butterflies also. To me it shows their quick movements.

I just think they are so unusual and beautiful.

Now that you have seen the pretty ones...

How about my August Favorite Insect???

Phone shot. Yes, I got close...

I walked through thigh high grasses and weeds in the neighbor's meadow and squatted among my 'friends'.

I used to be afraid of these spiders but I realized that they are not interested in me at all. If you bump the grass that their web is on, they disappear into the grasses and return once you are gone.

Soon there will be thousands of them with larger webs

I just think they are so cool!  [Long lens]

I can't wait to find some of the very large ones. They are absolutely beautiful.

I leave you with the Buck Moon setting Thursday morning.

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.

I was gonna...

I was gonna...to catch up on some toy photos I've had fun taking every once in a while.

So last night I started putting this together...

Dinos getting read to dine on a 
Stink Bug?

I found Mary out in the garden
looking to pick some Fungi!

My Garden Supervisors

Lego Chess for an incredibly hot humid day...

It ended in a melee of sorts....

the antique board is warped so the pieces kept falling over anyway....

But then I took some time to sit with Charlie and Hannah and read a book. No I read to myself while we listened to 'Dog Music' on Pandora. So the Dog Music Station is similar to listening to ... mmm, elevator music? It is mostly popular and classic music done in a soft soothing genre. The dogs don't really care much about music, they don't react much.

It was just nice background noise. I use it to drown out the very loud silence of our house. For years I had the constant repetitive hum from Rich's O2 Concentrator.

I was checking Hannah's mouth to see if all of her baby teeth were gone and it does look like it. I then turned to Charlie and checked his teeth. He had some build up on two teeth this spring and I asked the Vet if we should clean them. She decided it could wait.

Uh. Oh. Those two teeth are wobbly now and the gum surrounding those teeth look nasty. Time to call the Vet and get Charlie in. This morning I did a double check and he flinched. Definitely have to get him in for tooth surgery.

Now. I do not blame the Vet, she is good. It is up to us owners to either push for a procedure [I didn't] and to keep track of our pet's health.

~~~~~

Charlie will go in for Dental Surgery on Thursday to have the teeth removed. $$$$

Well, this is my life and it is a big deal to me personally. Most people think dogs are just dogs. They are, but this guy spent a huge part of his life comforting my husband when he didn't feel well. He has taken me through loss and helped me find the meaning of life afterwards.

So. 

He is my pet and my confidant who will never tell my secrets to anyone else. [Hannah would tell everyone my secrets!]

Keeping his mouth in good condition is essential for his well being [and in case no one knew this, it is essential to human life also]. Bad teeth can lead to kidney and heart failure, and inflammation in the rest of the body. 

My Jack Russell [soul dog] suffered from dental issues later in life and I lost him due to kidney failure. I didn't know much about dental health for dogs so I assumed bad breath and bad teeth were just a thing to do with age. 

Morris and me, Self Portrait in 2017.

Hot Weather and building stick houses

The weather for this Sunday is going to be very steamy and dangerously hot again through Monday.  

I've scrubbed water tanks and refilled them along with making sure the mules and pony have access to good shade already along with an area where they can stand under trees and catch any breeze that might come through.

I'm bummed. I was hoping to go camping in our woods for the weekend.

I got all my work done by 10am yesterday and then worked in the gardens. 

I decided to return to the stick house and see what I could come up with.

My helpers were all ready and raring to go.

The roofing is supposed to look haphazard and rough with bits of bark and moss. 

The next part was to paint and decorate the cardboard it is on. I'll 'make' it into a diorama I can use indoors or outdoors. [Not weather proof!]

This is my version of 'Free' building. Otherwise I'd want to purchase a set of Legos to build. If I had room, I'd build a whole set of these 'forest' huts and lay it out on my 5 foot craft table as a tiny forest town.

So as it turned steamy in the afternoon, I decided to finish my project.

I painted the cardboard to look like dirt.

Then I added chunks of decorated bark and roots that I had made last year. 

The bark chunks came from a downed tree and the pine cones came from our pine trees.

I don't glue down the other bits of roots and bark I am using so I can change the look as I need to. 

I also don't draw out plans or think much of what I am doing. I just punt it because that's how my creative juices flow.

If I add something and it looks neat, I keep it. If it doesn't, I toss it.

Cardboard. Moss. Bark. Glue. Craft Paint. Fake Mushrooms. Some fake moss.

Railroad model flowers. 

Imagination.

I added two of my favorite minifigures who are very much at home in the their magical forest.

...and then,

I set up my first scene to photograph.

I can use this stick building for so many things. The structure will fit a number of toys I have. The sides of the building can provide an interesting back drop for all sorts of scenes.

The best part about the whole thing is that it was built mostly from things I picked up in the yard at no cost!

Other Stick houses I've made:

Here is an old stick village I made and used for some scenes out in the woods. It was fun and when I left parts of it out in the forest to use again, some wild animal thought it would be great to pull it apart.

No harm done, I can always find more sticks to build with!

Today looks like a good day to beat the heat and enjoy some time reading and doing some Still Life Photography.

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.