Catching up.

So a lot of this is 'news' that isn't worth news to some folks. 

Sunshine is doing well at Kristi's place. In April she will be 29 years old. She is showing her age in her face but not her attitude and willingness to go riding.

Kristi has given her a new pasture mate named Willow. Another mare and Sunshine is really quite happy with that.

Her gelding Cash, seems to be losing weight so she has moved him into an area where she can grain him and help him maintain a healthy condition.

We have finally figured out what is going on with Siera. Her weight and the great pasture I had was not kind to her.

I did some more researching about pastures and removed them from the back meadow. It is lush and has quite a bit of white clover in it. The high sugar content is not good for her. In years past, that back meadow has been grazed to the ground with 4 or 5 mules so it wasn't so lush and dangerous.

This morning I walked around and set up a plan to try and deal with Siera's weight [I know, I dropped the ball on this issue because she had been going through periods where she seemed 'cured'.]

Tomorrow I am making Sundance and Siera a smaller lot in this shady area. I can keep them there until Winter and they can be joined by Sunshine this late fall. It will be a dry 'lot' where I can monitor exactly what they eat and their condition.

Old photo from 5 years ago.

This morning.
What a difference a wet summer makes when you have only 2 grazers instead

of 5.

This area is on my list for a clean up project for next year. It won't take much but it will take machinery I don't have to clean up the fallen trees not pictured here from last August's windstorms.

Sundance is the youngest mule. She has been off and on slightly gimpy for quite a while now.  She has been diagnosed with ringbone in her right front. Otherwise she is perfectly healthy and full of herself. Ringbone is a form of arthritis. Treatment can include joint injections, special shoes, and special meds. She is a pasture pet and only shows slight discomfort once in a great while. 

Three older mules and an ancient pony cannot keep down our pastures so I have to consider doing something different.

The large meadow in front of the house will be brush hogged and one section will be bulldozed so I can mow it myself next year. The other half will be used as a winter pasture since it offers protection from the winds.

Photo from last year. Winter Pasture.

I'll keep mowing the back meadow because the dogs and I love walking there and in the winter it will make a nice area to cross country ski.

Little Richard is 35 years old and his teeth are worn out. He made it through last winter with flying colors. 

This summer he gained weight being staked out and having access to a small forested paddock. He is slowly losing weight again. I am fighting a slow motion battle that I will lose. It will pain me to possibly make a decision this fall with him.

I'm a realist. I won't keep animals that are in poor condition or in constant pain. I feel that is cruel. We set our long term plans in motion 10 years ago when Rich was no longer able to help with chores and maintenance. We kept the elder animals to give them a retirement. The young ones we had were sold. Over the years, the elder animals have crossed over. 

Charlie is recovering nicely. He has been bossing Hannah around and trying to steal her chew bones. Uffdah. I can't let him do that! He is back to ruling the household.

Hannah? She honors Charlie's space and cuddles with him when allowed to. She is also quite good at getting into trouble.

Here I ask her if she was in the shed digging under the old tractor.

Who...?
Me?

What shed?
What makes you think that?

It's August now and I'm finding it to be difficult to deal with so many decisions. It seems like that is all I have been doing for months now.

I'm even trying to plan out what I want to do once the large animals are gone. Some days I think I know what I am going to do and others?

I have no clue.

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.