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.

Porch Puppies

Another doggone post.

Picture below: we were working on recall and Hannah comes to me when I bend down and whistle or clap my hands.

She knows that 2 out of 3 times there is a kibble in my hand for her when she gets to me. She has to sit for it [I don't do that on command, we start with positioning the kibble above her nose. She sits and she gets it. I am starting to add the vocal 'sit' but she won't get it for a while yet.]

 

Recall is one of the most important things to teach a dog. It literally saved the life of Missy who was a Lab X Samoyed dog I had when my kids were very young. We'd just moved to a farm with a busy highway. Missy saw kids in the yard across the highway and went to greet them just as a Kemps Semi was barreling down the road.

I called out her name and yelled the only thing that came to mind. "Down!" Missy dropped to her chest mid stride and lay in the ditch as the semi blew its horn as it passed.

"Free!" and "Come" were my next commands and she ran as hard as she could to me and sat on my left side. 

She was an incredible dog. I had taken a 10 week course in Obedience with her in the 1980's. Training methods were much different then.

When I got my first Terrier [Fiest], I had no clue as to how to train something that was only 10 inches tall and full of crazy and attitude.

Xena had her own mind and was aggressive and nuts. She hunted on her own once in a while and would return to our place when she felt like it. She was beautiful and loyal to me. She definitely had a mind of her own though.

She was the longest lived of her litter mates who were all extremely aggressive. Her temperament with me was fine. She didn't tolerate other humans even though I tried socializing her. 

She lived until she was 4. We surmise that she got into a barn and ate rats that had been poisoned.

Xena, the warrior princess. 

Morris was the next Terrier I got in 2005. Crazy us, we decided to try again....

He came from very quiet and well behaved Jack Russell parents. 

He was so easy to be with, it was insane.

He went to work with me often and was the official patient greeter.

He literally would do anything for anyone. His biggest love was riding with Badger and I on adventures.

He followed the grandkids around like a little protector. We were so lucky to have him for nearly 15 years.

When he died, I couldn't bare to try another Jack Russell. I came home with Charlie [Daschsund X Pekinese]. He is totally different in temperament and demeanor. He is reserved, stoic, gentle, and is a Velcro dog. 

He's never met a person he didn't love through and through.

So .. I strayed quite a bit. Hannah Belle. 

So far she is a quick study. She is afraid of noises, a me too dog, and energetic.

I hope I can maintain her recall and continue to work on her manners along with all the other things she needs to learn. 

Yesterday, she and Charlie were porch puppies. She was content to be tied up to stay on the porch while I cleaned mule tails and groomed them.

When I put her up on the bench with Charlie later on, this happened:

Being a 3 month old [on the 24th] is hard work. So much to learn and absorb!

I went back to a Terrier mix [Terror Mix] because they are so high energy. Now the challenge is to see if I can work with her and we can become a dynamic trio.

So far. So good.

Just Ride ~~ A long look back...a repost

Shhhh. What can you hear? The creak of leather, the soft footfalls of a mule in the forest. The panting of a Jack Russell and the soft swoosh of a tail flicking.

There really isn't any conversation going on. I ride along quietly listening, and watching. When a small disturbance off the trail to our left makes Badger go rigid.
I feel him stiffen and look to where his ears are pointing...and we wait.

A hen turkey sprints out of the tall grass with three of her semi grown chicks...they begin to flap their wings and fly low over the Queen Anne's Lace.
I look down and Morris is trying to stand on his hind legs to see what the 'fuss' is about. I smile and pat Badger on the neck and murmur:

*Good boy.*
With a small squeeze of my leg we set off again across the ridgetop following an ATV trail, so Morris won't have to struggle to get through the tall grasses.

We eventually get off the ridge and drop into the woods which are dark even on bright days. We make our way down an old logging trail to the back valley [also called the Lost Valley by the owners]. I get Badger to do some tricky maneuvers... and we finally stop for a rest next to the creek.

The first thing Morris does is get in the water to cool off. Badger drops his head to eat. Poor starving mule...you'd think he's never seen a lick of hay nor ever had a bite of grass.

We cool our heels by the creek listening to the water tumble over the rocks and the cicadas singing overhead.
The deerflies start to annoy us all spoiling the moment of 'togetherness'...okay, I know wierd, but the dog, the mule, and I...we are a special trio.

We head back out to the sunny ridgetop to check out the apple trees. These are wild apple trees not an apple orchard that is tended to.

We spot the trees with their branches literally drooping like weeping willow trees because they are so full of apples.
I sit on Badger and pick one ... they are small, but very tasty. I grin and start to pick apples ... how many will fit in my cargo pants pockets I wonder?

Mr. Mule decides he should just go ahead and help himself.

I drop an apple core to Morris.

We are all munching on apples in the late afternoon sun.

We head home, Morris panting, my pockets full of tasty little apples, my mule drooling applesauce...

When I get home my hubby says...
*So how was your ride?*

I answer, *Oh fine, it was just a ride.*

Tonight my dog is sound asleep at my feet. Mr. Mule is munching on his hay bale, and I am thinking of what kind of container I can take back with the mule to gather enough apples for apple jelly.

Life...
Just Ride

Just thought this would be fun to look back on. This was an original post in August of 2008 when Badger, Morris, and I still rode nearly every single day together. We were an awesome Trio.

Mudder Day...

Becoming a mom was one of the coolest things that ever happened to me. 

I was a mom to little humans....that grew up....

Mom to mules....

Mom to dogs....

[many dogs!]

The mom responsibilities have now been passed on to the moms of my grandkids and I hope they all have a wonderful and beautiful day.

We will enjoy some company today from Jason and his dogs along with some time outdoors.

Quiet and uneventful is a good thing.

To all you Mudders out there, have a good Mother's Day.

 

Visit to the East Dry Run

 

Finally, I got out of the house to 'blow the stink off' as my Father in Law used to say. It was an expression for getting out of being stuck in the house for a long time. I picked up some of their sayings and this one stuck...

along with ...

Worserthanawful [said as one word].

But today was not worse. It was beautiful, sunny, and in the 20's.

Charlie and I headed out across the ridge to the place where we would explore the long ravine [dry run] about a mile away.

There is a place that is a ravine ... or dry run as we call it on the eastern edge of the valley next 'door'. There is a tiny spring that trickles water along the boulders and rocks in this steep ravine.

In 2009 I happened to hike with my Jack Russell, Morris, to that area on a cold winter day. What I discovered was that the tiny little spring through the cold weather built an ice flow in the ravine which covered the boulders.

Here is Morris on the ice which looks blue in this shot.

Charlie on the ice yesterday. He could walk on it. I didn't dare because I didn't bring my YakTraks.

The slow movement of the spring water on cold days dribbles over the frozen surface and freezes giving the ice texture. Layers keep building and reaching downhill from the spring.

Morris on ice in 2009.

In the other three seasons, one has to carefully climb over boulders to get up to the spring.

What the area looks like without the ice....

Morris in March 2008.

Those rocks he was standing on are under ice right now. Imagine the volume of water and ice needed to do that!

Seriously, I cold have spent hours there if I'd had my YakTraks with me. As it was, I spent a very long time exploring as I could from the steep banks. 

When the ice builds, the seeping water followed this log and ... froze. Isn't Nature amazing?

There was water trickling off the little bits of ice in this photo below. But I didn't dare climb out on the ice without being ice cleats.

Here is a view of the bumpy ice as it forms going down hill. I bet I could slide on my butt up to the logs! If only I was a kid again!

The view from above. The ravine bottom is about 150 feet below me and I am not at the top of the 'ridge' yet.

This ravine/dry run is nearly 1/4 of a mile long from its top near the ridge to its bottom at the creek. 

My hike home was across the cropland. Charlie hunted down a vole in the hayfield and did his thing. He really does love cold weather hiking as long as it isn't super cold.

We timed everything just about right. The clouds moved in and the winds picked up. 

And the wind blew our 'stink off', we came home fresh and relaxed.

Dirty Gerti and other things

 Mystery solved. Gertrude aka Gerti was a pup that Olive got. Gerti was an accidental breeding between a mini poodle and a mixed blue heeler. It happened on an Amish farm and since the farmer was breeding for other 'doodles' and had a hard time getting 'rid' of these pups according to the sources...

He proceeded to begin to 'shoot' the pups. A lady stepped in and got the crossbred dogs and began to find homes for them. This lady also had connections with Olive through work.

Olive's hubby said no. Olive said maybe. And then like any strong willed woman would do, Olive brought Gerti home with her. Gerti adores Olive's little boy and is amazingly gentle and sweet. 

Gerti and Charlie hit it off right away. Charlie did the butt sniffing inspection and after that, they trotted off while we hiked. Gerti followed Charlie most of the time.

Hello Gerti!

She has a blue heeler - ish saddle markings mixed in with her Poodle coat. 

She is adorable.

Olive was trying to explain why she needed Gerti and I said 'I get it.' Indeed, Gerti was exactly what the doctor ordered. Woman to woman...we understood exactly why Gerti was needed.

Gerti had no issues at all with playing in the creek or getting full of mud and sand.

Rich dubbed her as: Dirty Gerti

Gerti won't shed thanks to the mini poodle part of her. Olive and Gerti make a great loving team. I'm looking forward to many adventures with our two dogs.

The 11th was also hubby's birthday. As an extra special treat, I washed his skid steer which was really quite dirty and dusty!
I treated him to a culinary delight of strawberry shortcake, the Bisquick kind, along with Steak and Tators.

I also did some cleaning and reorganizing in one of the closets and rooms upstairs in prep for Ariel to come for a visit. I found Morris's old toys in a bag. I hadn't had the heart to toss them. 

And at first I thought Charlie would like to inherit them. 
Charlie has always been a tough on toys. 

If it has a squeaker and it is stuffed, the toy is usually torn apart in minutes.

One toy fell out of the bag and Charlie picked it up.  

He didn't mutilate it. Maybe now that he is 5 years old, he won't tear things apart like he used to?

Did you know that April 11th was also dubbed #happypetday by social media?

These eyes of innocence melt my heart:

Morris and some of his toys in 2011:

And now?

I'm caught up. This morning, I am sitting on the porch with a cup of decafe watching the sunrise color the sky by the old oak tree to the east.