Showing posts with label sleepy doggies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sleepy doggies. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 15, 2026

Storms, Rain, Crazy

After a night of heavy rain Monday evening, the sun started to peek through the fog. 


The weather service warned of afternoon storms in our area once more on Tuesday.

I took the pups for a very early morning walk down to check out our little creek. I wanted to see if there had been damage to the forest fences. Thankfully, there wasn't. The forest around us had heavy fog lifting from the cool streams.



Everything was soggy so I started to clean a flower bed up. I gave up in playing in the mud.

Hannah had an afternoon Vet appointment to get her second booster for distemper, parvo, and hepatitis. I thought about taking them to the Reserve, but decided to stay close to home.

We went to some DNR land close to home. It is public land along the stream called Tainter Creek in Tainter Hollow.

It is one of those cool places to find spring ephemerals.

We found several patches of Blood Root that had their flowers damaged by the rains overnight. Of course,  Hannah had to checkout what I am photographing. Miss Curious is getting better about staying close while I am doing photography.

Her recall is getting much better.


Wood Anenomes


Trout Lilies not blossoming yet


I also found dozens of patches of Virginia Bluebells emerging! 

I found one plant of Dutchman's Breeches that actually had flowers. Others were just emerging.


We walked along Tainter Creek which was swollen just over its banks.


There are no buildings in this very steep valley. If there is rain, the creek floods. All of the water from the ridges around here run into the creek.

Our morning ended up being quite pleasant.


By late afternoon I was tired from the intense storms we'd had Monday. I don't sleep well during storms. 

The dogs and I took a short nap. There is peace in the house when both of them are tired! 

Somehow, they have both become Velcro dogs.


While I was at the Vet's office, Tuesday afternoon for Hannah's updated boosters, NOAA came out with severe weather warnings 3 times. They warned of a severe thunderstorm producing Giant Hail and a Tornado just miles from the Vet office. 

Wait, What? Giant Hail??? Never heard that term before!

That eeee eeee eeee noise kept going off on the radio in the office along with notifications on my cell phone. We skedaddled home to get things put away before the storm hit our place.

I came down the driveway and looked up at the sky. It was wicked looking but I was ahead of the front.


I hustled and put Little Richard and the car in the shed. The mules were eating grass but looked up when the front arrived and disappeared into the woods.

The storm that arrived at 5ish PM decimated a whole town and so many vehicles. Friends of mine said it looked like a bomb went off. Even wildlife was affected by the baseball and softball sized hail.

Photos from locals posted on FB.



Thank goodness that storm went around us.

However we did have some hail and torrential downpours around 9 PM. Very scary stuff. I heard things hitting the house.

Lucky for me, I found no damage this morning. We had over an inch of rain in the rain gauge. That made for fun exploring in the creek this morning.

The dogs and I got muddy and enjoyed every moment of it.

There is another round coming through this afternoon.

As we say in Westby and Viroqua.

Uffdah.






Friday, April 10, 2026

The Socialization of Hannah

It was time to take my car in for its complimentary oil change, tire rotation, and safety inspection at the Subaru Dealership.

Charlie has been my companion on these trips for 8 years. I decided to take just Hannah on this excursion to see how she'd handle meeting people in a strange place. 


One of the things I've discovered with her is that she is a quiet dog in the car. Charlie moans and groans almost all of the time while travelling. It is annoying, but I'm fairly used to it now.

Hannah rarely makes a peep. For now, she rides in her crate behind my seat. When I got to the Dealership, I opened up the door and helped her out when one of the 'Associates' came out to get my key. 

I walked into the Service area with Hannah and all the Service people turned to her immediately. 

"Awwwww"
"Awwww, a puppy!"
"Oh my gosh, so cute!"

And then...
"Oh wait! Where is Charlie? Is he okay?"

Hannah was so overcome by all the attention, she of course piddled right there and wagged her whole body.

I had to assure the Service Department that Charlie was indeed okay and that I felt Hannah needed to come on her own this time.

I took her to the mini dog park attached to the Dealership where she stretched her legs and smelled all the interesting signs that other dogs had left behind.

When we walked through the showroom the Sales Staff all inquired about Charlie and mooned over Hannah. 

To her credit, Hannah wagged and behaved with no more puppy accidents. People waiting for their Subies to be finished asked what 'breed' she was and I happily replied:

All American Dog aka Mutt

Hannah wiggled.

I sat down and she asked for 'lap'. 

She promptly fell sound asleep.


Other than her puppy behavior, Hannah is proving to be a super chill little dog. Life going on around her doesn't seem to concern her one bit.

It is so fun to be learning about her personality. 

The best thing about the visit?

The smiles that a nice wiggly puppy brought to everyone's faces.








Tuesday, March 24, 2026

3 weeks with Hannah....and flowers

I found this brave crocus pushing up through the grass just before the blizzard hit. I figured it would be crushed by the ice and snow. We had 6 to 10 inches depending on where the winds blew.



Three days after the blizzard I found one crocus blossoming and more pushing up through the yard.



By Saturday we had a record breaking 83 degrees and the crocuses decided to celebrate the warm day.


But having a pup and an older dog do require nearly 24 hour supervision.


I've been taking the 'kids' for walks and looking for interesting small things before spring bursts forth with all the amazing wildflowers.





I've been searching out Lichen and Mosses as they are so colorful right now.
The mosses are sending out new sporophytes right now. I think of it as flowering.




I took my charges with me for a morning hike to look for pretty things. It was also a good opportunity to start showing Hannah what to do when I stop and take pictures.
She did pretty well. Of course the hazards of having dogs along while doing macro photography can have its consequences. 

Just as I snapped this, Charlie went through behind the Lego Rabbit and Hannah followed. 


Patience pays off and I finally got the shot I wanted.


When we got back I got a nice surprise.

Things went from this....


to this with no hassle. Warm sunshine is such an equalizer!


By evening after a lot of yard work and a few walks to find more cool mosses....

the unthinkable happened. 

Hannah crept up next to Charlie and slowly eased next to him [on HIS sacred couch!]. 

Curiously both dogs had to be touching me in some way too. 


Hannah can still be a sharp toothed Terror but she has figured out who is boss and how far she can push him before he gives her a warning.

This was just too sweet. What a great way to end my day.