A while back, Nicelady bought us a Coolaroo. That’s an outside dog bed: one that can be left out in the weather because there is no padding to get wet just a trampoline-like hammock supported by a steel frame that allows air to flow under. We all love it! Jasper loves it too and spends a good part of his play time clowning around on it.
Lining up for our turns on the Coolaroo
Jasper has proven (mostly) non-destructive and NiceLady decided, since it’s getting hot, Jasper should have a Coolaroo in his pen to keep him comfy between play times. So she made that happen.
On Monday, Blondie Bear spent the day at the doggie hospital to have two small growths removed from her skin. Neither were cancerous, but one was on the edge of her eye lid and was impairing her vision. As long as she was to be sedated to remove that, we decided to have a skin tag on her shoulder removed as well.
While waiting for the veterinarian staff to bring Blondie out after surgery and recovery, the surgical assistant told me a funny story about Blondie. Blondie is a big, sturdy girl, but gentle as can be. They gave her the pre-surgical anesthesia to relax her. After a few minutes they moved her to the surgical table, but when they tried to get Blondie Bear to lay down, she braced her legs out wide and stiffened up, “I will NOT lie down, and you can’t make me.” there was no aggression at all, just stalwart resistance. They could not budge her, so they waited.
We received word last night that Volt has his ticket to ride the Rolling Rescue bus on Friday June 24th. Now we begin that bittersweet process of saying goodbye and congratulating him on moving to the next step toward finding a forever home of his own.
Volt has been with us since January, six months is a longer time than normal. He has come to think of this as his home and us as his family. But we know that Meryl will welcome him into hers and ease his transition. Hopefully he will find a permanent home quickly. He’s a really good boy and deserves that.
When I told him he was going to Pennsylvania on The Bus, he said, “WHAT!? I don’t want to go there … I saw a movie and that’s where vampires live! I don’t want to live with vampires, they’re even worse than mosquitoes.”
“Vampires? No, no, no: that’s TRANSylvania. That’s a whole different place. You’re headed for Pennsylvania — that’s where they make pencils, not vampires.”
“Oh! That’s different then. Will I like it there?”
“You’ll love it. It’s just like here except different. You will be living in a house and will have other dogs to hang with and Meryl will treat you well and help you find a forever family of your very own.”
“Thinking about leaving you and Blondie and Doug and Marie makes me sad.”
“Yeah … it makes us sad too. But you deserve to have a forever home of your very own. We can’t adopt every dog we fall in love with. We just can’t.”
Then we lay down and took a nap together so we wouldn’t cry. It isn’t becoming for Guardians of the Realm to cry.
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One of the great things about dogs is the way the dogs welcome us home. It’s always a celebration. It makes us feel great to know someone is so happy to see us again — even though we may have been gone only an hour.
I cannot speak about goats, horses, cows, sheep, pigs, lemurs, guinea pigs, rabbits, or ducks – I’ve never had those as pets. I had cats once, and for the most part their reaction to our return was, “Oh, were you gone? When are you going to feed me?”
When the dogs welcome us home, it is always with enthusiastic glee.
We’ve been teaching Volt that table manners are important for any dog who doesn’t want to eat every meal in his crate. Last night at dinner Volt was again allowed to dine with the rest of us (he’s learning this bit REALLY fast).
I’ve finished my kibbles, I’ve licked out my bowl, licked my blanket, licked the floor, licked my bowl again (just to be sure I didn’t miss any) … what’s next? Why, HairyFace: you’ve barely even started on yours!That looks really tasty, Hairy, I’d be happy to help you with that. But since you did not offer it I will just sit here and be a good boy … if you think you need to eat ALL that food all by yourself.
When he finished his bowl he sat and watched for a bit (hoping the Peoples would share their food with him) then wandered off to find a cozy place to nap. GOLD STAR!
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This evening we engaged in some casual dining and watched an old Science Fiction Theater episode. Mostly, this was a Peoples thing, but we dogs get to eat in the living room with them then sleep through the silly program they watch. We like doing this because we usually get a special treat after dinner.
At bed time HairyFace and NiceLady sat in bed and read for a while. Sometimes they use book lights and turn off the lamps. But not tonight. Blondie Bear is saying, “Would you PLEASE turn off the lights and go to sleep … I’m TIRED.”
I didn’t have a bed to hide under, so I made do with what was available.
Eventually HairyFace and NiceLady got sleepy too, turned off the lights, and went to sleep. Then we could take up normal sleeping positions and get some proper rest.
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One of the great things about dogs is the way the dogs welcome us home. It’s always a celebration. It makes us feel great to know someone is so happy to see us again — even though we may have been gone only an hour.
I cannot speak about goats, horses, cows, sheep, pigs, lemurs, guinea pigs, rabbits, ferrets, or ducks – I’ve never had those as pets. I have had cats and for the most part their reaction to our return was, “Oh, were you gone? When are you going to feed me?”
When the dogs welcome us home, it is always with enthusiastic glee.
It’s Tuesday. That’s yard work day. Not that it’s some sort of law or anything, we could do yard work any day. Saturday, for instance tends to be another day that is often consumed by yard work. But Tuesdays, somehow, generally do end up being yard work days.
It’s a nice day. It hasn’t rained for a couple of days, but there is a little overcast to break up the sun, it’s not too hot, and a breeze is blowing. A good day to be outside.
Volt and I took up station inside one of the garden bed blocks. We were safe here from string trimmers, mowers and the cuttings these things toss around. We could see what’s going on, and enjoy being outdoors for a while.
Blondie Bear was pretending to be the Equipment Manager. She prefers the cool of the barn (she has a much heavier coat than Volt or I do). But she can still see and is safe from flying plant bits. She also likes to be more directly involved, so being where HairyFace goes to trade out (or refuel) pieces of equipment keeps her central to the operation.
Jasper was out on his tether early in the process, while Hairy was string trimming around things, but when the mowers started to roll, HairyFace insisted he go back inside his pen – for safety’s sake.
When HairyFace first went to get Jasper out, and had the tether in his hand, Jasper ducked his head and looked up through his eyebrows at Hairy saying, “I don’t need that: I’m a GOOD boy now.” When Hairy goes out to give Jasper a play session and will be giving all his attention to Jasper, he gets to run free (no tether). But while HairyFace has to focus on cleaning up the pen and changing out his water, Jasper gets tethered to a tree, giving him a 20 foot radius to play in while Hairy works. Previously, Hairy would then unhook the tether from the tree and let Jasper drag it around the yard. That was like tying him to the ground and he never made any attempt to climb the play yard fence.
HairyFace spent most of the day mowing and trimming. He took a break now and then to go in, rest up and get a drink. We have water bowls outside and can drink any time we want. Hairy could use them if he wanted, we wouldn’t mind, but he refuses. Well, that’s his choice.
We don’t mind going inside though: it’s usually cooler in the house – unless Hairy has done a bad job of window management and allowed hot air to be sucked inside. In our house, if you allow it to get hot, it just stays hot until evening when everything cools off.
So the yards are mowed – except for the High Yard (aka Copperhead County): he didn’t do that one this time – everything looks nice, and we’re ready to settle in for an evening of rest. It sure is tiring watching our friend work all day! But the results are nice.
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Every Saturday morning, Blondie and I accompany HairyFace on the weekly trash run to the Convenience Center to dispose of recyclables and household rubbish. It’s something we always look forward to and get excited about. Volt has not been able to go with us because there is only so much room inside the little extended cab S10 pickup that Hairy uses to haul trash (and dogs). NiceLady tries to distract him with a treat and attention as we load up and pull out, but Volt often cries and bays his disappointment. When we get back, he meets Hairy at the door and prances around, “My turn, my turn, take me for a ride now.” Sometimes Hairy has business in town and will take Volt with him as he heads that direction.
There is a buffer zone between our “yard” and the tree line above the yard. HairyFace calls that buffer zone ‘Copperhead Country’ because he is more likely to encounter Copperheads (and other snakes) here than anywhere else; other than up in the virgin forest. This area is sloping, has a few scattered trees, the ground is covered with dead leaves (Copperheads like dead leaves because their coloring provides the perfect camouflage), and fallen branches. The ground is littered with big rocks, boulders and outcroppings. All make a great playground for snakes.
One afternoon HairyFace announced that he was headed up into Copperhead Country to do some bush-whacking. That’s like weed whacking, but includes saplings and honeysuckle vines along with large weeds. I told him he needed to stay as far away from snakes as possible. I was once bitten, repeatedly, by a Copperhead and spend a day in the doggy hospital and many weeks of recovery. It’s not fun, it is best to just stay away from them!
