Scavenger Pups

When we rescued Lucky from All Creatures Great and Small back in 2004, the shelter manager told us that Lucky and his sister Katie had been found running along a road as 4 month old pups. Lucky's propensity to eat anything, and his extreme skill in "scavenging," has caused me to wonder about this more than once over the years. How long were they out on their own, foraging for food? A few days? Or was it a couple of months? Who knows, maybe it's just because they're dogs. I'm used to German Shepherds, and they are notoriously finicky eaters.

Like brother, like sister. Katie demonstrates the same razor sharp ability to hone in on a morsel of food from a hundred yards. Last week she found a turkey eggshell in the front yard. Even though it had already been cleaned out by some critter, I didn't particularly want her eating it. So I took it from her and tossed it into an inaccessible location. Or rather, what I perceived as an inaccessible location. No matter where I tossed that eggshell over the next several days, Katie found it. And she's SO sneaky about it. I don't even notice her grab it, I just happen to glance down and notice that her mouth looks strangely full as we head down the sidewalk. "Katie, do you have something in your mouth?"

I'm never quite sure until she gives me that little sideways look, avoiding direct eye contact, mouth puffed out, the picture of guilty innocence.

Last night I was filling Lady and Lucky's food bucket from the 40 lb. bag I'd lugged up from the garage. I use the scoop to save my back, and Katie quickly discovered that this method is a bit messy and imprecise. Ever present to help in such circumstance, she was quick to grab any wayward pieces of kibble that fell or ricocheted down the hall.

That is, until I had the bucket almost full, at which point she discovered it was much easier to simply eat off the top of the heap. I don't know what was funnier, seeing her take advantage of this situation, or witnessing Lady's consternation at the whole improper affair.

I swear, they make me laugh out loud sometimes. As funny as this was, I had to interrupt Katie's scavenging extravaganza before she ate the equivalent of a second dinner. For the sake of fairness, and to ease Lady's crinkled brow, I provided all three dogs with a small handful of kibble bites. Funny dogs!

The Camera Is Our Friend

Hello! Hope everyone is having a great summer. We're back from a few months' vacation from the computer and blogosphere, and eager to "catch up" with all our blogging friends! One of the projects we've been working on this summer is Katie's camera phobia. A dog simply cannot live in a household with me, the Queen of Shutterbugs, and be terrified of cameras. So I launched a rehab program that consisted of pairing the dreaded object, the camera, with a fervently desired object - peanut butter. Slowly but surely it's working. Check it out!

I will stand here and wait for peanut butter,
but I will make myself very, very small.

And I will look away. The camera cannot steal your soul if it can't see your eyes.

Better not take any chances. I'm outta here.

I don't understand why my brother looks so happy.

Okay, I'll stand here for just a few seconds.
This peanut butter is really good.

Whew, it's HOT!!

How are all our blogging friends doing out there? Are you as hot as we are? It's so hot here the robins are using pot holders to pull worms out of the ground. But, we're staying cool as best we can. Hopefully you are too!

My Lucky "Friday the 13th" Birthday!

I hadn't planned on posting today, but just had to get on here and share my birthday joy with all of you... look what I got!! A new, totally adorable garden kitty!!! I wasn't expecting this at ALL, and actually shrieked with joy when I saw her waiting for me outside the back door (yes, I confess I am the sort of person who shrieks over garden art, lol).

What a wonderful day this has been, Friday the 13th and all. Several weeks ago, I declared that it would be a lucky Friday the 13th, in special observance of my birthday, and so far it has been. Especially since I didn't get a speeding ticket on the way to my birthday lunch. That would have put a serious damper on things. I work for a company that gives you your birthday off as a holiday, so I've been able to play all day. This included a trip to Asiana Grand Buffet, home of the "free buffet on your birthday" special, where I ate my weight in sushi and wontons.

I love birthdays. I've never understood friends and acquaintances who get depressed about birthdays, or the dread and regret they express about becoming some unwanted age. I mean, birthdays are fun. There's cake, and ice cream, and you get to be Queen for a Day! What's not to love? And I love having been born in May, when the flowers in my garden are bright and beautiful, and the weather is perfect for spending the day outside playing in the dirt.

When I was younger, I assumed that the happy anticipation I always feel as my special day approaches would one day fade. Maybe when I reached 30. Or 40. But this was number 48, and it hasn't faded yet. Maybe at 50? I hope not!

So guess what? New birthday Garden Kitty needs a name! Any suggestions?

Look at her sandals! Aren't they cute??

Springtime Hiatus

First of all, a follow up to my recent post about Lady helping me with the red Knock Out rose shrub that got crushed by the falling screen. That screen ended up falling not once, but twice (now the screen is tied to the fence). Poor rose bush. But, never one to waste a bloom, I salvaged some of the damaged stems I had to clip, and tucked them into little vases here and there around the house. But alas, even some of those were doomed. A bag of groceries inadvertently got set on this one.

*sigh*

Oh well! I didn't waste too much time worrying about it. Seems like now every time I start to fret about some little thing, the images of the neighborhoods in Tuscaloosa Alabama come to mind, and I realize that one broken bush is not that big a deal.

In April and May, I am at my height of gardening nirvana and want to spend every waking moment outdoors. I will keep on digging in the dirt even after the sun has disappeared and I have to resort to turning on all the outside lights to finish up the project of the day. I think if I knew I had one last day on earth, I'd spend it planting petunias.

During the first part of April, I tried to keep up my schedule of regular posting, and visiting my favorite blogs at least every other day. But the tug to do other things has just been too great. So I've decided to give myself permission to take a break and enjoy my springtime diversions.

I'll still be blogging and visiting, but my "computer time" will only be once a week for awhile. Once the weather heats up and its so humid we feel like we're living in a terrarium, I'll be back indoors, happily sitting at my computer in the air conditioning. For now though, I'll be outside with dirt on my hands. Hope you're all enjoying a lovely spring!

Look whose photo I got!! :)

Top Secret Spy Photography

If you have followed this blog for any length of time, you know that I LOVE to take pics of Lady, Lucky, and Lucy. Dogs and cats make such great subjects for the camera. I love to photograph my garden and the wonders of nature too, so those tend to make an appearance in my blog as well. Blogging is great, because it actually gives me a reason to take lots of pics. And now there's a new dog in the family. "Yipppeee!" I said to myself, "it will be such fun to chronicle her first weeks and months with the pack!"

Wrong.

I mentioned in one of those first posts that Katie was camera shy and hard to photograph. But I really believed that once she got through the transition period, she'd be more comfortable overall, and that fear of the camera would subside.

Wrong again.

The only way to photograph this dog is by using super secret stealth techniques. If she gets any suspicion that you either a) have a camera hidden somewhere on your body, or b) might actually be trying to take a picture of her.... *POOF* she's gone! 

So far, I've had the best luck with a cell phone and/or when she's sleeping. It helps if the room is dark too. And then I have to quickly ditch the camera and pretend to be doing something else when she looks up. This super secret stealth photography borders on comical, and needless to say doesn't make for the best quality photographs. On the bright side though, I have a feeling I'm going to have an extensive collection of "Katie sleeping" photos.

Katie sleeping.

Dilemma, Divided By 2

A dilemma divided by 2 is only half a dilemma. So therefore much smaller and easier to manage. This appears to be Lady's philosophy, as she never lets me face any dilemma or difficulty alone. I continue to be surprised and amused by her intuition and desire to "help."

Over the weekend, I'd been admiring the Knock Out rose in the corner of the yard. Laden with dozens of ridiculously red blooms, it has never been as spectacular as it is this year. As soon as I saw it on Saturday morning, my instinct was to run and get the camera, but I forced myself to resist. I have so many photos of plants and flowers that when I'm dead and gone, future generations are going to think I knew no people at all, only flowers.

On Sunday evening I stepped out into the yard again, this time to a horrible sight. The heavy screen I'd placed in front of the propane gas tank the day before had blown over and squashed the beautiful rose bush. In shock, I yelled something like "ACCKK!" and went running to its rescue. So did Lady. I'm not even sure why I ran, it's not like 3 additional seconds of being squashed was going to make a difference - but ran I did. I grabbed the screen and lifted it off, and that's when I became consciously aware that Lady had run to the rose bush with me, and was still at my side. Ears and tail up, on "high alert" status. And as I wrestled with the screen, trying to get it back into the proper position her nose was pressed to its edge working the scent, as if trying to determine what evil lurked there to have distressed me so.

Ladybelle remained by my side as I attempted to resuscitate the flattened bush. I propped some branches back up, and clipped the broken ones, eventually restoring it to some semblance of its former self, albeit slightly more 'horizontal.' All the while Lady stayed close, ever ready to assist as needed. What a good dog.

See? All better!