vickiebec
Rosevukke
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Welcome to this thread. I love reading about their animal family. By the way my daughters name is Brier
Vickie Wallis
Roseville, CA
2010 Mini Cooper Convertable
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Dashonthedash
PA
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Joined: 06/03/2003
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You know, pets are very intuitive about our medical and physical problems. I'll bet that Alex was trying to tell you that WLToo was sick.
Gary Shapiro
Shadow - 7-year-old Greyhound (aka Shadow Ninja)
Hannah - 4-year-old GSD rescue (aka the Canine Tornado)
Max, Dash (GSDs), Willow, Dot, Allan, Lily (Greyhounds), and Molly(GSD Mix), at the Bridge and in my heart forever
2011 G'town 280DS Class A
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Wanderlost
Texas Hill Country
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Welcome, Stephany, and thank you for your interest.
Gary, Alex started his "concerts" some time before WLToo got sick. It's just old kitty syndrome.
We started this morning with a straight down rain, while the sun shone until the clouds got over there. It was gorgeous. We sat on the north porch and watched as the rain completely hid the lake from view, then sat over us long enough for the rainfall to measure. Spot laid on a chair and Alex sat on the sofa with us, until the rain began to splatter closer to us all, then they went inside. The humans ate breakfast al fresco/al raino. It was lovely. Still doesn't end the drought, but every little bit helps. We won't have to water the garden, anyway.
WLToo harvested all of the potatoes, about 2.3 pounds, and we enjoyed a potato evening and breakfast. The basil is going so strong that I filled the dehydrater and need to do it again. The cilantro/coriander has seeded out, but I'm not sure when to harvest the seeds. The last broccoli harvest will likely be this week. WLToo planted cantelope, and they seem to be coming up ok. The carrots are a major failure, not even little finger sized. Ah, well, it's our first garden in this climate, and we knew it would be a bit of an experiment.
Mama Doe Lassie has some kind of bugs tormenting her, so she's particularly jumpy now. Nothing we can do for her, poor thing. At least we don't have horse flies this year (knock on wood).
The robber fly is prolific this year. Creepy looking little buggers, and I hate it when they try to use my hair as camouflage. They're carnivores of other insects, not really aggressive toward humans, but if annoyed will inflict a painful bite. Unfortunately, several have decided our presence in the swimming pool is annoying, and WLToo got bit. So any robber fly around the house and pool is not welcome -- the flip flop o'doom comes out quickly.
Cleaned a drowned giant red-headed centipede out of the pool. Since they kill scorpions, they're welcome in the meadow, but not around the house, and definitely not in the swimming pool. Shudder...
The orioles tried again to get the hummingbird nectar, and figured out how to tilt it so the other bird can drink. So WLToo changed to the flat feeder, and they're stumped. Now the black chinned hummers can actually get the nectar. Black chins are all we have now -- they've completely run off the rufous and ruby throats -- and they're the tiniest of the three types. Amazing.
We lived for years in Virginia, under the East Coast flyway, yet we see more cardinals here, under the Central flyway, than we ever did there. Even though they're local birds, yesterday was the first time I've seen a painted bunting in our meadow. Absolutely beautiful bird.
Time to get busy. Later, y'all.
"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." -- Mahatma Gandhi
Czarny, black cat
Rainbow Bridge: Spotacus, Alexander the Grrreat, and so very many more
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CORNFED "5-0"
USA
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Joined: 07/18/2004
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That is cool. We have helped many feral cats find homes, after a few 'Alterations', and I think it is cool.
Ruby Red 2016 F450 Crew-cab, 2008, 36' Cardinal.
Two daughters, Wife and me.
Retired with no free time!
ON THE SQUARE
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Wanderlost
Texas Hill Country
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Spot has a big ding on his jowl and a rear foot. Both are clean and healing nicely, so whatever happened won't require another vet visit. He looks a bit funny, though, with two big clumps of hair sticking up from where they're stuck in the scabs.
He decided that since Alex has a safe spot up high, he should have one, too. Spot really has a very strong sense of what's fair. So he decided to hang out on the built-in buffet, next to the printer. Well, we don't use it for food or dishes, just the printer and some tchotchkes, so we'll let him lay there -- when he's not laying in a sink. He doesn't do hot and humid, and it's both, so anywhere cool is his favorite spot.
Tennis elbow's acting up again, so I'll keep this short. Later, y'all.
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Dashonthedash
PA
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There is one thing worse than hot and humid, and that is hot with low humidity and high wind, and that is the situation here. Fire danger is off the scale. A week ago, there was a 10-acre fire just a couple of miles away, and they evacuated the whole area. The situation is even worse now, and no relief is expected for the next week. With no central air, the dogs and I will be spending a lot of time in the cooler lower level family room. It's going to be a long summer.
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Wanderlost
Texas Hill Country
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We spend most of our summers on fire watch, Gary. The humidity here is unusual, but since it brought some rain, we're not complaining.
Stay safe. The long summer may well go into a long, dry autumn.
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Wanderlost
Texas Hill Country
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Starting to get hot, into the 90s now. Not like the last two Junes at all, though, so it's quite reasonable compare to them. But when it gets hot, Spot becomes pure house cat.
That's good. Last night, WLToo went out to the pool and saw ears and eyes just below it. He's not sure if it was a fox or a small coyote. Getting kinda brazen, coming right up to the house. We'll be keeping watch now.
Alex loses bladder control in his sleep, sometimes. It startles him awake, but he's already done the deed. Tuesday night, he peed on the bed twice, so we were up all night washing bedclothes. Other than that, and his "old cat" concerts and occasional disorientation, he's doing pretty well.
Spot's search for a high place continues. All this week, he's been lying on one of the counter stools. He seems to like it better than the buffet, which has no padding. He also can sit there and watch us work in the kitchen without being stepped on. But during the day's heat, he's on the bed, directly under the air conditioner vent.
Have to keep this short. Tennis elbow's under treatment, but it still hurts. Later, y'all.
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Wanderlost
Texas Hill Country
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Alex woke us up with Concerto por Chat in G Minor this morning, doing the wandering minstrel through the house. He finally found his way into the bedroom and jumped up to purr in my ear, but I was now wide awake. I'm retired, I don't have to do sunrises anymore, but it sure was a pretty one.
The yearling and two-year-old buck herd moved into the meadow yesterday, and provided some very pleasant viewing for several hours. Han and Spooky were there, not too certain about Solo or Notch.
I got swarmed by hummingbirds this morning, as I changed out the nectar. One nearly got caught in my hair, and one did land on my hand, but quickly realized it was not the perch and flew off. Twas a lively few minutes.
Otherwise, it's been very quiet here. Ahhhh....
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Wanderlost
Texas Hill Country
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July 1 already, and we've only had two days of 100+ temps, much to Spot's relief. He's been able to lay on the porch furniture the last two days without getting hot. It even sprinkled this evening to further cool things down.
WLToo is still battling pneumonia, and he doesn't sleep well. That means I have to drive everywhere, so things have been really busy for me. I thought being retired meant less time running around doing "stuff...."
Mama Doe Lassie's boys are all hanging around with her again, plus another buck with really magnificent velvet who seems to be the young buck herd alpha male. Interesting how they all want to hang with MDL in our meadow. I noticed one eyeing MDL's bowl on the porch. When I looked closer and called, "Solo?" he marched right up to the porch and checked out her bowl. Yep, it was him, all right. He's the boldest of her three bucks. Haven't seen Notch lately (the one she adopted), and that's good, because he's way too bold for our comfort.
I was sitting on the porch reading this evening, and two rufous hummingbirds flew up and hovered, looking at me. There's plenty of nectar in the feeder, so I guess they were just checking me out. Bold little things.
Wow. Today was exhausting and I'm not very awake anymore, so I'll stop now. Later, y'all.
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