Nature Friday - Thanksgiving is Coming

While we have had a few encounters in the neighbourhood this summer, we have not really had the turkeys around. I was happy on Wednesday, when I came into the kitchen to get a tea refill, and there 4 were. 

Lee and Phod hope they fatten up soon because Canadian Thanksgiving is little less than a month away! 

Thanks to our dear pals Jakey, Arty and Rosy for hosting Nature Friday! Always so much fun!

Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Aho! We be a  joining our mateys and talkin' like pirates!

Happy talk like a pirate day landlubbers!

Wordless Wednesday - If You Set The Warm Sheets Here

Trouble on Tuesday - More Mischief

As stated yesterday, we are decreasing Lee's prozac. We are doing this because she doesn't need it when storm/fireworks season is over. For her health, we would rather her not be on it.

In the wee hours of Saturday morning, a thunderstorm rolled in. While rain was in the forecast, thunder was not. Lee moved right to scratching the wall beside Lady's head. It was Man's turn to get up with her.

It took a long time for Lee to settle. She was determined to do some damage. She tried pawing at/destroying Man's computer. When that was not successful (he made her move), she finished off the bed that was in the fortress of solitude (aka the downstairs bathroom).

A used comforter has been put in its place, so she does have a safe place. 

In the event another storm rolls in we will either increase her dosage for the day and/or give her Xanax. It was much more challenging for her to settle down on the lower dose.

While the Man was pretty tired the next day, our princess had lots of naps.

Mischief Monday - The Dishwasher - A Dramatic Re-creation

Miss Hailey Bug's prozac has been cut back from 30 mg to 20 mg a day. This has her more herself. She is more alert, she is spending more time with us and she just seems more content. However, being more herself has some draw backs, which we will discuss over the next two days.

The first issue with her being more herself is she is far more interested in food. This means she is in the dishwasher helping more.

Friday night, as I was loading our dishwasher, Lee was licking the dishes in it.

Suddenly, Lee realized she was caught on the dishwasher and started pulling, pulling so hard she pulled the bottom rack out!

Lady quickly grabbed the bottom rack, which only had a few dishes, while yelling for Man to help. She held on to it, while Lee shook her head and pulled backwards. Man came running over, and unhooked Lee. The rack was returned.

Did Lee learn from this? Nope, she was immediately back in the dishwasher. Lady remembered the sit stay trick and there were no further dishwasher incidents. 

Lady realizes in hindsight, yelling was no the best way to handle this. Lady also realized how disappointed she was that none of this was caught on video or picture. A true blogger!

Tomorrow, we will share some more mischief!

Nature Friday - A Very Special Tree

A long time ago, my great-grandmother took an acorn from the cottage (which is now my parents home) and grew a seedling in her place in Toronto. She planted that seedling at the cottage and it grew into a mighty oak.

Sometime in the 1990s, the might oak was lost in a terrible storm. Sandy soil is not the best for strong roots. Fortunately, it fell in such a way that only a picnic table was damaged.  The wood from this great tree was used to make tables, so the oak has lived on in one way. 

While the original oak is gone, others have grown from it. When we moved to our house in the country, my parents brought me a sapling - maybe the great-grandtree of the original oak.

It hasn't looked like it was growing until this year, when it doubled in size. We hope our sapling is on the way to becoming a mighty oak. 

Thank you to our dear friends Rosy and the Boyz for hosting Nature Friday and letting us share the story of a little oak that means a lot to us. 

Trust

Sometimes, when we have done a check to ensure there is no wildlife around, and Hailey is being particularly calm, she gets to be briefly off leash.

When she is, the command we work on is "house". We want to reinforce her going into the house, in the event she every gets away from us.