Traitor Tuesday- No Words Needed

 

Mischief Monday - A Matter of Opinion -by Phod

 Dear pals,

Since the field has been cut, I believe the most wonderful thing has happened. Lady and Man disagree with me on this.

Now that the grass is gone it is much easier to find the deer poop. It makes an excellent snack.

Lady and Man say I am a gross boy, but they don't understand the delicacy they are missing out in.

Your not gross at all pal Phod

P.S. my blood work came back fine. Nothing to worry about. I have also reluctantly started my new allergy meds. Will keep you posted if they help. Lady is torn, while she wants me to be comfortable and happy, these are crazy expensive pills. It is costing $10 a day. Of course, if they work, I am lucky my people can afford this, but they would rather not.   

Final Fiction Nature Friday - Summer Evening

Thanks to Rosy for organizing the nature part and Aunty-Yam for organizing Final Fiction Friday.

The air sits heavy as I watch the cotton candy sky  turn from pink to grey.

Enjoying the last of the quickly shortening summer day.

Lake Troubles - By Phod

Dear pals,

You know I am a water dog and I love my lake. 

In my youth, I loved jumping off the dock, however this has changed. As some of you noted last week, part of the dock is new. It is all also on riser now, making it further from the water. Last week when I jumped off it, I went completely underwater and I did NOT like that. I don't want to jump off the dock anymore.

Last week, one night we were down for an sunset swim and there was a little plane. It made me very nervous. If you remember in the spring, we had a small forest fire and there were 2 water boomers working hard. Well it turns out those scared me and I now don't like planes at my lake.

Lady and Man think I am becoming sensitive and laugh a little at me. I think I am just attuned to what makes me happy.

In spite the lake problems, I still do enjoy a quick dip. We had another extreme heat wave last week and it was nice options cool down. When I am done, I pick up my bumper and walk home.

Wordless Wednesday - SWAK

 

Trouble on Tuesday - Annual Check Up

 Phod is in blue.  Lee is in pink. The editor is black.

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My people took us on the stupidest adventure. They tried to make it all exciting, but it was not fun like the trip to Grammie's the day before.

It was terrible. I threw up all over the car. 

At least this time you didn't throw up in me.

We broke sooooo many rules when we got there. First, the Man took us out of the car early (this was to empty everyone before we went in and to clean the car). Then the clinic let both the humans in when the rule says one.

Next I had to stand on the scary thing that says I weigh 79lbs.

I sat nicely, I am about 44lbs.

Then there was a lot of touching and a needle and things in my ear and a lot of talk about how I don't always eat my breakfast, and my ears and my golden years. There was talk about a new medicine I need to take for allergies. They were our so Lady will go back to get some. She says I don't have to go.

Phod seemed stressed so I kept checking on him. I a.so kept checking to see if the door was open.

Then the worst thing happened. They took me out of the room.

I got concerned when he left. However, I didn't have to go to the back because even though I am older, my vet says he has no concerns about me. I am all muscle. I do have a bit of a sensitive spot in my back, likely due to age but since it doesn't bother me much, we can ignore. It was the same as last year. Woody said if my peeps said I was coping ok, I can say off Prozac. It is up to them. Lady and Man sort of disagree about this. Lady worries less when I take it. Maybe she needs it more than me.

I came back with bandages on both legs. Lady and Man kept talking. So Woody took them off. 

Finally we were done and got to leave. As I only got 1 cookie (I got a lot) I only threw up a little. We were both so happy to be home.

I was very happy to leave. Being home is much better. 

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Our vet is not concerned about Phod. He still is looking good. We decided to do the first senior blood panel just to get a baseline. Phod had a rough start to life (we don't know his history but he was only about 40-45 lbs when he was found around 1.5 years of age) and as a Shepherd mix is getting old. He is about 10. I have never had a senior dog, so want to make sure he has the best golden years. If something minor shows up, we may be able to do something now. Angel Gheera had an elevated kidney issue at 15 and a change of food gave him another 4 pain free, healthy years.  Overall, they did really well and weren't embarrassing, which isn't always the case. However, we don't always usually go. It is usually just me and one dog. 

Mischief Monday - No Proof

Dear pals,

Last Thursday the Man took himself to a movie. This left us at home at lunch with Lady. She took us out at lunch and turned her back on me, and I wandered into the bush. 

After ignoring her calls, because while I adore my Lady, I do not listen to her, I heard a string of HBO words as she stormed to the house. She dragged Phod in, put on bush walking shoes, grabbed her phone and headed into the woods.

It was only a few minutes later when Lady heard me. I was at the top of the hill in our all bush acre. This time when she called I came to her.

She can't prove I left the yard.

Send good wishes to us today because we are both going for our annual V-E-T exams today. Mine is way overdue and Phod's is a few weeks early. We will report on it tomorrow.

Your pal, Hailey Bug

Nature Friday - Bloom

 Thanks to Rosy for hosting this hop.

Happy Birthday To Our Man

 Celebrations continue here in Paradise. Today we celebrate our Man.

Happy birthday Man. We love you! 

Wordless Wednesday - Take The Plunge

 

Tongue Out Tuesday - When the Heat Breaks

As we mentioned yesterday, it was sweltering here last week. Finally, on Friday a storm blew though which helped break the heat.

Lady has taken Friday afternoons off for the summer. She was sitting in the driveway assembling patio furniture listening to the thunder. As the storm came closer she could hear us upset in the house so she moved inside. She got in before it poured and poured. Thunder crashed. Valium was administered. Valium was not effective as at 2:50 our power went out.

We were very upset. Lee was walking around trying to destroy things. The leash inside was tried. Finally, Lady and her Kobo ended up in the closet, Lee pressed up against the wall and Lady sitting pressed up to her. Phod was in and out, drooling on Lady. This seemed to help. Lee was able to settle, and Lady was able to lay down, squished up against Lee and have a floor nap.

The power was restored about 3.5 hours, but not until the Man had gone to get gas for the generator and started it. Seriously, the minute he clicked start, it all came on.

While it was not the most fun afternoon, we were grateful for the break in the heat. That evening Lady could wear pants and a hoodie.

Mischief Monday Too Hot

 Dear pals,

Last week was too hot. While the temperatures were "only" in the 30s/high 80s low 90s, it felt like the 40s/over a hundred. The humidity was intense. It did not cool down at night. It was so hot that even Phod could see the value of the air conditioning until in the bedroom. Science says this is the new normal. We aren't sure we like it, but we do like visiting the lake to cool down.

This week looks more more reasonable, so we shouldn't melt! 

Nature Friday - Another Field Obstacle

One evening last week, we were wandering through the field in the golden hour.

Suddenly Man called to Lady, "put Phod on leash." Lady did. The tall grass had stopped the dogs from seeing the obstacle.

What are we looking at?

A deer was eating apples from the tree that is across from our house. You can see our house in the pictures. The deer saw us and after a few bites, jumped the fence and walked through our yard to the bush.

Thanks to Rosy for hosting Nature Friday! 

The Photographer's Challenge

I realize looking through my pictures I am getting beautiful ones of my boy in the field and not beautiful ones of my girl.

This is because my boy is old and slow. He tends to stay with me or closer so I can get in front of him. It allows me to capture pictures like his official Gotcha Day portrait. 

My girl, well she is slowing down but is still fast. I spend most of my time behind her, so I get pictures like this:

To deal with the challenge, the other night when the light was especially lovely, I made the pair pose for a picture. It is rare to get them both in a shot. They are looking up as they heard Callie bark. 

Wordless Wednesday - Joy

 

Navigating the Cats In the Barn - by Lee

Well, in spite of the fact that there are cats living under the barn, and now the neighbours are feeding them, I am still getting access to the field. We have worked out a compromise. We enter the field on leash. Instead of passing the barn at the end of our walk, we walk past it first. We stay on leash. Once we get past the barn (and I saw a different cat their a few nights ago), we get to be off leash.

Can you tell I am in hunt mode as we approach the barn? 

It isn't perfect and it has put a damper in my cat hunting, but I can live with this compromise.

Living almost her best life, Lee

Mischief Monday - Nighttime Troubles - by Phod

 Dear pals,

The most horrible thing has been happening in the night. My people bought the very loud machine for the bedroom. Lady said it is to keep us cool. Lady also says Angel Gemi loves this. They had one in their old house and as soon as it was turned on, she would run, jump on the bed and lay right in front of it, and wouldn't move.

Gemi may have liked it, but I am very scared of the "loud fan" when it is running. On Thursday night, I was pacing and pacing. Then I saw flashing lights and was sure it was lightning. Lady said it was just the new Christmas lights but since I was keeping them up at 1:45 am she went out and turned them off.

It has been fairly hot for us (in the 30sC and high 80s, low 90sF) so the people are doing the following - start the scary machine about an hour before they think Lady will go to bed. I don't get to go to bed with her as I am too scared. The bad machine runs until Man comes to bed and then he turns it off and opens the windows. It has been cooling down enough so this is working. They also only run it in nights they really need it. Lady says they got it to help them sleep and me pacing around doesn't help improve sleep.

As for the lightning solar lights, Lady went out after dark last night and figured out how to change the setting to not flash. This made them less scary. 

Lady says I am getting soft in my old age. I think she is just introducing horrible things. 

Your very brave pal, Phod

Nature Friday - The Field Spot It and A Celebration

The grass is really long in the field now in places it is nearly as tall as Lady. This means the wildlife can hid.

Lady and Man play spot it before we are allowed in. Sometimes they do spot things like the next 2 pictures show.

For Bertie - see we have the same burrs on this side of the pond too! 

Thanks to Rosy for hosting Nature Friday!

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Now for the Man of the Hour. Happy 9th Gotcha Day Dear Phod!

WTF - by Zaphod

 We had people over last week because we can do that now. At first I was scared but soon I enjoyed them,

One went into the bathroom and came out with . . . 

Then the worst thing happened. They went to my beach without me. They were gone for 87 million hours. I wonder what they were doing?

I see there is a box with a dragon in it. It has been too cold for the dragon to come out yet. I don't think I will like it.