Nature Friday - This and That

Happy last day of 2021! The last few months have been very rough for our people, so we are glad to be moving forward.

First up today - tasty nature. Calli and her people brought over treats for the humans on Christmas Eve. The most special being maple syrup.

 This maple syrup is so special because it is from the sugar bush they have made behind our house!

You can see the lines and the barrel the sap was collected in. We Canadians are very serious about our maple syrup. Canada produces 75% of the world supply and our province produces 90% of Canada's supply. We even have a maple syrup reserve, which we have had to tap into because of shortages (perhaps a result of climate change - :( ).

This maple syrup is amazing and Lady, who normally doesn't put it on her pancakes ate a lot of it!

---------------

Early in December, Lady was driving home around 9 at night. She was still in the city, when she saw the deer coming out of the ditch. There was nothing she could do but keep going. Fortunately for all involved, the deer turned at the last minute and just hip checked or kicked the car. When she got home, she looked and there was no damage. The next day an engine light came on. It appears the kick to the car caused a sensor to come loose. It was an inexpensive fix. Lady purchased deer whistles so hopefully won't have this happen again. She is thankful it was not more serious. 

Here is a dramatic recreation of the event. (Yes Lady's car is that dirty - when it was finally warm enough to wash it, the car wash was out of order!)

-----------

And finally

Resting Up

Gotta get ready for the new year!

 

Wordless Wednesday - Unsure About It All

 

Christmas Part 2

 Here are some other random pictures for around our Christmas. Lady didn't take too many, because as mentioned yesterday, she was too busy eating and playing games.

We were big helps getting ready for the big day.

Hailey supervised the baking.  

Phod helped with the cleaning.

Hailey supervised present opening and was very disappointed they weren't all for her.

The Man slaved in the kitchen for this:

We need to rest after so much activity! 

Hope you all had merry days too! 

Mischief Monday - Christmas Part 1

Well, no one will be surprised when we say Covid causes mischief this holiday. See Grammie and the Big Guy were going to come but then they got dose 3, and weren't up for it. Saving lives, gave them the opportunity to have a quiet Christmas. When Lady found out,  she drove her baked goods and gifts so they would have them. She also did some errands to they could stay home and rest. 

In spite of the growing cases (our province is about 10 000 new ones a day), Uncle Chris and Emma came.  Mostly the people ate and played games. That is what they do over holidays.

We know were good puppies because we got gifts. We got yummy cookies not pictures.

Uncle Chris brought these.

Once Phod got over the crinkling sound they make, he was a little scared, we liked them. 

Santa brought us the following:

In spite the last minute changes, it was a good Christmas. 

Merry Christmas

On The Twelve Day of Hat Tax

On the twelfth day of hat tax my puppies gave to me enough of their time, another  Santa Claus, candy cane headgear, a surprised Santa, help hiding the props, the most handsome  Phod, a resting grinch face, dogs without hats, two tightly closed eyes, one stretching Santa, one uncertain deer and no help by the Christmas tree.

On The Eleventh Day of Hat Tax

On the eleventh day of hat tax my puppies gave to me another Santa Claus, candy cane headgear, a surprised Santa, help hiding the props, the most handsome  Phod, a resting grinch face, dogs without hats, two tightly closed eyes, one stretching Santa, one uncertain deer and no help by the Christmas tree.

On The Tenth Day of Hat Tax

On the tenth day of hat tax my puppies gave to me candy cane headgear, a surprised Santa, help hiding the props, the most handsome  Phod, a resting grinch face, dogs without hats, two tightly closed eyes, one stretching Santa, one uncertain deer and no help by the Christmas tree.

On The Ninth Day of Hat Tax

On the ninth day of hat tax my puppies gave to me a surprised Santa, help hiding the props, the most handsome  Phod, a resting grinch face, dogs without hats, two closed eyes, one stretching Santa, one uncertain deer and no help by the Christmas tree.

On The Eighth Day of Hat Tax

On the eighth day of hat tax my puppies gave to me help hiding the props, the most handsome  Phod, a resting grinch face, dogs without hats, two  ightly closed eyes, one stretching Santa, one uncertain deer and no help by the Christmas tree.

On The Seventh Day of Hat Tax

On the seventh day of hat tax my puppies gave to me the most handsome Phod, a resting grinch face, dogs without hats, two tightly closed eyes, one stretching Santa, one uncertain deer and no help by the Christmas tree.

On The Sixth Day of Hat Tax

On the sixth day of hat tax my puppies gave to me a resting grinch face, dogs without hats, two tightly closed eyes, one stretching Santa, one uncertain deer and no help by the Christmas tree.

On The Fifth Day of Hat Tax

On the fifth day of hat tax my puppies gave to me dogs without hats, two tightly closed eyes, one stretching Santa, one uncertain deer and no help by the Christmas tree.

On The Fourth Day of Hat Tax

On the fourth day of hat tax my puppies gave to me two tightly closed eyes, one stretching Santa, one uncertain deer and no help by the Christmas tree.

On The Third Day of Hat Tax

On the third day of hat tax my puppies gave to me one stretching Santa, one uncertain deer and no help by the Christmas tree.

On The Second Day of Hat Tax

 On the second day of hat tax my puppies gave to me one uncertain deer and no help by the Christmas tree.

On The First Day of Hat Tax

Greetings pals - for the next 12 days, weekends included, we will be sharing our holiday song - the 12 days of Hat Tax.

We hope you enjoy!

------

On the first day of hat tax my puppies gave to me no help by the Christmas tree.

Nature Friday - Winter

 Lee: Ummm Lady, it is almost Friday and you don't have a post ready!

Lady: Sorry Lee, I am off my game. I hope this will do.

Thanks to Rosy for hosting this! 

Prepping for The Hat Tax

Long time readers will be familiar with our hat tax. The hat tax, is the price we dogs must pay for living as freeloaders in the house. Several times a year, we must tolerate being dressed up and having our picture take and spread all over the internet. This is the tax we pay.

 

Thanks to Ann and June for creating these for us!

Wordless Wednesday - Vision of Sugar Plums Danced In Our Heads

 

Trouble on Tuesday - An Almost Perfect Party

We celebrated Hanukkah on Saturday.

Lady and Man spent 2 days cleaning and cooking. The latkes were exceptional this year. Man used a hamburger press to make them uniformly great. 

All our family came, include cousin Emma.

Hailey got all the love. 

Uncle Chris won best dressed. 

The only problem with this day, was earlier we got just a little bit of snow.  

It was enough to make the roads just slippery enough that 2 of our guests rolled their car on the way over. They are ok, sore and scared. We were all just grateful it was not more serious. 

Mischief Monday - The Naughty List - A Dramatic Recreation

The scene: A cold, dark Tuesday morning around 5:10 am

Lady and the pups have just returned from a short walk. 

Hailey went into the house, while Phod went into the bush to finish his business.

Lady saw him go in. She saw him do his business, she turned, like she always does and took a few steps away. She heard Phod and then silence. He was gone. 

There was some snow, but not enough to track him in.

After 10 minutes (and being sure he has been abducted by aliens as he has just disappeared) Lady went and woke the Man up.

For the next 25ish minutes the people went around the yard, bush etc. calling for Phod.

This picture was taken by the house, after Phod was home to show how dark it was

Lady makes a circle around the house to check the front door. She sees the neighbour is about to leave, so she heads to the road and starts walking. She wanted to flag him down to ask him to watch for Phod.

Before the neighbour left, she heard a faint dingle, then she saw eyes and finally she could make out the Phod coming towards her.

His mouth looked injured from afar. There was a little panic that he has gotten into a fight, but he was walking slowly so he doesn't seem too hurt. Then as he gets closer, Lady saw it - A piece of bone.

This is a picture from our yard the morning in question. The bone, is the bone he brought back. 

 It was about the size of my hand. I did not get a picture of him carrying it, so I put this one together. 

It appears our boy had taken himself for a walk to the ditch around the corner where one of our local deer's had died. He brought himself home a prize.

Lady let him carry it to the house and made him drop it by the door. Once Phod was safely in the house, she went back to the bush to find the Man. After showing Man the bone, she threw it in the garbage, because if she threw it in the bush, someone would get it again!

Other than a slightly upset tummy, being extra itchy, disappointment daily that the bone is gone, and several attempts to slink back to the ditch (the deer is now gone), Phod was fine after his great adventure. 

While the deer was not a reindeer (we don't have those), Lady is sure that Santa is not going to be pleased with Phod's behaviour! 

Nature Friday - The Perfect Tree

Thanks to Rosy for hosting this event.

Phod: Hailey, what have you been eating?

Lee: Just some bird seed. I was helping fill the feeders. But Phod that is what we are here to talk about today. Today we are here to share a very special tree in our backyard. 

This is our spruce. It is clearly nature's perfect Christmas tree! Even on a rainy December day, you can see how beautiful it is!