Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Monthly Archives: April 2018


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Birding with a friend

Yesterday I got to go on a dog-less adventure with a friend. It rare that either one of us spends time at a park without our girls, but today it was all about the birds. With our pockets filled with bird seed and cameras slung around our necks we headed out to my favorite park on a perfect morning under clear blue skies to see what we could see.

Almost immediately we noticed a trio of sandhill cranes snacking, not far from the trail, in a grassy wetland meadow that had been burned by the rangers days before. I especially liked how they blended with the lines of the grass stubs.

If it weren’t for that red head patch I might have missed seeing this guy.

It didn’t take them long to notice us and head our way. They were expecting breakfast and I guess they can’t read the signs up in the parking lot — “Do not feed the cranes.” Since they were almost as tall as we were we decided not to begrudge them a bit of the seed in our pockets.

After breakfast preening.

Also they were blocking the path and we had to pay the toll in order to move along. I think it’s a racket they have going there, but I’m not going to report them, because it was a wonderful experience to be this close.

Stunningly elegant.

I wouldn’t want you to think we spent all day with the cranes. We moved one way on the path and they went the other way, looking for their next patsy and another handout.

Further into the woods we were approached by several chickadees and a titmouse or two. We stopped to share our provisions with them all.

Choosing the perfect seed.

Some of them were quite choosy, and took their time picking out the perfect seed. Others barely touched down before they were off with their prize.

I’m outta here!

Directly over my head was a curious woodpecker. We thought he might come down and join the banquet but he stayed up in the tree watching me. When he turned a certain way the sun caught the bright red cap on his head. He made me smile and I dropped the seed in my hand to get a quick image of him.

Whatcha got down there lady?

I’m sure that made him smile too because after we moved on he enjoyed the meal I left behind.

Some of the birds were harder to spot than others; this blue heron sat silently in the reeds watching us go by. He wasn’t in the mood for birdseed. If we’d had fresh fish in our pockets things might have been different.

See him off in all those cattails?

Our trail followed the shore of a lake which is teeming with birds and wildlife. In the center of the lake is an island with a rookery, the tops of the trees filled with huge nests, inhabited year after year by a large group of herons

The heron condos are full up this year.

I need a longer lens to really get a good look, but you can see how fascinating it is to watch the comings and goings of the adults as they prepare for the arrival of the young ones. Later in the season it gets even more fun to watch the teenage birds try out their wings.

Maybe it was the noise at the rookery that sent that other heron off to stand among the weeds for a little peace and quiet. Understandable.

Heading out to get lunch. Or just to find a peaceful place for a nap.

Back on the boardwalk and almost back to the car we came across these guys.

Dancing to their own beat.

There were several of them all lined up, mostly staring up at the sky. I’m not sure if they were watching for the space shuttle to go by overhead, or were doing some sort of mating dance. Either way I enjoyed watching them. Look at all their colors shining in the sun!

And just so you don’t think we ignored anything without wings…

Thanks for the treat lady!

…here’s a couple of non-bird things we ran into. Not literally. Cause this guy is not someone I want to get that close to.

Whatever kind of snake this is, it’s the biggest one I’ve ever seen.

So now you’ve seen the most interesting things we saw yesterday. We were only going to be out there for a coupe of hours, but it was so much fun that we ended up staying well into the afternoon. It was a perfect way to spend a spring day.

Even though we didn’t spend it with our dogs.

Thanks for the grub ladies, come back any time!


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Welcome home gift

We left you last enjoying spring in the blue mountains of western North Carolina as Katie and I headed north toward home. We made it as far as Lexington Kentucky for our second night on the road, but kept hearing about a big storm headed our way.

A little drink at one of many rest stops.

Checking into the hotel I booted up the computer and tried to figure out what to do. I watched the storm front inch closer and closer to I-75, our route home. They were saying there could be feet of snow in the west and that the front itself might spawn thunderstorms and even tornadoes. I tried to remember that weather people like to project the most dire possibilities

But I was still worried.

I woke up Saturday morning with a list of options playing in my mind. I could check with the front desk and see if I could stay another night and wait out the storm. But the local weather said Saturday was pretty good and things didn’t get dicey until late Saturday, early Sunday. Sunday, they said would be torrential rain and Monday they might even get snow. Didn’t sound like sticking around Lexington would be a good idea.

What do they say about red skies in the morning?

I could book a room about halfway home and get settled before the storm hit. I checked hotel availability 3 and 4 hours north, but my preferred hotel was sold out. Maybe other travelers were hunkering down too. There were rooms available about an hour north, but what was the point of moving only an hour down the road?

As the morning sky began to pink I decided to pack up and make a run for it.

The first three hours were great. Little traffic, no rain. Katie and I bebopped along to the radio and tried to keep our rest stops short, always keeping an eye on the sky to the west. The rain started in hour four.

Hurry up mama! I’m getting wet!

I pulled off the road into a rest stop to contemplate what to do. Should I look for a hotel? And as I considered what would be best the rain let up and then stopped. Katie and I decided to keep going. And as it turned out that was the only drama we had. The rest of the ride it rained lightly, nothing out of the ordinary, and we arrived home in the late afternoon.

That worked out perfectly because our local weather was issuing a severe winter storm warning for 8 p.m. that night and we woke this morning to an ice slicked driveway and sleet. Now it’s raining and freezing on the trees.

It’s cold here!

The early flowers seem miserable in the ice and snow.

Can’t stop shivering.

Katie says we should have stayed in the South. She’s a smart one, that girl.

Hope this is the last of winter.


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Neither here nor there

Katie here, continuing my travelog. Mama and I are headed home to daddy, and today is our second day of driving. All day. Yesterday I wasn’t very good about being in the car for so long, but I can explain!

Which looks better? Me or the mountains?

No one told me that we were driving home! I thought we were just going to the beach or the park and I didn’t understand that I’d be cooped up in the car all day! So I kept asking mama if we were there yet and by the end of seven hours she was about over the whole travel with Katie-girl thing.

So she says.

What a pretty day to travel!

Today I was a lot better, though by the last hour I did throw a bit of a fit. After all, my supper was more than 2 hours late! I had to remind mama that it was unacceptable to hold up a princess’s supper.

Anyway, we drove a little bit of the Blue Ridge Parkway on our way north. Not a lot of it, mind you, cause mama is on a mission to get home, but we got to see a little bit of it. She loves the layers of blue.

Perfect!

Me too, I could sit and look out over the view for a long time. Or until someone gives me a biscuit.

Enjoying the view.

Speaking of which, I’ve been snacking on treats Reilly’s mom packed for us. My guy even gave me heart biscuits! He’s a special guy, my Reilly.

Thank you Reilly sweetie!

Mama is really enjoying watching spring unfold all over again. It was spring weeks ago in Alabama and now that we’re in Kentucky we get to see the redbud and dogwood trees blooming all over again.

Isn’t this pretty?

And the deciduous trees are just budding out, with red and peach and orange and lime green making the mountains just glow in the sun. Mama couldn’t get a good picture of it cause she was driving. But the image below she took when we were at the Kentucky welcome center. The trees were on the other side of the freeway, and the light wasn’t as perfect as she’d seen when she was driving, but you can kinda see how beautiful it is here this time of year.

Can you see all the colors ?

Tonight mama is worried and is watching the weather channel. It looks like tomorrow we’ll be driving right into a bad storm. She can’t decide if we should get up early and try to beat the storm home, or if we should stay here for another night. But she says it would probably be two more nights because Saturday afternoon all the way into Sunday looks bad.

I don’t know what we’re going to do. Mama says we should get some sleep and see what tomorrow looks like. I personally think we should go back to our lake house, but mama says she has stuff to do in Michigan.

Glad we had a good day, cause tomorrow is going to be different.


Stuff to do? I thought she was retired!

Signing off….your travel guide Katie-girl.

Just another photo of me. Mama just won’t quit.


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A date with my boyfriend

Katie here. You all know I’m down in Florida waiting out the snow up north and visiting with my boyfriend Reilly Cowspot Dog. Well guess what? Yesterday we got to go on a date and we went to Reilly’s park!

The moms asked us if we wanted to go and we got all excited. But then, in a typical mama fashion, she took forever to get all her stuff together and eventually I made my opinion known.

Come ON people! Let’s get moving!

They moved a little faster after that and soon we were all in the back of the car headed out!

Everybody’s ready to go mama!

Once we got to the park we could hardly contain ourselves. So many great smells, and we were barely out of the parking lot!

Good sniffing everywhere!

Some of the time I spent with my special guy….

Let’s go this way Reilly!

…but most of the time we all just hung out together. That’s OK. I like Reilly’s little brother Denny too.

We didn’t always agree which way to go.

Of course the moms made us stop to take pictures. We tried to cooperate.

We’ll all look at you guys if you promise this is the last time we have to pose.

But sometimes we just had to take things into our own paws and put a stop to all the photography.

Enough is enough moms!

We did agree to sit with each of the moms for a photo. We figured if they had to do it they’d see how annoying it was to be interrupted while having a fun day at the park just for a photo opportunity.

This is my mama with all of us!

We had the best time! I treasure every minute I get to spend with my guy Reilly and his family. And that’s not just cause his mom gave us doggy ice cream when we got back home.

Yum. How come you never buy me these mama?

Yep, I’m a lucky princess. Kisses to my prince Mr. Reilly.

Me and my guy.

And thanks to mama and Reilly’s mom for taking us on a wonderful date!

What’s next mama?


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Ocean spray is good for my furs

A beautiful spring day at the beach.

Katie here, continuing as your tour guide. Today I take you to see the Atlantic Ocean in northern Florida. Though to be honest most of what you’ll see is me. But that’s why you come to visit my, ahem, mama’s blog. Right?

I thought so.

Showing off my true form, and proving I’m not fat! It’s just fur people!

This will have to be short as I had a very long day yesterday driving in the car for miles and miles and hours and hours and then today I got to walk on the beach forever. So I’m behind in my sleep quotient and I need to get to bed.

I’m visiting my intended Mr. Reilly Cowspotdog in Florida for a couple of days. He didn’t feel up to frolicking on the beach so I sacrificed and went to inspect one of his beaches for him. I always do my duty, yes I do.

Everything’s OK under these rocks, Reilly!

It was a little bit warm, at 63 degrees, but very windy which kept my furs fluffy and cool. There was hardly anyone else on the beach.

Nose into the wind and on a mission.

That meant that mama could let me run free most of the time, though she had to hook me back up to my leash when joggers went by because I like to tell them off and mama says that’s rude. Whatever. It’s Reilly’s beach and I’m just making sure everyone knows that we shelties rule!

I got the zoomies for a little bit, I was so happy!

Mama took a few pictures of things that were not me, but not very many. Mostly I kept her entertained by all the fun I was having. She likes watching me enjoy new things. I guess that’s why she takes me with her on so many of her adventures.

Artsy pelicans.

My only complaint about this adventure was the first wave. The tide was coming in and I forgot how wet the ocean was and I was standing there and a wave came up and went right over my feet! I jumped and mama laughed and I twirled around trying to get it off me and then it left. I was mortified and never let it happen again! Mama didn’t get a good picture, but this is sort of how I looked.

Wet feet! Wet feet! Wet feet! Get it off of me mama!

Oh, and another embarrassing thing was that mama kept trying to get a picture of my behind with the wind blowing all the fur forward. She says it was cute. I made sure she didn’t get a decent shot. Then just as we were leaving she said she got me AND the danger flag.

Drats. Never let your guard down with a mama and her camera.

Anyway, I’m outta here, I have things to do and people to sniff.

Talk to you guys later. Don’t look at my behind.

Signing off for now, Katie, beachcomber extraordinaire.

Mama! Don’t you embarrass me!