I’m here in the deep south, sitting in the shade, sipping sweet tea, watching the crazy jet skis and boats out on the lake. Been swimming at least a couple times already today, will go again this evening before the fireworks. It’s a wonderful life.
Hope you are all enjoying your Fourth…more later…that sweet tea is calling my name…
Deer love day lilies. Of course we didn’t know that when we planted a whole lot of them on the south end of the house. Most years we don’t see many blooms. This year for reasons known only to the deer themselves, they didn’t eat many of the lily plants we’ve never seen bloom, and they DID eat those that in previous years they’ve left alone. Here’s what they didn’t eat:
And an example of many that they did:
Darn deer.
Tomorrow early I fly south for the weekend with my siblings. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend, if you’re in the States. If not, have a great weekend in general! See you when I get back. Everyone stay safe please!
It was a warm night, dozens of fireflies winking nearby, hundreds of stars winking above. Katie pulled hard at her leash, straining to get to the tent set up in the backyard. But once inside she just wasn’t ready to sleep. We tried. Far off dogs barking, nearby deer wandering, cars driving by; it all riled Katie, and in turn me. At 1:00 a.m., after 3 hours of attempting to sleep in the silky warm night air, I gave up and we went inside.
Once settled on the familiar bed, ceiling fan twirling, window open, she fell sound asleep, but I was wide awake. I wasn’t barking at every sound from outside, but I certainly wasn’t yawning either, though I was extremely tired. Another hour went by. Katie rolled over onto her back, her favorite way to sleep, propped up against me. Past 2 a.m., I was wide awake and Katie softly snoring, her little feet twitching while she dreamed of chasing those deer into the warm summer night.
Another Katie adventure ended just the way she likes them to; pressed up against her Mama, safe and sound, free to dream.
Katie and I went to the park yesterday afternoon. There was a new sign there that said we weren’t allowed to train bird dogs for several months during bird nesting season.
Good thing we were warned about that, because you know Katie is such a bird dog! But we did have several incidents along our walk that involved birds. Right at the beginning of our walk I noticed two families of Canadian geese near the pond. One family’s babies already had the markings of adult birds, the other family’s little ones were still fuzzy balls of fluff. I decided we’d take a route that totally avoided them as Sheltie + parent geese do not make a good mix.
We headed into the mowed paths of a big hilly field. Katie enjoyed sniffing along the edges, at the flowers and traces of other dogs, who knows. Suddenly she went stiff, then lunged and up out of the tall grass right next to us flew a fat brown partridge (or something like that). Katie leaped straight up in the air and I screamed. Guess we weren’t meant to be bird hunters! Good thing Katie was on a leash.
We moved on down the path, and Katie went into her bird dog alert mode again. 
Holding tight to her leash I let her explore a little, and there was a turtle! Way less frightening (at least to us) than the bird. I eased Katie away so as not to disturb it and we moved on. 
Just a bit further along the way we began to be dive-bombed by tree swallows, as we were passing their nesting boxes. I kept ducking and urging Katie to “come on” as they swooped low over my head, making clucking noises just inches away from my hat. We rushed through that section of the path!
Eventually we arrived at a resting spot, and Katie had a bit to drink. I’ve been working on getting her not to be afraid to drink out of this contraption that allows me to carry water on my belt as well as serves as a bowl for her. She decided yesterday that she was thirsty enough not to worry about the funny shape.
We also got to see a bluebird couple. They were sitting on the fence that surrounds the softball field. A game was in progress but that didn’t seem to bother them. The male and female were swooping down into the outfield to catch bugs. There was another bird hanging out on the fence, a little brownish bird that I thought was a sparrow or house finch. On our way back to the car the blue birds were back on the fence, as was the little brown bird. Turns out the little bird was a baby bluebird. As Mom and Dad got bugs they’d fly up to the fence and feed the youngster! How cool! We watched for a bit and then wandered past.
And then, on our drive home we saw a wild turkey along the road near the house! Katie didn’t notice it, but it was the last bird in our bird filled experience of walking in the park. Maybe I should get Katie a set of binoculars so she can watch the birds more closely.
Katie and I have been working on “shake” this week. She learned it in about 2 seconds as long as treats were involved. But no treat? No shake! I don’t have video but if I did, you’d see that she just grudingly offers her paw when I ask for shake, even with the treat. She knows what I want, but she doesn’t want to give in and play the game. She’s way too smart for me!
Today I have the afternoon off. I promised her we’d do something fun. That usually involves car rides and the park. So off we go!
Katie and I spent some time weeding this morning. Well to be truthful I weeded and Katie napped on the warm black asphalt of the driveway. She’s the only Sheltie I’ve ever met that likes to be really warm. After awhile I got too warm myself and we retreated to the rocker on the shady deck. She’s being very good, intently watching the birds at the feeder, but not (yet) lunging off the deck to attack. I keep telling her what a good girl she is, but I’m sure as soon as the resident chipmunk arrives all bets will be off.
Meanwhile the most beautiful wonderful thing just happened. As I’m sitting here on the deck reading email (got to love that wireless!) and listening to a neighbor’s country music while sipping on iced tea, there is a ruckus in the trees just above the bird feeder. And then down swoops a blue jay being chased by a Baltimore oriole! The oriole chased the blue jay up and down through the trees for quite a long time, so I got to watch the sun flickering off of its bright orange back. Then they both landed on the ground and the oriole continued to chase the blue jay until the jay left with a big squawk. Sadly I imagine the cause of all this is that the jay tried to raid the oriole’s nest. Or something equally traumatic. But I only see an oriole maybe once a summer and never for as long as I got to watch this one. I’m hoping he (she?) is around more this summer. I have a feeder for them somewhere in the basement. Guess it won’t do much good down there; I should find it and try to entice them to visit me again. Last year an oriole tried to eat from the humming bird feeder, which is why I bought the oriole feeder. Of course I never saw the orioles again after that first appearance.
So now it’s just Katie and I, one neighbor’s country music, another’s lawnmower, my backyard wren singing her heart out, and the frogs across the way joining in on the summer’s symphony. Can’t say I’ve heard better .
Enjoy your weekend everyone!
Tonight Katie and I were scheduled for another agility class. But it’s been a misty kind of day and by evening it was starting to rain. So the class got canceled. But Katie was all wound up; I’d told her we were going to school, I’d thawed out her favorite turkey for treats. I’d packed the car with her special princess pink agility leash. She wanted to go Go GO! So we worked a little bit in the driveway and on a plank I bought which was in the backyard.
Tuesday I went to the orange home improvement store and bought an 8 foot long 12 inch wide plank, some spray paint and a couple of orange cones. At last week’s agility class Katie had been afraid of the dogwalk and the A-frame, so I’m hoping I can get her used to walking on boards that are painted yellow and blue.
Yesterday I put the plank out in the yard and we “walked the board!” several times. This is Katie at the end of our session. “Let’s get going, I’m not afraid of any stinkin board Mom!”
Today I painted the board and we walked it some more. Too bad there was no class, because she’s got “walking the board” down now I think. We’ll have to see what happens when the board is elevated.
We also did a little heeling around our cones in the driveway. That turkey sure was motivating, as she was very attentive. But it wasn’t as fun as going to agility class and getting to run and jump and visit with other dogs. Oh well. Maybe we’ll be able to go again someday!
Katie and I are supposed to be working on tricks for Ludo’s tricky t-day. We are working on cross paws. But since I don’t have a video camera, and we haven’t mastered the trick yet we don’t have much to tell you! I use the word “cross” and sometimes she will cross one paw over the other. But mostly she thinks I’m a little crazy. Some of you have been successful at this trick, so any hints would be good. I’m pointing to where her paw should go…I’m sure there are better ways.
Katie and I survived a full night of camping out in the back yard last night. It was soothing to listen to the rain as it fell off and on throughout the night, and we had an early morning wakeup call from a couple of robins about 5:30. For the most part Katie and I had a nice snooze and we’ll do it again soon I think. I’ve packed up the tent so that Daddy can mow the grass.
At work yesterday I was searching for a book in the teen fiction area, a part of the library I really don’t have much experience with. The book was not to be found, so I began to look for it throughout all the shelves. Along the way I realized there were several titles I was interested in reading, and recognized with a start that there was no reason I couldn’t. I’m planning on grabbing a few titles next time I’m in that branch. Another chance to read “outside my box.”
Today I glanced out the laundry room window and thought I saw a big rock in my neighbor’s long gravel driveway. Then the rock moved and I realized it had legs. And a head. So I ran outside with a camera, and this is what I saw.
It’s a snapping turtle, about a foot long, maybe 10 inches wide. She wasn’t very happy with me so I took my pictures and retreated back across the road and down into a little dip where I could watch her without appearing to be threatening. She sat for a long moment, then kept on moving toward the pond. I think she had been out laying eggs somewhere. She moved very delibertly, picking up one giant foot, plopping it down and then doing the same with the another foot. Even so she moved quite quickly and was soon safe in the pond. Very fun to watch.
Katie and I went to PetCo today. Apparently it was adopt a dog day and there were lots of people and dogs outside. I probably wouldn’t have gone today if I had known. After we made our purchases we drove to the park. That too was full of people, a family celebrating some sort of event complete with a giant blow up jumping house in the shape of Thomas the Train, and a little league softball game going on, teams in uniforms, each side with a mess of people cheering them on. Katie and I decided to skip the practice in our normal area, and went for a walk in the field instead. Just as fun.
So that’s the news from up in Michigan on a Sunday. Nothing earth shattering. But sometimes that’s a good thing.
Last night Katie and I had the opportunity to do a little agility again. It’s been a very long time since we have tried this, and I was worried that she wouldn’t remember anything. I was wrong. She remembered that she hates the dogwalk and the A-frame, refusing to begin them, and only tentatively maneuvering them when she was placed on top of each. We didn’t even attempt the teeter. She still likes to do the tunnel and she loves to run and jump. She even did weaves pretty good with me guiding her through them. Most of her weave problems were caused by me not being able to handle the hand with the leash (and her) and the hand with the cheese through all the poles. The chute was OK, but someone was holding up the end so I think she thought it was just another tunnel.
Anyway, we had great fun, ran a lot and generally wore ourselves out. Which is why I had great hopes for our first night this summer of CAMPING OUT in the back yard! I’ve been having that soulful wish to camp out for awhile. Warm afternoon sun entices me to spend the night listening to the frogs singing in the cool summer night air. Since I am off work today, and lack of sleep wasn’t going to be a big issue, I put the tent up yesterday afternoon. Katie and I explored it before we went to agility. And late last night I headed out with tons of blankets, pillows, a flashlight, water…and of course Katie. 
She didn’t settle in right away; she had to circle the permiter of the tent several times, flop down, get up and do it all over again. Finally she settled on “her” pillows near a little doggie window and stood guard while I fell asleep. For a minute anyway. I was awakened by barking and her jumping on me. We did this a few times before she crawled up on the blow up bed (I’m not THAT much into old fashioned camping and sleeping on the ground!) stole all my pillows and went to sleep. I scrunched further down under my pile of blankets and went to sleep too. For a minute. I woke to her jumping on my head and barking. After awhile we settled down again. For a minute. This went on for perhaps an hour, and then she sighed, curled into a small ball, her nose in her tail at the foot of the bed and we both went to sleep.
I think our first night of camping out might have been successful if I had not woke up in the middle of the night, about 3, having to go to the bathroom. She was still curled in a tiny ball at the foot of the bed, sound asleep. It was FREEZING, I think we were somewhere in the low 40’s and my feet and nose were cold. I decided our little camping experiment could end, and I woke her up, put on some shoes and attempted to crawl out of the tent. She didn’t want to go! Silly dog! I finally picked her up (good thing she’s a little dog!) and we tromped back into the house with it’s indoor plumbing, heat, and king size mattress.
My husband thinks Katie and I are nuts. He’s probably right.
Change Is Hard 