Thinking about Christmas

I was just speaking the other day to Big Guy about what we needed to do to get ready for Christmas, among them, what we could get for Big Lady. We had to keep our voices low and our meeting clandestine for fear of being found out. Big Guy was listening very attentively to everything I was telling him. We know the economy is bad and kibble is expensive, but we still love Big Guy and Big Lady very much. We wish all our friends and readers around the world a Happy Christmas! We'll post some more photos after Big Lady and Big Guy have had some quiet time away from work over the holidays! In the meanwhile, find a good human and tell them secrets... they really are a lot better shopping on the internet than we are :_)

My Green Bone

Patrick loves his green bone. There's nothing like a good chew and then taking it and dropping it on someone's foot to make the day complete.



Patrick has also mastered "fetch", well, when he feels like it, at least. Usually when Big Guy and Big Lady sit down at the kitchen table to play Scrabble@, Patrick calls this game "Scrabble and Bones"... When he was a puppy, it was "Scrabble and Kong", and he once tossed his bright red Kong toy up into the air after all the kibble and peanut butter were out of it, and it went up and bounced all over the table and onto the Scrabble board. Big Guy and Big Lady do not remember who won that game, they were laughing so hard at all the tiles flying all over the kitchen!

But now, he likes to play "Scrabble and Bones". He has two green bones, well, one is mine, but I let him play with it, and so, Big Guy will ask, "Where is your green bone?" Believe it or not, he knows the difference between his GREEN bones and his BROWN bones. He usually brings one to Big Guy, and then I saddle over to where he is sitting and sit down next to him and then we both get a treat. (Clever trick on my part, huh?) Then Big Guy says, "where is your OTHER GREEN bone?", and then he goes off and finds *my* bone. When those two are up on the kitchen table now next to the Scrabble board, then Big Guy or Big Lady will say, "where is your BROWN bone?" and Patrick will wander off, looking for it. When he brings it to the table and does a proper give, then I go over and sit down near him and both of us get treats again. Then Big Lady will say, "Patrick, where is your OTHER BROWN bone?" and sure enough, he wanders off and brings it to her. Then we get more treats again.

Occasionally, Patrick is really keen to get lots of treats for both of us, and will bring the four bones, two balls (ORANGE ball, and GREEN ball), and maybe a kitchen towel which he sneaks off the counter, or maybe an envelope or a piece of newspaper from the "leave-it" box (Big Guy says it's our temporary recycling-box), and sometimes there's just all kinds of things on the table next to the Scrabble board that we earn treats for. Then, whenever there's a break in the action, Big Guy or Big Lady will go and take the four bones and the two balls and walk them to some obscure place in the house, maybe down a hallway, or a bathroom, or in the study, and we start the fetching all over again.

It is no wonder that Big Guy and Big Lady often forget what they are doing when they play Scrabble in the kitchen on any given night. And I, as his agent, get all these treats with little or no effort on my part!

We Love Our Big Guy

We stopped playing our normal game of Wild-Dog the other day when Big Guy was home, jumped in his lap, hopped all over the place in glee, and generally had a great time with him. We like to do this right after he's vacuumed the carpet in the front room, it seems like a great time to play Wild-Dog on the clean carpet and jump up and down on the sofa.

Big Lady usually comes in and shrieks and says "what are you three doing?!" and then we know we must all look cute and act quiet and proper. We did such a good job of this the other day, that Big Lady actually stopped and took a picture of all three of us.

We love our Big Guy. And the Big Lady with the camera.

The Last Rose of Summer

The salmon colored rose that Big Lady photographed right as she was losing the light the other day, reminded her of two things: she hadn't posted to the blog in some time, and now, after many days of not having posted, she remembers fondly her father-in-law, very recently deceased, and how happy he was to share pictures of his Peace roses, or his tomatoes-in-a-bag in his greenhouse, cascades of lavender bordering the long driveway in Rochester, or borders old-fashioned iris and daffodils just bursting with color.

Pop, as he was known, was also very fond of calling Big Guy on weekends and inquiring as to how Patrick and I were doing, what were we up to, what mischief had we discovered in the past week. He felt a great deal of joy asking Big Guy about Patrick and I, and so, we remember Pop with probably one of the best roses Big Lady has ever photographed. Rest in peace, Pop, you're in a far better place where the roses never need watering, never wilt and fall apart, and smell heavenly on the evening breezes.

Monarch Indian Summer

Dear, dear, I told Big Lady tonight to get with the program! Where did August go? Where did September go? Big Lady says it might be close to Indian Summer, but I thought that was aways off yet. It is definitely butterfly season, and Big Lady caught these photos this past week in the garden. It has been a wet summer, even a cool August. I know she didn't post many photos in August because it rained a lot, and between Ike and Lowell you'd have thought Kansas would have been out of reach, but no, it rained and rained and rained.

But so it is... now... beautiful. Here, Big Lady caught a thirsty monarch perching on the hummingbird feeder.

She promises more pictures and more stories soon!

This dog looks like a relative of Patrick!

This may not be one of Patrick's relatives but doesn't the dog look like him?

Big Guy and Big Lady say this is from something called YouTube and it's a dog called Booger, with Kitty and Mousey, along with their human Gregory Pike. I've never been to Santa Barbara but it looks interesting. I don't think Patrick would let a cat get that close to him! I also think Mousey is a rat but I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings.

Interesting Day

Big Guy and Big Lady have been very busy. Big Lady's been to conferences in other parts of America. Patrick and I have been to see the staff at the Countryside Resort where we get baths and pedicures and check in with the other guests.

Today was pretty good because I got some more attention - Big Lady did some trimming of my fur round the shoulder blades and found where a nasty Tick had attached itself to me.

This evening we saw a couple of black cats in the Rose Garden! I chased them round the back yard and showed them how fast I am at running. Patrick also showed Big Lady how high he can jump. Big Lady yelled because Patrick looked like he wanted to jump through the top window in the Living Room. Big Lady forgets that German Shepherds and Labs are pretty good jumpers. A dog who is half of each is probably extra-special at jumping.

Thunder

We've been in the Countryside Spa Resort a couple of times in the last month or so. The staff like us and we like them. I like being groomed but I still don't like having a bath. If I'm going to have a bath then everyone around me needs to get wet.

On one occasion last month while we were staying there it thundered (it thunders a lot round here at this time of year) and Patrick, who doesn't like big noises despite being a big dog, managed to barge open the gate of his cell and go and hide in another room. The girls saw him going across the corridor into another room.

Poor Patrick! I don't like storms but they don't frighten me as much as they do him.

Patrick's Brothers - Anakin and Obiwan

Here's a picture of Patrick's brothers Anakin and Obiwan. Big Guy and Big Lady say that I was still living in Joplin when this was taken (in February 2004)

You can see how each of the boys got some of Patrick's color. Anakin's got the pale colors and Obiwan's got the brown.

Anakin

We were very sorry to hear that Anakin has gone to the Rainbow Bridge. Anakin's humans are friends of Big Guy and Big Lady. Anakin was one of Patrick's brothers. You can see the family resemblance here in this picture. I never met him but Big Guy and Big Lady said he was a very nice dog. I hope that his brother Obiwan is OK. I would hate to lose Patrick.

You look like a nice dog, Anakin. We will miss you.

More than One

Yes, there is more than one! Today we caught Momma bunny and Baby bunny feating on bird seed.
Sometimes it feels like I am seeing double. Sometimes I am right!

See, there, Patrick, I *can* count!

My Buddy

Big Lady and Big Guy are always posting pictures of flowers, birds and animals, but Patrick reminded me the other day that HIS picture hadn't been in the blog since Christmas.

If the truth be known, the digital-camera directory on the computer is FILLED with pictures of Patrick (and me), but Big Lady thought it would be nice change before all the rose bushes perk up to post a picture of my best friend and big buddy Patrick.

Here ya go, Patrick! He's looking out from the deck over the yard watching the birds, I think!

Woody Found It!

Woody is a very smart bird. Not only did he return to the yard he nested in last year, he has discovered a hidden suet cage under a neat little bird house that Big Guy got for Big Lady at Christmas! It's been sitting full of suet most of the spring, and Big Lady changed it out with fresh suet the other day. The prinicple (if birds have principles, I'm not sure about that), is that suet-under-the-house is better for woodpeckers because, well, woodpeckers are the only birds that can get at it easily, rather than having to fight off grackles and starlings on the normal hanging suet.

Well, we weren't sure how Woody would discover this. Big Lady hung it a little closer to Woody's suet the other day with the bottom sort of tipped up, and voila! This morning, Woody found it.

Then Big Lady found the camera, and the rest is history!

Bunny's Back Too!

Well okay, it isn't the SAME bunny, but son-of-bunny 2008! He's so cute! At least, I would like to think he is cute, but I can't get at him! Big Guy and Big Lady have this chicken-wire fence that they've put around the shed, and I have smelled critters under there for about a week. Today, baby bunny shows up at the back of the shed by the apple mint, and just suns himself and watches me through the chickenwire!

He even let Big Lady and Big Guy shoot photos of him! Big Lady told me tonight she would be very, very disappointed if I ever caught bunny, so for now, I have to watch him through the chickenwire. I wonder if Big Lady and Big Guy realized when they blocked our chase-around-the-shed path with the chickenwire frame that they were actually framing in a bunny hutch!

I'm Back - It's Spring!

We knew it was spring, Patrick and I, when Woody showed back up. Big Guy and Big Lady have been keeping the bird feeders well stocked. We have cardinals, juncos, sparrows, even an occasional bluebird, although he has eluded Big Lady's camera. This weekend, Woody came back, and we are all so happy.

Woody, as you will remember from last spring, was a wee lad who came to the garden with his mum and clutched so precariously the rose trellis to get near the suet cages. He's all "growed up" now, and sporting his colors proudly!

We've also had an unexpected visitor in the cold and wet this weekend, right before a severe freeze on Saturday night. Big Lady supposes that perhaps he was blown off course, so she immediately put out some hummingbird juice to bolster his spirits. After resting overnight in one of our flower barrels nestled in some grass, he has taken off for parts unknown. He was definitely the first butterfly of the season, and reminded Big Lady to hop-tu-it and get all the hummingbird feeders out now that warm weather is upon us.

Finchley Station

I've never been to the real Finchley Station, but Big Guy tells me it is a little like what happened in our rose garden this morning. We had so many finches scrambling for thistle seed that it looked like rush hour. We counted at least 15 total that Big Lady could actually get into a single photo, although this one shows closer to 13, I think.

We like the finches. They are very yellow, even the females sometimes. Contrast this finch, taken this winter --

... with one taken this past week...

Anyhow, we like the finches. Patrick and I enjoy watching them from the front room window.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to all our readers from JJ and Paddy! Big Guy and Big Lady worked some in the yard this weekend, but it was mostly cold and windy. That said, Big Guy found a very nice photo of a miniature iris brave enough to bloom on the earliest date of Easter in quite a while.

Yes, It's Spring!

Oh, yes, it's spring. Big Lady is doing housecleaning, and Big Guy is outside vacuuming up the winter's birdseed. Grass is sprouting up everywhere. Notice today's photo of the crocuses, it is green! Well, brown and green!

Then, Big Lady and I made a discovery on our way back from getting the paper this morning. Look! We have dandelions! The first dandelion of spring!



Yes, this is spring in Kansas. 72F this morning with 40 mph winds. Forecast for tomorrow: 32F and 4-7 inches of snow.

Did I tell you this is why we live in Kansas? :_)

Spring?

Patrick and I have been pointing out to Big Guy and Big Lady that they haven't put up any of our antics on the blog in TWO MONTHS! And as this is leap day, Big Lady thought she had better hop-tuit! We went out in the yard today after a very very long and dreary January and February and look what we found!

A Crocus!

Does this mean it's spring? whoooo hoooo!