Fall Is In The Air

 It's been a hot dry summer here. We had many days over 100 degrees and we've had no rain in a couple months. The grass is brown and crunchy and the trees are droopy. My rock garden looks terrible. The plants were very stressed so Rob started watering them daily for the last couple weeks. He let the hose drip a little and the bees and butterflies loved the water droplets. This morning we got a little, and I do mean little, thunderstorm. It got very dark and very windy and the thunder rolled. There was some rain but not much. Still, the trees seem grateful. I noticed this afternoon that the Maple in my neighbor's yard has turned a glorious orange. 

My big Maple is still green and hanging onto most of the leaves but there is a tiny touch of color in parts. The leaves on most of the trees have been falling like crazy for the past week without any color change at all.

So what have we been up to? Well, since it was so hot and dry we started putting out a big bowl of water for the wildlife. The raccoons come by and soak in the cool water, then they sometimes nap on the porch. 

 We have three baby opossums that showed up about a month ago. They come every evening, sometimes together, sometimes separately. At first the raccoons were afraid of the tiny creatures and would run away, but now they're used to each other and often share the platter of kibble that we put out each evening.  Here is one of the babies eating and having a drink.

 All three have grown significantly in the past month and from the amount of kibble they pack away they'll all be nice and fat for winter. The raccoons are also putting on winter fat. One of them, Gabby, is huge, much larger than Mackey.

Today as I was reading on the porch I had a visitor. He was poking around in the hedge, then went into the yard looking for bugs and worms. Last year we saw a pair of large armadillos in the yard but this one is pretty small. This year's baby, perhaps.

Here, inside, where the air is cooler and water more plentiful, the Christmas cactus are flowering. I thought the big one was going to die earlier in the year. It got all droopy and the leaves were soft. I cut away some dead parts and babied the rest of the plant thru the summer. It paid off. The plant looks healthy again and look at all the flowers this week.

One of the new little plants is also in bloom. The other is waiting, presumably for Christmas.

 

 I have a new plant feeding mixture that my houseplants seem to love. Rob eats a lot of bananas. Now he puts the skins in a jar and adds warm water. After they sit for about 48 hours I mix them with plain tap water and feed the plants with the banana flavored water. They have responded well and I don't need to water as frequently.

 I lost my knitting mojo earlier in the summer and now I'm trying to get it back. I thought Bernie looked lonely sitting on his bench with only a squirrel for company, so I made a Ruth Bader Ginsburg for him to chat with. I'm not thrilled with her but she helped me get back into knitting, so there's that.

Mackey has a story for you but it'll wait till tomorrow. We'll see you soon.

Nature Friday

 Today Mackey and I are joining in on the Friday nature walk. We aren't going far, just around the yard. We're been experiencing a severe drought so we have a shortage of flowers and the trees have taken a big hit, too. But we had some rain last week and again on Monday so a few flowers are showing off. Mackey says she's ready to get started.

The plum tree in the front yard is really struggling but it managed to put out some pretty plums for the wildlife to enjoy

In the side yard we have two Crepe Myrtle. The white one usually does nicely.

This is the most flowers the pink one has ever produced.

There isn't much in the back yard this summer, but the Rose of Sharon is in bloom.

 

Rob's climbing rose has produced some lovely blooms this year.                                                         

Now Mackey and I are going back into the air conditioning. Have a great Friday, everyone.                  

A Little Late, But Who Cares

 Last week was National Mutt Day and we celebrated as we're sure all of you did, too. I looked it up and discovered that National Purebred Dog Day was May 1st. Oh oh, we missed it but we think our purebred family members deserve attention, so here's our rather late post.

My Grandmother loved English Cocker Spaniels. Since my Mom and I lived with my grandparents, my dogs were selected by my Grandmother. The first that I clearly remember was Pete. She, yes Pete was a girl, was a sweet little blonde English Cocker. Technically she was my uncle's dog, but I was three years old so everything was mine.

Next came Blondie, another blonde English Cocker. She was my best pal. Since we lived way out in the country, a mile from the nearest neighbor, she was my only playmate. We spent hours exploring and hours cuddling and were never apart.

After Blondie was Boots, a black English Cocker. She had lived with an Army officer who was being sent overseas, so six year old Boots was the first dog that was exclusively mine. She was super sweet.

Next was Cookie, a 15 inch Beagle. She was about three when she came to live with me. I discovered that Beagles are different than Spaniels. Beagles love to chew and never seem to outgrow the habit. It was a learning experience.

After Cookie I had a succession of Mutts till by accident I discovered Portuguese Water Dogs. Bentley was my first. I can't begin to describe how special he was. When he died I knew that I needed another Portie in my life.

 

That's why Samba came to live with us. Samba was indescribable and my heart hurts even writing this. I'll love and miss that girl forever.

Fudge was a born clown. His mission in life was to make people laugh and he was good at it. 

Samba plus Fudge equals a perfect litter of nine black and white Porties, each with a unique personality.

Tess was shy.

Sky was stubborn and very smart.

Lola was quiet.

Bailey was adventurous.

Noah was the little engine that could.

Norma Jean was born happy and stayed happy for her whole life.

Grace lived at the lake and was born to swim.

Gibb had his own boat on a lake in Oklahoma.

Ocho only lived 26 hours. We wonder what he would have been like had he survived.

I've lived with purebred dogs and I've lived with mutts. All I can say is that I love dogs.

National Mutt Day

 Today is a special day.

Mom has lived with dogs for her entire long life. She thinks dogs make better friends than people do.  She has had all kinds of dogs, big ones and little ones, some with long straight hair, some with long curly hair and some with short smooth hair.  She's had black dogs, white dogs, brown dogs and red dogs. She's had one color dogs and multi colored dogs and some very nice spotted dogs.

She has had a lot of purebred, pedigreed dogs and she's had a lot of MUTTS. She just loves dogs, no matter what flavor.

Here are some of the MUTTS that own important places in Mom's heart.

First was Hermione. She was part Shepherd and part Mystery.

Hermione had four puppies. Their dad was a Cocker Spaniel. 

They were Claude.

Louie.

 

Penny

and Zelda. Zelda lived to be 17 years old. 

Then Mom moved to the beach and needed a beach dog. So she adopted Libby.

Libby's mama was a Terrier and her daddy was a Boxer.

Just before Mom and Dad got married, they adopted Pylon.

Pylon was a Labrador mix.

After Libby died, Py needed a friend so they adopted Porsche. She was four months old and a silly little Dachshund mix. What they didn't know was that she had caught parvo at the shelter and only lived for a week after they adopted her.

Lucy was the next MUTT in their lives. Dad rescued her from a bad living situation.

Lucy's mama was a Chihuahua and her daddy was a Pomeranian.

Then they all moved to Missouri and soon Dad came home with a gentle giant, big Monty. 

Monty's mama was a ChowChow and his daddy was a Doberman.

Soon Miss Morgan joined the pack.

Morgan's mama was a Shih Tzu and her daddy was a Lab.

Next came Winston. His mama was a Golden Retriever and his daddy was a German Shepherd. He soon went to live with Mom's uncle, whose dog had recently died.

Then came Tsar.

His mama was a Siberian Husky and his daddy was a Chow/Lab mix.

After Tsar died Mom was very sad but one day a hot tired Sebastian showed up at the door. He was very welcomed.

Finally Dad surprised Mom was us, me and Sydney.

Our mama was a Beagle and our daddy was a Dachshund.

MUTTS can do anything that purebred dogs can do. We're especially good at giving love and laughter to our peeps. 

So happy National MUTT Day to all our doggy friends of all sizes, shapes, colors and breeds or mix of breeds.We love you all.

Your MUTT pal, Mackey