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

Um Um Good !

We have discovered that dog kibble is good for more than feeding the dog. 

Years ago when we lived in Maryland we hand raised a couple of newly hatched Robin chicks. I started feeding them raw hamburger and water from a tiny spoon but we soon contacted a bird rehabilitator who gave us great advice. She said to soak puppy kibble until it was mushy, then add some calcium powder. It would provide the chicks with nutrition and water. The chicks both grew into healthy adults and left the nest, at least for awhile. I considered becoming a bird rehabber but we moved and my plans changed.

Here we raised many dogs on kibble combined with fruits and veggies and other goodies. They all turned out well. 

We discovered that birds are big fans of kibble. We put some out daily in the bird feeder and see the bigger birds come and fly off with it on a regular basis. The Woodpeckers especially like it.

We've also seen the cardinals and jays grab a piece of kibble to carry back to the nest.

If we put some kibble  on the platter with some water and let it get mushy, the smaller birds will come take some.

The opossum like the dry kibble and will eat till they're full.

And of course, our raccoon family comes by daily for their kibble. They like it either dry or mushy and we can add any scraps we might have . They aren't exactly picky.

 One happy note, this creature does not like kibble. Since he is such a persistant pest I take some plaesure in that fact.

So, simple kibble isn't just for dogs anymore.  Share the wealth!

Meet The Family

 It's HOT here. We're hanging around 99-100 every day. So to help out our wild friends we're putting out big bowls of water and keeping them filled. The birds and squirrels seem grateful but Rocket has been showing up in the early afternoons and after taking long drinks, she soaks herself in the cool water. Then she takes a nap on the shady part of the porch. On  July 1st she brought her new family to have a little picnic. There are four of them and I've named them Mayhem, Chaos, Bedlam and Fish.

They are adorable and I'm sure Mama Rocket has her paws full with their antics. She usually brings them around just after dark but yesterday they all trooped in around 3PM. After eating their fill from the platter and bowls, they go exploring while Mama finishes her meal. All except Fish who parks himself in the water bowl as soon as they arrive and stays there till it's time to leave. He does eat but he does it by grabbing a pawfull of food and putting it in the water. Then he climbs in and eats while he soaks.  Meet the new family.

Rocket is so small that the kits are almost as big as she is. She seems to be a good mom and keeps a close eye on the mischief makers while they wander around the porch. At least she always knows where Fish is.

Nature Taking Over

It's been a very rainy spring but suddenly our cool wet days have come to an end and HOT, dry weather has started. Our time has been spent responding to the demands of Mother Nature lately. For instance, Rob started off to the grocery store one morning last week. He wasn't even out of the driveway when the 'check engine' light came on. We've only had the car about six months so he went straight to the repair shop. The repairman came back to him in only a few minutes and reported that a squirrel had made a large nest and chewed on some wires. Who would think this little guy could cause so much damage?

Both our front and back yards have become strawberry fields. Wherever you look you see little red berries peeking out. Tsar used to love eating them but now the birds, deer and opossums snack on them.

We're on baby watch around here. Rocket J is showing signs of having some new kits hidden away. As a result, she has an enormous appetite and is turning up around 6:30 each evening, long before dark to dine. She has also shown up in the morning a couple times. We expect her to bring her babes out late this month or maybe next month. She's eating about eight cups of kibble a day plus any leftovers that we add to her bowl.

The opossums were here last month for a few days but have disappeared again. We think they'll be back in the fall after they've raised their families.

I was reading on the porch the other morning when a doe with a brand new fawn wandered by. I didn't have my camera handy but it was a beautiful sight.

We also have a very demanding woodpecker that prefers dog kibble to seeds. If we forget to put any in the feeder, she starts pounding on the gutters. The sound sends us racing outside to feed her. Who's training who?

A Nature Walk

 Today, Friday the 13th, we're joining Miss Molly for a nature walk. We had to get out early, before Mom's first cup of coffee because our temperatures are in the 90s this week. Mom doesn't much like the heat so when we got our pictures we returned to the coolness of the house where we will lounge all day. Actually Mom has an excuse. She had steroid injections in both her knees this week so she can lie on the couch with ice packs on her knees and nobody can complain.  

 So anyway, here is what we saw on our early morning walk. In the front yard the wild strawberry patch has grown enormously. Last year it was just a little spot under the tree but now about a quarter of the yard has little yellow berry flowers and a few little berries are already showing. I think some of the berries have already been dessert for our night crew.

 

 

Next we started down the driveway and the Weigela is blooming. Half the plant has big buds getting ready to open and the other half is already open. 

The wild rose growing on the corner of the fence is starting to flower. Dad and that rose have an ongoing  fight. Dad tries to keep the plant in bounds on the corner of the fence but the plant wants to spread. It reaches it's thorny arms out and snags Mom's hair when she walks by it. Our bird friends planted it for us a couple years ago and I personally think the plant will win the battle.

Around the corner of the fence is our patch of cool Iris. This year we have a couple of smaller ones with a little yellow in them. We're not sure where they came from but it's nice to see the variety.

Some little periwinkle flowers are peeking out. These eager spreaders have taken over parts of the yard but since they don't have to be mowed, we don't really care.

The few remaining Pyracantha are in full bloom which means lots of tasty orange berries for the birds this fall.

We're expecting more rains over the coming week so it'll be interesting to see what new blooms we can find next Friday. Now to go cool off.

Your pal, Mackey