Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Blaze .... unhappy


Blaze on the bed
Originally uploaded by dognutmom
This is kind of representative of how Blaze feels right now.

Blaze came up positive for heartworm at his annual checkup in June. Apparently it takes 6 months after infestation for the test to turn positive. So ... he either was infected before he hit the shelter, in the shelter or at his foster home in West Virginia.

Blaze had his first shot of imiticide yesterday at our vet. My vet isn't staffed 24 hours a day so I then transported him to the emergency vet down the road for overnight observation. Picked him up again this morning and brought him back to our vet for the second shot. Now he is at the emergency vet for overnight observation again. He can come home in the morning if all goes well tonight.

He seemed perky yesterday and this morning, but he was not himself when I transported him this evening. I think his back is sore from the two shots ... and he is confused and doesn't understand why I keep leaving him places.

Little does he know that the worst is yet to come. Crate rest or on leash next to me. No running. No jumping. No playing. No Ball.
For. 4. weeks.

He is not going to be a happy camper.

Red Umbrella


Red Umbrella
Originally uploaded by dognutmom
Just because ....

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Identity Crisis?

Identity Crisis? Sort of on an identification mission around here.

I think this is Euonymus kiautschovicus "Manhattan"

Bumble Bee

One website said the fruit was a pale pink capsule and I do have some pictures of those. Need to get them uploaded ... thought I had one. But another site said it had red berries that came from the pink capsule and I just don't remember! I only pass this bush next to the front door every single day!! :-)

The tall shrubs/bushes on the creek side of the house are, I'm pretty sure, Euonymus Altus

red berries

I do know that these bushes are similar but not quite the same. Need to research more but have to go to work.

Invasive!

Apparently there are a lot of plants and weeds that are considered invasive to North America.

They also seem to have ended up in my backyard.

Wineberry
wineberry fruit

These can take over a yard with the canes growing quite long. They are also covered in prickly thorns. The fruit is usually used for wine or jellies as it is tarter than other raspberry type plants.

Had to look this one up yesterday:

Solanum dulcamara
Solanum dulcamara

The purple flowers will turn into green berries which will then turn to red.

Also known as Bittersweet or Trailing Nightshade. This one is a noxious plant with berries that only birds can eat.

Indigenous to North America, but certainly invasive in our yard is Poison Ivy.
Leaves of Three, Let Them Be
Leaves of Three, Let Them Be

Not truly an Ivy, but it does grow up trees, seeming to strangle them.
slowly strangle

More Hostas

The other hosta plant is in full bloom.

The late afternoon sun lit it up perfectly
host bloom stalk

Used my new lens, but had to contort myself to get a better angle
host bloom stalk closer

Pretty
hosta bloom closeup

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Hostas

One of the few things I can manage to grow without killing them. I need to get more.

Took this on the weekend and now (Wednesday) the blooms are gone
hosta bloom

The stages of hostas
Hostas

My Girl Luce



Got this shot the other day.

Luce usually won't look into the camera. I think she thinks it will steal her soul.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Coffee




You Are a Plain Ole Cup of Joe



But don't think plain - instead think, uncomplicated

You're a low maintenance kind of girl... who can hang with the guys

Down to earth, easy going, and fun! Yup, that's you: the friend everyone invites.

And your dependable too. Both for a laugh and a sympathetic ear.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Pink Fleabane


fleabane pink
Originally uploaded by dognutmom
This was in our backyard last month. Had to look this up too.

It's probably some kind of weed, but it is pretty.

Flickr

This is a test post from flickr, a fancy photo sharing thing.

A Bumble Bee

I was lucky and found a bumble bee working on the bush by our front door. Maybe it is a honey bee, I don't really know the difference.



But he or she was really just bumbling around, gathering something from the dull little flowers on that bush.



Every once in a while, a wasp type bee came and bonked right into the bumble bee!



But the bumble bee just kept on bumbling along, going from flower to flower, minding his/her own business.

Flora and Fauna

While I was outside taking pictures of Wineberry today, I took some other pictures of flora and fauna in the yard.

Mushroom growing up high in a tree



A butterfly



Leaves of three, let them be



Maple tree keys



A pinecone. I need to dig up a picture that I took of the pinecones forming earlier in the spring.

Wineberry

While I was in the backyard with the dogs this afternoon, I saw a bunch of yellow/orange color. Stepped closer and found a strange looking plant with, what looked like, some kind of raspberry.


When I came inside, I did some research online (gotta love the internets!!) and found that they were wineberries - related to the raspberry. It is an asian plant that is considered invasive here in the States.


It has very prickly stems, or canes I guess they are really called.


They are apparently edible and make good wine. They are just starting, so I will have to make sure I keep watch on them to see them get really ripe.

Agility

While we work on Blaze reacting STRONGLY to being near other dogs doing agility, we are working on agility at home.

One of the first things he learned was the table. USDAA is my favorite venue, so he is learning an auto-down on the table. Gotta work on getting BOTH elbows down on the table.


I don't have any jumping pictures ... hard to take pictures while directing him to jump :-)

His weave poles are really coming along.


He does 12 poles now and we are working on entrances ... and distractions.


We started on contacts during the winter. I decided to go with 2on/2off. Instead of 2on/2off, Blaze offered a down at the end of the contact. I've decided that is fine with me as it he will shift his body weight in order to get the down and stop.


We still need to work on jumping foundation skills, tire, chute and getting him on a real aframe and real dogwalk.

Maybe by the time he can sort of control himself at agility class or at a trial, he will have learned all of the obstacles at home.

Friday, July 11, 2008

College

This is a non-dog post. But it IS about one of my kids, so the mom part of my name comes into play :-)

My younger son, Son #2, is going to go to Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA this fall. We drove out there (5 hours!) on Wednesday for a pre-orientation thing on Thursday. He opened up his bank account, got his picture taken for his student card, bought used books for his courses at the bookstore and we sat through some presentations.

I hadn't been to the school before, so it was nice to see it. My older son, Son #1, came along as well. He just graduated college in May, so he wanted to see where his brother would be going to school. It was also nice to have someone along who could tell us what was important and what wasn't.

This is the view from his dorm:


Well, it isn't exactly his room .... same room number, but we got to see the rooms on the 12th floor and he will be on the 4th.

He thinks he lucked out with the view with this dorm.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Water

Blaze loves the water


Luce is a little more lady like. She wallows in shallow creeks and pools


Maybe taking a few delicate sips of water


Blaze not only wallows in the shallows


But will whole heartedly WALLOW



He doesn't sip at the water, he BITES the water


All that water play then leads to a whole lotta shaking



Right down to the tip of his stumpy little tail


That felt good!


Meanwhile, Luce is thinking "what the heck?"

Both dogs

Wow, 4 posts in one day. Well, we'll see how long that lasts ... it's just new now :-)

So, did a post first about Luce, then about Blaze. Now about Luce AND Blaze together! Woohoo!

So.

Both Luce and Blaze get along with each other. When Blaze first came here, he was about 1 year old and wanted to PLA
Y. Luce was having none of that and told him so. But Blaze is a persistent dog and he won her over. Took a few months, but he did it.

And now they play HARD every day.


(I wish that was our pool, but it's not)

So hard that I had to buy them breakaway collars as Luce got her bottom canines stuck in Blazes collar. Very scary. Good thing I was there. Blaze ripped off Luce's tags with one of his teeth. Could have broken his teeth but he didn't. So, now, the breakaway collars with no dangling tags. Got them tags that are flat on their collars instead.


(Apparently we are also working on synchronized running)

Blaze LOVES to go after The Ball. And Luce LOVES to run after Blaze who is running after The Ball. So it really works out!

After Blaze gets The Ball, he then brings it back ... well, almost back. He feels it needs to be placed on the ground and then he needs to hide behind something until I pick it up again. And Luce hovers nearby, waiting for him to move again so that she can start her outrun to head him off at the pass. Or something like that.


(you can see his stumpy tail!)

I'm not really sure why all this happens, but it does, over and over again.



So, if I get this -



Blaze waiting for The Ball to be launched again, you can be sure that you will see this -



Luce waiting for Blaze who is waiting for The Ball.



Sometimes Luce decides that Blaze needs to be under some sort of control



which usually some "interference" on Luce's part.

By and large, however, they do get along which is great.



Playing, getting "The Ball" and interference is hard work!




(sorry about all the different fonts and stuff ... having trouble with formatting!)