older then younger

The pet portal at the vets has announced that my girls

are now Seniors.

8 years old this year which doesn't seem elderly to me

and

they certainly don't act it.

BUT then again

they no longer do those cute kitten things anymore

the funny side hop across the room, play with toys.

Maybe the word should be mature.

Others lately have lost their older cats, rabbits and have brought in

young animals and then seem surprised

at the noise and activity level.

How easy to forget how busy babies and teens are.

 And the hounds are aging.

I debated a puppy or a rescue when I got Shunka. 

 Having lost a quiet 10 year old, the thought of taking

 on house training & training and all the trouble a pup is was thought provoking. 

 A rescue was no guarantee of quiet. 

 I opted for puppy and then wondered at my sanity. 

 I can not tell you how often I said to myself & others, 

Good lord what have I done!  

Granted Shunka was Dennis the Menace in fur, 

busy, independent, smart and WILD as any dog I have met. 

 Calling and hiring a trainer is an indicator of how over my head I was.  

Shunka is now 6 and while he no longer grabs every and anything he sees,

(tissues, toilet brush, underwear come to mind)

 he still has more energy that I by a long shot.  

He sleeps more now YEAH, but he has not slowed much.

Bringing in my rescue girl Indigo was to help quiet Shunka.
Neutering was also supposed to help.  HA. 

 Indigo has always been quiet to an unbelievable degree.  

Gives new meaning to coach potato. 

HOWEVER,

Shunka was not impressed. 

 At the beginning it activated him as he decided to spend much of his time 

running over& rolling this invader.  Poor poor Indigo! 

At least that seems to be a thing of the past.

Down the line, would I do puppy again?  Kitten again?  

Judging by the stories of friends and my own experience, I doubt it.

We aren't there.  No decision is needed right now. Yeah!

bog at its finest

child at play

the dome

bonsai and succulents...

hydrangea, grasses, mosses and violas

the pond being a tad overwhelming....started with 3 small plants

Dome was to be a winter hideaway, my warm getaway, etc.  

AND 

it has been.  

Summer is another animal.  

Right now it is in the 90's most days and things are happy. 

 I have just ripped out some overly enthusiastic vines and put in more bonsai.  

I am finding the strange eclectic combination of bonsai, bushes, grasses, 

succulents, vegetables, annuals and water plants rewarding.  

Not what I had envisioned at the get go 

I just thought veg, veg and veg.
(how boring)

It was not happy and I was not happy

It has, like so much it life, 

shifted and evolved, 

and it is what works 

which is the major part of the dome.

Bottom line is ~

It is pleasing me. 

Full size patio umbrella which gives you an idea of the size of my little annual amaranth.

rough seas

living on a bog and river we don't see rough waters often.  

These shots are from Woods Pond on a windy day 

which changed the quiet pond.  

White caps and waves made it look like the ocean.  

love this face

oh shit

I can use that title because it is my blog 

and

it is a statement about what ( shit, poo, poop, scat)

was found in the front yard this morning.

I sent this picture to my friend Janet hoping she would say something reassuring like

No of course this is not bear scat, it is scat of something, anything else, 
but no

instead she said looks like bear to me

Then she showed me her picture taken this week of bear scat 

and wow, doesn't it look just like my shot minus the berries.

Janet's find.

The good news (I guess) is mine was cold and hers was steaming...FRESH.

Did I want to hear I have a bear in the yard eating dogwood berries?
and there are many more berries on the trees!!!!

Think cat, think stepping outside at night to pee.  

We live in the woods
 and
 moose, bear, fishers, bees, porcupine, skunk and many other things share space.

I like to work on the theory 
that they are shy, 
don't want to meet me anymore than I wish to meet them.  

May not be neighborly yet it feels right for things of this nature.

ps these berries must just pass right through the bear
they certainly don't look digested.

Crazy as it may sound this is actually kind of pretty
 for shit...

opps

I  have fallen off the wagon.

Not like me at all.

I have been buying stuff and been given stuff

&

my rule is and has been 

something comes in/something goes out.

Well that is where I have fallen off the wagon.

that going out part has been badly neglected!!!

Time to pull up my socks and get serious again.

With outbuildings I have a tendency to tuck things

out there when something else comes in

OH- such a bad plan!

and often something seems too good to throw away, give away

and we can use it out here.

Bull and balderdash,

piffle and poppycock!

This morning I wondered over to the yurt. 

 I pulled somethings out of trunks, and drawers 

and brought them home, put them in my car

so they can re-homed to some needy cause.

I can guarantee you that the somethings will find good homes

and that the somethings will not be missed.

We have so much, too much 

and staying on the wagon

helps to keep me and the universe in balance.

It is a start.

Next the nest, the garage, the dome and the house.

I don't do pink HA

playing in the rain

Walking in puddles is good for the soul.  

And there is nothing better than coming in from the pouring rain

to take a warm shower

and a cup of hot tea.

down

It is hard to understand depression unless you have played with it. 

 It is a dark hole that you can't see out of.  

Robin Williams lost his battle with depression.  

Depression won and I and the world are saddened 

that he couldn't look up again and find his way out of that hole. 

 It seems almost worse because he was so big, so rich in his sharing 

He touched all of us with laughter.  

He made us laugh and what a huge gift that is

Laughter, jokes, talent were all his

 and in spite of that talent and richness that he shared 

he was on and off caught in that trap of depression.  

 I have shed tears all morning over this loss and I was only touched indirectly. 

 My heart truly goes out to his family and to all of us. 

.

a friend wrote on facebook....I remember the night at Elaine's, I think we were celebrating Carmela's birthday. My friend went for a pack of cigs in the machine and spotted Robin Williams.but was told by a waiter not to bother another customer. Williams saw the intercept and came to say hello on his way out the door. Such a sweet gesture which made our night. I think this was about 1986. After he walked out I succumbed to an impulse and ran a block to catch up to him and give him a hug and tell him I loved him.I have been seeing clips of him and laughing out loud. 

What a loss. How much pain he must have been in, how very sad.

favorites

in my pictures I have some that are better...or that I favor.

is a good grass growing year a good year?

This is the year of crabgrass - Well all grass for that matter...the year of grass
we have been mowing every week, sometimes twice a week. 

Our weather is obviously making it Happy beyond belief. 

 It is thriving to a degree I have not seen, 

to a degree I would prefer not to see. 

It is climbing up the side of stumps and into gardens.  

Mowing seems to stimulate it 

to go and grow somemore.

It is like the movie The Birds, 

very very

Terrifying 

~

 you can hear it growing, growing, growing.

time moves on

One of my many 

many favorite flowers

Columbine

It is incredibly neat with its spurs

and now later in the season

with its seed heads.

please note the neat bug on the seed heads.

It can throw those seeds anywhere and everywhere

and I am happy to see it spread.