Raven

Sunday’s Goings On

One night late last week, I was ready to shut my eyes and go to sleep, when I heard Annie’s bark. Rather demanding, might I say. She usually sleeps on the floor in the bedroom, so why I heard her barking from another room, I don’t know. Especially being all she had to do was use her legs to walk to our room.

So, I got up and followed the bark. Then I saw what happened. You see, Annie was in Raven’s crate, when I put that little rascal in for the night. Annie didn’t say a word till she saw where the night wind was blowing, and that wasn’t where she wanted to stay.

Here’s the picture I got, half awake, but you can make out the dilemma. Quite amusing.

On Sunday, I found these two green parrot types hanging about in one of my pine trees. I think they are looking to start a family. I know there are some notches in that tree, though not at all sure if that will suffice for a nest. Though I hope it will!

Well, not sure if he was the one, but someone caught and did in a lizzard on Sunday afternoon. Bouchard is the fellow who got to carry it around and show it off. He tries very hard to be a fantastic Big Lizard Safari Guy, but he falls short of bagging the game. Usually, Pippin or Annie makes the catch, then Bouchard and others display it.

So here is Bouchard, with the trophy. He thinks it’s so lovely, he can’t take his French eyes off it.

And we have Raven, who would like to have that trophy. (What’s new?)

The tail gave Baby quite a bit of trouble. She just couldn’t get it to stop wiggling. Eegads!

Luigi put his toy on a dog blanket that was out drying. He barked at it, and when he realized no one was going to fetch it for him, he took action. (Luna was eye-balling it at that point.)

This pair of doves sat in our dead grapefruit tree for quite a while. Even during a mellow rainstorm.

This is a spider that reminds me of a crab! I stay away from them if I can. They make their webs so transparent that if you don’t see the speck in the middle, boink! But they run away from me as much as I do from them. Yet, I’m the one with web all over my face. Yuck!

Here is the sky on Sunday afternoon. We expected something transformational from this, but it was only a few minutes of sporatic big rain drops in our neighborhood, though I think elsewhere, the weather was more phenomenal.

Helen

Annie, Baby, Birds, Bouchard, Luigi, Raven

Mar

2008

Toy Time!

Helen

I have been getting the message that one of Raven’s favorite toys is getting well worn.

Leissl inspected it after laying it atop a border rock.

Then Raven took it over again and frankly, it had been raining. And when she brought that soggy, well-worn toy into the house, I had to take it and throw it in the washing machine.

Horrors to Raven! Her beloved toy was in that machine again? So I thought it time to break open a new box of these wonderfully strong soft toys. I got a bunch when they were on a good good sale.

(New toys are great, but that doesn’t mean the old ones won’t be put to use after they come out of the washing machine. Like worn shoes that fit right, old toys are comfortable.)

But Raven liked what she saw in that box. Especially the ring.

The ring is Raven’s favorite of all time. She can play tug-o-war best with it. But Luigi had his eye on it, and his name!

As long as Raven had her say, though, that ring was hers!

Meanwhile, Baby looked cute as usual. She is always good for a photo opp. As for these toys, well, Baby says if they’re not flying discs, they’re not toys.

Annie found out she liked the red tube.

Yes, she did.

And Lilian was into the blue fish.

These Tuffies Pet Toys last a long time here at Fort Doberdale, which is a good thing because the Fort Doberdale Squirrel Posse put their toys to work everyday and we need long-lasting toys.

Helen

Annie, Baby, Lilian, Luigi, Raven

Mar

2008

Fu-Fu Dobie

Helen

What can I say? I needed a laugh.

Guess who!
————
Helen

Raven

Feb

2008

The Nature of Fort Doberdale

Helen

The first thing I saw as I stepped out the back door this morning were several or more members of the FDSP, a sub-section now dubbed the Fort Doberdale Rat Posse being they were hunting one. I think it’s that blasted papaya tree rat. It was under a tightly packed bunch of folded boxes, which are wrapped in plastic and up on 3-inch planter stands. This is for when the big day comes and the house sells.

Meanwhile, the entire FDRP was on one side of this stack, and what comes out the other side and towards me? The rat! It was a fat rat! OmG! I think it’s a pregnant one. The only Posse member who saw it was Luigi, and I’m on the fence as to whether he’s a Rat Posse member or not. Believe me, he’s not THAT much of a ratter. OK, he did follow it. Not by moving his body, though, by moving his head. He then took a minute – a long minute – to sniff the spot it walked across. This stalling procedure, I believe was insurance that he wouldn’t have to actually touch it for reals.

The rat waddled. It was HUGE! I could hope it was all the papaya she snorts in, but I am saying neigh neigh neigh to the coin dropped into that wishing well. That thing waddled right through all the yard paraphernalia in its path, and under a slab of concrete which my air conditioning unit sits on. There was a hole there. Now there is a concrete brick against the hole, my brave self managed to put down while sweating thinking that rat was gonna jump out and bite me. It didn’t.

All I can say is the FDRP need a lot of work on their tracking and hunting skills of non-squirrels. They do really well with blimps and squirrels, but when it comes down to ground varmints, their tracking skills lag behind. It took them minutes of sniffing the box pile to realize the trail led across the path to the a/c. By then, I had the hole blocked. I am hoping that thing stays under there where she will rest in peace forever. The owl who owns the territory in this area, including my back yard, is remiss over this papaya eating mama, and I’m going to have a talk with it next time we meet.

Besides rats, we have ticks here at Fort Doberdale. I’ve been spending the last few weeks working on this problem. Today, I rounded it out by stopping at Home Depot for yard spray being the dogs and the house have been treated. The customer service dude told me that ticks have been a big problem here for the last 3 years. Would that coincide with the hurricanes? Or could it be a combination of my new mulch and wild varmints and neighboring kitty cats and the rodeo arena we visit? Whatever the case, it was a day of shopping and spraying, and worst of all, inhaling that stuff. It’s done. I hope to goodness it works. Those ticks love my old mann … Regis.

And Luna is really peeved about the whole thing. She hates ticks as much as anyone. Yes, she does.

Later on, it rained. This was a pleasant surprise as I’m always looking at innocent ways to get back at Little Big Pants Raven for the daily torment she puts me through.

One of her favorite things to do is barrel out the back door. So I put her in her crate, and Regis in the bathroom, and Luna in another crate when I open the back door for play or potty time. This is because these three are the most obnoxious going out the door. Raven just wants to be first. Luna wants to chase Bouchard and bark at him like a nagging pain in the neck. Regis gets out the door, turns around, and barks at the boys. If Bouchard doesn’t get out first, he can’t get by. Regis also snaps at passers-by. The old geezard.

So when I saw the rain, hahahahaha, do you think I went through all that trouble to put away those rascally ones? Nope. I opened the door and said, “Let’s go!” Luna and Raven were first out, and the only ones out. They did an about-face several steps out and were back over the thresh hold about the time I really got going on my laughfest.

Ahh, yes, Karma. She’s out there waiting to come out at the right time…just like the moon.

Nature and Her workings are beautiful things.

Helen (click to e-mail me)

Doberkids, Luigi, Raven, Regis, Sky, Spiritual

Feb

2008

Monday Madness

Helen

Today I got into the elevator on the 26th floor to go to floor 16, and when the doors shut, Mr. Elevator said, “Floor 7. Going up.” Ewkay.

One of the dead bolts to a door of mine became unyielding when I returned home after work. This was not good being tonight was obedience practice, and I had to rush to feed everyone a well-balanced dinner, so no time to fix the bolt. I fretted, though, because I had to take Baby with me to class. It’s not fun to go drill class without your canine partner, and I wondered if I should stay home and fix the darn thing instead. Then I thought to myself, “Whaddya crazy? The house is well protected. Go.” So we went.

In class, Baby, once again, proved to me how much she HATES the recall. Somehow, she couldn’t hear me when I called her. Tonight, instead of running to do something else, she decidedly sat there and looked up and around her as if to say, “Did someone somewhere say something?” Yeah. What she was hearing were two obedience trial entry fees flapping their monetary wings bye-bye. We – that would be Baby and I – are entered in two upcoming trials. See, if we JUST pass them … not spectacularly, just pass them, Baby gets that darn Companion Dog title. That is all I will ever ask of her, and she can retire DoberDiva Extraordinare. After that, I can start working with the dogs who really like doing this stuff. I swear, besides Lilian, Baby is the only snitster Diva in the bunch. I figger.

I’m talking to Luigi again. I had to. He was walking around in a daze.

He’s very personable, and gets out of sorts when his person is chilly with him. And when he is out of sorts, well, the unscrupulous members of the Posse tend to take advantage.

So, here we are, tenuously getting back to normal.

Ginger played keep away the ball from Luigi over the weekend. This is about the only ball she carries around these days. I think the others are too rough on her (and each other) when they are playing keep away with the Cuz balls. But this big one is a good one to use if you want to konk the competition on the head and run like the wind.

One of my friends sent out an e-mail recently on how mast cell cancers can cause itchiness. It was very coincidental that she sent it around the time Ginger started to itch a lot. Though I didn’t think she has mast cell cancer, perhaps she does. According to the literature, the mast cell cancer doesn’t go to the lungs. Confusion sets in, but I am giving her some Benedryl. I may have to up the dosage as she is still somewhat itchy. She is the sweetest red girl in the Posse. I love her dearly.

Then there are others who are sweet, too, with a teeny bit of attitude.

Helen
(click to e-mail me)

Baby, Doberkids, Ginger, Luigi, Luna, Raven

Feb

2008

Raven

Sunday’s Goings On

Toy Time!

Fu-Fu Dobie

The Nature of Fort Doberdale

Monday Madness

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