Latest Posts

Sunbathing Dobies

Sunbathers

Dobies love the sun. Yes, they do. Here we have the south Florida Dobie midday sun bathing ritual. Being we hardly have any trees in the back yard anymore, this ritual has become a very easy acitivity to take part in no matter where you plop down to relax.

Luna basks in the sun.

This lovely girl is doing the “I am a swan worshiping the sun” stance. It’s a yoga type move in the sunshine. This gal loves her rays even though her name is Luna.

Raven gets a tan

And this is Raven. She’s not shy about mouthing off, and obviously not shy about anything else. Yep.

Helen

High Jump/Big Mouth

Luigi under an arealia Taylor under the shade of the house Ollie in fence shade

Today, I spent some time in the scorching sun with a few die-hard companions. They found shade while I cut HUGE 1-1/2″ PVC pipe into five foot lengths. Then I cut five feet, eight inch pieces of white vinyl house siding out of twelve feet, twelve inch pieces. This was the hardest cutting so far in my obedience jump-making endeavor. I did not finish the jump by any means, but at least I got the hard part out of the way (at least I hope that was the hard part). Next weekend or thereabouts, I will continue on with this project. I had too much to do this weekend, and didn’t even get any Kongs stuffed. I’m sure I’ll hear it from Raven for that.

Raven in a daze No Kong for me now…I want my dinner bowl!

Speaking of the little twit, tonight when she was put into her crate for bad behavior while I was fixing dinner, she carried on a fit something fierce. I mean fierce! When I had just about enough, I gave her one of two stuffed King Kongs from the freezer. What happened next was unbelievable. When I gave it to her, she carried on a bigger fit. She didn’t want that! She wanted her dinner bowl, filled with good stuff, and nothing else. I wasn’t quite done with them, so thought the Kong would appease the beast. Nope. That Raven has no patience. OK, she has a little. That little gets her by, but barely. She seems to know when I’m at the end of my rope, and can shut her yap for about two seconds. Long enough to spare her the feel of my hands around her scrawny neck. When I finally got to doling out dinner, she got hers last. But when I opened the crate door, I almost got the bowl ripped out of my hand. Geesh! Gotta love her joy of life.

By the way, after dinner, she decided the Kong was OK to destuff.

Luigi, Ollie, and Lilian politely waiting for dinner

And this is what the good kids look like waiting for dinner. They are well mannered and simply a joy to have around the kitchen! There’s got to be contrast so you know who’s who!

Helen

Bouchard, Frog Hunter

Bouchard caught a frog out back just now. Eeek! I felt so bad for that frog. Its legs were splayed out and they were long. I was not sure if it were deceased or not. Bouchard put me in an unenviable position having to deal with this. And not to mention that poor frog. I poured some dirt on it and put it in a plastic bag. Several bags. Then I put it in my chest freezer in case it wasn’t deceased yet.

Helen

Visiting Lovebirds

This afternoon, we had a couple of beautiful and romantic visitors in the Fort Doberdale pine tree. They showed affection for each other on the branch then one of them went to play in a notch in the tree. Maybe they’re thinking of moving in! It was a lovely visit.

Bird Visitors at Fort Doberdale What do they see? Kissing Birds

Romance in the trees Smooch!
Helen

Hunting Good Eats, Foliage and a Tail

Luigi barks, demanding he get fed

Yesterday, I made a 36-egg omelet in the crockpot. I included shredded carrots and a stick of butter. I put it in at lunch and came home hours later to the lid floating atop the very expanding concoction in that slow cooker. Eegads! Well, I cleaned up the mess, and what was inside was good, so thought Luigi, who barked until he was fed.

Yum, oh yum! Raven’s bowl

This morning we had oatmeal, butter, brown sugar and Baby got a little maple syrup and cream in hers being she’s the Queen Mother and initially snubbed hers. I put her Platinum Performance on top, and I think that smothered all the good smells beneath. She ate and was especially pleased when Luigi stood by her waiting to see if she’d leave any morsels. She didn’t.

After breakfast, Bouchard went into the backyard to hunt a peanut in one of our PVC posts yet to be cut for our jumps. I’d stuck peanuts in those posts when we played “find the peanut” earlier in the week. Well, I went inside to get the camera. I wanted to get a snap shot of him digging. He dug as if that would get the peanut out of the post (he’s such a snail hunter). When I came back, the FDSP was in action chasing a squirrel on the utility lines as it ran across.

Bouchard’s peanut hole

Needless to say, Bouchard is a part of that posse, so I lost the chance to get the digging picture. But I did get a picture of his artwork.



Bouchard finds his peanut while Taylor inspects what’s left. Bouchard gets his peanut Raven warns Bouchard to back away from the peanut.

As I tipped the post up, I called Bouch over so he could get his just reward. Meanwhile, Raven, who thinks she is first in line for everything, ran over to warn Bouchard to back off. I supersede Raven big time in rank, so that little trick of hers didn’t work. Bouchard got his peanut and Taylor inspected the remnants in the hole to be sure nothing was left for a little Aussie to scavenge. There wasn’t.

Baby checks out the peanut scene Baby walks away from the peanut hole disgusted and disgruntled

Baby was appalled when she checked on her peanut. OK, she’d been working that peanut for days, and I forgot. I am in big trouble now! And she’s really disgusted the way the whole scene played out. Eeek!

Air Palm from my dead pine tree

This is a picture I took of the peanut in the tube, but you can’t see a peanut. Instead, in the background, you can see my new air palm, which is a result of a very high branch that came down during tree cutting day earlier in the week. It’s a lovely air palm. It is.

Pile of tree stumps Traveller’s Palm and Bird Of Paradise Remnants

Here are all the branches in my front yard. This includes the pine tree in one pile and in another are the branches of six traveller’s palms and one bird of paradise. I just couldn’t keep up with them, and they were looking very bad. I inherited them from the previous owner. Not my choice.

You should be more careful for my tail. This is Raven and her precious tail.

Raven got her tail caught in the door this morning. She is generally so worried that she won’t be able to get back out the door fast enough in case I decide to go out and leave her in. That is often my plan. I doubt her lesson was learned though. And we love tails here at Fort Doberdale, so this was a near catastrophe! However, tail and Raven are fine. She is in her usual state of being in trouble this Saturday.

Helen