nature — Page 19

Foggy Early Morning

August 9, 2012 at 7:28 am by Claudia

Early morning here at the cottage. Early.

The last few mornings here have been foggy and mysterious. I love fog.

It suits my mood lately, which has been a little blue. Too many worries. Too many broken nights of sleep. Allergies haywire. More than a tinge of sadness. At times, a feeling of hopelessness.

I get up a couple of times a night to check on Riley to see if he needs to go outside. Before I go to sleep, I tell myself that I will wake up at a certain time and I usually do. This time is arrived at by a set of calculations: when did he pee last, when did he poop, did he drink a lot of water? I run the numbers in my head and come up with a time I need to wake up. Last night, it was at 3:30 am. Usually, I come downstairs and he is agitated and needs to be helped outside. But this early morning, he was sound asleep. I went back to bed, thinking that I needed to wake again in a couple of hours. And I did. At 5:15. And that was it. I was up for the day.

I’m happy that Riley is able to get up by himself a few times a day. But it presents another problem. He can’t see all that well and he ends up being wedged in a corner or under a table. If I’m here, I quickly extricate him. Yesterday, I ran an errand that took approximately 45 minutes. When I returned, Scout was agitated and Riley was wedged under the coffee table. He must have been trying to get up, most likely barking for me to rescue him. These episodes are hard on him as it takes a lot of energy for him to use his back leg muscles. He was exhausted for the rest of the day. Breaks my heart.

We had a little scare with Scout last week. She suddenly couldn’t put any weight on her back legs. She was clearly in pain; her ears went back, her leg trembled and she looked at me with those big eyes, confused and sore. I gave her a Rimadyl and prayed a lot. The next morning she was a bit better and I could see that the pain was coming from her left rear leg. She was limping. Time has helped and she is doing much better. I imagine it’s arthritis. It’s hard to see my most agile and fearless of dogs become more careful, more hesitant to jump up on the sofa, more cautious when laying down.

This little one was out on the front lawn this morning.

Yesterday, as I was mowing the back forty, I saw a little creature (that I first took to be a large field mouse) scurry under a log, trying to avoid the sound and menace of the lawnmower. It seemed to have somewhat larger ears than normal. I kept on mowing. Then I saw it again, near another log, again scurrying for cover. And I realized it was a tiny baby bunny. Adorable. I usually don’t seen them around here when they’re that young. The lawnmower must have scared the heck out of him. I moved away from that section of the yard quickly, so that the little one’s heart could slow down a bit.

That’s all I’ve got today, my friends. But don’t worry. I’m resilient.

Happy Thursday.

A Mourning Dove takes a Dip

July 21, 2012 at 6:21 am by Claudia

When I was a kid, one of my favorite sounds was the call of the Mourning Dove. I didn’t have any idea what kind of bird made that sound and I probably didn’t care; I just loved the sound. It’s a haunting, beautiful, mournful sound. I was drawn to it for the same reason that I like music in a minor key. It touches my heart.

When Don and I lived in San Diego, we made a bird feeder out of a wooden tray placed on an old iron sewing machine base. It sat in the center of our backyard and hundreds of Mourning Doves would stop by each day to chow down. I could look out at that bird feeder from my office and see 20 or 30 mourning doves standing on the tray, sharing a communal meal.

Since we’ve moved East, mourning doves haven’t been on the property. Until this year. A pair of doves has taken up residence and I see them quite often. And I hear their beautiful call.

The other day, I spotted one of them in the birdbath! That’s a first.

Catbird waiting his turn.

Please stick around, sweet Mourning Dove. I’m so glad you’re here.

Sunday Snaps 2

July 1, 2012 at 8:02 am by Claudia

Whew. It’s been a tough week here at the cottage. Scout is recovering from her illness. Riley is getting more and more frail and needs constant help navigating around the room. He can’t get up from the floor by himself any longer. But he’s got a formidable appetite and scarfs down his food. So, for now, I’ll do everything I can to help him stay with us. My back went out earlier in the week, but is much better now.

I looked around at the three of us, sitting here in the living room, and thought: We’re the walking wounded!

So, let’s look at some Sunday Snaps; this week, a view of life around the cottage garden.

One of our little chippies, up in the sugar maple tree (taken from my hidden spot just inside the kitchen door.)

Coneflowers are appearing here and there throughout the garden.

The impatiens that self-seeded are flourishing under the wooden bench on the funky patio. They like the shade. There are other babies cropping up here and there, as well. See the little red impatiens blossom in the upper right hand corner of the photo?

Here’s another one. Wouldn’t it be great if, eventually, all the little spaces between the pavers were filled with impatiens? That would definitely bring a smile to my face.

The hydrangeas are gorgeous this year. Time to bring some in to put in the McCoy vase on the coffee table.

Another view of this little cutie. Oh my goodness, I love chipmunks. And we have several hanging around the cottage this year, more than I’ve ever seen. I need to get some peanuts and try to feed them by hand, like my friend Donna does.

Since I’ve finished another round of two days of lawn mowing, today I plan to buy some non-skid mats for Riley. It won’t contribute much to the ‘charming’ look of the living room and kitchen, but, hopefully, it will help him get around. The wood floors are just plain impossible for him nowadays.

Happy Sunday.

Foggy Early Morning

A Mourning Dove takes a Dip

Sunday Snaps 2

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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