A Few Photos

I have been negligent so thought I'd just post a few photos of the happenings around the swamp for the past 2 and a half months.

I thought I'd show what Ziggy's dinner place looks like every day when he eats. He doesn't pick up the ones on the outside either, but Luna does. I think she looks forward to his rings of Saturn though it doesn't help her waistline.

Ziggy also learned how to swim after watching Luna jump into the pond several times. He sort of fell in. After a few more times he began to leap in though he doesn't retrieve sticks. he just jumps in when he feels like it, does a couple circles and climbs back out. Usually he tried to climb onto Luna when she is climbing out as well. But now that is swimming he can go to the beach which we did a couple weeks ago at Negwegon State Park where he got to play in the waves and had a blast.

We visited my friend's house this spring and Luna and Tink, both females and only tolerant of each other had some weird sort of pushing contest. There didn't seem to be any obvious winner and it lasted more than 5 minutes. Very odd dogs.

 

I don't know if it's all the rain we had this spring and the super cool weather we had (till lately, it's been dry and in the 90s lately!) but my roses are doing wonderfully this year like they never have before. The pink one is a William Baffin climbing rose and the red one the Morden Fireglow.

And this final picture just happened when Ziggy sat in front of Rocket's grave while the daffodils I planted over him were in bloom. I thought it was a nice picture. It's unbelievable how much I miss that big brown dog but I think Ziggy is doing his best to plug that hole.

It Must be the Water?

So the last couple of days I haven't seen Rocket drink any water. As far as I could tell the only liquid he was getting was what he was getting whenever I used a 3 ml syringe to give him honey, broth or water. He hasn't really eaten anything since Saturday.

This afternoon while he was sleeping in the driveway Uncle Butch and Mrs Butch came over in their golf cart to see him. After mentioning the water problem, UB decided he was going to set up his water dish near him. So he put out a couple of blocks to raise the level to Rocket height and I got his water dish. Immediately Rocket stood up, walked over and did what I've seen him do the last couple days, smell the water, look around, smell the water, stick out his tongue and taste it and then walk away toward the trailer.

Rocket loves being at Uncle Butch's

We figured he was going to his usual spot to eat grass or lay down where he could be alone as he has always been a loner. I followed him around the trailer expecting to see him go back around the other side but, no Rocket. Mrs Butch got up and we start looking around, then I see his butt disappearing down the power line trail. I keep following, Mrs Butch following further behind and then I hear UB start up the cart to follow.

I see Rocket climb down into his favorite swamp pool/mud hole, lay in it and drink a little swamp water. Then he climbs out, stands in the trail a moment then starts up the hill toward UB's house. The 3 of us follow along strung out in a line, every so often Rocket pauses, looks back to make sure we're still there, and keeps going. We end up at Uncle Butch's house, Rocket walks up the ramp and we let him in where he proceeds to the dog dishes in their kitchen and drinks a lot of water. Then he walks away, let's Yogi have a drink, then drinks some more.

Then he lays on their kitchen floor and decides to take a nap.

I guess he likes their water better.

So I brought his bed over so he can spend the night. I'll take his pill over at 11. I hope he sleeps well.

Woodsy Stuff

I dragged DH off to the woods yesterday morning for a forced march. Okay, it was a walk, but it was before 11 am and it got him off of his butt, out from under his laptop computer and out into nature. The day turned out to be beautiful. Although the foliage was past peak there were still plenty of yellow maples hanging onto their leaves, the sky was blue with fluffy clouds and the temperature did finally reach 60f which it hasn't done for days.

What I thought would be a 20 minute walk, if I was lucky, turned into almost 2 hours of traipsing through the thickest brush looking for and tagging dead or dying trees to cut down for firewood and the north east property line which we re-marked with lime green tape. With the leaves falling off the trees they sure are easy to see.

A week ago we slogged through a very swampy part of the property thatrequired boots while looking for the property line. We found it eventually, most of our old keep out signs were missing or severely deteriorated. That walk was a lot more tiring. Luna was with us on both of those and I do believe we finally bored her or tired her out, too.

I'm not sure when we'll do it again, it's supposed to rain tomorrow plus we have a bunch of chickens and guineas to bring to the Amish. I'll have lots of birds to freeze on Thursday!

Okay, So I Updated My Profile

I thought I'd better create my profile since I'd actually had TWO viewings of it. I used a photo of my 5 ducks instead of one of me, the ducks are cuter. I thought the random questions were stupid so after 3 attempts at finding a decent one I skipped it. Since I am still using dial-up (yes, Virginia, there is no broadband in the swamp) it was taking too long to refresh anyway. In case anyone thinks I'm a republican from the fact I was in the military, wrong-o buckwheat, that's what you get for making assumptions. Too many people, the media included (MOST definitely them!), make assumptions based on too little information and often nothing. Neither am I a democrat so flaming liberals and right wing conservatives will probably be annoyed with me since I don't kowtow to their party lines.

But enough of politics, there are more than enough idiots out there spouting party rhetoric without thinking to bother trying to argue. I'll let the few intelligent idiots do that for me.

Instead I'll mention that it's cold outside. It is warmer than the 1 degree Fahrenheit it was this morning (maybe 5ish?) so it's probably time to let the ducks out of the garage so they can go swimming in their heated pool. I suppose first they'll tromp down to the frozen stream to find it really is frozen and then I'll have to herd them back up to the garage and their lovely heated pool. (I'll post a picture! There it is!) The pool is actually a 55 gallon plastic drum turned on its side with the top and bottom half cut out. We left the center section intact for stability. I purchased a pond heater to keep the water liquid. They do seem to enjoy it. And one other thing I should mention before I head out, my dogs, though they are essentially duck retrievers, do not touch my ducks. They are very good dogs and though little Luna wants to play occasionally by running into their midst and scattering them, she is very good about letting them be. Rocket also stopped drooling when he looks at them months ago. Just a happy little pack are we.

Happy New Year

Hello from the swamps of northern Michigan!

It's cold outside. And very white. Most of last night's snowstorm seemed to be downstate. I've noticed since I moved here 7 years ago that most of the big mid-western snowstorms seem to stay downstate. All we got up here was a dusting. Fortunately, we already had snow, so no biggie. (yes, I admit, I like a good snowstorm now and then, especially when I've no plans to go anywhere!)

I decided to start the new year by creating this blog. I've got another one, somewhere, on one of those competing sites that can't seem to get its act together so I figured I'd head on over to blogger and see what mayhem I can create here. Not that I'm big on mayhem, mostly that's wishful thinking. I have yet to get too controversial on line, but you never know, I may lose my head one day.

So where in northern Michigan (MI) am I? Let's just say, south of Alpena, north of Oscoda and slightly west of Lake Huron. Find a map, find a swamp, and I'm somewhere inside. Just me, my dogs, my ducks, and my husband.

I've lived in 3 other states and visited several others. I've lived on both coasts and in one state slightly to the south (but still on the east coast, so I'm not sure that counts). I like it up here. There are 4 seasons, winter being one of the longest, though not as long as in the UP (Upper Peninsula of MI). The mosquitoes aren't as bad as I thought they'd be, it's the deer flies that get nasty! The dogs don't much like them either. I am considering ways of dealing with them next summer, however.

I haven't anything earth shattering to say today, just wanted to say something rather than leave a new blog blank. Perhaps later on I'll post a picture. That could be fun!