Dogs enjoy hanging out on the patio at our house too.
Actually, they enjoy hanging out with us.
If Zekie knows I am out here, he will bark every few minutes until I come and get him. As you can see, this makes him very happy.
They especially enjoy laying on the futons.
Or laying in the shade.
Hanging out with the pups makes me as happy as it makes them.
Japanese beetle season has arrived. They are eating my roses, our young trees, and my new blueberry bushes. I have been squishing them but I cannot be everywhere at once, and besides that…eeewww, gross.
So, today I set up two Japanese beetle traps. I looked at the box and wondered, do these things really work? Or is it just something that sells because people want it to work?
I opened the box and assembled the two plastic pieces. Check. Then I attached the collection bag. Check. Next step, remove the backing from the pheromone bait and attach. As I held the bait and figured out how to seat it on the plastic fins, a couple flying things hit me in the head and bounced off. Then another flew at me and got stuck in my hair. Yup, Japanese beetles!
I used the wire provided and finally got two traps installed in the yard. The trap nearest my blueberry bushes had about 100 beetles in it by this evening. So, I can report that the traps do work. Just wear appropriate headwear during assembly!
This is the newest member of our family! Meet Claire. She has been our foster dog for the past 6 months so if you know us, she’s not new around here.
I honestly did make a good effort to adopt her out. Our rescue isn’t doing home checks right now because of the pandemic. Over the past three months I did speak to previous adopters about her but the time and situation wasn’t right for any of them.
Mercifully, after speaking to the last potential adopter last week, they decided the timing was not right. I say mercifully because after I got off the phone with them before they had decided, I fell apart at the thought of Claire leaving us.
I don’t know if I’ve changed? Or I lost my edge after taking a year and a half fostering break after Zekie came to us? Or if it’s due to the fact that I’m home all the time now? Or if it’s just Claire. But the thought of her leaving is unbearable.
This does mean that we are on a moratorium from long term fostering for now. We will still be available for fostering those shelties that only need one or two weeks here.
So Claire is home! As you can see, she is quite happy about this. And so am I.
We’ve been wildlife central this past week. Earlier we had an encounter with a skunk which you can read about here. Day of the Skunk
We have also trapped four mice, but no squirrels or chipmunks, which is what we were trying for.
Two days ago, hubby looked out the kitchen window and saw a raccoon in the side yard not too far from the vegetable garden. He said “we do not need a raccoon around here” and went outside to chase it away. I went out a minute later and what I saw is pictured above. A tiny little raccoon clinging to the branches of one of our redbud trees about six feet off the ground. He was very tiny, not even an adolescent. He was frightened and seemed barely skilled enough to stay in the tree as he hung on for dear life.
We decided he was so young that we didn’t have the heart to chase him. Just one of the things I love about my hubby. So, we went back inside and a little while later Mr.Raccoon was gone.
Black dog.
White dog.
Black and white dog.
Or even brown and white dog. It doesn’t matter. They are all equally beautiful, each in his or her own way. And they can all sit down side by side, and get along.
Why is this concept so hard for some of the supposedly superior humans? We could learn a few things from our furry friends.
Can you tell that daddy has food?
Cassius the greyhound, Shelby, Zekie, Claire, Baxter, and Nikki all want some. Nikki is too short to be seen in the photo.
It is easy to get the attention of food driven dogs. They are easier to train. That is if you can get their focus off the food!
This morning got off to an exciting start. Way too exciting.
We have many chipmunks and squirrels around here. They live in various inappropriate places and get in our vegetable garden and flower gardens and eat our plants. So hubby set two live traps last evening. The smaller one on the front porch caught a mouse. He now lives on a nearby, remote, wooded roadside.
The larger trap turned out to be more problematic. We trapped a young skunk. I don’t think an adult skunk would fit, but this youngster did. He was probably an adolescent, judging by his size. Much discussion about what to do ensued. We opted not to relocate him because we didn’t want either of our vehicles to smell like skunk. We nixed a few other ideas and finally decided to just release him.
So how do you release a skunk from a live trap? We retreated to the house and googled it. First, put on old clothes that you won’t mind throwing away. Just in case. Turns out you very slowly approach the trap with a garbage bag or towel to cover the trap. This provides a bit of a barrier and the skunk can’t see you as well. Apparently, skunks have poor eyesight as well. But you don’t want to surprise him, so talk softly while you do this. You should be approaching so slowly that it takes you a couple minutes. Don’t spook the skunk! Once the cover is in place, give the skunk a minute to adjust. Then open the door to the trap. Hold it open with vice grips if needed. Slowly back away.
Our skunk did not come running out. We waited for a while. Nothing. Hubby and I went in the house. Mr. Skunk remained in the cage. In fact, he was laying down. Our dogs were still in their crates from when they ate breakfast. I didn’t want to let them outside in case they spooked Mr. Skunk and he ran. I was afraid our dog Baxter would jump the fence and go after him. Baxter did jump the fence one other time to chase an opossum that was in the yard. After waiting some more, we decided that maybe we should have removed the towel that covered the trap. Maybe this made it seem like a den.
So I slowly crept up to the trap, taking a few minutes as advised. Then I gingerly and slowly lifted the towel from the trap. Mr. Skunk was was curled up having a nap. Minutes went by. I spoke, hoping to wake him up so he would leave. Nothing. We walked around the trap. I could see the little skunk’s chest rising and falling. I went into the house to get my phone to take pictures of this apparently exhausted skunk as the sun shone on him. He kept the white stripe on his head tucked under himself.
This was when hubby decided to take the mouse from the other trap on a road trip to his new home. I continued watching the skunk for a while, but it got pretty boring watching a skunk sleep so I eventually went inside. Hubby came home a bit later and said the skunk was gone. I suppose he eventually got too warm lying in the sun. Or maybe without his audience, the thrill was gone and he went home.
Zekie holding a stay in front of the irises
Zekie staying by the wygelia
We walked around the yard this afternoon checking out various plants. As Zekie walked by some of them, I thought what a beautiful photo that would make. So, I told Zekie to sit, and then to stay.
He is familiar with this process now. I can saw his name to get him to look at the camera and he continues to hold his stay. He waits for a release command which could be in the form of:
These are just commands as I use them. Unless you are competing, it really doesn’t matter the words you use as long as you are consistent and can communicate with your dog to get the results you want.
With most dogs, keeping commands short, one or two words is best. This is what I do for all our dogs. Zekie is very communicative and seems to be able to comprehend sentences at other times though. Such as, “be quiet or you’re going in your crate”. (“Be quiet” when used by itself is less effective.) “Where is daddy?” “Go get your bone.” “I’ll be right back.” He responds appropriately to all of these sentences.
An intelligent mind can be both a blessing and a curse in a dog. They spend lots of time thinking. It is up to us to channel those thoughts in a direction that we find appropriate. Otherwise, the dog will channel them as he deems appropriate, and we may not agree!
I found this visitor on the patio this afternoon when I put up the sun umbrella. He/she had been sheltered underneath the umbrella. This is a gray tree frog. They change colors to blend in with their surroundings. I have seen green and brown ones, but with these markings, they are apparently still considered to be the gray tree frog.
You can see his toe pads which are sticky for clinging and climbing. I performed an internet search and was surprised to find that these little guys can live 7-9 years! They eat mostly crickets, but also a variety of other soft, small things such as worms, moths, mosquitoes, etc.
I love to listen to the songs these little guys sing. Maybe I’ve been listening to the same frogs for the past several years! Nature surprises me again.
This morning, I took time to enjoy a cup of coffee and some patio time with the dogs. I soaked in the beauty of the flowers and greenery. The dogs enjoyed it too. Zekie found the plastic whale from the top of the old pool thermometer and thought it made a fine toy. He followed me around and put the whale at my feet, then snatched it away, saying “see what I have!”
After a lunch of homemade pizza, I put the dogs out in the fenced pasture to play and enjoy the sunshine. Then it was work time for me. I pruned the old fashioned lilac that grows beside the kitchen window. The original lilac died. The one that is there now was moved here as a young rootling. It came from grandma’s house in town. It is old enough to have some dead branches so I gave it a good trim.
I also pruned the ancient scarlett azalea outside the living room window. It has a beautiful color. I have not seen another in this shade of red-orange-peach. The base of the bush is enormous and gnarly giving it an ancient feel. The house was built in 1830 so I have no idea how old the azalea is. I didn’t trim the bush back nearly as far as I felt it should be. Parts of it are not in the best of health and I didn’t think it would survive a drastic trimming. I hope this makes it stronger next year, then I can prune it again.
Then I moved on to more mundane chores. I pulled the dried out vines from last year’s morning glories off the fence, picked up grass clumps from the weed eater, and weeded around newly sprouted plants in the vegetable garden.
All the prunings and weeds, I took to the pile at the back of our woods where we dump such things. Eventually we get some nice compost at the bottom of the pile. The walk through the woods is always interesting. Halfway back on the left is our pet cemetery. It elicits memories each time I pass. The neighbor’s yellow marsh irises are visible around her pond. There are always plants of interest to notice along the way. Jack-in-the-pulpits. Solomon’s seal. It is a pleasant walk if your load is not too heavy.
After the work was done, I took three of the dogs for a walk to the township park and back. Zekie was a good boy. He only barked at one car, even though 7 or 8 cars passed us. We crossed to the other side of the road when we passed a house with two dogs behind a slat fence. Zekie looked at them but didn’t bark! I was so proud.
This is a typical day for me as a retired person living in the country.
Sanctuary Acres 