Twelve years ago a very social, very well behaved, Pomeranian puppy showed up at our house and introduced himself. We took him in and tried to find his owner but no luck so he was ours. We named him Rascal.
We all fell in love with him. Very smart, and loved people and very in tune with everybody in the family
We called him the dog that goes. He loved going places and his walks.
He was a good sport, even if it involved dressing up for the occasion.
We called him a Diva. He loved getting groomed and kind of showed off a little bit. He was quite the flirt.
He was a beautiful dog was fully engaged in his world.
He started having multiple health issues. We did all sorts of things. He loved accupuncture and physcal therapy.
He was still active and loved going to see his friends in the neighborhood.
We took him on a trip earlier this year and he loved it.
He got to where he couldn’t walk very far so we got him a dog stroller. He got to where he liked that as well.
Anyway we lost him today. He was a trooper right up to the end. He’s in a much better place and we sure do miss him. Our pets just don’t live long enough.
I’m linking with Saturday’s Critters. Check it out, lots of people who love animals link there.
I spotted this Great Egret on the Arkansas River during a recent bicycle ride.
This is another one. He was standing still and got tired of waiting on me. I was lucky to catch him in flight.
Our hummingbird feeder is getting regular visits now. Problem is that wasps and hornets are also visiting and they don’t like hummingbirds. So I’m trying to figure out what to do about it. I hate to kill native pollinators.
Lizzie thinks we got this tray in the living room for her. She thinks everything in the house is for her!
And our little Pomeranian, Rascal. He is very sick with cancer in one lung, congestive heart failure, and other issues. Vet said that he doesn’t know he is sick so just love every moment we have together with him and we are pumping full of meds and supplements. The weather has cooled a bit so we are taking him on short walks. He sure does love his outings. They wipe him the rest of the day but he’s happy. We are doing our best for him to live his best life.
The other day our little pomeranian Rascal had been outside and wanted in, the only problem was that a baby bunny was hanging from his mouth. The little critter was already gone. Now Rascal was just doing what dogs do, right? Heather went out and found its sibling about six feet from the nest looking scared to death and helpless.
A quick consultation with my friend Mr. Google indicated that the best thing we could do was just leave it alone. We did although it was a hot day and all that, so monitored it through our bedroom window and it survived the rest of that day and to the next afternoon when it looked like it was rallying a little bit and seemed to be more energetic and active.
And of course we watched Rascal closely when we let him out side to do his thing. And I’m happy to report that the little bunny has made it to some cover and is being closely monitored by its mother so we are happy that our non-intervention plan worked. (so far at least).
In other news I am sad to report that I have come down with Covid. The symptoms I am having are like a really bad allergy attack. And since it is a holiday weekend I couldn’t a teleappointment until Wednesday which is the day, if I don’t have a fever, that the CDC says that I can end isolation. Kind of sucks being sick at the start of a holiday weekend but I think I’ll be fine. I just don’t want to be cooped up but that is just the way it is.
We just had the primary elections in Oklahoma and of course I voted. If you had elections I hope you did the same.
So I ride my bike from time to time along the Riverparks Trails in Tulsa alongside the Arkansas River. I’m always seeing stuff that you can’t really capture with a small handheld camera or cell phone. I was reading somebody’s blog a few weeks ago and they described how they took their “big camera” in a backpack when they went bike riding. The light went on, a dim light in my case, but it was duh. I need to do that. So I loaded up my old Canon Powershot. It can zoom optically out to 40 and beyond software wise. And it is a ton lighter than my “big camera” Nikon with a long lens.
It’s pretty light so I loaded it up in a small backpack, and took it to the Riverparks with me.
For years there has been a large population of pelicans hanging out at sandbars on the river. I could see them but now I could photograph them. Here are a group of three with a grackle or some other black bird hanging out with them.
Here is another group. Both these photos were taken on the east bank near where the Gathering Place is located.
On the west bank of the river, about a mile upriver I spotted this armada of geese all headed to somewhere.
There was another grouping nearby. So I took a lot of other pics of none wildlife stuff. I’ll be taking the camera in my backpack some more. I forget who gave me the idea, if it was you, let me know. I’m thinking of getting some sort of basket to carry it in.
And now to switch gears to my back yard I have been trying for a couple months to capture an image of a hummingbird at our hummingbird feeder.
And I finally got one!! Not though, it is just a female cardinal flying in back of it.
My trailcamera caught a swooping photo of grackle coming in for a landing.
We have lots of bunnies in the back yard.
And sometimes even a raccoon.
This is Rascal our Pomeranian. He is our baby. He is only eleven but he has developed hip and shoulder issues, along with some heart problems. He lives for his walks though, they revitalize him but it has been really hot.
So now we are dog stroller people. We take him on his walk until he gets winded and then we put him in the stroller. He is getting acclimated to it, so win/win.
But maybe we overdid it. We thought our little plump kitty, Lizzie would like the stroller. Nope, she is not a fan. She didn’t have any fun. But we did, so all was not lost.
She was exhausted after her short jaunt. Literally down and back our driveway in the stroller wore her out. She thinks we suck at cat parenting.
That’s about it for this week. I’m linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters.
We lost our beloved Abby (right) to lymphoma on Wednesday. She was a bright, energetic, highly engaged dog almost up to the end. She was the straw that stirred the drink, so to speak, among the pets in our house. On the left is her cat buddy Lizzy.
Abby always liked to update her barkbook status first thing in the morning despite our efforts to shush her. We had a cranky neighbor who more than once came over to our front door and pointed at her and growled at me about the matter. Fortunately, he moved somewhere else. I miss Abby but I don’t miss our miserable neighbor.
Abby’s loss was proceeded by the death of our dachsund mix, Ginger last September. Ginger was the boss dog of the house and brooked no nonsense from either the dogs nor the cats and would give me an earful if I was late with her meals.
Abby loved barking at my drone, at the neighbor’s dogs, at dogs, cows, and horses on television. She was very verbal.
These are LJ and Lizzy, brother and sister. They play with each other a lot.
Our remaining dog is Rascal, a Pomeranian. He’s kind of our baby but he is old now and has lung, heart, and hip problems. We don’t know how long he is going to be around.
He and Abby loved to hang out together and loved to go on walks with each other to go bark and their friends in the neighborhood. Rascal I think wonders what happened to his buddy Abby.
But he still loves walking even though we have to pick him up and carry him home after he sees his friends.
You know our pets just don’t live long enough but we have them and love them anyway.
It got cold here on Tuesday or so. Our Lizzy has discovered the fireplace. She toasts both sides evenly. She hasn’t quite figured out why sometimes it’s not warm there. She will lay in front of it when it is not on with a quizzical look on her face.
She also loves reclining on things like a Roman Empress. The foot of the bed, a stack of freshly laundered towels, she loves leaning on stuff.
And she hates being wakened up from a nap. Here she looks like an unmade bed. Talk about grumpy.
All LJ, Lizzie’s brother, cares about is treats. Greenies or deli turkey slices are his favorite. Here is on the back of the sofa standing watch at the refrigerator.
And here is Abby, our happy girl. She loves eating and giving other dogs a good barking.
And Rascal, our rescue Pomeranian (all our animals are rescues). He’s such a diva. He has a hip injury and gets acupuncture and physical therapy. The ladies that run the place love him and he knows it.
Our in the back yard we are continuing to feed flocks of birds. I love the cardinals especially.
Here is a male making a sideways jump. Male cardinals are divas also.
On the ground below the feeder we have a whole other group of birds including mourning doves and bluejays and tons of sparrows.
Squirrels eat more food than all the birds combined.
Some of them are getting very plump.
Lots of snow, ice and cold weather in the USA right now. I hope everybody is staying warm and safe. There is a burger place here in Tulsa that serves coffee in a cup and saucer. Something about that is warming in itself.
Tuesday morning the sun was coming up in the neighborhood and so I grabbed a leaf and occluded the sun with it. I am an arty kind of guy you know. Especially the easy kind of art like this. I don’t think of it as being lazy, I think it is being efficient.
On my way out of the neighborhood I stopped at the greenbelt and snapped another pic of the sunrise. The greenbelt starts close to our back fence and loops around to the road I am stood on to take this photo.
Sunday night during our front that moved through with strong winds and icy temperatures we noticed that our Pomeranian, Rascal had disappeared. Further notice showed that our gate to the greenbelt had blown open with the wind. So I was walking in the pitch dark with a flashlight yelling “Rascal” over and over. Heather had started in a different direction doing the same thing.
I left the greenbelt and was looking for the dog on a street when Heather picked me up and dropped me off at the house so I could enlist social media to help. I put together a facebook post and sent it off and then a similar NextDoor post. It was pretty amazing. We started getting responses right away and it turns out that Rascal had walked up to a couple putting up Christmas Tree lights and they took him in and posted something on facebook that somebody else reposted on next door and then somebody else let me know about the other post, and we were re-united fairly quickly which was kind of amazing because I thought we had lost him for good. Say what you want about Social Media but I like it and it does have its uses.
Here is LJ the Cat. This time of year if he is not sleeping in front of the fire he is striking poses next to the Christmas tree. Although the tree came down the other day so he is back at the fire place.
And Ginger our rescue dachsund mix (all of our pets are mutts). She freezes all winter. Winter to her here in Oklahoma is from September through May.
Andy Abby our fun loving dog. She is up for anything, scarves, hats, walks, adventure, she loves it all.
And this is Rascal. We didn’t adopt him, he showed up one day and adopted us. We tried really hard for about three hours to find his owner. He is kind of our baby, he is alert, watches everyone and everything, and is in tune with us all the time and is probably the smartest dog we have ever had.
