Nine has a friend outside the bathroom window. His friend lives under the shutters. The little Skink was sticking its head out and in, out and in, just to make Nine crazy. I tried to get a picture of his friend in the shutters, but he was very shy and kept hiding each time I went to snap a shot. Both Nine and Stella spend a lot of time in the bathroom window with the Skinks. I have a little birdhouse right by that window and I wonder sometimes if they are living in there too. Ground skinks are small, smooth-scaled lizards with an adult length of 3 to 5.5 inches. They are typically a copper brown with a dark line running along each side of the body. Th ground skink has a long tail, sometimes up to 2.5 times the body and short limbs. Their small limbs are relatively unused, as ground skinks use their slender bodies to wriggle and burrow through leaf litter and loose soil. They prey on insects, spiders, and other earthworms.
We opened the pool last weekend, and for those of you who do not know swimming pools, it usually opens a nice algae green color. Some years the water that sits in the pool all winter has even been a lovely shade of black. It takes me about a week to clear it and get it to nice swimming blue. Since it is spring in the Mid-Atlantic, the ducks have come to roost and are very happy that I have provided them a lovely swimming hole. I was not terribly happy to see Mr. Duck getting ready for a swim this morning. I let the dogs out, but they can not get to the pool area, so all they did was bark. Mr. Duck could not have cared less, he stood there by the pool for a really long time anyway with the dogs barking safely outside the pool gate. I expect Mrs. Duck will be back with him soon; when he finds her. There is a lot of ‘that’ going on under my bushes right now; ducks finding their spring mates. Every year they come back and party in the yard. Then they have their ducklings under my bushes and waddle them down the road to the river. The cycle continues. That makes me so happy. But, I do not like the ducks in the pool or them leaving ‘presents’ on the edge.
I am amazed at Sofie Bear these days, I am so happy with her, she is like a different dog then the one that came to live with us 1-1/2 years ago. Sofie is at the point now that we can do a total walk around the neighborhood without the leash. She comes when called and rarely gives me any bad behavior, I must say that if I go for to many days without reminding her whose boss (me!) she can slide a little, but I would expect that. If someone told me I would be this big a fan of the e-collar method, I would have told them they were crazy, but the collar, along with 4 weeks of training (for me mostly), is what really really did the trick. I notice many people with e-collars on their dogs, but the collars are to loose or not positioned correctly. I also think that a lot of people buy them but don’t really know how to use them to get the kind of behavior modification that they are looking for. I hardly ever had to correct Sofie with the collar, which surprised me.
Watch out Lulu Belle, you’re next! Mommy likes the idea of 2 off-leash dogs.
Three years ago, we adopted a sweet little dog named Stitch. The woman who owned him told us his sad story. Stitch had been passed around to several people in his first year of life – a group of young kids who were part of the Hollywood club scene. The woman’s teenage daughter had ended up with Stitch, but the girl was wild and out of control, partying, disappearing for weeks at a time with her adult boyfriend.
Stitch had been locked in the teen’s room for days without sunshine or exercise, having to relieve himself on the carpet. The daughter had taken him to a wild party where he had become so distressed that he jumped through a pane glass window to escape. And eventually, in their care, the dog ended up abandoned in the middle of a highway 10 hours away in…
I would like to understand why male cats seem to want to sleep on the television remote. Even on the coffee table, Muffy or Nine find it and sit on it. This is Nine taking a nap on my king size bed. He has all this space to lie in and he sleeps on the little remote. Now I understand the newspaper thing; that is where your attention is focused and they want to be the center of your attention, so they lie on the paper.. But why the TV remote? And why only my male cats?
There is nothing like lazing on a fine sunny day. Louise just loves to sit in her spot on the deck and take in all the warmth of the day, Sofie finds a nice cool hole to lie in somewhere under the trees (just like Squash used to). Don’t you wish sometimes you could have a dog’s life?
Just the other day I was thinking about how lucky I am. Though I work way to many hours, I have great friends and family, a ton of silly animals, have food to my hearts content, and am blessed with feeling safe in my home and surroundings. If I were a dog, I would probably want the same things (well maybe not the work part). I guess maybe I do have a dog’s life after all, with just a different kind of herd to tend. Well, I think I will go lie on the deck.
DogDaz Zoo 