Every 17 years, millions of creatures, called Brood X cicadas, emerge in the Mid-Atlantic, and 2021 is one of those years. These odd insects are not locus or grasshoppers; they are entirely different insects and do not swarm or even fly very well. It sounds like we are on some alien planet when you go outside, but other than that, luckily they don’t like the sandy soil in my yard, so we don’t get many. This morning on our walk, one flew into the street right in front of Sofie and went, “buzz, buzz, zit,” and she wanted to investigate, but we just moved on. Turn your sound up and you can hear them in the background of Louise’s video below. This was about a week or so ago, at their peak.
They do feel really weird when they grab onto your legs, but they are harmless. Here are a few cicada husks left on a bush that I took this morning.
They are almost gone now, they’ve been here since mid-May and they last about 1 month. See you in 2038 Brood X. (Good riddance!)
Our pet whisperer/ animal sitter / groomer and all-time great caretaker, Sonya, gave me a handsome fur cut the other day. It takes a lot to keep me looking gorgeous as I do.
I even posed for Mom when she was taking pictures because I know that I look sooooo good. Aren’t I handsome? – Charles the Mugwump
Today in the United States we observe Memorial Day honoring our fallen heroes from all our wars. (Even one war is too many, I think.)
I am reposting this story from 2012 on Soldier Dogs. Those wonderful animals who were selected to serve our country along side our soldiers and performed, and still perform, an invaluable service to our nation.
Military Working Dogs play a crucial part in America’s armed services. The best known “Soldier Dog,” Cairo, put crucial canine skills to work in the SEAL Team Six operation that killed Osama Bin Laden. Other Military Working Dogs serve as everything from bomb sniffers to troop companions to search and rescue dogs (and also serve in darker roles, such as duty at Guantanamo Bay). Their handlers and trainers, devoted dog lovers down to a man, form an unusually close-knit fraternity within the military.
Dogs are not only our best friends, they are an incredible asset to our safety forces. Thank you to all the handlers and animals that keep us safe around the world. – DogDaz
These two are good together when they have a joint mission; like sitting at the top of any stairs and watching for intruders. Charles has begone to bark more than Sofie (if you can believe that?) to keep aliens from attacking the homefront. That includes every package, food delivery driver, or occasional friend of the family.
Sofie: Do you see anything there yet, Chuck?
Charles: Hey, Sof, we need to protect Mom from the aliens!! You with me?
Charles here. Nine and I shared a moment at the back door screen so we could watch the birds. At least he did not try to kill me like Noel would. Have a wonderful Wednesday!
Mom walked us all by herself. Don’t tell her surgeon. It was a beautiful day and she just wanted to be outside with us and not just in the backyard. So she leased us up and off we went down a whole block and 1/2. She didn’t take Charles because he can get underfoot and she was nervous enough if we pulled her. But we didn’t. Actually, because it was the early afternoon, we saw nobody. Yahoo! Slowly we can walk again. We miss Mom’s walks.
Year after year the spring flowers around the neighborhood start to pop-up in April. It is a wonderful time to walk around and see spring in action. But, Mom is not allowed to walk dogs yet so she is going back through some memory photos to enjoy her time with us in the sunshine. Soon she says, very soon she is hoping that she will get the OK to saddle up and walk 140 lbs of dog weight. We promise we won’t pull you down Mom, unless we see a squirrel, or another dog, or a fox, or….. oh, I guess that is why you are only allowed to walk 17 lb Charles.
Sofie Bear here – I am very happy when I have a treat-ball filled with kibble to roll around and chew on. I love to pick it up in the air and smash it down on the kitchen floor so that it breaks in half and all the treats come out at one time (but that only happens when Mom doesn’t close it tight). When it doesn’t smash open, there seems to always be 1 or 2 treats left when I am too tired to smash or roll it anymore and that is when Mom shakes them out for me (that is nice of her, don’t you think).
My favorite is the ‘Pet Zone IQ‘ treat dispenser. Mom takes the middle stuff out to make it one big dispenser. When it has the divider in the middle, which is supposed to test how smart I am, it takes to long to get the stuff out and I get frustrated and it stops being fun. I think this is my 3rd or 4th one because I smash them so hard they break.
