Yak (by Valerie Everett)
Tag Archives: nature
7.7.12 ‘I’m Bored!’
Lounging on the deck is such a relaxing experience. K8 took some great shots of Sofie, just being Sofie. Looking pretty, checking out what is around her, and showing that she is not very interested in lying quietly. Sofie is one of those dogs that gets bored. You have to always have something for her to do, or she will create something, like dig a whole to China (which is our very North American term for digging through the earth to the other side, which for us, is China we think – but is it really?) Since we were out of power for so many days, I went to the only open supermarket and picked up a few new dog toys. Each dog got a supposedly indistructable stuffed toy (Lulu got a fish and Sofie a turtle). Turtle lasted about 1 hr before her stuffing was everywhere (she is pink, so I figured it was a girl turtle). Fish actually held for about 2 days (he is yellow). He is half stuffed now (and of course I did a ‘squeeker-ectomy’ once opened by the girls). Then I also bought them each a new ‘Bo-Bo,’ I only see Lulu’s so I assume Sofie’s is lying empty of stuffing somewhere. It kept them busy for a little while and to me that is wonderful. We still walk in the 107 degree F heat (about 42 Celsius) and then they sleep it off for awhile too. Ah, the life of a dog in suburbia. Wish I had time to be bored with you Sofie!
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤ 
7.6.12 Peanut is 18 today!
My human baby is 18 today. It makes me reflect on so many things. On all the wonderful years that I have had being her Mom and watching her turn into this incredible young person that is about to go off and take on the world. The greatest gift I ever received from the universe was my daughter. She is my only child, so I can not say what it would be like to have more than one. Though I tried. But the universe told me that this one was enough. I have step kids who really are great, but they do not consider me their mother (and I am not), so it is different.
When you are an adult you live your life based on years of decisions about your values and what is important to you. As you raise your children you pass on these things, but they receive them in their own way, and as part of their growing vs as something they decide when they get older. My daughter is a vegan, Peta, don’t kill anything, recycle everything, and save the world, kind of girl. She is going to major in ‘creating world peace’ and wants to go fix all the wars and the hate. She would like to intern for Greenpeace to save the whales, after she is done at the United Nations saving the humans.
All I can say is, YOU LEARN WHAT YOU LIVE. When you grow up surrounded by love and faith and service and furry animals, no matter what you do once you leave home, that will always be the base of who you are.
Happy 18th Birthday Peanut. Spread your wings and fly to the moon and back. Your Mother will always be right here standing behind you (just remember to call sometimes – LOL).
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
7.5.12 Reason To Stay Well Feed
We went to visit our friends the Osprey family, to see how they did in the Derecho storm the other day. From where we were on the shore, they looked fine. The daddy tried to swoop at us as usual (we assume because he thinks we are to close), so all things must be well. We wonder how, if trees were picked up out of the ground and fell on houses, the little nest stayed on the platform? I don’t know but to us that is a miracle. Lucky for the Osprey family because nests are hard to come by. The good news is that it would not be hard to refurbish their nest right now if they needed to, because there are millions of leaves and sticks everywhere.
It is fun to visit the Osprey but we do not think they like us very much. We are glad that they are safe because we like when they swoop over the house and sing to us. Or is that their, “Go away pesky ground animals or we will come and scoop you up” cry. Did I tell you that one of them picked up a neighbor’s Chihuahua right in the back yard? Luckily the human was there and screamed at the Osprey to drop the dog. He was OK. But anything under 15 lbs should never be left alone when birds of prey are in the area. That is a good reason to keep your dogs and cats well feed around here.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Monday’s Melanism
The opposite of albinism called melanism,a recessive trait where the skin and fur are all black.
Source: paulie-svk.deviantart.com
7.2.12 Beware the Derecho
Friday’s Derecho aftermath. Pull out the chainsaws!
Mommy, it is really hot! When is the air conditioner coming back on?
I will just keep rolling in the grass and eating sticks. That should cool me off and help Mommy clean up at the same time.
They say we had a Derecho Friday night. Sounded like a freight train to us. Aftermath looks like a tornado. Thanks to Wikipedia and The Weather Channel, I now know that a derecho is a widespread and long-lived, violent convectively induced straight-line windstorm that is associated with a fast-moving band of severe thunderstorms in the form of a squall line usually taking the form of a bow echo. Derechos blow in the direction of movement of their associated storms, similar to a gust front, except that the wind is sustained and generally increases in strength behind the “gust” front. A warm weather phenomenon, derechos occur mostly in summer, especially June and July in the Northern Hemisphere. They can occur at any time of the year and occur as frequently at night as in the daylight hours.
The dogs were fast asleep already in their beds. Storm came through around 11 PM (23:00 hrs). Sofie started going crazy. I opened the kennel doors and lied on the floor with them. All the humans huddled in the bed room and we listened. Then the transformers outside the house blew – one then two. Power gone. The storm past in maybe 30 or 40 minutes. It was to dark to see outside but we figured we had ‘weathered’ the worst.
Morning came and it appeared mostly to be tree damage on the grounds and in the pool for us. My neighbor, sadly, had 2 trees fall, one into each side of their roof, totally destroying the upper level of the home and the deck (that is their yard in the picture). I can live with cleaning up leaves and no power compared to that.
The dogs were very good. When we first came out in the morning I wasn’t thinking, but of course, the gates would all have blown open (actually the wind was so strong that slates blew off the main gate). I ran to the main gate to find both dogs standing there inside the yard line, thinking about what this really meant and should they run. They didn’t, I closed and secured the gates, and life went on.
The current temperature is over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) during the days with no end in sight. Because we live on a peninsula, we are the first to lose power and the last to get it back (or so it seems). After losing power for 2 weeks last year, I finally got a gas generator. To run the refrigerator, a light and some fans, I had to drive 30 miles into Baltimore to get gas, but it was worth it. The dogs are hot. They keep wanted to know where the air conditioning is. Everyone is napping a lot. I am worried about the old cat, Muffin, his breathing is poor even in a cool house so this is very stressful on an old system, so I am forcing him to stay down stairs with us in front of the fan.
You never know when a strong wind or a ‘not thinking’ person is going to leave the gate open. That is why the dogs wear name collars with my mobile phone number on them. I guess you just never know when a Derecho is going to blew through.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
7.1.12 Peanut Butter Bones
I like to fill the dogs marrow bones with peanut butter in the morning to keep them busy while I am having breakfast. I keep the peanut butter in the refrigerator, so that it is harder, and knife it into both sides of the bone. This keeps them busy for about 10 minutes if I am lucky. I like to watch the creative ways they try to get the peanut butter out of the holes. I have tried many other things in the bones: expensive Kong filler stuff (blah! and not much for the price), Cheese Wiz (to many chemicals and sugar and salt – I realized that I wouldn’t eat it, so why would I give it to them). whipped cream (it disappeared into the air), processed cheese pressed in to the hole (really hard to do and harder for them to get out (actually almost impossible for Sofie)). In the end, there is nothing that replaces good old peanut butter. They sure do enjoy those peanut butter bones.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
6.30.12 Two Dogs: One Spoon
Did you ever try to hold your phone camera and give the dogs a spoon at the same time. Sorry for the fuzzy pictures, but I am not very good at this. Every meal when I feed the zoo, I do the same thing. All 7 are milling about the kitchen, whether morning or night. I tell them it is feeding time, and Stella and Nine run down the hall to the kitten room and jump over the dog barrier and I shut the door behind them (with me still in the hall). Now, I head back to the kitchen. I take the left over food cans from the frig and set the on the counter. Muffin is always helping, so I open a can of cat food to keep him busy. I take out the spoon, spoon some wet food into the dog bowls and scoop a cup of the dry from the canister on the floor. Mix with water and Valhalla! – dog mush. Then I make them sit and wait until I say ‘Let’s eat!,’ at which time they chow down at the dog feeding area and I go back to the counter. I pull out 3 bowls and mix up the 2 different wet and kitty crunchies, with lots of water, and, using the dog spoon, scoop about 2 tsp into each cat bowl. They all have their places, Muffin where he started helping me feed the dogs, Noel in the window box, and Kitty on the table. Now it is time for the kittens (dogs are done now since they tend to ‘wolf’ their food). I proceed down the hall, with dogs in tow, but enter the kitten room leaving dogs in the hall. The kittens run to their feeding spot and help me scoop out the kitten wet and dry mix, add water, and Valhalla! again – more mush. Leaving the kitten room, I return to the kitchen with my spoon and two very happy dogs who would like to clean that spoon for me. They sit, and then Lulu gets a lick, and then Sofie, and then sometimes they each take a side. Two dogs – One spoon. 7 dinners.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
