Wilson: Hello mates, Happy Friday. My snarky sister is right, Mum really didn’t have a specific theme this week but we’ll try to make it interesting nonetheless.
Elsa: That may be a stretch but I’m sure you’ll do the best you can given the pickings are somewhat slim.
Wilson: Yeah, while Mum and I have been walking 5 miles a day, scenes along our route haven’t changed that much though I will note Mum saw a re-blooming iris two days ago. It’s the first time she’s ever seen one that wasn’t white. It’s actually rather pretty and no, Ninja, I didn’t sniff it for marking purposes.
Elsa: Wha…how dare you accuse me of being ready to pounce on that softball, err…that comment. But I’m convinced you thought about it.
Wilson: I did not. I was a good chap and Mum was proud of me.
Elsa: Well that has to be a first. So what was all that ranting and raving about that unusual find the other morning? I was on that walk and I couldn’t see what big deal was all about
Wilson: You mean that mushroom we found? Mum thinks it might have been an oyster mushroom or possibly a mock oyster mushroom. She said she wasn’t a mycophile by any means but she was pretty excited about coming across its path. Typically our humidity is in the low to mid-teens so for this one to sprout up in the gravel was definitely something to get jazzed about.
Elsa: Then again, maybe not so much. We see far more interesting things all the time. But whatever cranks your handle is fine by me.
Wilson: Well can I just say I was fascinated. I haven’t seen anything like that around here, at least not since I became a Ranch Hand and thought perhaps you might be intrigued with it.
Elsa: Nope, not even the slightest. Now…show me that chubby racoon that’s been waddling around our ‘Hood in the early morning, and I’m all over it. They are such fascinating critters. And that one who’s so chunky is particularly interesting. He’s barked at me before. I wanted to give him a piece of my mind, but Mom was adamant that we avoid any encounter at all costs. She can be such a killjoy sometimes.
Wilson: Tell me about it. She’s gotten so strict about me not even getting close to squirrels. It’s a major drag that I can’t chase after them. I’m sure I could catch one, I just know it. I’m quite speedy, you know.
Elsa: Yeah, yeah, yeah and you could whip it with one paw tied behind your back. Spare me, brother.
Wilson: I say, dear sister. No need to be so harsh. I was just saying…
Elsa: {interrupting} Oh spare me. Nobody wants to hear you yammering on about how close you came to bagging a squirrel.
Wilson: {miffed} Fine, I won’t say a thing about it.
Elsa: Promise? Ahhh, peace and quiet…just what I was praying for…
Wilson: {steamed} Oh so you planned to trick me into not talking about it, eh? Well that’s rather unkind. You know you could just do the post yourself if you don’t like what I’m sharing.
Elsa: Sheesh, lighten up, dude. Don’t be overly sensitive. Be more like me. Like I could give a rat’s…
Wilson: Umm Mum said to stop talking like that. You’d be well to heed that directive.
Elsa: Whatever…I’m the Ranch’s only princess…I can pretty much get away with just about anything. I mean, look at last week’s post where I munch her ballot. And here I am to tell about it. Heh, heh…this ‘no consequences’ thing is just awesome, I mean…hmm, it’s got me thinking…I wonder what else I can get away with…
Wilson: Best not, I’d have to report you to Mum. She was more than irritated with you again after you ate the latest flyer from Costco.
Elsa: Yeah, I did a really amazing shredding job on that yesterday morning. Mom doesn’t need the flyer anyway; she’d just spend money on stupid stuff instead of dehydrated liver treats on moi.
Wilson: Best not to chance it. You just never know and I sure as the devil don’t want to be blamed for something you did.
Elsa: Un-lax big guy. I’ve got the ‘Mom’ touch. She gives me a lot of latitude because of my early years in the puppy mill. And of course, the fact that I’m an epi-warrior just adds to her feeling sorry for me. I mean, talk about the luck of not one but “two get out of jail free” cards. I’m golden, trust me.
Wilson: Best not to push it. Besides, Mum loves it when we behave nicely.
Elsa: {eyes rolling} I’ll always be her favorite. You can take that to the bank.
Wilson: Not 100% sure about that but let’s share yesterday’s beautiful sunrise. With days getting shorter and it not being quite as hot, we’re able to eat our breakfast before going on our morning constitution. I rather like sleeping in a bit instead of having to go for a ‘crack of dawn’ walk. It’s nice to saunter outside and check out the pretty sunrise.
Elsa: Whoa…nice clouds. I was too busy going potty to notice that bright orangey cloud. Mom was blown away by how bright it was. The mornings have been so clear so that was a nice treat.
Wilson: Treat, where? Wait, oh, I think you’re teasing me again. I know Mom will give me a nice tasty treat and it’ll be acceptable to eat it. I’m getting very good with waiting until she gives me the ok command. Anyway, we walked past a nearby church the other morning and saw how they created this scene. Kinda cool. Not sure if it means something because I’m not Episcopalian but it did catch Mum’s eye.
Elsa: Don’t look at me for an explanation. Maybe someone reading this will know if it means something special. Anyway, it’s nicely done at any rate.
Wilson: Agreed. So the leaves around the Ranch have just begun to change in the last couple of days. Many are just so dried out but Mum found this tree with a bit of color yesterday morning. It was very breezy yesterday and looked a lot like it was almost snowing.
Elsa: I know she’s been on the hunt for a very large leaf to put on top of your head because you’re so easy. Consider yourself lucky it’s been windy to thwart those efforts to make you look ridiculous. I’ve already put her on notice, I ain’t posing. Period.
Wilson: Don’t be so sure, I saw her pulling down that box that contains all the bandanas, hats and costumes in anticipation of Halloween. I just hope she’s too busy to pull it all together.
Elsa: Egad…so that’s what she was doing. Oh right, I’ll be laying low. Speaking of Halloween, what scene did you decide on sharing this week? There have been so many to choose from, won’t it be hard to find just one?
Wilson: You’re right about that, there have been so many but this one seemed to be truly out of the norm. We are definitely not fans of inflatables but this one caught Mum’s eye. I don’t think I’d want to stop at that house for treats.
Elsa: Wait, you’d skip this house? Well that’s gotta be a first. But I’m with you. I wouldn’t want to stop at that house either. That’s just creeps-ville, dude.
Wilson: I agree. Well that’s it from me. So many of you were concerned about Mum’s ballot problem last week but I’m happy to report she filled it out as soon as she got home and hand delivered it to a nearby drop box. She received notice from the Secretary of State a couple of days later saying they’d received, verified the signature and accepted it. Whew. Look what they sent her in return-it even has the state flower, the Columbine, in the design. Pretty cool, don’t you think?
Elsa: Nope, I can’t chew up a digital sticker. Anyway, glad the whole thing is over now-she droned on about it endlessly. We hope you all have a terrific weekend and are able to get out and enjoy finding some slices of nature before daylight saving time ends.
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Ya got clouds and mushrooms that look like clouds and digital voting stickers that are not very appetizing, and FALL!
I can’t wait for the hour we get back this weekend, even if it means colder weather ahead. I’ll take it for now.
Five miles a day is muy impressive! Hear hear!
Thanks, Marc. High energy dogs require high energy depletion. I’m looking forward to returning to standard time. I despise DST which continues to vex sensibilities along with human biorhythms.
I remember now.
We already have enough stuff messing with our senses, am I right?
No kidding! I just don’t get this foolishness. You shouldn’t be trying to mess with time.
Why must we always try and reinvent stuff? Just let it be, I say.
Pretty spectacular cloud! I love that your state has such a pretty voting sticker. I saw a nice one from Texas also. When Malia took me to the voting booth she got a future voter sticker. Ours is the boring standard sticker still.
How cute is that Malia got a future voter sticker! Love that.
Mee-yow what a furabuluss reepoet Wilson an Elsa…..
THE Irisess are gorgeeuss an BellaSita’ss fave flower. That Mushroomy iss speck-taculur two.
THE Sunrise foto iss so orangey an purrty. Orange iss mee faverite color.
THE stone thingy iss a Serenity Maze BellaSita meowed to me…..not sure how Peepss wuud walk inn it…… Maybee Peepss gaze at it an feel see-rene?
***nose bopss*** BellaDharma an {{huggiess}} BellaSita Mum
Guud Geef! BellaSita misss-spelled REE-PORT! Sorry Wilson 🙁
🤣 No problem; we knew what you meant.
Thanks! Maybe just stopping to check out the serenity maze brings some inner peace to peeps. It worked for us. All of those photos were unedited so our Mum was rather pleased with the way they were captured.
The flowers sure are pretty and that mushroom is amazing. Hey, those big blow up spooks can be kind of scary!
Thanks so much, Terry. There’s no way we’d stop at that house no matter how tasty the treats would be! LOL
Lulu: “Orange kerchief! Our Dada approves!”
Oona: “It reminds Oona of the orange collar he tried to saddle her with, only bigger.”
Java Bean: “Ayyy, you could not pay me to approach that house with the giant witch leaping at me! Well, maybe you could pay me, but you would have to pay me very well …”
We think there isn’t enough Halloween candy to go to that front door!
Great photos. Love the witch. I showed my hubby the mushroom as he goes mushroom foraging, but he had no idea. We voted already too. XO
That mushroom just shocked me. Never expected something like that to pop up in an area that was strictly gravel! I would think that inflatable would scare little kids coming to the front door. Kudos for voting already.
Glad you got to vote, Monika. We cast ours early just yesterday. Nice to have it done, not that our small town gets a big crowd, lol! We were the only ones there with just one Admin. Works for us. 😉
Have a great weekend!
With a 6 page ballot, I envy you. The older I get the more I’d like to live in a small town. 😉 Enjoy a beautiful autumn weekend.
Thank you, Monika. Yes, two pages were enough and nothing was local, all state and federal. I love rural living!
Horrible Halloween decorations you have there. Halloween is not very famous here, no decorations outside houses. Very beautiful Autumn colors, especially maple tree leaves are great.
I love always to read your conversations, today Elsa was so sure who is mom’s favorite dog, luckily Wilson is a wise boy and lets her talk.
We’re not fans of any of those hideous inflatables. But they seem to have taken a hold of people’s fascination with decorations which is ironic since Halloween is a pagan holiday. Elsa is a lot of bluster especially as she gets older, luckily Wilson is a mostly patient brother. He certainly is good natured. Have a lovely weekend.
Thank you the same.
The stones are kind of cool. Seems like a lot of work though and I wonder how long they stay perfectly in place.
Thanks. It was a nice zen moment to encounter. But yeah, no doubt they constantly need to be repositioned because passers-by move them out of alignment.
Well I’m glad Mom got to vote. The I voted sticker is beautiful. Not Sure about that mushroom. I have no confidence in hunting them in the wild. I see skull and crossbones on all of them. The iris is beautiful too and that monster pretty scary. Hope you all have a super weekend.
Our Mom is with you, John as far as mushrooms go. She’ll go to her favorite grocer and not out the back door! We’d never seen a re-blooming iris that wasn’t white so that was a lovely find. Hope you and the pupsters have a pawsome autumn weekend and hope your temps have simmered down a bit.
We are promised 80s next week which will be a treat.
It looks like you have all the seasons going on this week! We love your changing leaves…and the reblooming iris is so very beautiful but that mushroom is something else!!
xoxo,
Rosy
Thanks, Rosy. Both the mushroom and that iris caught our Mom off guard. The only season missing seemed to be {whispering} w-i-n-t-e-r. And we’re okay with that. Have a super weekend!
Your friends,
Elsa & Wilson 🐾
My Mom is the Grinch of Halloween. She just doesn’t “do” Halloween since her kids were young.
It’s not our favorite holiday either and ranks right up there with July 4th for causing chaos for the dogs. Doorbells set them off barking like maniacs. Ugh. We’re hoping there won’t be any trick-or-treaters. Hope you have a wagnificently grinchy weekend. 😉
wonderful! That mushroom looks like a weird creature, the creature coming out of the house was scary, the clouds have put on a mighty show lately and those winds blew leaves to kansas
LeeAnna
Thanks. It was so weird finding it in a graveled area. We can only hope the wind blows more leaves away-our Mom isn’t all that keen on raking the billions of leaves that fall in our yard. Have a great weekend!
Glad to hear your mom voted. Not sure what’s scarier this year, Halloween or Election Day. Hope you guys watch out for scary decorations *and* lawn signs on your walks!
At this point, I think it would be less scary to deal with a vampire than some of the candidates this election season. Where in the world do these people come from?? Luckily only 2 yard signs were from that ‘other guy’ – the rest were A-ok with us. 😉 Have a lovely weekend.
And you as well!
its so super funny to see this decorations… wish we had more of that here too… but we have begonias… in shocktober.. that is crazy…
Begonias…in October? Whoa. That is crazy. Enjoy them while you can! Have a weim-ific weekend.
Flowers, pretty clouds, and Halloween decorations – a trifecta of fun! I love mushrooms and still have that “thing” I had as a little girl imagining little fairies using them as umbrellas (NO I have NOT been drinking today!!). As for raking leaves – I intend to mow the lawn tomorrow and chop up whatever leaves there are NOW. But there’s another huge bunch waiting to fall from the trees and we have our landscaper coming next month with a crew to blow as much of THOSE as they can into the woods!
Hugs, Pam
Mushrooms are fascinating but I’d never eat anything I found in the woods. Ever. With the trees on my oversized lot, I’ll be raking until December. They all drop at different times. Bloody devils. LOL
We had just the barest skim of frost on the grass this morning — cooler temperatures are coming!
Lovely photos of the Rerun Iris! We have several, and they are lavender, not white. What they are NOT doing is re-blooming. Sigh.
Yay for Voting!
It was 36ºF when we went out for our morning potty break this morning. Brrr…but I’m ever so grateful. Those upper 80’s and 90’s wore their welcome out long ago. It’s sweater weather now! Woohoo.
Haven’t ever seen any other than white but mine didn’t really-bloom this year. I think it’s been too dry for them.
The circle of stones is a miniature labyrinth. Used (in full size) for a walking meditation, starting at the opening on the outside and slowly walked to the center, where people often sit in quiet for awhile, and then walk out slowly. The most famous one is in Chartres Cathedral in France, and the Celts loved them as well. We are getting color here too and it is glorious this year. I love fall, only it reminds me winter is coming!
Fascinating info on that labyrinth…it’s a very tiny space. The only creature to walk around it would be small little critters like squirrels. It was relaxing to look at and Wilson and I will walk the huge labyrinth over at the Elitches pavillion if they’ve finished installing the holiday lights. It always grounds my mind, something I especially need these days with all the hectic activity going on. Autumn is our most favorite season too. Have a great weekend, Debra.
I love the image of a squirrel walking the mini-labyrinth – too funny! Have a good weekend too.
Oh boy, if Wilson saw that, those rocks would be scattered from here to kingdom come! LOL
HEHEHEHE!!!
Oh, that mushroom! Takes me back to France and all the many and varied mushrooms we picked! The thing to do was to avoid going to the mushroom exhibitions where you saw something looking like the one you had just eaten for lunch labelled with a skull and crossbones!
Mushrooms are somewhat rare around here because our humidity is almost always so low. We’ve never seen anything like it. Mom is too terrified to even touch mushrooms in the wild but she’s very intrigued about them. Have a great weekend, Helen!
That odd mushroom looks like torched meringue on a baking show Mom watches but it probably really is a mushroom. Love that scary Halloween creature with the big hands reaching at the gate. We would not disturb those people at all! Wilson, you and I could have some fun. 2 weekends ago I chewed up the packaging on two 8×10 photo frames when Mom was gone and left me and Bailie home all day for two days. The second day I got in some business cards and an envelope too. I put my work in Bailie’s bed but somehow, Mom knew it was me. Normally I am not destructive but we are reorganizing the pack now with only three of us and I was mad about being left home. Have a fun weekend, good luck with your shredding projects. Nelson
Oh Nelson…you and I could get into so much trouble at our house. My Mom leaves the mail on the dining room table and then wonders why I eat/shred it. How about why do you leave it and me alone long enough to get a dose of cellulose? Hee, hee. No shredding this weekend, unless it’s leaves but Mom has a hospital event so probably no time for raking leaves. You behave yourself, Nelson and be a good boy…like me. Hahaha
Your fur-iend,
Elsa 🐾