Adventures of a pet therapy dog in training and his Ninja sister
Happy Monday, troops. This week we restart the process of getting back to pet therapy with an updated orientation class on Friday. While Norman won’t be attending that session, he still continues to update his K-9 levels through lots of people interactions.
We hope you have a ‘pawsome’ week and get daily doses of the magic K-9 vitamin.
Live, love, bark! 🐾
A conversation over the weekend.
Mum: Norman, it looks like you’re blowing your undercoat. I’m finding your hair EVERYWHERE.
Norman: Relax mum, that’s not dog hair, it’s canine confetti.
Mum: 🤦🏼♀️ {Facepalm}
Here’s to a ‘pawsome’ week. No doubt ours will be accompanied with probably more than a little ‘confetti.’
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Welcome to this week’s blog hop for Nature Friday. Today we join our weekly hosts, Rosy, Sunny, Arty and Jakey from LLB in Our Backyard to celebrate a special edition of Nature Friday ~ Flowers for Marg.
Marg Elemendorf of Marg’s Animals, is a well known blogger who is loved and followed by so many over the years. Today we all come together to make Marg’s birthday extra special since she lives alone caring for her many and beloved kitties. Happy Birthday, Marg!
Please feel free to leave your own birthday wishes here at this link.
Today is a birthday two-fer for me. Norman, Elsa and I of course send best wishes to Marg but we also send them to one of my dearest friends, Cheryl who celebrates an extra special birthday today. Happy birthday, sweet lady. I’m looking forward to celebrating with you in person this weekend.
Alright, let’s see if we can put together a bouquet of flowers for these two special women who do so much for others. Although spring is taking its sweet time arriving in the Mile High City and it may be a bit premature to cut a lush bouquet for indoor display still, there are some early spring bulbs that suggest bouquets gracing a table won’t be too far away.
Earlier this week we saw the first blooming tulips in a border along one of our walks. So cheerful and happy looking.
While the past couple of days have been cooler than our warm Easter weekend, seeing tulips blooming always brings smiles to winter-weary hearts in the Rockies.
While our garden is just waking up, there was one early bloomer that caught me off guard. I don’t ever recall seeing pink Phlox quite this early. What a nice splash of color, wouldn’t you agree?
On a quick trip to a store I rarely shop at, I stopped by their flower department a couple of days ago and saw an incredible display of indoor orchids. These two deeply colored (and not edited to boost their vibrancy, mind you) stopped me dead in my tracks. I stared for several minutes taking in all that beauty.
Definitely out of the ordinary yet stunning in true orchid style.
We hope you all have a beautiful Friday. Please enjoy some nature and find time to make your weekend grand.
Live love, bark! 🐾
Alas, this cartoon doesn’t explain the problem with the Colorado Rockies.
We hope you had a lovely weekend and your week is filled with loads of home runs.
Live, love, bark! 🐾
My goodness, here it is April already. Where did the first quarter of 2021 go?! As we typically do on Friday’s, we’re joining our adorable weekly hosts, Rosy, Sunny, Arty and Jakey from LLB in Our Backyard to see what’s going on with Mother Nature. Don’t forget to click on the link to check out the blog hop and see what else others in Blogville have shared.
Spring has been working overtime trying to catch up after recent visits from Ole Man Winter. There’s still some white stuff remaining on northern exposures but all and all, the week has been all about spring with clear bluebird skies, warm temperatures with perennials, shrubs and trees that are beginning to bud.
A Pasque flower I walk past daily has just recently begun to open and its arrival is always reason to smile with hope that spring is here. Pasque flowers (known as Pulsatilla hirsutissima, Pulsatilla ludoviciana, Pulsatilla patens, Anemone patens, etc.) have an undisputed appearance but a somewhat disputed name. It has been known as Pulsatilla hirsutissima, Pulsatilla ludoviciana, Pulsatilla patens, Anemone patens, etc. “Pulsatilla” from the Latin for “pulsing”, “moving about”, plus the diminutive, “illa”: thus “a bit of quivering” (from the wind). Pasque Flower or Easter Flower is from the Hebrew “Pasach” i.e. “Passover” [the last supper was the celebration of Pasach] and thus this plant has became associated with Easter since they generally flower around the Easter/Passover season when winter snows begin to melt. The name most likely arrived through variations of French, “passefleur” and “passflower” both similar to the French word for Easter, “Pasques” which has its roots in the Hebrew word “Pasach” so it’s somewhat easy to see how the common name has morphed into “Pasque Flower.”
A walk about through my garden yesterday when temps were in the mid-70’s showed the blueish grape hyacinths fully in bloom. I was shocked to find a lone outlier white one in the middle of the blues and hope nature has some sort of grand plan. The bee didn’t seem to mind that lone white one either as it kept going back and forth to it, probably reacting much like us humans do with ice cream…”chocolate or vanilla? Oh what the heck, I like them both.”
Over the next several days temps are expected to be in the upper 70’s to low 80’s so being outdoors to enjoy this glorious time will be the MO of the residents around the Mile High.
We wish everyone a blessed Easter weekend and hope whatever your religious persuasion that you find some time to get outside and sing the glory of nature’s beautiful work.
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Today’s smile will be good advice for Norman who received notice last week the hospital will be re-opening up for pet therapy visits. Exciting news for him as well as for Elsa who seems thrilled that he’ll be occupied for a few days a month. Meanwhile, Norman and I will be working hard polishing up on our skills to bring smiles to patients and staff soon and hope to sail through the certification process easily.
We hope you have a ‘pawsome’ week!
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Rather than post more images of snowy urban scenes with emerging spring bulbs (you’re probably as tired of seeing my spring storm photos as I am posting them), today we will be joining and supporting our ‘fur-iends’ from Knotty Toys for Good Dogs and the Five Sibes in a blog hop (click on the links for additional info), by participating in the annual international grassroots effort known as “Purple Day” which was created to increase awareness about epilepsy worldwide. If you make a donation of $5* or more at The Wally Foundation (who provides financial assistance to the owners of canine epileptics and dog rescue groups to obtain medications and veterinary services), you will receive a Purple Ribbon decal in the mail (*minimum donation of $6 outside of the USA).
As the parent of an epi-warrior, I have found a supportive and diverse network of people, dogs and informational resources since Elsa’s diagnosis just 2 weeks after she was adopted. Although I have owned dogs who suffered from epilepsy over the years, I’ve become far more educated about treatment for these special pets and no longer feel totally isolated. Educating myself to help Elsa has been a passion and both Knotty Toys for Dogs and the Five Sibes blogs have provided tremendous information that has definitely improved her life with ‘pawsome’ tips I never knew about previously.
Life with an Epi-Warrior can have its ups and downs but it doesn’t mean they can’t enjoy life like any other pet. Elsa may has her quirks due to her years of life in a puppy mill, but she still enjoys life being a sweet snuggler who loves playing with certain toys (apart from the well documented eviscerating of others).
Every year on March 26th, people from around the world are invited to wear purple and participate in events that support of epilepsy awareness. It is estimated that as many as 50 million peeps and 4% of all dogs have epilepsy. By bringing awareness to this disease, those who participate with Purple Day events hope to bring much-needed info to those who need it. There are many groups who can provide informational resources, such as The Wally Foundation and The Anita Kaufmann Foundation, among many others. Please check them out and support their efforts providing information to sufferers of this dreaded disease. We hope you’ll join us as we rock purple today.
Live, love, bark! 💜
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Spring arrived over the weekend and boy was it ever glorious (sunny and 65ºF-perfect in my books). While walking around the garden picking up wrappers that has blown in during last week’s blizzard, I noticed my favorite baby blue grape hyacinths had begun blooming an Ode to Joy. I had to chuckle because of what I knew would probably be coming.
These little guys are my favorite of the grape hyacinths in my garden (the purple ones have a later blooming timetable and bloom longer) but they never fail to charm. The fact that the original dozen has naturalized nicely makes them even more appreciated.
This morning, the Ranch hands woke up to this scene and is expected to continue accumulating off and on today, tomorrow and possibly Wednesday.
At least there was at least one day of spring which may be the shortest spring on record. Funny thing about these records, we seem to be doing a lot of that lately. Mind you, I’m not complaining about the snow; we need the moisture. But it does mess up my plans for a day trip to visit with out of state family members who will be in the southern part of the state just until this Thursday.
Whatever is going on in your neck of the woods, we hope your week starts out with a smile and sets the stage for a ‘pawsome’ week. Happy Monday!
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Happy TGIF! Today we are going to share some thoughts about Mother Nature and her incredible ability for resilience in spite of her bad self. As usual, we’re joining our weekly hosts, those adorably sweet pupsters, Rosy, Sunny, Arty and Jakey from LLB in Our Backyard. Don’t forget to click on their link to check out what they and others in Blogville have shared.
As you may recall, Mother Nature walloped the Mile High. For a recap of a major blizzard that blanketed the Ranch, click here. Over two feet of snow along with swirling drifts pounded the area but nature is nothing if not resilient. Take a look at what a couple of days of melting will expose.
Nature didn’t put a damper on St. Patrick’s Day fun for some. While others were too busy for any celebration. Note the drift in the foreground below which was a lengthy challenge to remove. Wet snow is heavy for ‘shovelers’ of all types, be they man or machines.
But there’s no doubt the accumulation of all that snow could be hard on gardens. I wondered how the early spring bulbs might fare.
Remember those miniature daffodils I shared last week? Even being buried under 2+ ft. of heavy snow didn’t seem to damper their desire to find daylight. They were slightly bent but their fighting spirit was not be denied.
Even these tulips which normally don’t fare so well when they’ve been squashed with heavy snow, managed to rise to the occasion.
Yesterday afternoon’s walk left me utterly astounded at how buoyant Nature can be in the face of the aftermath of a major storm.
The evergreen shrub below had been completely buried just two days earlier and yet it seemed none the worse for the trouble and with our strong sunshine will straighten its branches out soon.
Although a few broken branches were spotted on a couple of evergreen trees (nothing too major though), I was struck by the sheer survival instinct Mother Nature employs. She dishes out all kinds of mayhem with one hand yet pushes plants forward with the other. It’s truly remarkable.
These past few days of temps in the upper 40’s and 50’sF will melt even more and it should be interesting to see what else emerges before the next round of spring storms hits Sunday night.
So what was your experience with Nature this week? See anything that made you think realize how resilient it is?
Live, love, bark! 🐾