Pagosa Springs, Colorado
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Wordless Wednesday ~ January 16, 2019
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Pagosa Springs, Colorado
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Author Archives: Tails Around the Ranch
Monday Musings ~ January 14, 2019
So THAT’S the issue? Guess it’s obvious now the problem is I am owned by I own a Standard Poodle, when what I really need is an automatic.
Here’s hoping your week starts off with a chuckle.
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Nature Friday ~ January 11, 2019
Kudos for surviving the week and if you’re like us, you’re excitedly waiting for the weekend to begin. Welcome to today’s edition of Nature Friday where we join our fur-iends Rosy and her brothers from LLB in Our Backyard.
While the temperature outside is the warmest it will be all day at a balmy 34F with a beautiful wet snow falling here, we thought we’d share a photo of a real snow storm from a few years ago. These kinds of storms are only in my dreams these days and can only hope we ever receive that much again.
However you spend your weekend, we hope you enjoy it.
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Wordless Wednesday ~ January 9, 2019
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Did You Know? January 8, 2019 edition
If you live in a region where the temperatures get below freezing, your fire hydrants are more important than ever. We recently received this video about the importance of hydrant maintenance in the winter months. “Gaskill” hydrants were originally installed in Denver in the 1890’s and incorporated a dry barrel draining system to prevent water from freezing inside the pipes connecting to the hydrant.
Now days, water companies uses propane burners when storms are forecast as part of their regular maintenance in cold climates. Most of the 21,000 fire hydrants installed throughout the Denver metro area are yellow and installed along the sidewalk easements. Newer versions of the Gaskill hydrants feature an underground valve to shut off the flow of water in case of a collision by some vehicle. The value shuts the water off and keeps water in the supply pipe, preventing water from spraying in the air a la Hollywood style. I personally hate the idea of water waste in this high mountain desert region and hope storm sewers are able to re-cycle and treat this flushed water and get it back into the non-potable system for watering city parks.
Hydrants are flushed out at dead ends, cup-de-sacs and pressure zone boundaries to ensure water moves regularly throughout the system. By flushing Gaskill hydrants, it allows the water company to collect samples and maintain water quality throughout the distribution system.
Upright and fire fighters are grateful the hydrants are maintained, especially at this time of year. Seems like dogs are grateful for hydrants, too. Even the Ninja.
A little privacy, please.
Have you ever wondered how your fire hydrants worked? Now you have a better idea, at least if your water company uses the Gaskill hydrants.
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Monday Musings ~ January 7, 2019
Looks like someone else gained some weight over the holidays. I think I know that feeling.
Who you calling chubby?
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Nature Friday ~ January 4, 2019
Welcome to the first Friday of 2019 where we enthusiastically join our fur-iends Rosy and her brothers from LLB in Our Backyard for this week’s edition of the Nature Friday blog hop. Don’t forget to check out other blogs when you click on the link. Not yet ingrained in my brain, I’m still having trouble typing 2019 but figure it will become second nature soon. Fingers crossed. Speaking of nature…Mother Nature went on a bit of a tear earlier this week. Last year ended with a small snow storm blowing through the 303 and New Year temperatures started out literally in the freezer with emphasis on the blowing part. Low double digits dropped like a rock into single figures with the windchill. One early morning it was below zero. Hard to even recall today as the temps have been warming since Wednesday and should be around 60 F this afternoon with mid-50’s forecast for the next several days. Crazy Mother Nature…at her best/worst again, depending on how you view it.
Here are a couple of images from Mother Nature’s first storm of 2019. The bird bath was photographed early in the morning and chills me just looking at it.
And while the sun is shining in the second image, you can see exactly what windswept looks like on a patch of ornamental grass.
So how do you plan to stay warm this weekend? Whatever you do, we hope the first weekend of a fresh new year is ‘pawsome!’
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Creating a New Year
Realizing a detox was probably necessary after my holiday fudge transfusion, I came to the conclusion I should probably detox my addled brain too. Along with my best intentions, I found myself diving down the online rabbit-hole a bit too much. When you finally come to your senses, look around and discover you just lost 3 hours when you only consciously meant to look up X and wonder why the heck you’re now reading Y which was totally unrelated, you probably need to do a reassessment. Or have an intervention. Has this ever happened to you? What’s that old saying…the road to hell is paved with the best of intentions? Well, I reckon to change that now in 2019.
It seemed clear I needed to spend more time visiting the library than falling down the rabbit-hole, fun as that may be. Enter an old-fashioned concept…reading a book. I have a complicated history with reading. While I do enjoy it, taking 87 years to get my degree years ago (but by golly I did it and graduated Phi Beta Kappa eligible), reading for pleasure was a luxury I didn’t have, nor a habit that was very well-developed. Making ends meet while raising a couple of kids in a new urban location, working full-time and going to school at night, didn’t exactly lend itself to reading for pleasure. There was always too much required reading for classes or kids to parent or grocery shopping or cooking, cleaning…well you get the idea. It’s always easy putting things off, isn’t it?
Several months ago I entered a couple of blog contests and actually won a couple of amazing books related to my passion-pet rescue. One book struck a special chord with me. Mind you, I wasn’t actually the winner, but the author, Diane Rose-Solomon was touched enough by my entry describing Elsa’s rescue story that she generously sent a signed copy of her book nonetheless. A hectic summer turned into a busy fall, and then the winter holidays hit which brings me here. Excuses and apologies.
Although I finished the book back in November while in Mexico, I’m just now writing a long overdue review for which I sincerely apologize to Diane. This book is easy to read, provides loads of tips with resources and the chapters can be easily read in any order. Add to the fact Diane has a rescue named Ninja…well imagine how that touched me.
Organized into five modules, Diane shares personal experience from the heart and provides oodles of resources. You know…real life stuff. Have an issue with a particular aspect of rescuing a dog? You can easily find it covered in one of the modules. While I’ve rescued more than one shelter dog, Elsa’s story was complicated because she spent years in a puppy mill cage. Diane’s book gave me insight I hadn’t encountered with diverse resources that has helped with her socialization. A quick and gentle read, once I earnestly dug into it I was irritated at how easily I let myself get distracted with other things before finishing this pawsome book.
Even if you’re a seasoned dog owner, this book will provide you with expert advice from rescue specialists, veterinarians, dog parents, and pet business owners with links to the most relevant articles from pet professionals, making this book a one-stop shop for dog-related questions, before, during, and after adoption. I can’t urge you enough to have this excellent resource on your own bookshelf. Many, many thanks to Diane for being patient with me. It is most appreciated. And make sure you stop by her website to check out all the great things with which she’s involved. You’ll be glad you did.
Happy reading! I look forward to sharing more reviews of pet related books and articles throughout 2019. Now where did I put that library card?
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Not At All Wordless Wednesday~ January 2, 2019
2019. Just the sound of it sounds promising, doesn’t it? But it’s not at all natural to type just yet, let alone say and it will probably take a couple of week’s of practice before I scribble over 2018 on checks in favor of adding the correct year.
Happy New Year, Blogville. We at the Ranch hope you survived the ‘howlidays’ and they were full of joy. Between all the special food, drinks, and good cheer with friends and family, you just might want to hold off looking for that bathroom scale just yet (you may remember I thought of hiding mine here as a viable strategy for that fudge holiday weight gain).
Enter the period of time where making resolutions is the blueprint we often begin the new year. Welcome, resolution month. I’m not big on making resolutions preferring setting goals with a specific plan, but I do try to become more conscious about healthy living and eating. How can you not? With the arrival of bitter cold temps in the single digits with windchill over the past few days, outside exercise has been limited but here’s a strategy that might help.
Have a wonderful first week of 2019. Your slate has been wiped clean to create a whole new direction where you can go. What’s your plan? And if you make New Year’s resolutions, do they work for you? Any tips to share? Here’s to a happy, healthy 2019!
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Yappy New Year ~ January 1, 2019
Eek, can you believe it’s 2019? Let’s hope it’s a good one. From all of us, to all of you, we just want to say…
Live, love, bark! 🐾