This weekend we are honored to join Fur Angel Gibson from the FiveSibes blog and fellow epi-warrior, Olivia at Knotty Toys for Good Dogs for the 2022 edition acknowledging Purple Day for Epilepsy (with apologies for being a day late of the actual date, March 26-I got my dates mixed up).
The Ninja rocking her purple bandana
You may recall, the Ranch’s resident Ninja (aka Elsa) was diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy a couple of weeks following her adoption. You can read part of her story here.
We are so grateful for all the info Gibson and Olivia have shared on their respective blogs about epilepsy and remain appreciative for their leadership in sharing information and resources. Please visit the Purple Day website for additional information about epilepsy. Elsa is living proof dogs who have been diagnosed with this condition can live relatively normal and productive lives.
“There never was a good war or a bad peace.” -Benjamin Franklin
This weekend, like so many others around Blogville, we join the “Blog for Peace” blog hop hosted by Mimi Lenox from BlogBlast4Peace. Every day we wince and shed tears for the people and pets of Ukraine as they defend themselves from the Russian invasion. The images coming out of Ukraine have been absolutely heartbreaking, especially when you see families walking to train stations, dragging a piece of luggage while carrying their pets, as they flee the bombing of their hometowns.
Send your peace globe and a link to your post to Mimi Lenox at blog4peace@yahoo.com or tag Mimi Lenox on Facebook
We hope you will do your part and promote peace by helping the Ukrainians any way you are able.
Better late than never, right? Sorry we’re late getting this published. This week’s offering is fairly slim/grim as it was doggone freezing and blanketed in snow, making picture taking impossible. I had to put my thinking cap on to share any nature pics that weren’t cold and/or white.
The day before the cold and white set in, I made a quick last minute visit down to my dad’s house with my oldest granddaughter who wanted to spend her day off with him. He was absolutely delighted to see her and hear all about her recent engagement. She brought one of her pooches, Marley, who is one of the most engaging pups around and loves to show off his repertoire of cute tricks. Everyone loves him and my 91-year old dad was no exception.
So let’s get to it, shall we? As I mentioned, I decided to spare you a(nother) post of snow pics (you’re welcome) which meant I had to dig deep into the photo archives for something else. Given that I visited my dad this week, I couldn’t help but share this tiny little blue bird I saw on a previous visit. Isn’t it totally adorable? It captivated me with its striking blue color since there’s nothing like them in the city. The image itself wasn’t all that great since it was photographed through the windows and I couldn’t risk disturbing him by going outside for an up close look.
I had originally thought of sharing some interesting shadow pics I have but then realized they had snow as well, so one little bird is all I can offer this week. Hopefully with a forecast of warmer temps beginning tomorrow, I’ll be able to do better next time.
Before we go, we want to remind you that it’s that time of year again (at least in the US) when we try to alter time change the clocks. Oh the plus side in the minds of many dogs and cats, dinner will be served an hour early, on the other hand, they’ll be losing an hour of beauty sleep this weekend. I hope the sunshine on Sunday is worth it. DST makes me crabbish and takes some time for my bio-rhythms to adjust. #bahhumbug
Well, that’s it from us. We hope you are able to suss out some nature scenes this weekend. Don’t forget to “Spring Forward” for Daylight Saving time Saturday night before you go to bed. We hope the hour less of sleep doesn’t make you too cranky and you’re able to enjoy the sunshine later on Sunday.
Today is Ash Wednesday and marks the beginning of Lent; a time of sacrifice, self-discipline and reflection leading up to Easter. Christians across the world often decide to give up something they enjoy like chocolate or alcohol for instance or they agree to do special works of service/goodness. The Ranch Hands said “No dice!” on giving anything up but they assured me they would step up and be better doggos on their walks after kind of forgetting what a loose leash walk really means following the recent extended cold spell when walks were impossible. Apparently short term memory can be a problem with dogs.
In addition to Lent, today also marks a different kind of celebration. Today is “Read Across America Day,” created in 1998 by the National Education Association (NEA), as a way to encourage children to read. This annual day is typically held today on Theodor S. Geisel’s birthday, a longtime proponent of reading. You may know him as the estimable, Dr. Seuss. The NEA endorses and promotes the importance of reading and decided to combine their efforts every year on his birthdate.
Little known fact: did you know Dr. Seuss created the word nerd? The first documented use of the word was in his 1950 book, “If I Ran the Zoo” about a boy named Gerald McGrew who visits a zoo and wonders how it might look if he ran it.
We hope you’ll join ‘Thing One and Thing Two’ along with the cats and dogs of Blogville today by reading a book as we celebrate National Read Across America day.
Welcome to the last day of the shortest month of the year. Being on the cusp of multiple seasons that happen this time of year (winter/spring, mud/spring/winter), comfort food in particular tends to take center stage around the Ranch. But beware of leaving your plate unattended for too long, otherwise you may become an unwilling victim like today’s smile.
A bowl of popcorn made over the weekend stayed surprisingly untouched although I did notice a few more drool spots on the ottoman. Such earnest innocence in those faces.
Welcome to this week’s edition of Nature Friday where we join our New Mexico hosts, Rosy, Sunny and Jakey from LLB in Our Backyard on their blog hop. Be sure to click on the link to see what others have shared.
Hard to believe little February’s last Friday of the month is here. Where has this month gone? The cold and snow repeatedly shared over this month seems much like a listening to a record with a deep scratch, repeating the chorus over and over in the short month. But time marches forward so we continue wait for Spring’s pending arrival.
Don’t know if you guys are as tired or snow scenes as I am, but I’ve grown weary of them. Don’t misunderstand, I’m happy about the moisture, especially since February is one of the driest months of the year here, but I need a change of ‘mise en scène.’ So for today’s post, let’s check out some critters from around the ‘Hood.
I’ve noticed traffic has picked up after a bit of melting with the congestion remaining front and center.
From a recent walk during a lull in the white stuff, a friendly nose greeted me. This big girl always comes charging toward the fence but then seems to realize, “Oh yeah, you’re that lady with the magic pocket of treats” who then turns into a tail-wagging ‘pussy cat.’
St. Bernard
No matter what the weather is like, Sloan’s Lake Canadian Geese never seem to mind. While somewhat threatening when the dogs are close, when I’m alone I can get closer to watch their slow paddling about in the water. It’s calming on the mind and allows me time to take in other slices of nature that I might normally miss just walking around the lake when I’m more focused on keeping the dogs in line. Reminder to self: walk this park more often, it’s good for your spirit.
The cabin fever that’s rather consumed the Ranch Hand brains has also tugged on my psyche, so with a friend from the Old English Sheepdog Rescue of Colorado, we took a cheese-making class at a nearby urban farm. The owner used to be a neighbor who moved 5 miles away to the farm which is located on a conservation easement in Wheat Ridge. She has a thriving egg business along with a small herd of La Mancha goats and offers cheese-making classes once a month. Previously she raised Nubian goats but switched to the La Manchas whose milk produces a less ‘goaty’ taste to the milk, are hardy but prolific milk producers with high butterfat content in their milk. Amanda’s goats are docile and will follow you around much like a pet dog. Not only did we all have a great visit away from all the recent, intense work of the rescue, we were also able to make a nice mozzarella, as well go home with a bonus of some ricotta made from the leftover whey. It was soooo tasty on a slice of breakfast toast this morning.
Making ricotta
The resident pooch is a real favorite, greeting all visitors. After a good ear and belly rub, sweet “Ava Perón” a friendly Bull Terrier, spent time enjoying a nice sun puddle while we swooned over the relatively simple cheese-making process.
Well, that’s it for a slightly different look at nature around the Ranch. We hope it inspires you to seek something similar this weekend. Whatever you do, we hope the last weekend in February is extra ‘pawsome!’
Happy Valentine’s Day. We hope you had a fun, sports-filled weekend. Fans were treated to a plethora of events from the Olympics, NHL hockey and NBA basketball games, as well as the Super Bowl. Whichever team you supported in yesterday’s big sporting event (Super Bowl LVI), we’re ‘pawsitive’ yesterday’s Puppy Bowl XVIII hosted by Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart was the most fun of it all. Team Fluff came from behind (much like that other team did in the Super Bowl). Long-time ‘rufferee’ Dan Schachner (himself a former NFL referee), was the only human to take the field at Sunday’s Puppy Bowl game along with over 100 pups.
View from the ‘water cam’
Puppies from both teams gave it their all, but in the end it was Team Fluff that slid into the end zone with 7 seconds to go for the last-minute victory. A lineup with photos of the on-screen competitors can be found here.
More than 100 adoptable dogs from 67 shelters across 33 states dragged various toys around a miniature field in the event’s largest competition yet. Nine special needs dogs were featured during the game, led by one year-old Benny, a wheelchair-bound Labradoodle. Benny was born with an abnormal and inoperable spinal deformity and is paralyzed from the shoulder blades but was a zooming dynamo on the playing field. Moby, a French Bulldog with a cleft palate; and Rocket, a deaf Chihuahua/Dachshund, were also part of the event designed to raise awareness about shelter adoptions.
Benny Photo courtesy of Discovery+/Animal Planet/’The Dogist’ Elias Weiss FriedmanPhoto from Facebook
Kirby, a Labrador retriever and service dog in-training, was named Team Fluff’s MVP after helping his team win the coveted “Lombarky” Trophy.
It was a fun alternative to the Super Bowl and all the dogs and kitties were winners.
All best wishes from both the Ranch Hands for a ‘pawsome’ week as well as a love-filled day with your Valentine.
[Editor’s note: Sorry for our absence for most of last week. The laptop required a regular tune-up and spent the time comfortably resting at the computer repair store until late Friday (my guy is a good tech and therefore often up to his eyeballs in alligators and malware-we had neither but it took a number of days to get through the queue). We sure missed you guys (I’m not adept at reading posts on a cell phone and had to wait to begin catching up on your posts and response to all the good Gotcha Day wishes for Norman until the laptop was returned. I’ve been working through the backlog as quickly as possible processing over 150 emails over the weekend but am still working through the remaining ones and hope to be finished later today.]
Welcome to the last day of January as well as the last day of the Year of the Ox on the Chinese lunar calendar. Beginning tomorrow, we will enter the Year of the Tiger and not just any tiger…the Water Tiger, which arrives every 60 years. The Water Tiger is action-oriented, representing strength by clearing away evil and a show of bravery.
We can all probably agreed that the Year of the Ox was a ‘tad’ stubborn and obstinate so we’re looking forward to a year that clears away the evil that seemed so prevalent for much of last year.
Did you know that Chinese New Year has been around since the 14th century? Based on the Lunar calendar, it is represented by one of 12 zodiac animals-the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. Along with those animals, five elements of earth, water, fire, wood and metal are also associated with each year.
The Year of the Tiger occurs in the following years: 1902, 1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022 with individuals born in those years often possessing qualities of the animal itself, and are frequently courageous, assertive and natural leaders. Tiger sign individuals may be “hungry for thrill or crave attention, may be short tempered but capable of generosity.” Those born this year are said to have great interpersonal relationships, and are very family oriented. The last year of the Water Tiger was 1962.
Celebrations during the New Year include family banquets, parades which include outdoor spectacles featuring firecrackers/fireworks and dancing dragons. The Ranch Hands are definitely not keen on the whole notion of fireworks-instead we’ll stick with eating ourselves stupid and hoping for a few red envelopes with money (another tradition during Chinese New Year. In other words, no boomers for this ‘Boomer’ or her pups.
For a gander at various sites about the Chinese New Year, check out this link: https://g.co/kgs/14Lif7. I especially enjoyed the animation added by those clever Google geeks.
The Cantonese New Year greeting is “Gong Hei Fat Choy” (恭喜發財), which means “wishing you prosperity.” Around the Ranch we’ll just say “Happy New Year.” Anyway you say it, we hope the Year of the Tiger brings you prosperity and good luck.
This week’s nature moment is a bit of a travelogue from last week’s Thanksgiving festivities from my trip with my Dad and brother to see family in the Lone Star state. It was so special seeing everyone after losing mom earlier in the year. One moment however did dampen the holiday when we ‘encountered‘ a deer at dusk in rural Texas. Other than the deer, the only other casualty was Dad’s car but we were thankfully, unscathed (other than frazzled nerves). Getting there was quite the adventure with miles and miles of wide open spaces that were particularly stunning for this here city-slicker.
With miles of driving, taking hours and hours to reach our destination just outside Austin, our route took us through the northern part of New Mexico’s quiet plains. Vistas with plateaus in the distance and flat-to-rolling plains along the highway showed a “Dances With Wolves” landscape. Wide open and unblemished save for the occasional fence post. It made me wonder what was being corralled for no antelope, deer or cattle were spotted as we drove through.
Apart from wide open spaces, miles and miles of cotton fields were encountered once we reached the Panhandle. It was beyond anything I’d ever seen before. Fields of white fluff as far as the eye could see.
Image courtesy of Flicker, Northwest Texas
Getting to Texas is a long, challenging drive. My first shift behind the wheel was 5 hours long and yet there was still so much farther to go. After my brother hit the deer and made a turn in the wrong direction, we ended up spending the night in Abilene. We arrived at my sister’s the next day.
Reaching my sister’s took us through pecan country. These beautiful trees can be seen from roadsides as well as directly in my sister’s neighborhood. The pecan tree, like the fruit of other members of the hickory genus, is not truly a nut, it’s technically a drupe meaning fruit with a single stone/pit, surrounded by a husk produced from the exocarp tissue of the flower (the internal structure of the fruit, i.e. its ovaries). The nut develops from that structure and contains the seed. My sister said they are a ‘messy tree,’ having spent days and days raking up leaves and hulls before we arrived. I was captivated by the large, wide canopy on these trees.
In addition to pecans, live oaks (which don’t lose their leaves) were abundant. This one was full of acorns and filled my head with visions of clever craft projects.
The landscape was not all drab, with this colorful beauty gracing the pool area. “Duranta repens” (a part of the verbena family native from Mexico to South America and the Caribbean) is a flowering ornamental shrub. It’s apparently considered an invasive weed in some areas of Australia but is very striking.
Despite warm temps (warm by Colorado standards), Thanksgiving Day was deemed ‘chilly’ in that it only reached the upper 50’s for our traditional family game of football following the tasty meal. There was a brisk wind which, coupled with humidity, made it seem cooler than the numbers might suggest. It struck me how relative perspective played out with each of our interpretations of ‘chilly.’
My canine buddy during the visit was sweet little Miley who decided I was a good auntie and kept me from missing Norman and Elsa too much. A pocket full of tasty treats and belly rubs go a long way.
Our return trip was uneventful and we powered through 13 1/2 hours of driving in one felled swoop. A long drive buoyed by great memories of a family who enjoys celebrating holidays with one another no matter what the cost. Hopefully we can make another trip down there without time restrictions and really enjoy some of the amazing slices of nature along the way.
Now that we’re in December and many of us are preparing for the next holiday, we hope you’ll be able to sandwich in some time during these hectic days enjoying a quiet moment of pleasure experiencing nature at its best. Have a great weekend!
“There never was a good war or a bad peace.”
Well, that’s it from us. We hope you are able to suss out some nature scenes this weekend. Don’t forget to “Spring Forward” for Daylight Saving time Saturday night before you go to bed. We hope the hour less of sleep doesn’t make you too cranky and you’re able to enjoy the sunshine later on Sunday.
