Monday Musings ~ Memorial Day 2023

Monday smile

Memorial DayToday may be the last Monday of the week (and month) but it’s also the day we celebrate Memorial Day in the U.S. (we encourage you to click on the link for historical background on how Memorial Day came into being). Today is also special for another reason around the Ranch.

Today is my youngest granddaughter’s birthday. It’s hard to believe this young, gifted woman turns 15 today. It seems like just yesterday when she was just a wee tyke who charmed everyone she encountered. Where did the time gone? Happy birthday, sweetie.  From a little cutie to a talented, incredibly caring and beautiful young woman, you continue to impress all who know you.  Love you, L.

Lucanne

Lucanne

The Head Ranch Wrangler will be leaving for Hawaii in a couple of days to celebrate the wedding of my oldest granddaughter to the love of her life so posts/comments may be sporadic but I will do my best to visit your websites as WiFi and time permits.

All of us at the Ranch wish each and everyone a safe and happy Memorial Day Monday and hope you spend a moment thanking those who paid the ultimate price so that you can remain free.

Live, love, bark! 🐾

Nature Friday ~ April 7, 2023

EasterHappy Good Friday peeps, pups and kitties. Welcome to this week’s edition of Nature Friday where we’re joining the cool kiddos over at Adventures of the LLB Gang. Hiya, it’s me, Elsa along with my doltish brother, Norman, sharing a few pics from our Easter ‘Hood. So put your Easter bonnet (or ears)  on and let’s check out what’s new this week. And don’t forget to click on the link to see what others have shared.

Elsa: It was another week for the books. Sunny but chilly with windy conditions and {gasp} a speck of the white stuff for Holy Week though Mom assured me we should be warming up over the next several days.

Norman: You have to agree little sis, Mother Nature is nothing if not cruel diverse with what she dishes out. Oi…my poor aching bones. On the bright side, it looks like Spring is doing its level best to wake up and well…spring forth. Even a couple of bulbs surprised Mum by making a colorful appearance. Take for instance this daffodil. Mum squealed with delight when she saw it peeking up in the blue grape hyacinths and dried leaves.

Daffodils

Elsa: More like shocked. She told me she didn’t plant that guy over there. This is either the work of a ‘helpful’ squirrel, which we all know isn’t likely because, I mean…a “helpful squirrel” come on, that’s just fantasy, am I right? It’s probably more likely to have been an escapee…that’s what Mom calls bulbs who migrate from their original planting spot.

Norman: I even had to go over and check it out, it was so bright in that area where dried leaves prevail.

Elsa: {interrupting} More likely you probably went to water it.

Norman: {Ahem} As I was saying, there was another bright spot in our garden, some deep purple hyacinths although they decided to appear on the first day it snowed. Mum was scratching her head about where it came from too. She didn’t remember planting it there but said it’s always possible. As you said, it’s not likely she got any help from the resident critters and we both know we didn’t get our paws dirty in the soil. Now that the snow has melted, it seems nothing worse for the wear. Hardy little buggers, aren’t they?

Hyacinths

Elsa: Well they are native to eastern Mediterranean near Turkey so I guess that makes sense. I’m no botanist but I think a fair number of our spring bulbs originated in that region. Hmmm, and here I always thought they came from Holland.

Norman: Oh dear sweet Elsa…aren’t you precious, little one?  Another bulb that originated in Persia is the tulip. Mum’s have just broken ground but we found this one on a walk. From a distance it looked like a bright piece of rubbish but as we got closer, Mum was thrilled it wasn’t something she needed to put into a bin.

Tulip

Elsa: They sure seem hardy. I know you wouldn’t want to have snow on your head.

Norman: Right you are on that, Ninja! Brrrr. The day it snowed Mum walked over to the Post Office and saw how the snow had swirled on dried leaves and branches and seed heads. It’s much prettier seeing it on screen than being actually there. {shivers}.

Spring Snow

Elsa: Ah come on…it wasn’t that bad? I mean if the Easter Bunny can handle it, surely you can. I swear I think these folks have one of those inflatable things for every holiday. This one is new this year.

Easter

Norman: It’s kind of noisy whenever we walk past; they’re nothing like real bunnies who tend to be very quiet and freeze in their tracks until we get too close for their comfort.

Elsa: Wait, I missed a live bunny? Where was I?

Norman: I think you were checking out a taunting squirrel.

Elsa:  Oh yeah, I hate it when they think they can get away with mocking me on our walks. Why I’ll show ’em…

Norman: Umm, sister, no need to get yourself all frothed up. We just need to learn to co-exist.

Elsa: Co-exist…ha! Not a chance.

Norman: {sigh} In your case, that’s probably highly unlikely. I just enjoy seeing them and as long as they don’t bother us, I say live and let live. I’m more about keeping ‘herds’ together rather than treed.

Elsa: Dream on, dog breath. Not as long as I’m around…I’m going to make sure those stupid tree rats don’t sully our garden or on our walks either.

Norman: Oh Elsa…keep your knickers on. Besides, during this special week, we must practice peace and love. All the major religions are celebrating this week. Passover began on Wednesday, Ramadan has been going on since March 20 and ends April 20, and Easter will be celebrated this Sunday. It’s a trifecta of holy days in religion, so peace should be front and center. There was even a blooming Pasque Flower on one of Mom’s walks. Just in time for the holidays. Known as Pulsatilla hirsutissima, Pulsatilla ludoviciana, Pulsatilla patens, Anemone patens) they 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 so this plant is associated with Easter since they generally flower around the Easter/Passover season when winter snow begins 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 kind of easy to see how the common name morphed into “Pasque Flower.”

Pasque Flower

Elsa: Since you put it like that, ok, just this once. Besides, I hope that whatever holiday you celebrate, you celebrate Nature in some fashion as well. Have a safe and happy holiday. Mom told me we’re headed south to see our Grandpa and Mom’s other sister who is coming to town. Aren’t you excited? I get to sit up close next to you in the car! Woohoo-road trip!

Norman: Yes, I’m {almost} breathless with anticipation. Happy Easter, Chag Sameach, and Ramadan Kareem everyone.

Nature Friday

Live, love, bark! 🐾

Nature Friday ~ St. Patrick’s Day Edition 2023

NormanAlthough Mum’s lineage is mostly German, we happily (ok, maybe ‘happily’ is a bit of an exaggeration, let’s just say  we generally tolerate and by we, I mean me) participate in the ‘wearing of the green’ for St. Patrick’s Day for her sake. Of course, that means she has to work über fast when trying to capture Elsa in costume. We all know that Elsa never likes to participate in photo sessions but Mum has gotten quick with the shutter after years of countless bloopers with Elsa.

Elsa

 

With that introduction, welcome to the St. Patrick’s Day edition of Nature Friday. Norman here at the editor’s desk penning this post. My sister decided to boycott since her motto is “Bah Humbug,” not “Erin Go Bragh,” especially today (feel free to insert an eye roll here in honor of her typical curmudgeonly manner). If you were to describe her with an Irish expression this week, she’s been “acting the maggot” meaning she’s been obnoxious, showing her displeasure with just about everything. Mum has had a pinched nerve and with a lack of sleep, is pretty much over the difficult princess routine. Blimey…these two strong willed females with competing agendas and…well…this bloke knows to avoid the fireworks. We all know that Mum’s win in the end (or at least we let them think so) but don’t tell her I said that but boy, the mutual crabbiness isn’t what this bloke enjoys as we march toward the official arrival of Spring on Monday. That said, as usual, I’m joining our friends from Adventures of the LLB Gang.

Like I said, Mum has been suffering from a painful pinched nerve all week and photo taking hasn’t been high on her list of things to do since restorative sleep has been most elusive. As a dog we are lucky we can sleep just about anywhere and at any time. Still she did manage to find a few offerings this week. Let’s see what she came up with, okay?

She took this one while visiting with family in Southern Colorado.

Pine conesFor a hot minute, I thought that Spring had arrived on Wednesday. It was a lovely day in the low 70’sºF and about as glorious a day as you’ll find. Then Winter stepped in with a cruel way to remind us that Springtime in the Rockies is not for the faint of heart. In other words, it snowed {shiver}. Not much mind you, but enough to keep the coats, gloves and hats close at hand.

Grape HyacinthsOn the plus side, Mum noticed the blue hyacinths were coming up as their lovely blue shade contrasted nicely against the snow and dried leaves. On a walk late yesterday afternoon after most of the snow had melted, she noticed some Spring bulbs that have nice southern exposure. Mum was excited at the thought of these tulips blooming soon which, if she remembers correctly, are red and very cheery looking. They are much farther along than any of the bulbs in our garden since they are warmed by that nice sunny spot while ours tend to be somewhat shaded by large trees.

Tulips

Before she passed by those tulips, she walked past her favorite Eastern Redbud tree along her usual route and found a couple of icicles hanging off some major branches. She’s hoping that in a week or so, buds will start forming for a beautiful display of those showy flowers that bloom in early Spring. It’s a plain looking tree when it’s fully leafed out but for a good 7-10 days, it’s breathtaking with those colorful fuschia blooms.

Icicles

Of course, no St. Patrick’s Day is complete without a shamrock plant or two. Mum has had this plant for more than 20 years in her kitchen window. It’s seen better days and likely is trying to remind her it needs to be repotted in fresh soil. Apologies for its raggedy appearance, but it did manage to bloom just in time for the holiday.

St. Patrick's Day

So do you know why we wear green on St. Patrick’s Day? It’s because of Ireland’s nickname, The Emerald Isle. The green stripe in the Irish flag also plays a role since green represents the Catholics of Ireland, the orange represents the Protestant population and the white in the middle symbolizes peace between the two religions. As a dog whose lineage heralds from the UK, I’ve often thought maybe they should have made the white part bigger since there were many years of conflict.

So how might you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day? Any corn beef and cabbage on your weekend menu? Whatever you do, we hope you’ll take some time to search for Nature this last weekend of Winter while you prepare for Spring’s arrival.

St. Patrick's Day

May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be always at your back and May the sun shine warm upon your face .

Nature Friday

Live, love, bark! 🐾

Nature Friday ~ December 30, 2022

It may be the last Friday of 2022, and even though we haven’t posted much lately, we could not let this week’s Nature sights not be shared. As always, we’re joining our pals from the LLB Gang.

We hope you had a lovely Christmas celebration. Returning home, I noticed what might have been a few bargain hunters lining up early at a local WalMart probably waiting to make returns.

Birds

Once back at home, Norman did his last visits for 2022. The big guy was quite grateful that the days he visited early in the week coincided with the top end of the extremes we encountered. This graphic taken from last night’s weather showing the high and low temps. Understand this turn-around happened in a mere 24-hour period. We’re still recovering from the whiplash.

Weather

Once again I headed down south to spend the Christmas holiday weekend with my Dad and other family members. It’s always a good excuse for all the good cooks in the family to showcase their skills. From brisket to lasagne and everything in between, we had quite the feast.

Christmas Dinner

The sunrises this past week have been beyond incredible. Rising early to catch up on computer work before the others rose, I was blown away by the vibrant colors shining in the living room. Adjectives seem totally inadequate to describe them.

Sunrise Sunrise

Then yesterday Winter tapped me on the shoulder and said thanks for holding my beer and promptly dumped over 8 inches of very wet, white stuff. It was more like a Spring storm than one that is typical right now. There were lots of fallen branches around town though my street was luckily unscathed.

Snowstorm

It also took hours to plow the sidewalks. While this time of year often becomes reflective on all that’s happened throughout, the top question of my introspection continues to be: “remind me again why I bought a house on an oversized corner lot?”

Despite several hours of shoveling, it was a beautiful sight. Not sure if it was beautiful enough to warrant a repeat performance but the weather folks cautioned residents to not put the snow shovel away just yet. A fresh storm is forecasted to welcome the New Year.

Snow

While I’ve often shared how Norman isn’t a fan of cold or snow, no one can say this boy doesn’t know how to effectively deal with it…as in stay inside no matter what. Elsa may go bouncing outside in deep swirling snowflakes like a loon, Norman is more low keyed and prefers the warmth of the sofa. With blankets.

Norman

That’s it from us for 2022. We want to wish you all a safe and very Happy 2023. Stay warm, hug your loved ones and don’t forget to enjoy the amazing beauty Nature provides.

Nature Friday

Live, love, bark! 🐾

Nature Friday ~ November 11, 2022

Norman & ElsaWelcome to this week’s edition of Nature Friday which just happens to fall on Veterans Day in the US. An official public holiday celebrated in the US annually on November 11, we  honor military veterans, that is, anyone who served in the United States Armed Forces. Also known as Armistice Day and Remembrance Day in other countries, it marks the anniversary of the end of World War I when the major hostilities formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 when the Armistice with Germany went into effect. Prior to 1954, it was known as Armistice Day in the US and still is known by that name elsewhere. The Ranch Hands and I tip our hats to all veterans today so that we may be free. Red poppies are frequently worn to commemorate today but without any blooming poppies, we’ll serve up as different kind of flora and hope you don’t mind.

As always, we’re joining those fur-kids from Adventures of the LLB Gang for this weekly blog hop where people from around Blogville share slices of Nature.

This nimble little dude pretty much describes how the weather has been again this week. Up, down and all around throughout this week. It’s enough to make you dizzy.Yo-yo
We’re now well into the season of brown with countless leaves raining down on the landscape pretty much nonstop. Bags and bags full of leaves are primed to be recycled into luscious compost at the city leaf drop. But first, my back needs to chill after all that raking, which still isn’t complete but at least people can see the sidewalk once again.

With the up and down temps, imagine my surprise at seeing some colorful roses when visiting a friend yesterday. I can’t help but wonder how they fared overnight. When we woke up this morning it was a brisk 18ºF degrees. Brrrrrrr. Norman looked at me with an expression that suggested I was out of my mind. That may well be ole chap, but the truth remains, you need to make a pit stop. An audible harrumph may have been heard as he slowly meandered out to the dog run.

I’m always drawn to vibrant hues of pink in roses and this one punched my dance card nicely.

Flowers

Coming in on the beauty pagent of beautiful roses comes this peachy orange colored one. The fact that it was nicely highlighted in the autumn sunlight also made it worthy to share.

Flowers

But of the three, I think this one is my absolute favorite. Those beautiful shades of peach, pink and yellow spoke to me, saying it was the belle of the ball. And I had to concede that fact.

Flowers

Well that’s it from us. Do you still have roses blooming in your garden? What’s your favorite color of rose?

We hope you have a wonderful weekend but ask that you stop for a few moments and think about honoring veterans in some special way. After all, they are what makes our freedom possible. Whatever name you call it, we hope you have a safe and reflective Veteran/Armistice Day.

Nature Friday

Live, love, bark! 🐾

 

 

 

 

 

Howl-oween Monday ~ October 31, 2022

Today is ‘Howl-oween,’ a day celebrated by kids of all ages who enjoy dressing up and receiving treats from total strangers. Could it be our own pets think EVERY day should be like that for them? I know the Ranch Hands think they should get treats all the time but aren’t all that keen on the dressing up part.

Whatever your thoughts about today’s festivities may be, do you think you’ll be visited by a bunch of ghosts and goblins this evening? After tonight, our sights will focus on the next holiday-Thanksgiving, which lends itself well to today’s smile.

Halloween

Norman for one, will be pleased the season is coming to an end. He’s somewhat over all the costume changes as evidenced by his expression here.

Norman

Elsa, on the other hand, simply glares a “don’t EVEN think about it” look every time I pull out a costume or go through the hat box and am sure she’s thinking up ways to punish me whenever I cast my eye toward her. But come on Ninja, you gotta admit you look pretty fetching in your new Ranch Hand chapeau.Elsa

Despite the grumbling and/or eye rolling, both Ranch Hands and I wish you a safe and happy ‘Howl-oween.’

Live, love, bark! 🐾

Nature Friday ~ October 28, 2022

Holy cow, it’s the last Friday of October. Where in the doggone world has this month gone? Seems like it was just Labor Day, doesn’t it? Now that Howl-oween is upon us, let’s take a look at what Nature dished out this week. As usual, we are joining those cuties from Adventures of the LLB Gang for their weekly blog hop. Don’t forget to check out what others shared from their own natural world.

Nature dealt us a full deck of cards this week. Once again, some very interesting spring plants were blooming and caught our Mom off guard to the point, she did a lot of double takes while on our walks. Norman and Elsa here to share what we found over the past few days.

Elsa: I have a whiplash from Mom going back to check out a couple of plants we saw. Like this Lupine from our own garden! Mom thought it might be a good idea to start winterizing the hoses and water spigot and nearly stepped on this little guy. Naturally I just blinked at it and thought, “whatever.”

Flowers

Norman: Oh come on…we haven’t seen anything like that in over 5 months! How can you not be impressed with that beauty, I mean, just look at that purple flower in the midst of those mahogany leaves of the Plumbago, with its blue flowers.

Elsa: Pfft…well ok…I guess it’s somewhat impressive. But check out this Lobularia Maritima, also known as ‘sweet alyssum.’ Now that’s quite the specimen! For a quick minute I thought it was June again.Flowers

Norman: Right you are, sister! It’s quite something else. And to think less than 24 hours later, this:

Weather

Elsa: Again with the whiplash! 60ºF+ degrees and then in the 30º’s in less than 24 hours. When I went out to do some ‘lady business,’ I was greeted with this. I didn’t even bother chasing that stupid squirrel that constantly hangs out in the alley to filch trash from the bins on pickup day.

Snow

Norman: Those were some mighty large flakes of white stuff but I know just how to deal with conditions like that. Luckily it didn’t accumulate. But still, these brass monkey temps have arrived just too soon for me.

Norman

Elsa: I still can’t get over you needing to bogart Mom’s blanket at the slightest drop in the temperature. Heck, you are always stealing that furry blanket whenever you get the chance.

Norman: Well there’s something very comforting about that blanket. So soft, so cozy…besides, the texture looks great against my furs.

Elsa: Ha…as if you’d know anything about texture. I think you just like to hog the sofa whenever you get a chance.

Norman: Well, I do like being as close to my Mum as possible.

Elsa: {interrupting} “Close?” She can barely fit on the sofa when you stretch out!

Norman: {clearing his throat} Ahem….I’m always happy to share the space with my Mum.

Elsa: ‘Share?!” Is that were she sits on the floor and longingly looks up at a certain sofa-hog?

Norman: {clearly his throat again} Not to change the subject, but did you notice the latest scene at our favorite Howl-oween decorations on our walk yesterday? Mum counted over 20 skellies, racing toward the weekend no doubt.

Halloween

Elsa: Yeah, they’re at it again. There’s even a kidlet skellie on the back of the one to the right of the galloping dog. The guy who creates these scenes must have a huge storage shed where these skellies live in the off-season.

Norman: Oh, I do hope they stay warm while they’re out there. There was a good frost this morning and none of them are even sporting any gloves.

Elsa: Oh good lord, you moron, they’re Skellies, not people. Jeez, how could you be so dim?

Norman: I like to think of myself as extra compassionate. The world can use some extra compassion these days.

Elsa: Well, you do have a point there. Let’s hope everyone has a compassionate and fun weekend celebrating Howl-oween. Will you be ‘Lick or Treating” with your fur-iends this weekend at any events? Searching for treats might just be the ticket, me thinks. Whatever you do, we hope you stay safe and enjoy the many faces of Nature.

Norman: Right-o, Ninja, I know I plan to be chuffed to bits checking it all out. Plus, I do have a height advantage around little people. Those little treat filled hands are just level with my mouth. Here’s to enjoying a top drawer weekend surrounded by Nature.

Nature Friday

Live, love, bark! 🐾

Monday Musings ~ Labor Day 2022 Edition

Monday

The Ranch Hands and I wish you a safe and relaxing Labor Day with a minimum amount of exertion on the unofficial last day of summer. Enjoy!

Flowers

Live, love, bark! 🐾

Happy July 4th ~ 2022

July 4th

Two hundred and forty-six years ago, a scrappy bunch of folks in the New World  stomped their feet and declared independence from their British rulers and they’ve managed to remain scrappy ever since. Sadly, not all of that ‘scrapiness’ has been attractive or positive. These days we tend to delude ourselves that we managed that ‘more perfect union’ that was originally sought. Still all us Ranch hands continue to pray that we can actually achieve it for everyone.

As the U.S. celebrates its country’s independence with the culmination of a long weekend, the Ranch hands and I wish our U.S. based readers a safe and happy Fourth of July. To everyone, we hope you have a great Monday and even better week. With temps hovering in the pizza oven range all week long, we hope you manage to stay cool with a minimum of cowering in the bathroom today.

July 4th

Live, love, bark! 🐾

Nature Friday ~ July 1, 2022

July 4Welcome to the first Friday of July…my goodness…how is it possible 2022 is halfway over? One minute we were taking down holiday decorations and now we’re hoping to safely get through another holiday-July 4th. {Head shaking} Hi, it’s Elsa, your intrepid award-winning correspondent ready to share a fresh batch of nature scenes from our recent walkabouts. As always we’re joining our pals, Rosy, Sunny and Jakey from LLB in Our Backyard for their weekly Nature Friday blog hop. Be sure to click on the link to see other posts including scenes of nature from around Blogville.

Rainbow

You may have heard there was a bit of a ‘celestial happening’ recently with mom’s favorite team winning the most prestigious sports award, the Stanley Cup. It’s been a week of celebration culminating with a ‘few’ people gathering for a parade and rally yesterday. The local paper estimated some 500,000 people attended and while there was LOTS and I do mean LOTS of alcohol, everyone was well behaved and enjoyed the team’s first Cup win in 21 years. The skies were moody, but not even thunder, lightning, or a little rain shower, could not dampen spirits of the Colorado Avalanche faithful.

Hockey
Stanley Cup rally, Civic Center Park

Anyway, let’s get to checking out some nature scenes of another type from around the Ranch, shall we? Mom found some rather unusual blooms on our daily walks. Take this Mediterranean Sea Holly (Eryngium bourgatii) plant. It likes sunny and dry well-drained soil. The flowers feel like balsa wood and it’s drought and rabbit resistant. Sure hope she doesn’t plant any in my yard since I’m all about wanting to attract bunnies. Besides, anything to keep the stupid squirrels away is fine with me. Isn’t that blue color unusual?

Flowers

We also discovered some unusual Calla lilies. A striking hot pink one and a black one. I was ready to keep on walking but Mom had to examine them for several minutes. “Come on, Mom…” Ugh, parents!

Flowers

Flowers

One of mom’s friends has this Clematis next to her front door and she took this pic because it was so gorgeous. I can tell you her Clematis is not at all this pretty-I keep telling her to stop being so stingy with the H2O but she mumbles something about when I start paying the water bill, so I put my paws in my ears. Funny how that gets her to pipe down. But what a welcoming sight for her friend’s visitors.

Flowers

Here’s another lily we pass by every day. Norman and I are mostly unphased by it but probably because we’re too busy hoping to see ‘Fred,’ the Akita who lives there. Fred always likes it when we walk by because it allows me to bark like as maniac at him. I like to think it’s little our joint effort to get mom to cough up treats in her pockets to calm us down. She’s so gullible but it seems to work every time.

Flowers

We usually don’t see red lilies like that so it’s nice to see such bright color. This lily marks the halfway mark on our walk, which seems to appease Norman. I could go a lot farther than that lummox but whatever cranks your handle, right? Mom says after a hot week and Norman’s visits to the hospital he deserves a relaxed, easy going walk. I’ll get even with him, I’ve already hidden all his favorite toys in the studio and plan to block the doorway so he won’t try to come in and play with them. I’m like that, yeah I am. {snicker}

The sunflowers are starting to bloom now and they’re fun to see all the different kinds and colors. Sunflowers are a natural squirrel attractor so naturally, I’m all over them. Doggone varmints-they can’t just be content with stealing my strawberries, they have to harvest the sunflower seeds as well. Let me tell you, I’m keeping my eyes open for them. Nobody steals my strawberries without me having something to say about it even if the sunflowers looks like a bullseye.

Flowers

I guess I’d be a poor correspondent if I didn’t mention the July 4th holiday weekend.  We’re not fans of fireworks so we’ll just be holed up away from the noisemakers. Please be considerate of us pets who are afraid of fireworks, as well as some peeps who are equally traumatized.

Until next time when I share moments of nature with brother Norman, stay safe and as cool as possible in this dog-awful heat but make sure you get out and experience some of nature’s beauty early in the day. Only 82 days until autumn arrives. {wink, wink}

Nature Friday

Live, love, bark! 🐾