Happy Monday, Glitter Gremlins…hope you enjoyed a great weekend. For the record, it’s not spiders that bother me as much as that one nasty, buzzing all around your head mosquito while you’re trying to sleep. You know, the one you can’t seem to swat away and it’s too hot to pull the sheet over your ears so you don’t hear him but hey, I get it. This is what happens when you leave spiders alone…they likely will get that mosquito for you and you could be able to enjoy a nice rejuvenating sleep while they slink back into the dark places in the back of the closet. Just saying.
Here’s wishing you a peaceful night of sleep without any flying or crawling critters this week. Happy Monday!
It’s a sad day around the Ranch Barn. Today we learned that a wonderful blogger has passed. Helen Devries was an extraordinary human, not to mention a brilliantblogger. Our acquaintance began after she followed me, no doubt due to our mutual friend, Max the Maltese’s blog “Within the K Streets” (he now writes “Reiko’s Journey”after Max’s passing) that I followed back in the ‘Sam years’ when I first began blogging. When Sam earned his wings in 2020, she privately reached out to me to make sure I was ok, I was particularly touched. She and I bonded over our dogs and she had many, which she fondly referred to as “The Thugs” (I can only recall Black Tot, Scruffy, Mr. Darcy and Plush, though I know there were several others whose names I don’t recall). When Elsa passed last year, she reached out privately on Facebook to convey her condolences and shared a story about the aforementioned Black Tot who had suffered a seizure shortly after being attacked by a pack of dogs. She had also made a sizable donation to the rescue in Elsa’s honor for which I was particularly touch by her generosity as well as her sympathy.
I spent a fair amount of time re-reading years worth of Helen’s blog posts today. It made me laugh out loud between tears whenever she shared stories about the Thugs. We were nearly three years apart age-wise and given my recent health issue, her passing hit me extra hard. Mortality has a way to bringing things into a crisp focus. She had posted last month yet gave no hint that she was not well. Helen was never one to wax on about personal things, always being stoic and rarely giving mention of a hospital stay except in minor passing. Her Scottish hardiness was embedded in her comments and posts. She never complained beyond sundry dealings of aggravation with the local governmental bureaucracies she experienced in Costa Rica or the ongoing dispute with the ever oleaginous neighbor, Don Luis, and when she mentioned any malady, it was always downplayed. I knew she had been in and out of hospital over the past year or so but she never sought attention beyond casual mentions and always managed to bounce back.
Helen always entertained me with her stories of growing up in the 60’s in the UK on her blog. I always smiled watching her YouTube posts that further entertained me about her topic but often needed to look up the significance of them as I felt like such a plebian. I learned she had been a student of the London School of Economics and Political Science when we became Facebook buddies and her knowledge about historical goings-on and cultural matters was quite impressive. I got the sense she did not suffer fools lightly. One always needed to be on their toes when commenting on her blog and I never wanted to be considered ill-informed. You never casually breezed through one of her posts. You. paid. attention! She was a master with a pen, and I needed to educate myself on more often than not on historical matters lest I appeared to be yet another ignorant American. We’d go back and forth about the absurdity of governmental bureaucracy and she provided me with a wonder about UK history as much as my curiosity about European continent history. She seemed to possess an amazing historical and cultural knowledge of life and I was in awe of her. She and I talked privately about her beloved Leo (often affectionately referred to as a Higher Authority on her blog) and his health decline. She never complained about taking care of him when he was wheelchair bound and when moving him was challenging with her dodgy knee; she let me know about his passing via private message. She never sought any limelight and I so admired the two of them, stout of character with a lifetime of shared adventures. When she mentioned Leo had a property in Spain he was trying to sell, I so wanted to express interest but my life at that time was in a bit of shambles and I needed to make a conscious decision not to pursue it, tempted as I was.
Like those of you were familiar with Helen, I will sorely miss her wit and sardonic observations of life in general and her kind, generous comments. Tonight I will hoist a gin and tonic in her honor and sing the famous poem of Robert Burns, the Scottish poet. Rest in peace, dear lady-you will not be forgotten. May all of her Thugs receive a good ear rub tonight.
Auld Lang Syne
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!
For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
And surely ye’ll be your pint stowp!
And surely I’ll be mine!
And we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
We twa hae run about the braes,
And pou’d the gowan fine;
But we’ve wander’d mony a weary fitt,
Sin’ auld lang syne.
We twa hae paidl’d in the burn,
Frae morning sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roar’d
Sin’ auld lang syne.
And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere!
And gie’s a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll tak a right gude-willie-waught,
For auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
Photo posted by her friend at Adullamite Blog with apologies for the filch
Happy Monday, troops. Hope you had a lovely weekend. Hard to believe we’ve reached the last week in July. For us we’re just hanging on and ticking off the days until autumn arrives…which for those keeping track of these kinds of monumental happenings, is scheduled to land in 57 days. I know there are a lot of you groaning that summer will be leaving to soon but for some of us, it can’t happen soon enough. Between smoke and evacuations from wildfires to temperatures in the stratosphere, we’re looking forward to a change. But don’t start to worry yet, that’s not happening today and you still have time to ‘enjoy’ what’s left of the season. So let’s start this week with a smile, shall we?
We hope your coffee takes pity on you and you enjoy a miracle or two with lots of smiles this week. Happy Monday.
Ceud mìle fàilte…everyone. If I’m not mistaken and please correct me if I’m wrong, I believe that means a hundred thousand welcomes. Before I get to our featured post, I just want to thank everyone for all the wonderful birthday wishes. I had a great day and Mum agreed with me that the celebration should continue through the end of the month. We both feel like celebrating a birthday shouldn’t be limited to just one day. Still wondering why we didn’t start at the beginning of the month, but glad for the 11 days of additional merrymaking and treats.
Wilson: Why, you ask, did I open with a Scottish expression? Well this last weekend, the sheepdog rescue participated at a local Celtic Festival and today’s pics are all from that festival. It was a hot day in Elizabeth, Colorado (approximately 60 miles southeast from our house) but Mum was up for helping out with other volunteers for our first Celtic Festival participation and what a fun one it was. But as we typically do, we are joining those pups from Adventures of the LLB Gang for their weekly blog hop.
Wilson: While I didn’t attend in person, my breed heritage was with everyone in spirit. We had a couple of Old English Sheepdog ambassadors who attracted a steady stream of visitors who stopped by our tent.
Who wouldn’t want to pet this cutie?
Hadley gave kisses to a visitor.
The Mum: It was a fun event and while it was hot, we had a nice tented area providing shade which made it seem cooler. When I arrived for my shift, I was greeted by a bag pipe and drum parade. It was such fun to hear and watch them perform. My latent Scottish DNA smiled at their precision and enthusiasm. Young and old all looked like they were having a great time displaying clan banners and marching to the pipes.
Wilson: Bet you’d never seen so many kilts, have you Mum?
The Mum: Nope, sure hadn’t but everyone seemed to enjoy it and everyone was very friendly. One visitor told me this Celtic Festival has been going on for the past 20 years! I could only wonder how I’d missed it? I knew about the big one in Estes Park that will happen in September but had never heard about this one.
Wilson: Are you planning on attending that one since the rescue has signed up to participate?
The Mum: Not sure yet. It’s a bit of a drive and I’m not sure I want you to be left alone all day. We’ll see.
Wilson: I know you spent some time checking out some of the 4-legged attendees while you were there. Just look at this array of Scottish Highland cows.
Scottish Highland cow-she was a big one!One very cute baby cow.
The Mum: Those cows were huge and the owner told me their meat is renowned for being exceptionally lean (around 90%), quite tender, and very flavorful, often boasting lower fat and cholesterol levels—and higher protein—than many conventional commercial beef breeds. They are a hearty breed as well.
Wilson: What’s with these creatures?
AlpacaLlamaDonkeys
The Mum: You know me…I just love taking photos of critters. It was great fun seeing all these guys at the festival. It was such fun hearing the Llamas making their humming sounds–they’re so cute. I even saw a Scottish Deerhound but that fellow never did get up from his nap and I checked on him a few times. I think he was just a bit overwhelmed since his tent as on the end where all the rescues were located and right next to some noisy St. Bernards. This fella knew just how to deal with the heat. Deerhounds are similarly sized to Greyhounds, but are larger and more heavily boned, with a rough coat. They were bred to hunt deer and are similar to but a bit smaller than Irish Wolfhounds and are a majestic breed.
Scottish Deerhound
Wilson: Say didn’t your daughter consider getting one of those guys before settling on Irish Wolfhounds?
The Mum: Yes, I think they did consider them but ended up with the Wolfhound and have raised several Wolfhounds since seeing them at the Estes Park Celtic Festival many years ago.
Wilson: Sounds like quite the day enjoying all things Celtic. Glad it was a fun event, Mum. Also I’m grateful I didn’t have to go. Not sure I’d be all that keen listening to bagpipes and dealing with all the rescue dogs near the tent. But you guys deserve kudos for getting the word out about the sheepdog rescue and for selling a few things to benefit the rescue. You met a lot of people who were interested in the two dogs in foster care so that’s a good thing. All and all, great job, Mum. And what fun animal pics you managed to capture. Well that’s it from us. Stay cool if you can but keep your eyes open for opportunities to check out slices of nature. We hope you have a wonderful weekend. Slán (goodbye).
Whoa, welcome to the first day of June…I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around that little facct. Since the temps will be rising this week, I guess it’s safe to say we’re cruising in overdrive toward summer.
We had quite an encounter with a coyote Saturday morning. I think it was a female being protective of her pups; she went after a couple of folks with little dogs along the path. She took one look at Wilson and said, “umm, exit stage right.” It was definitely interesting and if you were slightly sleepy, it was quite a wake up call. Everyone kind of laughed it off but I think it would be safe to add coyotes to the “what outsiders think” column particularly in spring when there are new babies everywhere. Including Canadian geese…which makes them even more dangerous.
Here’s hoping all your wildlife encounters this week are good ones.
It’s not that I dislike Mondays, it’s just that Monday reminds me that I have to adult. Two major house hiccups occurred over the weekend (I’m still on the phone with Whirlpool after being on hold for 25+ minutes 😬). I just wasn’t prepared for this after enjoying a lovely weekend. So what adulting do you have to do today if you don’t have to go to work?
We hope your day of adulting goes well and if anyone has any pull with Whirlpool, let me know. There’s gotta be a better way to get through to them regarding a problem with a brand spanking new appliance. Grrr.
Happy first Monday of November! We hope you survived the onslaught of ghosts and goblins and have properly disposed of the half chewed up pumpkins. Did you know that throwing pumpkins in landfills creates loads of methane which contributes to climate change. Best to compost them for next year’s flower beds.
Have you ever roasted the seeds from your porch Jack-o-lantern? It’s a slimey exercise but boy howdy, they sure are tasty snacks.
We survived the neighborhood kids doorbell ringing by placing our treats on a small table and inviting them to take a treat without sending Wilson into protective mode by sending him into an extreme eardrum-splitting alarm. He and I rested calmly and by 10 pm, all but about 6 pieces of Hershey nuggets had been taken and were promptly saved for Saturday’s lunch snack with my granddaughter’s house. I’d have to rate this year’s holiday a resounding success even if I didn’t get to see all the adorable costumes for the little ones coming to the door.
Great granddaughter Halia enjoying her first trick-or-treating in her neighborhood
Today is the first weekday back on standard time. If you were like some people (me), you spent a bit of time yesterday trying to remember how to reset the car clock or re-adjusting clocks that don’t automatically change around the house. After decades of changing clocks, you’d think I’d have changing the dining room, a pendulum clock, the art studio, microwave and stove clocks down pat for the manual switch. You’d be wrong. This is why I save all instruction manuals for appliances and have even tabbed the owner’s manual in my car to the page on how to manually change the clock since thee is no “how to change your clock page in the table of contents (WTH Mazda?). Thank god there are no VCR’s with their flashing blue clocks these days. Changing that clock after a power outage and the twice a year time adjustment practically took an act of god. Goodbye and good riddance to that old fashioned technology. The alarm clock in my bedroom automatically changes but it’s old enough that it’s always off for a week or so. Good thing I don’t have to rely on it to get up in time to leave for work. I just wait it out until the switches back (or forward) to the ‘correct’ time.
Which leads me to today’s smile. I couldn’t help but think how many similar scenes to this one were happening all over the country. For his own reaction, Wilson hopped up on my bed when I got up and curled up in the covers until he realized my getting up meant he could go outside and possible scare round up a bunny in the low light like he did a couple of mornings ago. Nothing like chasing a full speed Sherman tank down the alley in low light conditions wearing flip-flop slippers. Imagine his disappointment when he realized it was a rabbit and not the bane of his existence-a squirrel.
We hope today’s reunion with the weekday world was easy enough, the yawns were kept to a minimum and you didn’t have to overdose on caffeine. Have a wonderful Monday.
Welcome to the first Monday of 2025. Today is also notable for another reason, it was one year ago my dear friend, Cheryl and I drove to Missouri (along with Elsa, riding shotgun in the back seat) to pick up a gigantic and severely matted floof, then named Sam, to foster. He greeted us enthusiastically and I knew right away that it was more than likely I would fail at the foster aspect of this journey. We drove 1500 miles roundtrip through snowstorms on highways and tiny rural roads over a 24 hour period. I couldn’t have made that trip without Cheryl’s presence, good nature and common sense to guide us (and keep us squarely on the road and not in a ditch after it became dark). I’ll always remember our conversations which reassured me along that uncertain road where we recalled the past 20+ years of friendship, with observations on life, people and dogs (and egg sandwiches bought at a gas station convenience store). Her great company surrounded me in comfort and continues to this day. I’ll always be grateful for her joining me on this transformative journey, with all its twists and turns. Thank you my friend, for accompanying me then, as well as for your ongoing loving support and friendship. I love ya!
The transformation of this filthy, matted mess…
to this handsome boy after his first grooming…
While we’ve experienced few hiccups over the past year, I still have a dear friend who was always there for both of us.
You’ve come a long way Wilson, both literally and figuratively. From all the ups (learning how to navigate the ways of a noisy, chaotic urban environment while becoming an beloved pet therapy dog at Lutheran) as well as the downs (losing those unnecessary pounds and a couple of damaged teeth), you’ve been quite the addition to the Ranch, Wilson. Here’s to many more happy trails, buddy. Happy Gotcha Day, House Pony.
And because it’s also a Monday, we would be remiss if we didn’t share a smile to welcome the New Year. Have a great week!
Happy Monday and happy birthday to my beautiful daughter. Love you sweetie and hope your day is as special as you are. I’m so proud of the fun loving, smart, amazing woman, mom and daughter you’ve grown into. Have a wonderful day!
Let’s make having a birthday on a Monday extra special. Let’s do a two-fer because you can just never have too many smiles on a Monday, right?
This is our second fervent wish today that I can’t stress enough.
Wishing everyone a ‘wagnificent’ Monday and may all your holiday and birthday wishes come true. Happy Monday!
Good Monday morning, peeps. Welcome to Monday. While it seems as if everyone is just trying to get through the election, do you realize there are only 71 days left this year. Don’t know about you but that is somewhat alarming. Where has this year gone?
It should be noted that Wilson is a bit of a cheapskate when it comes to tips. He can’t seem to help but lick his bowl spotlessly clean for all meals. I guess not sweeping up bits and bobs of crumbs is my tradeoff for actual tips. There’s no doubt he’s quite the neatnik when it comes to not leaving morsels of food on the floor. If only he could be convinced to wipe off his nose prints on the front door.
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Happy first Monday of November! We hope you survived the onslaught of ghosts and goblins and have properly disposed of the half chewed up pumpkins. Did you know that throwing pumpkins in landfills creates loads of methane which contributes to climate change. Best to compost them for next year’s flower beds.
