Category: Smiles

Monday Musings ~ October 19, 2026

~ Tails Around the Ranch ~ 61 Comments

Happy Monday troops. Hope you had a great weekend. As I mentioned on Friday, our family welcomed a new great grandbaby. Kai Michael Mercer joined us Friday morning via c-section and we have been thrilled he’s adorable and beautiful at the same time after exhibiting a dangerously low heart rate. He’s fine now and learning what life outside the womb is all about. For those curious, Kai is a Hawaiian name which means ocean. It’s another homage to the parents’ love for the island where they met and lived for many years. You may recall Halia’s name means ‘in remembrance,’ so together the two kiddos honor their spiritual home.

Kai

Of course we are over the moon with this latest addition, it’s still Monday which means we start the week with a smile. Wishing you a fantastic week.

Monday smile

Live, love, bark! 🐾

Monday Musings ~ September 21, 2026

~ Tails Around the Ranch ~ 72 Comments

Welcome to the last official day of the 2026 summer. Tomorrow begins astronomical autumn although I will note meteorological autumn began September 1, 2026. Either way, at the time of writing, it’s a delightful 52F (11.1C) at the beginning our early morning walk. It’s paradise in our books.

Wilson

One of the breed traits for sheepdogs is they love staying close to their humans. Wilson maintains a heavy paw on that characteristic. Nothing like moving his largess at certain times. Guess I should be grateful, but at least he’s not on top of me.

Here’s hoping you enjoy a wonderful Monday and life this week isn’t overly crowded.

Live, love, bark! 🐾

Monday Musings ~ September 14, 2026

~ Tails Around the Ranch ~ 56 Comments

Happy Monday, peeps. Let’s get this week off with a little smile. We hope today is totally fantastic for you and the week follows in its footsteps. Make it a great day.

Monday Smile

Live, love, bark! 🐾

Monday Musings ~ August 31, 2026

~ Tails Around the Ranch ~ 62 Comments

Happy last Monday in August which means we’re one day closer to autumn dropping…in a mere 22 days away. Woohoo!  Another reason for us to celebrate is that we received a small shower yesterday. While it wasn’t much, it still was something and we’ll take it.  And because it’s still Monday, while we’re celebrating the countdown and a tiny bit of moisture, we still need to start out the week with a smile. We hope you have a terrific Monday that carries over throughout the week. September…here we come!

Monday

Live, love, bark! 🐾

Monday Musings ~ August 24, 2026

~ Tails Around the Ranch ~ 72 Comments

Happy Monday! Do you ever feel like you’ve completely lost it? Things didn’t go quite as you planned? I think this chuckle fairly accurately describes it.Monday smile

But all is not lost, Despite a bit of a minor hiccup this morning (a lost sock that somehow managed to wander away from its mate after a few minutes of searching for it but it eventually turned up), I’ve decided to consciously adopt a ‘bloomscrolling’ attitude for the day. Who knows, maybe one of those MIA Tupperware lids will show up. Hope springs eternal. Have a great Monday. Happy bloomscrolling today.

Monday smile

 

Monday Musings ~ August 17, 2026

~ Tails Around the Ranch ~ 68 Comments

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!

Live, love, bark! 🐾

Monday Moanings ~ August 3, 2026

~ Tails Around the Ranch ~ 62 Comments

Good freakin morning, Monday campers. Hope you survived the weekend. So is this is what hell must feel like?

Today we pay homage to a true saint.

Monday smiles

Bless that man.

Monday smilesI tried to do a hard boot, but alas, it clearly work. Stay cool peeps and have a good Monday.

Live, love, bark! 🐾

Monday Musings ~ July 27, 2026

~ Tails Around the Ranch ~ 55 Comments

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.

Live, love, bark! 🐾

 

Monday Musings ~ June 22, 2026

~ Tails Around the Ranch ~ 74 Comments

Hope all the Dads out there had a great day yesterday, which coincided with the arrival of summer. Got to spend a day with my Dad in triple digit heat but the joy it brought to him was well worth it.

Unlike many of you, summer is my least favorite season. I don’t do heat and it’s been hot here. How hot you ask?

Monday smile

Maybe I wouldn’t mind it as much if there haven’t been so many power outages. In the past eleven days, we’ve experienced six outages (two yesterday, in fact). Grrr. It’s been so hot, I’ve been thinking of making some special flip flops.

Monday smile

We hope you’re staying cool, or at the very least, comfortable with plenty of electricity. May your Monday be great and that your power stays constant during the hottest days this week. Enjoy the first full day of summer.

Live, love, bark! 🐾

Monday Musings ~ June 1, 2026

~ Tails Around the Ranch ~ 83 Comments

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.Monday smile

Here’s hoping all your wildlife encounters this week are good ones.

Live, love, bark! 🐾