Conserving

November 28th and we have not yet had to turn on the furnace, excellent!  Our little wood stove easily deals with the mild November we have had.  Last year we made it through the winter with one tank of oil, granted it was a mild winter, but, I am hopeful of a repeat. 
This is the morning ritual of praying to the wood stove god, a being of immense power and pleasure to Daisy.  Daisy sets up her vigil in the same spot each morning, silently staring in an almost hypnotic trance at the great black bringer of warmth.

Dawn

Morning light

The light hitting the Plume Poppy this morning, a little more golden this time of the year

Morning coffee

Enjoying coffee on the porch with the dogs, love this time of the year, cool-ish mornings and NO mosquitoes.  Chipmunks are very active the last week, their cheeks jammed full of seeds for winter storage. 

 

Schnauzers on high chippy alert!

Summers morning

And rural scenes..... Lush tomatoes ripening First year I have grown cucumbers Black Eyed Susan's in bloom Jalapenos' almost ready for pickling

Forest walk

Found a new place to walk with the dogs yesterday. What a gorgeous day to enjoy the woodland. Unfortunately all I got in dog photos was assorted butt shots, we will skip sharing them and stick to the flora. OK maybe one butt shot. A friends schnauzer caught with her ears upside down on her head, maybe it helps her hear better :-)

Scattered Flurries???

Well, that's what the Weather Network said.......

Time change

Dogs don't 'get' daylight savings time, well, OK....I don't 'get' daylight savings time. No matter how late I keep my dogs up at night....they will never sleep in the next morning...yawn......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Frosty Morning Watch

A cool frosty morning at Dinsdale, pups Chase and Olive have set themselves up on the front porch on Sentry duty.

Morning Watch

Iska is a schnauzer visitor at Dinsdale. Co-owned by myself she resides with owner Brooke in Wisconsin. Iska's pups are 3 weeks old and requiring less time from her which means she can just hang around and do her own thing during the day. She loves to sit out on the porch and watch the chipmunks gathering seed. I have been trying to get a photo of her, but whenever I open the door she wags her tail and comes running in. I shot this through the door and kind of like the soft effect. Oops...I have been spotted.

Morning wanderings

What a perfect late summer/early autumn morning, crisp, clear, beautiful deep blue skies. I wandered around the property with my camera capturing some of the gorgeous wildflowers currently in bloom. Black Eyed Susan's are stunning. This is a Jewel weed, tiny orange orchid like blossoms, they gather in cool damp areas and from what I read the succulent stems can be rubbed on your skin should you come into contact with Poison Ivy....which we also have a lot of in the area. Tiny purple asters are everywhere And of course flowering Golden Rod branches tower above everything. And lastly our special flower Jewels, whom I left inside the gate while I was out with the camera. She is rather slow and tends to wander off with her own old girl agenda. She was not impressed to be left behind.

Simple flowers

Sometimes a simple white flower is the most beautiful. This white clematis covers our front porch every September looking like a big drift of snow. Busy weekend of dogs, pups and lots of grass cutting before it rains on Sunday. Hope others are getting a chance to relax and enjoy the last of their summer flowers.

And then the sun came out.....

So tranquil after the storm passed and the sun came out for a few moments. However earlier this morning....... I woke up to a HUGE rainy downpour and Gussy yipping downstairs. Stumbled out of bed, it's 5:15am and I quickly hobble (bad knees I don't move smoothly in the morning) downstairs and let Gussy outside. When I open the door, she sees the sheets of rain falling off the roof of the house and Gussy puts her breaks on! Sorry girl, out you go. For a dog that can barely walk she darts down the steps for the cover of the greenhouse to do her business. I knew she wouldn't come back up the steps, so I wander through the house hoping the rest of the dogs remain quiet into my grooming room where the outside door to the greenhouse area is located to let her in. Poor Gussy is down on her side, soaking wet and because of the angle and position she is not able to get on her feet....out I go to help her up, she scrambles inside, and proceeds to fall over every time she tries to shake the wet off her body. Making it back into the main house, I am still thinking, if I can get her in a crate I can sneak back to bed for another hour. I look behind me, no Gussy, I walk around the corner and she is pooping in my living room...excellent! (big sigh) I clean it up, hustle her into a crate and trip back upstairs to my bed....how was your morning?? For those that don't know, Gussy has spinal nerve damage and is slowly losing her mobility. She does a fantastic impression of a drunken sailor. This has been going on for some time, we have her on high daily doses of steroids which keeps her fairly upright, but it does mean she consumes large quantities of water and must go to the bathroom often, like every hour during the day, sometimes more. She can sleep about 4-5 hours at night then MUST go outside and quickly, thus my stumbling down stairs as fast as my old sore knees can manage routine every morning. There is no pain involved for Gussy and as long as she can get herself more or less in and out the door, enjoys a healthy appetite and keeps a smile on her face we will just deal with the rest, and hey, sleep is over-rated.

Gate Guards

Tuesday mornings usually includes a crowd overseeing my attempts to get the garbage out. You have no idea how many times Juno gets her head stuck here. Poor dear seems to have separation issues.