Why dogs and cats are better than kids

Know I haven't checked in lately, just too busy. But this was worth taking the time for (and, besides, I could just cut and paste!). It's from one of the several pet-related things I subscribe to...

Dogs and cats are better than kids because they:

1. Eat less
2. Don't ask for money all the time
3. Are easier to train
4. Normally come when called
5. Never ask to drive the car
6. Don't hang out with drug-using friends
7. Don't smoke or drink
8. Don't have to buy the latest fashions
9. Don't want to wear your clothes
10. Don't need a 'gazillion' dollars for college.
11. And finally,...If they get pregnant, you can sell their children.

Here Ike, Ike...

Yes, it's true - we now have a parrot in our back yard! How cool is that? As best I can figure, it's not a wild parrot...it seems a lot bigger than the pictures I've been able to find of Monk parrots or parakeets (this guy definitely couldn't sit on my finger!) but he doesn't seem as bright green as the Eclectus parrot. For scale, the iron curve he's sitting on in this picture is 17" long. It's quite shy (which is why the picture isn't great, had to take it through the window and screen), but listens closely to vocalizations. Why "Ike?" Well, I called our vet tech Saturday morning to find out what - if anything - I should be doing for said parrot, and she suggested Ike. In "honor" of the hurricane, of course, but it also fits because we name all the girls after songs. And Ike Turner just died. Even more fitting, perhaps, both Ikes turned out to be bastards. So, for now we're putting out Velveeta cheese (in the squirrel's suet holder), and peanuts. However, the girls have already learned to troll for peanuts, so we have to figure out a platform of sorts to put the nuts on where the parrot can get to them and the girls can NOT. Also, the vet tech said red peppers - the hotter the better! Don't think I'm going to go there, though. Any and all suggestions welcome.

Emily and the toad

I've said it before, I'll say it again - border collies are the BEST!

I let the girls out a couple of mornings ago - one of those rainy mornings. I let them out into the garage area, which feeds to the back yard. Lo and behold there was a HUGE toad - bigger than a baseball - sitting there. Loretta takes one look and says, "oh no, no, it's too ugly to even LOOK at" as she daintily steps over it (and literally averting her eyes). Ruby looks, and takes one huge step over it. "Whatever." Emily, though - Emily sees it and GOES for it! Barking, snapping, herding. The toad went towards the refrigerator, Emily herds it back. Went for the back porch, not what Emily wanted. Finally, the poor thing hopped under a metal shelf rack, which seemed to at last satisfy Miss Emily. Not sure if it was out of sight out of mind, or whether her fun was just finished for the morning.

Top 10 Peeves Dogs Have With Humans

From one of the many "living with dogs" email things I subscribe to:

1. Blaming your farts on me..... not funny... not funny at all!

2. Yelling at me for barking. I'M A FRIGGIN' DOG

3. Taking me for a walk, then not letting me check stuff out. Exactly whose walk is this anyway?

4. Any trick that involves balancing food on my nose. Stop it!

5. Any haircut that involves bows or ribbons. Now you know why we chew your stuff up when you're not home.

6. The sleight of hand, fake fetch throw. You fooled a dog! Whoooo hoooooooo what a proud moment for the top of the food chain.

7. Taking me to the vet for "the big snip", then acting surprised when I freak out every time we go back!

8. Getting upset when I sniff the crotches of your guests. Sorry, but I haven't quite mastered that handshake thing yet.

9. Dog sweaters. Hello ??? Haven't you noticed the fur?

10. How you act disgusted when I lick myself. Look, we both know the truth. You're just jealous.

Finally - a funny story!

I've been prompting the dogs to do something stupid lately. "I don't have anything to blog about, y'all...can't one of you please make a fool out of yourself?" I guess the heat of the summer has gotten to them as well, because there was refusal to oblige. Until yesterday.

Tony brought home bagels. I'm not much of a bagel fan - for one thing, a whole bagel is just so much bread - but I decided to eat one yesterday morning. Anyway, the "old" carton of cream cheese was almost out (why, Tony, did you put it back in the refrigerator with a teaspoon of cream cheese in it?). Into the kitchen comes Rosalita (aka Piglet). Big, liquid brown eyes. But, remember, she's the one who is convinced that we try to poison her twice a day - once at breakfast and once at dinner. I held the carton down to her, and typical of a dog about to be poisoned, she wouldn't take it. So I just set it on her nose - kind of dangled it there. She sits up on her haunches (think a "begging" pose), Philly Cream Cheese container danging from the tip of her nose. Then she starts licking, which makes the container bounce up and down on her nose.....Fortunately, it fell off about the 5th lick - otherwise Tony would have had to take me to the hospital for a sedative to calm my hysterical laughter......

Spent all of 5 minutes in the yard!

Tony and I went to breakfast yesterday morning, and when I got home our next door neighbor the one with the cats) called and said, "You should go out and see your garden!" Well, there were dragonflies EVERYWHERE. I'm talking about dozens and dozens. The neighbor said that they had actually thinned out a bit. I took the camera out, but couldn't really get any pictures because they were flying continuously - never resting. It was pretty cool.

So, as I had the camera in my hand, I snapped a few shots. Surprisingly, most of them weren't great, I think maybe because of the light wind that was blowing (or because all I could think about was how hot is was, even though it was only 9am or so). The picture above is one of the few that came out. We have a lot - a LOT - of miniature roses in pots on the back porch. This is a shot of some of them.

And, on a happy note, Tony talked to the other-side neighbors - they're duck shopping! We've been so worried about the one lone little guy...every time we walk out in our back yard, he starts quacking like crazy. And, yes, of COURSE we quack back! I've thought about getting a duck quacker-thing - like they use for hunting to call ducks - but I'm not sure that it wouldn't upset him. Anybody know?

Rosalita

My (relatively new) camera has a B&W mode - gave it a try last week. This is Rosalita, the youngest of the girls...she's a sweetie.