But where? Where?
Ah yes, Yellowstone. We don’t know what makes up the mix in our black lab mix, but I think I’ve discovered an important clue.
Monthly Archives: June 2009
The Return of the King
And two queens. And the court jester.
Yesterday marked the return of the cats to their supervised outdoor time in the backyard. When we adopted Sam and Emma, I realized how much harder it was to keep track of three cats than two, especially since two of the three were young ones who were still learning Rule Number 1: Don’t Leave the Yard. When we added our dog Ellie it became too much to keep an eye on everyone, so Ellie got to play outside while the cats were condemned to the inside, three tortured souls staring out the window at the yard they used to roam.
The biggest issue was on one side of the yard, the neighbor’s yard is higher than ours and the way the fence was put in, there’s a small gap where cats can slip through, either our cats in an escape attempt or the neighborhood cats who keep coming in and destroying our catnip.
I’m off work this week courtesy of an unpaid furlough so we went up to Home Depot and got some little fencing to bridge the gap between the ground and the fence. I used a very high-tech solution (twist-ties) to secure the little fence to the big one and thus sealed off the easiest avenue of escape. I’ve also been thinning out the overgrown raspberry thicket where Sam and Emma like to play so that I can extract them if needed.
So yesterday evening all four pets were able to enjoy the warmth and sunshine and at the end of the day, a nose count showed there were four pets to hustle back inside. The cats didn’t really probe the defenses but still a good first test!
Little Sam & Big Ellie
Ellie knows the bed is hers but apparently is willing to share.
Sam and Emma had been snuggling on the dog bed until Emma got up to curl up in one of the warm beds. That left little Sam all alone circle sleeping in the middle of the bed when Ellie came into my office. She sleeps on the bed frequently but rather than force Sam off, she lay down beside him with only her head resting on the bed.
What a sweetheart!
Little Sam & Little Ellie
I have a dog bed in my office that sees heavy use from more than just our dear Ellie. When my wife made it she didn’t have quite enough stuffing so peaks and valleys form, an irresistible draw for crevice-loving Sam. Emma often sleeps on it as well and with her black fur resembles a little Ellie. She’s rather fascinated with the dog and often snuggles in beside or behind me while I toss the hedgehog with Ellie.
Emma’s also been snuggling with Sam lately, although to be honest I didn’t see who snuggled up to who, it could be that Emma was just tolerating our Grade A snuggler.
Nibbler
Deer lack upper canine teeth but compensate by pinching vegetation against a calloused part of their mouth. This doe was eating the leaves of the blackberry bush by pressing the leaves to the roof of her mouth with her tongue and then pulling them off. She and her little ones were ignoring the other plants of the meadow and exclusively feeding on the blackberry leaves.