spring photos

These photos are from our walk yesterday. Skippy waited for me as I took them. I am enjoying the image stabilization feature of my new camera - the with hazel and maple branches were swaying constantly in the brisk wind, but they photos came out quite sharp. The image stablization works well when there is a lot of sun, as there was yesterday. A beautiful clear sky and nice strong sunlight.

skippy's new scarf

For Skippy's 10th therapy visit, he got a bright red Caring Canines scarf! I think he looks really handsome in it.

birthday dinner

It was really nice that so many people (dogs?) left Skippy birthday wishes the past couple days. What fun to read all the comments!

Skippy enjoyed his birthday meal. It was a bit over and above his normal dinner. I think he ate about half a chicken (mixed 50:50 with EVO dog food). He kept asking for more and we gave him 3 servings. For desert, he cheated on his diet and had some whipped cream (on of his favorites). You know, the kind that squirts out of the red can. Yummmmy.

Skippy's normal diet is cooked chicken (usually chicken thighs) mixed about 30:70 with EVO grain-free (poultry) dog food. (He also gets a lot of EVO treats). Skippy doesn't do well with any grains (especially rice), but has done very well with the EVO. He's a picky (spoiled) eater and won't eat plain dog food, so we mix it with chicken. We try to encourage him to eat as much as he can, since he was underweight at 49 lbs until he was about 1 1/2 years old. He is now very healthy and very active at 53 lbs. Sometimes we add a teaspoon of bonemeal to make sure he gets enough calcium, since there is no calcium in the chicken portion of his diet. Its my theory that the chicken gives him his soft and shiny coat, but it may be all genetics - his Mom is very beautiful!

Happy Birthday Skippy

Yippee Skippy! Its his birthday! Today Skippy is 2 years old. I'm going to to make his favorite dinner tonight - rotisseried chicken. Yummmm. My favorite too. Skippy gets to eat the leftovers, which is often quite a feast.

Skippy's 10th therapy visit

Its a special weekend for Skippy. Today he did his 10th therapy visit. And tomorrow is his 2nd birthday!

For Skippy's 10th therapy visit, we went to a nursing home in Somerville. It was a very nice visit. There were about 15 people there to visit with. And they all wanted to pat Skippy. Skippy got a bit scared at this visit, because the room was different than other visiting rooms has has been to. Wood floors and high ceilings. Sounds echoed a bit differently. But he liked all of the people a lot and they all patted him and made him feel very appreciated. None of the other three dogs were bothered by the wood, so they calmed Skippy down too. Its just one of those things that he'll get used to. Different surroundings, different people. Skippy and I have not yet been to the same nursing home twice. So in our 10 visits, we may have met 200 different people.

One woman today asked if Skippy has been in any dog shows. I feel badly that I have not had the time to do this. But, as I told her, I thought it was more helpful to do the therapy work. She agreed and thanked us for coming to see her. The visits are only 30 minutes, but the residents always seem so appreciative. I love it when an older person will smile and just pat Skippy's soft fur. Often they don't speak well, often they use a walker or a wheel chair. But they really enjoy a wagging tail, a doggie kiss and soft fur to pat.

our first dinner out

A sign of spring - our first dinner out on the patio! We have a wonderful gas patio heater that extends our season. It raises the temperature about 20F, so we can eat out once its around 50F. Last night we sipped our martinis by the last piles of snow. And Skippy got to eat a nice meal of grilled chicken thighs. He ate about a pound of it. No complaints.

Saturday bird list

Here's a list of the birds that came to my window feeder this past week:
house sparrows
black-capped chickadees
white-breasted nuthatch
northern cardinal
tufted titmouse
house finch
carolina wren

keeping cool

There's only one big pile of snow left in the backyard. Skippy thinks its a good place to rest.

visit to Lexington nursing home

Today's therapy visit was wonderful! We visited with a group of about 12 elderly women and several of their guests. Skippy showed them his two-pawed high-five and barked on cue when I said "say hello" and "say goodbye". Then we went around to everyone and visited. Skippy would tell you that they were all really good at giving pats. It was a lot of fun!

Here's a Caring Canines page with a photo of Skippy and other therapy dogs "on-the-job": http://www.caringcanines.org/winter107_2.html.

Skippy's first swim of the spring

The ice is finally melting. Lots of puddles. And Skippy got to go in the pond for his first swim of the spring! Yippee! I bet it was cold. After that he had a nice warm bath. Tomorrow he will be working: a therapy dog visit to a nursing home in Lexington.

paradise

Jasmine and bird of paradise flowers at the Santa Barbara airport. I took these photos yesterday on my way back home to New England.

"Paradise is exactly like where you are right now... only much, much better." Laurie Anderson

channel islands

The Channel Islands off the coast of Santa Barbara CA are a windswept paradise with a craggy shoreline and unique and varied wildlife. These photos are from our boat ride out to the southern end of Santa Cruz Island (Scorpion Bay). Our ocean mammal sightings included many gray whales, a couple of sea lions and a large school of dolphins.

"Can ye fathom the ocean, dark and deep, where the mighty waves and the grandeur sweep?" Fanny Crosby

southern california flowers

I am visiting my sister in beautiful southern California, near Santa Barbara. A wonderfully timed trip away from the snow in New England. I've traded my boots for flip-flops and I'm photographing flowers instead of snow scenes. Aaahhh..... Too bad Skippy had to stay home.

snowy night

This isn't Skippy's backyard - its his frontyard. But both the front and the back are buried in snow right now. Its cozy inside, but not outside. We have 6 or 8 inches of snow so far from this late season Nor'easter. Later tonight, we're expecting a good layer of ice and freezing rain to fall on top of this snow. How wonderful ......

moss and branches

Our snow is steadily melting and the birds and ducks definitely know that Spring will be here soon. Not much in the way of plants yet. Just the mosses greening up and the buds and branches swelling and brightening. The fresh Spring air and bird songs are hard to photograph, but Skippy and I enjoyed them on our walk.

birds at the window feeder

The Carolina wren must be very hungry. He spends alot of time in our feeder. Maybe he'll find a Mrs and nest in the new wren house I put up. Such a cute bird. Skippy gets a kick out of the bold squirrel. Not much will scare him out of the feeder. I couldn't get a good photo of the sparrows. Maybe later.

spring thaw begins

backyardphotos

a long hair day

Skippy's getting a haircut today. Here's a "before" photo that I took this morning. Can you see any eyes under there?

backyard birds brave the cold

Its much too cold this week! I've been worrying about our backyard birds. I don't know why that silly robin didn't fly south this year! Really a bad choice. I am glad that the birds (and squirrels) are enjoying my window feeder. The birds also like to drink from our pond. A couple of days ago it froze except for a little hole at the center. Yesterday I went out, braved the cold, and put the pond heater in again. Unfortunately, the circuit tripped for some reason and today I noticed the pond is completely frozen over. Just now, I went out and reset the circuit. I hope the water thaws so the birds can drink it tomorrow.

mallards

These mallards were at Fresh Pond on Sunday afternoon.

Kennedy's PWDs

I found this picture of Senator Kennedy and his two Portuguese water dogs on Flickr at Sanford Sis's site. Their names are Sunny (the black and white dog) and Splash. It looks like the dogs are getting all of the attention!

Skippy's tricks

Skippy is not able to go on therapy dog visits for a couple of weeks, so we have been practicing his introduction routine. Usually the therapy visit will include about 20-30 residents of a nursing home sitting around the edge of a room in a large circle. The 3-6 dogs visiting will each, one at a time, have a 2-3 minute introduction. Skippy and I go to the middle of the circle and Skippy sits while I tell a little about him (name, age, breed). Then he'll "say hello" (woof!)(he's really good at this and will often follow up with "say more": Wooof!). Then he will shake hands ("paw") and do a great 2-pawed high-five. He is working on "sit pretty", for which he usually needs my help in holding up his paws. This week I am planning to start teaching him another trick, maybe roll-over. I'd also like to work on having Skippy follow me at a "heel" as I walk around in the circle at the beginning of the introduction.

therapy work

Well, poor old Skip has had a bit of a tummy ache the past few days. Actually a couple of weeks. His vet says its a nasty stomach bug and gave him some medicine for it. (No more drinking out of puddles for Skip!) Unfortunately, I had to cancel his therapy visits because of this. I have cancelled for the next two weeks - until he gets tested and has no more stomach bug. The good thing is that the medicine made him feel great right away!

action at the window feeder

I put this window feeder up about 2 weeks ago and finally today the birds decided it was good food. I have yet to put up a feeder that the squirrels can't get into and this one is no different. Skippy had fun watching the squirrel from 2 inches away on the other side of the window glass. The squirrel didn't care a bit! By the way - how many sparrows do you think can fit in an 8-inch window feeder? (Answer: a lot!)