Birding in January - 23/52

Juvenile White Crowned Sparrow

Northern Cardinal

Adult White Crowned Sparrow

My Fur Kids - 22/52

Our friend Jenn of The Artist's Eyes is a fantastic artist. We asked her to paint portraits of all of our pups, past and present, and she did a fantastic job!  She perfectly captured each dog's personality! She had painted Rudy's portrait for us last year and completed the rest of the crew for us recently. Jenn makes all of her art ECO friendly (environmentally friendly), which is always a plus!  Check out her site and portfolios - she does more than just painting!

I framed all of the portraits in matching frames and hung them on the large wall so that they are the focal point when entering the house (or sitting anywhere in the living room, dining room and kitchen for that matter).

Here is a picture of the portraits after they were hung.  They are hung in order of when we got each dog.  Hardy and Rudy, the first two, are no longer with us.  I am hanging their tags on the corner of those portraits with ribbon in honor of them. I have Hardy's tag up there now, but have not yet located Rudy's tag since we moved, but I will!  Blue, Lois Lane and Buddy (aka Giant Dawg) are the others three pups.

Goodbye My Hardy Dog

Hardy
December 25, 1995 - January 3, 2011

On Monday we had to say goodbye to our Old Man.  On Christmas Day 2010 he celebrated (as far as we know) his 17th birthday.  Hardy is the first dog Jason and I had together and has been with us since the first apartment we had.  You can read the story of how Hardy found us if you haven't heard his story before.  (All of our dog's stories are on there, except Rudy's, which I intend to add).

Hardy was such a good, sweet, loving dog.  He was spry right up until last week when his vestibular disease and potential brain tumor finally took over his old life.  As he became more disoriented we decided his quality of life was not what it once was and that it was probably time to let him go peacefully.  Our wonderful vet, Dr. Laurelee Rubsch, is a mobile vet who comes to our house to treat the dogs.  This made the process so much easier for both of us and especially for Hardy.  He is now buried next to Big Worm where we can visit him anytime we want to. 

I miss you, Old Man.  You'll live on in our hearts forever.  :*(

Pyr Pups

A few days ago I received an email asking if we could foster a few Great Pyrenees pups for a few days as they made the way from Nashville, Tn to Indianapolis, In.  After giving it some thought we decided that since we were home for the holiday weekend and love dogs and puppies we would offer our home to these pups.  Knowing that Jason couldn't be much help due to his current cast and crutches situation, I decided that I could handle it on my own.  And I did!  And, oh boy, were these the cutest babies ever!  There were four seven week old Great Pyrenees pups and the cutest littlte fur balls I've ever seen!  Unfortunately they were full of round worms so had to be isolated to the basement so as not to contaminate any of our resident dogs.

They behaved very well for such young pups just weaned from their mother.  They had a hefty appetite and a ton of energy.  After keeping them for a day and night, this afternoon we dropped them off with IGPR, who will treat their condition and then find them good foster homes until they can go to their forever home.  I know one night is not a lot, but I was happy to help out as much as I could.  We got Buddy (aka Giant Dawg) from IGPR and love what they do for the Pyr breed.

I had so much fun playing with these little fur balls!  Jason and I always pull in full grown rescues (puppies are a lot of work!) and so it's not often we get the opportunity to work with puppies.  And with that, I leave you with a couple of photos that will make you swoon!

A Very Doggie Christmas - 21/52

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas - I know we did!  It was nice to have a couple of days free from work and to get to spend those days with friends and family.  We had several Christmas parties that we attended and every one was a great time.

The big family Christmas is always on Christmas Eve.  Portia was able to go to that with us and then come home with us for the night and spend most of Christmas Day with us - most of which was spent hopping from various grandparent's houses. Since we weren't home Christmas Eve until 1:00 am and Christmas Day was very busy we ended up letting Portia open her gifts at 2:00 am and not getting to bed until around 4:00am on Christmas Day and then sleeping until almost noon and then high-tailing it out and about.

And we can't forget the pups at Christmas!  They always get a gift each and know that anything wrapped in tissue paper is for them.  This year they all got stuffless critters with squeakers in them. I say "they" but Lois Lane is usually the only one that plays with them - and she loves them!  Hardy made it to another Christmas with us as well, which we are thrilled about.  He turned 17 on Christmas Day and this was his 16th Christmas with us.  I have photos of them with their gifts below. All family photos can be found in my FB Christmas 2010 album.

Giant Dawg waiting patiently for Portia to open her presents. This is only his 2nd Christmas with us so he doesn't get quite as excited as the others do.

Hardy opening his present (sorry for the poor quality - it was late):


Blue checking out his new fox:
 

Lois Lane didn't want to share her Christmas Badger, which ensued in a game of full out tug-of-war, her favorite:

Duck Drama - 20/52

Who would have thought 5 Muscovy ducks could cause so much drama!  A few days ago, Lil' Girl, my favorite female of the bunch, up and flew away.  I got up that morning, opened up the back blinds of the window that overlooks the pond, and all of the ducks were flying around.  Four of them came right back.  Lil' Girl had something else on her agenda.  I keep hoping she'll reappear, but so far no luck.

Then, this morning, Jason looked out the same window and saw the same thing - all ducks in flight.  This time, however, two of them came back and temporarily roosted on the roof of the house.  This is Mama duck and one of the babies (all grown up now).  Daddy Duck and the other male baby still haven't come back.

I walked down to the pond to refresh their food and to make sure the heater was keeping an area unfrozen so they can drink, and I noticed footprints in the snow that sits on top of the frozen pond.  The tracks indicate a smallish animal with padded feet was on the ice.  I'm thinking it was likely a fox or a small coyote.  And I'm also thinking that is what spooked all the ducks into flying off.  What I don't know is if Mr. Predator managed to nab him a duck dinner before all was said and done.  I'm hoping not, but there's really no way to know.  The paw prints going towards the duck's watering hole is not a good sign though. I guess at this point we just watch and see what happens. Hopefully we manage to get the two that came back to stick around. There really isn't much we can do aside from provide them with food, water and shelter, which they already have full access to.  If the two that came back are smart they will sleep on the roof until the pond thaws and they can use their floating duck dock again (now embedded in a slab of ice).

This is Lil' Girl...still hoping she reappears.

Edit:  Daddy Duck came home at dusk tonight!  :)

Blue Humbug

Blue wishes everyone a very Merry Christmas.  Ok, he just wants the hat off...it's the thought that counts.  ;)

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