A certain stillness

Last weekend was the Great Backyard Bird Count, which normally has me planning to go to different locations to count birds. That was indeed my original plan, but life had other ideas. Last Saturday morning I awoke to a sick dog, and unfortunately he did not get better as the day progressed. A time that we had been anticipating and dreading had finally come. It's hard to believe that it's been a week since we had our poor, sweet Emmett put to sleep.

Our house is now feeling a bit empty. Emmett was the last of a host of pets that Dave and I have had the pleasure of knowing over the last 11 years. At 15-1/2, he was the oldest of them all. His sister, Jupiter, passed away a little over 2 years ago, just shy of her 13th birthday.

Amid all the bird songs that I hear daily now that are a sure promise of spring, a certain stillness hangs in the air. It's hard to adjust to not having a wagging tail and happy puppy to greet us when we get home from work. But instead of focusing on the things that are difficult, let me share some happier memories with you, memories of both Emmett and Jupiter.

I didn't know them as puppies, unfortunately - they were already full-grown by the time Dave and I started dating. I met them both the first time I came to Dave's place, and they were both very accepting of me, which was something that I felt was important if Dave and I were going to be a couple. I was especially grateful that Jupiter, the "other" girl in his life, took a liking to me.

They were both very cute adults, but as puppies... well, it was just ridiculous.

Emmett was quite a little ball of fluff. It took him a little while to grow into his face and his ears, though.

Emmett in his "adolescence."

And Jupiter in hers.

They loved to chase each other and play. I can't tell who's chasing who here, but I can hear them going "nyyeeeaaawwwwwrrr," round and round in circles!

They also liked to bite on each other, especially Jupiter on Emmett. This is when they were wee pups...

... and as adults. It's a move Jupiter would repeat over...

... and over. Eventually, many years into adulthood, Emmett finally developed a strategy to shake her off when she chomped on him like this, and it was a move that I called the "butt block." Actually, it was more of a hip block, where he'd ram his hip into her to get her off of him, but "butt block" sounds way more fun.

This isn't to say that he didn't get his own chomps in on her, though!
Their exact lineage is unknown, but "husky mix" was the breed reference we always gave. Having husky blood meant they liked to roam, often quite far from home. They always came back, but Dave and Jupiter one day learned the hard way that some folks don't take kindly to having strange dogs on their property. Jupiter got shot in her rear left leg, and fragments of the bullet stayed with her until the end. Living on 8 acres in the country made containing the dogs a challenge, to say the least. A radio fence was employed after the shooting incident, but both Emmett and Jupiter were masters at finding ways to get through the field of the fence, and they were always testing it, waiting for those times when a rodent chew or a deer run-through caused a break in the line, leaving the whole system down.

The day Dave asked me to marry him, the dogs "broke out" and came over into the field where we were (across the road from the house) to congratulate us. They didn't want to be left out! This was one time that we didn't mind that they were naughty dogs who disobeyed the rules.
Overall, they were good dogs. For as long as I knew them, they were outside dogs 90% of the time (with plenty of shelter available when they needed it, of course), and they seemed very content being that way.
They both loved the snow...

... and they both loved a good leaf pile.



And we loved them both very, very much. Two weeks before Emmett reached his end, I was able to get some nice photos of him. When I look at this photo now, it still tugs at my heart strings, but it also makes me smile. It captures his essence very well.

We miss you, dear friend. Rest in peace.

Snow Dog

Our dog Emmett is a Husky mix, so hanging out in the snow is second nature to him. He politely accepted my offer to snap some pictures of him while he enjoyed laying in the snow this weekend.


Isn't he so handsome?

He's an outside dog 99.9% of the time, but he got himself good and wet this weekend, and seeing how the temperature isn't going to get above freezing in the next few days, we thought he'd like to have the icicles thawed off of his fur at some point. So, he's sitting at my feet right now, curled up in front of the wood stove. After several hours inside, he's almost dry. But all this heat... it's making him sleepy. Me too, dude. Bed time!

Who can resist this face?

Whenever I go on a trip, no matter how close or far from home I am, I am always delighted when I see domesticated animals around. And by "domesticated animal," I am specifically referring to cats and dogs. The sight of these two animals which serve as human companions can really brighten my day - even if it's just a cat that lives in the neighborhood where I work. I'll wear my personality on my sleeve a bit here by saying that sometimes I feel that I can connect with a cat or dog more easily and readily than I can connect with a human. Having said that, it must be apparent to you by now that I have a special affinity for these creatures.

During our recent trip to Kentucky, we stayed in a lovely cabin. In the cabin's guestbook several previous guests had mentioned that a dog had dropped by for a visit. I saw the dog one day while we were in the car, but he was several cabins away from us. The day after that, he walked down the road and paid us a visit, just like he had with the other guests.


Cute little bugger, isn't he? He was very sweet and personable, and was not afraid of us at all. He readily accepted our pats on the head, scratches behind the ears, and rubs of the tummy.


It wasn't all about being near us, though. He also stalked the woods near our cabin for chipmunks and other rodents, but then he came back up on the porch to see what we were up to. He wore a collar, but no ID, so we didn't know his name. He was obviously someone's pet, because he was well-cared for (except he was in need of a flea bath). The first evening he came by, he hung out on our porch, curled up right in front of the door, until late that night. He was gone the next morning, but stopped by again for a brief stay early in the evening before wandering on his way.


This guy has obviously been asked to pose for pictures before!


Even the sweetest dog eventually gets tired of having a camera shoved in his face, though.

While I was glad for his short companionship, I did worry about the fact that he was out roaming freely. It was not a heavy traffic area, by any means, but the risk of accidents with loose dogs is just too great. I hope he stays safe.

For fear of making my own puppeh jealous that he is not being mentioned in a post about dogs, here's a shot of Emmett that I took the other day. He turned 13 a week ago.


Next time, I'll share some photos of special felines that I've encountered while away from home.

More puppeh pix

Since I so often have my macro "filters" attached to my lens now, I thought I'd take some pictures of the mutts with it on. This requires me to get very close to my subject in order for the camera to get in focus.

Jupiter wasn't crazy about me putting the camera so close to her face. She vacated the deck soon after I took this picture.

Maybe I can take a picture of your foot instead?

Sorry Emmett, but I couldn't help posting this one. You just look so silly!

Of course his nose isn't really that long - the macro filters exaggerate long lines.

This is more like it.

Emmett, you're such a good model for the camera!

I'm off to the Wilds this weekend for some birding by ear, so I'll catch up with you all next week!

Puppeh Fix for the weekend

A few posts ago I alluded to a post featuring the dogs, so I have to come through for you.

Even though I still call them "puppies," they're gettin' up there (they'll be 13 this fall). They enjoy hanging out on the deck and under the deck, in the sun, and in the shade. They patrol our woods in search of rodents and funny smells, and keep an eye on the neighbor dogs as they go by on the road. They love the ritual treat I give them every morning before we go to work, and they are very excited to see us when we come home from work. They like to hang out with us while we do stuff outside. And they're pretty good nappers.

Jupiter napping under the deck

... almost asleep

This is one of my all-time favorite photos of Emmett, napping so peacefully.

Jupiter likes to pick on Emmett, and she can't stand it when he's getting attention and she's not, but they still love each other and hang out together a lot of the time.

Sorry Emmett, I didn't mean to short-change you here, I just happen to have more pictures to share of Jupiter right now... I guess I need to take some more pictures of you!

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Squirrel and da Dogs

This is a story of a squirrel...

squirrel

And 2 dogs...

Emmett and Jupiter

Our story begins when brave little squirrel makes his approach to the deck, even though the scary dogs are there...

Okay, maybe those dogs aren't THAT scary...

They were scary enough to spook squirrel away for a little while. When he came back, the dogs had switched spots...

[Cue Mission Impossible music]

I'll let squirrel tell the rest of the story...

LEGAL DISCLAIMER: No animals were harmed in the taking of these photographs. Two dogs, however, were laughed and pointed at by their owners for their obliviousness.

Dad, this one's for you, since several of these pictures distracted me while we were talking on the phone this morning. This makes it all worth it, right?

Snow dogs

Hello blogging friends. Unfortunately we are still without electricity, but we finally got our generator going for some back-up power. Many days without internet access means I got very behind on reading everyone else's blogs, so I'm going to try to get caught up with that over the next few days. In the meantime, I leave you with some pics I snapped of the dogs today. Since they have husky in their blood, they really do seem to love the snow.


Both of the dogs like to eat snow, which I think is funny.

As a result, Emmett has a little snow mustache. Got snow?

Jupiter decided to take a little sun nap this morning. We were all happy to see the sun today.

Sometimes the lighting, the subject and the camera settings all work out right (read: I got lucky!). Something about this shot makes Jupiter look very wild to me, even though she's docilely trying to catch some zzzz's.