Canine Nose Warmer

 This is not a posed picture. Fionna was sitting on Reed’s lap and apparently her nose was cold. She fell asleep with her nose in his pocket. 

Canine Ear Warmer

 

Fionn is definitely NOT a morning pooch!

 

But eventually he comes around.

Time Marches On

 Nothing like a pandemic to knock you off your game/blog.

Sadly, this will be the last post under the 4 Dogs and a Cat tag. Starsky passed during the pandemic. He lived a long and full life and I didn’t have the heart to put a post up concerning his passing until now. 

Will we get another cat? We discussed it and honestly, Starsky left a huge set of paws to fill. So no new cat for the foreseeable future. 

We still have our 4 dogs and totally enjoy watching their antics. They still do their business on command. I introduced one of those little bells that you see dogs ring when they want to go outside. They’ve actually trained ME to ring it. Smart canines! 

Seriously, when it’s time to go outside I ring it and they all come running. Reilly and Fionn will ring the bell but it’s often is more a ploy for a piece of kibble - their reward. Time will tell if the bell will catch on. It’s seriously easier to take them out together on schedule.

Experiencing Spring Ahead During a Pandemic

 I really dislike the whole “daylight savings time” thing. The older I get the more it seems to knock me off my game for a few days, even a week. 

So here we go again and I’m wondering this whole time change thing will feel different given our currently decreased schedule. Last year we weren’t in lock down when we turned our clocks forward. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

In the meantime I’ll leave you with a cute pup pic.

Lining Up at the Door

 Please forgive the doggy nose art on the glass. 

The Green Bean Thieves

This is why we don’t get to eat nearly as many green beans as we grow. Also Blogger is on my last nerve today!

Music to Soothe the Soul

We’re having tree limbs trimmed from around the house. Apparently Hutch thinks the chain saw is a huge bee. He was totally stressed out until I put on some music. He immediately quieted down. Apparently he’s a big oldies fan. Who knew?

Hutch Chilling

May Snow Showers? The inside/outside contrast

 We’re having a good old fashioned spring snowstorm.
It’s oddly comforting because our weather has been anything but “normal” for so many years.

Covid 19 has also turned the world upside down so a snowstorm that turns my mind back to memories from years past is a good thing. It also helps that we can choose to wait for it to melt if we don’t feel like shoveling. I told DH he was tempting Mother Nature when he threw away a partially broken snow shovel a few weeks ago. :)

Scroll down for the contrast inside. My crazy Thanksgiving Cacti are blooming yet again! This is about 4 times since October. They would have been more impressive had the blooms come all at once but I’m actually enjoying their companionship more this way.

 

Waiting in Line for a Place in the Sun

Starsky the cat almost always beats the dogs to this sunny spot. He does it by anticipating and getting there before the sun does. Not bad for a half blind cat. He’s certainly earned his spot in the sun.

The dogs aren’t much in the way of being planners so they end up lining up to wait for their chance. Sometimes they get and other times they don’t but they never complain.

Pull up a Patch of Sun and Sit a Spell

Hutch and Riley sharing the morning sunshine.

Spring here in the North Country & Hutch Wants a Fire

This was the Spring morning we awoke to.

Hutch pulled down some kindling in an effort to
convince us that we should light the wood stove.

Hutch has Self Quarantined

He actually just has a strong Denning instinct.

Who Needs Curtains?

We live in an area where there’s not a ton of sunshine. We are surrounded by an old growth hardwood forest.

This means that there are a limited number of types of plants that will do well in our home. It also means that they need to be in or very close to a window in order to thrive.

My answer to this was to create a curtain of plants in each window.

It makes watering a snap and I really enjoy all my little window jungles.

Last Hurrah

My Thanksgiving cacti are blooming to beat the band! I finally got around to rearranging my plants to create a Thanksgiving cactus window.

Right now there’s one Easter cactus in the window but I'm pretty sure I’ll move it back to the bathroom window and put a pot with multiple colored Thanksgiving cacti in it in this window.

It should be gorgeous when they’re all blooming come Thanksgiving.

Early Blooms

My Easter Cactus is blooming. Last year I got a small cluster of blooms followed by a much bigger bloom. Hopefully this year will be the same.

This little bugger has been hard to convince to bloom so I moved it to my kitchen window. This window is going to end up being a Thanksgiving/Easter cactus window because they seem to bloom endlessly here.

The one true cactus in the window may get the boot to the downstairs bathroom.

Still Blooming After All This Time

My two kitchen Thanksgiving Cacti have been blooming since October!

I turn them monthly and every time I do I discover a new bounty of blooms!

This is a close up of what I think of as my ballerina blooms. The color is cream and the blooms are extremely delicate. Such a treat!

Interestingly my two living room cacti barely bloomed at all. Feeding and watering have been the same but with our warmer winter and being above a baseboard radiator. It’s never been an issue in the past but with the warmer winter?

Joined at the Hip

They aren’t wrestling. They were sleeping like this. They’re more or less joined at the hip. Quite the odd couple.

Happy New Year! No Clean Slate for me!

Actually I’m feeling kind of meh and I have no one to blame but myself. On New Year’s Day I find myself mid-Rotation. In fact, I’m not even beginning a new workout week. The typical “Clean Slate,”  “Do Over” feel of the New Year is definitely missing.

This is actually nothing new. I’ve had a similar New Year’s experience when the holiday has fallen mid-week or close to mid-week in the past. Yet this is different. It’s different because I’m really not looking for a clean slate. In fact, I don’t want one! So I’m not sure that planning a sparkly new rotation with brand new sparkly workouts, to begin today would have had the usual sparkly effect. I kind of doubt it.

You see, I love being more retired than not. I love having tea with DH each morning while we discuss the news and what workouts we have planned and the silly things that the dogs do that we enjoy. I love our family yoga and/or meditation time. I love the monthly table placemats and floral arrangement and the monthly holiday meal we plan and cook together. Yes, if a month doesn’t have a holiday, by George we’ll create one! I’m not sure it will last but for now I’m immersed in family life and am really enjoying it. I even have a switchable night light in our bathroom that I change monthly. So why would I want a clean slate and what on Earth would I do with it??

1/1/2020 - Recovery - We did family Mantra Meditation. We cuddled dogs and our cat. We took down Christmas and put up our January table. We had a special meal planned so we cooked and enjoyed it. Tonight we’ll watch a movie. It was a full day so I swapped my exercise days around. I hope you had a great first day of the year!

Totally Free Weight Rack

I’ve been wanting a weight rack since we added the gym but I never found exactly what I was looking for. Last week I spied 8 old square weights and two lengths of board that DH was planning on throwing away. Voila! A weight rack that’s exactly what I wanted. Better yet, it was free and repurposed materials that might have ended up in a landfill.