Generations (from a set of three drawings). Jeez, I miss Whiskey. He was the sweetest pup ever. Shed like a champion, but so cute. He was getting middle-aged and sedentary when we adopted Lucy. Boy, did he have to shape up fast! She said: Biting you biting you biting you . . .

Doggust

Happy autumn dogs. Lucy was 8 when we adopted Chance, and he gave her new pep. I was trying an experiment at the time I painted this or painted borders. The "carved wooden" leaves here were the most intricate version, but I also painted in some plainer borders that just looked like matting. For whatever reason, no buyer has ever been really attracted by this.

I hope we get cooler, greener days soon, when farm dogs can jump and play. GNU Lucy, you are missed.

This gentleman simply does not have a bad angle. He is handsome even with a graying muzzle and arthritis.

Art/artist

Last month I needed a 'professional' picture for an upcoming art show. I asked my son to take some for me, and he did - but then had issues with getting them off the camera and into the computer. And finals were coming up. The project just did not happen in time for what I needed.

But today he brought his laptop up to the house and transferred the photo set to my computer (along with some stunning photos of Chance). So - I have them now! Perhaps I'll have another work event I can use them for. Plus I'm going to make you look at them.

Plus one elderly Border Collie looking very elegant:

Just groomed and clipped about 17 pounds of dog hair off the doggos. Mostly their fluff-pants. How did it grow so fast since last grooming? Why do they need massive fluffy pants? We do not live in the arctic. Polar levels of fluff are unnecessary. They look tidier, now, and hopefully my vacuum will suffer less. We have guests coming on Friday, and I'll need to vacuum the clouds of fur drifting around the living room floor tomorrow. So fun. I would prefer Not To . .

Birthday

Happy birthday (this month) to three good beasts:

Rocky!

How it started / how it's going

My boy is ten this May. Ten. I just can't. When the vet handed him to me in 2014 he barely covered my palm. He is such a majestic beafte.

Chance (on the right):

Adopted at age 1 from the pound (what?!). He was perfect at walking on a leash and recall when we got him - can't imagine who'd train him so nicely and then - abandon him? Brightened old dog Lucy's life right up. She seemed to de-age as soon as we got him. He is now 14.

Lady:

Adopted from a (very weird) rescue at 6 months, she is reputedly from Tennessee and half German Shepherd / half ?? Turning 9 this year.

Black and White

   I have a painting I did probably ten years ago that I always liked, but it never seemed to get much interest at shows or events. Two border collies playing, fall landscape, a (painted) border of autumn leaves. Just got a note that someone wants it, and I’m delighted it will have a home.

   Between that and the recent large commission I accepted, I’m having a good week! Which is good, because things have been very slow art-wise since Covid. Gosh, you can really see how much Lucy loved Chance. He was just a young dog, here. Full of bounces and bites!

Farm dogs

   Whiskey was my mother’s dog. She was an excellent trainer, and he was a very sweet-tempered working-breed sheltie, so when she passed away he was very comfortable becoming a farm dog. He was a much-loved only dog for two years - until my husband found out about a bordercollie-mix that needed rehomed urgently. So. Second dog.

   We were surprised how MUCH more fun Whiskey had with another dog to play with. He got fitter. They had a lovely time for six years. Whiskey ‘taught’ Lucy farm dog etiquette, too, which was a huge help to us. We were giving her training, of course, but having him demonstrate all the wanted behaviors was so helpful.

   After we lost Whiskey, it took us a while to find another companion for Lucy. Slightly over a year, in fact, until Chance turned up at the local animal shelter. It was love at first sight!

As happened with Whiskey, middle-aged Lucy seemed to get younger and friskier with a companion. They raced and chased around the farm, and he learned good farm dog behavior from her. Then Lucy very suddenly got cancer.

   I was a little smarter this time, and went looking for a new pup immediately. Not for our sake, but because I didn’t think Chance would be able to deal with being an only dog very well. I adopted Lady from an online rescue (and BOY were they a PITA to deal with).

   Chance is almost 13, now. I love looking back at the ‘generations’ of dogs, and how they made our lives brighter. I still miss Whiskey and Lucy all the time. Do I have enough energy for another pup? I don’t feel like I do.

   A meeting has been called regarding developments in the household.

   Lady is the only critter who understands the concept of unwrapping presents . . so she gets one to unwrap for herself.

Black and white

Me: I think the problem is that you guys do too much black and white thinking.

Them:

Dogs

   For farm dogs, whose life is primarily lived off leash, recall/coming when called is the number one important rule. Chance, a border collie, has always been EXCELLENT at recall. I’ve called him back to me from as far away as my voice could reach, and he always came like a bullet - nyoom! As with all hard rules, you one day find a hard exception.

   One day I called, and he looked up at me from his rug and thumped his tail once. No, Mom. His ‘no’ was a result of his hip pain, not disobedience. And I looked back at him, the guy who’s been a black & white blur of fur running this farm since 2011, and I said, “Ok, Boy, that’s fine.” Smart lad that he is, he understands the new rules, now. Come if you can; if you can’t, one tail thump and a sad look is just fine.

   He has a prescription from the vet for the bad days, and it helps a bit. I lift him into the car when we go places, and he’s starting to learn how to accept that without squirming.

Morning Walk

   Before attending to the relentless tide of bs and paperwork, I decided to take a morning walk. You only get 31 May mornings per year, after all. Come along:

She is frisky and I am not!

Enter the woods. Every single bird is screaming.

The smallest bridge

One perfect, glowing fern

Looking toward home

Mountain springs excited about all the rain we had.

So much moss. So much sunlight. Thanks for coming to my TedWalk!

   I found the perfect shirt to wear to pick redbud  : )

Supervised, as always, by a border collie.

   It was still winter when I pruned these orchard trees. Then I didn’t move the branches because the truck was in the shop for repairs, then the issue with my father, now the truck is actually down AGAIN. Today I just put on my boots and went out and cleaned up the mess. One part was a twenty-foot section of mulberry, and that got pretty heavy as I was dragging it, but the other branches weren’t so bad and (as procrastinated projects often turn out) it didn’t take as long as I thought it would. I took the extra time and pruned back thorns, branches, and misplaced saplings along our lane. It’s an every-other-year process to keep trees and shrubs from trying to grow out into the lane. As usual, being outside was calming and meditative. The dogs were pretty disappointed in me for just working around the yard; they do not know how good they have it.

Full speed ahead!

[ID: Photo of a small orchard with pruned branches lying on the ground and overgrown grass around them. the second photo is a black and a brown dog running happily across the yard.]

   Chance is taking it easy and healing up from the cut on his leg. How he got it we don’t know; he was running along when my daughter was riding in the woods but he wasn’t in sight when it happened. He isn’t allowed to lick it or ‘worry’ the sutures, so he get put in the cone of shame from time to time. Boy, does he ever hate that. He has some pain meds and 14 days of antibiotics, which seems like a LOT. Moving along, though!

   I however, am sitting around in a gray fog of exhaustion this morning. Hours of tutoring and test prep for kids, the vet visit, the eldercare and barn chores and laundry and kitchen. OoooOOg.