Summer Summer Summertime!
Well, you can’t say it’s been dull.
First, to get this out of the way, because I’ve never learned to be comfortable with this kind of thing: There’s a big “Everything on Sale!” bonanza going on at patriciamcconnell.com. I’m posting this earlier than usual because the sale is over at midnight (eastern) on Monday.
I hope that’s helpful information.
Things at the farm are a little too dramatic. We’ve had biblical rain and wind, over and over again. Frogs have yet to fall from the sky, but at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised. We had two huge, beautiful oaks come down, one creating a pick-up-stick jumble 15 feet in the air:
They don’t call them “widow-makers” for nothing. We were at a funeral just a few weeks ago for pretty much the nicest man in the world who died chain sawing when a upper limb fell on him. Jim has been chain sawing like crazy, and you can imagine how relieved I was when he came back from the one above and said “We need to call in the pro’s.” Sweeter words have never been spoken.
But we had three other less complicated trees come down, and now this, a California Highway 101 mudslide:
For scale, it’s probably 15 feet from bottom to top. It’s between the county road and our farm road that leads to all the pastures up the hill. It’s considerably worse than what you see, because it downpoured AGAIN a few days ago after I took the photo. We are trying to find someone to help repair it, but no luck so far (the county is mum so far). It’s just going to get worse and worse, taking out the fence that keeps the sheep safe, and our farm road to the pastures. Never a dull moment.
The mudslide, of course, is related to the insane amount of rains we have gotten, reflected in this local cornfield.
Last sad and somewhat grumpy note: Poor Maggie. I took the dogs out to pee on Thursday July 4th, early afternoon, and wouldn’t you know it, our closest neighbor (maybe 1/4 a mile away?) decided to set off the loudest, most earth-shattering firecracker I’ve ever heard. Thus, this:
Maggie had run to the house. I let her in, turned around to round up Skip and found Maggie hiding under a bunch of jackets by the door to the garage. She’s usually been only mildly concerned about thunder and firecrackers, easily handled with “Thunder Treats” and jolly talk. Later in the day, when our country neighbors went full-bore with their firework “celebration,” Maggie was so frightened she refused treats. (Which is like saying that I refused to be with dogs or look at flowers.) I stayed up until late in the night with her until it quieted and she relaxed, but I’m still spluttering about it like a sparkler with no sparkles. A few days before I wrote a Facebook post (I think July 2nd, scroll down below the sale videos!) encouraging people to write community leaders to make only “low noise fireworks” legal. Maybe some day? (I read recently that someone said banning noisy fireworks made one a communist. For the record: I am not a communist.)
And, of course, our world has also been full of joy. The day lily garden is coming into its own, and the hydrangeas I planted in the background decided they like it there.
Last night we had a perfect evening with our veterinarian, John Dally (of the Spring Green Animal Hospital), and his equally wonderful wife and partner (also a vet), Ann Vetter. They recently adopted three mustangs from the west, and moved heaven and earth to create a safe but healthy environment for them. This is John and Buttercup, who I am officially now in love with (the horse, not John, although, he is the best vet in the world):
The last words today are from Maggie, who is on leash restriction for a bum rear leg or lumbar/sacral troubles: “I love Dr. Sarah Grenslit, but you should know that I am being tortured–no play, no running, no working sheep. And Skip gets to go to a clinic tomorrow. Please rescue me from this nightmare. Or, send chicken. Yeah, that’s it, lots and lots of chicken.” Here she is with Dr. Sarah, getting chiropractic treatment.
Whoops, not quite last words! I couldn’t resist letting you know about an event on July 3oth in Madison, WI that I’m participating in–a fund raiser for one of my favorite authors, friend, and all-round truly good guy, Nickolas Butler, who is running for the WI Assembly, 93rd District. I volunteered (what was I thinking?) to be the auctioneer for the evening, which I have no idea how to do, so it should be, at the very least, truly amusing. (One item is a visit to the farm to get to work Skip, aka, Mr. Wonderful.) There is no entry fee required, although, of course, his campaign manager would be so happy to receive a donation. You can RSVP here if you can come!
Okay, I’m off to do Maggie’s twice-daily massages, give Skip his optimmune for his Pannus, work Skip before it rains again, and see how little house cleaning I can get away with before friends come to brunch tomorrow.
Which means, I get to work Skippy Dip and pick flowers! So, life is good! I hope parts of yours are too, tell us about what’s good, and not good, at your place, we’d love to hear.
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About the Author
Patricia B. McConnell, PhD, CAAB Emeritus is an applied animal behaviorist who has been working with, studying, and writing about dogs for over twenty-five years. She encourages your participation, believing that your voice adds greatly to its value. She enjoys reading every comment, and adds her own responses when she can.
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Weather – Downside: it is COLD – 12C/55F – and wet and not my idea of summer. Upside: it is a good dog-walking temperature and no need to water the garden.
Health – Downside: aches and pains and creaky bits. Upside: I have found that rare and wonderful thing, an inexpensive gardener who can both slash and burn and knows the difference between cherished perennials and noxious weeds, and her help means I don’t have to bend so much and my back is improving rapidly.
And we have a kitten – now 11 weeks, growing like a weed, learning to be careful with her claws on clothed legs as well as bare skin and, best of all, she and Freddy my younger papillon are playing beautifully together. A week of slow and careful introductions when she first arrived has really paid off.
I hope your alarums and excursions are over for the time being at least, and that you get all the help you need. And I would strongly second the idea of quieter fireworks!
Life at my house has been a wild ride this week starting with a text from my brother Tuesday night that our dad (89 at the end of this month) had fallen and was on his way to the ER by ambulance to get his head stitched up and be checked out. This was followed by a text that in the ambulance he’d looked like he was having a stroke so was now being airlifted to a bigger hospital and later by a call indicating that we’d just have to see if he made it through the night and we should come. He made it through Tuesday night and my husband and I spent Wednesday night in the ICU with him. (This hospital likes to have family onsite if the prognosis is not good). He improved steadily throughout the night and Thursday they moved him to a regular hospital room and are now talking about releasing him to a rehab facility early next week. Dad has gone from no movement on his left side to being able to move all his limbs and from being able to answer yes/no questions to having conversations. He’s making an amazing recovery although he still has a Looong way to go. All of this happening just as we were beginning the process of applying to adopt another Pyr. After the sudden and tragic loss of D’Artagnan to a brain tumor Falkor Bash and I have been lost without a second Pyr. Not expecting to find the right dog I looked to see what the rescue Falks came from had available. And there he is a dog that ticks all the boxes or as the rescue describes him “he’s everything plus a bag of chips.” We put things on hold not knowing what we were getting into with Dad but now it looks like we might apply for this paragon of dogness. We’ll see if that works out but cross your paws for us. So, here things are insane but the current trend is good.
The good: We have a pair of tree swallows (quickly becoming my favorite songbird who are also the best parents in the world) raising a brood on top of our front porch light. We get to watch them swoop, twirl, hover, and magically catch insects in mid-air right outside our kitchen and side windows. We have gotten used to each other, and I check to make sure one of the parents isn’t waiting to bring up an insect before opening the front door. They are incredible.
The bad: Spongy moth caterpillars have defoliated most of our oaks and maples and a few rose bushes thrown in just in case they get hungrier. The male moths hatched a few weeks ago, and we have been diligent about maintaining ten pheromone traps (they really do work) and now that phase is winding down, we go on the hunt for the females and eggs. I remember this happening as a child, and it is a bit of a horror–then and now.
The ugly: Aside from the obvious (and verboten on this blog), our weather has been like hot water soup. Unappetizing, steamy, and murky with little if no nutritional value. It breaks for a few days and then descends again. I’m off to take an early morning walk and thank goodness for our outdoor shower. The best thing ever.
The sad: As a few of you know, we lost Olive seven weeks ago (52 days to be exact). She was in more and more pain and her right shoulder/neck area was deteriorating quickly. She was a fighter and so were we, but we all realized when enough was enough. The hole is deeper and more sorrowful than I can describe.
The less sad: Three things have helped: My amazing e-pen pal, Chris;
this animated story from the NY Times magazine https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/05/31/magazine/dog-animals-death-mortality.html?unlocked_article_code=1.2U0.JYKf.FywdqKK_gxzN&smid=url-share;
and we are going to have a new doggie soon. Nothing will or can nor should replace Olive, she will be this omnipresence forever. But we both realize we do not like—no we really, really do not like—living without a dog. This is the first time in 40+ years, we have not had a dog.
So, we are adopting a Parson Russell Terrier (thanks Wick), who is three years old, and currently lives in Michigan on a farm. Her people have been breeding PRTs for years and have a healthy and happy group and it’s time to downsize a bit. More soon as we make our plans for a road trip to the middle of the mitten. Any words of advise or ideas or anything at all, please village do send. I’m a bit nervous (oddly enough).
Here is Olive’s six-word story: Scruffily sensitive mysteriously brave terrifically terrier
So true on the thunder and so many do not find this helpful. I wish politics would stay out of your blog, but then it is your blog. We can agree on dogs and nature for sure. Just ordered The education of Will and look forward to reading it.
Over here across the lake from you in Michigan, we have had fireworks since May 31st when kids graduated. We graduated just fine without fireworks. They started here June 29th (when Michigan made it legal) and it has been like WWII since Wed , Thurs, Fri , Sat and probably tonight. We have hidden in the basement but when it is earth shattering like it has been, there is only so much you can do. On top of that add repeated thunderstorms and my dogs are basket cases. And then we have neighbors that shoot guns on a daily basis. No one has a clue how much animals and critters and veterans and noise sensitive people suffer and they do not seem to care. What a sad world we have become when we do not care about others suffering. And how sad that they say you are a communist if you do want quiet fireworks. If other countries can do noise less ones by drones , then we can do.
Cold and wet in the UK too (jet stream too far south – still). Soooo glad Jim decided to get someone in to help with the tree. (Plus side, lots of winter firewood).
Farmers having a bad time of it here. Crops ruined or just not planted and cattle went out very late so feed bills are sky high. Lambing had to be done indoors and even then it was cold and wet.
We have had empty shelves in supermarkets, partly due to bad weather across Europe and in Morrocco which supplied us with a lots of salad foods. Just visited friends 60 miles out of London. They have a very unhappy tortoise. Definitely not tortoise weather.
Poor Maggie! Unfortunately, bans don’t seem to work all that well. All fireworks are illegal in our city — even the (cough cough) “safe and sane” ones — and have been for years and years. That ban hasn’t stopped our neighborhood sky from lighting up like noon with tons of the illegal-illegal ones for the past few days. I’m glad I don’t have any fosters at the moment and feel so bad for all the people and animals suffering because of the poor decisions of their neighbors.
The fundraiser looks like so much fun! I’d definitely be bidding on that farm visit if I lived in WI. Good luck with the fundraiser, the weather (we’d love some rain out west), the trees, and the county with respect to that mudslide.
I’m so happy to learn you too have a Mr. Wonderful! Made my heart happy to learn there is more than one. Stay safe from the challenges tossed by mother-nature. She is throwing challenges in many directions these days.
Loved the NYT doggie link!
Keep the politics; we strive to be a kinder, gentler Nation. And it is your blog.
The great: Started thunder treats with my JR/beagle/dachshund mix, after reading your blog. He loves treats and hates thunder and everything else has failed to change his mind so I figured, why not. We live in Florida so we’ve had lots of practice.
Bonus, seemed to work for the fireworks as well. He did enjoy our daytime festivities and ran around the yard during the bbq so maybe he was just tired but he hardly reacted to the noise and even fell asleep during the grand finale. Blueprint for next year!
The sad: Two family members passed in the last few weeks. Such a stark reminder to hold our loved ones closer and cherish our time together.
Good for you, Jim. I am a single lady with magnificant oaks that range between 150 and 200 years old. I have lost one and a half trees since I’ve lived here. I have told helpful neighbors that they may not help with cutting up the trees (although they can take the wood!) as I didn’t want to have anything to do with one of my friends being injured in a chain saw accident. I just couldn’t bear it if something went wrong. Bad enough to lose the trees. Horrific to have something happen to the neighbor.
Rain and rain and rain. Now heat! So we’re inside a steam bath! Oh my. I’m waiting for fall.
My two dogs are the first I’ve had who don’t seem to mind thunder or fireworks! What a relaxing situation for all of us! Just can’t say enough about it. I hope you all have this experience at some time in your life.
About the swallows. Are they maybe barn swallows? Tree swallows nest in cavities. I have had at least one tree swallow nest and one bluebird nest every one of the thirty years I’ve lived here. I treasure them. This year’s babies are about half way to fledging.
Finally, my boy sired a litter which arrived July 3. Fourteen puppies! An all time record for the breeder. Fortunately they are all settling in just fine.
For those of you in Wisconsin who love the heat, enjoy! I’ll be in the AC!
Barb, thanks for asking. They definitely aren’t barn swallows, which we’ve had nesting and have distinct coloring/wing shapes.
However, they are also not tree swallows (we’ve mis-identified them for years apparently!). They are northern rough-winged swallows. Still my favorite and such a joy to watch. The fledglings are starting to peek out and cheep a lot more.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Rough-winged_Swallow/id
fireworks….luckily my current dog and previous dog were oblivious to them, I attribute this to being picked up in Detroit when both dogs were found, probably used to a lot of loud noises! either way I am grateful, but so sad for the other dogs who are terrorized by them. As a nurse I have seen the horrors of fireworks gone bad first hand. And it seems that people now believe because it is legal we should do it, whatever it is, irrespective of our neighbors or problems the behavior may present. People seem to have such a chip on their shoulders these days. I have taken to smiling at everyone I encounter in attempt to lower the temperature a bit and spread some good will, getting quite a few back and also a few strange looks! haha. Our weather in MI is brutally hot, skipped a few walks this summer, and my flowers are incredibly early, wondering if the blooms will hang on through the entire summer, especially since they started so early. Here to another week of summer and making the most of it!
After 4 Aussies with noise anxiety, my current 6 yr old Old English Sheepdog Hamish is not bothered. Thankfully, 9 month old OES Sebastian is not either. It is a good thing, as we moved to Portugal where fireworks are common for every religious holiday, festival, school graduation, new baby, new car, etc. I thought we’d be safer from fireworks living in a rural area & yet our neighbors set them off regularly.
I was very sad to miss out on Spring here in the beautiful Douro Valley, but my 30 kg/67 lb “puppy” inadvertently ran into me & caused 2 bad fractures to my lower leg. Almost all of May in hospital & now rehabbing at home. Thankfully, I have terrific neighbors who stepped in and cared for my boys.
Still thankful to be here. The flowers in the garden are amazing, temps so far only in the low to mid 20Cs (68F-77F), and much slower living than I have experienced before.
It doesn’t matter what’s fireworks are illegal. In my town they are totally banned, even the “safe and sane” ones. Doesn’t stop anybody. Police promise zero tolerance but nothing changes. My poor dogs are on Trazadone.
Oh no, that is far too dramatic! I’m sorry about all that destruction. And poor Maggie! Fireworks are banned here–it doesn’t stop some people from letting them off, but it does mean there are far fewer of them, which helps.
When my dogs are feeling poorly and become dehydrated, I can sometimes get them to drink more by adding chicken broth to water to flavor it a bit.
I’m so sorry Kat and LisaW about D’Artagnan and Olive. I feel I’ve gotten to know them over the years here and I will miss hearing about them.
Heather
Holy cow. I simply can’t imagine the amount of rain you’ve had this summer to flood the fields and create such mudslides. Hope you’ve dried out enough (but not TOO much) by now. Good for Jim for saying “time for the pros” to take out that widow-maker.
Major sympathies to Maggie for experiencing that fireworks explosion. That’s what Rowan looks like for the two weeks around the fourth of July. Drugs and leaving town for July 3-5 get us through the worst of it, but she still refuses as of July 13 to go outside for an evening potty break. If we don’t plan ahead and get her out by 6 pm, she gets us up at 4:30 am. I guess I’m a communist too.
LisaW, those are the six perfect words for Olive. I’m so sorry it was time to write them. We look forward to hearing about your upcoming adventures with PRT-to-be. My advice (as you know): PRT-to-be will be her own self, ignorant of all the rules and rituals you shared over many years with Olive. That may be your biggest adjustment, to learn who PRT-to-be is, and to love her for who she is.
Kat – so sorry to hear about D’Artagnan, gone way too young. He was just who you needed after Ranger and Fiona. Fingers crossed that your dad makes a good recovery and that “Mr. (Bag of) Chips” joins your family and fits right in with Falkor.
Thank you Heather and Chris for the kind words.
And sadly, we need to add Chris’ Obi to the list of amazing dogs who have made our lives so much better and who will be remembered in ways a varied as they were. Obi was a paragon of a wise dog who was gentle teacher and a kind soul.