The hot days of summer are nearly upon us. And if you're a furry black dog like Lilah, you're going to find ways to cool off. Lilah is always the first dog to find a shady spot under a tree. She's also the one who finds mud to lie down in, and will dig a lovely, cool dog bed in the garden.
But I think Lilah's favorite thing to do when it gets warm is to go swimming in the doggy pool. On hot days, I'll drag the pool out of the shed and set it up in the shade. Lilah watches the whole process closely, probably because she is somewhat suspicious of the water hose. But once the pool is filled and the hose is removed, she jumps right in.
Lilah's favorite activity in the pool is to walk around in a circle, blowing bubbles with her nose under water. Now Jasper and Tucker, on the other paw, well, their favorite thing to do with the pool is to stay far, far away. For two dogs with an aversion to getting wet, a doggy pool seems like utter insanity.
Lilah loves blowing bubbles in her pool
Nothing like a wet drippy doggy face.
There is often more than one pool out for the dogs. Well, Dog. It's Lilah who plays in both of them.
The boys just don't understand the concept; if a bath is torture and rain is barely tolerable, why in the world would you want to put your paws in the pool? Even for treats. Though I have been able to convince them now and again to do it.
With treats as incentives, Aaron entices Jasper to get his paws wet on the top step of our in-ground pool. Lilah has already happily splashed back and forth along the top.
With lots of encouragement and treats, I can sometimes get the boys to put a few paws in a pool. Rarely all four at the same time. Here, Jasper has his two front paws in the water, and Tucker just the one.
Because Lilah is aware of the boys' distaste for water, she uses the pool quite strategically. When Jasper and Tucker chase her a little too aggressively, she heads straight for it, leaping in with a big splash. You can hear the screech of tires burning rubber as the two brothers put the brakes on so they don't wind up in the pool with Lilah. She'll slowly turn around in the pool, with a sneaky dog smile, "Why don't you come in, boys? The water is divine." Of course, they don't. Lilah: 1, Jasper and Tucker: 0. A typical score on a warm sunny day.
Tucker just doesn't understand the appeal.
Fascinated at Lilah's behavior, Tucker still keeps his distance. He doesn't want to get Unnecessarily Wet .
On his own, without Lilah to splash him, Tucker investigates. Maybe it's just a giant water bowl?
When Rosie was with us, swimming took on a whole new meaning; she loved to jump in our in-ground pool. She'd chase a stick or ball thrown in the water, diving in and paddling back to the stairs with it, hoping you'd throw it again. She was such a pool hound; it was amazing to see her swim over to a float and climb up on it; I don't know how she managed to balance on those wobbly things, but she did. Rosie was In Charge of the pool. If you were splashing too much and she thought she needed to "save" you, she'd leap into the water, and make her way over to you with her scruffy wet nose in the air--and then she'd paw at you until you took notice. And if you kept on being noisy after that, she'd run around the deck and bark.
Rosie loved water in all its forms. She used to Help me water my garden, and enjoyed Helping a young Corinne fill up a re-purposed kiddie pool as well.
A dripping wet Rosie after a swim in the pool.
It's June already, and hot summer days are upon us. I'll be bringing out the doggy pool more often, and I'm sure Lilah will make good use of it. Maybe by the end of the summer, I'll convince the boys that swimming can be fun.
Ah...spring rain. As a gardener, I love the idea of nature nurturing my petunias, portulacas and peonies. However, as someone who lives with dogs, rainy days come with their own set of challenges, not the least of which is less opportunities for exercise, which translates into more opportunities for misbehaving.
As for the dogs themselves, each of them--past and present--has a different view of the wet stuff. Their viewpoints range from the joy of Gene Kelley's singing and splashing in the movie Singing in the Rain to the Wicked Witch of the West's famous "I'm melting" scene in The Wizard of Oz.
Tucker is probably closer to the witchy side of the scale, with Jasper a close second, if not a tie. The Tuckster will tolerate a soft spring rain, the kind that's more like a mist. Particularly if there's a Ball involved; when you play Ball, the rain disappears. True Tucker Fact. But when there is significant water coming down from the sky, he walks out onto the deck, stops, hunches over, and looks back at me as if to say, "Really? You couldn't turn if off for couple of minutes so a dog could do what a dog has to do?"
A slightly soggy Tucker slinks behind a chair.
Tucker will get to the task at hand (paw) rather quickly, though, and if it's raining really hard, he'll come sit next to me, somehow believing that I will offer protection--even if I don't have an umbrella. Which I rarely do, since I don't really have enough hands for three dogs and one umbrella; the math simply doesn't work.
Jasper doesn't like rain either, but he is particularly unhappy if his paws get wet. A wet Jasper is a sad Jasper--and wet feet are the worst. For him, morning dew is a don't; he'll try to stay on the deck or the patio, or prance through my garden bed rather than let the moist grass tickle his toes. He will manage to grit his way through to do his business, but will quickly head back for dry land as soon as possible. Jasper: 60-plus pounds of doggy princess.
It rained last night and everything is wet. Jasper ponders his next move.
Jasper surveys the wet grass from the relative safety of the mulched bed.
"The wet grass is touching my paws!
Lilah, on the other hand, doesn't mind the water at all. She'll run through wet grass, splash through streams, and galumph through puddles. It's so amusing since Lilah seems at first to be so prissy and delicate, but she's really got more spunk than the two boys put together.
Neither ran nor sleet nor snow nor mud will stop Lilah from her appointed playing. She doesn't mind getting down and dirty--and wet.
Many spring rain and warm days are ahead of us; with lots of opportunities for splashing and playing--or avoiding it if you're a big brave dog like Jasper.
Those of us who share our lives with other species get to know them as individuals. We learn to intuit what they're thinking. They talk to us with their bodies, their eyes, their movements. And each cat, each dog, each bird or gerbil, has a different personality, a different way of looking at things, a different voice.
Athena, the schemer is obviously whispering some nefarious plan into Dawn's ear.
I "hear" Dr. Lilah patiently coaxing Athena into letting her clean her ears. I can tell what Dawn is saying as she tries to make me understand her plea, "You WILL feed the cat. You WILL feed the cat." I hear volumes in Jasper's sighs when he begrudgingly pours himself off the comfortable couch to greet someone at the door. And I get a peek into Tucker's mind when he's intensely focused on playing Ball. I can even hear the inflection and capitalization; it is most certainly not "ball," but "Ball."
What is Tucker saying? "Please help. There's no dog food in the container."
I don't believe I'm alone in this. I think many of us speak for the animals who cannot. We hear their voices.
Jasper: "I don't really need to get off this comfortable couch, do I?"
Lilah: "What? You've never seen a dog floss her teeth with bunny whiskers?"
What if they could talk.
Really.
Okay, well, we all know that's impossible. But we're already imagining it.
Call me crazy. (Some do already.) But I've been thinking about this for awhile. This is why (and if you haven't called me crazy before, you will now), I created Twitter accounts for all my cats and dogs. And why each of them has a Facebook Page. (Go ahead, look up Athena Willett on Facebook, or LilahDogSpeaks on Twitter.) I was sure I could come up with a way to give them the voices I imagine.
And I've taken it one step fur-ther (intentional pun!). I'm happy to introduce you to my newest endeavor, a new website that imagines what would happen if Lilah, Jasper, Tucker, Athena and Dawn all had cell phones and could send text messages to me:
I call it (rather obviously) Dogs and Cats Texting.
Once I started writing, it was incredible how fast the ideas kept coming. I have about 50 already noted and in progress. Because of this, I am posting a new text every day. And I keep coming up with more ideas daily. It amuses me, and I hope it will amuse you.
Feel free to share the posts or the site with your animal-loving friends if you think they might enjoy it. Spread the fun.
Below is a sample of one of the posts. Each one is a text message between one of the dogs or cats and me...and each has an accompanying photo.
The sample is hard to read here, unfortunately, but you get the idea. To see all the texts--and photos--go to the Dogs and Cats Texting site.
Click on this picture and you'll see a larger version, which is easier to read.
I will be starting a separate email list, which I will send out once a week for Complete with Dogs fans to see the latest posts. Just like I do for Complete with Dogs, I will be using a mail service that makes it easy for you to unsubscribe. (I do not want to spam anyone and I promise I will not be insulted if you opt out.) However, if you'd like an email every time I update, which will be every day, you can sign up on the site. One of my friends, when asking for this feature, compared my posts to seeing a daily comic strip. For the more technically inclined, there is also an RSS feed.
I would love to hear your comments and feedback on this. I think it's fun--and funny--but then I'm kind of partial. And I hear voices.
One of the benefits of having woods as part of my property, and being located next to a few hundred acres of forested county park--is the diversity of wildlife I am privileged to meet or simply observe.
I have more than a dozen birdfeeders in my back yard, but not all birds like to feast at feeders. Many prefer the seclusion of the forest, or prefer the menu available there.
In addition, a few small streams flow through the woods, providing water not just for drinking, but as an environment for amphibious creatures.
In recent walks through the woods, I've met some of my forest neighbors. I'll introduce you...
At first, you might not actually see the residents of the forest, but they leave signs that let you know they were there.
A deer print in the mud.
A trail shows where the deer tend to walk.
Usually they see you before you see them.
Three deer peer at me from afar. The color of their coats blends in with grey and tan of the trees.
I'm in their neighborhood. I'm the intruder.
Sometimes you hear them before you see them. Birdsong fills the forest; you need a sharp eye to catch a glimpse of some of the more shy species.
When I think of robins, I think of wide green lawns. But their calls (which remind me of a high-pitched laugh) seem to come from everywhere in the woods.
A tufted titmouse takes a break on a low branch.
I'm pretty sure this was the work of a particular bird: the very large Pileated Woodpecker.
And sure enough, she makes an appearance. I can tell this is a female Pileated because a male would have a red stripe on his face--above his "mustache."
Sometimes the creatures are there, right in front of you, but easy to overlook.
An ant drags a prize along a fallen tree trunk. I think it is a bird dropping; not much is wasted in the finely balanced ecosystem of the forest.
I was staring at this frog for several minutes before I saw him, blending in among the aquatic plants and rocks in the stream.
Once you see one frog, others seem to appear out of nowhere.
And, as always, there is some representative of the greeting committee to welcome me back to the yard.
Every time I walk in the forest, I find something new. The light changes, new plants bloom. Nests and dens are built, and babies born. This is why I live near the woods.
When I was growing up, I lived across the street from a small patch of woods that was part of a local park. The park itself was, at most, a five-minute walk from my home. It was my favorite place.
Very few people walked the paths in the part of the forest where I wandered. I knew kids would go there; beer bottles and some trash appeared now and again; it was somewhat obvious that there were areas that served as teen hangouts. But I never actually encountered any of these folks, and the place nearly always was empty of humans. It felt as my own.
As others before me have said way better than I ever could, I went to the woods to seek solace.
I could sit in the quarry--a rocky area within the forest that was never actually quarried, I'm sure--for hours. I saw may apples and skunk cabbage, and watched insects. I remember being thrilled when a ground hog came ambling through. I let birdsong enter my consciousness.
Many years later, when I was able to purchase my first house, one of the most important aspects of the location was that it be in walking distance to at least a patch of woods, if not an entire parkful or forest. And when we moved into our current home, I felt like I had my own little bit of heaven, since about 1 1/2 acres of our property is woods that are almost contiguous with several hundred acres of wooded county parkland.
I still am in love with my forest; I walk it whenever I can, nearly always with camera in hand. And perhaps because of my early love affair with the woods, I see many things in our small area as I traverse the barely distinguishable path that we've gently crafted.
Sometimes I take the dogs when I walk in the woods, but not if I plan to take pictures or look for wildlife. The pups love it when I take them, of course--so many interesting smells and sounds.
Come walk with me and I'll show you some of what I see. In today's post, I feature just some of the amazing diversity of plants and flowers. I don't know the names of all of them, but that doesn't impinge on my appreciation. All of the pictures below were taken over the course of just a few days this month. The forest never stands still; there is always something new to discover.
To get to the wooded part of our property, you need to go through a gate. The deer fencing we've put up ensures that the plentiful deer get to stay in their neighborhood, and I get to have a perennial garden. A wildflower of some sort (surely others would call it a "weed" greets you at the edge of the gate.
Just outside the gate, more of the same flowers grow. Several types of wildflowers grow here; on the edge of the woods, these plants receive a little more sunlight than those deeper within.
Many wild violets grow in the forest. These wind up in my perennial garden as well, and I let them stay, as their purple blooms offer early color.
Probably another "weed," this yellow flower seems elegant and simple. I have yet to identify everything in the woods; sometimes I think it's better that way; I get to enjoy something just because it exists, not because I know it's name.
I'm pretty sure this is wild honeysuckle, a New Jersey native. This also appears in my perennial garden, where I transplant is along my fence to create a living border.
Sometimes things are interesting simply because of where they are. Here, seedlings of some sort found a lovely natural planter in fallen log.
When woody vines fall die back or fall, they leave curvy patterns for the eye to discover.
Shelf lichen adorns a tree. Sometimes you'll encounter a whole trunkful.
And other times, just one nearly encircling a sapling.
Sometimes you discover that what you thought were different plants were really the same species at different life stages. I thought this little seedling was adorable; the colors unusual and quite decorative.
Here's another version--maybe a year or two older. I've always thought it fascinating that early spring is a preview of fall; young leaves sprout in the same autumnal colors before they turn green.
Same plant, a few years older. Gorgeous little yellow flowers--and lots of pointy thorns. Pretty now, but you can't walk through a bunch of these bushes without a long-sleeved jacket and pants for protection against scratches.
It's not all about color either. These are Jack in the Pulpits. Another New Jersey native, these don't bloom until they are several years old.
I am such a fan of ferns. I love how they unfurl in the spring. Along with the Jack in the Pulpits, I have transplanted several ferns to my front yard, in an attempt to include native plants in my landscape beds. It looks like they're coming up this year, which makes me quite happy.
Flowering trees also make an appearance in the woods. Here a native sweet crabapple blooms. I like seeing these in the woods and knowing they provide an early source of pollen for bees and fruit for birds and squirrels later in the season.
I think my favorite wildflowers are spring beauties. Each year, more grow in our woods, adding lovely pink accents throughout the forest flower. I've tried to transplant these to our front yard beds as well, with limited success.
A closer view of spring beauties. They seem to have a color range, with some featuring a showier, more vibrant pink.
Since the dogs aren't with me when I take my photo tours of the woods, there is always some kind of welcoming committee waiting for me at the gate when I come back. And usually, hoping that they get to come with me next time.
At the gate: Lilah, Jasper and Tucker waiting for my return from the woods.
In my next post, I'll feature some of the wildlife I encounter on walks in the forest. While there are plenty of nocturnal creatures that I'm not expert enough to capture in a photograph (opossums, raccoons, flying squirrels, skunks and owls to name a few) and other animals who are a little shy (such as foxes), there are still plenty to see.
My family room features several large windows that overlook a stone patio and a shade garden. Hanging throughout the garden are a few bird feeders. Well, more than a few. Actually, more than a dozen.
Athena looks out the family room window.
I love watching birds at my feeders. It's mesmerizing and fascinating. In a post a few months ago, I included quite a few photos of some of the different birds that come and feast.
But it's not just avian critters that partake of the lovely buffet I lay out daily. There are a few uninvited guests.
Squirrels.
Pondering which feeder to plunder.
And no, they are not on the guest list, but somehow they get past the bouncers at the...well, maybe that's the problem. There is no door to my backyard. Though, even if there were, I am sure squirrels would find a way over or around it. And while my dogs could be qualified as bouncers (particularly Jasper and Tucker, who can be very Bouncy), they are not on Outside Duty all the time.
And thus Squirrels are crashing the party.
Decidedly NOT squirrel proof, this is a favored feeder for the non-feathered interlopers.
Not that I mind them that much. They are kinda cute. Particularly when they sit on their hind legs, holding their little paws in front of them and ask, "What are you looking at? And can you bring out some more sunflower seeds? You're running low."
Squirrel on the window feeder: "You're running low on seeds here. Tell management we need a refill."
I just wish they would be better at sharing. And they scare away many of my feathered friends. Though I have found that if I add a special hot sauce to the bird seed, the squirrels lose some of their desire for the treated food.
The little bushy-tailed rodents do provide endless entertainment for my furry family members. For the dogs, squirrels are just irresistibly chaseable. And I'm sure the cats would chase them, too, if they were allowed Outside.
Making a quick exit along the fence. As soon as the squirrels hear the dogs coming outside, they beat a hasty retreat.
But even if you can't chase 'em, you can watch 'em. And I have set up my family room with a bench seat right in front the windows that overlook my garden and feeders. I even have a few feeders stuck right on the windows, for an up-close and personal view of the brave birds that stop to eat there.
I picked up this cool lantern at an estate sale, and was about to put the candle inside when I came up with the brilliant idea of putting bird seed in instead. Then the birds could get in, but the squirrels...nevermind.
Dawn and Athena love the bench, and spend many hours watching Kitty TV, which I'm sure they believe is tuned to their favorite channel of Birds and Squirrels--and Chipmunks--simply because they are Cats Who Must Be Served.
Benched: Athena and Dawn watchin' Birdies and Squirrels.
Athena will Hunt the Birds and Squirrels she sees. Back when I still had crosspieces on the windows, Athena would leap up at the Birds--or Squirrels--on the window feeders, and hang on with her claws until they flew or jumped away. Usually Birds startle and flap away in a satisfying swirl of feathered fury. But Squirrels learned very quickly that the pounce was ineffective and would ignore her, except perhaps to stop eating and stare back at her. "You lookin' at me? You lookin' at ME?" Athena would drop from her hanging position in disgust.
Athena has just leaped up to scare away the Squirrel on a window feeder, and is hanging on the cross pieces. Tucker would love to do the same. Lilah is just watchin'.
And I'm still trying to decide if it's sad or humorous as Athena still leaps at birds and squirrels even after I removed the crosspieces. Of course, there is nothing to hang onto, and after she leaps up to the feeders, she slides down the window in a cartoonish whoosh.
Actually, I decided; it is humorous.
Lilah also likes to watch the Birds and Squirrels. She'll chase them when she's Outside, but when she's in the house, she knows there's no way to actually Get the Squirrels, so it isn't worth the effort to jump at them or bark at them.
However, that is a lesson that is lost on her brothers. Jasper and Tucker really Want Those Squirrels. And they both Know they Could Get Them. They Could. So they have to Bark at them. Because there are Squirrels. And they're Out there. Being all Squirrelly.
The two boys can get themselves quite riled. Which sends the cats running. Hilarity ensues.
Well, actually, not. Usually just a lot of noisy barks and woofs and a howl or two, cats zooming underfoot to get away from the commotion, and me running into the family room to prevent windows from breaking, as the dogs will often jump at the glass in their efforts to Get the Squirrels.
I am working with them to tone down the reaction to Squirrels Outside.
The operative word in the previous sentence: "working."
All three dogs in Squirrel-watching positions. Jasper is a little too big to sit on the bench, but he can see over top of it quite well.
When Tucker is at Camp Bow Wow, and therefore not around to egg Jasper on, the excitement level is a little lower--as in, I'm not as afraid he's going to crash through the window. But he does make it clear that he is on the wrong side of the glass barrier. In the short video (only 50 seconds) below, you can hear Jasper's commentary about the squirrels he sees. Make sure you have sound on when you watch it, because the fun is in Jasper's discourse.
Oh, and I've added subtitles for those who don't speak Dog.
