Monday Memory #1

Long long ago, when I was younger and slimmer, there was "another" dog. He was named TJ because he was a wiggler. TJ being short for Tom Jones of the wiggly hips. He was also known as the "the weasel" by some people who were less fond of him than I .. but .. I will NOT name names. You know who you are! He would smile at me and wanted nothing more than to sit on my lap. He was MY brave protector and I was devastated when he went to the Rainbow Bridge. This photo shows him coveting my birthday cake.

Soggy Doggy

I'm wet. I'm cranky. You BETTER stop flashing
that light at me or I'll give you the stinkeye!

The Grindstone

Lazy Bette and Rainy Friday = Mossy Front Yard Grindstone on Saturday
Plus a close-up of the weed in front of it.

Toll Collector

This is MY walkway and if you want to pass, it'll cost you 1 cookie!
Ah, geez, what do you mean there is another doorway?

A hint of tint

One of the first pictures I took with my new camera (in June) was this iris. I have mixed feelings about this picture. I'm happy I caught the drops of water on the flower but unless I blew it up, it just looked a little "blah" to me.

I decided to see if I liked it in Black and White. Um....nope!

Here is my favorite! A little bit of this. A little bit of that.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Upside down in Fargo, ND at the Fargo AirSho

Closer Look

Impatiens

We hang impatiens plants on the garage doors during the warm weather. Until last year, I'd always assumed that impatiens is strictly an outdoor annual.
Last fall, we brought the plants into the house to keep them from dying in the first frost while there were still a lot of blooms on them. All winter long, they kept growing and blooming by a kitchen window. They were way too tall to be used as hanging plants again but they've spent the summer outside on the stone wall. They are still alive although they stopped producing flowers after they were put outside.

No buds appeared until last week.

A new bud and a flower.

Flowers from the Bridge

Here is some more flowers from the that bridge Pawpa took Mom to a couple weeks ago. It's been very hot and sticky here. Me and Mom been holed up in the kitchen where that thing in the window blows cold air around. All the other doors are closed and Mom says it 's better that way. I opened the folding door once to investigate a noise in the other room and Mom made me come right back in there. It's OK though, cuz I'm close to the water bowl and I can bang my food dish whenever I want and nobody can say they can't HEAR me do it cuz they are RIGHT THERE.

(Watch out .. there's a stingy thing on that flower in the middle picture!)

Note from Gizzy's Mom: It is not a hardship to be locked in the kitchen except for the dish banging. We have a sitting area in there with comfy chairs and an ottoman for my feet.

Sunday Snapper

We have many non-human visitors to our backyard and last year, one visitor was a snapping turtle. He was making his way to the duckpond next door from one of the reservoirs nearby.


The carapace was 15" in from top to bottom (yes, we did measure it). I can't even guess what it might have weighed. The snapper stopped obligingly while I was taking pictures and although it gave an pretty good "go away" glare, it did not snap even when Pawpa started measuring. When we went back into the house, the turtle continued on it way down to the pond.

Chipmunk Cheeks

I think I've learned why I still have some cherry tomatoes on the vine. The tomato thief has instead been dining on the plethora of acorns in the yard. When I stepped out the front door last night to take the tomato pictures, I was surprised to see a chipmunk on the flat rock by the decorative grindstone. It's a rare day that I am actually ready to take a picture when something like this occurs. Look at that plump cheek! (Just click on the pictures to see how full his cheeks are)

I shifted my position several times. The diner did not. I'll bet it was wondering where it was going to stash its future meal because he just seemed unaware that I was there. As I creeped around a bush to the walk with my camera ready, the acorn eater was peeping over the grindstone at me.

At last a tomato

It has not been a good year for tomato plants in the Northeast. I was lucky enough to have a ripe tomato earlier this year and when I went out to pick it...it was gone. All 4 of my tomatoes were gone. I found a tomato skin discarded next to the stone wall where the chipmunk lives. Two of my plants bit the dust during a heavy storm while I was away. The cherry tomato plant survived and another tomato has ripened. Another picture of my lovely ripe tomato will not be posted. I plucked it from the vine to eat before the tomato thief returns.

And here are more to come. I can hardly wait because a mishap befell my lovely tomato while I was carrying it into the house. Those who truly know me will not find the following unbelievable. I put the tomato into the pocket of my shorts because I was still taking pictures. Our front door sticks on humid days so I gave it an extra boost with my hip to get it open. Too late I remembered my tomato. I am happy to report that it was incredibly juicy and even completely smashed, it tasted quite good.

Hello, it's me................

Hello? Is anybody gonna release me? Pawpa is in the house and I can't go that far! Hey! If you don't let me in, I'll tell everybody this lawn needs mowing. Hellooo?

Who's been in my yard?

Maybe if I'm really, really quick I can roll in
this before Mom yells "NO, GIZZY, NOOOOO".

Hydrangea Envy

One of my first purchases for Huckleberry Hill was a hydrangea. I eagerly awaited the day I would have flowers and I was sooooo excited when it bloomed. Unfortunately, my tree never prospered and it did not survive this last winter.

I have a different type of hydrangea in the backyard which had a history of blooming so I pinned my hopes on that little bush. Last year, the deer came through and ate my flowers. This year, as you can see, there are NO blooms at all.

For years I've wanted a huge hydrangea bush with big mop head flowers that I could cut and hang to dry. I had "hopes". The buds are green, the flowers white, and in the fall, the white blossoms get a pinkish tan tinge. They look lovely in a display when they've been dried. This is the hydrangea across the road. I think I may need to take my secateurs on a midnight raid. When is the next full moon?

Just look at this bloom. Did you hear that sound? It was me .. sighing.

N. O. spells NO!

No! No! No! I said I don't WANT to go inna house!

The Glare

Mom was picking up all the old newspapers that falled on the floor by Pawpa's chair when he was done reading them. She been muttering while she's doing it ... AND ... she's finding my hiding places for cookies too. I figger I might need my laser eyes so I can find all my cookies when she's done.

A surprise visitor

A couple of years ago, we had some potted plants in the back yard. When they were transplanted, a couple of the saucers were inadvertantly left lying on the ground where they accumulated water, dead leaves and the surprise visitor.

“Up high, the flies are playing,
And frolicking, and swaying.
The frog thinks: Dance! I know
You'll end up here below.

Quotation by Wilhelm Busch, a German painter and poet (1832 - 1908)

Where is the Ark?

Pssst...Giz...Do you gots an umbrella? How 'bout a boat? Maybe some dry food? Thanks!

Flower Bridge

The Drake Hill Flower Bridge in Simsbury, CT is an example of 19th century metal-truss bridge construction. Built in 1892 and no longer in use, it was restored in 1995.

Modeled after a flower bridge in Shelburne Falls, MA, boxes of flowers now line both sides of the bridge.

A couple was floating down the river in a canoe but they'd already passed under the bridge when I took this picture. I did take a picture of them but unfortunately, they looked .. um ... naked in the picture and they weren't. (They were wearing swimsuits.)

Flower boxes were built by high school students and planted by volunteers. Here's one of the colorful flowers.

Heublein Tower

The Heublein Tower on Talcott Mountain in Simsbury, CT was visited by both Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan before they were elected President. In fact, Dwight Eisenhower was at the tower when he was asked, by the Republican party, to run for President. This is how the tower looks from an area across the road from the Pinchot Sycamore. I've been up to the tower once. It was a long walk uphill as there is no parking at the tower and the only parking area is at the bottom of the mountain.

It's a good thing I have some "zoom" on my camera.

Whenever I fly home from Florida, I always know the plane will be landing soon because I see the tower when the plane is approaching the airport.

Pinchot Sycamore

The Pinchot Sycamore is the largest tree in CT. The trunk is so enormous and the tree so immense, I had to stand a substantial distance away to get most of the tree in the picture. Frankly, a picture just doesn't do it justice. As always, just click on the picture to enlarge it.

How about now? See the little guy at the base of the tree?

This gives you a better idea. Thankfully Gizzy's Pawpa (6' 2" tall) offered to stand next to it so you could get an idea of how large it really is. (Doesn't he look like he's thinking "would you just press the button...PLEASE"?)

I like the look of that peeling branch.

Acorn Season Begins

"Acorns of Huckleberry Hill" in sepia.

One American Proverb is "From little acorns mighty oaks do grow".
Another is "Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn sometimes".

On Huckleberry Hill our utterances about acorns take a somewhat different tone. Most are oaths not to be repeated here. We are surrounded it seems by the mighty oaks. All of them would cost many thousands of dollars to remove so they .. stay... to plague us day after day after day with their "droppings". It has begun ... the annual rat-a-tat-tat on the roof and air conditioners. To walk in the yard, one feels a hard hat should be a requirement.

(And OK, it's not really sepia. I forgot the flash and just liked the way it looked.)

Cap D'Or

In June 2007, we went to Nova Scotia. We ate at a small and somewhat isolated restaurant in Cap D'Or. I took this picture there. When we arrived at the address, we wondered where the restaurant was. You had to park at the top of the hill and follow a path down to the restaurant. Benches situated along the path came in handy on the way back UP to the car. There was a guest house next door to the restaurant and adirondak chairs on the lawn where you could sit and relax. I've often wondered what it would be like to stay at the guesthouse.

Best Practices for Dog Owners

Now Hear This Pawpa and Mom: I have a list of "do's and don'ts" for you about your dog. (That's me .. Gizzy)

1. Don't leave your dog at home alone...ever!
2. Do take him with you in the car wherever you go. (Especially to the dump..it smells good!)
3. Don't make your dog sit in the back seat. Let him drive if he wants.
4. Dont't listen to Mom whine that the dog is scratching her legs. Let HER sit in the back seat...HA!
5. Do give your dog all the cookies (milkbones) that he wants. (That puppy doctor is wrong. I do not need to lose weight for the summer.)
6. Don't tell me "QUIET" when I try to tell you about the noise on the roof. (What IS an acorn anyhow and why are they falling on my house?)
7. Do let your dog sniff all the smells he wants to at the park and if he wants to roll in them .. let him.
8. Do learn what dog signals mean. If your dog bangs his water bowl on the floor .. fill it. If he talks to you when you are having steak .. share it.
   
9. Do remember that if you are having chicken for supper, it is the dog's favorite and you need to be careful where you put your feet cuz your dog will be under them hoping you drop your piece of chicken while trying to avoid him.
10. Always tell your dog he is a GOOD DOG.

That's all I can think of for now and I gots to get away from Mom's computer now cuz I just heared her car door.

Fun in the sun

Rolling this way and that way on your back on the grass on a sunny day is ALWAYS good for scratching a puppy's back when they need it....that's what I think. If a puppy is really lucky there might be something smelly to roll in that puppies really like! It's strange though how Mom always says to Pawpa "EEEUWWW! What did you let him roll in now??"

Sleeping on the job

Doggone hoomans left me alone again this morning. Mom had an appointment and Pawpa drove her. They shut all the windows I could reach because they wanted no repeat of the time they came home to find a ripped screen and the neighbor bringing me home in disgrace. Mom left a window "cracked" a half inch the other day and when I just tried to get close enough for a sniff or two, some stuff she had on the chest under the window fell on the floor. The jig was up when she saw that. I think that's why they snuck up to the door when they got home. They were trying to catch me! I usually start barkin' when I hear the car door shut (or an acorn bounce off the roof, or a doorbell on TV) but somehow I must have missed it. Mom said I was not warning off intruders in their absence and probably sleeping on the job.... GRRRRRR.