This is Zoe from about 10 years ago at my parents’ house.
Zoe bowing
I can’t remember exactly when I got Zoe, but I he was a small kitten. He’s grown, or nearly grown here, so it must have been a year or so after I got him. He was almost completely white when he was young. He’s gotten a lot more red in his coat in the last few years.
When I’m home I try to check out the sunrise every morning. Usually it’s when I take the dogs for their morning walk, but, as I noted in the last post, sometimes things change by the time I get back inside to a camera. This morning I went out on the deck before I walked the dogs, and this is what I saw.
Sunrise, Monday, 23 September
It was a little surprising, because Sunday had been nearly cloud free, and with a frontal passage the weather guys had said the humidity would be low.
By afternoon, the sky had cleared and it turned into one of those great, low-humidity fall days. The sun was bright and almost hot, but the shade was still cool. Nice.
Friday morning was just about as close to a perfect morning as we get around here. It was cool with a hint of humidity. It must have been fairly cloudy overnight, because there wasn’t much dew. The crows were calling and some other bird, unidentifiable by me, was singing in the woods as I took the dogs outside. A few crickets were still chirping. I looked at the sunrise to the east and thought for a moment about going back inside for my camera. But the dogs needed their walk.
Our first walk is short, just a little constitutional before breakfast, but by the time we got back inside, a lot of the drama was gone.
Sunrise from the deck
It was still pretty, but the deeper colors had faded, and the sky was lighter. This image looks more dramatic than the real thing. It’s surprising how quickly a sunrise or sunset changes.
Not much else changed over the day, but it was raining by early Saturday morning. This is from our deck, looking towards the rising sun. It’s there, behind the fog and rain.
Rain and fog
We were glad to see this rain. It was the first significant rain this month. It rained all day, and by the time it ended, we had about an inch and a third. But dogs still need their walks, rain or not. Both dogs have raincoats, but Lucy refuses to relieve herself when she’s wearing hers, so she has to rush around getting wet while she takes care of her business.
Zeke doesn’t care for his raincoat either, but he tolerates it.
Zeke is ready, but not happy
Just barely.
As I have mentioned before, stray and abandoned dogs and cats show up around our area frequently. Zeke is a stray, and so are all the cats except Zoe. So I wasn’t surprised when our neighbor said that a very well-behaved boxer had shown up at his house. He said the dog had two collars and was trained to sit and shake. He got along with our neighbor’s dogs, and was, according to our neighbor, a very nice dog.
Unfortunately, Leah and Zeke found out differently on Thursday when they went for a walk. Leah said the dog charged out of our neighbor’s yard and immediately jumped on Zeke. This is the result.
Zeke and his unreachable wound
The dog sank at least one tooth fairly deeply into Zeke’s shoulder, and the skin opened around it. The raw area is about the size of a thumbprint. In my experience, a vet might stitch it, but it probably wouldn’t stay closed, so the only thing to do is let it heal.
It’s bothering Zeke because he can’t get to it. He licks the upper part of his leg, and he licks the blood he gets on his bed when he lies on his right side, but he can’t reach the wound itself. I have cleaned it, but it’s still so raw that it seeps.
I’m a dog lover, but this makes me mad. A normal non-friendly, stranger dog-to-dog approach involves posturing and dominance/submission displays. The boxer had been at our neighbor’s house for a few days, not long enough, in my opinion, for him to have established it as his turf. I think that for him to charge and attack with no warning indicates a serious aggression problem.
This dog has a problem and should never be trusted around other dogs.
Dusty is the most skittish cat we have. He will come up to me, but not Mark. He runs if you move too quickly. He likes to lie down where he’s at least partially hidden.
Dusty in the grass
He gets up under the long ornamental grass at the end of the driveway and seems perfectly happy to stay for hours. But he got suspicious when Mark took this picture with his iphone, and right after this shot, he ducked into the culvert. We think he might sleep in the culvert, but we know for sure it’s one of his favorite boltholes.