Author: keres

Busy, busy, busy.  At least I’ve been busier than usual.

So, to get the blog started, here’s a repost of the dreaded baby porcupines.

Cute, or frightening?  Discuss amongst yourselves.

The “dog’s gone insane” edition.

I’ll start with the pleasantries.  Here’s Luna on her walk.  Because we’re doing Dog Agility, while walking on our property I take the opportunies presented by things like logs and stumps to practice “jump” and “stand.”

Here’s Luna standing on a tree stump.
And now for the less pleasantries.  Luna thinks she is pregnant, and because she’s not, she is all sorts of confused.  This has caused much to-ing and fro-ing looking for the pups, digging a nest, and keeping us up half the night.  She’s currently on a very low dose of tranquilizers.

False pregnancies in dogs usually last 2-3 weeks.

Oh, and yesterday she got my two best pairs of jeans off the line – distroying one and slightly damaging the other.  SIGH

On Tuesday, a small flock of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos spent a noisy morning eating pine cones from the large pine tree at the top of our drive.

This one is actually sitting atop a young native Silver Wattle tree.

Pine trees are introduced pest species here, and we’ll eventually cut all ours down as the native trees we’ve planted get a little bigger.  In the mean time, we’ve left the really big ones as they provide food and cover for some of the native birds.

First of all, Albert would like to respond to the rodent bashing on this thread by saying “You wanna bash me Mister? Do, ya? Huh? Cuz’ you’ll find out that these big furry feet come with long sharp claws.  And did I mention that my teeth cut through everything but steel and concrete?”

Luna doesn’t know what all of the commotion is about.  

She only wishes that everyone would leave Albert in peace, so that she doesn’t have to listen to his ranting when she is trying to sleep.

Happy Birthday Luna.

Her birthday was actually last Thursday, but we didn’t have her party till the weekend.

Oh to be a puppy!

Luna has been sleeping in the house more.  Mainly because the combination of night-time freezing temps and damp have given her a finer appreciation of being (relatively) warm and dry inside.

Because of this, we’ve given-in on “the couch issue.”  Our change-of-heart stems from enlightened self-interest – if she sleeps on the couch she is more likely to sleep through the night – and not wake us up.

And besides, she looks so damn smug and happy when we wake her up in the morning. Who could resist that?

BTW, that’s a six-foot-wide cushion on the couch.

p.s. Luna turns two-years-old today (June 15th). We’ll have a little party for her this weekend.

I’m a bit busy this week, so I’m posting pictures I took a few years ago.

These are Australian Dingos.  They live at a breeding reserve in Victoria, run by the kind of fellow you’d expect to have made his life’s passion the rescue of pure-bred Dingos.

Dingos arrived in Australia about four thousand years ago.  It’s supposed that they were brought as a part of a load of a  trade-goods that polynesians bartered with Aboriginal Australians.

Other than man (and native rats and mice), the Dingo was the first placential mammal to enter Australia.  One presumes the consequences for the native fauna were nearly as disasterous as when humans first arrived.  

But nature adapts, and they now have their place in the Australian bush.

While the northern hemisphere is enjoying Summer, we down south are settling into Winter, with its chill days and long nights.

Although the critters never need an excuse to sleep, as we approach Winter solstice, napping has been elevated to an Olympic sport.

Photo caption: Wake me when it’s dinner time

Photo caption: Wake me when it’s Spring.

Mr. Crankypants, before his morning ginger snap.
Went to see X-Men III last night – don’t bother.  Luna’s away at doggie camp until tomorrow because she’s in heat and needs the diversion of romping with other dogs all day (and we need the sleep). We bought another Alpaca yesterday, a three-year-old white wether (neutered male) to keep Nina and Inti company.  He arrives tomorrow.  That’s my week thus far.  How about you?

It’s good to be a dog.