Tag Archives: pets

Tuesday’s Tune – Reunited

Family, Learning, pets, teaching, Tuesday's Tune, Writing, , , , , , ,

It has been quite a long time since I wrote a Tuesday’s Tune post. It isn’t that I haven’t been inspired by music because I have, but it’s been a time issue especially during the school year.  It’s the third week of summer break and while I have more time to write, I also have the time for all those things I said I’d do when school was finished for the year, and now I have that time.

It’s Day 18 of summer break, the first real day of summer and I have been slowly carving away, and adding to, my TO DO list.

Our son was married the Saturday before Memorial Day and it was a weekend of family and friend time. It had been a while since I had been to a wedding, and we had a wonderful time celebrating our son and our new daughter-in-law as well her entire family.

School ended three weeks ago Wednesday and I finished the following day. It has been an interesting two and a quarter years since that last Tuesday’s Tune post – Tuesday’s Tune – Everything’s Not Lost.

The Friday’s weather, the first day of summer break, was sunny, warm, and perfect for watching the birds at the feeders in the backyard. I have placed the feeders so we can see them from the kitchen and sometimes I stop to watch the activity at the feeders. That first Friday afternoon, I looked out to watch for birds and I discovered an unusual bird latched to the tree bark. I stared and realized that it appeared it wasn’t a native bird. I was busy and when I came back later, it had flown off, and didn’t think anything about it the rest of the night.

The next morning, I was putting the trash out when I saw a bird walking in the street, it was the same bird I had seen the day before in our backyard. I bent down to pick up the bird and he climbed on to my finger and I picked him up. I guessed the bird was a pet and it had a purple (mauve) band on its left leg. A neighbor who had been walking his dog stopped to help and neither he nor I knew anyone in our neighborhood who had a pet bird. I placed the bird on a tree branch and took a photo so I could post a “have you lost your bird” post to our neighborhood’s Facebook page. I then headed off to Loaves and Fishes for my regular Saturday morning volunteer shift.

in the street, walking
in the tree
in Fern’s crate

I couldn’t get the bird off my mind, I knew it was some family’s pet, and I felt guilt for not doing more to reunite the bird and its family. So, I turned around when I was almost halfway to Loaves and Fishes so I could retrieve the bird and put him (I was assuming it was a ‘him’) in Fern’s crate until after my shift. Fortunately, Fern and Ivy were (and still are) up north at the lake with my wife and daughter – which is a good thing, because if Fern had been in her yard, the bird wouldn’t have fared well. The bird was where I had left it and it got on my finger right away. I took it inside and placed the it in Fern’s crate, gave it some water, and birdseed, created the “have you lost your bird?” post, and headed off to Loaves and Fishes for my shift.

Continue reading Tuesday’s Tune – Reunited →

Summer Days: Week 3

Family, Learning, Life in General, Photography, Reading, teaching, , , , , , , , ,

“One benefit of summer was that each day we had more light to read by.” ― Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle

The summer days are gliding past, it is hard to believe it is Day 22. I’ve enjoyed the first twenty-one days and made them count and the past seven days of summer have been filled with up, downs, ins, outs, and a lot of rain at home as well as by the lake shore.

O and I returned home late Sunday afternoon for a quick visit home to grab a couple of things we needed before returning this morning for the Independence Day weekend.

Monday morning, Fern and I awakened to a very moist garden and yard. It had rained most of the previous week and W (our lawn service) had not been able to mow the lawn. The mid-June flowers were blooming and there was a closeness that only can be felt in the summer. It’s the point where you can feel the moistness of the air. It rained and was cloudy, but Fern and I ventured out for a walk and we both came home exhausted and thirsty.

And as the song’s chorus reminds me,

This could possibility be the best day ever!
(This could possibility be the best day ever,)
And the forecast says that tomorrow will likely be a million and six times better.
So, make every minute count, jump up, jump in, and seize the day,
And let’s make sure that in every single possible way,
Today is gonna be a great day!

Making the Days Count, one day at a time, especially when it rains.

What was one of your ups (or downs) this past week?

W^2 – fetch

Family, pets, Teaching and Learning, Weekly Photo Challenges, Wordless Wednesday, , , , , ,

W^2 or W squared for Wordless Wednesday, June 9, 2021

Beginning another summer break with a dog that loves to play fetch. First post of the summer blog season, season 12 of making the days count dot org, more to come.

Fern loves to play fetch. Wheaton, IL Tuesday June 8, 2021 6:19 PM
catch is the object of fetch. Wheaton, IL Tuesday June 8, 2021 6:19 PM
playing fetch is hard work and tiring, too. Wheaton, IL Tuesday June 8, 2021 6:19 PM

This could possibly be the best day ever and the forecast says that tomorrow will likely be a million and six times better. So, make every minute count, jump in, jump out, and seize the day and let’s make sure that in every possible way – today is gonna be a great day. Making the Days Count, one day at a time.

What made today a great day for you?

W^2 – prairie

Learning, Photography, teaching, Weather, Weekly Photo Challenges, Wordless Wednesday, , , ,
A solitary prairie grass shoulders the snow, Herrick Lake Forest Preserve, Wheaton, IL.  Monday, January 18, 2021  12:52 PM

One of the joys and blessings of this pandemic is making time (and taking time) to get out and move purposefully outside. Herrick Lake is a short drive from home and there is much to take in on a mid-afternoon walk with my puppy Fern (not pictured). Making the Days COUNT, one day at a time, especially when I make time to be mindful.

How have you used the pandemic for good?

W^2 – patience

adventure, Learning, Weather, Weekly Photo Challenges, Wordless Wednesday, , ,

W^2 or W squared for Wordless Wednesday, December 23, 2020

a patient Fern waiting for her master in the sunlight, McDowell Grove Forest Preserve, Naperville, IL. Sunday, December 20, 2020 11:16 AM

4.69 miles on a Sunday late morning hike, we were less than a half a mile in, Fern was still patient while I snapped a photo or two. Making the Days Count, patiently, one day at a time.

It has been a challenging year, but I’ve been patient, have you?

yellow – it’s a new year

Family, Life in General, Writing, , , , ,

Good bye 2019. It has been a year. A lot of it has been good and some not so good.

Yesterday we were at the lake and this morning we are home.

falling snow makes a day magical

I re-read my first post of last year – a first Sunday and two sunsets. Last year, I had planned to write more often but didn’t.  There were a lot of distractions AND diversions throughout the year from the beginning until the end. Habits changed, life intervened.

In March, my mother passed away after a brief illness, in May we got a puppy, in August we got the midnight phone call every parent dreads, and in December it all came together and we finished strong.

These three seemingly disconnected events are connected by a common theme – the color yellow. I suppose the color of the year for me was yellow, but I am taking the color with me into 2020.

O has always wanted a puppy. The problem with puppies is they don’t stay puppies, they grow and mature into dogs. O got her puppy in Ivy but Ivy became my dog and she was no longer a puppy. Ivy is an amazing dog, but she isn’t a puppy

It started before Mother’s Day with a text and a picture. Her name was Yellow. She was the same breed and coloration of Ivy – liver and white Brittany Spaniel. The breeder used colored collars to tell the puppies apart, her collar was yellow so she was Yellow.

Yellow the puppy – 5/19
backyard Fern – 9/19
Fern the puppy – 1/20

Then there was a four and half hour Saturday drive to Southern Illinois and back. O drove the first leg with one puppy and I drove the return leg with two.

the first day together – Ivy and Fern (Yellow)

When we brought her home, Yellow didn’t have an official name, yet. O wanted to call her Bailey, but B didn’t think she looked like a Bailey and there was already a Bailey in the neighborhood and bailey ended with a long E sound like Ivy and B contended it would be confusing. Continue reading yellow – it’s a new year →

curiosity

Family, Life in General, pets, Science, Teaching and Learning, , , , ,

We can learn a lot from our dogs. I’ve learned a lot from Ivy, our Brittany Spaniel. Fern, our Brittany puppy is a work in progress. She’s made a lot of progress since we brought her home seven weeks ago, but we have a lot progress to make.

Ivy’s perch and Fern’s new spot…someday she’ll outgrow it.

A couple of mornings ago, Fern and I were out for a walk. I needed to move and so did she. Walking a dog is an exercise in curiosity, walking a puppy is a course in curiosity and patience.

Fern is learning and so am I. As we walked, Fern was discovering a new world, even though we had walked part of the same route a day earlier. Fern discovered objects I didn’t see – pine cones, sticks, and sadly, trash – paper and plastic.

Fern saw insects and birds – I could see them, but she noticed them and followed them with her head and would pull on the leash give chase to them. Continue reading curiosity →

Today is the day

Cooking, Family, food, Learning, pets, Reading, Science, teaching, Weather, , , , , , , ,

It’s Thursday morning and I am the only soul awake. Even Ivy sleeps. She woke when I did, went outside, and came back to the screen door and I let her inside. She is curled up in a ball on the footstool, grandma’s footstool. It’s Ivy’s perch, so to speak. The footstool comes with grandma’s chair, it’s grandma’s morning perch when she is here, too. There’s a marked depression where she lays and it’s now part of the cottage. Last summer, when grandma was up north, Ivy came over to the footstool, put her head on grandma’s leg and looked up, pleading. Grandma held her ground and Ivy retreated to her pad by the door. This morning Ivy jumped up on the stool without asking, though sometimes she does ask but this morning she didn’t.  I did not protest, as I often do, or almost always, she warmed my legs while I sipped my coffee and gazed out across the lake as early morning slipped into day and the lake slowly returned to light.

Ivy and the footstool
Ivy and the footstool

Yesterday was windy and it wasn’t a good day for boating, Tuesday was windy, as well, and taking the kayak out was a struggle, but I did it anyway. Today looks like it will windy and the lake will be choppy for another day. Nevertheless, I have other tasks to do; there is always something to do, to keep busy, some important task that needs to be accomplished. Continue reading Today is the day →

Intricate: Weekly Photo Challenge

adventure, Challenges, Cooking, Family, Learning, Life in General, postaday, Science, Teaching and Learning, Weekly Photo Challenges, , , , , , ,

Spring is in full bloom. I can see it and I can feel it.  It’ll be gone before I know it. That’s the way things to work – gone and replaced by something new. The flowering trees and shrubs are in full bloom and they are absolutely stunning with their pinks, reds, and whites.

intricate4
at the corner – a shrub, I simply overlooked until this evening

Continue reading Intricate: Weekly Photo Challenge →