DogBlog! Winter

Right now, I can hear my neighbors' dog barking away.  She's an outside dog.
As most of you know, I don't DO outside dogs.
My horrid horde is inside. Because I live inside.
Yes, my house needs cleaned at a professional level, every day.
 I'm ok with the extra cleaning
-to be fair, I track in WAY more funk than The Horde. I need tied outside.  Michael is covered with MY hair. I shed a lot, apparently. I need to find a dog with 14 inch, chocolate brown hair.
To blame said dog.

No judgment here, really.  If you have outside dogs, you do.
Just do it the best way possible. 
Spend tons of time with your dog. Please.
My neighbor dog was an adorable puppy, frequently seen scampering around the porch with the family. Now? She's tied at the far end of their property. We never see anyone interacting with her.
If you only see your dog for moments a day, you WILL miss signs of a cold dog.

Housing is critical in cold weather areas.
Slapping some wood together just isn't enough...
Insulated dog houses
Check out the link. Ordering an insulated house is easier than building one.
Really.  And you KNOW my love of power tools and building.
Should Michael ever banish me to outdoor living, because of my dirty feet and shedding, I'm just ordering an insulated house.

Bedding is also critical. A fleece blanket or a cushy bed is wonderful..for inside.
Outdoors? Not good.
Straw, baby. Stuff their house, keep it fluffed, check for moisture.
Don't get lazy.
Please.

That ALL being said, get ya dogs in the house with you.
Still, no judgment, but...dogs. In house. Please please?

After all, why have a dog if you can't share your total life...like....

Make them wear stupid headbands:

Take humiliating photos of them sleeping on the couch:

Give them ridiculous pajamas:

Why miss out on THAT?

As a side note to having dogs inside with you, here's a status I posted on Facebook recently:
Dog humiliation triple whammy:
1.Countersurfed a squash, 2.while I was on the phone with a dog TRAINER and 3.shamelessly faked death instead of doing Push-ups as I instructed:

Dogs. They keep you humble.

***
A very special thank you to Sarah Wilson for allowing me to link her work. TO DEATH.

*cough*

You..look familiar.

Again.

I know, I know.

Pulmonary Embolism Lung and I are doing well. We're an odd couple.

STILL getting back in the swing of things.  It takes forever. 
And then..wham..something throws you back to the beginning.

I am FINALLY on 3 week blood draws, soon to be once a month! WOO!

Started bootcamp again.  Lung and I disagreed about this, but I won.
(so it was only once. today. don't judge)

I haven't gained weight, which is a miracle of Sweet Jesus.  Seriously.

Catching up around Blogland....the wind chill is 8 tonight.  EIGHT! AH!

Things People Say..and a babble

"You should just be happy you're alive!"
Generally said when I'm grumbling about something normal..like a clogged septic line (ew).
Telling someone who has any kind of medical ANYTHING just to be happy they are alive...is a good way to get kicked.
My appreciation for life doesn't vanish when I'm outside in sleet and howling winds, with 40 feet of septic line snake.  It's just..taking a back burner for the moment.

"Oh, you must feel good...you look fine!"
Because you have a portable CT and can see the blood clot in my lung? Awesome!

I sleep 8 hrs a night, and nap at least 2 hours during the day.
I am weak and shaky and dizzy a lot.
I am cold constantly.
I am grumpy as all hell.

THIS IS NOT ME.
Ok, the grumpy part is.......

"Blood thinners! Well, don't cut yourself!"
*blink*
Well, shit. There goes my plans for the weekend.


---
I know this stuff isn't said to be unkind or dismissive...but after the 53rd time...
I warned you about the grumpy, right?

Ok, moving on!

You see the line of yellow Gorilla Glue on the feeder...and the reason why.
I need cast iron bird feeders!

-------
I went birding a few weeks ago...
I saw two horned grebes (adult, non breeding..so sayeth the bird books)!!!

Canada goose photo bombing

I also saw a black-crowned night heron.  I'll spare you the horrid photo.
Two birds off my life list.
HAPPY!

Ack, it's coming!!!

*cue ominous music*

Storm Saturn, that is.
People.  It's freaking winter. It happens.

When did we start naming..snow? Storm Saturn is hitting the Ohio Valley.
So much scarier than.. 5-8 inches.
Ooooo.

Granted, I HATE having My People driving in this crap.
 I would greatly appreciate it if snow would stop falling on the roads.
Snow isn't listening to me.

Why does everyone buy milk and toilet paper when we're getting a big snow?
The fear of modern man- being out of milk and tp.

To be fair, I live in fear of running out of coffee and bird seed.

Observations..

During the Great Backyard Bird Count, we ran into several other birders at the local hotspot.
Thrilled, since I rarely see other birders out and about..but...
Something struck me.
None of them were under 60 (and of course, guessing at age.  Guessing generously, at that).

I've been birding since I was 16 or so.  Seeing *older* birders wasn't shocking as a teenager.
But now, decades later, it's strange to still be on the young end of the curve.
WTH?
Why aren't more people in their 30s birding?!
----
Yesterday was warm and mostly sunny.  LOVELY!
I received my giant box of vegetable seeds..and today is gloomy and drizzly and horrid.
Tomorrow? Flurries.
WTH?
I think I hexed myself by ordering seeds and messing around in the garden.
----

Have a pile of pics from the backyard bird count...

Red-shouldered hawk VS crow

Oh.... and a bird dog!

Blech!

It's still chilly (windchill of 36)..and raining..and windy.

I caved and actually tossed food directly into Pig's den.  It's not like I'm somehow making her MORE tame.  She does that all on her own.
(and the creeps that released her).

We're off to watch the Steelers game with friends today.
Good friends, wings, beer and cheering for our team...
That should warm me up!




Have a sunset from this time last year....since, ya know,  I haven't seen the sun in 3 days.

Or, I could warm up with some..Pig skin.  hehehe

"Pig skin...what the hell kinda sick joke is THAT?!"

Well..your fur looks awfully warm.  Would make some nice slippers....

"!!!!!!!!!!"

Penguins regular season hockey starts on October 6th! WOOHOO!!!!

Pigless!

Because I can't get her on a scale, Larry..
Or make her do tricks, Brian...

We are Pigless today.
Plus, it's pouring. Pig isn't hauling her ass out in this weather for any reason.

Yes, I said pouring.  With 25 mph winds.
Yes, we are going camping.  Packing the car and getting the roof bag on should be an event.

25 mph winds at our destination, too.  Setting up the tent should be..ah..interesting.
Chaos Camping, baby!

I'm completely scatterbrained today..so have some random photos of the Chaos Dogs.

DOWN..STAY...and enjoy the rest of the week! :)

Eight and counting..

8 days of rain..not constant, thank goodness.
The creeks and lakes aren't flooding, which shows how much rain was needed.

We're gathering up gear for a camping trip at the end of the week.
Michael cracks me up..the overnight temps are supposed to be around 42F (I think that's around 5C?).  No big deal to me, but he makes it sound like we're camping in Antarctica.
Did you know there was an expedition to Antarctica called Nimrod? Now, I get the hunter/biblical reference but all I can think about is the current word usage..and that's pretty dang funny.


Anyway.
I finally caved and bought a polarizing filter.
I blame Greg and his incredible sky photos.
Michael asked why I needed one now, since I've had my camera for a while...
"Some man from the internet said I did".
It's a miracle I'm allowed out of the house ;)

Shopping for the filter was interesting (read: confusing and made me cry a little).
"Miss, if you want to use automatic settings, I suggest you go with a circular polarizer blahblahblah...look, we have 168 billion for you to choose from!"
Circular...? Wait..what?
"Look, sir, I'll level with you.  I'm not a photographer.  I just..take photos. I don't want to know.  I just want my blue sky less washed out, and I want rid of the big giant pink tinted spots in white clouds...unless there's actually pink.  And..I don't want to sell a kidney so you can put THAT box down right now."
He sighed..and narrowed down the choices.
I haven't tested it out yet.

I don't want pink spots..unless there's actually pink spots.  Makes sense to me.

 Do they make a lens for....groundhog ear closeups?  NO!?  They don't make a macrohog lens?!

Freakishly shaped like a humans.

Pig continues to carry her snacks across the field to the front yard.  I do not know why.

"Mmmmm baked pahtaytah!"

Needs no caption.

"More potato, please!"

Sadly, no rice cracker hats (below her foot).  They don't fly very well, nor do they stick the landing like tortillas and lettuce.


In a few moments, I'll be sneaking out the back door and creeping around the woods like a serial killer...
so Pig doesn't see where I'm taking the crow food.

Dear Lee

or remnants of Tropical Storm Lee...
GO THE HELL AWAY.
Yes, we needed the rain...but...day 5 of rain here.
The dogs and I are gettin' a little crazy.
So is Pig.

"NO more freaking RAIN in my DEN"

Terrifying, isn't she?

I have been carrying the crow food all the way across the field, in hopes that Pig won't get it all.
I felt super smart.
Until yesterday, when she shows up outside the front door with the chunk of stale bread I had carried across the damned yard for the crows.

"You're so cute when you think you're outsmarting me"

Girlfriend, I don't think you need anymore carbs.  You're expanding East-West.

"Please.  You WISH you rocked a bod like this.
 By the way, I can see straight into your bedroom.
You need to up the bootcamp..maybe lay off food after..I dunno..2pm"

"Don't get all mad.  Just tellin' like it is.
I could eat your carbs for you."

Note the bread shrapnel falling from her paws..you can't take her anywhere nice.

We're off to town today...gah...