Around the Yard

Hello everyone. This is The Daily Bone and I'm your reliable doggie reporter 

Chester L. W. Spaniel. 

There have been some changes around the back yard. Last week ghostwriter and Dad took all the sticks that were piled behind the wooden glider and ground them up in the roaring dragon noisy scary monster stick munching machine thing. After doing all that work, they decided they were getting too old for this, and vowed never to make any more big stick piles like that ever again. 

I guess I'll have to tell the Sparrows Incorporated CEO, Mr. Mortimer Seedcruncher there will be no more Sparrows Inc Winter Lodge in the Sticks for them to hang around in during the cold season. But don't worry. They'll still have lots of big arbor vitae trees to hide in! Oh, and we'll be keeping the birdie feeders full of seeds in winter for him and his large extended family, staff, and cohorts, and other nice birdies. Hopefully he'll still give me season tickets to all the Sparrows Inc events, like the Sparrow Kick-boxing Finals (seriously, those sparrows can really kick a**!) the Annual Spring Sparrow Convention, and the all new "Sparrows Got Talent" boisterous chirping competitions.

Sparrows Inc Winter Lodge in the Sticks from last January.

Dad finally got rid of that moldering heap of logs, (and chipmunk hide-out) that was in the corner of the yard.

He had a little help from our next door neighbor, who's just gotten back from being deployed in Afghanistan since last Fall. (We're very glad he came back safely, and appreciate his service to our Country!) While he was gone, Dad noticed nobody was mowing the lawn at his house. So Dad decided to do it.

 So then in return for the favor, our neighbor, who has a big pick-up truck with a trailer, helped Dad load all those old logs from our woodpile onto the trailer and they took it all to the town dump, where they will be recycled into mulch. What a great neighbor! I'll have to try not to bark at him when I see him.  

My next story is about the pear tree in our back yard that was my late associate Joseph (Joey dog) Spaniel's favorite tree. This morning, I spied a couple of Evil Squirrel Cartel thugs stealing pears! There aren't very many pears growing this year, so I'll have to be extra vigilant for those thieving miscreants! Grrrrr! 

Hmmmm … Maybe I should just eat them all now so the squirrels don't get them. Yum!

End of July: Thoughts and Memories

Greetings loyal readers. This is The Daily Bone and I'm your faithful doggie reporter
Chester L. W. Spaniel.

This time of year always brings back some sad memories in our family. In July of 2010, our  beautiful girlie dog, Miss Ginger passed over the rainbow bridge. Then, in July 2016 my esteemed colleague Joseph (Joey dog) Spaniel left us as well. As you know, we never forget our angels. So here are a few pictures of them.

Miss Ginger in her sunny spot.

Miss Ginger was the queen of the house. She was never afraid of thunderstorms. Even though she lost her vision when she was about six years old, it never stopped her from running around the yard, and leading the way on walks. She was also an excellent singer, and provided music at every meal.

Ginger Angel saying hi from the sky.

Long time readers will remember Joey dog. He was Doggie Chief Inspector, comestibles division, and Founder of the Yum Yum Coalition. He often did entire posts just on food watching.

He was my best friend and I still miss him a lot!

Here are a few links to some of Joey's favorite fun-filled posts:

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Hot Summer Days

Hello. This is The Daily Bone and I'm your dedicated doggie reporter Chester L. W. Spaniel. 

It's the middle of summer here in Western NY, and the weather has been hot and humid. It's not exactly good for running around. But the flowers love it and they're blooming like crazy!

Did I already say that it's kind of hot out here?

We've had some mighty spectacular sunsets too! Here are some pictures from the past several days, in no particular order:

Yeah, and it's pretty hot outside too. In the house it's air conditioned. Just saying.

Ah … That's better!

NEWS FLASH NEWS FLASH NEWS FLASH NEWS FLASH NEWS FLASH

This is a fast breaking story. Special Agent Bun Bun of the Secretive Bunny Militia was just seen eating chickweed from ghostwriter's garden in the front yard! The picture is a bit grainy because it's taken through a screen on the window. The front yard is out of my jurisdiction, so I didn't get to chase her away. But she was observed picking up a mouthful of dried grass and weeds before she left. Perhaps she's building a nest for some baby bunnies???

A short time later, Dad spotted the bunny too.

I'll be keeping a close watch on this situation and will report any changes. We now return you to your regularly scheduled nap time.

Crazy Bird

Hello everyone. This is The Daily Bone and I'm your doggie reporter Chester L. W. Spaniel. 

We have a new Crazy Bird! Yes indeed! A little yellow goldfinch has been fighting with his reflection in our dining room window! Here he is now!

Hello birdie!

Oh oh. Where'd he go?

Watch carefully now. Here he comes again from the top right side of the window.

I'm pretty sure he's not getting hurt pecking at his reflection. 

My ghostwriter says he's been going after the rear view mirrors on the cars too, and leaving plenty of little poops as evidence.

Long time readers may remember that we had another crazy bird in 2013: a bright red cardinal who continued his attacks for a couple weeks before he finally gave up.

Several years before that, we had a cowbird (named Dummy bird) who would attack his reflection inside the window birdie feeder. (That feeder has a one-way mirror so we could watch the birdies without them seeing us.) He was so persistent that soon his tail and wing feathers were in tatters. We finally had to take the feeder out for a week before he went away. 

Here's a link to our post from way back in 2013 about Crazy bird the cardinal. Back then I sometimes wrote about politics. Looking back, I see the more things change, the more they stay the same! 

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Nature Friday

Hello faithful readers! This is The Daily Bone and I'm your soaking wet doggie reporter 

Chester L. W. Spaniel. 

The reason I'm soaking wet is because there was a thunder storm today.  

It didn't last long, and soon the sun came out again. 

Of course as soon as the rain stopped I went out in my back yard to explore all the interesting scents the rain brought out.

Wow! It's a swamp over here! So I couldn't exactly help it if I got all wet  running through puddles and under dripping plants and bushes!

Later ghostwriter did a lot of work in her garden in the front yard. Here are a few pictures.

A Japanese beetle was eating up the petals of this flower! 

There was a little funnel web spider happily weaving her new web in the sunshine.

This admiral butterfly was kind enough to sit still for a portrait!

It turned out to be a nice evening.

We were treated to a beautiful sunset.

Can you see the moon peeking out on the upper left side of the photo below? We haven't seen the moon in a long time. (I'd better go out and send a moon message to my dearest  Princess Leah.) 

Good night!