Emergency Squeaky Toy Surgery!

This is a fast-breaking news story from The Daily Bone, and I'm your proficient doggie reporter Chester L. W. Spaniel. 

Sunday was my twelfth birthday and I got not one, not two, but three new squeaky toys! 

As you can see, all three of these squeaky toys were practically exploding with stuffing, and each one had a toxic squeaker somewhere inside it. I had to operate immediately!

Don't worry squeaky toys! I'll soon have you all better!

After giving each one a good slobbering, I began to work on getting that malignant stuffing out. It was touch and go for a few hours. Unfortunately my ghostwriter, who has been a registered nurse for 39 years, decided they would need to go to the Intensive Care Unit for a few days. (I think she was more worried about me becoming too stressed out from performing surgery on three such serious patients.)  I'll be sure to keep you posted.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

Last Night The Clouds Came For a Visit

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

Long time readers will remember that my ghostwriter often has her head in the clouds. She loves to look up at the beautiful sky and the clouds. Last night, while driving home from work, the clouds came down to visit her! Yes indeed, the fog was so thick that she could hardly see 20 feet ahead of her, and had to drive slowly. Fortunately there was not much traffic. She couldn't take any pictures of it, because she didn't want to take her hands off the steering wheel. 

This morning the fog was all gone, it was warm, bright, and clear outside! 

After several days of rain, there were mushrooms sprouting up all over the place! 

The last of the little bird nest fungi popped open. 

And the hawthorn tree is dropping it's beautiful red leaves.

We do have a bit of sad news right now. My kitty cat cousin Maddie (aka Medusa, aka The Kitten Overlord) has just received a terminal cancer diagnosis. For the time being, she's at home being spoiled and watched carefully. 

Maddie lived with us for a few months in 2013. She used to punch me in the nose if I came too close. But we both enjoyed looking out the window for birdies and squirrels. 

We'll keep you updated.

Last Time The Moon Came

The Birds!

 This is a fast breaking news story from The Daily Bone, and I am your resolute doggie reporter Chester L. W. Spaniel. 

We were awakened this morning by the sound of birds. Grackles, to be exact. As long time readers will remember, The Daily Bone has done numerous reports on the Great Grackle Flying PTA  (Poop Tossers Association) and will know our position on these messy birdies. We hate them! They usually appear in early spring with their screechy squawks trying to attract a mate. They build nests in the surrounding birdie real estate, usually the tall arbor vitae bushes or other evergreens, and proceed to raise their little gargoyle babies. To keep their nests clean they pick up their babies' poops and splatter it onto our cars, house, windows, lawn furniture, sidewalks, and driveway. They bully the other nice birdies at our birdie feeders, and even dive bomb the Evil Squirrel Cartel! But once they're done with their nesting, they move on and we rarely see them again until next year. 

This morning, there must have been hundreds of them all over the neighborhood! The trees were full of them, and big flocks gathered on every lawn on the green belt. 

The noise was horrendous!

Fortunately, the flock soon moved on before I had to go out and chase them away.

We hope they don't stop in your yard on their migration route. 

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

Sunny Sunday

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

Today was a spectacular, sunny, bright, cool, breezy autumn day! Of course there was a lot to discover right in my own back yard.

Usually this time of year we can find lots of big orb weaver spiders in their huge webs. But in the last couple years, there haven't been any! We think either the birdies are eating them, or else people are using too much pesticide on their lawns. I know many people don't like spiders, but we think they're amazing and beautiful. We looked around carefully to see what other creepy crawlies we could find. 

Crane fly

Stink bug

Box elder bug

Daddy long legs

Another daddy long legs (can you find him?)

We also saw lots of colorful autumn leaves on the ground.

A few days ago, we posted about the multitude of mushrooms that were sprouting up in the wood chips and roots from the old silver maple tree. There were some very tiny ones ghostwriter couldn't identify. 

She noticed more of them nearby. But these ones had popped open and had what looked like little eggs inside them. 

She asked the siblings if they had any idea what these were. She later found out from Joanna (sibling #2 of 4) that these are actually called bird's nest fungi. The little "eggs" contain spores. Wonders never cease!

If you would like to know more about these interesting little fungi, here's a link: 

splish-splash-birds-nest-fungi

Meanwhile, the sun and clouds put on an incredible display all day long. 

Good night.

Mushrooms, Trees, and Birdie Seeds

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

As Autumn proceeds, we find new and amazing things every day. Today, after a couple rainy days, we found lots of little mushrooms that sprouted up in the back yard. 

These are just little toad stool mushrooms. They don't get very big, or last very long. Don't worry, I didn't eat any of them. We're not sure what these ones in the picture below are, but we'll watch and see how they grow. 

All these mushrooms were growing from the wood chips left from last year, when we had the gigantic silver maple tree in the back yard cut down. If you'd like to see my report on that massive undertaking, please go to the following link:

big-tree-down

Wow! That sure was a big project!

Back to today's news, we didn't forget to look up too. Here are some pictures of the birch tree in the front yard: 

Now, on to other news.

Dad bought two fifty-pound bags of birdie seeds. Wow! Let's see how fast the little birdies can eat 100 pounds of seeds!

Of course, birdie feeders full of seeds attracts the Evil Squirrel Cartel too. 

I'll be sure to keep a sharp eye out for those scoundrels! Meanwhile, here's a funny video about how to properly stalk a birdie or a squirrel:

Nala Stalks a Birdie