Rain, Mud, and Flower Friday

Greetings friends and fans. This is The Daily Bone and I'm your investigative doggie reporter 

Chester L. W. Spaniel. 

We have had a lot of rain lately. Usually rain doesn't bother me. But the downpour you see in the picture below was a bit too much even for me to go out in! 

Check this out! I found a frog in the garage! Wow! He's a long way from the nearest pond!

Today we finally got some sunny skies!

While doing my rounds in the back yard, I found some pears with bite marks on the ground. 

Some evil miscreants have been stealing pears from our tree. They eat a few bites and then drop it on the ground and leave it lying there. Wasteful little buggers! My esteemed and late colleague Joseph (Joey dog) Spaniel would not be happy about that! 

Hey, if you're going to steal one, at least eat it all!

And now, in honor of Flower Friday, I'll show you a few of the flowers that haven't been pounded down by the rain. 

Coneflowers and daisies.

Hostas.

The last clemetis flower.

Now they've gone to seed.

The milkweeds are starting to make seed pods.

I found some pretty purple flowers that I liked!

But ghostwriter said they were weeds.

Take a look at this fantastic mud puddle I found! 

Fortunately, as you may have noticed, I got a hair cut from my favorite groomer Miss Jacquie, so it was easy to wash the mud off my feet. Oh, and Miss Jacquie gave me a blue ribbon!

For my final story, July is a month when we remember two of our angels. Our Miss Ginger crossed the Rainbow Bridge in July of 2010. She was ghostwriter's baby girlie. She had a wonderful singing voice and provided the music for every meal. Here she is sitting in her sunny spot by the back door.

Then there was good old Joey dog who left us on July 30, 2016.

I miss them both very much!

Here's a flash back TDB from 2015 with some pictures of Joey dog:

thedailybonebychester.blogspot.com/2015/07/triple-trouble

And that's the news for today!

Work

Ghostwriter's gone back to work. 

Harumph!

Flowers Food and Fun

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

I have several things to report today. You may have noticed that I'm not posting as often as I used to. It's actually been kind of boring around here, except for chasing squirrels and other varmints, and ghostwriter has been busy. She tries to visit Oma (who's doing OK right now) at the nursing home at least twice a week and it's a long drive there and back. So I'm going to try to combine several reports into one. 

For my first story, here's Flower Friday a day late.
Right now the lilies are our star performers in the garden. 

Now it's time for the food report.

Bratwurst, parsley potatoes, and vegies.

Greek salad, pork chop, and spanikopitas.

Salad with pears, candied pecans, and balsamic vinegar. 

Flash back: My esteemed late colleague Joseph (Joey dog) Spaniel presiding at another meal about a year ago. This used to be his gig; and he taught me well.*

He would approve of these funnies I found: 

Finally there's this: The Blogville Summer Dance is in a couple days, hosted by my good friend Christmas! Please tune into Paw Province on July 10th. I can hardly wait to see my dearest Princess Leah there!

www.pawprovince.com

While we wait, I found some fun music to practice dancing to.
All you kitty cats out there will like these! 

Oh, the moon has been coming up early.

This song is for my dearest Princess Leah.

*We found an old TDB report by Joey dog from 2013. 

thedailybonebychester.serious-business

Critter Patrol

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

I hope everybody had a great 4th of July! I'm kind of glad it's over. All the noise was getting to me.

You can tell summer's in full swing around here. There are critters everywhere! Check out this big fat bunny! This is not the first time I've seen this particular bunny. He seems to frequent the next door neighbor's yard in the evening hours. I'm thinking he's living under the stump and roots of that big spruce tree that fell over last winter. 

I barked at him, and he hopped nonchalantly to our front yard, where he knew I couldn't get him. The front yard is beyond my jurisdiction. 

But he's not the only varmint on my property. Dad found a dead shrew next to a bush while he was mowing the lawn. I didn't get to personally inspect the shrew this time. But I'll remind you doggies and kitties out there to be careful. Shrews have a venomous bite They're quite nasty and sometimes hunt and eat mice and snakes.

Moving on to my daily rounds, I found freshly cut leaves on the ground under my silver maple tree.

That can only mean one thing: the Evil Squirrel Cartel is trying to rebuild their central command station in my tree! I will now direct your attention to the messy pile of leaves in the crook of the tree in the photo below: 

That's a classic example of squirrel architecture! They try this every year so that they can keep a strategic eye on the birdie feeders, the pear tree, and the hawthorn berries by day, and dream about grand larceny at night.

Of course you know, this means war. 

Ghostwriter immediately got out the hose and blasted it. This usually convinces the squirrels to vacate the premises, especially when they get a water cannon shower after dark!

In the meantime, I'll be on heightened alert at my drive-through barking window. That bushy tail varmint has been snarfing seeds from the ground under the feeder all morning! I must have chased him ten times already today!

Grrrrr!

There's been another crummy chipmunk at large too. (Funny how quickly one moved into the vacant real estate after the previous owner got himself stuck behind the garage wallboard and croaked! No honor among thieves I guess.) As you might remember from a previous report, the Conniving Chipmunk Consortium members are notorious for getting doggies in trouble. I chased that new chipmunk up the drain pipe and then kept him there, while I barked and scratched until ghostwriter had to physically drag me away!

Stinky little chipmunk!

I take my patrol duties very seriously. But it's tough being the only doggie in the Double Doggie Homeland Security System (where barking is always free.) These days I really miss my esteemed late associate Joseph (Joey dog) Spaniel. But I have to get some rest sometime. 

Whoa! Did somebody say squirrel?

Zoom!

I even saw a National Guard helicopter making rounds over my yard! Those squirrels are going to be in big trouble now! 

Anyway, I got some good pay for my efforts. 

If you wish to read more about the scurrilous scoundrels in my yard, please check out: 

thedailybonebychester.friday-night-news

thedailybonebychester.i-found-stinky-chipmunk

thedailybonebychester.squirrels-in-love