More Flowers and Stuff

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

First, I'd like to make a correction from my last report. We thought this white birdie eggshell was from a grackle. However, after doing some research, we discovered it must be from a mourning dove. We are not sure where Debbie Dove has her nest, but we're glad her babies have hatched.

Mourning dove egg.

The other day Dad found this egg on the ground: 

Grackle egg and feather.

After checking a few ornithology sites, we concluded that this is actually a grackle egg. All the things we said about grackles, though, is true! They are big bullies, they drop big slimy poop everywhere, and dive bomb anybody who gets near their nests. At this time, we can figure out exactly where their nests are because the babies are quite noisy when their parents feed them. It sounds like they're getting bigger and will soon be flopping around on the lawn and in the bushes. I'm going to have fun chasing those little gargoyles around!

In other news, here are a few flowers from our yard.

Here's a big mushroom that came up in the wood chips.

Mushroom on day 1.

Mushroom on day 2.

Mushroom on day 3.

The silver maple is loaded with seeds this year. It's going to be like a blizzard when these start to fall!

Our friend Carol sent us some pictures of the beautiful newborn ponies at Chincoteague.

The ponies have brown and white spots just like me!

For my final story, here's a funny that Dad found which pretty much describes his life as a retiree: 

OK Dad. Let's get going! 

All The Spring Stuff

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

Well, Spring has arrived with a bang here in Western NY. There are flowers everywhere, the grass is growing like crazy, and all the trees are blooming. 

Usually ghostwriter is very happy when the flowers bloom. But this year her allergies are driving her crazy. Here's what she had to use today:

The June bugs come out at night and buzz around the front door where the light is on. Ghostwriter picked a couple off the screen door for me to look at.

Um, hi. I'm a  June bug.

I chased them around a bit, then we put them back outside.

Here's a beautiful purple finch sitting on the window box feeder.

We're fairly sure these eggshells are from a grackle nest.

That means the Great Grackle Flying PTA (Poop Tossers Association) will soon be in full swing, covering everything with blobby slimy baby birdie poop! (The parent birdies feed the babies in the nest, and take away their poops so the nest stays clean. They drop the poo bombs on anything within a twenty foot radius, including cars, outdoor furniture, sidewalks, garage doors, windows, etc.) After a couple weeks, the little gargoyles will come out of the nests, squawking noisily. If you've never seen a grackle baby, here's a picture of one I caught a few years ago. As you can see, ghostwriter rescued it from my jaws before I could give it the shakey-shakey. (I think her name was Squatty Dingledoody or something like that.) They are anything but cute!  

Pffft!

In other news, I got a picture of another one of my kitty cat cousins. This is Xerxes and she lives in the house with my Jason human and his friends. I hear she likes tummy rubs.

For my last story, I have a brief food report. Yesterday ghostwriter and Dad got some dinner from a new place called Naan-Tastic.

You can build your own customized Indian meal by choosing from an array of delicious stuff. Here ghostwriter chose naan bread, with rice, paneer tikka, and chana masala, topped with masala sauce and a bit of corn and raisins on top. Dad tried the beef steak with hot vindaloo sauce. Please check out their website here: naan-tastic. 

I hope you all have a great weekend.

Flowers On Friday

Hello everybody. This is The Daily Bone and I'm your diligent doggie reporter 

Chester L. W. Spaniel. 

I know we haven't been posting much lately. My ghostwriter has been working extra hours this week to fill in for a co-worker who had an accident. Monday I went to see my groomer Miss Jacquie and got my spring buzz cut. She trimmed all my fluffy fur down except for a poof on the top of my head. 

My esteemed and late associate Joseph (Joey dog) Spaniel used to rock this look too. Here we are in 2015 with our spring buzz cuts: 

The weather has been pretty good all week, except for the wind yesterday. So I have some more flowers to show you. Blooming right now are tulips, forget-me-nots, grape hyacinth, dandelions, and daffodils.

Joey's pear tree is full of blossoms!

In other news, my buddy in NC, Angus B. Terrier had a birthday on May 7. He's now ten years old! Hooray! 

Our little Lily turned two months old on the 5th.

For my last story, Dad filled up the birdie feeder for the first time in a several weeks.

(The reason he left it empty for so long is to keep those greedy grackles away. They bully the other nice little birdies. Ghostwriter also wanted the Evil Squirrel Cartel out of our yard until the mud dried up, for obvious reasons.) It took a couple days, but look who showed up this morning: 

"Hey Dogface! You still owe me that peanut butter sandwich!"

It's that rude little bugger, alias Twinkletoes. Grrrrr.

Well, it was a nice break from my homeland security duties! So if you'll excuse me now, I have some zooming and barking to do.

This edition of The Daily Bone was brought to you by 

The Double Doggie Homeland Security System

We happily expunge all varmints

And barking is always free

A Summer Day

Greetings friends and fans! This is The Daily Bone and I'm your diligent doggie reporter 

Chester L. W. Spaniel. 

Look look look lookie look!

Today was the first day of SUMMER! Yes, you heard it right! Summer has arrived in Western New York. The temperatures were in the 80s. (As you may remember, I reported a few days ago that it was snowing!) To celebrate this change we had our first grilled steak of the season. 

Wow! Yummy! 

Flowers are starting to bloom and things are starting to grow.

Daffodils

Peonies, forget-me-not, and yarrow sprouting

Hyacinth

I hesitate to be too overly excited, because things always change around here. Indeed, this evening it's clouding up and thunderstorms are predicted. 

But, hey, we'll enjoy it while we can!