Pictures to share

Today was wet and ugly and I didn't have time to go outside anyway. But I do have some pictures to share from the past few days before the rain.

Betty White

I took Della for a walk on Monday later afternoon. It was just the two of us, 

I thought she would enjoy that, but she was sluggish and slow, generally not very interested.

The only times she got out front were when she heard deer or caught their scent.

I don't know if she was mad that I hadn't taken Serena along too, or what the problem was.

I was feeling good on the walk, however, and we went four miles, just to prove

that I can be as stubborn as she is.

Serena with green grass and backlighting. 

Betty White checking out one of the big red balls.

Little Kaya racing up the hill.

Left to right: Serena, Betty White, Kaya, Max, and Della.

Betty and Kaya

Max and Betty White

Serena and Betty. I've now cut down all the tall grass that I had left up for the winter.

Thor with a little less roar

Thor got neutered today, and vaccinated, and microchipped, and checked for heartworms (I need to check on the result of that one yet). It was a big day for him but he handled it all very well. Of course, the drugs help a lot. 

When I dropped him off this morning he was friendly to the vet tech who took him in, tail was wagging and he went with her willingly. No sign of the frightened boy we had received just a few days ago. When I picked him up this afternoon they said he had done very well, was friendly and cooperative. He hopped into the back of the van where there's a nice dog bed but he just sort of plopped down where he landed, still feeling the effects of the anesthesia. 

We stopped and Green Dogs on the way home because Erika hadn't had the chance to meet him yet. He was more awake by that time but still mellow enough that he sat nicely for pictures and we both got some really good shots of him with the sunlight making his coat shine. 

Thor hadn't been eating our food yet, at least not much, but in the evening I gave him a small amount with his pain pill and small amount of canned food and he cleaned it all up. 

Now he just needs an adopter. I can report that he's fine being crated at night or when left alone indoors during the day. He hasn't come upstairs yet, apparently stairs are new to him, and I haven't pushed it because he has a nice crate downstairs in the kitchen and we have plenty of dogs upstairs already. 

He was friendly with Erika and the youngest Proctor. 

Spring has sprung

Spring starts off slow, almost imperceptibly. The days get a little longer; the weeds start to grow. Then suddenly it's upon us and the rate of change accelerates exponentially. The earliest shrubs start to bloom, a few wildflowers appear in the grass, and the weeds shoot up overnight. The daffodils bloom, the forsythia starts in, and fruit trees flower, soon to be followed by redbuds, lilacs, and dogwoods as spring races through it's full repertoire at an ever-increasing pace driven by the biological imperative to produce seeds that may spout and grow into something that can get established enough by fall to make it through the next winter. Spring is forward looking and fast-acting. Blink and you miss it. He who hesitates is lost. 

We've grown slow and sluggish through the winter. Spring is here to wake things up and it doesn't tread lightly or whisper. Spring stomps around with rain and thunder, like a mother calling upstairs to get her kids out of bed, insisting, not suggesting, that it's time to rise and shine. Spring is a call to action, there is no time to waste, no burning daylight, you can sleep when you're dead. It's the time to do something, anything, even if it fails. Sow a seed, plant a tree, prove that hope springs eternal. 

Saucer magnolia, or tulip magnolia, in the center of our driveway.

Some years it blooms so early that it's flowers get frozen.

Looks like it's going to be ok this year.

Daffodils along the road in the front of our house,

forsythia in the far corner.

Ornamental cherry in our front yard.

A patch of wildflowers in the pasture.

This is purple deadnettle. It forms a large, beautiful mound and

provides food for early pollinators. 

These little flowers bloom en masse in our front yard.

I need to mow the tall grass now, the flowers are short enough that

they will survive the mowing and show off even more.

I planted this forsythia when we first moved here.

New day, new dog

Thor must have had a good night's sleep because he woke up as a new dog this morning, Thor 2.0. It was raining at 7:00 a.m. but everyone insisted on eating as normal. Thor went out to the a/c yard with the other dogs and was fine mingling amongst them. All of yesterday's anxiety and fear seemed to be gone. He was still a bit cautious with us, but we got nose touches that told us he was willing to get acquainted. 

I still had a short nylon leash attached to his collar that he could drag around to enable me to get a hold of him when I wanted or needed to do so. Generally I'd just step on the leash as he was walking and then reach down and grab it. I had dispensed with that leash by the end of the day, indoors at least.

The rain stopped for the most part and Thor seemed sufficiently comfortable that I decided to take him out for a walk. We took Maya along, of course, and did the two miles of the roadway at Pleasant Grove. I've always found that leash walking is a good way to get a new dog to trust me. It worked for Maya and many others since and I think it helped cement my relationship with Thor as well. He was not bad on the leash, no pulling, but he did a lot of walking from side to side, which can be annoying. All things considered, for a first walk, he was really good.

He hasn't eaten yet, but he was calm and quiet in the crate last night. Given how scared he was yesterday, not just of me but of the other dogs, we are a lot further along than I expected to be today. 

Outside with the girls this morning.

I used a black, one-buckle harness on Thor today but I left the orange leash

attached to his collar too, just in case.

Maya was very tolerant and good with Thor today.

That's a nice picture of him.

Thor: One of us

Thor: Eight month old, black German Shepherd Dog. He's intact, but not for long. He's not well socialized with people or with dogs. He's not aggressive with either, just fearful. Thor came from a breeder who couldn't sell him because of the one non-standard ear. He ended up with someone who didn't have time for him. Over the course of his eight month life, he's only had one parvo vaccine and nothing more. No one bothered to teach him anything or give him any life experiences that would prepare him to live in the human/canine community. 

The good news is that he watches everything; he will look you in the eye and he seems to want to find a way to fit in. Thor arrived today courtesy of a northern Virginia friend who drove to Pennsylvania to get him and then brought him here. Thor would let me touch him but he was clearly unsure of strangers. He was also scared of the dogs and I only introduced Theo, Maya, and Arby. I didn't want to put him out in Daneland even for the day because he needed to learn to trust me and to observe the other dogs around the house. We still had a big crate set up in the kitchen, near the outside door, so that's where he went for the afternoon. He could observe everyone coming and going and he did watch all the dogs and me very carefully. When I let him out of the crate later he was a bit more comfortable around Maya and Theo at least. He met the Danes from the safety of his crate but I'll save a nose-to-butt meeting for another day when he's a bit more settled and less intimidated.

Some dogs come into a foster home and seem completely fine with the transition. Some are distraught over the loss of familiar people and surroundings and take a little while to adapt. Thor's condition is somewhat different. He seems unfamiliar with people, and even dogs, unsure of where and who he is. Don't worry, Thor, you're one of us now. Actually, that might scare him even more.