Merle

Yesterday was a very sad day here. 

For the last 3 weeks, Ted's little dog Merle has been having issues keeping his food down, general lethargy and  just not himself. He finally quit eating altogether and the vet said he was unable to find anything in his diagnosis- no blockage, no cancer, none of the normal treatable issues. So rather than have him waste away to nothing we made the call to give him a peaceful end. This has been very hard on Ted, that little dog loved him to bits and Ted loved him just as much. 

Wherever Ted went, Merle had to go too, or he would hear about it and that little dog could sure lay a guilt trip on Ted with his carrying on, so he pretty much went wherever Ted went, unless he was going to work or going welding. Merle really liked guys; he had several of Ted's friends that he was happy to see, and of course they would pick him up and cuddle him while they visited. All these big gruff guys cuddling a little 3.4 lb. dog. I think he didn't like wimmens because they are the ones (me!) who would give him baths and brush him when he'd much rather be hanging out in the shop with the boys.

For such a little dog, he had a huge personality and he is leaving a huge hole in both our hearts. 

Merle (aka Fuzzy)

June 15 2011 - February 9 2021

Merle- by request

LaVerne Bevers was asking what Merle thinks of the pup. At first, he was all over her, but once she got her confidence up in her new surroundings she was a little much for him to handle. Then he started getting protective of what he considers his space- namely the couch, when one if "his" humans is on it. He would stand on my lap and growl at her if she got too close. He's a funny little dog. I had him out when I was playing ball with the collies- he was having a blast. He thinks he is a lot bigger than his 3 pounds 4 ounces!

Sunday Stills: Home

Home ... is all about the little things. Like a nice shelter for my horses to call home.

We live in a mobile home, so we have one corner that we can fit a little Christmas tree in; this year it's a balsam fir.

What's a home without pets?

But mostly, home is a place where you can just get comfy and enjoy life! (Sorry about the crappy cell phone pic, Tess was on my lap so I couldn't get up to get my real camera.

If anyone is interested in doing Sunday Stills again. Linda over at Just Another Day on the Prairie has started informally putting up a photo suggestion a week beforehand.

Sunday Silence

Wordless Wednesday

Gone to the dogs

Before my computer took leave of it's senses, I was really looking forward to doing the Sunday Stills Challenge, "Dogs" . Well I missed out, but here is my dog post anyway.

My Tess dog is finally pregnant; we started this journey 2 years ago February. She had a phantom pregnancy then, and didn't come into heat again until December that year, and it didn't work out to take her to the male, then it took over 11 months for her to come back into heat again. She is finally getting a big belly, and is due right at the beginning of February.

She is at her most pathetic right now.....

and her favourite thing to do is cuddle on the couch with me, upside down, head snuggled on my chest, as I rub her belly. She falls asleep. No pics of that though!
She visits Ted on the deck in the mornings, and he pushes her lips up to make her "smile".

Then there is my Reba, the workaholic.

She's starting to look her age, but she sure doesn't act like it. She is so intense and lives to work, but she is very biddable.

She has amazing natural balance, always moves to 12 o'clock from wherever I am. And she always has something in her mouth when she is working.

Then, last but not least.... even if he is the littlest... is mighty Merle!

This little ball of fluff weighs only 3.2 pounds, but he is the apple of Ted's eye and pretty much thinks he rules the roost around here. Opinionated li'l cuss.

Sunday Stills

Has it really been 4 years? Today's challenge is the same as our first one, 4 years ago. Thanks Ed, for hanging in there- and to Linda and Sarah who helped too.

We mostly have critters with jobs here, but they think they are pets. The one true pet is Merle, who got a much needed bath yesterday.

He tolerates the bath fairly well, and gets all goofy afterwards- it must feel good to be clean. Here he is mostly blow dried off, much better!

Reba still thinks she is a working dog, and even at 11 years old and beginning to get arthritis, she gets quite offended if I head out to the horse pens without her.

You know I can't post Reba without Tess wanting to be the centre of attention, and really who could resist this look?

Sunday stuff

I opted out of Sunday Stills today- not into Hallowe'en, for me it's All Hallows Eve, the vigil for All Saint's Day November 1st, and not a day to glorify the occult, gory things, and other nasties and definitely not in favour of giving children copious amounts of candy.
Today was moving day for the cattle, Beamer got to help gather them and we ran them into the pens, which are a muddy mess right now.

Beamer was quite willing to wade through the slop to get the cows through the gate- he loves pushing cows!
The heifers will be here for another week, so we get to do this again next weekend.

Gathered in Beamer's pen and waiting for their ride home.

Still nice and green here, even if the clouds are obscuring the mountains.

Between loads I took the dogs and we headed out onto the hayfield for a ride. This is one of my favorite spots on that ride, an overflow canal that the ducks love, and there is usually a hawk hanging out in the trees.

Of course, I had to get a glamour shot of my boy:

I'm still getting used to my new pocket camera, I probably should have used flash on that photo. I got one of Merle, and used the backlit setting because of the bright background and the flash went off- I kind of like the result- talk about glamour shots!

One more shot, this time of Rio, I think I used  action/zoom for this.

Still can't get sharp focus on some shots, probably need to read the manual again.....

Summer days

For the first time this year we took the dogs to the river; it's still high and murky so we only stayed a few minutes, just long enough to cool them off, and to introduce Merle  to the  concept of swimming.

I must admit I was kind of merciless to the poor li'l guy, I just took him out in about a foot and a half of water and let him go. He did great! The water was rather cold, so only twice in for him and that was enough. He got wrapped in a towel for the ride home.
The skeeters are back in full force, and I lit the smudge for them tonight after watching Belle throw herself down and roll in the dust and then lay there groaning and complaining; then she got up and went over to the other mares and just stood there and pouted. I watched long enough to make sure it was the bugs and not colic that was bothering her, then I fired up the smudge; I have it in the alley between  the pens and the smoke drifted in to  Beamer's pen first, much to his delight.

He stood there for quite a while, making sure he was covered in smoke perfume.
I'm officially on holidays now, and tomorrow I head over to Janice's with my red roan mare. It's too hot to do a lot of riding, and the mares are out of shape (not to mention the riders!) so we won't be doing anything strenuous, just some easy trails with nice scenery.

Home again

The family gathering for my mother-in-law's funeral was actually very good, it was wonderful to see so many people, especially the older folks that we don't get to see often, and may not see again. Funerals and weddings- the glue that holds family together. I won't post the photos here, except for this one:

Because it represents 4 generations- Ted's dad, Al; Ted; Ted's son Dean and wife Andrea; and Ava, who is Al's great granddaughter.
The trip back was interesting, we opted to stay away from all the busy highways and came home through the mountain parks. We went past beautiful Abraham lake, which is the source of water for the city of Edmonton. The color of the water is amazing due to the glacial silt suspended in it.

We had Merle with us- he was a big hit with the family we stayed with who have two little boys. They had never really played with a dog before, so Merle taught them how- as well as all the neighborhood kids- poor Merle was very tired that day! Here he is chillin' out in the wind at Abraham Lake.

We saw a lot of wildlife along the way. There are a lot of Bighorn Sheep along that highway, and they are so accustomed to traffic that they are easy to photograph.

This big guy wouldn't show me his face, but I love how his ears are paying attention.

These two were part of a large group of rams who took possession of the highway.

We traveled through the Columbia Icefields, and I amused myself while Ted was driving by trying for a triple shot- the goal was to get the reflection in the window to tie in with the scene in the rear view mirror and the scenery looking forward.

I almost got it!
We saw a grizzly bear, but didn't stop because we were going pretty fast and had traffic behind us, and later we saw this black bear.He wouldn't lift his head from grazing.

It's always nice to get away, but it's even better getting home. Peace and quiet, and the normal routine of life are things I treasure.
Tomorrow I haul Chickory to town to get her international health papers and then it's time to put Gussie back to work. Kai should be here soon to start his groundwork, and when he is I plan on doing a photo shoot of Beamer, Belle, and their three sons- Kai, Rio, and Nitro.

Wordless Wednesday

Sunday Stills

It's all about texture:

The varied texture of these cedar logs from the smooth shell to the rough  and rotted core;

the variety of textures in my scarf collection;

Merle's soft fluffy fur and the roughness of the hay;

and the smoothness of the horn wrap against the engraving and the rawhide binding of the horn cap on Chickory's saddle.

Wordless Wednesday

Spoiled

Since Merle spends a lot of time in the shop with Ted, and is pretty good at being underfoot, Ted designed a way to get him out of the way. Merle likes to keep an eye on things, so the idea was to get him up out of harms way to a little higher elevation, and when my husband designs something, he does a really good job.
He built a ramp

complete with a chrome siderail, that leads to a little cubby with Merle's name on it.

Just perfect for little Merle legs!

He quite likes his new little kingdom.

And he doesn't share.

Ted showed me all the things Merle has packed into his lair  mancave - things like electrical wire bits, tubing, pencils, you know, all those boy toys!