Friday, August 1, 2014

Bear Alert and other things…

1)  We got a phone call early this morning from a neighbor.  I didn’t get to it fast enough and his message went to voice mail.  Of course, my first thoughts are always of some impending disaster or another when we get early (or late) phone calls.  But fortunately, Vic just wanted to tell us that he spied two bear cubs making their way toward our house.  I’m glad he called.  But by the time I got my glasses on and my thoughts together and went downstairs to find my camera, they had skedaddled.  Actually, I think that they came into our yard and made a turn at the stone wall and went to the beach.   They have been spotted swimming out to Blueberry Island on occasion.  So once again I lost my opportunity to snap at them.  When Olive and I went out to get the paper a little later though, I was on alert and had the Nikon with me.  No bears, which I guess is a good thing really.  A pug wouldn’t be much protection for me and I'm not sure what I could do for the pug if we had a close encounter.


2)  I did manage to get a pretty decent shot of a male Cardinal who was hanging around the yard.  We have a nice Cardinal couple who have been hanging out in our crabapple tree.  They are hard to catch though because the minute I go out with my camera, they find they need to go to some other yard or way, way up in a tree.  I got this one through the window.  So there, Mr. Red!  You just try and hide.


3)  Olive, the pug, had her 8 year wellness visit at the vet today and I am happy to say she got a clean bill of health.  She even lost a couple of ounces.  While we were sitting in the waiting room, a woman came in with a Cornish Rex cat.  What a gorgeous creature that is!  And the polar opposite of a pug.  And when we were finished, there was a nice looking tabby waiting to go in.  Cat day at the vets, I guess, except for Olive.  Made me miss my old feline friends.  Olive will spend the rest of the day sleeping and trying to forget the injustice of a trip to the vets.  I’m just glad she’s doing well.


4)  For the last couple of years, Greg and I have made our way down to Griswold, Connecticut to Buttonwood Farm to view the sunflowers.  This year we missed it by a day.  Boo!  When I realized that, I had to bring some sunflowers home from the grocery.  It’s not the same as seeing them en masse in the fields, but it will have to do for this year.


5)  August already!  Are you kidding me???

A sign of the dog days to come??
I'm hooking up today with Tanya's Willy-Nilly Friday 5 
on Around Roanoke, VA...A Daily Photo Blog


13 comments:

TexWisGirl said...

good for olive! and glad no bear encounter! yes, shots of them would be cool, but be careful!

Elizabeth Edwards said...

Olive - yeah!! glad to hear you got a great bill of health. yipppeee!! i am curious - have you ever asked you how you got her? i would love to have a pug - have never had one before? no dog ever. i would not even know where to start. i have been doing research ... but seems there are lots of puppy mill & that is not cool. i want a good healthy dog ... ( :

Nicki said...

Bummers you weren't able to grab a snapshot of the bears - but good thing for both you and Olive that they skedaddled. Glad Olive had a good visit with the vet - and though she doesn't show it, I'm sure she is glad all went well too.

Last week we celebrated July 4th - I'm fairly sure of it!

Debbie said...

WoW-zers, that sunflower image is just amazing!! Cute shot of olive, and the pretty boy cardinal!!

Have a wonderful weekend!!

kat from ky. said...

Mark's sister, who lives across the street, has at least 50 sunflowers planted around their house. Just beautiful! August 1, 2014! It is speeding by. I try to celebrate each day. Good on ya Olive.

Brian King said...

Too bad you weren't able to get some photos of the cubs. That would be cool! Great shot of the cardinal!

Barb said...

Good health for Olive! I haven't seen any bears this summer though I know it's not because they aren't here... I love sunflowers,too.

Leave It To Davis said...

Have you seen the preview of Paddington Bear (the movie coming out this fall or winter, not sure which). Your tale about the bear cubs made me think of it. Google it and watch....so cute!

On our way to the George Strait concert in June, (we went the Ft.Worth direction), there was a field that as far as you could see was nothing but sunflowers all the same height. I guess they were farming them....for sunflower oil or seeds, I suppose, but if you don't think that was a beautiful sight! I wish I had picked up my camera and taken a shot of it!

Buttons Thoughts said...

First off "Buttonwood Farm " Cool:)
Oh bears that would have been nice to see from the house.
Olive is adorable. Have a nice weekend. Hug B

Tanya Breese said...

gorgeous shots and bummer you missed the cubs but the photo of the way they possibly went made me laugh :) yay for olive's clean bill of health, she is so cute!! have a great weekend and thanks so much for linking!!

MadSnapper said...

sunflower is beautiful, yard is beatiful, Olive is as always totally adorable and I am happy for her good report.. my favorite today is the toad stool... and that you took it toads eye view...

Gail Dixon said...

So glad Olive has a clean bill of health. Hope you get to take photos of the bears. What a wild encounter that would be! Your sunflower shot is amazing.

Olga Poltava said...

Such beautiful photography! I love the first photo. You have woods in your yard; that's so wonderful.