The Life and Times of Olive the Pug: Another Friday Night...

It’s certainly no secret that this is what a pug loves most in the world:

But on Friday evenings, a pug will give up a nap for a chance to spend time down at the beach.  The minute the humans start to say words like “cocktails” and “golf cart” a pug can barely contain her excitement and she might even let out a scream or two in exhilaration and delight.  She just can't help it.  After all, going to the beach for cocktails on a Friday night pretty much trumps all of a pug’s favorite things.  She stands at the door wishing the slow human (that would be me) would just hurry.

Eventually, we all get there and it is a beautiful evening with a slight cool breeze and no humidity.  Lovely!

Unfortunately, none of Olive the pug’s canine friends are coming out this particular evening and she is stuck with just having humans for company.  It's a sad fact of life that humans talk too much to each other and don’t pay enough attention to a dog.  That means a dog might get into a little trouble by getting up on top of the picnic tables.  Of course, she doesn’t have a clue why the humans freak out about that because she knows it’s going to be raining cats and dogs the next day anyhow and the tables will be washed the way nature intended.

Then she spies a couple of lucky dogs whose human knows how to make his dogs feel very special.

But by then she’s pretty sure she wants to get back to that nap, so she heads for home with the humans to take up where she left off.

Willy-nilly Friday 5: Resurrecting words…

Yesterday while I was going through my notifications on Facebook, one in particular caught my eye.  Its title 15 obsolete words we should still be using really flipped my switch because next to photography, I really love words.  So I decided to willy-nilly a few of them here today and link up with Tanya's Around Roanoke Willy-nilly Friday 5.

1.  Here is Olive, the pug, as she basked in the sun by our slider today.   It reminds her of the apricity (a) she missed this year during the everlasting snow storms we endured.  Looking at this picture reminds me that we must be in denial about spring being here, because Greg’s snow boots still sit there behind her.

2.  Maybe I’m a cockalorum (b), but I think I did a stand up job on this photo.  In reality, I’m just fudgeling (c).  It’s really Mother Nature who did all the work.

3.  Tonight I’m going out with the girls.  We’re going to Enrico’s Brick Oven Pizza for dinner and then on to Brush It Off to paint pussy willow lighted wine bottles.  While at Brush If Off, I will probably restrain myself on the wine consumption, but at Enrico’s I’m planning to be crapulous (d) because they make a fine pizza there and serve a pretty good Chianti.

4.  The magnolia flowers on our tree in the back yard gorgonize (e) me.  I can stand awestruck and stare at them for hours.  Well, maybe not hours, but you know what I mean.

5.  Our two younkers (f) are coming home on Sunday for Mother’s Day.  I want no gifts except the presence of their company.  I will definitely deliciate (g) that evening with my family because we are having another nice meal at our favorite place here in town – Cedar Street Grille.

Whether or not you are a mother, there is probably someone in your life you have mothered...be it human or canine or feline or other. Whether or not you are connected by blood to your mother or your child, may the sun shine on you this Mother's Day!

a.  Apricity – noun.  The warmth of the sun in winter.

b.  Cockalorum – noun.  A boastful person.

c.  Fudgel – verb.  To pretend to work.

d.  Crapulous – adj.   Characterized by excessive eating or drinking.

e.  Gorgonize – verb.  To have a paralyzing or mesmerizing effect.

f.  Younker – noun.  A young person.

g.  Deliciate – verb.  To enjoy oneself; to indulge in feasting; to revel.

Willy-nilly Random Stuff: Fending off the Devil…

1 - They say that idle hands are the devil’s workshop.  I’m not sure I agree with that completely.  I believe that it is good for the soul to take a little time off now and then and just do nothing.  But I must say that it is difficult for me to watch television if I don’t have something to do with my hands.  I’ve quilted in the past, but these days I’ve been crocheting.  It’s just a bit easier and more portable than quilting.  I’m going to show off some of my latest projects here.

  2 - This is a scarf made from Red Heart Boutique yarn.  The color is "Parrot."  I like this yarn quite a lot.  It’s soft and comes in wonderful variegated colors.  This particular scarf is done in the alligator or crocodile stitch.  It’s a fun, easy stitch and goes together quickly.  I’m donating this project to an auction in May.

3 - A little while back, I picked up a book called Contemporary Celtic Crochet by BonnieBarker because I love the look of Aran knitting, but I don’t knit.  This book has some great projects in it and the instructions are clear and precise.  I’ve only managed to finish one project so far, but I had a great time doing it.  I used Caron Simply Soft yarn for this project.  This one I’m keeping for myself.

4 - Now and then, I go with my daughter Carrie to Webs Yarn Store in Northampton, Massachusetts.  OMG!  If you like yarn and you’re ever in Western Massachusetts, you have got to go to Webs.  Of course, you can order from them on line and here’s the link, but being there in person is just a yarn lover’s dream.  The colors alone knock me out!  And, of course, I have to touch everything.  The problem for me is that I can’t afford a big project with the yarn they sell there, so when I’m in there, I buy a few balls of something for a small project.  The last time I was there, I picked up this gorgeous Plymouth Yarn Monte Donegal to make yet another scarf.  It feels like heaven and it’s hand-dyed, so the color is fabulous!    I will continue to have the warmest neck in town next winter.  I decided that I would do it in a Tunisian stitch.  When it gets long enough, I will stop and go on to something else.

5 - Sometimes I think that Olive, the pug, sheds enough that I could probably make a blanket or something out of her leftovers.  She thinks I’m full of soup!

Linking up to A Rural Journal's Random 5 Friday!

And Around Roanoke's Willy-nilly Friday Five!

Willy-nilly Random Stuff: Squirrels, Pugs and Other Things…

1.  Our bird feeders had been squirrel-free since November 25th of 2011.  On that date, I had finally figured out a way to keep those little devils from cleaning out our feeders.   I know it was that particular day because I wrote a blog-post about it.   Well, the day before yesterday our squirrel-free streak came to an end and the snow is to blame.  The evil geniuses finally figured out that they could climb up on that massive pile of snow in front of our house and take the foot-wide leap to the feeder.  I hate to rain on their parade, but it is going to be warming up here this weekend and that jump is going to get wider and wider and eventually they will have to go raid someone else’s feeders.  But, you know, it’s been a tough winter.  I guess I can’t begrudge them a little suet to tide them over until they can find their nuts.

Thinking, thinking..

Making the approach...

Success!

2.  We’ve gotten a nice variety of birds hanging around this winter.    My favorite so far has been this red-bellied woodpecker.

3.  I have been feeling pretty bad for Olive, the pug, in this weather, so today I let her out the front of the house to give her a little more room to find the proper spot for her very important business.  It took her 285 pug circles and three tries before she finally decided on a spot.  She looked so relieved when she was finished.

Where's the grass?

Ahhhhh....

4.  Who’s watching Grantchester on Masterpiece Mystery?  I guess it's over for now.  I am sorry they’ve only made six episodes.  I am hooked on British mysteries.  I guess that’s because I fell hard for Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Ngaio Marsh and P.D. James when I was younger and never let go.

5.  Looks like we’re in for a long stretch of snow-free weather and temps into the 40s coming up.  Yay!  I hope you all have a pleasant snow-free weekend.

Linking up to Willy-nilly Friday Five &

Random 5 Friday 

The Life and Times of Olive the Pug: Dog on Vacation

Our time here in Florida has been nice for a dog. Olive has been very comfortable temperature-wise. The highs have been in the 60s Fahrenheit...perfect for a pug. But now and then, the temps have dropped and it's nice when a dog has a patch of sun big enough for her bed.

Olive decided to pose for a side view so you can see her new collar, which we purchased at Oysterbones in Apalachicola. Oysterbones is a very dog-friendly store in a very dog-friendly town.  Olive picked that particular collar because “Dog is my co-pirate” is her motto.

But when a dog spends too much time in the sun, she tends to get a little sleepy and eventually has to lie down.

But just the very mention of “cheese” tends to perk a dog up...

...at least for a few seconds.

Good Fences Keep Out the Riff-Raff...

"Hey, Whitey, what the heck is that down there?"

"Well, Henry, I think it smells like a Pug!"

"Sure enough, y'all.  It's a pug."

"Thanks goodness for fences."

Linking to The Run*A*Round Ranch Report's Good Fences!

Thanks, Theresa!

Confessions of a closet peeper…

We complain a fair amount about leaf peepers here in New England.  This time of year, the traffic gets heavier, people drive like maniacs and there are more busses on the road.  Getting from point A to point B can sometimes be challenging.  Even so, Greg and I are not above doing a little leaf peeping ourselves.  In truth, it was our plan to load Olive, the pug, into the car and to drive up into southern Vermont this weekend to see how the leaves are changing there, but things conspired against us and we never made it.  So yesterday, even though the weather was a bit overcast, we went ahead and did a short tour of Vermont.

Starting out here in south central Massachusetts, the day was pretty nice.  The sky was mostly blue but the leaves are quite a way from being at peak.

Still even here, now and then, we saw patches of true autumn color.

As we traveled north and west, the sky got more and more overcast, but the leaves were more and more colorful.

Of course, it is my humble opinion that Vermont is the most beautiful place in this country no matter what the time of year, but in the fall, it has beauty that is beyond words.

Driving around staring at all that color makes one a bit peckish, so as we were heading home, we pulled into a little place that sold ice cream and each had a small cone.  This is what a pug looks like when she thinks that she deserves a lick of your ice cream.  She can hold that pose for quite a while.

It was a nice day in spite of the less than stellar weather.

  I just love this time of year!

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

The Life and Times of Olive the Pug: Doggy Independence Day...

In the neighborhood where we live, we humans celebrate Independence Day each year on a day on or near the The 4^th of July.  This year, we celebrated on July 5.  It turned out to be a good call as it was pretty rainy up here on the actual 4^th thanks to Hurricane Arthur.  The 5^th turned out to be a glorious summer day.  Here comes our parade with our Grand Marshal John O’Brien leading the way.

Most of the time when we celebrate Independence Day, Olive the pug can’t do anything but watch the parade in the morning because a pug just can’t tolerate the hot weather.  But yesterday with the weather being so fine, she was able to go to the party for a while and mingle with dog and human alike.  What a day she had!

Here are some friends she met.

This beautiful little Sheltie is our neighbor’s dog.  He is actually on a leash, but because we were celebrating Independence Day, I cloned it out.  He’s a sweet little guy.  Doesn’t he look dashing in his summer haircut?!  It is my human weakness that I can’t remember his name.  I’m sure Olive remembers, but she’s not talking.

This is Freedom.  He sure has an apt name for the day.  He and Olive have been friends for all of Olive’s eight years of life.

Of course, making new friends is always good, like this beautiful seven month old Boxer pup.  We like to welcome new pups to the neighborhood.

Sometimes partying gets to be too much and a pug has to take refuge under a picnic table, but she will usually poke her head out if someone says they are willing to give up a stray piece of kielbasa or is willing to give a nice ear rub.

Olive and I are hoping all you fellow citizens of the USA have had a safe and fun Independence Day weekend!