Saturday Afternoon with Buckley

Hi Mel! While you're away in China, you can see what Buckley's doing. Today we went to the park as usual.

Then he decided he wanted to play keep away.

and more keep away.

He's just a pleasure to have here with us for 2 weeks.

Don't forget to come back.

Hot 4th of July

It's a hot 4th in Rockport this year. Too hot to go for a walk. So we cooled off in the back yard as best we could.

Bo may not like going into a body of water, but he doesn't mind playing with the hose.

Buckley swims in the ocean

Buckley visited us over the 4th weekend. So on Saturday, we went for a swim.

OK, so it's more like playing in the surf. But it's still fun.

The seaweed covered rocks make it almost like a carpet for Buckley. So he's not scratching his legs on the bare rock. It's the perfect spot but only accessable at low tide.

Then we went home for a scratch on our favorite swing.

Bo's not a swimmer, can you tell? And then there's max.

Poohbie is freezing his butt off.

This is what Poohbie looked like recently. He was a litttle shaggy. But very cute.

And then the groomer lady came. Now Poohbie is freezing his butt off! Is it summer yet?

Help me!

Let me in, it's FREEZING out here!!!!!!

What did I do to deserve this?

The Wildlife Chronicles

Lot's of wildlife sightings recently. A couple of weeks ago, I was able to see the two deer that live on the hillside just on the other side of the marsh behind our house. I tried taking some video but I don't think it came out well enough to post here. I haven't seen them for the past few weeks, but then I never knew they were there before, when Donna says they've been around for a while.

But today I've got a new sighting to add to my list. Last fall, I saw a seal for the first time, swimming just off shore. Saw him dive a couple of times and then pop his head up and look at me. Well today I saw my first baby seal laying on the rocks near one of our play areas. I didn't have my camera with me though. So I went back to the house and got it. Check it out.

I moved back as soon as he started moving away because I didn't really want to disturb him that much, and I had Max and Bo with me and was afraid that they might see him and start barking at him and going up to him. But they never saw him and we left him alone after that. He just stayed in the shadows next to the rock for a while. Hopefully he continued his sunbath after we left. But here's the first video I took of him laying in the sun, not moving. I wanted to get video of him moving a little, so you can see he's not dead or sick. He was just laying in the sun enjoying one of the first nice sunny days we've had in a while. Mom's probably out getting something to eat while he's safe and warm in the sun...., until that stupid human bothered him.

It's hard to tell if he's just a rock in this one. Almost as surprising as seeing the weasel in our yard. Who knows what we'll see next. Stay tuned.......

Pictures from a snowy couple of weeks.

We usually don't get much snow here in Rockport, due to the moderating effect of the ocean, but we've definitely got our share here the last couple of weeks. Most pictures are of the neighbors' house so they can see how it looks with the most snow I've seen in 9 winters here. I took the picture of our house last Friday, a rare sunny day. I've finally got a day off after shovelling the last 5 days in a row. My Audi with Quatro all wheel drive was actually stuck in our driveway, all 4 wheels spinning. The first time in 7 years that I've had the car, that it couldn't move. I had to shovel snow, chop ice, spread kitty litter for over an hour to get the car out. Ya, it's been a fun couple of weeks. I haven't been able to use the truck for 3 weeks now. Too much snow. Which means I'm bringing the garbage to the dump in my Audi now. Oh well, I don't use it for much of anything else. Just trips to the grocery store,.....and now to the dump.

Walk in the Park

Picture and some video from our walk on Sunday the 23rd.

And then up to the quary.

And now we have even more snow. But in the midst of winter, you just have to think summer....

Winter is here. Happy Birthday Mom.

Got a little snow this week. We've been lucky so far, getting more rain than snow. But this time it piled up a bit. Doesn't seem to bother the dogs. But then they don't have to shovel or drive in it. They just get to have fun. Bo likes to attack and bite my shovel while I'm trying to clear the decks. Max just wants to lay in the snow, chewing a tennis ball. Of course, if someone would throw the tennis ball, that would be even better!

The picture was taken around noontime, yesterday. Today we went for a walk and checked out the snow drifts over at the condos. As you see, despite the fact that we received 8-10 inches of snow yesterday, afterwards the winds here just wipe some areas clean. But the snow has to go somewhere....

And here's a video from last week showing Buckley really running in his cart in the snow.

I was telling Kristin about the Mockingbirds that I was watching all summer in our backyard. I've noticed that the Mockingbirds are still here this winter, along with the Cardinals and Bluejays I see all the time. Donna has feeders everywhere for them. We get to see pretty much everything that's still here. The other morning I noticed a little red squirrel on my deck going through the bird seed that dropped from one of the feeders above. There's still plenty of wildlife.

Here's a video I shot last summer (change to British accent), where you can see the Mockingbird's distinctive white markings on his wings while in flight.

And here one bird displays the classic mating ritual of jump-flying into the air and returning to his perch, trying his best to impress the female of his species.

Next, the miniature poodle displays his retreiving skills in the snow.

Oh well. Cheerio! Off to tea, (or Pepsi in my case).

Old Man Videos

Here are the videos from our trip to the top of the old Man of the Mountains, or what's left of him, this past fall. It's been about 9 years since I did this last, so I got a bit off track, not the most direct route we've ever taken, but it was fun. Andrew was last up here about 11 years ago.

As you can see, it was a little too rough for dogs, so it was just us humans.

Then we finally found our way to the correct area of the cliff, and we were almost there.

I think my rock climbing days are over, and will probably never hang out on the sloping ledge below the Old Man ever again. Fall of 2001 was the last time I was on the ledge, and climbed the top 2 pitches of Lakeview with 2 strangers. So this is probably the last time I'll be on the top of the Old Man in this lifetime, who knows.

OK, I'll throw 1 dog video in here too. Poobie howls for his 'Mama'.