We have accumulated a few photos of pets and Pam’s “project.” This week I’ll look into a few topics related to these photos.

First up are a couple recent photos of our oldest dog, Blondie. She has always had a habit of sitting up on her hind legs:

Blondie sitting on her hind legs

We call this her “prairie dog” or “circus dog” stance and Blondie assumes it quite often.  I’ve only seen one other dog do this, but it must be more common than that. She can hold this pose for up to a minute.

And the other evening Blondie was taking a nap on the couch when I approached with my camera:

Blondie on couch

I don’t know if she was giving me the “evil eye” for disturbing her or exactly what that expression is supposed to mean. She went back to sleep a few minutes later.

Pam started working on cleaning the closet in the third bedroom, a room currently housing cats, cat pens and collected cat stuff. Photo albums that Pam had assembled for Felicity’s childhood-through-high-school-graduation years were unboxed after seventeen years of storage and relocated. The goal (at some point) is to permanently deliver these albums to Felicity in the Pacific Northwest.

Felicity’s childhood photo albums

Pam says she will be going through closets for the rest of the summer.

Yesterday we had snow flurries; last night ice formed on the back deck cat’s water dish. We hope the flowers and tree buds didn’t get whacked too hard by these cold temps. Today is bright but chilly. A few cold days – low of 24 is forecast for next Tuesday – are upcoming next week. That’s Spring in Colorado, last week we enjoyed several days in the 70s.

The town did turn on our irrigation water system but may shut it down again to avoid damage from  freezing. The ground is dry, even with some rain last week, and mountain snow levels  (which affect our summertime water supply) are down almost 20 percent from normal. It may be a hot and dry year for the high desert.

On tap for today: Swap the snow blade for the mower deck on the John Deere garden tractor. Grocery shopping later in the day. Weed-wacking around the edges of the lawn, garage, and house. Change oil and filter in the Honda. All pretty routine tasks.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

By request, included below are photos of Mary Lynn’s Memorial Garden.  At present, 90+ tulips have broken ground, about 25% are currently in bloom.  I did plant early, middle, and late bloomers to try to extend the color in that bed. Several iris plants overwintered in the same bed for variety.

Mary Lynn’s Memorial Garden as of April 14th

Spring – the time of new growth and new birth. Mother Nature had another Spring surprise for me last weekend.  After a very stormy and windy night Saturday into Sunday, I checked feral cat feeders on Sunday morning for food supply levels. When I heard tiny mewing sounds, I knew the feeder area in the garage was now the home of newborn kittens – somewhere.  Four babies and Mom Scoobie were in one of the cat bedding crates.  Moving the little family from the garage — inside to the third bedroom — was a bit of a production number, but finally all was satisfactorily accomplished.  I wasn’t planning on foster litter #29 (or maybe any litters this summer – ha, ha on me) until after returning from our planned trip to the Midwest in early May. Luckily one of my neighbors, who feeds our cats and watches the house when we are on vacation, is comfortable feeding and cleaning up after a feral mom cat and litter.

Happy Trails.