Sunday, June 30, 2013

Surrender to the Bobcat

 
My yard surrendered to a Bobcat after the Hoomans surrendered to the water lines.
The yard had little flags all over it after our plumbing problems. Then one day my Hooman said we were going to have a Bobcat in the yard. Well I waited for a bobcat all day because cats are NOT allowed in my yard. It turns out that my idea of a bobcat & my Hoomans idea of a bobcat are two different things.

 
This is what the Hoomans brought into my yard. It was just as scary as a real bobcat!

 
So all the old cast iron pipes were replaced with new PVC ones and that made my Hoomans happy. Now all of the outside work has been completed, we just need inside work finished and the plumbing problems will be over!

Too Tired


I was too tired to blog last night before I went to bed. There was a loud fireworks display that my Hooman made me watch. It was pretty but too much excitement for me. I took my turtle and went to bed. I will blog for you today!

Friday, June 28, 2013

Skeleton Key


Look at what I found! My Hoomans were removing trim and other things and I found a real live skeleton key! It even fits the doors in the house.....hhmmm.....Cyclops Spiders, Vampire Coffins and now a Skeleton Key.......creepy.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Wild Strawberries


Oh wow! I found wild strawberries in my yard. Y'know the best part? My Hooman doesn't care if I eat them!

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Field of Flowers


Here is a picture of my Hooman refers to as "a mess of pretty". She loves the Sweet Pea and Lilies just growing free out there in the field. There is a creek, one of the 2 we have, down there and the Hoomans decided that they are going to selectively harvest the area to keep the flowers, get rid of the weeds and plant things like Corkscrew Willow, Red Twig Dogwood & Paw Paw Trees! My Hooman owned a flower shop once. I think she's trying to create her own wild flower shop!

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Bramble Berries


We have an abundance of berries that I get to eat! My neighbor called them Bramble Berries. So I looked that up. It turns out that Bramble Berries include blackberries, raspberries and logan berries. Finally, I am starting to discover some edibles!

Monday, June 24, 2013

Ginormous Spider Tree

 

This is our Spider Tree. It's HUGE like a monster sized Oak Tree and it has these funny Spider-like growths on it. My Hooman has no idea what it is but told me to ask my friends. Do any of you know what kind of tree this is?

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Mimosa Tree


This is a Mimosa Tree. We have them on our land. Apparently it is from China but has been here in the states since 1745. I think it is a pretty tree. I bet now my Hooman will be searching for Margarita Trees and Daiquiri Trees. We already have strawberries growing......next I suppose will be the limes.

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Sweet Pea


This is Sweet Pea. It grows all over our land. My Hooman is in love with it. Thanks to her genius wino friend wine loving friend in the big state, now she knows what it is! I like it too, although I am only allowed to smell it not eat it. Sounds familiar huh?

Friday, June 21, 2013

Cyclops Fishing Spider


This is not just a Fishing Spider. It's a Cyclops Fishing Spider, seriously...click on it & see. It is a pretty big spider as you can tell by the 1inch garden hose next to it. Cyclops lives in our well and comes out every night to stare at me. Gross. Did you know that they can walk on water to catch their prey?

I think my Hooman picked this house on purpose. Think about it. It was owned by Freddie Mac from Nightmare on Elm Street. There is a Potato box Vampire Coffin in the basement and now a Fishing Cyclops Spider lives in my well.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Lightning Bugs not Ginger Bugs

My Ginger Bug

I have been calling this bug a Ginger Bug for days now because of its red head. Come to find out it is a lightning bug. Who knew?

I have them all over the yard. So many in fact that every night looks like the Sydney New Years Eve fireworks celebration! Ok, maybe not as cool as Australian Fireworks displays, but very cool. I will say it is very hard to photograph them. Here are a couple with my Elusive Bunny!



Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Sea Shell


So the other day when I was in the basement I found this sea shell. Surely it's positive proof that my house must have been at the bottom of the sea 14.6 billion years ago.

Monday, June 17, 2013

My Friend the Fly


This is my friend, the fly. We had a long conversation today while my Hooman was drinking her coffee. My Hooman got mad at this little fly because he wouldn't leave her water alone. She has this thing about water having to be filtered. He wasn't trying to be a pest, he simply needed to stop and rest. He was a well traveled fly and like me, quite the adventurer.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Slate Walkway


This is the slate walkway to my front door. It is original to the house from 1942. My Hooman is in love with it. She sat today for an hour sketching out different landscape designs for it. She could design around a statue of me. I would make a great focal point.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Vampire Lair in the Basement

aka coffin sized potato box

Being the adventurer that I am, I thought I would explore the unknown that is the basement. Until I found the Vampire Lair. I'm not really a fan of any creature who wants to bite me. My Hooman told me not to be afraid because it was only a potato box. I'm not afraid. But seriously, who needs a 6ft long potato box? I know a Vampire Coffin when I see one. I watched from the safety of the stairs. I bravely watched it for a moment but couldn't see any sparkling, so it must not be a teenage-heart-throb-vampire. Means it must be a scary vampire and that explains the stake on top! Exploration complete.....Little Dog has no further reason to go into the basement.

Friday, June 14, 2013

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Aliens or False Parasol Mushrooms

Chlorophyllum molybdites

It rained today. I was wandering around in my yard when I stumbled upon these. I was so excited that my Hooman decided to grow roasted marshmallows for me to eat! As I got closer I realized that these aren't marshmallows. I was about to run back to the house to save my Hooman from the alien buried in the yard up to it's antennae when my Hooman told me to stay away from the mushrooms. She says they are called Chlorophyllum molybdites and they are poisonous so I cannot eat them. I still think it's an alien so I am going to watch the yard very carefully to make sure it doesn't steal my toys.
 

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

It's Looking At Me!


Yesterday I showed you that the Hoomans pulled out the radiators. They put them on the back deck. Now they are looking at me! How am I supposed to do "dog stuff" when I am under surveillance?

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Radiator, no radiator

As you already know, we bought one of Freddie Mac's houses. I think Freddie owns a lot of houses. It has had radiators coming up out of the floors.

 
 
Notice the paint chips on the floor? My Hooman said something about scraping the ceiling because someone painted latex paint over oil based paint. Now I don't understand all of that, but I do know that my Hooman is only 5'3 & 3/4" (she always adds the 3/4 so it must be important) and the ceilings are 11' tall. This should be fun to watch.
 
Oh, back to my story. Apparently the Hoomans do not like radiators anymore because one of the Hoomans crawled under the house and used a reciprocating saw with a hacksaw blade to cut the pipes. So now it looks like this.
 
 
We found some flowery wallpaper back there. we also found some pictures and coins, pennies mainly. Oh yeah, we also found some N'SYNC lip balm with a picture of Justin Timberlake on it. Don't eat it, it's gross. Lesson learned.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Pretty Purple Flower


I found this pretty purple flower in the yard. I couldn't reach it to smell it because it was tall like wheat. I showed my Hooman the flower and she said "That's nice little dog", she may as well have just said "meh". Now I will go lay on my chaise. Yes, I have my own little dog size chaise. It's where I nap and pout.

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Bell Hornet


This is a European Hornet. In our house. It landed on the window and crawled onto the screen so my Hooman shut the window and trapped it. It's HUGE. It's actually called a European Hornet. They are 1-2 inches big, this one is about 1.5 inches. My Hooman left the back door open for me so I could work on my tan on the deck and it flew in. My Hooman told me that hornets are bad news because they can sting you repeatedly. I didn't believe her. But she was right, they don't have barbed stingers so they can get you over and over. Note to self........don't try to eat a Bell Hornet.

Plumbing Problems

I promised you that I would tell you all about the drama the Hoomans are experiencing here in my house. It is a story you might need a cup of tea and a nice couch for or in my Hoomans case, a bottle of wine....or two.

First let me tell you that this is our new house. Except that it's old. The bank owned it for awhile, although I thought banks pretty much owned all houses so I am not sure why the Hooman wants you to know that, other than she's a clean freak and the pre-story statement goes something like this.....

"The images you are about to see are not reflective of the way the Hoomans live, it is simply the state of disrepair the dwelling was in upon purchase from Freddie Mac."

Now I don't know who Freddie Mac is but I think he lived on Elm Street not our street.

So back to my story.

There are 3 bathrooms in this house. One in the master suite, one upstairs and one downstairs.

When the water was turned on the day we moved in we found multiple leaks under the house. So the decision was made to cap off the lines going to the east wing of the house where the master suite is until the remodel was underway.

The upstairs bathroom has its own issues. The bathtub hot water handle broke, so you can't take a shower up there unless you want to freeze. The sink leaks, so we don't use it and we found out that the toilet leaks when you flush it. The Hoomans decided it is a problem the house has had for a while. So they tried to replace the wax seal. It still leaked. The metal collar is broken. And guess what? That bathroom is over the kitchen, so the kitchen ceiling had to come out.

 
Well, the leak isn't fixed yet so we now have a Tupperware flood bowl in the floor in the kitchen.
 
 
I know you are wondering why we just don't use the main floor bathroom right? Well, that's where it  the part of the story that makes me think my Hooman is a crybaby a little overwhelmed with water issues.
 
So in the main bath, the shower worked but drained slowly. Then it didn't. Drain I mean. So they called out the septic man thinking he could fix the issue. He just poked a big metal rod into the ground and then dug holes, which by the way I am not allowed to do.......not fair. Apparently there is no septic tank here. Which I think my Hooman is happy about.
 
So next the public works guys came out. They spent 2 days here digging in our yard, cutting our field and adding a white pipe to our landscape. I am sure it has a purpose because it isn't very pretty. Oh, if you click on the picture it will get bigger and you can see it better.
 
 
They said they pulled a couple of root balls out of the line but it didn't fix things. So the Hoomans bought a product guaranteed to work or your money back. Now they are getting their money back. Next, they rented a snake from the local True Value. I didn't know you could rent snakes and I am not sure why they brought it in the house......the last one in the house freaked out my Hooman. I didn't want to see it so I went to my crate.
 
They couldn't get the toilet out, so they broke it. With a monkey wrench. Not sure how that fixes things.
 
 

They snaked the drain, and it made the bath water drain a little better. But, because they broke the toilet, the place where it goes is just a hole in the floor connected to a pipe.

Now the Real plumber has to come figure out why half of the house drains correctly, half doesn't and he gets to fix/replace pipes.

So.......my Hooman can shower in the downstairs with a slow draining tub while she watches the hole in the floor where the toilet used to be to make sure it doesn't overflow. She can brush her teeth in the main bath sink. But she has to go upstairs to do the rest.

Now you know why I found a couple of empty wine bottles over the past week. It's tough to be a Hooman.

Saturday, June 8, 2013

A Lily made her happy


Today my Hooman found this Lily in the yard. She smiled. That makes me happy because she has been a bit stressed out with the renovations in our new-used-to-be-owned-by-the-bank-but-it-was-a-great-deal house. I will tell you all about them tomorrow. Tonight, I am just gonna snuggle up to my Hooman and watch a movie!

Pretty in Pink

 
This is a pretty little pink flower I found in my yard. I don't know what it is, and neither does my Hooman although she said it was a weed. I don't care. It's pretty & I like it!

Friday, June 7, 2013

Clover


This is a clover. They smell and taste yummy. I have them in my yard. I found another thing I can eat and smell and play in without worry that my Hooman will panic and run to pick me up saying "Oh no, no, no, no"!

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Virginia Creeper


This is Parthenocissus quinquefolia. I just call it Virginia Creeper. It's all over my yard. Apparently my Hooman doesn't mind this, although it looks like Poison Oak which is a no-no for Little Dog to play in. My Hooman said that I would see little flowers followed by berries on this soon. But I am not allowed to eat them. Why not? Birds eat them and Native Americans used the plant as an herbal remedy for lockjaw and other icky Hooman issues. But no, Little Dog doesn't get to eat it....how rude.
 


Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Clematis - Rhapsody


This is Rhapsody, it's the Clematis vine my Hooman discovered today in the yard. I think we get to keep it!

Spotted Slug


I spied this little spotted guy climbing up the brick porch. I thought my days of having visitors were over when my Hooman pulled the ivy down, but the little slug still came to visit. It's nice to have friends willing to drop in for stimulating conversation.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Mulberry


This is a Mulberry Tree. I like the berries. Finally something in my yard I can eat!

Monday, June 3, 2013

Ligustum Vulgare


This is Ligustrum Vulgare, also known as Common Privet. I like it. It's all over our yard and it smells good. But I'm not allowed to eat the berries that are getting ready to grow on it because my Hooman said they are toxic. It's a good thing my Hooman knows these things.

Dragonfly


My Hooman called this a dragonfly. So I watched it from my perch on the back of the couch.....for an hour. It never breathed fire. I think my Hooman is wrong.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Spider


This is a spider. In a drain. In a bathtub. In the East wing of the house. My Hooman hasn't even begun renovations here yet. But she saw it. She freaked out.....it wasn't pretty. Lesson learned.

Poison Ivy


This is Poison Ivy. It is not ok to play in it and then go snuggle up to your Hooman for some love. Lesson learned.

Snail


This little guy showed up after it rained the other day. Watching him was interesting, but he's very slow. He won't come to visit anymore because my Hooman pulled all of his Ivy off of the brick on our front porch. So long little snail.