Meet a Potcake: Artemis

The potcake dog is a mixed-breed dog type found on several Caribbean islands. Its name comes from the congealed peas and rice mixture that local residents traditionally eat, as the overcooked rice that cakes to the bottom of the pot would be fed to the dogs.

Loki passed in June. Very sad times but things are looking up in the dog department! Meet the new pup!

4 months with the lil critter so far. While totally different than any dog we have had, she is adorable.

We adopted her from a local shelter who brought the dogs up from the Bahamas to be rescued. Very worthwhile cause I can get with!

 

String Art Birthday

A* does not really read our blog as much since we don’t post as much as we used to..which is all fine..Saw some neat string art ( and I also did a planetary string art project for Cubs when I was 9 ( which I hated doing )) and I thought it would be a nice keepsake of Nova ( a passed on dog of ours).

Not really overly complicated. I did an outline along the edges of a cheap charcuterie board with nails..every 1/2 inch oor so, enlarged a silhouette I made from a photo of Nova, printed it out then taped it to the board. Then I went around the outline of the silhouette with nails every 1/2 inch too. The complicated bit was the actual stringing…took a couple of goes at it but was fun anyway..Hopefully A* likes her birthday gift ( and does not visit the blog in the meantime too!). Miss you Nova..and Jango!

 

A Small Update

..we are not doing that much new stuff…and I hate repeating and overly redundant posts.. so I avoid posting but there was some fun stuff and beautiful sights to behold..so take a look if you want!!

..I hate repeating myself and I never do it..hope you enjoyed the bears, hawks, shrubs, lady slippers, Loki and our future apple orchard ( the seedlings ( yes I know the apples will not grow true ))!!

 

Spreading Seeds

With fall in the early stages and A* and I with grass seed (from 2 years ago) we needed to double down. We were not even sure if the seed was still good..the land is not perfectly flat, free from (all) rocks ( but most of the fist sized and larger were removed) or truly finalized as far as planning was concerned…but we have an area cleared and so we decided to make an attempt and see if the seed was still good and would grow.

We did not seed a 10-15 ft tractor path near the woods/areas we are still going to be working on as we knew the tractor will be back and forth over the area so there was no sense in doing anything..but most of the rest got a liberal dousing of grass seed..And yes, we took a look at the weather to make sure that both cooler weather and rain were forecast..yep..fall is on the way we should have both in spades!

..the old truck cap is our tractor ‘bits’ cover..when the backhoe is not in use it is always in the way..hopefully the grass grows around it..but then again when we need the backhoe again it is going to be torn up..but nothing ventured nothing gained.

..if it does take mowing is not going to be fun..but it beats dirt!

 

Border Collie Run-Ins

…Jango is gone so nobody ( dog ) is around to tell Loki that she is better off not taking a run at 2 local border collies who live in a barn with horses..Becoming a space dog might help cement the memory in Loki’s 1/2 border collie brain!

Truthfully it is mostly (the ghost of)Jangos fault as Loki learned to interact with these 2 via Jango’s usual method..charging in and seeing what happens. Loki has been great with all other dogs we meet in the park (without Jango) but both of these groups learned early on that they did not get along..hopefully I can change this as the 2 dogs in question are actually quite nice and friendly.

 

End of the Jangozotoic Era

13 years with the old boy..never easy watching a dogs health rapidly decline but he had a great life..He was a terror to garbage cans everywhere but he will be missed. Now Jango gets to rest peacefully beside Nova for evermore. Good luck Jango and hopefully heaven is full of unsecured meat trimming filled garbage cans.

 

Dawgs

What better way to avoid work than experimenting with tablet photo options!

Loki and Jango shots from early spring. They prefer warm April not 4 ft of snow April.

Also heard Spring Peepers on April 1st..that’s no prank either!

 

Sure Signs of Improvement

It is easy to tell that the weather is improving.. Loki in her usual warm weather sleeping area between bouts of squirrel patrols. 

 

Just Quillin’

Loki happened upon a roving porcupine and got 5 quills in her face. We removed 4 with no major issues and thought we got them all ( we are getting a little familiar with quills and detecting them) Loki was a little swelled up and then a couple of days later I noticed a quill around 2 inches from the outside of her eye..it appeared to be moving back toward her ear but it was under the skin..A* was in bed so I left it for the night. The next day it had moved 2 inches and had somehow done a C movement and was now positioned a half inch above her eye and moving directly toward her eyeball under the skin. We got Loki into emergency and got the quill out before it took her eye. Scary. She is fine. Even having experienced quills before the amount of movement in the quill over such a short time was astonishing..and not in a normal line as I would have expected.

Filled up our 30 outdoor pots in preparation of last frost…

Loki was fairly sleepy on the first day back…but by day 2 she was back to normal with a new houseguest.

 

Making Room for Cabinets

Oops..this time it was my fault for not having write-ups..I was away at the Big Brother Canada season finale..everyone needs a vice and I am a huge fan of Big Brother..the TV show. Don’t judge! hehe..

Anyway..in preparation of putting in the new kitchen we had to take away part of the old kitchen..the closet which we made..very poorly too.

Pre-Demo:

….and heeeeeere’s A*!

We have seen ‘The Shining’ too many times not to set up this shot. Classic.

..and heeeeeeers’s Jango!

So, the closet is now gone..onto flooring and fixing the wall..not in that order though.