Saturday, January 9, 2010

Where the wild things are, truffle hound and new friends

Sit back, take the phone off the hook, get a cup of something nice to drink - this is going to be a long post!

Where the wild things are...


First off, let's take a walk around to the lagoon to see all the birds that have been gathering there. There have been dozens of merganser ducks on the lagoon. Here's a photo of a male - those are all feathers in that big bouffant hairdo! They will disappear under water and then you'll see them start popping up out of nowhere.


Here is a great blue heron at the mouth of the creek that runs behind our house into the lagoon. You can also see an egret on the bank. We tried to get closer to get a better shot but he flew off, spewing curses at us! To give you a sense of scale, he probably stands about 5 feet tall!

Here's a smaller heron and another egret right behind our house. The great blue heron was back here too, but he left when we walked over to the bank to get a better look.

While we've had deep freezes overnight, there are still some flowers in bloom, like our neighbor's gorgeous camillias. We have a baby camillia bush planted by our front door that has some tight buds—fingers and paws crossed we might get some flowers when the weather warms up next week.

And here is our new pet! This little male cardinal has been visiting us every day this past week, usually starting around 9:00 a.m. He pecks and flies at the windows all around the house. Mom was afraid he'd hurt himself, but he's not violent, just noisy! We've named him Wolsey after another famous cardinal who made a big racket. For the first couple of days, I'd run up to the window and bark at him, now he's just a member of the family!

The tale/tail of the truffle hound...

So at our New Year's Day brunch, a friend of Mom's brought her these fancy chocolate truffles that Mom put in this shell dish in the living room.

The other morning, when Mom walked through the living room on her way to the kitchen, she noticed one of the truffles in the middle of the rug. Hmmm. How did that get there?

It was untouched, so she put it back in the dish. A while later, she heard some rustling in the living room and —caught me in the act of trying to unwrap a truffle! Mom's still baffled as to how I got them out of the dish as the table is too deep for me to just reach it.

No more truffles for this hound...
and finally...some new friends!

It was warm enough the other afternoon to head to the beach! Hooray!!! When we got there, we met six doggies—it was a party!

This is Blossom, a gorgeous Shepherd mix. And don't be fooled by the pretty name, he's a handsome fellow.

And this is Sam. Who is actually a Samantha. She liked to chase the ball too.

Whee! I love being the dog that the other dogs chase. From left to right is Ben, Cody - a labradoodle that looks like my NYC friend Pumpkin who's a golden doodle, and Poppy, a Cairn Terrier mix. Can't catch me!

Zooming on a wide-open beach is just the best! (By the way, that's Sam's tennis ball, you know I never drop mine for a second!)

Cody really loved to chase Poppy around. He didn't seem to mind. I think Blossom was just happy to observe!
There was this crazy sand sculpture on the beach - we didn't know if it was an ancient calendar or a sundial. But it was very cool!

Ahhh, gotta catch my breath and take a breather...

....ummmm! Nothing like the scent of the sea on a brisk sunny day.

Poppy and Blossom decided to go exploring a bit too far away, so once they were rounded up, they went back on their leashes. Poppy is awfully cute. He is a rescued pup and was found in an awful condition. How can people be so cruel to such a great little dog?

Here he is plotting with Blossom where they'll go on their next adventure. Blossom is a rescue dog, too. He's so sweet and loves a good long scritchy scratch.

As are Ben and Sam. Our hats are off to their owners Sue and Elizabeth for so generously opening their homes and their hearts to these deserving dogs! Just look at that happy smiling face.

Ahhh, quite a wonderful adventure. Now...time for a nap and more dreams of wild things, new friends and dog-friendly chocolate truffles!

17 comments:

Tama-Chan, Benny, Vidock, Violette, Ollie, Heloise, Momo, Ryu said...

You're such a lucky guy, Petey! What a fabulous place to winter!

Great name for the cardinal!

It's VERY hard to get close enough to great blue herons to take a decent photo. #1 has been trying for years...

Martha said...

Hi Petey, now we thought you and your mom had made that amazing sand sculpture!
That just looks like a wonderful place to have a vacation.
The herons were beautiful and we have never seen one of those fancy ducks - like the elvis of the duck world.
Now we are impressed that you managed to get a chocolate truffle out of your mom's dish!
Of course you know Petey these chocolates are no good for us dogs so try and steal something more suitable next time.
We don't want you being ill.
It was lovely to see you with your new friends on the beach and we agree - zoomies on the beach are wonderful.
Would it be convenient if we came over to stay for a couple of days?
We are both worried about our tans fading in this scottish winter!
love you lots
Aunties Martha & bailey xxxx

doyle and mollie said...

vacationing by the seashore how pawfect!

NAK and The Residents of The Khottage Now With KhattleDog! said...

Soooooo many great things in the post!

I'm thinking one of the birds snukhk into the house and left those truffles on the kharpet!

Tank woo fur sharing your khanine pals - especially their happy tails/tales!

Hugz&Khysses,
Khyra
PeeEssWoo: Mom also liked the khardinal's name!

Eric said...

Petey ! Your game on the beach with the boys looked a blast. Tho I confess I'm a teensy bit worried about those boys and girlies having well....having such gender bender names. What's going on there Petey???

And that ancient worshiping circle you found on the beach. I think you might have dug up Sand Henge. Yeah. We have it's sister site here. Rolling stones. Something like like anyway.

Now Petey. The truffles. Tut. Tut. remember your ancestry dude. Always a terrier. Never a hound. Dog.

Wiry love Eric xxxx

Molly the Airedale said...

What a cool sand sculpture! Seeing the beach makes us miss Nantucket! Mom says she LOVES camellia's and wishes that she could grow them here!

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

Gus said...

Hey Petey...you have some wonderful friends at the beach. They seem a lively bunch. Hope some of them decide to come along on our next adventure! Did you check to see if your heron is related to the heron cam heron of Jake and JH fame? That might explain why is it so hard to book time when ya need him to follow hoomans!

Glad you are having a good time. We love the seashore decor at your beachie place. Does your bed look like a seashell too?

hehehe..Rosie would love it.

gussie

Clive said...

Petey

We enjoyed that post so much! Those sandcastles were fantastic - the NSLM was most impressed!

Glad you didn't manage to eat the chocolate - the NSLM is always telling me how bad they are for dogs!

You are having such a lovely time at the beach - makes us want to wish away all this cold and snow!

take care
Clive and the NSLM

Scruffy, Lacie and Stanley's Place said...

Hmm...where to start...does the duck date? I have never seen such a stylin' duck...great hair..or whatever!!!

As for the objects d'art in the sand..that one thing was interestin'...sorta um MALE lookin'....what's the wordie...fay lick? I'm just sayin'...

As for your stoopid comment bout my butt...well, I do know it happened to be the ONLY thing that made Mumsie feel better and make her not ground me for life...she was shakin' still and she read that and (I just hate to say it...) SHE GIGGLED...she also said there might be a pic of it on our camera, but she hasn't developed it yet...and I thought we had all digital stuff...

Oh...and just rub it in bout the flowers...we have a ton of snow and it's freezin'...

Miss you...dunno why...

Laciegirlie XXOOXXOO

Deborah said...

Petey, you have a wonderful home and yard! WOW. Even though it's cold it is still beautiful!
Nice pictures of the beach!

Bobby said...

Not a bit of snow about how nice,I thought you were good making all those sand pies. Great wild life too pretty duck, and lots of furends, you are really lucky Petey.

Joe Stains said...

Are those Lindor truffles?! I can see why you'd try to eat them if they were, they are SO good. Anyway, the herons are kind of creepy looking but the rest of the pals lok pretty darn fun.

Hamish Westie said...

Hi Petey
What nice friends you have there. And as for the trufffles - I can't believe your Mom ever imagined you'd just let those truffles rest there in that special pot. And by te way, if you need any hints about getting wrappers off chocolate truffles, I'm your man!
Cheers, H.

Arran, Arthur and Mum said...

What a beautiful place that be! I like your new friends. Good job you didn't eat that chocolate truffle!
~lickies, Ludo

TwoSpecialWires said...

Now we KNOW you're having a good time. And soon it will be warmer and you'll be having even MORE fun.

Happy New Year, Petey,
Jake and Fergi xx00

Asta said...

Petey
I'm so sowwy , I haven't visited..Mommi is just howwibull, what can I say..she wuns out of time evewyday.
I loooove youw pictoowes and wish I was thewe getting weaquainted wif all youw pwetty wildlife and meeting youw soopew cool fwiends! I'm so glad those wescood pups have found such wondewful fuwwevew homes!!!
I am booowed and cold and it's not neawly as nice heew.
I'm wowking on being a judge fow Mango Minstew..I had no idea it was soo hawd..can you imagine? some doggies have twied to bwibe me???
anyway, I love you and miss you
smoochie kisses
ASTA

ScrapsofMe said...

What fun! I love a good run on the beach! Especially with new dogfriends! I amazed at your self control, I love to run through sand castles and knock them over. You need another pup in the house to blame things on, like the truffle incident. I blame everything on Puffers.

sniffies,
Bonnie