The Dogs of the Blog

I'm still limited on the amount of time I can spend on the computer (or doing other tasks) because of my arm, so I've been choosing things I can work on a little at a time. I have a Rogues Wall in my home with photos of many of the animals who have shared their lives with me, but it was missing some of the most recent ones so I surfed through my digital photos today for suitable images. Then I became sidetracked using some of those images to create a new header for my facebook page, using a photo from a recent hike, a rainbow, and my dogs who are now at the rainbow bridge.

As you may notice, it includes just those dogs I've lived with since beginning this blog, which was shortly after I moved to acreage and took on adopting senior and special needs dogs. The picture does not include the pigs or alpaca from my farm days, nor my numerous short and long term foster dogs, nor does it include dogs who went to the bridge before I started the blog or lived at the farm (Brandy, Shamrock, McDuff, and Muffin). And it doesn't include Emma, who is still alive and thriving at her Dad's place. Allie would like to point out that it also doesn't include any cats, past or present.

I'm not sure I could make up a photo that includes all the animals that have been part of my life. But I do know that they each stole a piece of my heart - and gave me part of theirs. I miss them all.

(If you want to refresh your memory on their life stories, try clicking on the labels below. I won't guarantee it will work - it doesn't always - but worth a try). 

Down Memory Lane with Belle

Today a friend nominated me for a Facebook Challenge, in which I have to post a photo of a dog each day for five days, and each day I have to nominate someone else to do the same.  "Easy!" I thought, as I accepted the challenge, "No shortage of photos on my computer!"

HA!  Little did I know what I was getting myself into.  I thought the hardest part of the challenge would be thinking of five facebook friends who might actually accept the nomination and not hold it against me for life - or worse, block me from ever tagging them in facebook again.

Instead, the hard part was choosing (a) the five dogs I would feature and (b) one photo of each dog.  I've decided I will likely do my four rescued shelties plus one other rescue dog - probably Caleb, but maybe Sadie - but that could change, because...well....how can I leave out Charley? Or foster dog Lucy and all her pups?  Or Mitzi? Or dogs who were in my life earlier, like Muffin and Sam and Emma? Or other sweet fosters like Isaac or Pepper?  But I had to start somewhere, so I started with Belle.

Four hours and thousands of photos later, I  finally selected this one as the photo to post for the facebook challenge:

Belle, the Singing Sheltie

Belle was the first sheltie to come into my life.  She was twelve when I met her, a crippled, skinny, sparsely haired girl (Belle, not me!) who had been rescued from a family's decision to euthanize after her very elderly papa passed away.  Through the combined efforts of BC Sheltie Rescue and Little Paws Rescue, Belle was kept safe, fostered, received much needed vet care, and on Dec. 8, 2007, I adopted her.

(And because this is my blog and not a facebook challenge, I can post more photos of her!)

Belle at home

She fattened up, became a floof ball, and loved to prance in the pasture of the small farm where we lived, or ride in my backpack when I went hiking.  She liked to sing, raising her head high and yipping away as only a sheltie can.  She brought sunshine and shelti-tude into my life and was a constant joy to have around.

Happy Belle in the pasture

Belle, the Shetland Sheep Pig Dog
Herding and watching over my foster piglets

On June 8th, 2010 she was asleep in her bed when I took my other dogs for a walk, and when I returned she was just drawing her last gentle breath.

Belle in Black and White

I still miss that girl, and I'm sure it was her spirit that led me to other shelties in need.

But those are stories for another day.  

Belle in snow

Dear Piggies

(For those new to the blog:  This letter is to the ten little piggies who were born in my care just after their mama and papa, Scotch and Soda,  were seized in a cruelty case and delivered to my barn for fostering in the summer of 2007.)

Dear Whisper, Toddy, Derby, Rickey, Swizzle, Spritzer, RobRoy, Lizzie, Fizzy, and Tom,

I did it again.  I was thinking your birthday was July 30^th, but it’s not.  It was yesterday – July 28^th.  And I missed it.  I hope someone had a party for you!  If they forgot, you tell the next person you see that it is time for your birthday treat.  Remember to say "please".

You are FIVE years old now.  FIVE!  I bet you've grown a whole bunch since I took this photo:

Soda and babies, 24 hours old.
July 29, 2007

Or even this one:

We needs a bigger pool, foster mama!

Remember the 'cake' I made for your first birthday?

Angel food for angelic piggies!

And how handsome Whisper looked in his party hat?

It's standing on top of my happy bristles, foster mama!

Where did the time go? I hope you are all being good piggies for The Piggy Lady and her helpers.  And I hope you are taking care of Mama Soda and Papa Scotch.  You are all so lucky they were rescued by the SPCA and Hearts on Noses Mini-Pig Sanctuary. 

This morning I thought maybe one of you had snuck on the ferry and come to visit me.  I was having my morning coffee when suddenly I heard 'snort snort snuffle snuffle snort' and right away your cute little faces popped into my mind.  But of course, it wasn't you because you are all safely at the Sanctuary.  You see, our friend Georgi is staying with us while her mama is away and - well - she snorts just like a piggy!  Yes she does!  

Did you have to tell the world that I sound like a piggy?
Royalty does NOT snort!

She's a very nice guest, and almost as much fun to have around as a herd of wee little pigs.  

Do you remember Sadie, Charley, Belle and Oliver, the four dogs who lived with us and liked to herd you under the hazelnut trees?

Belle:  Excuse me, Mr. Pig, you need to move over by the others.

And you too, little pig.
I'm a Shetland Sheepdog - er Pigdog - and my job is to herd you.

That's better!  They're all together now.
See what I did, mama?  I'm so proud of me!

They have all gone to the rainbow bridge now - all four dogs who moved to the island with me just three short years ago.  And last time I drove past our old farm, the hazelnut trees were gone too.  So were those lovely big cedars that gave so much shade along the front of our property.  That made me sad, but life changes and you are safe and happy, and I am safe and happy, and that is what counts.  

The old property has been clear-cut.

The weather here has been hot and dry, so I haven't been doing too much other than enjoying a little hiatus from volunteering and writing.  Mostly Eddie (my new dog - you haven't met him yet, piggies, but probably will soon!) and I have been watching the tides come and go

Tide's in at Osborne Bay

The extension to the Sea Walk is progressing nicely.

and doing a bit of hiking

Are there any treats in yer pack, mama?  I'm hungry, not thirsty!

at Swallowfield, for example.

Swallowfield estuary

We have been watching the garden grow, 

Slowly, it's growing very slowly!

And the flowers bloom, 

Back patio hanging baskets

Side patio hanging basket

And I finished building a great big planter.

Waiting for dirt and fall planting with shrubbery

We've been watching baby birds learn to fly,

Wheeee!

Did you see that?  I flew all the way from that house!

And just lying around in the sun, 

Happy Eddie in the yard

And thinking of you every day.

I miss you all and I hope I  see you soon.

Happy Belated Birthday, little piggies.

Love, Foster Mama.  

Lazy Day

My good friends, Ann and Ken, were planning to come to the island for a visit starting today, but phoned this morning to say they had developed bad colds and thought it wisest to postpone the visit. So....I had a clean house, a well-stocked fridge, laundry all done, and nothing written into the next four calendar days.

It was a beautifully sunny morning, so I did give some thought to taking off in the van to explore a couple of places I haven't been yet, but between the price of gas and Charley's health, I decided just to hang around home. Sort of.

I took each of the dogs for a short morning walk. And a short afternoon walk. And a short evening walk. And, as has been our custom lately, we may even go for a short late night walk. (There is something incredibly relaxing about walking around our small village after the sidewalks have been rolled up and the villagers are all fast asleep. Not a single car, not a sound to be heard except the barking of the sea lions out on the reef. Love it!)

In the back lane a block over, we kept encountering this cat, sentry of the back lane, watching us watching him. And just like the Guards at Buckingham Palace, he never moved a muscle or blinked an eye as we walked past.

Back lane sentry duty

Fruit is still plentiful in the backlanes of Crofton,with apples and plums, grapes and blackberries cascading over fences. One surprise was this cherry tree still loaded with fruit at the end of September!

And I was taken by surprise to see this very colourful shed peering over the brick wall - I swear it was brown last time I passed by. The owners of the house are summerfolks, only using the house for their summer vacations and the occasional long weekend, and I know they left just before Labour Day. When did they paint the shed? Surely I could not have missed anything THIS bright?

In between walks, I didn't do much of anything though somehow I seemed to be busy all day. I did play with the camera at dusk, trying to get interesting pictures on the macro setting with the flash and some background-softening settings.

Everbearing Strawberry continues to bloom

I took about a dozen photos of  one beautiful blossom. I found shadows were a bit problematic as the flash sometimes didn't light up the whole blossom:

I had better luck when I photographed the last blossom from below, but then didn't capture the full shape and beautiful colours of the centre:

When I widened the angle, to include other flowers, I had a bit more luck:

But my favourite photo of the day was this one:

La Belle Rose

It is Belle's rose. And I thought the bugs and mold this year had killed it. You can see the dead stems and leaves in the background. Yet sometime in the last couple of days, one solitary, perfect flower was born. Hi Belle, how're ya doing? Thanks for letting me know you're only a rosebud away!

La Belle Rose

It was just a spindly little stick in the dirt in a small pot when I bought it from a garage sale last winter. I didn’t expect it to be alive, but the pot belonged to a set that would look well on my patio and so I brought it home and left it sitting outside on my workbench, unattended until spring arrived. And then I saw a few very small green leaves slowly unfold from that spindly stick. I cut back the stick, added some water and fertilizer, set the pot in the sunshine, and waited.

I replanted it a month ago when it was only a few inches high. The rose that developed was a gift, an unexpected surprise, a survivor against all odds. It has, more than any of my other patio plants, grown rapidly until it is now about two feet high. And from a spindly stick has sprung beautiful creamy blossoms, some tinged with pink, others not.




In places, the leaves are a little the worse for wear, but then so was my Belle. She was beautiful in her own sweet, frail, arthritic way – such a funny looking little sheltie when she came to me, skinny with just a light dusting of thin fur. And, like the rose, she filled out and her fur became lush and beautiful despite a continuing frailty to her bones and body. As an example of the sheltie breed, she may not have won any prizes for conformation, but her spirit was strong - just like the little stick that became a bushy though imperfect plant.




And so last evening I spread Belle’s ashes around the roots of that creamy, persistent rose. I know not the actual name of this particular rose, but for me it shall be La Belle Rose.

It is a beautiful little rose. And Belle was a beautiful little dog.

I miss her.


(Note: I was just in the process of posting this when I received a call that my 90-something year old mom was found unconcious this morning and has been taken to hospital in serious condition. I was going to add pics of Belle to the post, but I'm off to catch the next ferry. Ironically, my mom's name is Rose.)

Sunsets and Smiles

I think this is one of the most spectacular places in British Columbia for amazing sunsets and sunrises. Last night, the sky was washed with streaks of red running parallel to the horizon, as if someone had dipped their brush in watercolors and gently brushed them across the sky:





Today, I took Charley and Sadie to Osborne Bay Park, our favourite offleash area. The fields are awash with white daisies, and tall grasses sway in the light ocean breeze.



I think the dogs were pretty darn happy:









Even these flowers looked happy, and the little bug on the daisy seemed pretty happy, too, waving his tiny antennae around in the breeze:




And one last happy picture - yesterday I was going through some old photos from my days in Mission, and came across one of Princess Belle and the piggies. It made me smile to see her smile:


Simple things, sunsets and smiles, but oh so important for a balanced life.