Sentrys At Their Post

Well, that pesky Wile E Coyote was back yesterday morning. This time Mikey wasn't the only sentry on duty. He had help from

Smoke. They stood like that for a long time. Enough time for me to grab my camera and take some pictures. And they stood there for quite some time after that.

Somewhere out there Wile E lurks. I could hear him. Mikey and Smoke could hear and smell him.

Try as I might though, I never did get a glimpse of him.

But he's out there taunting the loyal sentrys

in our backyard.

The Dog Who Came For Dinner

One year ago yesterday (Saturday) this guy showed up at our back door. He was literally knocking on the back door with his tail.

It was late in the afternoon and a very cold day. We just couldn't turn him away.

AD fed and watered him, then fixed him a warm bed in the shop.

He came with no collar and a big wound in his side. The pads on his paws were in good shape so he hadn't traveled too far. AD thought he'd been dumped and I thought so too.

AD attempted to play with him by picking up a stick to throw for him. When Mikey saw AD pick up that stick he ran the other way, giving us more reason to believe he'd been abused.

(About a month later we took him to the vet to get him some shots. Mikey was NOT going to get in the truck. We think the truck might have triggered a bad memory or two. Eventually we did get him in. AD had to sit in the back seat with him, petting and assuring him all the way to the vet that everything was going to be okay while I drove into town.)


AD got him bedded down that first night. The next morning, AD let him out of the shop and Mikey went outside to do his business. He was (and is) very well mannered.

One of the first things he did was to offer us his paw to shake our hands.

We just let him run around and check everything out that next day. Never once did he offer to leave. And that continues to this day.



After about day 3 we decided he needed a name. Since our fur kids all have NASCAR names and he stood head and shoulders above our other 3 in size, we decided Mikey was the perfect name - after Michael Waltrip who is one of the tallest drivers in NASCAR.

A week or so later, Mikey's bed was moved into our garage. Now he has a Dogloo house inside the garage.


All of these photos were taken one year ago.


This one was taken a few minutes ago in AD's shop. Whenever AD is out there working, Mikey likes to lay on the old couch that's out there.

We are so glad Mikey found his way to our home and that he decided he liked us well enough to stay.

They're On Candid Camera!

The other night - well, the other morning actually - I had to get up to go to the bathroom. While I was in there I saw a flash of light. The first thing that came to mind was lightning.

The second thing I thought was, not this time of year. That must be AD's wildlife camera.

Yesterday he went out and retrieved the card out of the camera. Here's some of the pictures that were on it.


I call this one "Deer in the Headlights."


The flash didn't spook them though. They kept right on grazing.


Oops! How did this guy get through the fence? AD is going to have to check that out.


Well, look at this guy. Mikey, what are you doing eating the deer food? You have lots of tasty treats back at the house.


Mikey: Did I just hear something? Drat! I've been caught on camera. I'd better mosey on along.


Even the crows came in for a snack.

I don't know who's having more fun with the camera - AD or ME!

We're Good Scouts

Back in the day I was a Brownie, later a Girl Scout and when Daughter was in elementary school I was a Girl Scout leader.

AD was a Boy Scout - not sure exactly what level - but I've heard rumors that his stint in the scouts lasted only as long as his first hike. Of course it could also be due to the fact that he grew up on military bases and there was quite a bit of moving around.

At any rate, I always thought the BOY Scouts owned the motto "Be Prepared." Recently I learned that it is also the GIRL Scout motto. Not sure how I missed that bit of information especially having been a Girl Scout leader.



The 7-day weather forecast for northeast Oklahoma looks like this. With the wind speeds that are predicted over the next couple of days we will be seeing (feeling) the wind chill at something like 18 to 25 degrees below zero.

Yesterday afternoon our weather radio sounded and warned of the extremely bitter cold conditions and possible precipitation our area will be experiencing later today and tomorrow.

This morning at 4a.m. the radio sounded again with the same warning.

And we're prepared -



Diesel fuel for the big generator should our electricity go out - CHECK!

The propane guy came yesterday, so full propane tank - CHECK!

Grocery shopping trip last night. Ingredients for soups and casseroles - CHECK!

Hot chocolate - CHECK!

Heated bed, blankets & clean sweaters (not shown) for the "inside" kids - CHECK!

Extra "insulation" for Mikey's house* - CHECK!

I think that about covers it. We former scouts are prepared!


*AD first put the old comforter over Mikey's house a few days ago - NOT covering the doorway because after all, Mikey is afraid of the dark.

Sometime over the past few days though Mikey has discovered he can pull the comforter down over his doorway to keep his house even more toasty warm. He's such a smart kid!

Guess he figures it's better to have the added warmth in the dark than to have his night light (although the light is still on just in case . . .)

New House for Mikey

Mikey doesn't look happy in this picture does he? We bought him a new "Dogloo" on Saturday.

I worried a lot about him last winter being too cold in our garage. He had a bed with lots of blankets to keep him warm and we tried covering him up at night. Sometimes he'd keep his blanket on and sometimes not. So I worried.

When it started to turn cold this year I started to worry again. I wondered if they made blankets for big dogs like they do for horses. When I asked AD about that he just kind of gave me one of those looks.

Knowing how I worry about animals though - any animals - not just ours, AD took one of our little guys' heated pads out and hooked it up for Mikey at night. He put Mikey's other blankets on top of the heated pad and Mikey REALLY liked laying on his bed. Sometimes in the morning he didn't even want to go out - he just wanted to lay on his warm bed.

I still worried because the big guy might be warm on his underside but surely he was cold on top.

Then one of the local farm and ranch supply stores had the Dogloos on sale last week. I asked AD about getting one for the big guy. He agreed that Mikey would probably stay warmer in the Dogloo rather than just a heated bed because the house would keep Mikey's body heat inside.

Saturday we went to the store and bought the house. And we came home and set it up in the garage, of course. Put his bedding in - but without the heated pad - along with some of his favorite treats. And tried to get the big guy to go in. Try as we might, no amount of coaxing could get Mikey to go in! He laid down and wasn't budging. And he's one big dog. Talk about dead weight!

You should have seen AD and me trying to "put" him in the house. We just knew if he'd try it once, he'd like it.

We could have probably won $10,000 on America's Funniest Videos if we had the event on tape.

Then something dawned on AD. Mikey is SCARED of the dark. He has to have his own night light. So AD got a flashlight and put it in the house to see if Mikey would go in and look around. You can see it there on the left.

Mikey did go in all by himself and I ran to get the camera. By the time I got back to the garage though he was coming out. He'd had enough looking around for the time being. That's the reason AD has hold of him so I could snap a picture.

Then the worrying started again. We'd spent all that money on a Dogloo right before Christmas and Mikey wasn't going to like it after all.

But AD had yet another idea. Maybe the flashlight didn't light the house up enough. AD moved Mikey's night light closer to the house, hooked it up (it's really a small lamp) and that did the trick because Mikey went right in, laid down and was happy as a clam.

Now he LOVES his house!

The downside is - Mikey can go clear to the back of the house and if he doesn't want to come out, we can't make him. And he's one stubborn dog.I foresee that being a problem sometime in the future but for now, I'm just glad that he loves his new digs and I won't have to worry about him being cold.

Mikey's snug as a bug in a rug at night - a Big bug - but's he's snug. LOL

They Weren't New Toys For Me?

I just don't know where I went wrong. There were these pretty orange balls in what I thought was a toy box on the front porch. The balls weren't very round though. Maybe that should have been a clue.

It turns out they were really fall decorations. Who woulda thunk it?

Well, maybe my friend, Cosmo. He laid way out in the front yard watching all the fun I was having throwing some of them up in the air and catching them. Cosmo didn't even act like he wanted to play with them or me. It was LOTS of fun until Granny looked out the window and saw what I was doing.

She came outside and she WAS laughing. But she picked them up and took them in the house. I thought maybe because some of the parts had broken off. So I just got another one out of the box and was starting to play with it. Then she came back out and took it and the others in the house too.

I'm REALLY sorry!

That's ok, Mikey. Daughter told me she thought you would probably eat them. But you don't bother the flowers and I didn't think you could get them out of the baby bed anyway.

It was probably the smell of the olive oil that I rubbed on them to shine them up a little. That's probably what attracted you to them.

Not to worry, Mikey. I was going to cut them open eventually anyway. I want to see if I can save the seeds and plant them next year.

Does anyone know if that's possible?

It's probably a good thing that I hadn't gotten that scarecrow made that I was going to set in the bed too.