Porch Time

This sweet girl of mine; dear Maggie. Look at that face . . .

We are creating new little rituals. In the morning I sit on the porch with my tea and she wanders around the yard. Then she sits down at my feet. We are getting into a routine & finding those moments of peace. :-)

Popping In

I'm popping in to share an artsy thing I did for my niece's b-day. Brother Atlasta gave me a B&W laser printer so I played around with it.

Printed onto photo paper & painted with water colours.

This is the one she's getting. She's loved  leopard print since she was two, & she's a bit of a fashionista, so this is perfect! Printed onto regular paper & coloured in with coloured pencils.

Old Dogs

There is something special about old dogs. Gene Weingarten sums it up so eloquently in his book, Old Dogs Are the Best Dogs:

Old dogs can be cloudy-eyed and grouchy, gray of muzzle, graceless of gait, odd of habit, hard of hearing, pimply, wheezy, lazy, and lumpy. But to anyone who has ever known an old dog, these things are of little consequence. Old dogs are vulnerable. They show exorbitant gratitude and limitless trust. They are without artifice. They are funny in new and unexpected ways. But above all, they seem at peace. This last quality is almost indefinable; if you want to play it safe, you can call it serenity. I call it wisdom.

Today I thought I'd share a few photos of Millie & Maggie together. They came together as a package, and they were inseparable.

INSIDE

 VISITS WITH FRIENDS

Fisherman Willie.

Meeting GSF Bess. 

Meeting San Diego friend Aida. 

I am forever grateful to Gareth & Lena at Mystic Pet. 

I don't remember what we were laughing at, but I managed to snap a photo at the right time!

The girls LOVED Gareth, which made me & Lena think that their original owner must have been a man. Lena told me that one time Gareth leaned over to her and whispered, "I think Millie is my favourite of the two." As if they could hear him in the next room & understand what he was saying!

One time after a vet visit, I popped over to the store before heading home. In the parking lot, Millie & Maggie were looking out the window & they started barking & howling. I look waaaaaaay across the parking lot, & there's a guy with a bald head. They thought it was Gareth! It wasn't, unfortunately!

THRU the SEASONS:

 WINTER

These gals had v. long & thick fur. So they were quite comfortable on a sunny winter day.  I kept the door open and the wood stove blasting so they could come in or go out when they wanted. Millie stayed out much more than Maggie did, tho.

Venturing down the driveway. I once watched a turkey cross over the drive. A couple hours later, Millie tracked its scent. She hadn't seen the turkey, but she could smell it!

They LOVED the snow!

Maggie plopped down.

Whatcha lookin' at, girls?

Neighbor Dave plowing out from the Historic Blizzard.

"This here's good eatin' snow," says Maggie.

SPRING

Red bud trees in bloom.

Oprah's favourite colour--new grass green.  ;-)

SUMMER

In the driveway.

Lazy-dazy porch days.

Going down the ramp. They always stopped to survey their domain from this place.

My favourite!  Laundry day!

AUTUMN

By the labyrinth.

Frosty day.

GORGEOUS.

My sweet girls.  :-)

Funny Friday

I have so many fond memories of funny, quirky little things that M&M have done, I thought it would be nice to share some of my favourite M&M pix.

Here's Millie sitting at the top of the dog ramp and waiting for Maggie to try to get by.

See?  Heh heh hehhhhhhhh.

"It seems we've come to an impasse." It only happened a coupla times--but it was hard getting Millie to back up. She'd do it, but she'd grumble the whole way up!

What is so fascinating?

The early days, when Tabby was a Porch Kitty, before she made it into the house.

They used to camp out by the door.

Millie went & got my shoe by the door & brought it in to taunt Maggie with.

 MEAL TIME

Millie preferred her food mixed with water & fish oil and she liked it soupy. She would slurp the soupy part & eat a bit, then save the rest for later when it was mushy. She also was adept at pulling her bowl with her teeth to her.

After a couple mishaps of soupy dogfood spilling everywhere, I made sure to prop up her food bowl with a box so she wouldn't spill it:

The box also doubled as a head rest.

And my shoe helped to prop up her bowl every now & then.

Breakfast in bed.

Eating her Mercola dental bone. She would wolf hers down.
 Sometimes she would act like a regular dog . . . 

She managed to get my cup off the coffee table & finished whatever was in there!

 She did this once; getting into the trash. Instead of being mad, I thought, "Good for you, Mil. Trying to act like a youngster."

Cat Tolerator

Millie letting Tabby sleep on her bed.

Millie was v. tolerant of Tabby Bobcat. She didn't bark at her or go after her if she was at the water bowl, like Maggie does. 

 Book Ends

SO SWEET.  :-)