The Big Goof

As soon as we near the vet’s office, Guinness goes into hysterics. He is way too happy to be there. After dragging me into the building, he attacks the closest people with jumps and licks, then hops on his hind legs at the counter to say “hello” to the staff on the other side. The owner of our clinic is always a riot. He used to say that Hershey didn’t seem to know he wasn’t supposed to like him. But I would tell him that Hershey adored him and was thrilled to see everyone at the vet’s office including the mean doctors. “Thrilled” does not begin to describe Guinness’s ecstasy. Overzealously euphoric is more like it. They are his long lost best friends whom he thinks are as excited to see him as he is to see them. This elder vet comes off with one-liners about Guinness which I can never remember two minutes later. The only ones that stuck with me are the ones he repeated frequently: “goofy” and “clown” plus his original term for him – “the Al Qaeda Terrorist.” He also characterized him as “a flea on a hot brick.” He told Guinness that he is nothing like his predecessor. I chimed in that Hershey was a gentleman. He totally agreed, then added, “Guinness doesn’t know when he has poo in his mouth.” That’s for sure! He managed to wrestle him to a non-jumping position in order to weigh him – 78.6 pounds. Being the most adept of the vets, he gave bouncing Guinny a shot and checked out his orifices in record time. As we left, he commented that Guinness might be slightly calmer in a year.

This pose was taken before one final leap to lick doc's face.

Bird Day

We were the first to arrive at the ballpark for playtime this morning and found the field littered with seagulls. Guinness felt it was his obligation to clear the field for his friends. On the way home, he had his usual 26 foot lead to give him room to meander at will. A bird was on the ground. Of course, he ran up to it expecting it to fly away. It fluttered a couple of inches in the air but didn’t fly away. So he ran towards it again. It flapped its wings and hopped a foot or two. Then I realized – this must be a baby bird that hasn’t conquered the art of flying yet. I moved closer and saw that it was a baby robin. After two tries to chase it away, Guinness ignored it. He must have recognized that it was a baby and chose to not disturb it. What a gentle dog!

A few hours later, I was working at my computer with Guinny sacked out at my feet. Eight feet away from me on our neighbor’s deck, a Kingfisher landed momentarily, then chattered and flew away. What a beautiful, large bird up close!

It's Over!

The workmen are gone and the floors are looking great! Now we can begin unpacking and resettling our lives. Guinness is glad to have his house back but will miss his new friends. He spent many days over the last two weeks tied to a tree to be out of the way of the workmen. Fortunately, most of them loved him and would play as they passed by him in the yard. One morning, I was in the kitchen with the dishwasher running. I could hear some loud scurrying noises, so I turned off the dishwasher and asked, “Are you playing with Guinness or working?” Guess what they were doing. I had to remove Guinness from them so that these adult men could get to work.

I took a few pictures, over the past few days, of Guinness being very patient in the yard.

Look at that face! But the angle of this shot makes his body look too small for his head -- like a cartoon character. ha! Well, he definitely is a funny caricature with a handsome body in real life.

The Maze

Do you think you could find your way through this maze to lie beside your master's feet? This is our den. The hardwood is done in this room, but the quarter round is not down. The furniture includes den and living room large pieces plus the base to the china cabinet. My desk is on the far side of what you see below.

Below you can see where my computer desk is. And you can see Guinness's opening to reach me -- between the arms of two sofas. Then he weaves around the desk chair seen above.
This photo is a birds' eye view (I am standing on my desk chair to take it. The corner of my desk is in the lower left of the photo) of where he wants to be at my feet. To reach his goal, he has to weave to the left around the hutch sitting on the floor.
My path is much simpler. I couldn't fit his way, and he cannot fit my way. I squeeze straight in between two chests. Isn't he a smart boy to have figured this out!

Playtime!

A neighbor told me that several owners with dogs meet daily at 7 AM at the ballfield on the nearby bike path. I am not a morning person, so the chances of me ever going were slim. However, we are in a reflooring project for a couple of weeks. Workmen begin arriving at 8:30, meaning that Guinness is either confined to his crate or tied up outside. Not good for a high energy dog! Plus I shouldn’t be running out for dog walks while the workmen are here.

Thus, at 7 AM, you can find Guinness and me with our new best friends at doggie play group. It is a godsend for these construction days. I suspect that both of us are going to become addicted and will have to maintain this early morning schedule.

Here are some shots with our new friends:

Guinness is chewing a stick which he shared with his buddies.

Labs having a romp.
There are 3 chocolates and 1 black lab that are regulars. Today, we are missing Lucy (our neighbor), but Bailey and Riley (black) are having some fun. I am convinced that dogs recognize their own breed.
The non-lab is Smartie, an Australian Shepherd - Border Collie mix.

Calming down after the fun.

Backyard Dining Guests

This morning at 6:30 AM, I walked out on the deck with Guinness and heard something in the tree to my left. There were three raccoons (two small and one larger) walking down the arched branch of a mulberry tree! I called to Guinness in a whisper and took him back inside, grabbed my camera and tried to capture some photos. The lighting wasn’t perfect, I had to zoom to capture them, and, with a digital camera, I can never capture THE moment I want. They were having a feast of berries. Birds and squirrels love the annual harvest. Now we know raccoons love to dine on that tree too. At first, I thought there were only three, but then it seemed like there must be more, though I could only see three at a time. Eventually, Guinny needed his morning potty break. When he appeared, the raccoons scurried up the trunk of the large basswood tree next to their breakfast branches. Three stared down at us from a high crook in the tree. I wish I could have captured that darling shot; instead, the scene is emblazoned in my memory. Then we noted that two more raccoons were lower on the tree, so it was a family of five!

Wildlife Intrigue

A couple of days ago, I watered the garden near the deck and three baby bunnies tumbled out onto the driveway!

We seem to have a prolific pair of rabbits in our yard. When the girls were planting our flowers a month ago, they discovered a nest near our deck with five babies! The gestation period is 31 days, so the mommy and daddy wasted no time in expanding their family!

Yesterday, we saw two darling bunnies snuggled together at the curb.

Today we were cleaning out the garage and tied Guinny to a post outside the garage. A while later, we noted that one of our baby bunnies was on the curb at the edge of the deck not even two feet from the post where Guinny was tied. Guinny did not seem to be paying any attention to the bunny, when, normally, he can smell a bunny a mile away and delights in chasing them. It seemed like Guinny was trying to be kind to his little friend and ignored him to not frighten him.

This evening while Grant was BBQing, he saw a hawk dive out of the sky and grab a baby bunny that had ventured out into the driveway. All the little birds in the trees made a ruckus forcing the hawk to drop the bunny! Here you can see some blood on the driveway and the scratch of two talons in the asphalt.

Grant set him on the curb beside the deck, where they like to hang out. The next time we looked, another bunny was sitting there with him. It is the sibling that is nestled down into the crack. You can see a spot of ruffled fur on back this bunny who is lucky to be alive. Maybe we should name him Peter Rabbit because he is audacious.

I read on the Internet that they are weaned after three or four weeks, then they venture out of the nest. At night, they return to the nest to sleep with their mother. The family unit remains together for four or five weeks.

After dinner, we saw the mother on our steps, though we didn’t venture out to see where the babies were. She kept a close eye on us.

Later as dusk was falling, I checked again and found her with one baby directly behind our garage door. Sleep tight, bunnies!