Death's aftertaste

Looking at my post of October 20th makes me cry. She was such a wonderful dog.
I was out in the yard raking today and continuing my garden clean-up, and sensed a movement out of the corner of my eye. It was Caddy! No, unfortunately, it wasn't. Just a bird flying overhead or the wind lifting a leaf into the air.
Her ashes were mailed to us about a week after her cremation at the Ark Valley Humane Society facility in Buena Vista. Thank god there is such a facility near us here in the hinterlands of the San Luis Valley.
Right now she is placed on a shelf in the kitchen since that was her favorite room in the house. I am still touched by cards that we received from Alpine Vet (Tyler Ratzlaff was the vet who euthanized her), Stephen Myers (a wonderful former co-worker who sent a beautiful card), two children (Sam Clark and Daniel Clark) from the next block who gave a gift of wonderful chocolate and hand-written notes acknowledging the loss of Caddy, and, lastly, the wonderful poem that accompanied Caddy's ashes from the staff at the Ark Valley Humane Society.

Doggie heaven for Caddy the dog

Caddy was euthanized today after a great life that we got to share with her. Born summer 1995 and adopted by us December 5 of the same year, she went to Green Bay Packerland in the sky at 8:30 am today, October 20, 2010.

Never will there be a better dog.
RIP.

Harvest nearly over as is Caddy's long life

Though we haven't had more than a very light frost, harvest of vegetables seems to be nearing the end. I picked the last green beans two nights ago, the last of the Daikon radishes, some swiss chard, tomatoes, and garlic. I still have lots of winter squashes to pick up, but will wait until after we get a REAL frost, which is not yet in the forecast.
As soon as I get some time, I'm going to plant some late season (lettuce, greens, maybe beets & carrots) crops and then cover them with a small hoop house (metal stays and Agribon row cover material). I want to see how late I can feasibly grow food.
Days have been beautiful, clear, sunny & dry, in the 80's. Sandhills were first heard back in the valley two weeks ago today. A few V's of geese have been spotted too.
Caddy the 16-year-old dog is aging rapidly; her mobility is nearly gone, and we frequently have to pick her up after she falls over during her stumbling sojourns around the yard and house. Smooth carpet-less floors are her nemesis, as is the smallest obstacle. We've talked about euthanasia many times over the past few weeks, but the time does not yet seem to be right or necessary.

Three adolescent fox, not two

I got to see the teenage fox pups this AM, yippee! Caddy and I went for a walk and, while strolling through the Vet's Center, what did we see but THREE of them! Two of them are in photo, one's a little hard to see. Mom was nowhere in sight - maybe she was taking a break this Mother's Day!
Such a treat.
I transplanted the last of my raspberry plants this morning into their new bed. Feels hot outside. Wind, as usual, is not letting up much.
The pollinators are buzzing around the blooming Golden Currant.

Deer leg

Went for a snowshoe around the Rio Grande & the state wildlife area; the dog found a tasty treat which she gnawed on the remainder of the night. Even missed her dinner for it.
We got 11" of snow overnight last Thursday; I skipped work to shovel, rake snow off the roof, split firewood, and go snowshoeing.

Owls, heron, deer

Went for a walk over in the Rio Grande State Wildlife Area the other night. The great horned owls were hooting from nearly every direction - I probably heard four to six individuals. At one point, I was walking on entrance road to the wildlife area, and had a sudden urge to look up. A large great horned owl was sitting up in a tree about 20' off of the ground staring at me. My eyes felt riveted to hers/his. It was such a neat experience!
Then we saw the great blue heron that seems to like hanging out around the Empire Canal. Again, I wonder how it survives the winter.
And on the way home, strolling through the Veteran's Center, the deer were out on the lawn feeding and pooping (Caddy loves to eat the latter).
It has been fairly mild here during the day lately, in the 30s and 40s. Today, however, signaled a change in the weather with steady snow beginning around 11AM or so, and continuing through the evening, at least. Mountains (eastern San Juans) are getting hit hard with two to five feet of snow! Blizzard warning in effect for the mountains, and Highway 160 over Wolf Creek Pass was closed at 6PM today due to poor driving conditions.

Active life in State Wildlife Area

Low temperatures overnight made vegetation frosty & white. On a morning walk at the Rio Grande State Wildlife Area, we were fortunate to view abundant birdlife -grebe, ducks, Canada geese, sandhill cranes, probable marsh hawks, and at least one other type of hawk sitting on a fence post.

A beaver family has, over the past couple of months, established a lodge and food stash in the SWA in a place we've not seen one at before. The water near which the lodge sits has already begun to freeze over. The warm weather to come in this week will probably thaw it. Dog sits there for scale.

Thinning in the garden

I don't necessarily enjoy thinning, but tonight, after being gone for three weeks, thinning was essential - due to lack of time I was only able to thin some of the carrots, beets, and radishes; over the next couple of days I'll have to hit all of the other stuff (greens, lettuce, more carrots, more beets, beans, more other stuff).
When we returned from vacation a couple days ago, Caddy-dog found the sugar snap peas which she was able to grab through the fence that surrounds the vegetable garden. They're now history, as she was able to get inside the garden, underneath my row covers, and totally chew up and de-pea all of the vines. I have no idea how she got under the row covers. Little buttface.
The hummingbirds are thrilled we're back to refill all of the feeders; they're being very territorial and noisy in their own little way. I have little raspberries on some of my canes. The bumblebees are out on the nepeta (catmint) in force.
Ahhh, garden life goes on . . .

Wilds of Idaho

Away from my gardens for a while; instead spending time in northern Idaho on the Selway & Lochsa rivers, visiting in-laws & friends scattered here & there. Above is a shot of our campsite on the Selway above Mooose Creek, before the big day of rapids. The Selway River is a premier whitewater wilderness river; only one permit per day is handed out during the boating season, and a certain percentage of those are for commercial trips. So to be on a private Selway trip is kind of a big deal unless you happen to know lots of boater people who get lucky. It was a great trip - lots of excitement, beautiful clear water, great weather, people & food.
Caddy the dog is at camp with her maternal "grandparents" for the duration of our vacation. She likely has forgotten we exist.

Litter-picking

People can be such slobs. I don't know what it is about fishing that brings out the litterers. I took the dog on a walk around our local fishing and wildlife lake this morning - trash (AKA recyclables) galore.

Since we discontinued our garbage pick-up service less than a year ago, I tend to gravitate more to picking up only the recyclables when I go walking, and believe it or not, I still get LOTS of those. Many aluminum cans, and plastic and glass bottles.

One pattern I've noticed during my litter patrols: if I come across ONE beer bottle, the other five that were in the six-pack will be not far away. That then makes me wonder what the drinking pattern is of the people who toss their beer bottles. Do they drink one beer, throw it out, then quickly drink another and toss that one? Or do they drink them all at a more leisurely pace, and then pick one up from the pile on the floor, toss it out, then leisurely pick up another one and toss that one out? The spatial spacing of the beer bottles along the road leads me to believe it's more the latter. If it were the former, the drinkers would have to gulp, and toss, the beer very speedily to match the pattern I see on the landscape.

Ahhh, the deep philosophical thoughts I have on my walks . . .

Wow, time flies during planting season

Can't believe it's been nearly a month since I've written. We were on vacation and then I spent every waking hour (or so it seemed) outside in the garden. When we returned to town on June 1, the yard and area looked like WI, because RAIN had actually come down during our absence. Granted, not much rain, but for here it was significant - over the course of 10 days about 1" total. So nothing died from lack of precipitation.
WE've already been fortunate enough to harvest greens and spinach, and radishes will probably be ready within a week. I madly planted annuals, herbs, and many more seeds this past weekend - the seeds that went in were more carrots, various green beans, more lettuce & greens, parsnips, sunflowers, more kohlrabi, and don't remember what else.
I'm in Cortez working this week, and indulged in a shopping spree to Four Seasons Greenhouse this evening. Some people shop for clothes, some for expensive cigars, but Marianna goes to greenhouses to spend her money.
I have vowed to stay away from perennial plants that have failed in the past - that list is getting mighty long. Ice Plants are at the top of the list, along with Alpine Poppy, Colorado Gold Gazania, and at least a dozen more. Am getting weary of spending money on plants that last only a season, and then kapoof! they're gone.
Bruce emailed me today that we have a fledgling robin and a parent hanging out in the yard; let's hope Caddy the pooch doesn't find them.

Beautiful winter & seed catalogs!

Blizzard warnings today, mostly in the mountains. Overnight last night it was very windy, and many drifts had appeared by morning. At 7AM it was 31 degrees, now at 1:30 PM it's about 28 degrees.

Bruce split a bunch of wood yesterday so we're now safe from freezing! We have this wood carrier thing that allows easy hauling of split wood. It also makes a handy dog carrier - poor Caddy is at Bruce's mercy!

I went snowshoe running over at the state wildlife area yesterday in the late afternoon - saw several hawks and many tracks in the snow. It was beautiful but cold; returned home with a frosted face.

Had to replenish the black oil sunflower seed and Niger thistle today at the local co-op---holy cow! Not (sort of) cheap like it used to be to buy that stuff for "wild" bird-feeding.

Picked up the mail today - four more seed catalogs arrived. Got one yesterday, and received a couple more several days before Christmas. I'd hate to think how many I'd be getting if I hadn't taken my name off a bunch of mailing lists! But it is making me think of seed-starting........

The high & dry valley is definitely dry right now. Very little precipitation during the past month of November. At our house I recorded three wienie precipitation events, all of them snow but it was snow that didn't stay. The upper Rio Grande basin is at 39% of normal right now. The river not far from our house is as low as I've ever seen it (of course, considering that I've been here for only three and a half years is not saying a lot, I realize....).

A few lingering sandhill cranes are still hanging out in the cut barley field just west of our house. They too know we're having a warm autumn and that there's no need to hurry, at least yet. Though when I went running at the nearby State Wildlife Area one morning last week in 10-degree temperatures I wouldn't have said it was mild.....

The dog knows where it's comfy.

Antics (& death of) a squirrel

The squirrel has managed to conquer the round PVC tubes hung on the clothesline and the plastic baffle that covers the small birdfeeder. Anybody who has squirrels in their yard will agree that these critters can be hilarious to watch, especially if you are a backyard bird food supplier (AKA bird-feeder). Back in her younger days, Caddy (dog) would do her best to catch them, which she sometimes did (see photo of Caddy with squirrel in her mouth). When we first got Caddy in 1995, I would be mad at her for an extended period whenever she killed an animal. She was such a great predator, even on a leash. While on a 25-foot-long retractable leash she has killed and consumed numerous rabbits of varying ages. Her lust for blood extended to mice, moles, birds, and stray cats that made the life-changing decision to unwittingly enter her yard.

Now in her advanced years of age 13+, she no longer as quickly pursues all the critters she used to, and the yard squirrels seem to know that she's not as dangerous as she was when we first moved here. But they should still be very careful......

Radish-eating dog

I have a nearly-constant companion in my vegetable garden; she's 13 years old and her name is Caddy. She's a rescued stray we've had since 1995 (our Christmas present that year!), and her antics cause me much laughter.

I started vegetable gardening in Wisconsin the summer before we got her. I don't remember what prompted us to give her a green bean from the garden, but one of us did, and that was the start of her vegetable-eating lifestyle. Her favorites: carrots, green beans, and potatoes (all raw). She'll also eat radishes (evidenced by the photo, not a setup by the way!!), canteloupe, raspberries, parsnips, tomatoes, zucchini, and probably more that I'm forgetting.



We used to go raspberry picking with her, and she quickly learned to strip the berries off the bushes. Now if I let her, she'll come into the vegetable garden and literally strip green beans off the vines.