Sunday, April 30, 2017

Sunday Morning Reflections





"No tyranny can be sustained without exploiting our fears." 
~ Pope Francis














Friday, April 28, 2017

Rust ~ Post No. 3





Some useful fencing material left behind to rust by previous owners.


Photo bombed by ear of one four-legged present owner.









Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Something Old ~ Post No. 2




Isn't it amazing, the things you can find in someone's front yard?

There's just something about desert dwellers when it comes to garden ornaments. I know some of you remember Graham, who lived in Namibia, and sadly stopped posting to his blog. Graham, a great photographer, would travel around the African desert taking pictures and then sharing them with his blogger friends. 

The pictures were marvellous, covering things left behind or used as the most fantastic garden ornaments you could ever hope to see. And then, of course, there were the animals. 

Graham, I wish you would know how missed you are in bloggerland.








Monday, April 24, 2017

Notes From The Canyon



I have wanted to take pictures of these red rocks that I see from the road when I drive home through the canyon. This is as close as I could get and I'm not thrilled with the pictures. More thrilled with the fact that I tried. And that I feel more and more like I want to bring my camera along again. 


My computer messed up again and I had to call Greg, the computer guy. I learned a couple of things from him this time. Simple stuff that I should have known, and now will know for the future. 

A couple of years ago, I bought an inexpensive photo printer but I never installed it. Since my other printer was old, I asked Greg to set the new one up for me, which he did. It's actually really nice and I know I will enjoy it. 



I had a lightbulb go off in my brain about the Follower issue I wrote about earlier. I think it goes like this: 
  • It will say Unfollow in your own blue box below your followers' pictures.
  • It will also say Unfollow in any blue box belonging to a blogger that you already follow. 
  • If you are not following someone, it will say Follow in their blue box. So you can just click it to follow that person's blog.
Because I have been on blogger since 2009 and have had the policy to follow the blog of anyone who wants to follow mine, there are a whole lot of blogs that I follow but never visit any more. Every now and then I go through and clean up a bit, but that's been a long time ago now.

You may not be interested in any of this, but I just wanted to let you know that I figured it out. Probably in my sleep. 

Finally, this does not solve the problem that you can no longer click on a person's picture to reach their blog. You must leave a comment in order to be found. Should you wish to be found.


Samson is well again, back on his table and in charge of Faith and me. I'm  back to giving him eye drops only once a day. As it turns out, he didn't gain any weight at all, but weighed in at 78.5 lbs at the last vet visit. I hope to get him down to 75 or so. He is very large for a Samoyed. Because of his immune issues, he will not get the rattlesnake vaccine. He never had any problems with it before, but the vet didn't want to give it to him this year. I walk Samson on a leash, so he should be OK.


Not so Faith, who runs all over the place and now has a problem of her own. All of a sudden, she can't jump into the Jeep! I'm sure it's more won't than can't, but still. I should have taken her for some fun trips, not just to the vet, but I haven't. 

Ive been thinking about this for a while: If either of them became really ill or injured, I wouldn't be able to get them into the Jeep because 35 lbs is now my lift limit. So I broke down and ordered a ramp from Drs. Foster and Smith. I like their catalog and prices, and I get the dogs' medicines from them. The ramp has been a bit delayed in getting here, but I'll let you know how the ramp training progresses once I get it. 

Thank you so much for all the hugs I got in your comments on Saturday. You have been wonderful friends through the difficult times and the fun ones too. I am doing really well, waking up feeling happy again. So all is well here in the canyon and I hope in your world as well.







Saturday, April 22, 2017

Earth Day



"Water comes from high
mountain sources.
Water runs deep in the Earth.
Miraculously, water comes to us
and sustains all life.
My gratitude is filled to the
 brim."
~ Thich Nhat Hanh


Today I'm grateful for my more than 30 years with my husband Errol, who passed away on April 22, 2015. 

Today, as we celebrate Earth Day, I'm grateful for the end to our 5-year drought here in California. 

And I so wish I could remind the new head of the EPA, that the P stand for Protection. 

And that we do borrow the Earth from our children.







Thursday, April 13, 2017

A Changing of The Guard?




Many years ago when Samson was a young dog, he flipped Soldier (above) into a hole in the dog yard and injured him severely. We almost put Soldier out of his painful misery, but he proved to be a fighter. With the help of our vet, pain meds, and blogger friend Terry in Colorado, who sent the harness pictured here, Soldier fought on and lived for a couple of more years. 


Faith, who once was this little, and now weighs around 52 lbs, (and is not just the sweet Lab she appears to be) has flipped 80 lb Samson several times. 

The last time she did it, she injured him. A man came, heavens forbid, a man! Well it was the computer guy and I didn't realize a man would equal about one coyote or two dogs in her mind. So in a fit of misplaced agression, she flipped Samson and shoved him into the fence. 



Samson is so kind, he never bites her, no matter what. Fortunately, by now, he has figured out he can take refuge in the dog house, seen in the corner above. She can't get to him there, so it is working out for now.


How young he was in this picture!  I guess Errol and I were supposed to use the table, but Samson took it over and we never argued with him about it. So to my mind, it has always been Samson's table. The table is a place from where he can see better, and, perhaps, feel more secure. 


Well, not only did Samson get injured, he also became ill at the beginning of March. So for a while, he couldn't easily get up on the table.

And, as it does in nature, the instinct to take over, to become dominant kicked in; Faith saw her opportunity and took it. 


Not only is she on the table, she's bringing her balls and toys out and placing them on the table as well. And I have been so upset! I don't like this at all. As soon as Samson got better, I encouraged him to get up on the table again. And he has. No fights have taken place over the table, but I sense a changing of the guard. 


She's up there so much more than she used to be and he, sweet dog that he is, lets her have it. He doesn't seem to mind, the same way he didn't mind when she came here and promptly stole every last toy, every bone he used to chew on, even Gracie 2, the toy dog he loved so, she chewed her up too. Samson took it all in stride. He's probably wiser than I because I am a bit upset about it all. A changing of the guard. She will be three in a few weeks, he will be eight in July.








Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Rust ~ Post No. 2






There are so many interesting places out in the high desert of California. Mary and I came upon this rusty shed on our way back from the poppy preserve. I thought, wow, so much rust here, so great for my new idea for rusty posts. The old shed is only the beginning, there was enough stuff to the right of it for at least two more posts. 









Sunday, April 9, 2017

Stockholm In My Thoughts





Stockholm, my beautiful hometown, you and your people are in my thoughts. I am sorry for the lives lost, for those injured, for their relatives and friends who lost so much.

Still, the people of Sweden will not blame all Muslims for one evil deed. The people of Sweden will not close their hearts and their arms to those in need. The people of Sweden will not let terror ruin their lives. Of that I am sure.  


I wish I could be there. 





Friday, April 7, 2017

Poppies, Poppies, Everywhere


at the Lancaster, California Poppy Preserve.












No words necessary for this post, except perhaps to explain that I just love pictures like the one above of Mary's cowboy boots. Mary has had horses most of her life and currently boards two at her place. So no wonder she has the best collection of boots I've ever seen. They are not all cowboy boots, they come in all varieties. In addition to my Rust pictures, I may have to add a series of Mary's Boots pictures. 

Also, since it was overcast many poppies decided to close up and take naps, or so it seemed. They were perhaps not at their most gorgeous, but I loved them, loved the place, loved being out with a good friend, having fun. 

On our trip yesterday, I also took some roadtrip pictures and managed to capture a place with a rusty barn and yard full of rust. Can you tell I'm beginning to get blog inspired again?






Thursday, April 6, 2017

Something Old




but not forgotten, a ladder up against a wall being painted, perhaps....





Monday, April 3, 2017

Rust & Following Blogs




A somewhat strange post title, I know. It came about because I'm looking for something creative to add to my blog. So why not rust? I have a few pictures of rust already with plenty more rusty things laying around here in various fields and other inappropriate places. We'll see, at least I won't have to go far to take the pictures.



Then I have a question about new followers. When someone decides to follow my blog, I want to follow their blog as well. This seems to me to be the right thing to do. Particularly if the person is new to blogging and wants to add to his/her follower list. I remember well my first 13 followers, where I was stuck for such a long, long time.

I still feel that way, but now I can only find a new follower's blog if that person leaves a comment. Then I can click on the comment and get to their blog. 

But not everyone leaves a comment, some people just decide to follow a blog. In days past, I would find their blog by simply clicking on their avatar. If I do that now, I only get a screen called Follower Details and the name of the follower, but not of the blog. 

Does this have something to do with new security regulations? If so, do people know that they have to leave a comment in order for me to be able to add my blog to their follower list? 



For example: The above very cute little dog face is a recent follower of my blog. And I have seen his/her face following several of the blogs that I regularly read. And I would so like to know if little dog has a blog? But I can't. 

And there are several other recent followers of my blog that I would like to follow.

Does anyone know if there's a way around this?

P. S. OK, so now I'm really in trouble. I just tried to follow a blog. The person left a comment, so I got there OK, but then it just says "Unfollow" where it used to say "Follow." What's up with that? 








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