View from the Dentist's Chair!

18 Days until the Midterms!

The Glory of Autumn! 🍁

 
19 Days until the Midterms!

Be a Rebel

 20 Days until the Midterms!

Susan's Gift (yes, that's a double entendre)

21 Days until the Midterms!

A blessing this day on all Indigenous Peoples!

22 Days until the Midterms

Stowe Mountain Chapel (on Mount Mansfield in Stowe, VT)

23 Days until the Midterms

Along the Notch Road

24 Days until the Midterms

Mount Mansfield in Autumn

25 Days until the Midterms

The Daybed

Our neighbour was giving away this daybed, and it's in great condition. 
So I painted it (it was black) and we somehow managed to figure out how to reassemble
it [it's Ikea], and voila!  Better than the clunky Army cot we had in my Studio. 

26 Days until the Midterms!

Dog trail sign

I just thought it was cute that the sign here was in English and in dog. But now I feel a little bad that I never taught Archer how to read Doggish.

 27 Days until the Midterms!

Red Maple Leaves

28 Days until the Midterms!

Shiloh would have turned 48 years old today.

When Wil and I went to Dead Creek to release the Monarch Butterfly, we also scattered a little more of Shiloh's ashes...at this lovely spot we used to visit with him. Just as we did, a shadow blocked the sun for a second and we looked up

to see a huge Turkey Vulture circle over us and fly off over the nearby trees. 

We couldn't help smiling.  

29 Days until the Midterms!

Back again a week later: European Peacock Butterfly

30 Days until the Midterms!

Little Notes of Hope

ONE MONTH UNTIL THE MIDTERMS!

Natural consequences?

This is from Jack Blasts Off.  I have read several of the books in the series with kids at the library, but am still somewhat unclear about the relationship between rabbit Jack and the Lady.  And, does the dog, Rex, belong to the Lady or Jack?

 Not sure the punishment fits the crime here.

 32 Days until the Midterms

MUMS for October

33 Days until the Midterms!

Exit September 🍂

 Another secret painting.  Now I need to get all three framed and gift them on October 17th.

34 Days until the Midterms!

Canine agility

When we posted the picture of Archer on the agility equipment, Catreona asked about it and I answered her in the comments.  Thought I'd talk about that in a post, and include another picture of Archer doing his thing. 

For anyone not familiar, here's the Wikipedia page about dog agility.  Briefly, a handler directs a dog through an obstacle course, and in competitions they are rated on speed and accuracy.  Demetrius and I have taken Archer to the first three levels of agility classes but don't currently have plans to enter any competitions.  But people say that German shepherds are dogs that need a job to do, and he seems to enjoy the classes. He especially loves the A-frame and the tunnels, and I think he's starting to get into the jumps too.  There is an activity called weave polls--a set of upright poles arranged in a straight line where the dog has to "weave" back and forth between them.  Anyway, that's the one where Archer still needs the most work.  According to the Wikipedia page, weave polls are one of the most difficult obstacles to master. 

So I guess that makes me feel less bad about his slow progress. Planning to start a new 4 week session of classes with him next month.  Demetrius set up some weave poles in our back yard and I thought I started to see some of the lights go on in Archer's head, so maybe he'll be better at that in his next class. 

Here he is coming out of a tunnel that was created through one of the hills at his favorite dog park. 

 35 Days until the Midterms! 

 

 

Alphabet book gets it right

Son was really into the alphabet for a time when he was little.  He especially liked the letter X, but unlike Elon Musk he didn't remain obsessed with it until adulthood. Anyway, when we went to the library he would head for the alphabet books and inspect them to see if they used a legitimate X word, or if they did something lame and had X be for X-tra or X-citing.  So, I thought of him when I was reading The Bookstore Cat with a child at Reading Buddies.  Here is that alphabet book's X page.  This author definitely didn't phone it in for the letter X.

 36 Days until the Midterms! 

 

 

The Stolen Neighbors Quilt

37 Days until the Midterms!