Confessions of a Light Seeker

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Gloomy weather

I am glad to be snug inside. I made a cheese corn chowder for Book Club who should be here in a bit. This month's book was "Have Mercy on Us All" by Fred Vargas. It is a mystery and touches on the Bubonic Plague and associated customs. I am not a mystery lover, but I liked this one.
Mostly I have been busy taking photos for the Humane Society's Petfinder. Sometimes it is fun. I certainly am learning a lot about shooting fast.
But sometimes, when the puppy mill dogs come in and are all afraid of human contact, I get sad.

I think this is the saddest dog face I have ever seen.

I hope they can snap out of it, find joy and forever homes.

Two barns
Actually, old wooden barns, still in use, are hard to find. Utilitarian barns seem to be metal these days.

The Art of Detioration
The grain elevators are very old, but not torn down yet. These are from an area of the country once known as The Dust Bowl.

And a functional pick up truck from Arroyo Seco NM.

Grandkids in Fall
As you can see, Kellar is walking now.

She likes to tidy her chair before sitting.

Owen is older and wiser.

Maya and Anna are growing up.
But they still like a little adventure.

Fall is a celebration. Anna celebrates with me, just for fun.

If you haven't laid in the leaves and looked at the sky, do it as soon as possible. Winter is hiding out there. Maya knows.

Paws For Freedom
Perfect weather and perfect day for me. Dogs and puppies. Service dogs in training. The organization is a non-profit. Instead of starting a breeding program they go back to breeders who have either sold them good service dog puppies in the past or who are reccomended highly. The puppies are given extensive testing to see if they qualify as potential service dogs for the wheel chair bound. My heart was taken by the puppies, who this year are Golden Retrievers.

I am currently taking a lot of photos at the Humane Society Shelter. I deal with mostly untrained dogs. It is hard to get them even still enough for a decent photo in the exercise yards. And when the adoption manager at the Shelter asks what I want or what daughter Liz wants for her family, I say "It is not about a certain dog. It is about a look in their eyes, an attitude." Lately both Liz and I are seeing that this attitude is most consistently visible in Golden Retrievers.
I stood in a yard with six frolicking yellow Labs. Grown. Everyone listened and everyone got along. About four of these guys will become service dogs by spring. But a Labrador on full tilt will flatten you, especially if they are in fun race. I stood close to the fence, just in case they didn't have the manners I think they had.
One of the cool things about Leeanne who runs this, is that her dogs are trained by kids who are learning or emotionally disabled, at a local school. Five days a week, after school.
I met a few of the kids and they are so into the dogs.
This is during the puppy demonstration. The pups are five months old.

The general look of these pups (They all shake hands..) when they greet you is "Hello, I really really love you. What's your name?"
They are already working on light swith boards to turn lights on and off.

Of course, puppies are not perfect. They'd rather have been closer to the buffet.

And Bodie sniffs me after I come home. He looks vaguely disappointed, I think, that no one came back with me.
Bodie is John Wayne. He loves silly affection lovey loves from grandkids, but mostly he wants to do something for me. Or for someone.
I might need a gooshy dog as I get older. Teach the old guy that leaning, belly rubs or head pats are not as far as affection can go. Besides, when Bodie dies (and he is not on any scheduled list)...I might need one more dog to see me through. My heart would be breaking. He has taught me so much. More than I can explain.
We'll see....

Taos at sunset.
At first, you kind of forget that it is sunset until you notice the trees.

And the buildings...start changing color..

read more... ( Read more... )

Taos Nights
There was me, a wall, a mountain, and the moon.

Mostly I went to bed early. At dawn, I would peep out the door to make sure my mountain was still there.

Bodie's vacation
One of the stops I wanted to make was to Bodie's breeder Tony Martins- just outside Show Low AZ. Tony is a hunter. He loves a good working dog. So when I heard that Bodie's sister was beginning to be a hunter, I wanted to see her. Her name is Magnolia and she is a soft sweet beauty. If I have a Lab again, it needs to be that soft eager one.

Now, one of the females was bred a few weeks ago. We think the scent was around. Or maybe Bodie had never been around female Labrador harems before. He had duh humpty hump on his mind. First he showed of by running and chasing. Then he tried all the females. He had no idea what he is doing. He is neutered.
The nice thing about Labradors is that nobody bit anyone, even when we went to lunch for an hour and left them in the yard for a time.
But Magnolia clearly thinks he is obnoxious.
Notice Bodie's drool.

As I understand it, Tony has three basic breeding lines going.
Here is a group picture. If I had a one dog pick for a one dog household, I'd pick Hattie Mae in the center. It is the bright eye. She has destroyed many things, including the house siding, but if you could direct that- boy oh boy. There is some spirit there! She loved chasing Bodie.

At the end of the day, Bodie's arthritis and all the repaired legs were kicking in. He was tired of traveling, tired of fun, just needed a snooze.

Books, land and PBS
Finished reading "The Worst Hard Time" by Timothy Egan- all about the 1930's dustbowl in Texas Oklahoma and Kansas, last week. I followed that with the PBS documentary "The Dust Bowl" with a lot of government footage of the disaster. I am going to be in Guymon Oklahoma tomorrow night. Did it ever really recover?
Basically, the dust bowl was caused by tearing up natural prairie grass, removing the buffalo and planting wheat. The descriptions of animals slaughtered that were simply full of mud, because of what they had been eating or inhaling...well, the people were inhaling and starving too.
Tonight it was The National Parks series by Ken Burns. I highly remcomend it. This episode, a large segment on John Muir, who spent a lot of time figuring out how nature works. A religious man, he saw God's works in nature. His fight for Yosemite National Park is amazing.
Yellowstone, Yosemite, so many others could have just become a Niagra falls. Or several Gatlinburg Tennessee's. Ever been there? Outside Smoky Mountain National Park? You can go to Dollywood or purchase stuffed fabric geese, fudge, Christmas ornaments from Hallmark and Taiwan,and too many Chinese quilts- 4 stiches to the inch.. right next to a beautiful park. The Park might be crowded,(as in bumper to bumper cars in season) but I got lucky and it was raining. Just me and my land.
It is ours, people.
Watch this series.
Can't say more. Just watch it.

My Baby is 30 today

Ben is the youngest child. He grew up to be a wonderful person.

Happy Birthday, Ben!

The Prairie Acre was invited for a picnic engagement, in late afternoon in Douglas County. The farm is out there, a bit.

There is a lake and a picnic area. And a reunion of relatives. I took that picture, but I think I should not share it. It was their private reunion. (I sent them a copy.)
So here is the band and babies.

Here is baby Ruby dancing

Here is Owen demonstrating the delicious food.

(He was sorry he licked his plate and it left proof.) Honestly- Raspberry...is it crisp or shortcake> I don't know my terms ...but there were peanut butter chip cookies, frosted butter cookies, and lemon bars too. I went for the Lemon bars...repeatedly.
This is after homemade potato salad, and baked beans and fresh from the vine tomatos, sliced. Did I neglect to say sausage burgers? Folks, these didn't come from any Deli I know... Ah. Home cookin' off the charts!
This is the first time I have said Grace before eating with true heart... in a long while. Scenery started it. These are truly good people.

This is the very good part of Douglas county that still exists.
And this is the first part of the band and children headed home.

Humane Society Volunteering is great
You can take a photo of your own animal, all trained, groomed and pretty...but taking photos of soon to be adoptees is often more challenging. I am loving it.

The sun forgot to shine
So it was a glorious day in the country. So Peaceful.