Pony Pasture - and elsewhere - in May

Lots of trips down there this month; it's been stunning every trip. There are new flowers in bloom each time we go. Earlier this month - maybe even late April - the redbuds were blooming. Always a lovely early reminder that Spring is arriving. But now the honeysuckle is out in force and it smells so good you don't even want to stop long enough to exhale.

The above is of course not honeysuckle but it looks beautiful and smells heavenly. If you know what it is, drop me a line. Maybe it's some kind of wild blackberry or something. More later.

Skye's BFF's

Skye left this morning; unbelievable. Here are a pair of pictures of him with his BFF's:

April in Richmond - there's no improving it

How much is that kitty in the window?

Roux at the River

Table for two, please - Bottom's Up
Friday, April 24, 2009

A couple more pictures from the Maple Festival:

Click on the pictures to see larger versions:

Arrival in Monterey:


Watching sap being boiled for syrup (and holding stuffed huskies):

Getting ready to go home (still holding stuffed huskies):

Catching up on sleep (still holding stuffed husky and another unidentified stuffed animal):

Highland Maple Festival, 2009

Clare, me, Wren, Phoebe
Highland Inn
Monterey, VA

If someone told me that this year my nieces would be even more delightful company than they were last year I would have said "impossible." And yet this year they were even better. I don't know how they do it. They are first class companions for dining and travel.

Hard to believe it snowed a week ago...

...and Saturday we did our first AT campout of 2009! And it was in the seventies! Ivory, Mackey and Max were, as ever, superb:

Mackey (in the background)
Ivory, Max (on the leash)
Saturday afternoon

Ivory "conserving energy",
Max, Mackey
At the shelter - Sunday morning

Hiking out on Sunday

First big snow of 2009

Unfortunately I only took a few good pictures of the dogs, although we went for a great hike at Pony Pasture at 10:00 on Monday, March 9. It had started snowing in the evening on Sunday, March 9 and was still snowing a little bit Monday morning. We got at least 6", maybe more. The dogs, as always, had a blast at Pony Pasture. For right now, just one quick picture - of course Ivory is the only one facing the camera. Roux and Mackey are facing away, and Max is out of the picture. More later. Have a great day,

Jay

Roux, Ivory, Mackey

Pony Pasture - Richmond, VA
Monday, March 10, 2009
~10:30 AM

Two cats in February

Dash is orange and my cat, Kite is not orange and Alex's cat. They're both neutered males, ~1.5 to 2 years old. And adorable. They are very wide-eyed. This was on February 17, 2009.

Back up on a cold day in January, 2009

Mackey and Roux

Kite

And I see to my embarrassment my last post was six months ago or more. Oops. The top picture is one of our new companions Roux, slipping and sliding around with Mackey this morning at Pony Pasture. The next picture is Kite - lounging in a favorite cat spot, on top of a chair next to the woodstove. Kite and Roux are two of our three "new" companions, although they joined us here with their human friend Alex in April of last year. Although today is a cold day in January - it was 25º when the dogs and I got to river at 8:15 this morning - it's definitely not the coldest day we've experienced this month. Despite what you might guess from the photo above. The coldest day this month (so far) was Saturday, the 17th; when we got to the river it was 10º. The kitchen sink wasn't working but the rest of the plumbing was. I went out later for the day and when I came home, the pipes under my house had burst and there was water pouring down the driveway. Fortunately (thanks Wayne!!) it was repaired quickly and no damage was done.

Anyway, I need to write a lot more, but I also have a lot of firewood to cut. It's hard to tell from that river picture, but I've been on very comfortable one or two hour bike rides on each of the last three days. But there has definitely been a change in the weather.

So much exciting news for 2009 - Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America just five days ago. And he's only 19 days older than I am! I am thrilled to have him leading our country.

It's been very slack of me not to have put more posts up on here - I've got a whole lot of exciting stuff going on. Exciting to me, anyway, which is not always exciting to other people. But besides my own outstanding dogs and cats, late last year I spent some of the most meaningful dog-time I've ever spent - and when you're me, that's saying something - with a very graceful animal named Mister Floyd. RIP, I regret to say. But it was a privilege to spend time on this planet with him. I think his picture needs to go right here:

Mister Floyd (smiling)

That guy taught me so much. Right now I'm learning from another great guy, Peter Jackson, who will be around a lot longer. I'll get some pictures of him up later. That's all for now.

Mister Floyd (not smiling)

Mister Floyd (also not smiling)

Ivory's Founders Award

Yesterday (May 12, 2008) at VCUHS, Ivory received the 2008 MCVHA Founders' Award; he was visibly delighted, more so after I filled it with Milk Bones. The pewter dish in my hand is the award. We missed the formal presentation at the Jefferson Hotel (seriously) so I don't know precisely what it's for. Except that June will be his ten year anniversary of being a Therapy Dog at MCV and he's done fantastic work during that time. And I've had the privilege of being on the other end of the leash while he's done it!


This is (after a fashion, anyway) a closeup of Ivory's award. It's engraved pewter and it's lovely and filled with Milk Bones. If you can't read it (it's difficult) it says:

MCVHA
2008
FOUNDERS' AWARD
JWM

If I understand correctly - no guarantees here - MCVHA stands for MCV Hospital Auxliary. As for the "JWM", someone didn't get the memo - those are my initials, when the award was obviously meant for Ivory - the one who's really been making people feel better at MCV for the past decade.