You'll put your eye out!

Yesterday afternoon, Pumpkin picked up a stick and started running around the yard with it. At one point, she started running back and forth in front of Darby, seeming to taunt her--trying to get Darby to chase her.

It didn't take too much effort!

They spent the next several minutes racing around the backyard with Pumpkin always just one step ahead of Darby.

Doesn't it look like Pumpkin is looking back to be sure Darby is still chasing her?

As they raced around the yard, I kept hearing my mother and father saying "Don't run with sticks (pencils, sharp objects, etc., etc.) You'll put your eye out!"

The chase continued until one or the other of the girls gave a signal that I didn't see. 

Darby wandered off, Pumpkin ended up with the stick and both sets of eyes were just fine. My mother and father would respond "They might not be so lucky next time."

Taking advantage of sunshine and dry weather

The meteorologists forecast a La Nina weather pattern for this year.  That should mean less rain for our area of the country, and that may be the case before our rainy season is over, but for now, we are several inches ahead of our normal-for-this-time-of-rainfall.  I love the rain, but dry, sunny days in between are a nice break for humans and canines.

Nibbling a duck to death

Since Easter I have been watching Darby slowly but surely nibble away at this little duck.  First he lost his topknot, now most of one wing and a good part of the other.

She doesn't nibble on it every day,

but when she does, she gets in real close like this:

 and nibbles away, very quietly, with just the very tips of her front teeth.  Her nose is usually wrinkled like that.

The duck is slowly disappearing. 

Each time I see her doing it, I have that nagging feeling of a thought trying to form but not quite being able to take shape.

Then this morning, out of the blue, the vague thought formed and I knew what I was trying to remember:

This quote attributed to the late Eric Sevareid:  "Dealing with network executives is like being nibbled to death by ducks.” 

Hmmmm

I wish I knew what they were thinking...

What they do when they think we are gone

Ever since Glenn's surgery in early November,  one or the other of us has been home at least part of most days.  Starting Tuesday, we'll both be back to work full time and Darby and Pumpkin will be back to the work-week routine of being outside all day.  I thought it would be good to wean them away from being inside with a human all day, and because I've always wonder what they do when we aren't here, I pretended to be gone for a few hours yesterday and sneaked peeks at them periodically.

Mostly, they spent their time wandering around the backyard, sometimes stopping to eat grass and sometimes chasing each other around in a frapping pas de duex.  At one point, they were both standing up against my stock tank planters nibbling at whatever herbs and vegetable leaves had grown to within their reach, and once I caught Pumpkin pulling a tangerine off the tree.  She didn't eat it.  At one point it occurred to me to bring my camera with me when I checked on them and I was glad I did:

Glenn will be happy to know the girls find the Adirondack chairs he built comfortable enough for sleeping.

Tucked away until next year

Like most things in life, there are opposing views of the proper time to put up and take down Christmas decorations.  I am firmly in the camp that says the weekend after Thanksgiving is the best time to put them up and the day after Christmas is the best time to take them down.  Most of my family do not agree.  But, they don't do the decorating!

The girls helped without offering an opinion one way or the other.

Boxing Day

 

 

Pre-dawn Christmas

 

 

(For the life of me, I couldn't get both girls to look up at the same time!)

Merry Christmas from us!

And the sun came out

Here in southern-most Southern California we are rarely "forced" by weather to spend large amounts of time indoors.

So, when, after six days of nearly non-stop rain we are once again allowed outside, we (humans and dogs) act like prisoners who have received commutations of life sentences.

 

Cardi Claus has landed!

Darby, Pumpkin and I were the happy recipients of a Cardi Claus package all the way from Jinnie and the dogs at Solstice Kennels in El Paso, Texas.

Lots of goodies for both humans and dogs! 

But, I don't think I can be faulted for liking this cute little Corgi Christmas pin the best of all!

Thank you, Jinnie, and your whole crew! 

Head over to Jinnie's blog to check out the new puppies, if you haven't already!

And it came to pass...oops! Someone stole one of the Wise Men!

My dear friend, Betsy, gave me the cutest rubber duck Nativity Scene.  I set it up hoping to get some cute photos of Pumpkin and Darby.

Good dog that she is, Darby merely sniffed all the little rubber ducks, from the Angel (on top of the wooden tea box stable) to the donkey, with a few extra sniffs of the lamb.

Do I even need to tell you that the Pumpkin-girl wasn't nearly as good?

She made off with one of the Wise Men!

But, I'm happy to report, she promptly dropped it, errr him, when asked to.

Solstice

Scenes from the evening of the shortest day of the year.