Tried to get an updated photo of 'my' chickens -- the chicks are growing so fast. Can sort of see them both in this photo. They are getting noisier & more demanding by the day. I can be deep in the house and still hear them complain when I haven't been out to put their food down for them. Then again, they come when I call -- well sort of. When I go out for the paper in the morning, if it's early, before they've come around to the side where I feed them -- I call them and they follow me around the house to the food.

Fifteenish years ago Gil & I picked out this little puppy. There were five in the litter, but only one was white, the others were brown little things. Gil & I like black & white dogs, so it was an instant decision.

We have a rule in our family -- Gil names cats, I name dogs. This is my favorite 'naming' -- Quincy. I've always loved his name.




He was a great puppy. Never any trouble -- got along with everyone, always took a back seat to Tora, our alpha dog.



And he grew BIG!! He's a great guard dog -- if it's withing earshot or eyeshot -- Quincy barks at it. Never mean, just warning. He's never been aggressive to any one or any creature -- but a stranger couldn't tell that by looking at him barking. He kept us nice & secure for many many years.



I love this photo of him coming through the oleanders -- he looks gorgeous there, and oh so handsome.




And then his hips finally gave out on him --- a few weeks ago they started getting really bad, and last week they just hit the wall -- and could no longer hold him up. We said our goodbyes, and I held his paws as he took that last breath and headed towards the Bridge to meet the furkids who have gone before him.

We miss him, but are happy he's out of pain. I picture him running with Bandit and Tora and Mandy and all the rest of our furkids. It's getting quite empty here at home, but full there at the Bridge, and I just know they'll all be there when it's my time. And I know they're there -- cuz without them -- it wouldn't be heaven.

Rest in Peace, Q --- we miss you.

You might be asking what happened since Day 27 --- a few weeks ago?

I don't know --- it was hot, I wasn't motivated, I was cranky, I was lazy, all of the above?

I have been reminded quite forcefully that I need to blog more regularly.

So this is me blogging.

No photo today -- pure unadulterated commercial:

When I'm not at work, this is what I'm generally doing -- selling on eBay. Drop by anytime and see if there is anything there you just have to have.

Me, the hubs, the dogs and the cats would surely appreciate it.

In the meantime I've grabbed the camera and put it in my purse. I will have photos of something in the Hemet Valley for the blog tomorrow! I promise!

 


We have three new pets -- at least temporarily. I think mom and her babies are refugees from the neighbors. She got through the fence I guess, but can't get back. I have no chicken feed, but when she started trying to figure out the lickit we have up for the dogs, I figured we could at least give them water.

I'm trying hard not to personalize things -- I don't like seeing the food chain this up close & personal.

Our neighbors raise chickens and goats for food -- which I know is very natural -- but I hate seeing the babies and hearing the goat's bleating (sp?) all the time, and then there are no more goats and it's just silence. Just don't have the intestinal fortitude for it.

But for now I'm happy to be Switzerland to mom and her two chicks.

I had a bunch of boxes in the back of my truck on the way home last night -- and one started flopping around. I stopped on the busiest hwy in our area and fixed the boxes in the back -- and decided while I was out there with cars whizzing by at 70mph, I'd take a photo of the cows on the other side of the highway.

It's these cows, and others along the highway that answer the question --- how can you tell when you're near Nuevo -- yep, you can smell the dairy cows!

I don't even notice it anymore, but I know the 'scent' is pretty strong to newcomers.

Not sure what this signifies --- but I was playing with the upgrade to Picaso and tried to put text on a photo. This was the first photo I came to, and somehow it seems appropriate for Nuevo.

From nuevo

I know, I know . . . .

I just hate going outside to take pictures when it's 100 degrees and 60% humidity -- I dunno know -- call me crazy!

So I took the first shot I saw outside the back door today --- by my hanging laundry you can see that Gil wears an old shirt sent to me by an auction site no longer in business, and apparently we stole that white towel from the hospital where we used to work.

The first year we lived here we kept the oleanders neat & trim. The next year we decided, and our landlord agreed -- that privacy was way more important than clean & trim! So now they are what keeps us from seeing way more of our landlords than anyone would want to.