Shorty

Shorty came to work with us today.

He is a sweet little therapy dog. he wears his own name badge attached to his sweater and walks the halls seeking out a warm lap to set on.

The residents look so happy snuggling Shorty on their laps.

One man was singing Shorty a song while petting him.

This little dog is a blessing to the people at Saint Aloisius Medical Center.

Sunday Stills- Signs of Fall

Dawn & I took a day trip up north to the town of Rugby.

On the way we past lakes full of ducks, golden wheat fields, huge haystacks, tree's just starting to turn fall colors, big red barns and harvested fields, signs of fall all around us, but what really caught my eye as we pulled into Rugby was this awesome house, notice the football jersey's hanging as a garland around the porch.

This says fall time in a small town, homecoming games, bonfires and crisp fall evenings.

Things in my yard

Fluffy

What on earth is this?

A mutated grasshopper?

Deer

Mushroom

You might want to search your yard & see what strange creatures lurk there.

New Job

I have a new job. I'm working in the hospital as a housekeeper.

Today a cute little lady came in the room while I was changing the garbage. She asked if she was supposed to do something with that, pointing to the bag.

I told her I would take care of it.

She replied "Oh good, that takes it off my back"

An aid came in and said "Beverly lets go"

As they left Beverly commented "But where will I put her" speaking of me.

At break yesterday we sat in a room with a hospital bed in it. I said " This would be a good place to take a nap"

My co-workers said "You better not take a nap in here. this is where they store the bodies. They might come and put a sheet over you."

On the way out they showed me a room that used to be an autopsy room & told a story about a lady who laid on the table and sat up as someone came in for supplies scaring her half to death.

Sunday Stills-The Color Purple

This lone purple Petunia is blooming in the debree of the demolished porch.

The flower was never planted.

It just grew up from a wayward seed that must have fallen under the porch last year.

Antelope Lake

This morning Antelope Lake is so smooth and calm. it looks like a sheet of glass. You can see every bird floating for miles.

The pelicans are out scooping up minnows. Off to the North ducks swim quacking happily.

A few evenings ago we had a strong wind blowing. The lake reminded me of an ocean with the waves crashing into shore.

Threshing Days

Threshing: separating the grain from the chaff.

It's harvesting time in North Dakota and Drake has celebrated "Threshing Days" for 41 years.

They have a parade and lots of old fashioned activities.

The parade consists of neat old tractors and threshing machines.

In front of me at the parade where these adorable little boys. I couldn't help snapping a few pictures of them.

"Listening to National Anthem"

You could watch a blacksmith forging iron

Listen to a band play country music

Watch the threshing machine work

Shop at the flea market

I visited with some of the old timers and listened to great stories. I heard how they used to ride to school in a horse drawn wagon with a little stove inside. It was quite a ride when the driver would send the horses into a gallop. The little wagon would tip from one side to the other.

Critters

Dawn found this salamander crawling in the garage. Isn't he cute!

There are allot of critters around these parts.

Penny, the little dachshund found a skunk the other day, so had to have a good soaking in peroxide and baking soda. It's the only thing I have found that neutralizes skunk odder. She still has a bit of a smell about her when she gets wet, but thinks it's quite a nice essence of skunk.

My peaceful walk by the lake turned into a yipping howling mess when Fluffy, the Collie decided to see what porcupine tasted like. She got a mouth full of quills, so the walk was cut short to pull quills out of Fluff's face. She even had some stuck right through her tongue. She never once tried to bite me through the painful ordeal. I did have to call Dawn for reinforcement to hold her still enough so I could grab the quills with my pliers and yank them out.

I hope she learned to stay away from porcupines.

Labor Day

Wow, Labor Day weekend was labor intensive this year. Aren't you supposed to take a break from work on Labor day weekend?

Certainly not around here. We did get allot accomplished though.

One of my sister in laws, Bernice and her family came over from Michigan and brought a bushel of peach's with them. peach's are my favorite fruit and a bushel is an awful lot of them. We canned & froze the juicy orbs and made a batch of peach jam, yum!!

You will have to stop over for a pie. I've got enough frozen to make a peach pie every two weeks all year long.

Next we transplanted all of the Tiger Lilly's that had been growing around the old rotten porch to new locations. There where gobs of these flowers. We kept looking around for new plots to put them in. there should be splashes of orange all around my yard next Summer.

After that the crew cut down a big old Elm tree that had met it's death and hauled it to the wood shed. We will be grateful for it's warmth when the snow starts piling up.

When the company left on Sunday, we got busy tearing down the ceiling of the house upstairs. What a dirty, itchy job that was. Now it's all ready for insulation to be sprayed between the trusses to make it cozy and warm this winter.

Fluffy say's Hi, from North Dakota.

Her and Penny are having way to much fun, chasing squirrel & digging holes in Moms lawn. They don't understand why she keeps filling them back in with rocks and dirt. It makes it hard to dig out again.

New things to sniff and woods to explore.

Mom brush's me everyday. The woods are full of cockle burrs that love to stick to my fur.

Toodles for now. I better go patrol the yard for that crazy squirrel.