Puppy Photo

Click on the photo to see it larger.

This x-ray, confiming pregnancy, was shared by one of the people who has a CCI momma dog. No doubt there that the dog is full of pups. I find the mass of skulls and spines quite fascinating. Eachg "P" marks a puppy's head.

Monday -Back to Work

The long weekend is over, but it was a great and relaxing one. Lyle had to go back to the city Saturday, avoiding what would have been horrific crowds on the train had he waitied until Sunday. Always disappointing when he leaves, but it did give me an entire day to be a bum and get the house back in order. (Truth is, I never left my PJ's all day!)

Here are a few pics to commemorate the holiday weekend.

 Note the defective turkey with only one wing.

 

The obligatory post dinner nap (someone had to do it).

The reast of us sharpened our minds with custom word puzzles.

Nifty, Up!

I intended to get some computer work done at Starbucks, but their parking lot was full, so I picked up Nifty and headed to the park (and their construction site) instead. Thank you, Starbucks, for having a tiny parking lot!

Poultry Extravaganza

After Sly's turn-in, we had chance to attend the National Poultry Show. 

I wouldn't even venture a guess as to how many birds were in that building, but there were a lot - all shapes, sizes, and colors.

For some reason, each time I looked at the duck above, I was reminded of our waitress that morning.

Goodbye, Sly!

Saturday marked Sly's return to Canine Companions for Independence to begin his advanced training.

We had time for a short walk and some pics before the ceremony began.

Sly meets Gwen, his new trainer.

It's been a good year, Sly, now go make me proud!

Pond Remodel

The backyard pond was long overdo for a makeover so over the last month it finally received one.

Tearing out retaining wall.

Laying out liner for new stream and siting the filters.

Tweaking liner.

Digging hole for skimmer. Amazingly, I hit very few tree roots.

Buried treasure. I wonder how many years this lay a foot underground?

Test run on filter.

Checking flow.

Working into the night to get some stones into position.

Added a fallen limb for the birds.

Adding smaller stones to create bird friendly areas.

Cleared out the rubble, added compost berms, and plants.

Almost finished stream.

I want to find a few more nice large rocks, and there is still a bit of finsh work to be done, but the goal of this project was to make the pond more wildlife friendly and I think the following pictures show that has been achieved.