Meanwhile, Back to Our Theme...

DID YOU KNOW if you Google "St. Bernard dogs" in under a second you'll have hours of viewing ahead of you?! In case you weren't sure what they look like, here's ample evidence of how noble, silly and wonderful these canine companions can be. Famous for rescuing lost travelers in the Alps, these dogs make loving, protective and often hilarious pets.

My sister Heidi was a cross between a long-and short-haired version of the breed. She loved to romp with children, play in the snow, and sleep draped on top of her favorite humans. She could tell from the smallest morsel if a piece of bread was buttered or not, and splat!--out it came if no butter was included. Heidi was loving to the many cats in our small family, and guarded the homefront from deliverymen, but she would hop into a car with anyone who'd offer her a ride, (like the dogcatcher).

I think my love of dogs and cats no doubt came from having this huge slobbery sister and friend from about the time I was five until I was fifteen or so. I wish I had more pictures of us together, but the memories are there, and come alive when I Google through some of the pages a click offers.

What was your significant pet as a child? What happened in your adventures together? Do you have a sense that they helped shape your outlook or experiences? Please comment if you like!

Down the coast to Port Orford and, sigh, home....

Sorry the one's so dark; I lightened it in the photo tray...hmmmm....when were YOU last at the wonderful, magnificent ocean? Not long ago, I hope!

I'm on duty in the bottom pix ; )

 

Seagulls' Seaside Sanctuary

 

A Little River Joins the Ocean

 

The Sea, the Shining Sea...near Bandon, OR

 

How's Your Summer Going? (for those in the northern hemisphere)

 

These are happy flowers on our back deck. Say, have a wonderful 4th week of July!

Watch this spot--we may be off to the OCEAN soon, about six hours away either way you drive it, west across the Siskiyou mountains....! (I LOVE the sea!)

Survey problems...

Well, I tried another company, but couldn't get the link machine herein to accept it. Then I started tinkering and the whole thing went to Toledo...better try again later after more practice and research...sigh...meanwhile, here are some amazing flowers from a succulent that went mad on my deck...

Survey sez...

My first survey, from SurveyMonkey, says nothing....The to-be-pasted URL wasn't complete, or some such, and there was no response from their Help line. Can you recommend a better company?

Disgruntled, ~your blogger, who also lost an old Calico feline friend yesterday. Now Widgie's under the apple tree. :(

I adore big colorful planters like this one!

Mr. Skunkie on his morning rounds

"Sure you won't stay for breakfast?!"

A Happy Patio Garden

Ashland, OR is a great spot for walking

This late-afternoon spot is close to my friend's home in nearby Ashland, OR, home of the Shakespeare Festival, great restaurants and coffeehouses, and a favorite place of ours to roam.

It's mid-summer now, and tourists, farm-fresh fruits and veggies, and wineries abound. I finished a second Master's degree at the local state uni. back in '85. How time gallops away....wouldn't you like to start a nice walk downtown from this quiet location?

By Way of Bloggy Explanation....

While the title of this blog may seem a bit ambiguous at first glance, especially when the focus for a couple of "pages" is on current times, I hope the theme of pets and nature and friends and CONNECTIONS stays afloat for my readers. The blog seems to display differently at different times, and not just by the choice of month on the right side....

Why Blogger displays only a set number of pictures at a time, during "one scroll" which can only be changed by switching to another archived month, I haven't been able to discern yet. For example, one of my favorite sequences, that of our haying adventures with our friends on their ranch, seems to just fall out completely when I manually switch from month to month, then reappear at other times (!?).

Ah well, the "obstinacy of inanimate objects" as my father used to say....I'm reading the Blog Help Blog and Help Lines, so one of these days answers (or the inevitable blank wall) will solve all...thanks for your patience and feel free to ask me anytime what the heck is going on, or to make suggestions of any sort!

Cheers, ~Kathi, your blogger who's going to take a few days' break pretty soon and go play OUTSIDE!!

Now way back to: My Sister and My Mom, in another summertime

This was taken circa 1956 in my childhood backyard in Camas, WA. Heidi still had a sort of puppy-ish look and my mother appears young-ish, too, as I snapped their pose, probably with a Brownie box camera. I was an only child (other than Heidi), but two doors away was a large family who quietly tolerated Heidi's raids on their picnics and playful romps with their children.

When snow fell, the kids would line up behind each other and Heidi would "domino" the line into the fluffy stuff. Another regular event which excited the neighborhood occured when Heidi created her favorite activity, a car ride: but in this case, she sat up proudly like the Queen, filling the front seat of the dogcatcher's truck, because she couldn't fit in the back! The shrill voices of the children would pierce my mother's attentive ear, "Mrs. Warren! Mrs. Warren! The dogcatcher's got Heidi AGAIN!!!"

Boat to Boat Communications.....

Castle Lake from the big rock

Right now, mid-July, the honeysuckle flowers are in full bloom, and they add a delicious sweet smell to the experience. Castle Lake is very clear, as you can see, and the UC at Davis has a long-standing water study of its clarity at one end, near the clothing optional rocks! Are there any lakes like this where you travel? Hope so!

Castle Lake in Siskiyou County

This high-mountain lake is a favorite with locals and tourists. Small, very deep, and frozen over solid in the winter, Castle Lake allows no motorized boats. Kayaks, canoes, and swimmers enjoy it for the brief summertime. In winter, folks can bring their poles and go ice fishing, plus back-country skiing all around the small crater of the lovely lake.

Some of Jack's Friends, who stop by his outdoor cage to say howdy-doo.

See, if your sister's a St Bernard, ya just never lose your love for animals. On the left, Big Tom searches for his harem, and on the right, these gentle deer folk would probably walk into the house if we let them.

Blind Jack cat gets all excited when they come up to his outside playground and nuzzle him through the wires. How lucky I am to have such creatures always around me!

In Hot Weather, Head for Lake Siskiyou!

The mountain looks quite bare for mid-July. The small lake is great to swim in, and has lots 'o fish nowadays. It's about ten minutes from our house and also from Mt. Shasta City. Visitors can stay at the campgrounds and rent water toys and little boats.

A Spotting!

We think we've spotted Momma's two very new dotted fawns this morning in the backyard. Watch for more if we can catch them gently with my Sony lens!

Jack helps with the blogging & other useful info

This is our rambunctious blind teenager who runs the household. This morning he hopped up behind me, perhaps the better to hear hubby's fiddle practicing.

At Ronni Bennett's Elderblogger site, she has a feature asking bloggers to send a photo of the actual site of the journalers' cyber crimes.

Guess this will be mine until I can relocate back upstairs to my own computer in my office. But it's more fun and closer to the action down here!

The site I'm visiting in the photo is called "The Instructables" and is a rather hysterical listing of dozens of sorts of tongue-in-cheek and realistic inventions you can DIY, if you dare.

Hmmm..are blog titles underlined or in quotation marks!?! (Check with the helpful online grammar folks.)

When she's not blogging or gardening or whimsically adorning things, she collages!

This is a little work in progress, but when I read a snippet in this month's Reader's Digest, I hadda decorate it. It reads, on page 91 of July '08 issue, "Excess carbohydrates and fat speed the aging of the skin."

And as if that weren't enough, this health moment continues: "Women who consumed more carbs and fat had more wrinkles." Harrumph!!

Great for the refrigerator door when I'm finished, but whadda 'bout the MEN's bodies!?!

Minicans & toy trailer trails visit on the deck's rails

Mas cosas comicas y divertidas

I love to surround myself with things to enjoy and share. This is a wonderfully illustrated little book with proverbs from around the world, in Spanish.

(And grammar police, yes I know it's not spelled that way, but it was a sweet gift)

Frog watches over the gazebo.

Into the Realm of Whimsical Garden Stuff....