Charlie’s September Sixth Update

Hi, it's Charlie! Here I am smiling because one of my friends is petting me.

And here’s a reminder to “stay pawsitive.” It’s not from my animal hospital though.

My animal hospital is near my house. I think this cat may be the manager. Sometimes it stands on the front desk.

Dogs come to the animal hospital. The black and white one was friendly, but the other one was shy. 

What else did I do this week? I took walks with Miss Deborah. I took naps. I went for rides with Mom and went to parks to sniff and have fun. I even went to Sadie‘s house to play with her.

I saw some cows.

Yesterday Mom took me to Woodstock and we walked down the street. I met some people who liked me. Mom left her phone in the car. Here I am in the car ready to go home.

I hope you had a good week. If you did not get a chance to have fun, do something tomorrow.

Three Years of Having a Beagle Boss

Happy Gotcha Day, Charlie!

On September 4, 2022, Lynn and I went to Charlottesville to meet Charlie. He was up for adoption after being rescued from a huge breeding facility. 

He was shy. He did not want to meet us, and I was concerned that he would not like me. However, once he got in the car, he seemed happy to go with us.

These pictures are from late this afternoon.

 

Post #9200 Plus Two

Once again I missed a mile marker in blogging. I published post #9200 on Saturday. I have been blogging for over 20 years.

Today is Labor Day, the last holiday of summer here. I didn't want to drive on the crowded interstate highway so I just took Charlie to our nearby state park. Even that was more crowded than usual. We found a parking space and took a short walk.

It was a beautiful day and there’s a touch of autumn in the air.

Sharing with CDP Theme: Vanishing Point

One Day of a 3-Day Weekend

Sometimes holiday weekends are barely noticeable to me because I'm retired. I was delighted that Marie was able to come for a brief visit, making this Labor Day Weekend special. She stayed two nights, so we only had one real day together, and a busy one it was.

We took Charlie with us and drove to the condo on Rose Bud Court to see the progress that had been made. On the way we passed a crowd of protesters on each side of the interstate overpass. They are no longer permitted to stand on the overpass due to a state law that prohibits loitering on bridges if it is determined to present a safety hazard.

 

(Picture Taken at Stoplight through the Windshield.)

The condo looks bright and contemporary, now that my other daughter has almost finished working on it. 

We also stopped at Seven Bends State Park and Marie took Charlie for a walk.

Sharing with H2O, Mosaics, Gardens

I drove to Front Royal, where we bought lunch to eat along Skyline Drive, which was crowded with holiday tourists. Then we went to Petco because Marie wanted to get Charlie a harness to replace the one that he had destroyed. The one that he’s wearing in these pictures does not fit him properly.

After returning home and resting, we had dinner. Marie left before 7 AM this morning to return by train to Jersey City. She wanted to check on some repairs made in front of her house there. Tomorrow she flies back to California where she works as an editor. (She used to work in New York City, but the company moved to Burbank.)

It was wonderful to see her and catch up. Charlie enjoyed the extra attention and walks.

Shades of Charlie and Friends

Hi, it’s Charlie. I got in a little trouble right after the first picture was taken. Mom got out of the car to put cardboard in the recycling bin and I wanted to go see what she was doing, so I took off my harness by chewing the straps. Before I could figure out how to get out of the car, she came back and she was not happy that I chewed the harness. My other one was at home so I had to ride home without a seatbelt. I like it that way, but Mom says it’s dangerous

That picture is black and white so I’ll show you some other colors. Here I am on the tan deck.

Marie spent the day with us today and she took me for a walk in the woods where it was very green.

We also stopped at the state park. Mom used a blue filter for this picture.

I have a full-color picture of Sadie to show you. She’s my friend and sometimes her mom lets me stay with her when my mom has to go somewhere.

Charlie’s Report for August 21-23

Look what I saw when Mom opened the front door this morning! The grey cat was on our steps! It's not even a friendly cat and runs away when I try to say hello.

(Filtered in Picsart)  

It ran away before Deborah came to take me for a morning walk. She’s been coming here most days since Mom hurt her back. Mom still walks with me in the afternoon, but we don’t go far.

A funny thing happened yesterday. We went to the vet’s office because I had a tummy ache and needed some medicine. Well, we were in the doctor room, and I heard Deborah‘s voice. She was out front with Sadie, who had gotten a nail trim. I squeaked a lot and the receptionist let them come back to see me.

I visited with them the day before when Mom went to the doctor. Here we are walking

What else happened this week? Well, I saw Allison, and I haven’t seen her in a long time. I went to Lowe’s with Mom. I saw Lynn and her friend Barb. Here I am with Lynn. She thinks my mom is her mom

The last picture is one that Mom took this afternoon. See the little butterfly? She was trying to get a picture of a big one, but it flew away.

Cow, Complaints, Canines, Cat

Since this was a rather stressful week. I thought I'd start with something amusing. I took this picture of a cow yesterday morning, but it was not what I was trying to photograph. I was trying to get a picture of a hot air balloon, so I drove closer to it and then went down a side road, hoping to find an interesting foreground with the balloon above it. Instead, I found cows. They looked friendly though. The balloon was not visible from my viewpoint.

Here’s the balloon, with nothing interesting to frame it. There’s a company in my area that gives balloon tours.

In case you case you missed my post about going to the ER, it was caused by several days of lightheadedness, which prompted me to go to me to urgent care. They insisted I should go to the hospital for more advanced tests, probably because they fear that any senior citizen is in mortal danger at any time. The most striking thing about the test results was that I was extremely low in sodium. Did you know that drinking a lot of water can deplete sodium? About half the water I drink is highly filtered and contains no minerals. I also drink bottled spring water which does contain minerals, but that may not be adequate in the summer. Furthermore, air pollution can make you lightheaded and short of breath, and we had several days of haze caused by a distant wildfires. I had noticed that my eyes were irritated from the smoke. 

Speaking of eyes, I went to the retina specialist yesterday for my follow-up visit. I’ve had vision problems in my left eye ever since cataract surgery in May 2024. The doctor said the druzen (which looked like a small bubble in the middle of my eye) is gone but there is now a gel coating that is clouding my vision. He said it is not thick enough for surgery yet, but we’ll keep an eye on it. 

Oh, this is supposed to be a Saturday Critters post, so I’ll turn it over to my canine in residence.

Hi, it’s Charlie! I had a pretty good week. Mom only left me in daycare one time. One day she left me with Deborah and Sadie, and I had a good time. Sadie is a fun dog except she won’t stop licking me. 

Mom took me to the state park a couple of times. One time I took off my harness in the car by chewing the strap. She had to find the extra collar because the red one was too loose to put on my leash. She keeps an extra collar and leash in the car.

The park is across the river.

We saw a dog named Lucky. It had just rained, and he jumped on my mom with his muddy feet. But he was friendly.

Today we went to Petco. I rode in the backseat with Miss Deborah. I wore a new harness. 

There were some kittens from the shelter at Petco. I wanted to adopt one, but Mom did not understand.

 That’s enough for now. You probably want to take a nap. I know I do.

Captain Canine

North Fork of the Shenandoah

When I stopped by the Strasburg Town Park on Monday to see the new skateboarding ramps, I also drove to the boat landing to view the river. The water was high and muddy, but not at flood stage. I watched a couple of kayaks approach and was surprised to see a dog standing in one, as if guiding the way.

I was startled when the dog jumped out and swam to shore. He was on a long leash and looked like he had done this before. Unfortunately, I did not react quickly enough to get a picture of him swimming. 

He shook off, and then supervised the men loading the kayaks into the truck.

Water H2O Linkup

Butterfly, Lanternfly, Beagle

I'll make this a short post because my eyes are tired. I have a couple of insects to show you and then I'll turn this over to Charlie.

This black swallowtail butterfly has the coloring of a female.

A spotted lanternfly landed on my window screen. This is an undesirable insect, a non-native that spreads rapidly and damages grapevines. We’re seeing large numbers of these this year.

I think my eyes are irritated by haze that’s in the air, a remnant of wildfire smoke from Canada. I should probably go put in some eye drops. Let’s hear from Charlie.

Hi, that cartoon dog looks a lot like me! Did you know that I just had a freedom anniversary? On August 8, 2022, I was rescued from a big noisy place where thousands of beagles were kept in cages. A bunch of us went to Charlottesville SPCA, and a month later I was adopted by my mom. 

Here I am at the condo. We brought Lynn some lunch.  She was painting a cabinet.. 

Lynn is my big sister. I have another sister named Marie. I used to have some puppy brothers and sisters, but I have not seen them since I was adopted.

I think Mom told you about going to the sunflower maze. Here I am leading the way.

Here I’m on our deck eating dogwood leaves. Mom does not think I should eat leaves and grass, but I had a tummy ache. She called the vet and got some more medicine for me. I’m starting to feel better.

I hope you’re feeling okay. That’s my news for today.

Returning to the Sunflower Maze

Lost Bottoms Farm announced that their sunflowers have started blooming, so I took Charlie there for a walk on Tuesday. Over the past two years, we've been there several times. It's on Edinburg Gap Road.

Looks like they’ve added a guardian. Charlie investigated and decided he was not a threat.

Yesterday I convinced Lynn to go there with us. She was impressed because she has not had much luck with growing sunflowers.