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.

 

Another Hot Air Balloon

Above the Rooftops

Links: Valley Ballooning / Wordless 

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.

Cloud Watching

These clouds are the kind that I look at and see interesting shapes. Is that a turtle?

Our weather has seemed mixed up this week. We had days when no rain was forecast, but a heavy storm came through suddenly. Today rain was forecast, and it did come, but it didn’t last very long.

Yesterday, a summer storm arrived unexpectedly. I took a picture of it splashing down on bricks.

The View from Spring Valley Lane

Near Woodbine Farm Market

Evening Clouds with Branches

“Most floods are caused by man, not weather; deforestation, levee construction, erosion, and overgrazing all result in the loss of ecosystem services.”
—Paul Hawken

A Short Drive on Skyline

Yesterday, Shenandoah National Park

Sharing with: Wordless Wednesday on Tuesday / Mosaics

Return of the Ponds

Maurertown, VA

Last summer, the ponds in Shenandoah County Park dried up due to the drought. Recent rains have brought them back.

We are officially out of drought stage, but ground levels of water are still low. As I write this, a thunderstorm has brought showers once again, and relief from a very hot spell. The heat will be back, of course. Some parts of the country are getting it worse than we are in Virginia.

Cloudy in the West and it Looks Like Rain

My sister is visiting for just two days. It turned out to be helpful timing to me because I hurt my back on Tuesday and was instructed by a doctor to not walk the dog or pick up anything over 20 pounds. 

She drove me to Front Royal today so I could buy some items and return a package. We also drove into Shenandoah National Park because it’s right there at the edge of town and Peggy misses the mountains.

We arrived at the Visitors Center as a ranger was giving a talk about black bears. He stressed the importance of keeping food and garbage where bears cannot get them.

My phone sent alerts that a thunderstorm was coming. It was sunny then, but soon we saw the storm over the Massanutten Range to the west.

The storm moved closer and finally reached us. The rain was heavy but did not last long.

Evening Flag

Saturday is Flag Day.

I don’t have a flag right now, but my neighbors just got one that’s big enough for everyone on the block. I don’t know why they erected a flagpole that is taller than their house. There is a light on the top so they don’t have to take it in at night.

Right now, the flag is just hanging there because the wind‘s not blowing. But a fresh breeze will come along, and it will fly proudly again.

I’m a fan of subtle metaphors.

Field and Bright Clouds

There’s a barn in the distance, but it 's lost in shadow so all you can see is the faint glow of the metal roof.

A View Along Oak Ridge Road

Mount Crawford, VA

One hundred and fifty years ago, this was a farm owned by Samuel Slusser.  The farmhouse was beautifully renovated 20 years ago.

Along the River with Charlie

On Tuesday, I took Charlie to Seven Bends State Park for a short walk. One of the nice things about taking him there is that there are picnic tables and benches where I can rest if I'm feeling tired, like I have been all week. He can continue to sniff the ground around the bench while I’m resting. Beagles like to sniff a lot. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s necessary for their mental health.

I wondered about a small building under construction next to the parking lot. Then I remembered that Ranger Tom said they are going to offer canoe — or was it kayak? — rentals this summer. This structure is near the ramp where you bring your boat out of the water, so logically it could be the designated return point for rented gear.

North Fork, Shenandoah River 

On the way home, I saw this sign in someone’s yard.

Small Helicopters

The winged fruit of the maple tree is called a samara, but I always called them helicopters. Did you ever watch them flutter down in a spiral motion?

The maple seed is at the end of this papery wing. These particular samaras are from a Japanese maple and are very small, under an inch (2.54 cm) long.  Those small maple trees are planted along my street. 

The third photo shows a larger variety of maple. They can get very big. 

Sharing with City Daily Photo and Skywatch.

Sky, Trees, Mountain

The first scene is looking east toward the Massanutten Range. The second picture is looking west toward Great North Mountain. I took it while walking Charlie early this morning because I saw the hot air balloon.

These are cell phone pictures. I brightened the second one using Photoshop Express.

Blue Collages

Pictures from Previous Posts

Mosaics / Wordless