Wordless Wednesday

Monsoon season is HERE

Our day started out as usual for this time of year with just a cloud or two in the sky. This afternoon the dog headed for the tiny dark space under my work table, and I knew, here comes Monsoon season. It's strange how fast these storms roll through our little valley. One minute it's dry and dusty, and then in seconds everything is soaking wet and muddy.
Lighting, thunder, heavy rain and me with my camera standing out there trying to take a picture of it all. I couldn't get Maggie out of the house for anything in the world. She, being the smart dog that she is, preferred the dark space under the table. Even the horse and mule wouldn't come out of the barn to see why the heck I was out in their corral standing in the rain.
The storm is still rumbling, the dog is still in her safe spot, the horses have been fed and are contently eating hay in their dry barn, and then there's me. What can I say...
Here are the photos that I risked my life to take. Who ever said that we humans are the thinking, superior species? :o)

Sunday Hike

The old dog took her old dad for a hike for father's day..... And a good time was had by all.

Shelter Animals for Camera Critters #63

All the posts that I will be placing on the Camera Critters site will be photos of animals that I photographed while volunteering at a small town humane society in Central Arizona. Unfortunately these animals are very typical of the types of dogs and cats that are impounded every day all over the United States. They are desperately in need of finding love and attention. So, the next time you are looking for a new companion animal, consider adopting from a shelter.

Happy Mule

Giant step for me yesterday.

About a year ago I learned that I have bone degeneration in my back. At times it can be very painful, and although I have always been able to do just about anything that I physically wanted to, this past year has been quite a wake up call for me. To make a long story short, I haven't had the strength or the courage to get on my mule in almost 11 months. I've missed it more than words can describe.
Yesterday, I was puttering around in the yard, and as usual my back began to hurt a bit. Now I sometimes slow down or totally quit what I'm doing, and rest the back for awhile. Then, if I feel better, I go on with what I need to get done. Not yesterday. Yesterday, as my back pain eased, I decided that it was time that the mule and I had a little exercise...together. Not just the round pen for her and not just weeding or garden work for me. I got the brushes out. Nothing different about that, but you should have seen her eyes when, low and behold, out came the dusty saddle and blanket. She remembered exactly what they were for, and if ever eyes talked, boy did her eyes shout happy, happy, happy! I think maybe she thought that we would never do the "riding thing" again. I think that she actually misses it more than I do!
Wednesday's ride was a step by step experiment to see just how much exercise we could both endure. Well, I'm happy to say that we haven't lost it! We (emphasis on we) had a great time, even though it didn't last very long. As I mentioned to a friend and fellow blogger recently, 'it's the process and not the end product that should keep you happy". If you rely too much on the end result for gratification, then what do you do after that? Now I'm hopeful that this is just the beginning of a whole new process and something to look forward to.
Can you see Polly smiling?

Wordless Wednesday

Here's to All Good Dogs

When I began to blog I promised to post photos of dogs that I knew briefly when I volunteered at an animal shelter in central Arizona. These dogs are very typical of the many dogs that are picked up every day by animal control all over the United States. Sadly for them they often spend their last days in these shelters, as many of them are never rescued or adopted.
My husband and I spent one day a week, every week, photographing each new adoptable dog, placing the photos on the petfinder website, and hoping that some of these guys would find new homes. Some actually did. Many did not, and of those that did not I observed that many were black, adult dogs. For some reason, unknown to me, if a dog were a rather plain black dog, it would go ignored by the public. Maybe it was because there are more black dogs than any other color, maybe it was because this was Arizona and folks didn't want to deal with a black dog and the hot weather. But for whatever reasons, many very nice dogs were not able to find what they wanted the most, somebody to bond with and love.
As I went through my huge file of shelter dog photos it was very hard to pick and choose which dogs to post, but here is the small sampling of those plain old black pups. I do not know how many of these actually found homes, so I would like to honor those that didn't with this posting. Maybe it's wishful thinking but I hope that one day all good dogs have a loving home!