Tag: Stella

Raw chicken feet . . .

. . . a yummy dog treat!

Faye and I are pondering switching the dogs to a raw diet. She went to the market yesterday, saw the chicken feet in the butcher case, and decided they would make just such a treat for the dogs.

Raw bones are OK for dogs as opposed to cooked ones, and feet/toe bones are very unlikely to damage stomachs or intestines. All are fine tonight.

Kendal inhaled two, possibly sensing they were food as they passed through his mouth. Stella worked on hers for a while before finishing. Achilles, interestingly, took the most time to savour his, possibly because he has bad teeth and the foot may have been uncomfortable to chew and crunch up. Here are some photos. You have been warned. 🙂

The cattle dogs. Kendal had already made his disappear.

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Faye used the rest of the feet to make a stock, which is nearly solid and will probably need to be diluted.

Early morning walks

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My walks with the dogs are good ways to begin interacting with the world, to accept that I have to go to work to continue having and enjoying these walks. We often see, smell, hear interesting things. This morning the first sense to hit me was that it’s breezy this morning, which is a harbinger of today’s rain and the approach of tonights’ cooler weather. the second thing to hot me was the smell of onions. Whether of our green onions or the ones on someone’s farm, I don’t know.

Robins are still here, I hear them calling when we walk. While walking Achilles and Stella in the half light this morning one almost swooped in to land on a yard within Stella’s reach. It quickly swerved away. As I opened the door to head out with Kendal we saw a bird, some species of raptor, trying to make headway against the south breeze. On opening the gate as we got home the first few raindrops hit us.

Time to head to work.

Curled up pup

We allow the dogs on the furniture.

Sometimes they allow us on it.

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Stella’s world

Stella's world

Taken with my Windows phone. That tan speck above the centre is Stella. I took her to the spray field behind the high school and unclipped the leash so she could be a dog. So often, too often, dogs have to conform to human needs and expectations, being on leash, not sniffing crotches or humping legs, having to live in a human world, not being a dog. She got some time to be a dog for a while, running after her nose, ears, and eyes so to speak.

Stella

Stella

Watchful, sometimes needy, needing constant attention on walks, affectionate. She is a good dog.

Stella’s fur

Stella's fur

Sometime, the more you look, the more you see. This photo of Stella’s fur is almost abstract in its artiness.

Focused

Stella has been nearly motionless for about an hour. I can’t see anything and have no idea what she is so zoomed in on. A mouse? Toad? Grass snake? She is not sharing her secret.

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Coming inside

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Each dog has his own way. All three are allowed in the backyard unsupervised unless special conditions prevail. They are independent, certainly do not need minute supervision all of the time.

When each is ready to come in, each has their own way of announcing it. Achilles scratches the door and when it is opened, makes his graceful, slow way in. Both Kendal and Stella bark. Just once. When the door opens, Kendal comes right in, and that is fine. Stella typically (though not always) waits until given the release. Knowing each dogs’ ways makes it easy to set each one up to succeed.

Last blast?

Last blast?

The next two days are predicted to be quite warm with each days’ high being 34 degrees or 94 Fahrenheit. The humidex (heat index) may reach the mid-40s or about 110. This is awful weather for this part of the world; blessedly it does not last more than a few days. We can’t change the heat or the weather, it is what life, climate, climate change, karma, fate, God, what you will brings and it is up to me to handle it as best I can. I think that complaining about it only accentuates the discomfort, unpleasantness, and potential danger.We will simply endure until it cools down later in the week.

It will be a brutal span for my co-workers who toil outside and they have my complete empathy. Perhaps this will be our last hot spell of the summer, perhaps not.

I took this photo of Stella during a hot spell a few years ago. We were in the living room and have a window unit a/c only in the bedroom. She was a hot pup that day. Her posture compelled me to call this her ‘I need a martini and a cigarette.’ photo.

Morning

Morning

It’s a spectacular morning, calm, clear, the sunrise is gorgeous.

Only got down to 8 degrees so all the plants are fine. Achilles and Stella are romping , , , in the freshly dug up vegetable garden expansion. Every time I try to take a photo they stop and I don’t have time to wait, so here is an old shot of the two playing.