Friday...

 But first, a long-tailed weasel caught on video!

I took Charlie to the vet this afternoon,  which was a good thing.  One of the bites on his ear had already developed into an abscess.

 Charlie's on antibiotics for a week, then I will send a picture via email to the vet to see if I need to bring him back in, renew the antibiotics,  or if he's good to go.

 He couldn't find the source of the blood I had seen that came from his nose, so it might have just been a bloody nose he got in the attack.  He did have bruised toes where I saw blood, but they couldn't find any open wounds.  The blood could have been from his nose.

 Stay safe ... stay warm ... Hugs, Ci 💚

thursday ...

 Yesterday turned into this:

So, I deleted the post I put up yesterday.

The dog I was prepared and invested in adopting from the shelter attacked Charlie unprovoked less than 15 minutes after coming into the house.  He was bitten twice, breaking the skin, but does not appear to be needing stitches.  He is going to the vet tomorrow after I get off work just to get a shot of antibiotics to be on the safe side.

I'm heartbroken because I really hated to bring her back to the shelter.  But she has serious food guarding issues that I do not have the time to train out of her right now.  The shelter itself does nothing to socialize the dogs with each other or people, and while she doesn't share a kennel and have to fight for her food, I did notice something else.  She has been in the shelter for four months and has gained less than three pounds in that time.  At 1-1 1/2 years of age, she should weigh 10-30 pounds more than she does.  Their dogs get deworming every month.  Every month seems a little excessive, but if they are eating their own feces because they are hungry ... it makes sense.

I just babbled about it in a live feed on Facebook that you can see here> On My Soapbox.  Please share it if you can.  Something has to change.

I hate being on a soapbox.  But someone has to speak for them.  "Speak your truth, even if your voice shakes."  ~ Ci💚

friday's bits & bobs

The last eight days have been a bit of a blur.  Busy happens!

I found this beautiful teapot at a Goodwill and turned it into a bird pot hoping it would entice one of the Carolina Wrens in the spring.

My plants have found a home for the winter that I hope to fill with more.

My herb window has become a succulent window that is more forgiving of my forgetfulness to water.

I've shamefully become obsessed with felt mice ornaments that I've put around the house in places that will make me smile when I see them.  I will share photos occasionally of them.  This ballerina is in the bathroom, which has a peony theme.

This is not Chonk, but I think his girlfriend.  Although I can't tell the gender of either of them, this is my story and I'm sticking to it.  Her coloring is slightly lighter when seen on the video camera and not through a tinted window.  She is also smaller and moves much faster.  Chonk has a seriously slow waddle to the bird feed, but when I knock on the window to give him a heads up that Charlie is coming out, he can hustle pretty fast to the creek.  I must come up with an appropriate name for her, and not a female version of Chonk.

Both of them enter the back yard from the side of the house where I park my car.  There is a drainage pipe on the edge of the road where I have seen them pop into.  I believe it runs under my back yard to the creek because when I knock on the window to warn them, they run to the same place on the creek side.

I enjoy standing on my side of the window watching everyone feeding.  I've not actually seen the vole again, but occasionally see a leaf moving repeatedly and randomly without any wind and suspect that it is the vole popping up to grab a corn kernel or some other seed.  It is quite sneaky!

Of course, I'm still unpacking, with frequent interruptions of crafting.  My goal now is to be unpacked by the 30th of December.  I do not want to be unpacking into the new year.

With wishes for a relaxing and productive weekend ... Ci💚

Chonk

 A week or so ago I made myself a bird-blind of sorts so I can watch the birds and wildlife this winter while not scaring them all off. 

The security cameras have shown the large groundhog coming out to feed several times a day and I've wanted to get an up-closer picture of him.

I almost had one yesterday, but Charlie started barking at him and he took off running before I could get my camera.  This morning, though, I tiptoed out there with my camera before Charlie got out of bed.

This was just before he took off running.
I was quiet, but the girls jumping up
onto their window tree were not.

In other happenings... the leaves have now vacated enough of the trees on my side of the of the mountain to see what an almost vertical climb would be, should I feel so inclined ... which I'm not.

And finally, my Diwali 2024+ tree is shaping up quite nicely...

I was extremely disappointed in Tuesday's results here in the US and wish I could win a lottery to spend the next four+ years in Rudesheim, Germany.  I suppose that means I have to start playing now ...

Stay safe out there ... hugs, Ci