Go To WWW Dot

Rusty:  Well, now that the day is half over, we can finally post.

Buddy:  2017 has been off to a shut down start.  Monday night we had to shut down because of thunderstorms rolling through here.  We were expecting worse than we got but some around us were not so fortunate.

Cyndi:  Yesterday we were shut down without warning.  Well, our internet was.  It's back this morning.

 Rusty:  We're only posting this late today because we want to participate in Thankful Thursday.

Buddy:  We're a bit unprepared, so we thought we would share this photo of a lone bird sitting on the mill fence a few days before Christmas.  It was growing dark and we hadn't seen any birds in several days.  It just looked so lonely sitting there in the cold.  Marcus wanted to invite it to dinner.

Cyndi:  We were surprised Monday.  When Jan shut down the computer, she got a lot accomplished.  Every year she sets up a calendar with special days, such as our birthdays, but for a number of years, it's April or even May before it gets done.  This year it was finished on the 2nd.  Now if she would only remember to read it!

Rusty:  But yesterday, we had a lot to do on the internet.  Jan called tech support several times over the course of several hours and each time got an "all circuits are busy" message, so she knew there was an outage in the area.

Buddy:  She decided to try one more time about 11:30 and the call went through.  There was no outage message, just a recording telling her it was resetting her internet.  (It evidently didn't work.) Then to hang up, disconnect modem, etc.  She figured the outage must have been fixed and her internet just wasn't working.

Rusty:  We won't tell you all the fun, but we will say she had a lot of it.  Then she called again.  This time she got a recording saying there was a "current outage of data and audio" in the area.  The waiting time to talk to someone was 5 - 9 minutes.  It was nearly midnight.  She hung up.

Cyndi:  Now the reason we're telling this story is to reach the punch line.  Yes, this is a true story and there is a punch line.

Buddy:  When the recorded message told her about the outage - and why didn't it tell her the FIRST time she called? - it instructed her to GO to www dot (their website) and fill out a ticket.

Rusty:  Jan looked at the phone in disbelief and demanded of the prerecorded message, "You IDIOT!  And how am I supposed to do that without the internet?"


Cyndi: After Jan set up the 2017 calendar Monday, we sat here and went through the lovely Christmas cards we received from a number of you.

Buddy:  We had hoped she would be able to make graphics to post with all the snail mail and emailed cards we received, but there hasn't been time. You bloggers are so talented in creating graphics.

Rusty:  We're grateful for each and every one of you!  We hope 2017 will be a great year for everyone.


We are joining the Thankful Thursday blog hop at Brian's Home.

Autumn Has Fallen

Merci:  Not too long ago we mentioned the only sign of autumn we would see on our walk was one small tree.

Rusty:  Saturday Jan suddenly realized that autumn has truly fallen, as we now have signs all around us and snapped a few pictures.  Don't you just love the beautiful red of that tree?  It's almost as lovely as our red-headed Merci.

 

Cyndi:  It seems strange that last weekend we had freezing nights and this weekend we're having the same type of temperatures.

Merci:  But it is warmer this weekend.  Last Sunday morning it was 52F in the house.  This Sunday morning it was 54F.  (A little joke, in case you missed it.)  Nope, we don't have our heaters on yet.  Waiting on someone to come blow them out with a compressor so they can be started.

Rusty:  While Jan was admiring the trees, a flock of small birds flew over, circled around and headed across the street and up the hill. The flock was much larger but Jan had to zoom in to get any in the frame.  You have seen previous samples of her zoom aim.  For instance, the headless hawk.  So we're very happy she actually captured some birds in the picture.  We could be posting just a blue blank for your viewing enjoyment.

Cyndi:  We thought they were airplanes in the sky when we first saw the larger version of this picture.  That was a bit scary because why would there be a host of planes in the sky unless we were under attack.  Jan said a synchronized poop attack would be the worst we'd have to worry about from them.

Merci:  And this was their landing destination.  We hope all the flocks of birds flying over at this time of the year will arrive safely at their winter home.

Cyndi:  Let's just hope Marcus doesn't decide to invite them all to lunch.

Rusty:  Wait a minute.  That actually sounds like a tasty ... I mean, a great idea!

Micah's Gotcha Birthday

Rusty:  We don't usually post on the weekend any more, but we can't let Micah's special day pass unnoticed.  This is Micah's 4th Gotcha Day, and since we don't know when he was born, we just celebrate this special day as his birthday too.  He is about 5 or 6 years of age now.

Cyndi:  Happy 4th Gotcha 5th/6th Birthday, Micah!

Taylor:  That's quite a mouthful, Cyndi.  Let's just celebrate!



We would like to add a note regarding yesterday's post, Headless and Wing Flapping.  From the comments and emails received, we are certain the headless bird is a hawk.  We're not positive what type.

Merci:  Even though they're not the greatest pictures, after what she had to do to get the shots, Jan is pretty pleased with the end results.

Buddy:  An obvious question is, if the hawk turned around, why didn't Jan just walk around the tree where she could  get a front shot of the bird - hopefully with a head?  The answer is that in order to walk around the tree, Jan would have had to climb an 8-foot high fence with barbed wire on top while carrying three dogs.  If she survived the climb - and the fall - she would have been arrested for trespassing on private property.  We couldn't afford to pay her bail, so we're content with a decapitated hawk and ruffled feathers.

A Honkless Holiday

Percy:  So what's the story on your exciting walk last week?

Buddy:  We were walking and suddenly Marcus screamed - screamed, mind you - Hey, Minnie, hey, Mo!  You brought your family this time.

Rusty::  Who was he screaming at?

Merci:  Geese.  He thinks all geese are named Minnie and Mo. 

Percy:  So what did the geese say?

Buddy:  Nothing.  They just stared at us like we were weird.  Mo is a honker so I guess Minnie and Mo weren't present.

Merci:  Since the geese wouldn't talk to us, Marcus wanted Jan to run home to get his sign.  She refused. 

Percy:  If I remember correctly, Marcus speaks goose with a Southern accent and Minnie and Mo spoke Canadian.  What dialect you suppose these geese spoke?

Buddy:   Is silence a dialect?  They never made a sound.

Percy:  Oh, that's why Marcus came home all upset.  He came in muttering, Those stuck up out of towners!

Marcus:  *enters room*  Hey, guys, I just figured out why those geese wouldn't honk at me the other day.

Buddy:  Why?

Marcus:  It was a honkless holiday.  I think I hear the treat bag rustling in the kitchen.

Percy:  What's a honkless holiday?

Buddy:  I have no idea.  But this is Thankful Thursday.and I'm sure thankful you and Merci didn't ask him.


Join Pepi Smart Dog and friends for the Thankful Thursday blog hop.  

Baby Bird in Dog Pen

Taylor:  Hey, how did the baby bird get in our dog pen?


Rusty:   I've been wondering the same thing.  Last week Jan let Marcus outside, saw the bird and decided Marcus needed to come back inside right away.

Marcus:  Yes, I was walking down the steps and Jan suddenly said, "Marcus - she calls me Marcus -

Taylor:  Of course she does.  That's your name.

Marcus:  She said, :"Marcus, let's go back in the house."

     "But I have to pee," I said. 

     "Later."

     So I dutifully went back in the house and sat for hours with my legs crossed

Taylor:  It was only for a short time, Marcus.  Jan went outside to take some pictures.

Baby bird:  Mama, where are you?  How did I get here?  Where am I?  Who is this crazy person following me around telling me to smile for the camera?

Taylor:  Baby looked dazed and lost.  Did he fall out of a nest in our tree or did his mama kick him out and tell him not to come back until he graduated flight school?

Rusty:  I begged to go outside to help him, but Jan hooked the screen door to lock me inside.

Marcus:  He wandered around the pen, hopped a little, flapped his wings here and there, and looked around a lot.  At first I thought he'd dropped his nest keys, but then I realized he was lost.   If I didn't have to keep my legs crossed, I could have taken him a map.

Taylor:  What happened to him?  Did his mom ever show up?

Rusty:  Not that I know of.  He slowly made his way across the pen, stopping here and there to practice lift off, flapped through the chain link, landed and disappeared around the neighbor's tree.

Marcus:  And finally I was allowed outside to pee!

Taylor:  I hope Baby is okay.  Perhaps he'll come back and visit us again.

Marcus:  I hope so.  I'd like to invite him to lunch.

Mama and Baby Pipe Birds

Rusty:  Bloggers have been asking for an update on the birds nesting in the pipe.  Marcus, you speak goose.  Do you also speak bird?

Marcus:  A goose is just a big bird with a built-in horn so he can honk the song of his people ... er, his gaggle.  So, yes, I speak bird fluently.

Micah:  Are the baby birds okay and still living in the pipe?  (Dedicated Determination and Cat in Hat with Scarf)

Marcus:  Yes, they are okay.  They tweet a "Hello, Marcus" at me every day or two.

Merci:  It sounds more like a "Mama, save us!" to me and Buddy.

Marcus:  That's because you don't speak their language.  Their mama thanked me for keeping such a watchful eye on them.

Buddy:  Is that what you call it when you practically drag us the last yards to the pipe - each direction!  

Marcus:  Last weekend we saw mama sitting on the pipe singing joyfully.  Jan was so afraid you guys would scare her away she stopped immediately and mama was just a blip in the picture.  Mama was gone before Jan could change the settings.

Rusty:  I bet you barked and scared her away, Marcus.

Merci:  Actually, Marcus has been quiet around the nursery.  

Marcus:  A few evenings ago, Mama was sitting on the pipe and flew into a tree when we approached.  She was small and hard to find to photograph.

Micah:  From what you've said, she'd have to be small for her and her babies to nest in a 2 inch wide pipe.

Rusty:  Is that picture for real?  It looks like wallpaper to me.

Merci:  Yes, it's real.  It was taken looking almost straight up at the evening sky.

Buddy:  This one is from the other day.  It's tough to get a picture looking down a dark pipe.

Marcus:  Here's another shot of mama.  Isn't she cute?  I keep waiting for those babies to accept my invitation to lunch.

Rusty:  Well, when they do, please let the rest of us know. We don't want to miss that meal.


Prayers requested for these sweet doggies, Luke/Benny and Cousin Andy.

You might remember Luke.  He lived with us for several weeks, was returned to his family, saved from there by Teresa, taken in by an Atlanta rescue and transported to New England where he went to live with Elise, Matt and his fur sister Rosie.

Last Saturday we learned Luke - now Benny! - has some health issues and was diagnosed with Lyme disease and with heartworms. 

Cousin Andy lives with Miss Teresa.  (Not Luke/Benny's Teresa)  We introduced him (Funny Farmers and Cousin Andy) in 2009.  Yesterday we learned he has been diagnosed with lymphoma.  Miss Teresa and Mr. Doug are heartsick.  They really love this little guy.  We do too.

We are joining the Pet Parade blog hop with hosts Rascal and Rocco,  Bionic Basil, Barking From the Bayou and Owned by a Husky. 

Dedicated Determination

Percy:  Hey, Marcus, I heard you were baby bird sniffing again yesterday. 

Marcus:  Yes, and they were singing for us when we approached.  Jan put her ear down to the pipe to listen to their tiny voices. 

Buddy:  She got some exercise!  On our morning walk, Jan discovered she'd left the camera on the desk.  She had to come home to pick up the camera and drop off the old timers - Merci and me.

Marcus:  I get so excited when we approach, I run up, stand on my hind legs, sniff, and lick the top of the pipe.  I'd really like to invite those birds to lunch but Jan said their mom probably told them not to talk to strangers.  I'm not a stranger.  Everyone knows I'm Marcus.

Percy:  The sun was shining this morning.  Was Jan able to get a better picture than last evening?

Buddy:  That's debatable.  Jan has a very small camera but the pipe is narrow and the "handle" over the top makes it next to impossible to take a picture.

Percy:  There isn't any handle showing in the pictures she took, most of which we watched her delete, so how did could she even try to get a shot? 

Marcus:  The camera will barely fit under the handle.  She slides it under, then turns on the camera so the lens will open and blindly tries to change the zoom setting and just as blindly aims down the pipe.  Then she has to turn off the camera to slide it back out.

Buddy:  She made a third trip to see if she could get anything better than what she had.  I insisted on going along. 

Marcus:  This is the best she could come up with.  It's from trip #2.  The bright yellow strips are tiny slivers of sunlight inside the pipe.  (Can't use a flash in there.)  The gray circle area is the nest and in the nest are the birds.  It's just amazing how tiny they are!

Percy:  And it's amazing Jan was able to get even that little bit of detail out of this.  It's the original picture (looking down the pipe at the nest) before she cropped and played with the picture.

Buddy:  While Jan maneuvered the camera under the handle, Marcus stood up and begged to get his face in the picture.  The camera was pointing down a pipe and Marcus still tried to photobomb.  Now that is dedicated determination!

Marcus:  For those of you who asked for updates, when Buddy and I took Jan on our evening walk (4th of the day), I licked the top of the pipe.   Jan not only heard the low singing but saw and heard bird wings flapping in the pipe.  What kind of bird could be so small?

Percy:  Since this is Thankful Thursday, we would like to thank a sweet blogging friend for sending us some kitty and some dog Science Diet.  Jan says it is such a blessing.  We say let's eat!

Note:  Perhaps you have already figured out this is not Thursday.  It's been a hectic week and we just learned we lived through two Wednesdays.  Please ignore that this is Friday and pretend it's part 2 of yesterday's Thankful Cat in Hat with Scarf post.

PS - Quinn's mom Carol from Catitude blog asked if we would let bloggers know their internet is down until at least next Thursday.  The modem died.  Also, she's recovering from a bronchial infection and would appreciate your prayers.

Join Pepi Smart Dog and friends for the Thankful Thursday blog hop.

Cat in Hat with Scarf

Buddy:  I wish you would dress more appropriately in public, Marcus.

Marcus:  I'm always well-dressed, one leash for my collar and one leash for my harness. 

Buddy:  Have you noticed one of those leashes is torn and ugly?


Marcus:  Torn and ugly are my trademarks.  I have razor sharp teeth!

Micah:  Can you argue that later?  I want to hear about your second walk Wednesday.  I heard it was more interesting than the morning one when Merci was with you. 

Marcus:  Why did Jan take this picture?

Buddy:  I think she was trying to get you, me and the yellow pipe in the same shot, but you were too busy trying to catch flying bugs to stand still.

Micah:  Why did she want the yellow pipe in the shots she took of you two?

Marcus:  Because a young woman walking ahead of us suddenly stopped.  Then she peered down a yellow pipe with the help of her cell phone light.

Buddy:  As we were walking by, she said, "There's a baby bird stuck in here, about a third of the way down the pipe.  It was making noise or I would never have known it was here."

Micah:  So did you rescue it?

Buddy:  Actually, it was not a baby bird stuck in the pipe, but a family of tiny baby birds nesting in the pipe.

Marcus:  The pipe has a "handle" across the top with only a small opening on either side, so Jan had a hard time holding onto our leashes and aiming the camera through the small opening to illuminate the opposite side of the inner pipe with the flash.  This is a terrible picture but that is part of the nest with the babies between the yellow and the black.

Micah:  Oh, I see it.  The nest looks sort of like a cat face with eyes and a nose peering out between a black knit hat and a yellow scarf.

Buddy:  Seriously, Micah?  When is the last time you actually saw a cat dressed for winter?

Marcus:  Forget the cat in the hat with a scarf.  Let's get back to the story.  I could reach the top of the pipe with my nose if I stood on tippy toe paws.  From there I could smell the birds but Jan wouldn't pick me up so I could look down the pipe to see them.

Micah:  I wonder what kind of birds they are. Do you suppose they could be hummingbirds?  Hummingbirds here are the size of a bumblebee.

Buddy:  I wonder how many times we have walked by the nest and not known they exist?

Marcus:  I knew they were there.  I just didn't tell anyone.

Micah:  Uh-huh.  Are you aware your ears will grow if you lie?

Marcus:  They will not!

Buddy:  If you say so, but they sure do look a little taller from this angle.

Update:  Oh, dear, this has been such a busy week, we thought today is Wednesday.  We just wrote our Thankful Thursday post for tomorrow and then realized it IS Thursday.  So we're going to celebrate twice this week with a two-part post.  

Join Pepi Smart Dog and friends for the Thankful Thursday blog hop.  

Paragliding Budgie Jump

BUDDY:  Hey, Taylor, did you hear the joke about the two morons?

TAYLOR:  No.  Finish your biscuit and then you can tell me.

BUDDY:  Okay, I'm done.  There were these two morons standing on the edge of a cliff.with their arms outstretched.

TAYLOR:  Are they morons because they're standing on the edge of a cliff?

BUDDY:  Partly.  One had budgies lined up on his arms.  The other had a line of parrots. They both leaped off  the cliff and fell to the ground.

TAYLOR:  Ouch!  That must have hurt.

BUDDY:  Yes, and they both ended up in intensive care at the hospital.

TAYLOR:  What about the birds?

BUDDY:  What?

TAYLOR:  What happened to the birds?  Did they fly away?

BUDDY:  Maybe.  Or perhaps they were being treated at a birdhouse clinic.  Can I finish the joke, please?

TAYLOR:  Oh, sorry.  Go ahead.

BUDDY:  One moron said to the other, "I don't think much of this budgie jumping:  The other replied, "I don't think much of this paragliding either.

TAYLOR:  I don't think much of the joke. 

BUDDY:  I don't think much of it either.

TAYLOR:  Then why did you tell it?

BUDDY:  Because it's the only one I could remember. 

The Sightseeing Owl

MERCI:  Well, we really did it this time.

RUSTY:  Great.  What did we do?

SAM:  We posted today's post yesterday.

MICAH:  Jan did it, didn't she!  She makes all the mistakes around here.

CYNDI:  Well, you know it wasn't us!  We never make mistakes.  

PERCY:  We got a little behind with our November reviews and last week was canine week.  We posted two dog-related reviews.

MARCUS:  And this week we posted two cat-related reviews, but we wanted to give our friends a break between them.

BUDDY:  Except somebody goofed and set the auto post to yesterday instead of today.

RUSTY:  Do you think anyone noticed?

MICAH:  Noticed what?

MERCI:  That we posted on the wrong day!

CYNDI:  But no one ever knows when we'll post any more.  How could they notice?

SAM:  You have a point there.  Do you think we should get on a regular schedule?

MARCUS:  No!  If we do, we'd always be off schedule anyway.  This way everyone gets a pleasant surprise when we post.

PERCY:  At least we hope it's a pleasant surprise.  But we'll have to be more careful with the auto post so WE aren't the ones who are surprised.

BUDDY:  To give everyone a break, we have a fun video to share today - a sightseeing owl.  Yes, this owl takes the tram.


If the video doesn't play, click here.

FFHT Turkey Thief

MARCUS:  Oh, what are those?  They look like turkeys with the feathers still attached.

RUSTY:  They are.  Wild turkeys.  I wonder where Jan took this picture?

CYNDI:  In wild turkey country, obviously.

MERCI:  And that would be where?

MICAH:  Don't they have a state named after them?

BUDDY:  No.  You must be thinking of Tennessee, but they're famous for their Wild Turkey bourbon, not wild turkeys.

PERCY:  And you would know that how?

BUDDY:  I did a web search for wild turkeys.

SAM:  I sure would like to catch those wild turkeys.  There are five.  One for each of us and the cats could split the fifth.  The fifth wild turkey, not a fifth of bourbon.

MARCUS:  Have any of you ever caught a wild turkey before?  Did you eat it all or spit out the feathers?

RUSTY:  None of us have ever gone wild turkey hunting.  That's a good question.  The turkey Jan brought home for Thanksgiving was bald and smelled heavenly in the oven.

MERCI:  I wish we could have had some of it.

MICAH:  Oh, it tasted better than it smelled in the oven.

PERCY:  How do you know that?

MICAH:  I had some.

CYNDI:  Jan gave you some and we didn't get any?  How did you rate?

MICAH:  I didn't "rate".  I helped myself.  It was cooling on the stovetop and ... well, you know how I like to nap there when it's cold and Jan isn't around.

BUDDY:  And you just helped yourself? 

MICAH:  Well, there it was under my nose, so, yes, I helped myself.

SAM:  And you didn't share?

MICAH:  I didn't want to call attention to what I was doing.  So after I ate all that turkey I could handle, I jumped down and napped in the big chair.  It was a great Thanksgiving.

**********

BUDDY:  Evidently when we write one of these monthly Fractured Fryday Hairy Tails posts, we will have to put a disclaimer on it so you will know it's greatly exaggerated.

SAM:  This week we had to use the phrase "after I ate all that turkey".

CYNDI:  Yes, Micah DID eat a good bit of Jan's chicken cooling on the stove recently but she did not buy and roast a turkey for Thanksgiving.  We haven't had a working oven for over a year.

PERCY:  So this time Micah is innocent.  But next post he could very well be guilty!  So don't be fooled.  Strange things do happen around here but this wasn't one of them.

MICAH:  We actually had ham yesterday.  Thank you, Mr. Mark (for whom Marcus was named), for providing the ham and telling Jan she had to share with us.

MERCI:  But the entire post is not a "furry tail".  Jan did take the picture of the wild turkeys. 

Fractured Fryday Hairy Tails blog hop is hosted by Murphy and Stanley, the handsome mini goldendoodles.

It's also time for the weekly Friday Pet Parade blog hop hosted by Rascal and Roscoe.  It is co-hosted by Bionic Basil, Barking From the Bayou and Love is being owned by a husky.

Flapping and Gliding

MERCI:  This is what the sky looked like when we started to walk Jan yesterday morning. 

MARCUS:  Do you see them?  They were all around us, flying low, a small convention directly overhead and over nearby houses.  They were alternately flapping and gliding.  We think they were hawks but have never seen one up close, especially not from the underside, so we're not positive.

Update:  We've been told they are vultures searching for food. 

MERCI:  Marcus was anxious to get walking but Jan just stood there gawking at the big birds circling in the sky. 

MARCUS:  We have seen these birds circling from a distance in the past but never so close.  I could have almost leaped high enough to catch one. 

MERCI:  They were low, just over the roof of our house.  Jan tried to run us back inside.  Marcus kicked up a fuss.  He attempted to run out the door when Jan grabbed the camera and closed us inside.  Did he ever holler in protest! 

MARCUS:  It served her right that when she got back outside they had disappeared. She turned off the camera and was reaching for the door knob when they returned. 

MERCI:  She turned the camera back on and discovered she had accidentally hit the button that turned off the LED screen and she didn't remember which button would turn it back on, so she just aimed the camera in the general direction of several birds at a time and clicked the shutter.

MARCUS:  I'm glad they finally flew away so Merci and I could have our walk.  Sam and Buddy missed this.  They preferred to sleep in Monday morning.

MERCI:  One day you'll be an old dog, Marcus, and you'll want to sleep in too. It must be a guy thing.  I'm older than all of you and I was up and raring to go.  I did not, however, throw a temper tantrum like a certain big-eared dog did when our walk was delayed.

MARCUS:  Well, I was starving.  We don't get breakfast until after our walk.  And I didn't throw a tantrum, I voiced my displeasure.

BUDDY:  Could you voice it a bit more quietly next time?  It was hard to sleep through all that caterwauling.