Just Dogs . . .

... what else ? :) Today we went treading slush and mud at Great Falls Park. Tessa had the time of her life bouncing and splashing through the slush, while the Budelheimer team was desperately looking for anything other in color than white. I put together a little slide show of the blessed event and actually found a song about dogs by Nora Jones. How cool is that ?

They're baaaaaa-ack !

Thinking of the deer standing on top of the hill yesterday, watching the "Budelheimer-Drama" unfold underneath, made me draw this cartoon. I hope you like it:

A Little Bit Of Dreary Wintermood

Today I forgot to take the cam to Great Falls Park. The scene was somewhat devastating. Fallen trees everywhere ! The carriage road, which is about a mile and a half long was littered with them. We had to navigate around the obstacles and of course that's when we met this feisty Jack Russell Terror head on. I dodged into the ditch as always but Monster had already zoomed in on the enemy and gave the signal to attack. The girls - as always - looked as if they had never met him and I was looking for a snow drift I could sink the monstrous beast into to shut him up. (It's really all fictional - I would NEVER do this ! *asmyfaceisturningred*) Somehow he managed to get Tessa (????) excited about barking at this dog and in Tessa's defense I have to say that the opposition wasn't really quiet either. What really made me laugh at the end was this herd of deer standing on top of the hill quietly looking on to that spectacle that had unfolded underneath. I counted at least 15 of them and they all looked quite beautiful and majestic, standing there above us. Wildlife at Great Falls Park already knows that we are just a noisy bunch and no need for concern. We do obey the leash law, because a. we don't want to stress any wildlife by dogs running around the underbrush and b. I probably wouldn't see them for a while if they ever spot any deer within chasing distance. It's dangerous for the deer as it is for the dogs. Therefore: Leash time it is and the deer know it ! :)

The moment we got home it started to rain, which inspired me to take these pictures. "The View From My Window". I hope they're not too depressing.......
Then you chase one of them once through the photoshop and here's what you get:

I hope a little bit of color makes up for all the grey !

Describing The Nature Of The Beast Yet Again

Snowy River

Much of the snow has melted now, but there is still enough on the ground to make our favorite park still look a little bit like winter wonderland. Yesterday I grabbed the dogs and the cam and off we went, fighting our way through deep slushy snow. I'm proud of my furgang - they all stayed in line and it payed off to have three dogs who walk on the leash without pulling. The footing was very unstable and going through the rocks along the river was a little bit 'wobbly'. I also found that the "stop and wait" command is a good one, especially if one has to climb across some icy rocks. All in all it was easier to get through the rock path than anticipated, even though it took us way longer than usual. Along the way I was able to take a couple of pictures, which I put together in a slide show.

Enjoy our walk in the park
***CLICK***

Green Spaces

We all agree: We can't have enough of them ! Now, after more than two weeks of snow, we are all eager to welcome spring back into our lives. Yesterday we braved our favorite Park in Great Falls for the first time in two weeks, and it was tough going. Of course I forgot to strap on my yak trax and so we were slip sliding through the woods. The dogs are lucky - they operate on all-paw drive and navigated the rocks without problems. Today we'll go back there again and I try to take a few pictures before all the snow is gone.

Here are my opinionated Budelheimers with today's philosophy:
And what does Tessa think about it ?

I'm a bad, bad hu-woman................

Fun And Games

...to some and senseless activity to others. When it comes to fetching toys or balls, the Budelheimers are not as dutyful as Tessa. Tessa will fetch until the cows come home and depending on the kind of toy, Rodney will join in the game. Not so much to fetch and return it to his hu-woman. His incentive is possesion and destruction of the toy.

Here is Tessa, happily sporting her toy and bringing it back to sender, even though it got lodged in a tree:



While on the other hand, the behavior of the Budelheimers inspired to today's cartoon

It's All About Size - Or Is It ?

This cartoon brings us back to the dachshund's favorite subject: his Naopoleon complex.

Tunnel Vision

As always - inspired by Rodmonster. We got a LOT of snow in the last couple of days and the only way to walk a dachshund is walking him along the tiretracks in the middle of the street. (Bless those two or three neighbors, who made it out in their SUV's) This is all peachy, until you meet a young doberman head on. Monsterman was standing his ground and his ever so present tunnel vision increased drastically, due to the fact that he could not see what was going on to the left or right of him. Poor guy - it was straight forward or nothing. Offense is the best defense and with loud battle cries he lounged forward..........until hu-woman planted him next to his tunnel and that sort of dampened his vocals with some snow. Ooops. :) No dachshunds have been harmed. I swear !

Now here's to tunnel vision:

Poor Animals

....who have to live outside during the wintertime. I don't think we ever needed as much bird food, suet, cracked corn and peanuts as we did during this winter. The birds have been frequenting the feeder morning 'til night and the squirrels are regulars too. Now, that we have our new windows, I don't have to mess with the fly screens anymore and can take pictures from inside. Mind you, my cam does not have a telelens and once I zoom in it gets a bit fuzzy. It's amazing though, how much I have learned about birds since we have the feeder in front of the house. I did get a bird book and that taught me a lot about native birds. I yet have to take pictures of male cardinals, carolina wrens and nuthatches. The ones I've got aren't great. Nonetheless - here are a few of our customers:This is a picture from Dec. 09 - a female cardinal

The squirrels love the peanuts.

Here's a feisty blue jay

Redbellied Woodpecker

Here he shares the tree with a downy woodpecker


Cute little chickadee

...and where there is a chickadee, there usually is also a titmouse.

Mourning Dove
The invasion of the starlings
Somebody is a bit cold and all fluffed up.

After the Blizzard

I think the worst is over or yet to come. Not so sure. We made it okay through those two blizzards that hit the east coast during the past week, but now we are afraid that our house will be damaged. There are cracks forming everywhere and one thing is for sure: We will spend the night in the basement. Just in case. It's been melting during the day and will refreeze overnight, making the load on top of the house heavier yet again. We keep our fingers crossed that we get away with just little damage. I may sound paranoid, but the more information I am gathering about the subject, the more I'm becoming afraid........

Let's change subject real quick and look at a few pictures from today's outing in the yard.

Tessa is having a real good time in that cold white stuff.

The Budelheimers on the other hand are not so convinced.


Bica is diving in head first. . .


...and Monster is busy, picking snowballs off his fur.

No fun for the serious dog !

Looking out the Window

...it does not look very inviting. The wind gusts are blowing at 40 mph


A perfect day to hunker down and hope that the roof won't collapse and the power won't fail. This may well be the snow storm of the century !

Inclement Weather

Still snowed in . . .

Now we are on day three of our winter storm adventure. The sky is blue and the scenery just beautiful. Slowly but surely, even the dachshunds emerge from their hibernation dens and begin to venture out into the white stuff. Bicalina is a bit more enthused about the snow than Monster is, but after about 10 minutes of tunneling around in that white stuff they are ready to go back in and recuperate from the stress of hopping around in the snow. I took a few pictures of course and here they are:

Tessa - as ready as ever to chase a couple of snowballs.


Monsti in the meantime is trying to "repair" a flat tire, a.k.a. snowballs under his paws.


Fortunately, the snow is now compacted enough to carry a slim dachshund. Shepherds still do sink in though.


Here Monsti thinks he saw something worth pursuing. . .

. . . and down the hill he goes.


Meanwhile, Bica is trying to make me understand that I am standing on her path. (There's just no way around me either !)

Oh the Joys of Winter !

Honestly - I love snow. A lot of people think I'm nuts for saying that, but there's something to be said for walking your dogs without a leash in the middle of main street without having to worry about getting hit by a speeding car. The few cars we did see were mostly stuck in some snow bank and if people are crazy enough to go out in conditions like that, they just can't be helped. You just hope they don't hurt anyone with their insanity. It's one thing if you are a doctor and need to be at a hospital to safe lives, but just going out to pick up your kid who's been at a sleep over doesn't make sense, does it ? Duh - if I know there's the mother of all snowstorms coming, I won't allow my child to spend the night in someone else's house, or do I ?
Neither here nor there - we did enjoy this snowstorm and hope to God that our roof will survive the huge masses of snow. I discovered a few cracks in the ceiling and hope they are not forbearers of some structural problem.

I also did take a few pictures of the white mess:

Winter Wonderland in our back yard.
Tessa, the over sized, furry snow bunny.
...on the other hand, there's the hibernating bunch.


Doesn't look as if we are going anywhere anytime soon. . .

About Barking.

Offense is the best Defense

.......is one of Monster's mottoes:





Sometimes Rodney tends to get a bit possessive about things. In this case it was a brand new plush toy which was really Tessa's. She never got a chance to even touch it ! It's now in Rodney's secret hideout place with countless other treasures he hoards .

But what this cartoon really is about: Rodmonster's devotion to "his" girls. He does not want to share them with anyone. If I take him for a walk all by himself he can be managed easily and he usually behaves very well. The scenario changes when you add Tessa and Bica to the equation. He thinks the world is out to kidnap those two and he needs to be the dog in shining armor. Sometimes walking the dogs in this constellation gets quite stressful for the poor handler (ME !). So if you ever take your dog for a walk and you see a seemingly crazy lady darting into ditches or hide behind a tree, that would be me. I'd rather sit in a mud puddle and wait for other dogs to pass us by quietly, than embarass me and my girls in the middle of a path hanging on to Mr. "I-gotta-kill-whatever-stands-in-our-way". Thank goodness for washing machines washing mud soiled pants on a daily basis.......... We really do love you, you little monster ! :)

Would we dare not to ? ? ?

Chaos

Show me your bed and I tell you who you are.....
This could be true, looking at the dachshunds dog beds. They both just love to sleep in doggy tents, and looking at the interior you may as well guess, who resides in which:You guessed right. The neat one on the left is Bica's, while the one which is almost flat on its side belongs to Rodney. I straighten it out every morning and he puts it back the way he likes it, every evening. Tessa doesn't like dog beds all that much and prefers to sleep on the tile floor in the bathroom. Which doesn't mean, she does have a cold personality - it just means, that she does have a lot of fur to keep her warm.

The chaotic lifestyle of Mr. Rodmonster inspired today's cartoon. Really - I think if it weren't for Monster, I'd run out of ideas for cartoons real soon. He is my muse.*lol*