Ziska's

Sweet Gin

2008-07-07T06:19:00.005-06:00

Sweet Gin is gone. She was only here on the ranch a short while.

Here she is when she arrived from rescue (from a puppy mill). Her eyes have that wary look.

It didn't take long for her to settle in. Soon she and Jinks were running up and down the drive and digging for prairie dogs. She was a good hunter- not as good as Jinksy but she got three prairie dogs her first day here. It was wonderful seeing her become a dog after having lived in a cage for so long.

Last summer- such a short while ago - both Jinks and Gin doing a perfect recall and sit. Of course, this had nothing to do with the treats in my pocket.

In the snow this spring with that great big corgi grin.

Just a few days ago- still sweetness on four paws.

In March I took her to the Vet since she was lethargic. They found the signs of mild kidney failure. Off I went to yahoo groups to find a support group K9kidneydiet. The diet was switched to home made meat loaf in broth twice a day. Her numbers got a little better. That was until last week. At first it looked like the kidney disease had progressed and started that dreadful downward spiral. Unfortunately it wasn't just that, she started showing signs of a brain disorder of some kind, tilted head, circling , falling down and seizures. It just kept getting worse.

Yesterday, she left.

Dear sweet Gin. I hope you're playing with Jinksy and having a blast.

Hugs and Kisses

2008-06-29T11:19:00.003-06:00

Hugs
More hugs

Kisses
and a bit of a Goose

Funs' over- dinnertime.....

keep away

2008-06-21T11:17:00.003-06:00

BB and Duff spinning in circles

The object of such ferver?

A stick.

spring blooms

2008-06-21T10:19:00.008-06:00

Sego Lily, Utah's State flower. The bulbs are edible but not what I'd call scrumptious.

Yarrow which makes a nice tea. You have to remember that it's a laxative however.... Actually on the list of medicinal plants Yarrow is quite impressive. The leaves can be used as first aid on cuts and abrasions to help clot the blood, the tea can stimulate sweating if you have a dry fever, and some claim it shrinks polyps.

Salsify aka Oyster plant. Now, these roots are edible and I would recommend them.

Larkspur- for that green soap tincture which kills lice. Not loved by cattlemen- it will poison the livestock.

False Dandelion. The petals have that little tooth at the tip- that's what makes them a "false" dandelion.

Dasies- oxeyes I think...

Blue Flax - how pretty they are and they close up at night open up for dawn and follow the sun all day long. What can't you use flax for? Linseed oil, rope, linen and linoleum it's all flax.

Allium. Hookers Onion edible bulb and onion smell. Onions are blood thinners and toxic to dogs.

pop bees

2008-06-21T09:48:00.004-06:00

I'm not much of a gardener so what wants to grow , grows. These are some big beautiful poppies which come out every spring. The deer like them. Well, one deer in particular comes back every year. She seems to be a very happy sedate deer.

With so few flowers in the area we get a lot of bees and hummies around the poppies.

Puli sunrise

2008-06-14T09:50:00.007-06:00

Busy as little bees...

Sunrise duty playing cameleon sagebrush

Hamming it up for the camera... (Luverboy)

Hedgie tag.

Spring has sprung

2008-06-11T12:55:00.007-06:00

We get a lot of wind in the Spring and Summer (actually we get a lot of wind year round). That's a profile shot BTW.

The Indian Paintbrush is finally in bloom.

and the cactus....

and here's BB sniffing the false dandelion. At least he didn't sniff the cactus.

Smiles

2008-06-11T12:50:00.005-06:00

Duff.... the shy retiring type.....

Spring?

2008-04-17T15:14:00.001-06:00

Well, that was enough fun for this week....

The weather service issues red flag warnings when the wind is particularly strong. That means you're not supposed to start a fire when there is a red flag warning . Obviously this system didn't work as well as it should have.

It's hard to believe that 3 days before the fire started there was snow on the ground; and that Wednesday evening there was snow on the ground again.

The fire fighters were fantastic. Many thanks to you all.

Spring?

2008-04-05T08:48:00.002-06:00

Springtime in the Rockies.

Luv, Duff and the devil

2008-03-19T13:57:00.011-06:00

Luverboy decided to have a little nap with the red devil squeak toy.

Duff decided this was just an invitation.....

Luverboy decided nap time was over...

...and the tug of war began....

It looked like a stalemate for while...

Until BB decided to "help" and as so often happens the "help" kindof spoiled the game... at least for Luverboy.

I don't know about you- but to me that certainly looks like one smug corgi.

Very smug.

sopris buffalo

2008-03-19T13:53:00.003-06:00

This one's a little hard to see as it's so far away ... but the saying is that Spring is on the way when you see the buffalo on Sopris. The buffalo is just starting to emerge on the far east peak (left side of picture). If that weren't enough I saw the first ground squirrel of Spring today. That little darling tunneled through 2 feet of snow to sit on the drift and chirp at me. Ginny was too tired to chase him and the other 3 don't have a clue what a ground squirrel is yet. They will soon I'm sure.....

spring frolics

2008-03-17T11:53:00.004-06:00

The snow is starting to get soft all over so I break through but the hellboyz and Duff do not.

Ginny seems to be enjoying the walk and some sun.

Get your licks

2008-03-12T13:46:00.005-06:00

The snow is hard enough to run on and , apparently, also perfect for doggie snowcones. Everybody is eating snow.

blue mountain green sage

2008-03-12T13:42:00.005-06:00

Kandinsky didn't lie. Sometimes when the morning fog is thick enough the mountains turn blue.

Spring thaw is really starting and the sage brush is starting to appear. This is probably the best time of year to walk through the sage. The snow is crusty enough to support your weight. It's too cold for bugs (like ticks- ticks love sage) and you have paths between the brush. Once the snow melts it will be much harder to pick your way through the scrub and cactus.

barkaholic, ballaholic

2008-03-06T12:04:00.007-07:00

It seems that Duff is a balldog. He really likes soccer but only as an indoor sport. I guess the faster paced indoor game has it's appeal for corgis as well.

Not surprisingly he went for this old tennis ball as well. He's certainly been around this game enough to know not to give the ball away......at least not unless there's some big payoff involved.

Just how big a payoff was necessary I was about to discover. Regular readers will know that Ginny is a "barkaholic". We go out on our walks and she barks- non stop- right in your ear- or in this case- right in Duff's ear.

So Duff came up with an ingenious plan- he very carefully dropped the ball....

Which Ginny then picked up.....

You really can't bark with a ball in your mouth.

How do I know this was intentional? Duff didn't bat an eyelash when Ginny picked it up- he didn't try and get the ball back- he could care less about the ball. Mission accomplished....

Puli pull toy

2008-03-04T07:51:00.004-07:00

Duff is learning the routine pretty quickly. He's already figured out that it's easier to hang on to a Puli's dreads than to chase them.....

I was warned when I got Duffy that he was "high energy". This is the perfect combination- they wear each other out- then crash- then play- then crash- then play.

Smart girl Ginny lies curled up in the doggie bed and lets them play. Sometimes she gets in the play mode herself which the Pulik take as a golden opportunity to maul Duffy.

wind

2008-03-04T07:48:00.002-07:00

Sunday night and Monday morning we had non stop wind. This made a hard crust on the snow and some pretty spectacular patterns in the drifts.

Getting to know you

2008-03-01T10:15:00.004-07:00

Duffy is 2 years old so he's still a teenager. This means the play sessions between Duff and the Hellboyz can get quite animated. Ginny has decided that curling up and sleeping is more fun.

I think he's getting used to the ranch- plenty of room to run and some company. Like all Corgis he's a quick learner. Like all Corgis he'll probably be a quick "unlearner" too once he gets settled in and decides it's time to test the boundaries.

Bunnies!

2008-03-01T10:09:00.007-07:00

I know this is really difficult to see but even with a telephoto I wouldn't have been fast enough to catch these guys. They flushed a jackrabbit this morning- there's a teensy grey flash on the left which is the hare. The two black dots in the middle are the hellboyz and the larger black dot picking up the rear is new boy Duffy.

Corgis are fast but Pulik are faster. Nothing is quite as fast as a jackrabbit however. When someone says "Quick like a bunny." This is that bunny.

At first I thought this was a snowshoe hare but on closer inspection of the photo I think those are jackrabbit ears....

Duffy

2008-02-29T14:03:00.003-07:00

There's a new member of the family. Duffy is a 2 year old male rescue. He is ready to play 24/7/365. I don't think he'll be able to wear out the Puli brothers though.

Ginny is letting him know who is the snow queen. You can see a little bit of the cotton clothesline "leash" on Duffy. He's been an "outside" dog most of his life so we need to learn things like "come". Right now he's just concerned with staying close to the rest of the pack, but once he starts to feel it's familiar territory then he just might start to wander off a bit. Today has been filled with lessons, sit, come, wait, all sorts of good stuff....

Beat the Devil

2008-02-29T14:01:00.003-07:00

They've finally found an appropriate toy. It's a little stuffed squeaky red devil.

Smiles

2008-02-22T09:49:00.002-07:00

Ginny doesn't mind the thaw at all....

The flying Puli brothers

2008-02-22T09:47:00.004-07:00

I've told you they're nuts right?

This may look like a fight - but it's not- it's a wrestling match and BB is about to get body slammed once again.

Thaw

2008-02-22T09:45:00.003-07:00

This is my least favorite time of year, taxes and mud what a delightful combination.