on top of ol' silly

 Now that the thermometer isn't sporting triple digits it's time to for Lily and I to resume our Silly hiking. Today was day three this week. I brought the iphone along for some picture fun along the way.

I wanted to try to get a picture of the two of us with the silly sign. Lily was acting silly by pretending I was choking her!

Then back home I had some fun playing with the free PicMonkey photo editing program.

 

 

this girl

I thank Abba daily for this sweet girl. She is such a good, happy, loving companion (along with a good guard dog).

Recently I tested to see if she knew the word HIKE. Typically I get my hiking boots out to announce that we are headed to the mountain. This time I asked her the question, 
"Do you want to go hiking on Silly Mountain?"

It was obvious from her bouncing and running back and forth through the house that she understood exactly what I said.

silly hike

One of Lily and my favorite things to do together is hiking up Silly Mountain. Because life has been so dog-gone busy we've missed the best hiking months this year.






Determined to not let all the season disappear without enjoying the fact that we have a trail head a mile from our house we (well technically I not we, as Lily's schedule is always open for hiking) made time this past week for three jaunts up our favorite Silly Mountain.

On the way up the hill we found this hiker's trail marker with and added thought. I looked to see if there might be more signs along the trail but didn't discover any more.

I love the trail names on Silly Mountain. Here we are at the intersections of Coyote Loop Trail and Jackrabbit Trail.

 

I've not yet perfected the art of selfies but have been trying to include the human element in my photos and the size of my hiking group made the selfies necessary.

The March weather encourages late afternoon hiking when the sun is fading. The bonus is the wonderful colors the scape takes on as the sun sinks in the west. The picture below is a view of Gold Canyon, the community that is visible from the far side of Silly.

Good Night Brittle Brush Flowers,
Good Night Saguaro Cactus,
Good Night Superstition Mountain.

for betsy

Not as bright as your guy but just as companionable.

bird brain

It's that time of year...egg laying season. I'm always amazed that any momma bird would consider locating her precious clutch anywhere in Lily's territory. Lily is know for the delight she takes in chasing things....including birds. She's even been known to bark at birds that fly in her airspace. Thankfully she seldom catches the things she chases but there are occasions....

A morning dove built this twiggy nest on top of  stack of shelves on Jay's outdoor workbench. The workbench is located inside the dog fence. A smaller bird chose a little cubby between the cross beam and the metal roofing at our front door where Lily spend most of her outdoor hours.

A third nest is somewhat more appropriately located high in the crook of the arm of a Saguaro cactus out back. The other day I went to fetch Lily from the rocks at the bottom of the cactus. I thought she was stalking a lizard but found an walnut sized baby bird scurrying for cover from the big white monster.

I'm thinking these mama birds need to take a realty 101 class...location, location, location.

diva dog photo shoot

The diva dog got a new jacket. The occasion called for a photo shoot.

 The JC Penny pose

 Serious- on the job look

 Take this- it's my best side

 Up close and personal

Faux fur

No more pictures please.

I said no more pictures!

love

Jay's been working out of town a lot recently. 

I'm happy I have have Lily to keep me company.

time for socks

It has been chilly in Arizona this past week...time to pull out the long pants, sweaters and, yes, even socks. There have been a couple mornings when frost has been spotted on the rooftop and snow on distant mountain tops. 

Lily starts out the morning with her jacket but if the sun comes out you can find her belly-up taking a sun bath.

dog days

This weekend the temperature in the valley dropped about 20 degrees with the high at about 68. Cool weather is a sure way to wind up the bounce in Lily. 'Round mid-morning we took a walk with her to let some of the steam out. We paused to take a photo with the timer setting and caught Lily expressing her gratitude for the family jaunt. As we wove through the neighborhood streets we saw a neighbor and stopped to see the landscaping project he was working on. We chatted while Lily and their two big dogs tore back and forth through the yard in a wild rumpus until they wore themselves silly tired.

sunset on silly

It's finally cool enough to stomp our way up Silly Mountain again. Yeah! 

Jay, Lily and I went together on Saturday morning and did a good share of running. My legs felt like jello afterward. 

Today it was just Lily and me, along with the clicker. I wanted to hike and shoot during the hour that the wedding will take place (in less than two weeks-yikes! the panic is setting in). I experimented with settings and angles and light as the sun sank toward the horizon. Lily patiently modeled for me when we stopped again and again as we made our trek over Ol' Silly.

Thankful

This morning I peeked back at my posts from August 2011. There were only four. The month was consumed with taking care of Lily after her run in with a piece of sheet metal that cut clean through three tendons on her right front leg. Praise Jehovah Rapha who healed her leg so she is once again as quick as lighting on her feet and tears through the yard chasing anything that moves. What a delightful companion she has been for me.

baby birds

First it was the mama bird, now these two little babies, driving Lily buggy by sitting in her Mesquite tree. She has run, barked, jumped, and stood on her hind legs, everything short of climbing the tree, to try to encourage them to leave but so far has had no success.

invasion

 Lily is a great watch dog. 

She lets me know whenever people, coyote, rabbits, mail truck or anything of potential danger is approaching the house. She doesn't limit her warnings to just land invasion but also announces when birds fly in air space she considers her territory. Hawks, perched on the top of telephone poles, are a particular menace to her. This morning, however, there was an invasion of an unknown kind when a low flying big red hot air balloon came within striking distance, she barked and growled under her breath, watching if move across the sky until it drifted out of sight. 

What a good watch dog.

silly lily

Lily's been short on lovin' the past few weeks....
to make it up to her I bought her a doggie freezer bone.
I put chicken broth inside, froze it overnight and she had a nice cool treat today.

happy box

When we returned from Sierra Vista on Sunday afternoon I found a mystery package had been delivered. Actually, I wasn't surprised by the box itself. Our new senior friend, Mary, after visiting our house for a worship evening, had called to tell us she was sending something our way.

I was, however, clueless as to what the box contained.

As I struggled though layers of packing tape box I talked to Lily who was patiently waiting to see if I might be opening something she could eat. I reminded her about the time she got a box of almost empty peanut butter jars in the mail on her birthday. I teased her that maybe this package held a gift for her.

The joke was on me when I opened the box and found a dog house-shaped container full of dog toys.


I grabbed my camera and headed outside with the box to capture Lily as she explored her surprise.

Getting the toys out of the house proved a bit tricky as the door was smaller than her head.

But she proved resourceful and determined as he emptied and examined each of the toys.

She quickly figured out which ones squeaked and determined the squeaky hot dog to be her favorite.

Thanks Mary for the box full of happy!

hanging out with friends

I did Lily's laundry this week. All her favorite friends ended up on the clothes lines due to their love-holes. They looked so cute hanging there I had to take their picture before them came down.

melon for breakfast

Last week I bought a box full of very ripe cantalope melon for $2.00. Each morning I cut a melon up for the chickens but I save a slice back for Lily.

When the weather is hot she often will not eat until evening when it is cooler but now that fall has arrived she has been quick to slurp up this yummy (at least to her) treat. So quick that I almost missed this Kodak moment when I stepped in the house to grab my camera.

poor lily

Our Sunday plans came to an abrupt halt when Lily had a run in with a piece of sheet metal in the yard. The encounter left her with a 4 inch gash down the front of her right leg that sliced through three tendons. I held pads over the wound to stop the bleeding while Jay found a vet who was open on Sunday mornings. YaHWeH, watching over us, helped us to find a vet only a few miles away who was open until noon on Sundays. He was able to do the surgery to connect the tendons and by two thirty in the afternoon Lily was home again sporting a bright green cast and a fancy Elizabethan collar. She has done very well with the anesthesia wear-off and post-op medications and has even made a few three legged journeys in and out of the house. She'll visit the vet again on Wednesday morning to change the dressing and check on how the wound is healing. Although the surgery was a big hit on our wallet, we are blessed and rejoicing that it went well and she should eventually be able to return to he regular lizard chasing duties.