Yesterday while I was doing some lawn chores in the back yard, K was in our little patch of “woods” (a small stand of trees) doing something. I wasn’t sure what. When I called her and she came to see what I wanted, I noticed a bunch of dirt clinging to her chin. That told me she’d been digging. As long as she wasn’t digging in the middle of the lawn, that was fine.
Before long, Belle realized K was digging and she went back to help. They were both back there for quite some time. Hubby went back to check on them and told me that he could hardly see Belle. I think he said something like, “If you hear a crash, that’s the shed falling into the hole.”
I just had to go see what they were up to.
Hubby was right. It was definitely a Belle-sized hole.
If you look closely, you’ll see the dirt on both of their noses.
The hole was several feet long, about eight inches wide and about a foot deep.
These two were determined. I had no idea what they were after. My guess was a groundhog. There’s one of those that hangs out in our yard periodically, usually under the shed.
The main hole.
K did most of the work. She really was back there for a long time. At least an hour, maybe more.
After taking the pictures I posted above, I went back to what I’d been doing. Shortly thereafter, K came flying out of the woods, shaking her head wildly.
She’d caught something. I didn’t see what it was before she dropped it. She couldn’t find it, so she tore back into the woods.
Belle, in the meantime, had circled around behind K and retrieved the prey.
I didn’t want either of the dogs to eat whatever the thing was, so I had to pick it up.
This is what I saw…
A small, dead mole.
Let’s take a look at that hole again…
The main hole.
A hole several feet long, about eight inches wide and about a foot deep. For a small mole.
The girls checking out the prize.
They were both very excited. I let them sniff the thing a bit before I shut them in the house and tossed the mole far back into the woods.
That's my glove on the table.
A little while later, I was sort of amused to see K and Belle under the table sniffing at my glove. I guess it still smelled like mole. One glove was on the ground already.
It’s been awhile since I did a post all about the dogs. And since I know some of my readers could care less about photography and other miscellaneous stuff that appears here, I figured it was time. So here goes…
Morning Stroll
All of the dogs enjoy our morning stroll. Actually, it’s because of the dogs that I do the whole early morning stroll thing. Do I take walks when the dogs aren’t around? Yep! Do I do it at the crack of dawn? Nope!
Happy to Be Alive
This is not technically a great picture since there’s grass obscuring her face a bit, but I love the expression on Belle’s face here. You can see how happy she is to be running around freely.
K's Bench
Every single dog that we’ve ever had come live with us either as fosters or full-time family members has had some sort of unique trait. One of K’s is how she likes to sit on stuff. He favorite spot at the MD house is on our back steps watching the birds. She prefer steps, I think, because her legs are so long that sitting in a regular position makes her back very straight. So this is sort of like K’s equivalent to slouching in a chair.
Basking in the SunK Snoozing
These next three shots require some explanation. First, there’s Meg waiting for us to return.
Where've You Been?
She often follows her own lead when walking through the woods and sometimes beats me back to the house.
Belle's Crazy Streak
If I didn’t know better, I’d swear Belle just found some crack in the woods. But I do know better. This is just one of Belle’s personality traits. Every now and then she likes to run around in a frenzy just for the sheer joy of it. She especially loves running and splashing through shallow streams of water. And tall grass. She also gets a huge kick, apparently, out of doing circles around the other dogs. At full speed. And full speed for Belle is quite fast. (Click on the above image for a larger view and you’ll see her feet are not even touching the ground.) There were clouds of dirt and gravel flying as she barreled around the other two dogs in the driveway. All they could do was watch in confusion.
What?
This shot was taken just after one of their wrestling matches. They were taking a breather…
I’ll close with this image of Meg and K “helping” Hubby fix dinner.
Apprentice Chefs?
For the record… Meg cannot, under any circumstances, be trusted alone with food on a grill. Belle is perfectly content to sit next to the grill as stuff cooks. I don’t think she’d steal anything, but one never knows. K might take food if the mood strikes her. But I still trust her more than Meg. Because Meg is sneaky. She knows how to time her misdeeds when Hubby and I are not watching.
Can you trust your dogs to be left alone with a grill full of food?
A while back when I changed the name of my blog from Web Abode to Interstitial Space, I probably meant to explain what the name means. I’m sure I meant to. The problem is that sometimes my memory really sucks. So I forgot. And all this time, folks have been wondering what the title means. Or, if not wondering, at least reading the title and not really caring what it means.
It does have a meaning. But the word “interstitial” caught my fancy first. Hubby and I were watching a show on television about extreme building engineering, or how stuff is made or something like that when I heard the term used. Hubby, being a plumbing engineer by trade (architects design buildings and plumbing engineers design the plumbing systems to make the buildings functional), was more than familiar with the term. He could even use it in a sentence.
Not a sentence like this: “My wife wastes her time on writes a blog called ToadMama’s Interstitial Space.”
A sentence like this: “Tell Bob to find the interstitial space above the number 12 operating suite to see if the installers remembered to connect the oxygen piping.”
Interstitial, like many words in the English language, has more than one meaning. So does interstitial space. BUT, if we’re talking about interstitial space as it relates to architecture, which is where I got the term, there’s a sort of easy to understand literal explanation with illustrations on Wikipedia – interstitial space (architecture). I’m using the term more loosely than literally. To me it’s just sort of an out-of-the-way place where all sorts of different stuff can appear. Or where a wide variety of topics can be discussed, various photographs shared, stories told, etc.
Does that make sense? I hope so, because this explanation is already WAY longer than I intended for it to be. Now for some fun stuff. Maybe “interesting” is a better term here.
Sign of the Times
STOP… if you like looking at pictures, do yourself a favor and click on each shot so you get to see the full view. The images look so much nicer when they fill the screen.
The leaves have begun changing colors already. I’m not about to give you all of the scientific reasons behind why, when and how the leaves do this every year. I will tell you, however, that we’re a couple weeks ahead of schedule. I’ll also say that many trees and even a bunch of grasses are going right from green to brown. So if you do see any vibrant colors this Fall, it’ll be short-lived. Depending on where you are, of course.
Just in case, get out there and enjoy it while you can.
The Grass Ain't Getting Greener
If you can’t get out there, just come here every few days to look at my pictures. I LOVE watching the colors change.
Riotous Color
Even though Fall is my favorite time of year, I’m actually sort of sad to see it come so early. Because that means it’ll be short and not nearly as pretty as it has been in recent years.
Quiet in the Forest
You can’t tell in the picture, but that “quiet” log was pretty big. I’d guess it to be about nine feet long and two feet across. It was a stretch for me to get over it and I have pretty long legs.
Attention!
I love meandering in the woods near dawn and dusk when the sun is cutting through the trees at an angle, which results in the selective lighting effect that I just love. Where some things are still in shadow while others get the sun’s full attention as it bursts through the trees.
My Favorite Tree Image of the Day
The next shot is the one I like best. The fallen maple leaf was stuck at the very end of a pine bough, waving gently in the breeze.
Yellow
Lighting is important. And it isn’t always easy to get it right. Heck, it’s hardly ever EASY to get the light right. That’s where Photoshop and other image editing programs come in handy. Some shots need just a little bit of tweaking to really make things pop.
Cool Bug
Last but not least, I finally got a shot of this cool bug. I have no idea what it is. It sort of reminds me of a stink bug on steroids. I think it’s pretty neat looking. I’ve seen it, or other bugs like it, many times over the past couple of weeks, I just haven’t been able to get in a good position to catch a shot of it. The funny thing is, I’d never seen it from the top. So I had no idea it had such interesting color patterns around its rear end. I just liked how it looked quietly menacing as it sat nibbling away amongst multitudes of fornicating soldier beetles.
How many signs of Fall have you seen in your neck of the woods?
Yesterday was a picture-perfect day for motorcycling. And we were thrilled to be able to take advantage of it.
We left the house around 11:00 and rode just over 190 miles from our WV place north through Maryland and into Pennsylvania. Then we headed west into West Virginia and south, skirting the far western edge of Maryland. We stopped briefly in Rowlesburg, West Virginia before heading east again into Maryland and then back into West Virginia.
Confused? This map should make it easier, depending who you are. Map-reading is one of those skills technology (GPS) seems to be making obsolete.
Today's ride map.
I love maps. Planning our rides is fun for me. Once I have the ride all mapped out, I write the route on a piece of paper and stick it in my tank bag, which has a special, see-through spot for that exact purpose.
It really was a great ride. Temperatures in the mountains were near-perfect. There were some repeat roads, but there were a few new ones, too. Some of the roads were a bit rough, but the scenery was so pretty, it was worth it. At one point, I was 95% sure I’d turned onto the wrong road and gotten us lost. But the road we were on was so pretty, I just didn’t care. One is never REALLY lost as long as one has a map.
I’ll show you a few pics from the ride shortly. But first, look what I saw in our backyard right before we left.
Mama and her baby just a few feet from the back patio.
Yes, I’ve seen plenty of deer before. But I have never, since January 2005, seen them this close to our house. It was cool seeing them that close, but it wasn’t the high point this post’s title refers to.
In Rowlesburg, West Virginia.
We got to Rowlesburg via CR-51 Salt Lick Road from Terra Alta. We’d been to Rowlesburg before, but had never arrived by this route. CR-51 is a pretty narrow, winding road. It may not be the quickest or most picturesque way to get from point A to point B, but it’s fun putting along roads like this seeing how folks live. The picturesque route would have been to take SR-7 west from Terra Alta then SR-72 south at Kingwood. This route, which we’ve ridden a couple of times previously, parallels the Cheat River.
Small park in Rowlesburg, which was perfect for a drink break.
Rowlesburg is a cute little town in a very pretty location, but it has seen better days. It’s one of those railroad towns of which there are plenty in the Appalachian Mountains that thrived in a different era, but struggles to hang on today. It’s doing better than most, however, so if you are in the area, be sure to stop by for a visit.
Hubby waiting for me to finish documenting the trip. He's a great sport.
Here’s a bit of Rowlesburg’s history if you are interested. Nice place, but still not aforementioned the high point.
After that, we continued to US-50 and headed east. I’d always wanted to visit Cathedral State Park, which is where we stopped for lunch.
Hubby posed with our little picnic spread of bread, cheeses, pepperoni and olives. YUM.
We found a nice little shady spot to eat our lunch, which we’d picked up much earlier in the day at the huge Martin’s grocery store in Lavale, MD.
The trail through the hemlock forest.
I want to go back to Cathedral State Park one day for a hike. Doesn’t it look like a nice place for a stroll?
Hubby waiting patiently. Again.
The picnic was awesome. But it’s still not the high point. Want to know what the high point was?
At 3,213 feet, Mt. Davis is the highest point of elevation in Pennsylvania.
Like 174 pounds is heavy for a five-foot-tall human, but not so weighty for a horse.
And 174 people is a lot for a small party, but 174 tortilla chips wouldn’t be enough to feed that same small party.
While 174 laps around the block would be a LONG walk, 174 laps around your kitchen table would be, well, weird.
How about 174 rescued Brittanys in need of forever homes, all with only one rescue organization? Any way you slice it, THAT is a lot of dogs.
National Brittany Rescue and Adoption Network (NBRAN) has 174 dogs in need of homes.
Thinking about adding a dog to your family? Check out the bios on these guys at http://www.nbran.org.
Remember, those 174 dogs I mentioned are just with one rescue group. American Brittany Rescue has a bunch of dogs in need of homes, too.
American Brittany Rescue has lots of dogs needing homes, too.
That’s just Brittanys. If you like a certain breed, Google that breed along with “rescue” and you’ll see that most, if not all, breeds have a breed-specific rescue group.
Don’t care about breed? Go to Petfinder.com. How about a cat? Do you prefer cats? Petfinder can help you there, too.
Hubby and I had a conversation about dogs a few months ago. I think it was shortly after we adopted K, the newest addition to our family, and we realized what a great dog she is.
“You know,” Hubby said, “we’ve sure had some good luck adopting dogs. We’ve adopted four now and they’ve all been really good dogs.”
“Yep,” I agreed.
“Although,” he continued, completely uncoached by me, “maybe they’re all great dogs.”
BINGO! Hubby hit the nail on the head that time. Dogs are dogs. They’ve all got different personalities, characteristics, traits, etc. But one thing all dogs have in common is their desire to please their people.
Ever heard the joke about how to tell who loves you most, your wife or your dog? Put both in the trunk of your car, come back an hour later and find out which one’s happy to see you.
Anyway… the point is, these economic times have been tough on everyone. As more and more people are facing hardships, more and more pets are finding themselves in need of homes. The Gulf oil crisis is hitting animals hard, too. When people can’t afford to take care of their pets, the responsible folks often surrender those pets to rescue groups or shelters. Let’s not even think about what the irresponsible people do…
If you’re not ready to adopt an animal, become a foster parent. Most rescue groups and even a lot of local shelters would be thrilled to have your help. In terms of helping a certain number of pets, foster parents help far more pets than adopters. And fostering is fun. You get to meet all kinds of pets and people, too.
Just think about it. I’ll say no more. (Not today, anyway.)
It’s that time of year when the NBRAN volunteers start begging for dog images to use in the annual calendar. This year there were over 600 entries! And I am quite pleased to report that our very own Belle is one of six finalists for the much-coveted COVER spot.
Vote for Belle to Become NBRAN's 2011 Cover Girl!
The dog who gets the most votes will be chosen for the cover. There’s a catch though. This isn’t plain old ordinary raise your hand type voting. This is voting by donation. NBRAN’ funds are needed to support the MANY dogs that have been coming into rescue lately, so the calendar team decided to get creative and ask its cover candidates to help raise money to support the calendar and, ultimately, NBRAN.
Votes only cost $1 each. Really, just a buck. Wouldn’t it be a hoot to get Belle onto the cover?
If you could care less about the other finalists and just want to vote for Belle, CLICK HERE. In all fairness, if you want to see the competition she’s up against, follow this link.
Doing it for NBRAN would be really nice. But doing it for me would be awesome. Belle and I could become famous! Even more famous than we already are of course. I mean, everybody knows us through ToadMama’s wildly popular blog, right?
To be a cover girl? How cool would that be?
Please vote for Belle today. It would be nice to have a liver and white girl get some of the attention that’s usually showered on her orange and white cousins.
And I would love to be able to tell folks that my cute little Belle is famous for real!
Oh yeah, after you vote, ask all of your friends to vote, too. It’s only a buck, and the more votes we get, the more money NBRAN raises to help dogs in need.
