As I sat here at my computer this morning, I got sidetracked on a scent to wow you my readers.
“This week, I’ll be brilliant with a true stream of consciousness kind of post.” As I looked at the last photo on my SD card, I remembered that I had the message CARD FULL when I was trying to capture more photos last night.
Dagnabit – I had to take a detour and spend an hour removing and deleting photos. So, I ran out of time to edit new ones. For the post that I was going to write.
Sigh…woes me.
Thank goodness I have a plethora of photos to grab from. So I started looking at old photos and got sidetracked again. Way back when the kids were little and Mr. was building things in our yard.
I had to just stop myself from writing a post that was completely off the scent I started on. Two-cent tip – don’t do that, it’s a stinking mess to recover from. LOL!
Anyhoo…this past week, I realized I could walk about the yard barefooted. I wandered about the yard just like a dog sniffing for things that make me smile. It felt weird and cool at the same time. No wonder Copper loved to explore the yard.
I paused to discover the flowers that my dad always loved while I was young. I’m pretty sure he still likes them. He wrongly called them Indian Paintbrushes. They’re really Orange Hawkweed. They always remind me of him. They don’t have much of a scent, but they are colorful and my eye is always drawn to them.
It’s been a long time since I walked barefooted in our yard. Now I don’t have to worry about dog poop – I just have to dodge bunny poop. Copper used to eat it and then replace it with his own version. This year, there was no poop scooping work out for me after the snow melted. The yard smells are different now.
For 20 years, we had a dog in our yard. Not just Copper, but Nick our Golden Retriever was there first. Nick was here before the fence was. Mr. built it so that he could roam the yard freely. After Nick raised Copper and was sent over the Rainbow Bridge, Copper became the ruler of the fenced-in area.
And the areas beyond the fence as my faithful companion while I roamed the yard to capture photos.
Our yard is different this year in an empty nest kind of way. I miss my buddy when I’m relaxing in the tea house. The missing of him never leaves, it’s a little less painful on the heartstrings though.
No longer by my side, forever in my heart.
the yard stone in my tea house
Things have greened up nicely in our yard. The empty patches in the yard aren’t from dogs, they’re from bunnies eating them. The warmer weather is due to bring us a week with a heatwave without rain. I better take a few more walks in the grass before it’s too prickly to enjoy!
In the meantime, Mr. and I are enjoying the scenes. The lack of dog scent in the yard has made a difference – the critters aren’t sent off somewhere else, they’re sticking around. It’s taking more than a few cents to buy birdseed! And my baby marigolds I planted with seeds have been mowed off by the critters. There are more birds and definitely more bunnies around to attack them. Oh boy, yes, indeed, there are bunnies. Baby Bunnies (stay tuned for photos to come NEXT week)!
Post Inspiration – Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “cent/scent/sent.” Use them in any form you like. Use one, use two or use them all. Bonus points if you use all three, and Cheryl will put your next drink on David’s tab. I know, you used to get bonus points for two, but inflation… Enjoy!
PS – Did you know walking barefoot is good for you and your balance? Do you have a favorite flower from your childhood that you thought was called something and it turns out it was something else? Happy Father’s Day!!
Hugs. Copper was a special little guy. I’m adjusting too. Like you I am realizing I can do some things I couldn’t do before, though I have not tried walking barefoot in the yard yet. I love your tea house, and your memorial rock…they are forever in our hearts.
Thank you, Dawn. hugs to you too. For me, Copper was the one and only.
I’m glad to read your adjusting. I know it is so darn hard to do.
I love our tea house, it’s my sanctuary in the summer months. It has wonderful green house effects too. I move my succulents and my shamrock out there for the summer. They LOVE it.
Yes, indeed, our furry friends are forever in our hearts. I think Katie is smiling down on you seeing you go to the parks and take such beautiful photos!
I can relate to this post very much, Shelley. The empty yard is a new experience for us. I liked seeing the Tea House under construction. I hope you have a great week.
Thanks, Dan. It’s strange to have an empty yard. You have bunnies too.
Mr. is thankful for the praise of the Tea House construction. He designed it and built it all on his own. I helped some, of course.
I hope your Launch Week goes well! I’m enjoying the book, it’s been easy to read in the small increments of time I have to do so. I can’t wait to share it with Mr. I think he’ll enjoy it too.
If we had enough room, I’d build a Tea House. Thanks for you comment about the book.
😍😁
I never met Copper of course but he seems like a sweet little guy. It always hurts when we lose our pets. The grass looks nice, I saw some major T storms pass over your state a couple days ago on the weather channel, you must have got some serious rain. Happy Sunday!
Hi John – I have absolutely no clue why your comment would’ve gone to SPAM! I rescued it! Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Copper enjoyed your support over the years.
The grass is looking nice, it’ll be brown by the end of the week with the heat we have coming. The corn is loving the heat though. We did have some big storms pass by – the rain and wind were heavy here. We didn’t have any damage or power outages, but our daughter that lives south of us did. It was a couple of fast-moving storms!
I hope you’re having a great week and staying cool!
Copper and Nick may be gone but they are still very much there. Sorry I don’t comment more Shelley but every time I have to fill in email, name, and UR$L
Thank you for your words of encouragement. Yes, they’re still in my heart.
Hmm…I wonder why you have to do that? I don’t have to on your blog. I wonder if it is a Gravatar thing?
I miss Copper, too, and I never even knew him… Pets are such wonderful companions and leave such a hole in your heart when they depart.
Thanks, John. You’re right, pets sure do. They fill our hearts while they’re here and then leave a space to discover when they leave.
Ah, I guess it’s been a long time since I walked barefoot outside. I’ve done it at beaches, but not in a few years. I need to remedy that!
I’ve tended to prefer shoes and ones with good support thinking that it was helping my future elderly self. Come to find out that maintaining our balance is easier and better for us if we go barefoot often. The beach is my favorite spot too. Soft, green, naturally growing not fertilized grass is my second choice! Watch out for horse poop if you walk barefooted where you do ;-)!
Our furbabies are still our babies and we miss them when gone. Its closing in on a year since I lost Mimi so I too understand the empty nest, even though my nest is not empty. I still have Daisy but each baby has their own specialness. And there are wonderful scents associated with each special memory and each season of life that make us smile as we reflect back on them. Have a great summer. Enjoyed your post.
Hi Anita! You read my mind – I was thinking about you this past week and here you are commenting!! Aw, I’m sure you’re still missing Mimi too. She was a special dog. I bet Daisy misses her too, even if she’s getting extra attention now.
Your flower gardens are beautiful – I’m jealous you have such gorgeous blooms.
I hope you have a great summer too – it was so nice to hear from you!! Take care.
I miss Copper too. Walk barefoot outside and stay grounded Shelley 🙂
Thanks, Brian – you were one of Copper’s favorite fans. We appreciate your words of encouragement!
Funny you’d mention that without dog scent the critters are sticking around. We’ve never had a dog, BUT when neighbors on both sides of us had dogs we had almost no chipmunks or squirrels. HOWEVER now that our neighbors are dogless, we have many unwanted critters scurrying around & causing trouble. Who’d of thought, huh?
It’s the amazing power of the MARK of the human’s best friend beasts. 😉
I didn’t know Mr. built that tea house! I’ve always admired it. Great job! Your yard is always pretty. I walk barefoot everywhere around the house and the more I’ve done it, the easier it is. It’s been hot here all month, (mid to upper 90’s) which is early. They’re predicting 100 degrees on Saturday. Makes me dread July & August!
HI!!!!!!!! I just thought about you the other day and wondered how you’re doing. Thanks for stopping by to share your thoughts.
Yes, Mr. designed and built the tea house all by himself. It’s probably our most favorite project we’ve dreamed up and completed together. Other than 2 kids and all that comes with that!
I’m finding that going barefoot is getting easier now that I’m trying to remember to do so. I’ve also been practicing how to stand on one leg for 30 seconds to increase balance. That and getting up from the ground without using my hands. Falls are scary as we age, we need to prevent them as much as we can!
We’re in the same boat with heat – yesterday it was 89, but not humid. If we had that kind of heat, I’d be happy. Today it’ll be 90 and humid. I, too, will be dreading sweltering heat in July and Aug. I don’t want to wish the summer away though – winter still seems to real.
Thanks again – it’s great to hear from you! 🤗
You’re so sweet Shelley. Yep that humidity makes a huge difference. I’m with you though- I like summer much more than winter.
😊 I hope you’re enjoying your summer. Thanks again for stopping by – it’s great to hear from you!
It’s nice to see Copper making a cameo appearance once again – I miss him too Shelley. I know walking barefoot is good for your balance and balance is something as you get older. I have never walked barefoot in the house or around outside either – not because of having a dog (that we did, but a long time ago). I remember having slippers even when I was very young to wear in the house – my mom was fastidious about cleaning and said shoes were for outside only. Anyway, I like the picture of the tea house in progress and the final with all the young ladies, whom I presume are the girls and their friends. I eagerly await bunny pics!
Thanks, Linda. I knew you’d like seeing Copper photos again. I sure miss him too.
I’m enjoying going barefoot more often. And I’ve been practicing standing on one leg for 30 seconds and then switching to the other leg to help with balance too. It helps build your core muscles too – it’s free and easy to do to help yourself stay strong. I used to be like your mom – shoes are for outside, but then I started wearing them myself because of standing work desk. I just need to shake it up a bit and alternate instead of one pair of shoes all the time!
Thank you for the encouragement, Linda, your comments always brighten my day.
The bunnies have been posing a lot……………..!
I did enjoy seeing him sniffing the air in the yard. 🙂 He always made me smile, as will the bunnies. I’m going to try that “balancing act” starting tomorrow. I heard an interview on the news the other day about needing to get 7-8 hours of sleep per night, 8 preferable … nothing less. I fall a lot short of that suggested amount of sleep due to staying up late and getting up early to walk. I finally had to go to bed earlier last night – the hot weather did me in and fireworks until the early a.m. Tonight we had a storm, so I didn’t get on here until late – I hope to catch up tomorrow. I’m looking forward to seeing the bunnies. I saw a cute one at the Park this morning.
Yes, 7-8 hours of sleep a night is good for us to get. I hope you do work that into your schedule.
I’ve been missing Copper a lot. So much so that I’ve been talking to the bunnies. Yesterday was the last day I’ve seen the little ones. I think they’ve all moved on. My neighbor said they’ve seen some new cute ones in their yard and one of them seems to like humans talking to them. 🤔😊 I’m thinking it was one of our bunnies!
I’m glad you’ve gotten to see a bunny on your walking trail. They are cute to watch.
Fireworks…don’t get me started. Soon they’ll be over too, I hope.
I saw something large ahead on the trail today at Humbug Marsh. It was hot and I was about to head for the car so I put the camera away and I thought it was someone’s dog wandering about – it was a a huge rabbit, the size of a small dog. By the time I fumbled with opening the case and getting it out, it dove into the bushes.
Copper would approve of bunnies – they are cute like he was!
They are shooting them off right now and close to me – thankfully the rain tomorrow will stop that.
I need to get more sleep, especially in the Summer as I’m up earlier – in Winter, the sun does not get up so early. I don’t think I’ll even get to Reader tonight. Blogging etiquette has gone down the drain. I’ll catch up in Reader tomorrow when I get home, before I answer any of my own comments.
I can relate to the camera in the bag at the moment you wish it wasn’t syndrome!
I hope you got some sleep and that you’re taking a break from the pressures of blogging etiquette. You deserve to rest and take care of yourself!
I was ready for bed last night and outside sounded like a war zone, so I stayed another hour … I had hoped to finish up today as we have some storms Tuesday evening and I usually don’t go on the computer if it’s storming.
We had the same sounds here last night. I could see the fireworks from our bedroom window. It has been Fri – Mon non-stop nights of booms. I hope tonight will be quiet so we can get some sleep!
The storms we had weren’t that bad, just lots of rain. I hope you don’t get bad storms! Stay safe!
Same here Shelley and the fireworks extravaganza every night is getting really old. Supposedly they were allowed to still shoot them off the day after 4th of July, but this has extended past the 5th. Enough already! You get up early like me, so it is a pain and I am really tired by afternoon/early evening. We never got those predicted bad storms either, though the three weather sites I follow all predicted them and suggested following their app or following weather-related Tweets to be able to take cover. I am just as glad they weren’t severe, but how can they be that off?
I heard a firecracker boom this morning at 4:45 am. WTH?!
The weather forecast is such a gamble to rely on. It is frustrating! Heat is on its way to you if our weather is any indication. It’s beautiful weather, but hot!
That’s crazy Shelley! We still had them going on last night, but no early morning firecrackers – guess they never went to bed. Heat … it must be the precursor for this storm tomorrow night and into Tuesday?
Yes, it was. Yes, it stormed and I think more rain is on the way. It’s 72 degrees already and the clouds are heavy. Thankfully the storms were mostly just rain. There was thunder and lightning too.
Oh that is what we are in for – was supposed to arrive at 8:00 a.m., now will be after midnight. Not looking forward to it.
I hope the storm wasn’t bad for you!
The storm never materialized Shelley and this made zero sense since all the weather stations I listen to were predicting how bad it would b, especially in the southern part of the state. What Michigan did get was an EF0 tornado in Holly Township (that’s about 70 miles from me) and thy had a minor earthquake in Monroe 20 mils from me. We remained unscathed – whew. I have a weather radio and it did not go off, so I began to think we were good … but still. All the dire warnings and predictions wig me out.
I’m glad you’re safe!! Sorry to hear about the other towns though 🙁