Ba de ya, dancing in September

It's time to crank up the Earth, Wind & Fire "September" since we're gonna close out the month this week. It's such a fun song, y'all. I was a little later than usual unboxing my fall decor, but finally have it all in place. This year I've mixed it up some since all the pumpkins I bought for our last home just don't work as well in our new digs. I decided to add some turkeys and a few platters to get a bit of a different feel this season since we're hosting Thanksgiving for a change. 

I've made a few purchases from eBay recently, but have had bad luck with some of the ceramic turkey platters. Boldly marking the box FRAGILE obviously doesn't insure the gorillas aren't giving it a good juggle and bounce along the way. One was so broken there was no way to salvage it. Thankfully, another platter arrived with just a chip. After documenting it to the seller for a full refund, I was able to use a light brown marker to disguise it sufficiently for display behind a pumpkin or two in the shelves. 

I finally put up our front gate fall decorations, including twinkling orange lights, over the weekend. When we were in our local Lowe's yesterday for a thing or two, I spied the first signs of Christmas. I gotta admit, I'm always happy to see Santa make his appearance every year. Now if we could just get our daily highs out of the upper 90s, I'd be a happy camper.

It's been a great start to the fall season here at our house, so hats off to you, September. The Lord continues to bless us in a variety of ways, and we are so thankful He pours out His grace on us. Every year I fondly recall fall memories that date all the way back to my childhood. Hard to believe this song was released when I was eleven. You know you want to sing along, so go right ahead and enjoy!

Chorkie's visit

Our older daughter and her fiance went to La La Land for the long weekend, so I volunteered us to granddog sit the Chorkie while they were traveling. Our sweet girl Pepper was about two when the daughter got Chorkie, and so they've been big buddies for years. Anytime he comes back for a visit, she's always thrilled to see him. As soon as they dropped him off and headed to the airport, Chorkie immediately wanted to start marking things. It doesn't matter that he was neutered long ago. Nothing on the back porch or patio area was immune to his leg hiking. Rock porch posts, lounge chairs, pavilion trash can and the pool toy storage caddy all got a dousing. I snagged a video of him doing his little kicks after he tinkles, which always cracks me up. It's my laugh consolation for having to drag the water hose around to clean up after the little beast.

Our puppy Finn absolutely adores Chorkie and works really hard to engage him. However, curmudgeon Chorkie spurns Finn's effort with bared teeth and snarls. Finn was initially scared, but quickly realized on Chorkie's last visit that it's all bluff and no bite.

One of Chorkie's favorite places to hang out at night is in my husband's lap when he's in the recliner. Finn recently discovered the same spot, and so we had to deal with a lot of jealousy from Finn when Chorkie hopped up there first. I had already loaded my spray water bottle to combat Chorkie's barking, so I used it on Finn when he decided to get vocal about losing his lounge spot with dad for the weekend.

Every place Chorkie went, both inside and outside, Finn was his shadow. I snapped a couple pics of them looking out the window together, as well as Finn getting as close as he could to Chorkie while napping. The poor little guy never gave up trying to get Chorkie to engage with him and be his buddy like Pepper is, though we wish he would have thrown in the towel at some point.

Chorkie has become a fan of armrests since moving to Austin. I've dubbed this pic of him below "Gargoyle Chorkie" because of his very upright pose as if he's guarding the spot. In profile he appears to have only one ear. He also has a bit of a halo effect due to his floofy fur and backlighting from the family room windows. I sent this pic to a friend and she said he looks like the love child of the Grinch and a gray unicorn. Pretty accurate description, I'd say.

 

 

 

 

One of my favorite poses is the one he does that Finn has adopted, too. However, I think the Chorkie is probably cuter in that position, mainly because it gives you a really good look at the snaggletooth that resides outside his mouth. Friday I got a nice break from the bedlam when Pepper and Finn were at the groomers for several hours. After I got them home, they flopped down for a nice long nap that extended the peace and quiet for me to work on my BSF lesson.

With the kids flying home yesterday afternoon, Chorkie returned to his life as a rather spoiled only dog. And I honestly think that's his preference. God help them when they get married and start having kids. Or add a new pup to the mix. Chorkie will undoubtedly strive to keep his pole position as number one dog child.

Wanted: toad strangling gully washer

These days poor old Cibolo Creek is really just a glorified mud hole thanks to our annual summer hill country drought. Finn and I have to witness the daily shrinkage on our walks through town. The poor ducks, geese and turtles are all clustered around the deepest stretches where they can still get wet.The last time we got a nice downpour was sixteen days ago for a whopping ten minutes, but nary a drop since then. Our local weatherman says we might be in for a bit of rain on Friday. I'll be crossing my fingers and toes that we get some precious water on our lawns that need it so desperately. And I'm looking at you, local raccoon, who has been drinking out of our pool from the sun shelf in the middle of the night.

Little man Finn really enjoys our morning walks. After eating his breakfast, I saddle him up in his harness for our stroll. Once it's on, he immediately starts impressing upon me that we need to hit the road. No dilly dallying allowed.

Finn continues to entertain us, and he's quite the vocal boy. He has a repertoire of various whines, yips, and barks that he uses on us for various reasons, anything from wanting his breakfast and throwing his favorite possum toy to going outside to potty. One of his newest tricks is chasing his tail. He tends to do this when he's really feeling his oats and busy with his monkeyshines in the late afternoon.

We've never let Finn on our bed for fear he'd fall off. However, as he has matured he seems pretty aware of and respectful about heights. So we allowed him to come up for a bit of a visit one evening close to bedtime. He has seen Pepper up there on occasion and was really interested, as well as jealous. After a bit of exploration and chicken scratching, he settled down to sleep. Thankfully, he didn't put up much of a fuss when we moved him back into his doggy bed at lights out.

Roly poly enrichment ball

With our first cairn Ollie, we discovered enrichment toys. His personal favorite was this plush tree with several little squirrels in it that he'd root out. He went through a few of these in England when he was a youngster. I'm not sure if this is what led to one of his favorite activities of squirrel chasing in the back yard, but it provided him with hours of entertainment in the house.

Our girl Pepper loves nothing better than to locate squirrels and run them up a tree. Puppy Finn will join her, but he isn't quite as gung ho about these furry tailed rodents, which is fine by me. I decided to buy Finn his very own squirrel enrichment toy to see what he thought, but unfortunately it hasn't become a favorite of his like it was for Ollie. So I went in search of something else. I gave the snuffle pad a try, but it's a very short lived interaction because they're so good at ferreting out the little bits of treats I hide in it.

I was perusing the aisles at a local store for something engaging to introduce to Finn and ran across this ball, shown above. I brought it home to see what the dogs thought and it was a big hit. Now Pepper and Finn each have their own treat balls they roll across the floor. I usually load them up in the early afternoon as a snack between Finn's breakfast and dinner times. They both get really excited when I prep the balls for them. I always put in a few smaller treats that will fall out pretty easily. Some pieces are left a big bigger so they'll have to hit just right to get ejected. My ploy is to leave one larger piece that can't fit through the opening. That way the dogs will continue to push the ball around for a longer period of time because they can see, hear and smell that there is a treat left in the ball. It's an ingeniously evil move on my part.

Maybe I'd be more svelte if I had to chase down the Tex Mex food and assorted desserts I enjoy. Not a bad idea there, folks. At least I'd burn off some of the tasty calories I'd be consuming.

 

My own wreath buffet

With the calendar turning to September, I decided it was time to put up my fall decor. That included hanging these pretty wreaths on my double front doors that I found on the Ashley Nichole website. It's the same place where I got my Uncle Sam for the front gate, as well as the Santas I'll be hanging in a few months. You should check out their website because there are tons of seasonal options, all very reasonably priced. But I digress.

After a couple days, I opened the front door to retrieve a delivered package off the porch and discovered a couple pieces of decorative grass had come loose and were on the pumpkin doormat. I put it back in place and didn't think much of it. Then the following day one of the orange mums was on the mat.

Sherlock Holmes wasn't required to uncover the wreath dismantling culprit's identity. They conveniently left several of their calling cards so there was evidence aplenty in the front yard.

On any given day, there are whitetail and axis deer roaming our neighborhood. The whitetail are definitely browsers. While axis prefer to feed on grass, in our current drought conditions they will also browse like whitetail. The husband was my source on deer eating habits, by the way. And so I'm sure they're the wreath dismantlers. Thankfully it hasn't happened again. I attribute this to our recently installed Ring camera that lights up and makes a noise since it's situated adjacent to the wreaths. Though honestly, the deer in our yard aren't phased by much. I bring our pups out on leash with a big rechargeable spotlight the husband bought me - gotta keep an eye out for snakes and those awful centipedes in the grass - and the deer don't blink an eye. Seriously. Especially the does and their fawns/yearlings. They just stare and are totally unconcerned despite Pepper or Finn straining on the leash to get to them. I console myself with the thought that my suspected wreath robbers might be on someone's menu once hunting season starts.

 

Why not give BSF a try?

It's September, so that means it's almost time to kick off Bible Study Fellowship's (BSF) next study of the Gospel of John. I'm so excited, y'all. The Lord led me to BSF several years ago and He has shown me so many things about Him through these studies. Not to mention what I've learned about myself.

This year we're back in the New Testament for our thirty week deep dive titled John's Gospel, The Truth. John is believed to have written this a few decades after the other three gospels, what John witnessed firsthand that Jesus Christ accomplished here in His earthly ministry. After John spent years contemplating what he saw and heard, our Heavenly Father used John to author these words in the 90s AD. Hallelujah that history is alive and well, just waiting for us all in the pages of our Bibles. God's words are always timely and eternally relevant.

There's no time like the present to Google on over to the BSF website and find a group that meets near you. I love that there are options for meeting days, as well as times, and children are welcome at many locations. Kids have their own age-appropriate curriculum that follows along with what the adults study every week, which is pretty cool. Whether you're a Bible newbie or old timer, God knows what you need and will meet you exactly where you are. He's waiting to show you what He wants you to see, and hear what He knows will speak to your heart. Give BSF a chance to be a blessing in your life just as it has been in mine!

 

Tales from puppyhood

With Finn's last puppy shots recently, we were finally able to start hitting the local walking trails along the creek that runs through town. We want to be sure he's well socialized and comfortable on his leash in public. It was his first experience in a halter, and after some initial wrangling he decided it wasn't so bad. Once we get home from his walking adventures, he's whooped and flops on his bed for a nap. Poor little fella is so tired he pays no never mind to his head hanging off it.

Since Finn has very limited experience riding in a car, I bought him a doggy booster seat so he can sit shotgun with me to the trail. Oh sure, he's still fidgety and a bit whiny, but that's to be expected. I'm waiting for him to begin associating his morning car rides with the walks he seems to enjoy so he'll actually be excited about it and quit complaining.

Speaking of complaining, that's what Finn does when it rolls around to feeding time in the morning and afternoon. Like our good old boy Ollie, Finn has an excellent internal clock that lets me know it's time for his chow. His usual MO is to stare and yip at me, so there's no mistaking he's telling me to get a move on. Sure enough, I check my watch and it's always right on time for his breakfast or dinner. Maybe it's a boy dog thing because our Pepper girl never makes a sound. 

Pepper and Finn's antics continue to keep me entertained. It's obvious they have a good time as housemates and partners in crime. They continue to enjoy several rounds of tussles throughout the day. Seldom does one go anywhere without the other. It's really cute how they've bonded, with Pepper taking over the role as older auntie dog for Finn.