Hearth harmony

Sometimes there’s something to respect about natural antagonists getting along like…well, like cats and dogs. But around our house, instinctive canine/feline hostilities have never come into play - no rivalry, no dominance, nothing. 

This is never more evident than at night when Casey and Stella vie for nap space and the comfort of radiant heat, just short of spontaneous combustion.

Somehow tonight though they look just way too comfortable with each other.

When enough is just not enough

Someone has to be the grown-up when it comes to Casey and Frisbee tosses. This is something he knows he does very well, so why stop, ever. If it were up to him there would be no limit to the number of tosses, regardless of slobber or risk of injury. So fifteen minutes is usually plenty, at least for the tosser.

Today the weather was clear and crisp, but when a session is rained out, when enough is never enough, you gotta improvise.



Spoke too soon

The weather god must be tossing Casey a bone today. What a tease.

False alarm

There’s nothing like new fallen snow to brighten a Border Collie’s day. And as soon as we let Case outside you’d think this brief shower was a harbinger of a blanket of the white stuff, fit for canine snow angels.

Don’t know how to break it to him though – temps are going to hit the low 40s today – and to make matters worse, Bellingham is looking at two or three days of sunny and clear...if you can believe that. 

Get the kitty

One of Casey’s jobs around the house is to literally “Go get the kitty…Go get Stella!” If there’s one trait that serves our boy well, it’s the knack of locating and herding if necessary our Stella, indoors or out. Every now and then though, she manages to give Casey the slip - like today, escaping and evading to the very top of a wine rack, on top of the refrigerator.

What's your plan now, Case?  

Morning snooze

Is there any reason to believe that this young guy is not totally secure in his space - especially when his space is a favorite chair for a midmorning nap.

Area equals pi multiplied by (r squared)

Stella, the cat π

Don't ask

God, the weather just sucked today, which means indoor ball tosses and towel tug o' war were on the agenda, if only to burn a few collie calories. Winning a tug sometimes means Casey ends up exhausted, under a favorite piece of terry cloth, in a photo op not to be passed up.

  

Sad and lonely

Look at our sad boy here. What a picture. Lucky for us our son Joe came by and provided some solace for Casey who was missing his "dad" real bad. He's always been partial to Joe, and while his favorite Frisbee tossing human was on a two-day business trip, Casey practically threw himself in Joe's lap for a hug. You think he knows a true dog-person when he sees one? 

New squeaky obsession

Why the obsession with with a squeaky rubber hamburger, we'll never know, but it's been Casey's new very favorite toy for days now. Of course Marsh gave it to him, so enough said, and what's more cool-looking than a double burger smile?

Farm boy flashbacks

It's been a while since we've perused these photos of our guy, taken back on the farm in Minnesota when he was maybe six months old and being ignored by his former humans (notice the length of tie in a couple of the pictures) between occasional romps with his mom Sally. As it turned out during the spring and summer of 2008 Casey Mac spent a lot of time vying for attention and, as it turned out, even nourishment from among his much more alpha litter mates. Of course that was way back then, in another one of Casey's worlds far away. The kid's got it made now. 

   

Valentine REMs

Three days after Valentines Day, between sleep sessions, Stella is still occasionally baffled by an I Love You balloon suspended over "her" rocking chair. 







But in the long run nothing ever seems to jeopardize this girl's mastery of the wake-sleep cycle, no matter the occasion.

Some dog-person

Sometimes there are no words.



And this guy wants to be President.

Stake out while rockin'

There is absolutely nothing more exciting to Casey in the morning than to spot a squirrel,  and especially to chase it if he was in the same acre. Oddly enough he always pulls up short if he’s lucky enough to take off after one that deserves to be caught – speed-challenged, swerves left instead of right etc.

This morning he drew a bead on a squirrel while he was vegging in a rocking chair, not the steadiest of lookout posts. 

  

(It's OK. I know what I'm doin' here.)



Morning ritual

When Casey was treated for chronic superficial keratitis or pannus over a year and a half ago, we hoped we were going to be able to save his eyesight. Eventually, after six months of twice a day applications of steroid eye drops and topical tacrolimus ointment, a 50% vision loss was completely restored. Not an eye malady to ignore – symptoms include discharge, dry eye, and in Casey’s case, a corneal inflammation appearing to be allergy related.

He’s a lucky guy though - this close call had a happy ending. Now, each morning, the tacrolimus is applied to each eye by Victoria, and Casey doesn’t really seem to mind.

OK, that's not entiely true, but he's always eager to get it over with. And a sitting position with front paws extended, or some variation of this pose, is usually good for a laugh, an irresistible hug, and a morning rawhide chew. Man, the things you have to put up with to keep the humans happy.  

Favorite weekend photo

It wasn't too tough of a call to make this weekend. Now if only Stella was as much of a scene stealer as Casey or 3-year-old grandson Silas, but she couldn't care less.   

Mama and baby deerest

Sometimes when you’re just hanging around the house, old friends drop by when you least expect it. In fact this morning we hadn’t even had our second cup of coffee when a lady friend of ours stopped by with her youngster. Today Casey spotted them right away – a doe and a yearling – sampling the remains of winter leftovers.

 Black tailed deer are plentiful in and around Bellingham, especially this year, and now that things are warming up a little they come out of hiding more and more.

The kid  would have liked nothing more than to get a closer look, but he listened to us for once and stayed put.

Good boy.  

They never hang around long, before they melt back into the closest overgrowth or tree line.

 

Bet you wanna see my rabbit

There are times when you least expect it, like when you’re thinking about kicking back and watching a podcast or reading, that Case thinks that you’d like nothing more than to see his new favorite stuffed toy...or have a tug. 

Tonight it’s “How do you like my new rabbit, Pop?” - from the Goodwill - and “How would you like it if I threw him in your lap?”

New favorite tee shirt logo

I've gotta believe that the jury's still out on the authenticity of the canine thought process and its relationship to agility physics, but this logo - and I'm not biased or anything - is definitely on my new favorite tee shirt. 

Trail togetherness

If there's one thing Casey enjoys on an outing, it's when he's accompanied by both of his humans. It's like the whole pack is together - minus Stella, who's fine with staying home. Casey is far less intimidated by other dogs and humans, and might even drop back occasionally to see if his charges are doing OK.

Or to make sure they haven't strayed too far.

Favorite weekend photo

Just an accidental shot of the kid "takin' five" off-trail. It's no fun taking a breather just sauntering alongside his human anchors...and besides, the view's a whole lot better from up here.

Someone's been paying attention

The difficult I'll do right now, the impossible will take a little longer.

                                        Billy Holiday Crazy He Calls Me lyrics (1949)

Who was it who said if you want or need to accomplish the improbable or impossible, it doesn't help to sit around and be afraid to try? Just do it - and don't let weighing less than a kilo stand in your way. Watch gutsy little Champis, the herding rabbit, in a clip that's gotten almost a million and a half hits already. Notice the Border Collie crouch that our fearless bunny learned from his canine Jedi master, seen here in the background blocking the herd's escape route.

ET meets Old Hemp

Cowboy and Aliens starring 007's Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Keith Carradine, and Olivia Wilde, for god's sake...now who's not going to be tempted to waste a couple of precious hours of life to watch a flick with that line-up?

Just had to do it, but the hook for us was the nameless Border Collie that showed up in almost every scene, tagging along with Craig in confrontation after confrontation with one big, resource-grabbing ET meanie after another - a credible, and less mangy takeoff of John Wayne’s dog in the classic Western Hondo.

The plot was simple enough. Like most extraterrestrials, they were after earth’s gold, and in the process, kidnapped every other cast member for prodding and experimentation, and…well never mind, it doesn’t matter. It’s just that the collie seems to be the only earthling that seems to know when these velociraptor-sized aliens are around, continually saving the day by barking.

In no way are we biased, but it was an award-winning performance by Casey’s nameless distant cousin with no lines. And the movie, well, of all the cowboy/alien genre movies we've ever seen…this one is certainly one of them.

The one less traveled

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference. Robert Frost

You'd better believe it.  Casey didn't have to share a yard of it with a single obnoxious puppy or any of the regulars, just the way he likes it.

No complaints here

Can you tell? This is one happy fella, after almost a week with no Frisbeeing, due to weather and travel. Today though we were just hanging around the house and, while it was chilly, for the most part it was sunny and beautiful. The eagles were soaring (of course with no camera nearby) and so was the Frisbee.