Trail Camera

Here are some pictures from my Truth Cam.

First the Great Horned Owl who lives in our woods. 

 

 

 

 Fox and opossum, look at the size of the opossum!

 
A skunk and raccoon sharing a snack.

 

Raccoon line up.

Notice the white thing flying in each of these pictures, does any one know what that is?

Maybe could it be a Luna Moth?

 

And of course deer.

 

 

That's all for now.

Puppy Clara

So we got this puppy ~ 4 months ago, she is from Puppy Breath Rescue in Grand Haven,
said to be a Black Lab/ Terrier mix.  I just thought I would share some pictures of Clara as she grows. 

Keep your eyes on the changes in her ears.  I'm not saying I don't like her ears, even though I have made comments about using super glue to hold them down. Of course I would never do that, you know. Just watch the Labrador ears turn into some sort of Terrier ears. 

Also at 6 months old she weighs only 20 pounds.  And her bark sounds a bit like a Chihuahua. All and all she is a pretty good pup.

This is Clara, just 4 days after we adopted her, on an adventure to Crockery Creek Open Space in Ottawa County.  (Notice the Lab like ears)  She is ~9 weeks old here.

 
 
By 12 weeks old she has found the garden, first she smells the flowers then tastes the flowers.

Now at 14 weeks of age she has gone all Black Seal on us.

Feeling very at home napping on the sofa. Hard to see her ears in this picture.

 

 

She enjoyed the garden, digging up onions and potatoes, but she doesn't have one green thumb.
What do you think?...Is that the Terrier coming out in those ears?

She is pretty sure now that this is her home and we are her people, oh but notice those ears inching higher up in the air.

          Socializing on the Grand Haven pier.

 Clara today, almost 6 months old and look at those ears!!    Aw, but isn't she kind of cute?

Puppy Love Or Temporary Insanity?

Last February we lost our 15 year old "puppy dog" to a stroke.  It was a hard thing to go through, and really got to me even though she was just a dog.  A while after she was gone, I got rid of all doggy stuff in the house.  Took back the sun room as a place to sit with no smelly dog bed or dog dishes.  There was so much less dog hair in the house, we could go away and not have to worry about the dog.  I enjoyed not having that responsibility.  Life was plenty full with kids, grandkids, husband, and siblings.

Then someone  (daughter of mine) started sending me pictures of available puppies.  She worked on me for weeks but I was firm - I really did not want a dog!  I'm actually quite lazy, so it was just easier without a dog. 

I started to weaken, only because she was so persistent!  Then one day I was a bit weak and we made plans to go to Montcalm County to meet this cute puppy named Hannah. But Hannah was adopted  by a family with 5 young girls.  Aw, good the puppy will live happily ever after and I don't have to have a dog! 

I stated clearly to this daughter of mine that I just did not want the responsibility of a dog, or the expense, or the heart break in 10 or 15 years when the dang dog dies.  She openly admitted she did not want full responsibility of a dog either, but she still wanted me to get one. 

And then out of the blue my reasoning and common sense left me.  Black Lab/ Terrier mix puppies were available right here in Grand Haven.  Just 8 weeks old and adorable.  Well I thought, and this is where common sense was lost,  LIFE IS SHORT (or can be).
My daughter is the sweetest daughter in the world, and she wanted a puppy.  Who knows what tomorrow will bring...

So in the end we went down to check out the puppies available at Puppy Breath Rescue, we walked into this house and 3 or 4 puppies came tumbling at us.  Jumping, nipping, licking, bundles of fluff.  We picked out "Kia", she is mostly black with one white paw.  I paid the fee of $100 to Brenda, then it struck me.  I had met Brenda before, she was the same nice girl in the room at the vet when we had Tilly put to sleep!

So now we have a  puppy, we renamed her Clara.  And yes the first ~ six weeks I regretted adopting her!  She is full of energy, with snapping jaws!  She bites my pant legs when I walk! She does not usually listen, but she can hear just fine. Maybe she isn't the cutest puppy ever, but now after three months, I'm coming round to her.

She is this little bundle of energy from morning until night.  She is very cute and can be sweet.  Now she is so excited when we come home to her, with her tail wagging full speed.  She is our dog now.  This is her home.

 Clara First Day Home August 17 2012  About 8 1/2 weeks old.

    Clara in the garden with our granddaughter, Vivienne.

 

Pine Island Drive Bridge in Michigan

Pine Island Drive Bridge in  Kent County, Michigan over the Rogue River is in the news.
From news source MLive-"'Ornate' Kent County bridge approved for Michigan historical marker may be last of its kind."
Link to MLive -
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2012/09/kent_county_bridge_approved_fo.html

 For more information on bridges visit
 http://www.historicbridges.org/bridges/browser/?bridgebrowser=concrete/pineisland/#photosvideos

I took these pictures in October of 2009 of the Pine Island Drive Bridge.

Michigan in October = wildflowers?

On October 22, 2012  My sister Marie and I went for a 4 1/2 hour walk at Riverside Park in Ottawa County Michigan.  While on our walk we identified 27 blooming wildflowers!  That is pretty good for October in Michigan. 
We also saw two American Bald Eagles flying around and around over the Grand River. 

This is one of the eagles over the river...

Some of the wildflowers we saw blooming...

                             Common Dandelion

                                Wild Strawberry


                           Some type of fleabane

                             Common Chicory

                           Yellow Sweet Clover

                                  Bouncing Bet

We spotted one of the eagles landing in a tree across the river.  It was very hard to see it in that tree, about in the middle of this next picture.  I found a log to steady the camera on and zoomed in on the eagle...

 

So this is the zoomed in picture, which I thought turned out pretty good, since I had a hard time finding the bird in the tree way across that river.

 

 

We also came across this fungus on a tree with Poison Ivy growing right through it. 

I added the car key to show size, and it is a fairly large key.

 

 

 

This beautiful Common Buckeye butterfly was still hanging around.

 

 

As always it turned out to be a great day,

we do have fun.