Sunday, March 18, 2007

A Coop at the Yurt, dogs

Sorry to disappoint anyone, but I am all out of creative ideas for Sunday Sketches tonight.
But there was some cool raptor action at Swami's and Swamette's today!
A pair of Cooper's hawks are building a nest in one of the trees in the backyard.
And this is the biggest Coop I have ever seen! (At first, when I saw it in flight, I thought I was looking at a red-shouldered) It must be a female. The other one is much smaller.
Coop at the yurt
Look at those beautiful red eyes...
Coop picking up a stick
We watched her gather sticks and take them up to the top of one of the pine trees.
Coop looking for more sticks
I was enthralled...what a beautiful bird.
Swamette was dismayed when I told her that this pair of Coop's would be eating birds in and around her yard. She is upset that she is feeding the birds that will be eaten. I told her, "Yeah, but you are still feeding birds. They are just larger than the other ones!"
Tytus and Sydney
We met up with Kevin and Rachel (Younger-Son-Of-Swami and his girlfriend) at a nearby dog park (we took Nellie up to the Yurt with us) and they brought two of their dogs.
The beagle-mix you may remember from a previous post. (Tytus)


The girls and Sydney the boxer
The girls love dog parks...lots of new dogs to play with. This boxer was a favorite of ours. Her name was Sydney.
Flying dogs
The black Lab on the right is not Nellie. Nellie stayed by me most of the time.

Look at the movement in this picture. Dogs are too much fun.
Two men, two dogs
Two men, two dogs.
(Geoff and Kevin)
Syd and the frisbee
Sydney loved to fetch. And at times, she would bring the Frisbee back in her mouth with it tilted up in front of her face. We have no idea how she could find her way back to us!
Syd smiling
She was a big, goofy, smiley dog.
Geoff, Lorelei, Kevin and Raven
Kevin and Rachel also brought Raven, a chow-heck, I don't know what else-mix.
She is a good dog, full of energy and sweet. But some prissy dog owner got all upset when her dog and Raven got into a bit of a scuffle. Rachel leashed Raven for a few minutes, and we watched as the prissy women's little ankle-biter started another fight.
People tend to shy away from Raven, Rachel said, because they are wary of chows. People are the same way about pit bulls, and Nellie, for that matter, just because she looks like a Rott! Anyone who is scared of Nellie is an idiot.
I wish more people read my blog, because I have common sense (I swear I do!).
If you take your dog to a dog park, you have to let the dogs BE DOGS. And if YOUR dog gets testy, you have to restrain it and teach it how to act. And if a fight breaks out, for the love of God, don't freak out! Dogs feed on our energy, and they will go into defense mode of they sense that you are panicked. Dog parks would be perfect, if the owners weren't there.
We have a certain UPS driver who was attacked by a dog a long time ago. When we open the door, Nellie likes to run out and greet all delivery people (everyone else brings treats for her). Well, this driver gets all scared and presses herself up against her truck and freezes. Now, Nellie can sense that something has changed, so she starts bracing her legs and barks. And that makes the driver get more freaked, and Nellie thinks, "Oh no! Something is wrong. There is something going on that I need to be scared about. I better sound big and bad and scare off the thing that I am supposed to be scared of!" I understand that this woman was attacked by a big dog, and she is scared of them. But I get impatient with people who can't conquer their fears. I am scared of high bridges over water, but living in the Ohio river valley, I have to drive over them every day. And I do it and move on. I have been through enough in my life to know that fear has its place, but you can't let it rule your life. Fear can assist a mom to lift a car off of her child trapped under it, but living your life crippled by fear gives you only half a life.
Okay, enough of my ranting.
***
Geoff and I had a nice time last night, alone in the house with Nellie, Queen, Pandora, Buddha, Trixie, Powder, Penny, Nic, Laverne, Shirley, Echo and Lollipop. Even when we are alone, we aren't alone.
Hope everyone had a nice weekend.
Winter ends in 3 days!!!!!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the cooper's photos! How wonderful to have captured them working on the nest like that! There is a major size difference between the males and females! Glad you had fun with the puppies!

Mary said...

Susan,

Raptor Joy and Dog Joy all in one day! Awesome.

I agree with your dog philosophies. Dogs take care of things themselves - IF they are properly socialized. If not, that's when the owners need control. I know some Rotties that are gentler than a bunny but people don't realize that. Pit bulls...that's another story for me, based on my limited experience with them.

If I had a cooper's nest in my backyard, I'd be nervous like Swamette, but, boy, what an educational experience that few of us would be privileged to witness!

Glad you had a quiet evening.

The Swami said...

"...Kevin and Rachel (Younger-Son-Of-Swami and his girlfriend)"

Remember, Swami's girlfriend is Swamette! Swami might have phrased that a bit differently.

The Coopers (Cooper's [?]) were eaier to view in the photos than from across the yard.

NatureWoman said...

Love all of your photos today Susan!
Okay Susan, one day I was taking photos in the cemetery of trees and this woman let her dog run lose and it came up behind me and stuck its long nose up my ass. I didn't move because I know about the fear thing, but I DON'T like someone's dog's nose buried into my nether regions. So what would you do in that situation? She came up and apologized, but still, it was MOST uncomfortable! BTW - she turned out to be very nice and reminded me to be sure to look for hawks in the cemetery.

Mary said...

Oh, Pam, he was only checking IDs! LOL!

The dog should have been on a leash if he doesn't come when called. That IS very annoying.

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

Pam and Mary- you guys crack me up! I think I'm going to have to bring portable oxygen to Cape May to keep from laughing myself into a coma!!
Susan- I'd give my eye teeth to have coops nest in my yard. Your pix are terrific! Sounds like a fun day regardless of the ankle-biter.


fvffckqt!! DANG! you get the crappiest word verifications.

LauraHinNJ said...

I knew there was a reason to wait to comment!

I'm with Lynne - on the need for oxygen and how cool it would be to have Coops in the yard.