Birds, Blossoms and Fireflies

Happy Sunday everyone! It's 8:45 am and we all slept in until 7! But not before Russell woke us up at 5 am with a terrible spasm in his thigh. He was literally screaming, the pain was so intense. He gets those a few times a year, they only happen while in bed and they last a few minutes. So, I got up, gave him a leg massage and it eventually went away. I then gave Mr. Coop his first pill of the day and took him outside. We went back to bed and the rest is history. Of course, Ms. Spicy slept through it all!

Last night, we had our friends (and next door neighbours), Paul & Marie, over for dinner. A great time was had by all. We had some good laughs, shared great stories. We spent the whole evening on the deck, a picture perfect Summer night. Russell smoked a side of salmon on the BGE. It was delicious. 

This past week was good although very hot. We only walked on Monday...and a fun walk it was. We met up mid morning with Matisse, the lovely Polish Lowland Sheepdog, and his human mom Pauline. The pooches got along quite nicely while the humans chatted away. We also ran into Errol which was nice. We hadn't seen him for a while. 

From Tuesday on, it became too hot to do much of anything. Russell spent a few mornings mopping up the furnace room where our freezer is. The compressor went. It took a few days for it to defrost completely. We had it fixed once, not doing it again. We had no food in it, just a few ice packs. 

On Thursday, we noticed a bit more water in the furnace room, this time it was coming from the base of the furnace. We had a service call later that day. Some freon was added. For now, all is good, fingers crossed that it remains that way.

While this heat wave was happening, I watched the Montreal Canadians Development Camp. It was a three day event which ended with a scrimmage, live on YouTube. Hockey in July, during a heat wave, it doesn't get any better than that! 

Our birds are happy with their feeders. They come and go all day long. Russell added a water bowl to a bird cage that we have suspended in the tree. Our little birdies have a good life. Our daisies are beautiful this year, so tall. We also have lots of fireflies. It is quite amazing to watch those littles lightning bugs at night.

Cooper and Spicy are doing well. Coop is in a good place now, all is stable. We get that his CHF is not going to get better but it seems well controlled at the moment. That's all we can ask for. We will do another echo late Fall. As for Spicy, I've been measuring her resting respiratory rate once a week. She's also in a good place. We know that this disease can progress very quickly so we are keeping a close eye on her. She will get a follow up echo sometime this Summer. 

Those are my little news for today. It's going to be a nice Sunday, warm and sunny. I'm thinking the kind of day to just chill and relax. I leave you with photos of birds and flowers and of course a few of our pooches. I weigh them every Monday morning so there is one of them just waiting to be weighed.  Have a great week everyone! 

Follow the leader, Spicy says I'd recognize
this guy anywhere.

Outside the bathroom, all lined up
for the Monday morning weigh in!

Matisse, Cooper and Spicy found
a spot in the shade under a tree
while their humans chatted.

Bird-feeders and a watering station, the gold
finch, chickadees, sparrows and cardinals are
loving this set up.

A chickadee carefully selects a safflower seed.

This male cardinal patiently waits for his turn
at the feeder, the fledglings are calling for
their breakfast.

This male gold finch is now a frequent visitor 
dining on shelled black sunflower seeds.

A daylily in all its glory.
 

Early morning sun on the shasta
daisies.

A field of dreams made of shasta daisies.

The Jackmannii clematis in full
bloom.