Happy Thanksgiving snuggle photos!

This morning on my commute, I heard an interview of a guy who had had a successful double arm transplant. He was told by the donor's mother, "Our son gave the best hugs. We pray that you make a wonderful recovery and that your loved ones will be able to enjoy your warm embrace."

Let us not forget that the best uses of arms are for hugging, and the best uses of dogs are for snuggling.


Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Look! A Manatea! :)


Rrrrrooooo...?


Rrrrrrrroooooooo...!


Schweetie!

Photo dump

First, schnozzes!

Booger's schnozz:


Roo's schnozz:


Soooo sofffft!


Autumn's schnozz:


Now, squeezie selfies!

Squeezie selfie with Starbuckeroo!


Squeezie selfie with DL!


Squeezie selfie with Autumn!


Hmmm... no squeezie selfie with Booger?

Well, here is one of Booger cuddling with DL:


Now here are some photos of Alaskan garlic. It's an ordinary-sized bulb:


But each one only has two enormous cloves:


Does anyone know what causes that?

Musings

Today, I left the office at 10:45 so I could vote during a nonbusy time (same strategy as the DMV: avoid early morning, lunchtime, and after 5 p.m.). While I was out and about, I got the water jugs filled, went to the bank, and went to the hospital to get a flu shot and my last hepatitis B booster. I am offered these things now that I work with the elderly. It occurred to me that I have a lot to be thankful for, and my errand list about sums up the basic human rights:

* a free and secret ballot
* access to clean water
* a good job and control of my own finances
* access to health care and vaccines.

with a cherry on top:
* flexible work hours

Not a bad errand run!

We are almost there!

Almost enough snow to ski!

Linden is still recovering from her last surgery, and Autumn's heart is still not strong, so the two ladies get a short walk, and then Starbuck and we humans hit the trails. On Saturday, it was snowing!



Starbuck looks like a WOLF!


They harvest trees all summer, but we only go here in winter, when the equipment is mothballed:


Although Rosie Creek had been frozen solid the prior week, it had been warm enough to make some slush and overflow:


Starbuck is soooooofffft and mooshy-gooshy:


It snowed all that night, and on Sunday, Starbuck was happy! Happy! Happy!


The light on top of the ridge was very pretty:


And on the opposite ridge, the sun was out:






RRRRRRROOOOOO?


The sun!




When it's warm and snowy, snow compresses into ice between the dogs' toes. They are experts at removing it themselves. They are like those self-healing tires on cars. :)


The back side of the ridge is a birch forest:


Roo!

Squeezy cuddly photos

Charcoal, the huge, stayed with us a few weekends ago. I'm sharing these photos that I think capture his huge-osity.

They all hang out very nicely and make the cabin so cozy!


We also taught him to snuggle on the couch:


\

Huge! He is huge!




And Starbuck taught him how to act boneless:




Booger! Iz cute!




I am a fan of compression-based affection:


It's the amazing two-headed dog!


The hole where Booger's tumor had burst kept getting bigger and got horribly infected, so the vet debulked the tumor again. Booger is an old pro at this by now. She can even jump on the couch in her cone:

Why hello, winter!

While running errands during lunchtime yesterday, I noticed that the Chena was freezing up, so I parked and got out of the car. It was making very dramatic noises as chunks of new ice moved and collided!


Freezeup selfie!


Frost on a fence pole!


Later that afternoon, it started to snow! Yaaaaaaay for snow! When I got home, as expected, the ladies were super duper happy and did a crazy dance of joy!






Roo kept saying, "Roooooooooooo!" So I tried to get her to "Roo" for the camera. But as soon as I stood still she took it as a sign to come to me for petting and loving.

"Roooo?" "Roooooo!"

Sweet Elderly Ladies preparing to turn in for the night

Sweet elderly ladies. Whenever taking care of them makes me feel tired, sad, or frustrated, I remind myself that it's all a blessing. Not everyone is so lucky to have elderly dogs, or the ability to care for them.

Autumn lies on the bed until DL and I gently climb in on either side of her. We pat her goodnight, and then... she skedaddles to her own doggy bed!


Booger has never slept with me, but she still shoves her face into our faces in the mornings with a big ol' smile! :)


Starbuckerooooooo comes upstairs sometimes to visit, but only sleeps upstairs when Autumn has an episode of lameness or seizure-ish symptoms. Then she'll lie with us until Autumn is better, before returning to her beloved couch.

Ooooooooooh coooooooowwwwwwwwwcccchhhhh...

(And that is a stain from a flavored rawhide there, not a turd smear. Ugh. I need to get those "clear-basted" rawhides from now on.)