cody bear’s friends

i was down for the count today. woke up with some flu thing. i was feeling better this afternoon, but that was short lived. and i’m so thirsty!

but, that didn’t stop the blogging muse from leading me to a topic. some of you may not like this one:

i went to drop off the pictures to r and a from their “shoot” with the dogs. we got to chatting. 2 topics came up: 1. they’re getting married! wonderful news! 2. bees.

and bees let to a bringing out her bug trays!

not too bad. who doesn’t love a butterfly, right? and don’t most people learn to love moths eventually, as well?

but then…

for the love of all that’s holy!

that big ass beetle, the one who looks like a death machine from a milla jovovich movie? that’s the palo verde beetle. some of you may remember the story of my cat befriending the one who was trying to assassinate me last summer….only that one was twice the size of this dead guy.

moving on…

yes, that is a hissing cockroach.

let’s cleanse our visual pallet with a butterfly…

and here’s hoju, howling…

you can catch more of him on my photoblog, dogdailyphoto.wordpress.com.

so, i didn’t stay long. and now i’m blogging because i can’t sleep since i don’t feel well. not to complain. just mentioning why i’m up is all…..

dogs are very smart, especially corgis and mandarin collies.  as you will soon see, checkers and cody bear  have great problem solving abilities and natural survival skills.  to “ruff” it, so to speak…

after recovering from their trip to la casa blanca, they decided it was time to expand their life experience, challenge their mettle, conquer the great outdoors.  i was honored to be invited along, …until i realized ….they were only using me to put the tent up!….

…. and to open their canned goods and build a fire.

here’s what they already knew about camping:

the outdoors is pretty and wildly dangerous, there are bears, no electricity, lots of trees, trail mix is often involved, and …. you are required to eat warm, mushy marshmallows.

here’s what they learned:

melty marshmallows stick to paws and face fur. when you REALLY REALLY have to go to the bathroom in a hurry and you don’t have thumbs….it is darn near impossible to unzip the tent flap.  get claws trimmed before camping, so as not to pop air mattress.  when packing for camping trip, don’t choose the squeaky dog toy over the compass or snow shoes.

they truly discovered why people find camping so amazing.  there are soooo many trees to pee on, soooo many squirrels to chase.  there are no garbage men around and you get to leave the stress of the big city behind.

checkers did admit, however, that it was tough being away from his blog for so long.

ultimately, they sent me packing.   checkers isn’t used to my snoring, so i got kicked out of the tent and was forced to hike through the wilderness the entire lonely 25 feet back to my bedroom.

well, that’s it for the latest “on the road with cody bear and checkers.” i sure hope they invite me along again.  everything is more enjoyable with a dog, especially these two!

well, i better get back to picking the burrs out of cody bear’s furry gaucho pants…

playful

clever

goofy and cute.

…the fastest bear is a cody bear, of course.

morning all!

i parked myself in one spot in the back yard and just took pictures of cody bear running by me this morning.

the entire time some little dog was yelping like a freak a couple houses away.  i think he was cheering cody bear on or antagonizing him, because it just made the bear child run faster…

ok, now i need to wrangle him in and get ready for work.

warning: if you HATE bugs, read no further. no gross pictures though.

okie dokie. got the warning out of the way. scene: it is sunday at four p.m. 2 of my girl friends, a and m, arrive with beer, specimen bags and a canon digital rebel. when 3 lovely ladies get together on a sunday night the topics include: jerky coworkers, puppies, boy friend’s parents (the irritating variety), global warming, absent minded professors and….bugs.

big ones, bugs with large mandibles and ….bugs that taste like cinnamon.

it started with the cinnamon bugs. pentatomids. “they do NOT taste like cinnamon” i demanded. well, they agreed, essentially it depends on their diets. apparently they can taste like orange or melon, too. and….apparently you can use them to flavor your food. “why wouldn’t you just use cinnamon?” i asked….naturally.

anyway, we 3 crazy chics hop on line to look at camel spiders, jewel beetles and search for the largest arachnids and insects.

earlier that evening we looked for more sleeping bees and filled the baggies with ….diseased plants, of which i have a few. no worries, i mostly have healthy ones!

rest assured, during all of this cody bear did work the room. he took turns sleeping at each of our feet or next to us on the couch for routine cuddling.

“excuse me…. BUGS?”

what else happened today? started the day with recall class for cody bear. great fun! (mental note: its already flea and tick season!)

my best pal stopped by and FORGOT THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC about dogs….AGAIN! that’s ok. we discussed getting the trek’s breaks fixed over limeade.

later i met with my landlord. he’s so great! he is going to put a new fence up and lighting to protect me from the mentally deficient thief and snoop! annnnd….he wanted to confirm that if i get a new dog for more protection….that i adopt from a shelter!

all this took sooo long, i didn’t have any time to get work on a site done or do any house work. bummer. behind again. but still,….its good to have good friends.

also, a side note: a. is mindy’s mom. mindy is home. she got home yesterday after 5 days in icu. it looks like she will make it! but, she is still very down and will be on meds for a while and a special diet and special care the rest of her life. the kidney damage was great, but….being feisty and having peope/parents/personal assistants to visit her morning and night in the i.c.u. have helped her pull through.

so, i’m sure her dog ‘rents would thank you, so i will for them: thanks for the well wishes for her pet food ailment recovery!

i’ll close by saying that i’m not as tough as the other ladies…my head itches at some of the bug chatter. i might get up early to give cody bear his frontline treatment and do a sweep for spiders.

night night.

no! i’m not talking about my cat!  here are some prickly pear cactus blossoms!

there are several different varieties…

that guy looks like he’s made out of plastic, but he’s real.  such a long tail.  i don’t know why i’ve felt the need to post so many critters on here lately…

i have NO idea what type of lizard he is either.  i just had to post him.

(pardon the picture quality, but l. doesn’t like spiders and was running pretty fast toward the door at the time. and all i had was my point n shoot)

so,….i heard some commotion a few moments before i was leaving the wildlife center today. “whatcha got there?” i ask….

“a baby wolf spider” she says.

baby!? BABY!!!???? its the size of a hostess cupcake! …almost

for the spring, we have a large number of empty cages. wait, i hear some rustling from the other side of the room. the native species are getting restless….

who put the burrowing owl in with the barn owl!? they have TOTALLY different schedules!!!

my friend a told me that in the evening i could look in the flowers and see a bee settling down for a night’s sleep. i didn’t believe her, but she said yes, i could get up early and watch as the blossoms opened again, and there would be bees sleeping in there. “suuuuure” i said….”have another beeeeer” i thought.

i was taking pictures of blossoms tonight, and i was up close to one when all of a sudden, the anther started jiggling!

the honey bee was in there, getting comfy. he was crawling around deep inside the flower, finding just the right positioning before the petals enveloped him for the night.

i went from blossom to blossom, finding more sleepy bees. i don’t know what time they get up, what time the flowers open. i don’t know if i will remember to even look and to say “good morning honey bee.” (honey bee was one of loki’s dozens of nick-names!)

but the first gift was having a friend that told me about this crazy behavior. the next gift was being there with my camera when the bees hunkered down for the night.

i love my bees.

i take my powershot with me everywhere i go.  today, volunteering, my friend c found this….

i have no idea what kind of frog it is….other than tiny.