Oh, What a Beautiful Morning!

(Note: the above post title must be sung to the tune of the 'Oklahoma' song.)

The leaves are nearly ALL gone! I'll have to take a picture. There's still enough woodland duff and green grass that we're not into 'Bleak November' yet. That will come with the killing frosts, I suppose.

The full Hunter's Moon has filled the valley below our bedroom window these past couple of nights, making the birch trunks glow! Last night, it was bright enough for me to momentarily turn off my headlights on the drive home.

Just as I was falling asleep Monday (?) night, I heard the wolves far off . . . . But the sound was different, causing me to raise up in bed to strain my ears. Next to me, Tom did the same. The wolves were yipping, yapping, yelling, chat-chat-chattering . . . really carrying on! We've not heard them sound like that before. We're assuming they'd just made a kill and were getting ready to feast. I dunno - anyone out there know wolf behavior? Anyway, it was incredibly cool and reminded us HOW FORTUNATE we are to live out here!

I had a great - but exhausting - trip to Canada with a wonderful girlfriend yesterday. I needed to get all the critters (Maisy, Tucker, and Annie Blue) to the vet for their annual check-ups and vaccinations, and she was willing (glutton for punishment?!) to go along for that long haul. After the vet, we got in our Starbuck's fix as well as stops at Home Depot and the Superstore (a combined Target & massive international grocery store). Dinner at Tom's and my favorite sushi restaurant up there, Wasabi, followed. Yum-meee! (Although dummy me forgot - for the SECOND time in only four weeks - that I can no longer eat avocado unless I want to experience excruciating gall bladder attacks. Thank gawd for pain pills. And, yes, I THINK I've FINALLY learned my lesson! Duh . . . .)

Annie Blue came through her rabies vaccine and exam with flying colors, although her needs to . . . "eliminate" over-road her confinement in a travelling kennel. :( On the up side, I DID have a stool sample to present at the vet's! (Ah-hem.)

Our since-we-picked-her-up-at-eight-weeks-old ongoing skin problems in Maisy have finally culminated in a planned visit to a dermatological specialist in Minneapolis. Maybe she'll FINALLY get some relief in the near future. Stay tuned.

Tucker is now on a 600 calories-a-day new diet / lifestyle change. He's 7 lbs. overweight (which ain't bad, certainly, but still . . . ). Also, there are some concerns that he has hypothyroidism (common, unfortunately, in Corgis). A blood test in a couple of weeks will reveal that. And, the poor pooper has yet another bladder infection (another indication of the hypothyroidism). So, we have to trick him into swallowing a pink horse pill every 12 hours. Pill Pockets (great for Annie Blue) don't work for him, but peanut butter does . . . as long as Maisy gets an "empty" glop of PB at the same time. (Psychological trickery works every time! Otherwise, he'd suck the PB off - as he does the soft Pill Pockets - and spit out the clean pill.)

Tom had a really productive day yesterday - although he worked here at home instead of at his "weekday job" doing Trapper Cabin Handyman projects (the previously-promised yards of rock he needs were not delivered). He's been studying to take his CDL test (Commercial Driver's License) so he can drive "the big rigs" . . . or dumptrucks! No, he's not going to become an OTR trucker, but it's a great asset to have tucked away in your back pocket up here. So, in addition to more studying for that, he got the stonework on the entire northeast (driveway) side of the long front entryway structure done! That makes the top, ends, and one whole side of that one done, for those of you keeping track. I'll get a picture of that progress later today.