A Soggy Autumn Day For Frax

SOGGY OCTOBER DAY

Today dawned soggy and soggier. A local news anchor from Seattle said that the last few days here reminded her of Seattle! Not something that we need to hear about our beloved sweet southern autumn! Normally its beautiful and fairly dry during Autumn here. The last few days have been exactly opposite...rainy, with brown leaves that never changed color for the most part. A totally depressing fall overall if you love our normal riot of golden hickory and blazing red dogwoods. Our spring will make us forget the grimness of this fall, but now it's a disappointment.

The trees have stayed green far longer than usual around here. The talking heads have said it is something to do with methane and global warming. I have no idea about that, but it is unusual for the leaves to keep the green this long. Autumn around here is a soft, beautiful haze of amazing golds and a few blazes of red with some amazing hot orange colors from the sumac and poison ivy.

Unfortunately, we have all that nearby, trying to get rid of the poison ivy. It all stayed green up till about three days ago! At the very least, the beautiful Hickory trees in our backyard, huge mature and beautiful trees in their own right~ hadn't turned! Our Pin Oaks and regular Oaks had stayed green as well. Most of them had leaves drying up, and turning brown...then falling off the trees! The 'mast' or acorns have been very small and barely any, which if it's that way in the valley, bodes badly for Bear and deer in the Great Smoky Mountains, only fifty miles from our front door, and visible from our backyard. If the bears are late to go to sleep due to a bad mast fall, they will awaken earlier in the spring, starving and in a bad mood. Hikers beware now and in the spring when the mast supply is not good.

I'm not sure if Fran knows something we don't, but his normally luxurious but short coat is now plush and thick as a teddy bear. He is a champion shedder, but not this fall~ he's hanging on to that fur!We went to a MD appointment today, and my doctor, who is fairly new to me, marveled at Fraxie's thick coat. We reassured him that Frax doesn't look normally half this fuzzy going into winter. Since he is technically short-haired, this coat is amazing...it sticks out like a dandelion gone to seed! It's about an inch or so thick, sticking straight out in a great gold ruff around his neck and shoulders and down the middle of his back! He normally has short golden curls about his shoulders and short hair sticking up from his neck but that's all gone and this beautiful thick fuzzy coat is what he's got for the Winter! If Frax has anything to say, find your mittens, head-gear and thick winter coat and get them out~ it's gonna be cold if nothing else. Dogs know. Animals know.

Last winter, we had a real warming trend for a few weeks in January, and Frax had started to shed. Then it got bitterly cold through the end of February and beginning of March! Frax started growing another coat, but he was cold when we went out. He suffered the indignity of a home-made winter coat that I made for him to go under his vest and harness. It kept him nice and warm, and was a suitable dark blue color, but he seemed embarrassed about having to wear it!

As cold as last year was, I believe I'm going to invest in dog boots. The only ones in his XXL size I've found are bright red, and although he can't see that color, he is very aware what it is...bright. He would hate them. I continue to look for some blue or green ones which he might like better (especially since he could actually see the blue ones. Dogs are red/green colorblind due to a lack of some rods and cones in their eyes that humans have. They see yellow and blue just fine. Most dog toys are red, which are a gray color, that is either bright gray or dark gray. They depend on their wonderful sense of smell to find these gray object thrown into the plush green (gray!) grass! Make sure you rub your scent all over the things you throw for your dogs, since if they are red or green, he will depend more on his sense of smell than the color of the item!

If you notice, most dog toys are red. Then we throw them into our green lawns. “Gee thanks, mom and dad!” they must be muttering on their grouchy days. I think that the popularity of yellow tennis balls is that they are easy to see for the average canine! They are so dangerous though, if your dog chooses to chew on them! They are a major part of intestinal obstructions, so if you throw tennis balls, keep up with them, and take them away at the end of play, and substitute a safer toy.

Both Jet and now Frax, who has inherited Jet's bright red Kong toy love the Kongs despite that they are red. It has likely something to do with me stuffing the inside with peanut butter I'm sure. That makes playing Kong much more fun, and easy to find, due to the color.

It's hard to believe that soon it will be Thanksgiving! It's my brother's favorite time of the year! He has had recent GI surgery, so I wonder how that will go. I'm on a sort of Palo-like diet from Cleveland Clinic, so I'm extremely limited in what I can eat. Definitely no dessert, which is a bummer. Turkey and plain sweet potatoes are on the diet though, so at least there's a couple of things that I can eat. I've been known to scoop the apples out of apple pie, so it all works! Lol I do love Thanksgiving too, since turkey, sweet taters and apples are all big loves of mine.

Years ago when I was really stupid, I fed a bit of leftover Thanksgiving ham to Hannah, our first dog, a Dalmatian. She loved it, but had terrible bowel issues (if you catch my drift) for a day and a half! I learned (later!) that ham isn't metabolized well by dogs and gives them the runs. Best bet~ stick to the dog food and give them a dog cookie approved snack! They will love you for not giving them a terrible tummy-ache, plus turkey has BONES and is a relative of CHICKEN BONES...which are deadly...so no turkey unless you wish to spend the night of Thanksgiving at an expensive after hour pet emergency clinic with a strange vet treating your dog! Stick to dog food, buy some special dog cookies for your special dog for that day, but stay away from leftovers~ they can only harm and possibly kill your dog.

So...my little fuzzy darlin' is asleep on my feet now, he has to have some part of himself touching me...just as Jet did. Neither can/could sleep without that personal contact~ watching over me even as they sleep. Darlings. I'm so blessed to have had such wonderful helpers! My MD today is a dog person, and loves Frax. He says Fraxie is a 'old soul' and very special. I think also that my MD is more open than most and sees more than most, just as Bill and I. If you open your heart, then your soul to your animal friends, you'll be surprised what you will pick up about them, and what they can share with you!

Good night, stay warm. Sip some warm tea and cuddle up to your 75lb dog or little cat....or gaze lovingly at your goldfish! We will talk with you tomorrow!

Later,

LV, JT & FX

#Seasons #Fall #Winter #DogsKnow #Dogscolorblind #DogsandThanksgivingfood