Posted in Beauty, Country Fotos, Country Sights, Country Thoughts, Fences, Home, Home and Hearth, Look at This!, Memories, Photography, The Land, View Points, tagged Cooking with a View, country living, Future, Home, kitchen window, landscape photography, Shenandoah Valley, View Point, Virginia on November 12, 2021| 22 Comments »
I never tire of the sweeping view, especially whilst cooking and standing at the kitchen window.
How blessed we are to have found this place and recognized it as home.
Thirty-two years ago I would hum happily en route to this 20 acre plot where there was no home yet . It was a place in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia where we could imagine a future.
The land stayed unspoiled. The house Bill designed sustained us.
And “the future is now.”
Posted in Country Thoughts, Family, Friends, Home, Home and Hearth, Memories, The Land, Uncategorized, Virginia, Virginia Views, Virus, tagged Camelot, country views, Garage, Home, Kitchen Remodel, Mountainscape, Views, Whole House Generator, wood stove on September 2, 2020| 35 Comments »
It has been over 30 years since first we came to this bit of Camelot in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. There was nothing here but we camped out on the land and dreamed of the perfect house to shelter us right into old age.
All on one level with an attached two car garage we have given thanks many times for the cover during rain or sleet or snow. It is a modest house designed by Bill, that has bent with the years to accommodate many changes. In the beginning my mother came to live with us for several years, then Bill’s sister moved to the area and spent every weekend here. My brother and Sister-in-law and kids came too, and long time friends returned and returned. Our son came early on, married, and then grandchildren arrived, and we had dogs and horses and a garden and we grew along with the landscape and we changed too along with the house that accommodated and sheltered us all.
There are rooms with a view, mostly of the Blue Ridge Mountains which really do look blue sometimes. Other rooms look out upon our green green world and what I call the Forest Primeval.
Bedrooms have their own thermostats for individual heat control in case we lose power. But there is a big wood stove which heats the house so efficiently that I sometimes have to open windows in the middle of a blizzard.
Even though I always see this home as almost perfect, we began some upgrades in 2018. A big change was the addition of a “Whole House Generator.” It is still hard to imagine we no longer need candles. Oddly enough I still have a major stash of jarred candles “just in case.” But the generator keeps working its magic and we haven’t had to use a candle yet (except to add romance of course).
In addition to the magical generator, we upgraded the kitchen with a quartz countertop that feels cool and looks so cool that I think I am working in a brand new place. I love the view of the mountains from the kitchen too.
Nope, we do not wish to sell the house! And this is not a pre-prepared advertisement. I have simply run out of adventurous things to blog about, and my self imposed isolation means you get a little tour of Camelot. Also, between you and me, I am practising using the new WordPress block editor format. What do you think?
Posted in Country Thoughts, Critters, Dogs, Fences, Meaningful Meanderings, Visitors, tagged Critters, Dog, Dog toys, fear of thunder, fears, fetch, Home, humor, idiosyncracies, predators, rescue dog, restrooms, ride in the car, Safe Place, shakes and shivers on August 15, 2020| 26 Comments »
We have our little rescue dog for almost two years now!
She is still an enigma, a bundle of odd behaviors and idiosyncracies.
Bathroom Pleasures: You have your place and I have mine!
We have acres of grassy lawn but Elsa prefers to water the small rock bed just outside the front door.
There is a surprising benefit from this odd preference. Since no weed can survive Elsa’s acid rain for long, the rock bed stays her pristine and weed free watering place.
Maybe in her previous lifetimes she was walked on leash in a neighborhood of homes and chastised for going on a neighbor’s grass.
Play?
Huh?
Elsa does not play, will not fetch a ball or anything else, and has no apparent interest in stuffed squeaky animals or even treat-stuffed toys. Squeak a toy at her and she will turn away as if to say, “Stop hurting that poor little thing!” Throw a ball and she will watch its trajectory without moving a muscle.
No! No! Nooooo!!!!! Not the Car!!!!!!
Elsa does not enjoy riding in the car. She acts excited pre-entry, but once inside, hunkers down to shiver and shake in fear. Fear of what? Why doesn’t she look out the window or enjoy the breeze in her face like other dogs do?
Most times Bill drives and I ride in back with Elsa, who promptly puts her head in my lap and shakes and shivers.
Yes it is true! The Sky is falling.
Our poor little pup is terrified of thunder, airplanes, rain, far off traffic noises, falling branches, gunshots, firecrackers, and more. She is under my desk as I write this (shaking and shivering). I am sure she thinks the sky will fall because she is constantly looking to crawl under something.
If I am quiet will they come?
She is quiet and respectful of visiting deer, squrrels, groundhogs, birds or rabbits and never barks at them even when they get wind of her and begin to flee.
I have never had a dog who didn’t enjoy barking at visiting creatures, especially when they turn and run.
Well, she does bark at people (who I consider the most predatory anyway) and she did bark at that bear who came through.
I think she thinks protecting me from truly dangerous looking intruders is her real job.
The Lady-Who-Limps Saved Me. I will never leave her side.
Oddest of all, Elsa prefers my somewhat droll sedentary company to any other living thing. She rarely leaves my side and has evidently decided I am the only human who counts.
I totally agree with that last assessment of course.
And I enjoy the adoration until she follows me into my own non-rock bathroom.
Are you inviting me to get up there on that sofa with you? What will happen to me THEN?
There are times I would really love it if Elsa would jump on the couch or the bed, just for a hug. But even when I invite her, she refuses.
It is probably a good thing that she is never on the furniture since she is a prolific shedder. Again, I suspect she had some harsh training to keep her off the furniture. No amount of cajoling will entice her up, even in a thunder storm when she really wants to be cuddled.
I think I kinda like it here!
What Bill and I notice lately though is a more trusting happy dog who does a whole lot of tail wagging (on those occasions when she isn’t shaking in fear of something benign).
Elsa is full of strange behaviors and habits and fears, but maybe aren’t we all?
She is a little bit off, a little imperfect, a lot insecure, but aren’t we all?
It will be a two year anniversary soon and we think Elsa knows this is her safest place and where she lives with her most ardent fans.
And we know we will always be warned of visiting bears and unknown humans, and we are serene in the knowledge she will tell us when the sky is falling too.
Posted in Country Thoughts, Critters, Dogs, Family, tagged Dog Fears, Dog Pack, Dog toys, Doggie Fears, Family, Food Driven Dog, Home, rescue dog, Walkers on June 7, 2020| 27 Comments »
I can never resist writing about our little dog of course. I rescued Elsa and talked to her and stroked her on the long ride home. And now, over a year later, she never leaves my side. Well she does go out with Bill but jumps on me first for permission and then comes running back as if I might disappear while she is selfishly “doing her business.”
Posted in Critters, Dogs, Home, Look at This!, Random Impressions, Simple Solutions, tagged Canine Anxiety, Dog Bed, Home, rescue dog, Safety, Snuggling, Soothing Dog Bed, Virginia Hunting Season on January 19, 2020| 24 Comments »
Elsa’s Soothing Dog Bed
Elsa-our-little-rescue dog has been with us for over a year now. She is much calmer and follows us even without a leash. She has discovered the safety of “home-sweet-home” too and runs for it at the sound of a gunshot (hunting season just over here in rural Virginia), or thunder.
I have been searching for a safe place inside home-sweet-home, where Elsa can go to snuggle up and deal with her anxieties. Voila! We now have a “soothing dog bed” which is a soft fluffy thing that even I would like to cuddle in.
I think it must feel like a great big hug!
Elsa still runs for home when she’s scared, but now she has a Soothing Bed to hug her to sleep.
.
Posted in Dogs, Home and Hearth, tagged Comfort, Dog Bed, Elsa the Dog, Home, rescue dog on May 25, 2019| 16 Comments »
Posted in Country Thoughts, Critters, Dogs, Health, Home and Hearth, Humor, tagged Dehydration, Dog Behavior, Dog Cough, Dogs, Home, Humans, humor, rescue dog, Water, Water Dishes for Pets, Water Placement on April 13, 2019| 32 Comments »
Elsa-the-Dog on Dehydration
My humans seem to think I am a crazy critter, especially when it comes to water.
The first odd thing they did was put two water dishes down. One is in the kitchen next to my food dish. And the other is in the bedroom in case I get thirsty at night.
Water Dish Kitchen
I am afraid to drink from the kitchen water. I will not touch it. Never. Ever.
As for the bedroom water, I only drink there when nobody is looking and I hold my thirst for a long time before I try to sneak back into the bedroom.
The Lady thinks I am getting dehydrated.
Water Dish Bedroom
She also thinks there must have been a water trauma in my previous life. Maybe she is right. What do you think?
One day I got something stuck in my throat and it made me cough and cough. The Lady decided to put another water dish by the fireplace. I like it there and it is my favorite place now.
She also put a water bowl out on the deck. I like that too.
So now there are four water dishes in my home!
Water Dish Deck
I think the humans here are strange, don’t you?
But I have stopped coughing.
Posted in Country Adventures, Country Fotos, Critters, Dogs, Fences, The Land, Uncategorized, tagged country walk, dog safety, Dog Walking, exploring the world, freedom to run, Home, joy of freedom, Leash, leash control, Losing dog, pride, rescue dog, Running on April 1, 2019| 41 Comments »
Little Elsa, the rescue dog, has been with us for five months. And even with wide open spaces and acres where she can run, we have been walking her on a leash. It was our fear since we did not know her background, that she would run away or disappear into the woods and be hurt or lost. We love her now too much to risk losing her to a taste for freedom.
But we have had dogs here before. Two Golden Retrievers (Peaches and Carrie), Rudy (a misunderstood Pit Bull) and Rozie, our other mixed breed love, who all lived to old age. None of them ever required leash control on home ground since we have ample space right here for long country walks and little traffic to worry about.
One day Bill and I knew it was time to finally set Elsa free to stretch her legs and run with the wind. Removing Elsa’s leash was a terrifying move for all three of us.
And out she went – running and running and sniffing and sniffing. Oh no! Will she love freedom too much to return?
Posted in Christmas, Country Adventures, Country Challenges, Country Thoughts, February Perspectives, Home and Hearth, Humor, Virginia, tagged Cold Nose, Home, Mama in her kerchief, power outages, rural Virginia, Twas the Night Before Christmas, Wind storm, Winter Weather, wood stove on February 26, 2019| 14 Comments »
It has been an unusual winter here in rural Virginia. Everybody says that around the globe, but it may actually be true here. One day it feels and looks like Spring with balmy breezes and sunshine. And the next there may be snow or freezing rain or rain or flooding or wind.
With each ensuing event our family and friends (in warmer climes) would call and ask if we were o.k. “No problem. They simply exaggerate the weather here. All is well,” we said.
Even so,
for a time we were spared any inconvenience and we smugly carried on.
But then there were the inevitable lights out.
It was our turn.
Ah well, no problem. There is a trusty wood stove in our living room and a little generator only Bill knows how to operate. And soon we were once again smugly carrying on.
And in a mere two hours our lights returned and we let the fire in the woodstove slowly burn itself out.
Bill finally got the wood stove going again at 6AM and the power returned about 10 AM this morning.
My nose is warm again. So is the forehead. But I had a lot of time to think about coping with a cold nose and other bodily parts and kept remembering “mama in her ‘kerchief” in the Twas The Night Before Christmas poem. Surely she and my ancestors had the same problems with the fires going out and the cold creeping in.
Today my side of the bed is at the ready with
I wonder if “mama in her ‘kerchief” had a canopied curtained bed.
Not a bad idea.
Now if only Elsa-the-fuzzy-wuzzy-dog would recognize the value of cuddling, winter’s woes will disappear.
Posted in Critters, Dogs, Family, Home and Hearth, Humor, Visitors, tagged Animal Love, dog fights, Dogs, evil eye, Family, Home, humor, multiple personalities, rescue dog, Serta dog mattress, small dog, Visitor dog on October 30, 2018| 36 Comments »
Elsa or the Bug Eyed Assassin
Elsa is a gentle little rescue dog who was “meant to be” ours and has been with us for three days now.
But my son wants us to rename her B.E.A. – the Bug Eyed Assassin.
I found Elsa on the same day Mackenzie, my grandgirl, brought her own dog for a visit. Kota is beautiful, graceful, gentle, and sweet. But Kota never stops moving. And Kota moves FAST.
Also at home on the pup’s move-in day were Bill and our son and daughter-in-law.
It was love at first sight when my daughter-in-law and I spotted Elsa. She (the dog, not my daughter-in-law) met all my stringent criteria and she slurped my fingers ever so gently. So I quickly became a doggie pawrent and began mentally listing all the “things” the poor little thing would require.
Elsa shook and shivered in the car all the way home and was obviously frightened and confused about meeting a bunch of strangers when we got there but she seemed to take it all in stride.
Then it happened. Kota (the ever moving speed demon) kept dashing around and around and around and came whizzing by Elsa once too often.
Elsa then used her secret weapon (her evil eye) and began a campaign to stop the whirling dervish in his tracks. You could say that sweet Elsa revealed another submerged personality that emerged as Alpha Dog B.E.A. (The Bug Eyed Assassin).
As the object of growling, and threatening shows of teeth, poor Kota actually stopped mid-stride and leaped to the safety of her mistress on a chair that was inaccessible to the short little crazed attacker.
Meanwhile The Assassin then patiently waited “on guard” for an opportunity to punctuate her message and stop the monster from any thought of advancing.
Kota Under Siege by Bug Eyed Assassin
Thereafter, if Kota thought about coming down from her safe place for a high-speed run, there was Elsa/BEA casting her “evil eye” at the twice-her-size new friend.
Laugh? Suffice to say I couldn’t breathe from laughing. We were all practically rolling on the floor.
It is quiet here now and the Assassin has gone back to being Sweet Little Elsa, the perfect pup.
She is 6 years old by the way, totally house trained, seems to love her two elderly new caregivers, sleeps at the foot of our bed on her Serta Sleeper Dog Mattress, and revels in tummy and ear rubs.
It must seem pretty boring here now though, with all the family gone home.
But do you suppose she misses Kota?
Virginia Views 