Category Archives: Dogs

Nellie discovers a gopher 2021-03-10

I figured she must have discovered a nest of venomous serpents. Nope, Nervous Nellie was barking up a storm over a gopher tortoise.

[Gopher, Nellie, Honeybun, Yellow Dog]
Gopher, Nellie, Honeybun, Yellow Dog

That threatened species Gopherus polyphemus was actually somewhat threatened, since Nellie was trying to gnaw on her shell. Continue reading →

Beaver Ponds, Yellow Dog, Gretchen and her Sycamore 2021-02-20

It’s good to get a little exercise.

[Log, Fungus, Yellow Dog, Sycamore]
Log, Fungus, Yellow Dog, Sycamore

Gretchen likes heaving logs under the red maples.

[Gretchen and her log]
Gretchen and her log

Beaver Pond

Birds and dogs.

[Gretchen and a beaver pond]
Gretchen and a beaver pond

Fungus

We could get it down with a ladder.

[Gretchen and the lion's mane]
Gretchen and the lion’s mane

But we left it there to grow again.

This moss grows all the time.

Woods

In her habitat.

[Gretchen in the woods with vines]
Gretchen in the woods with vines

Yellow Woods Dog

Yellow Dog knows all the woods paths.

[This way?]
This way?

Upper Pond

This is also a beaver pond now, only larger than the others.

[Quite full]
Quite full

Yellow Pond Dog

Dogs like mud.

[Yellow Dog in the pond]
Yellow Dog in the pond

Sycamore

That tree was knee-high when we transplanted it.

[Gretchen and her Sycamore]
Gretchen and her Sycamore

-jsq

Porch Dogs guarding the Swamp Throne

Dogs at work.

[Porch Dogs guarding the Swamp Throne]
Porch Dogs guarding the Swamp Throne

Probably I shouldn’t assume everybody recognizes this sort of environment. This is a shallow cypress swamp, with mostly cypress and blackgum trees, with a few loblolly pines, plus slash and longleaf pines and oaks around it. That’s actually different from a pocosin swamp, which has mostly smaller shrubs. Both are fairly common in the U.S. southeastern coastal plain.

This cypress swamp used to be full most of the year, forty or fifty years ago. Nowadays it’s dry most of the year. We’ve been having rain every few days for a week or more, so finally it’s almost full.

When that happens, we like to put kayaks in and boat around. Which is interesting due to all the cypress logs to navigate past.

Those are two of my dogs. They live here, in several hundred acres of land my grandfather bought in 1921. They are working dogs, protecting us from snakes and catching rodents. They don’t attack other wildlife (well, except raccoons), because we teach them not to. They do like to run fast, especially in water.

About the swamp throne, only the initiated know, and Tom H. Tom H Johnson Jr ain’t tellin’.

More rain coming.

[Still not quite full]
Still not quite full

More pictures: Continue reading →

Memories of a Brown Dog 2007-2021

It was with much sadness that we said goodbye to the Brown Dog.

A quick moving cancer took her from being her delightful brown dog self to a mere shadow. Her personality, “don’t look at me while I am eating” was true to the end and when she was ready, she told us it was time to go, January 11, 2021.

Arriving as a pup on October 16, 2008, She-Ra consented to keeping the two upstarts. Our veterinarian, Dr. Ruff, said the dogs were about a year old. When asked what were their names we said “Brown Dog and Yellow Dog”. That is how we had been calling them while we decided if they would stay. After a month, they knew their names and so they were, the Brown Dog and the Yellow Dog.

Through adventures of snake bites, gopher tortoise escapades, controlled burns of forest management, gardening, snow, hurricanes, boat rides, and river adventures, Brown Dog lived a full and wonderful life.

Brown Dog is survived by her pack that includes her littermate Yellow Dog, acolytes Nellie and HoneyBun and her humans and predeceased by her mentor She-Ra.

I’m hiding. Can you see me?
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It’s cool in the water in summer
She-Ra, Brown Dog, Yellow Dog
After a wallow in the pond
Garden helpers
I’ve got a snake, how about you?
A favorite view
She-Ra with her acolytes in the dirt pit
Look, I’m in the culvert
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Brown Dog says I’m going this way
Dogs in Sun
Brown Dog
Don’t look, I’m taking a bath
Boat ride in the swamp
In the swamp 2020
At the pond and at attention. Are there snakes?
She-Ra shows off her pets
dog ends
Yes, she’s a lap dog
A ride around the pond
All good dogs face forward
Good thing we have warm coats for snow
Look, I found the boat
On a log in the swamp
Culvert Delivery to the beaver dam
Brown dog on the prow with Grace and Harry
First Snake Bite. We don’t feel well. It was a moccasin nest.
I wonder if there is anything in this hole.
Brown Dog
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A bath
Garden mud wallow
Puppies
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Relaxing on the prow
Can this be comfortable Brown Dog?
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Brown Dog 2008-10-16 Arrival day
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Brown Dog in Snow
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We decided to let them stay
Garden sprinkle
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Brown Dog in the Swamp 2020

What was I thinking? –Gretchen at the cane bed 2020-11-29

That’s less than half of the sugar cane on the bed when Gretchen wondered, “What was I thinking?”

[Bed, covers, bedded.]
Bed, covers, bedded.

Nervous Nellie thought it was great fun, running up and down the cane bed as I was digging it. The other dogs got bored and went home.

Gretchen cut almost all of the cane with her machete. (She didn’t approve of my axe.) Continue reading →

Porch dogs at night, and Yellow Dog, too 2020-10-24

Despite how it sometimes seems, the porch dogs do from time to time stop barking and just lie quietly on their beds. In this case both on the same bed, because Yellow Dog was in residence.

[Yellow Dog, Honeybun, Nervous Nellie, far to near]
Yellow Dog, Honeybun, Nervous Nellie, far to near

Don’t worry, there are actually four beds, one for each dog, if they want them.

-jsq