Stella, Blue and Luna Memories

Blue in my well-furnished place

I had to smuggle Blue in to the Y2K Phish show on my lap under a blanket, while security pawed through our stuff.

 

Florida

Blue

The cutest puppy ever

Now it is the 4 of us

and then the 5 

Luna

Stella wondering how she got stuck in San Francisco with all of us

 Oregon

Luna and Stella waiting patiently in Washington

Luna

Northern CA

Stranded in Albuquerque

Luna

Sisters

 

It is the end of an era for us.  They all left us in order of age.  Blue, Stella, and now Luna.

We didn't often make the best choices and surprisingly, they all lived long and healthy lives.

We have great memories and awful ones too, that are now tempered with time.

Chasing Blue around a full Albertson's parking lot while people stared and Blue didn't obey.
Looking for Stella, who was not yet spayed, in a soggy Washington forest while we waited for things to arrive in the PO box and she waited for her prince charming to find her.
Slamming Luna's tail in the door of our third floor apartment in Phoenix after taking her out to pee.  Part of it came off and i cried like a new mother who hasn't had enough sleep.

Thankfully we have great parents who took Blue and Luna in when we found out we were gonna have a surprise baby.  Up until that point, they were our only babies.

Iowa Time

Old things

I know dandelions are generally despised in lawns, but they are so pretty.

Icehouse Mama

Ancient apple tree

Doing what they do

Country roads

Traveling Tom

A wonderful time in Iowa...
The mama cats were so funny.  They kept moving all the kittens around.  And one time we found them in the Icehouse beer box, all of them.  They were crammed in there and mama just looked at us like we ruined her day.

First Aid Kit

You can listen to the whole album,  it's wonderful.
NPR- First Listen First Aid Kit

Chicken head

Camping at Powder Mill (Owl's Bend)

Blue Spring

Cold and Misty Morning on the Current River

Trying to catch trout at Cedar Grove

Midland Water Snake(subspecies of Northern Water)?

Fowler's Toad

It was trying very hard to blend in, but our resident animal catcher spotted him.

Bullfrog

This juvenile water snake was eating a juvenile catfish.  Babies eating babies.

Our daily catch

Montauk Spring

The beginning of the Current River

 Muskrat in the spring

He kept popping up to eat plants

Phacelia(Miami Mist)

Blue Phlox (Wild Sweet William)

Wild Geranium(Crane's Bill)

We went south to the Current River for a much needed camping trip.  The dogwoods were in bloom and provided a dusting of white through the barely green forest.
The first 2 nights were bitterly cold and we were forced to use tablecloths, beach towels, mittens, hats, and winter coats.  Judy was also allowed to sleep in the tent in order to provide more body heat.  All of this was done in vain though and we didn't sleep much.  There was frost in the morning.
Owl's bend only has 8 sites and it was ours alone for the first 2 nights.  It is in the national scenic riverways and the Ozark Trail passes by on the other side of the river.
Blue spring, which is located 1.5 miles down the river, is a large, beautiful undisturbed spring.  The hike is scenic and includes a little bit of everything.  The area right around the spring was last logged around 1872, oh my goodness it is beautiful!  The Osage Indians called this spring "Spring of the Summer Sky" because of its brilliant blue color.
We traveled up the river to Cedar Grove and also to Montauk to try our hand at trout fishing.  We failed.  Montauk is where the Current river begins and it starts out surprisingly strong.
We discovered once again that another popular and expensive tick medicine does NOT work as promised.  Judy came home with so many ticks i stopped pulling them off.
I brought home many ticks myself, despite taking the proper precautions.  And they make me quite miserable afterwards, itching for several months.  Not sure why it has gotten worse as i have gotten older.  Oh well, helps keep this beautiful place wild.