A Study in Pink and Yellow.....

Fenway and I took off at 6:45 for our first quick morning walk....around the block. A cool, beautiful morning in Port. It's going to be a lovely day. Fenway sniffed every bush and claimed many of the tree trunks as we slowly moved along the sidewalk. Suddenly a bright flash of yellow zipped by in front of me.

I didn't get the clearest picture with my phone....but the little goldfinch sat right on top of the cone flower, picking out one seed after another. It sat there long enough for me to grab my phone out of my pocket, find the camera app and snap a quick shot....then it flitted off around the corner.

A nice way to start my day....and even nicer when we got home and Mr. Fenway Underfoot Woodard demanded his breakfast with some cut up pieces of bratwurst on top....and gobbled down the entire meal. Yea!

Trying to Figure It Out.....

When you love your dog, you love your dog. Our Fenway is a part of our family....and I know some of my non-dog-owning friends just don't understand that. But our little guy is our little guy....and he will be ten in September.

He came home as a puppy when we lived in Bayview....so little he couldn't jump up onto the couch.

He made us laugh playing with a huge assortment of toys. "Who me....spoiled?"

He showed us he could sing happy birthday....and we left that message on a lot of family and friend's phones.

He loves it when we say "Do you want to be Camper Boy?"....ears up and he's ready to go exploring with us. He has conquered much of North America and some of Canada.

He takes us for walks each and every day (unless it's raining!) so we get our exercise by following that cute scissor walk and silly little butt. And he has lots of dog friends.....big and small, and two dog cousins.

He makes us laugh by doing his goofy Fenway things....every single day.

But the past few weeks our Fenway is just not "himself". He doesn't feel good. He's not eating. We've been to the vet and tried to figure this out with some testing and some xrays. We've tried to change up his food and make it more tempting.....but he's just not doing his normal eating thing. And when a dog who's been happily eating his two meals a day for almost ten years just stops.....it is worrisome.

And he can't talk.....oh dearest Fenway, I wish you could talk....what the hell is going on?

All Spiffed Up.....

Today is Fish Day in Port Washington....a one day event that usually brings thousands to town for fish and chips and beer and music. All of the money earned goes to area service clubs and then back to the community. So it's a big day for Port and usually very successful!

All last week workers groomed the town so it would show off it's best self. The gardens at Rotary Park look so nice...when Fenway and I walked on Friday it was very evident that city gardeners had been hard at work.

But as we walked the loop around the park and at the edge of the marina it was obvious Mother Nature decided to add a little of her own display. She was boasting flowers that weren't part of the formal garden areas. The blooms were a bit haphazard, but just as pretty.

So the whole park and the rest of the town are ready for today....sadly I don't think the weather plans to cooperate. The forecast indicates Mother Nature plans to send rain and thunderstorms starting mid-moring and lasting most of the day. Our one-day event may prove to be a bit soggy.....but I hope people still come out to support the organizations that work so hard to put it together!

Other Worldly....

An early walk this morning showed Fenway and me how Port "disappears" in a fog. We walked out the door to a grey cloud....no lake visible, but nice cool temperatures. So off we went to Rotary Park on the other side of the marina.

As we walked south a structure began to take shape....with lights on top.

I immediately thought of the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind".....but it was just the electric company.

Doo....dooo..doo...doo......dooo. Now I have an ear worm.

A Butterfly Day.....

Today was a lovely summer day in Port....not too hot and the humidity we endured yesterday disappeared overnight. We expect the coming week to boast temperatures in the nineties with increased humidity so I enjoyed walking around today while it was comfortable. Fenway and I did Rotary Park first thing this morning and then a mile-round-trip up the bike path just before lunch. That walk turned out to be our butterfly walk.

There were dozens of monarchs everywhere....they were exploring the spotted knap weed and small asters that seems to have replaced the hillside full of Dames Rocket from a few weeks ago.

There were lots of small white cabbage butterflies floating by on the breeze....

And I spotted a new one! At least the Summer Azure is a new butterfly to me....with the blue color coming out for the summer months.

And I noticed the beginning blooms of orange spotted touch-me-not....one of my favorites. They will attract a lot of insect activity in the next few weeks.

"Our" path changes every day and it never gets old as Fenway and I walk up the familiar path. Yesterday we successfully spied the doe with her spotted twins coming up from the stream and into the field across the way. She could have been right next to the path every other time we walked the walk recently....because unless she moves she's completely hidden. 

A butterfly day.....nice!

Silent Signals....

Other than announcing when he hears someone near our front door Fenway is not a very barky kind of a dog. That's one of the reasons we chose this breed when we had to downsize from a boxer to something a bit smaller. But when he has his eyes on us, we need to keep our eyes on him. He is not the kind of guy who goes to the door and whines when he needs to go out....or barks or gives any noise-kind-of-signal at all. Ever since he was a puppy he would basically just look at us.

When he wants someone to pay attention and play with him he simply looks at us.

If his thinks it's time for dinner.....he looks at us.

And if you happen to be resting or reading or not paying attention he will get up-close-and--personal and look at us.

When he's finished playing or resting or doing his dog things for the day he sits and looks at us as if to say "Hey - it's bedtime which means one short walk and THREE cookies in my bed!"

Ahhhh Fenway, our frosty Bostie....we love your looks!

A Drive North......

Yesterday we left Port Washington and drove a bit north to Algoma. We started out along the highway and then continued along a two lane road to reach our destination. It was a beautiful day with some light rain popping up once in awhile.

As we merged onto Route 43 I quickly began to notice stands of trees that lined the road....the trees that had zero leaves. Many of these black silhouetts were bordered by trees in full leaf.

Were all of these trees dead? Were these ash trees that have been hit so hard by those beautiful emerald green invading ash borer beetles? Were they all going to come down or would some recover? While they stood out in a dramatic fashion against the sky, they didn't look "right". They looked "sad".

I know we've had a lot of ash trees taken down in Port so I realize this scourge is moving through our area.  How can such a beautiful beetle cause such destruction?

The view reminded me of the vast numbers of trees we saw in Yellowstone wiped out by mountain pine beetles.....whole mountainsides empty. Will this be Wisconsin's future? Fewer trees? A change in our landscape and a change in our area's food chain and ecology? If so, it was very evident along our drive yesterday.

Mother Nature making some adjustments but I wonder....why?

Tall Dark and Handsome......

We take an early walk before the humidity starts creeping up. Fenway and I head toward Lake Michigan and turn north to walk the path along the shore. Much stopping and starting as Fenway re-claims every tree and bush along the way. And as we approach the culvert where the stream by the bike path empties into the lake I spot it.....the beautiful great blue heron that sometimes patrols this small patch of shoreline.

I stop for a quick cell phone shot and he is not disturbed as he watches for fish moving in the shallows.  So we continue on our way. Just at the end of our walk a scent reaches me through the breeze.....the soft pink wild roses are in bloom and their perfume fills the air. I stop to stick my nose in a bloom.

My walks around Port Washington....never a disappointment.