Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, your popular host, Mani the purebred border collie, here to bring you the latest news of our modern lifestyle. You may remember me from such posts as “For Whom The Bedclothes”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose. Asleep, actually, after a hard day playing, at Day Care.
The guy I live with went to the doctor yesterday for a consultation about treatment. I know that the guy I live with worries about being separated from me, like I do from him, but he explained to the doctor that he was perfectly willing to let the doctor guide his decision about treatment. I guess that will start pretty soon. He wanted to take a couple of days off, away from this stuff, before starting anything.
There isn’t much going on in the garden right now, but the guy I live with was driving in Denver with his friend and he had to pull over and take pictures of the pyracanthas in a yard he drove by. He said he’d never seen anything like this before. There were several large shrubs totally covered with berries. 
We have a pyracantha here, but it doesn’t do that, for sure. It only gets some berries, because it doesn’t get the water that those obviously did. He said maybe we should get a sprinkler system installed. That might be fun.
And it turns out the cyclamen aren’t as dead as the guy I live with thought they were. They just needed some water. He moved them under the lights because the stems were elongating. This doesn’t really matter very much. 
There are some snowdrops flowering outside, in the frame, but we didn’t get any pictures of those, so you’ll just have to imagine them.
Aside from chasing squirrels and lying out in the garden, my life at this time of year mostly centers around naps and long walks. And breakfast and dinner, of course. Not to mention biscuits and other treats.
On my morning walk today we saw a hawk flying around.
After a little while it swooped down, grabbed something, and flew away. I didn’t ask the guy I live with what that something could have been. He said maybe a wad of Kleenex.
It’s been unbelievably dry here, but also sunny, so there are things to look at when we walk in the evening. The guy I live with spends a lot of time gazing in this direction. I thought it was toward Los Angeles, but he said no, it was Santa Monica, which was founded, or sort of co-founded, by one of his relatives (as he learned after his mom died), and so he suggested to his sister and his cousin that the three of them might lay claim to the city. He said maybe there should be like a triumphal entry, complete with trumpets, banners, and effelants. 
I think you can see the moon here, right at the top of the tree.
Another moon picture: 
It’s not easy to see, but it’s there. (Whew, huh.)
The main thing, I mean besides the other thing, is the owls. We hear them hooting every evening, and late into the night. The guy I live with said he never gets tired of seeing the owls, or hearing them hooting. The hooting can be scary.
He took these pictures while the two owls were trying to sleep. I think the first one is the female, and the second, larger one is the male.
So that’s really it for this evening. Not much going on except hawks, moons, and owls. “At least”, the guy I live with said, “it isn’t cold.”
And we still sit on the couch together. Sometimes he reads to me. 
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
I believe that female owls are larger than males. Super pix.
Thanks; the guy I live with said the bigger one was doing all the loud hooting so he figured it was the male.
Yeah. The females are louder and higher pitched. #mehoo
Good to know.
Hi Mani,
Please tell the guy you live with that I wish him all the best with his treatment plan.
It’s so cool you get to see all those owls. In my whole life living in Portland, I’ve only see one in the neighborhood. I was leaving for work early one morning, and it swooped right over my head. Didn’t hear it, just felt it. Then it landed on the neighbors roof–looking like a giant cat sitting up there. Very exciting.
Well, there was one other time when I was a kid. We used to drive out to airport to watch planes come and gone. My dad had done some flying when he was in the service. Anyway, Dad said we saw a big snowy owl just sitting there on the ground nearby. Problem is, I don’t remember seeing the owl, only the story. But I guess that’s still pretty good.
So that’s about all from around here.
Cheers
Thanks. The guy I live with says we do have snowy owls here but that they are very rare. he also said he might build some owl boxes for the Great Horned owls, and also for Barn owls. Of course, there is a reason why we have so many owls here.
Pyracanthas around here look just like that; I’ve always found them to be quite ugly and congested looking. So fewer berries might be a good thing, although perhaps not for the robins who gorge on them. I continue to envy you your owl sightings (and hearings, although maybe not as much).
Good luck on the medical front!
ceci
Thanks. Most of the berries on things here are devoured before the New Year, especially in a drought year like this one.
If the garden has any problems with rodents, large or small, expect them to be much less so by spring. Those are some fearsome birds, and wonderful shots of them. My favorite is the sleepy face in the first tree pic.
Looking forward with great pleasure to the triumphal entrance to Santa Monica! If I were TGYLW I’d start at the Pier, where the effelants will be in scale with the ocean but still super impressive. Best wishes to him in the meantime for healing and happiness.
Thanks; the guy I live with also has me for Rodent Control. In theory anyway. He also said that his maternal grandmother, whose uncle helped lay out the city of Santa Monica, would have supposedly been heiress to a castle near Stranraer in Scotland, and that maybe that would be even better. Which castle, he doesn’t know. (The Santa Monica thing is at least completely true.)
Effelants might not be allowed in Santa Monica. They are pretty strict there you know.
Well, if the guy I live with gets to reclaim the city, then they will be allowed.
Oh, duh. Of course! When I reclaim Los Gatos, I will outlaw all cars with foreign names. Of course, effelants would be allowed in Los Gatos too.
No Chevrolets then. The guy I live with drives a car named for the Pleiades.
Chevrolets will be very welcome! It just sounds French. It is really American.
However, Subarus will need to be parked outside. Tauruses, even though they are names after some of the same stars, are made by Ford, so will be welcome. Saturns and Mercurys will be welcome too. Goodness!
Louis Chevrolet was from Switzerland. The guy I live with had a Ford Focus, named Snowdrop because it was white, which was made in Mexico. The Outback is made in Indiana. After his wife died, the guy I live with gave Snowdrop away, because he didn’t need two cars all for himself. It was a nice car, though.
Well, my Electra was made in San Antonio, by those who know how to build an elegant luxury sedan! It got pulled over often just because a Buick looks suspicious.
Especially if it was like the one in Mulholland Falls.
It was worse. It was all beat up. You watch too many movies.
Those owls are awesome! Awesome Owls.
My family had pyracantha like that in CA when I was growing up (San Francisco area), but it was red. Huge bushes, like trees, taller than the roof and trunks wide as a dinner plate. Wicked thorns. I have one, it’s small and orange berried, in OR now. Smaller berries than then. Cedar waxwings would appear in huge flocks to eat the berries, then gone again within days.
You need to plan for your triumphant entry into Santa Monica! Maybe riding one of those effelants. Or at least a donkey cart. I’m not so keen on captive effelants. Although that would be a sight, you riding a jewel effelant…
I kind of like the idea of a triumphant entry. Maybe the effelants would be magical ones; we’re not into captive anything, either. The whole thing came about because the guy I live with’s mom died, and he was looking at family stuff, out of curiosity. Speaking of that, he also found the house of his great uncle, on a website devoted to 1920s Los Angeles architecture. The house is still there, but now, right next door, is the Santa Monica Freeway. Imagine having that as a neighbor. There was a huge pyracantha in the garden in Los Angeles, too.
Hi Mani, The nice thing about winter is that it encourages us to slow down and pay attention to small details. You and TGYLW seem very good at that.
It gets cold here in northern NM but not as cold and snowy as in MA where I grew up. I like the crispness of winter but not the freezing wind.
My dog, long gone now, was a husky mix from Maine and she loved to run in the snow, periodically throwing herself into huge piles and rolling around. She smiled throughout!! I miss her beauty and sense of fun.
Great idea for your best friend and you to take a few days before treatment begins. You’ll need to strengthen your resolve and resilience as you face these new challenges. You can do it together. Love is our most powerful ally!!
Thanks; I certainly like to leap and fly in the snow, especially on my walks, with the long leash now. The guy I live with says not to, but it’s hard to resist. We’re beginning to wonder about snow here, but Denver’s winters aren’t as snowy as some people think. Temperatures in the fifties and sixties are pretty common.
“For Whom The Bedclothes,” thanks, Mani, for reminding me how much I *like* that title, the significance of which I missed first time around. All seems magic around your place – reviving cyclamens, snowdrops budding, hawks circling in a winter blue sky, owls looking wise in trees and on rooftop, moon crescent asail. If I could, Mani, I’d book you a plane ride out here when the guy you live with is treated. Just as well as snowbanks, you can leap and fly into small breaking shore waves. Bonus: Snowbanks and wavelets are both white. There’d be lots of hugs, too, and special cat-breath food. Then back into a plane you’d go, back to Colorado, where you’ll sit on the couch with your guy and read together.
Thanks, though the guy I live with will just be driving every day for a few weeks, and I think not gone for long each day. He says it’s almost like having a job again, except for the not gone for long part. He also says that oceans can be scary, what with crabs scuttling across the ocean floor. It’s about time for my walk.