Beautiful day to ponder in the swing, just perfect. The sky is blue and the sun is warm and bright. My yard is full of goldfinches and cardinals.The goldfinches are eating like starving piglets. Quit counting them at 13. Have six pair of cardinals. Know I’ve said this many times but I’ve never seen the cardinals this red. They are almost fluorescent. Was going to start cleaning the dead brush from the zinnia and sun flower spot today and start getting my cow lick vegetable garden pots cleaned out but once I sat down and saw all the birds flitting and flirting around, I just parked my fanny in the swing. Vegetated this Valentine’s Day in Chief’s Russell Athletic sweatshirt, getting a Chief hug from the sweatshirt. We have so many family photos where he’s wearing this sweatshirt.

Oldest brother came over for his daily visit. Penelope is still barking at him! Makes him mad but tickles me. He acts gruff with her but sometimes I go in the house to get us coffee and I hear him talking sweet to her. Calls her Perewinkle. Oldest brother’s feeders have been covered in finches too. He’s got lots of purple finches mixed in with the goldfinches. The purple finches are coloring up now and are so pretty. Roy Tory Peterson described the purple finches as “sparrows dipped in raspberry juice.” That is a perfect description of the purple finch. Peterson is considered the father of the field guide for birds and his illustrations are wondrous.

The finches are cleaning out oldest brother’s feeders rapidly, too. When he visited this morning we sat on the porch. Love porch visitors. Oldest sister-in-law visited mid afternoon. We had our visit on the porch, too, and Stew joined us, too. Oldest sister-in-law was dressed for success in her Valentine’s shirt and socks. She regaled us with stories of her grandchildren. Penelope doesn’t bark at her! That burns oldest brother up. Gotta love P.

Miss Priss, Penelope, has been on a tear this week. Told her she better shape up she’s going to Shady Oaks for dogs. Stew heard me and said she has doggy senility! It’s just doggy spoiled-nility. Hate to even tell this…. She sleeps on top of her blankets at the foot of my bed. When I get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I love to put my feet under my cover and push my feet where she’s laying cause it’s always so warm there. I pushed my feet toward her last night and it was freezing cold on the bed. It was wet! She had done a doggy tee-tee on the BED! This was the worst…2:30 AM in the morning and I have to take the sheets off, the mattress topper off, find new cover, new mattress pad, and on and on all the while saying bad dog ten thousand times. Ever tried to drag a 4 inch double bed mattress topper around by yourself in the middle of the night. It ain’t fun. Plus washing off the mattress and topper and turning it over by myself. Didn’t have any trouble going back to sleep ‘cause I’m exhausted from all this hoopla.

Earlier in the week oldest brother appeared around lunch. I was eating chicken salad on crackers and cream cheese with pepper jelly on crackers. Kinda a brunch snack. Had maybe a tablespoon of chicken salad and cream cheese left. I get up to walk oldest brother to the door, forgetting to put my plate up and yep, when I came back, she was licking her lips and the plate looked like it had been through the dishwasher! Only said bad dog once cause it was my fault for leaving the plate there.

She’s always been notorious for stealing food. She’d steal Chief’s biscuits and hide them under her blanket. He’d get up to go get a book and forget to push his chair under the table. She also loves to find a Hershey kiss and eat it, tinfoil and all, so she can go see her friends at vet brother’s office. I think she was a vulture in her former life. She crumb searches during every meal and has eaten over half of an apple pie and scarfed half a sausage quiche once. Ate a dessert plate of fudge one Christmas. Did by even give her heart burn. She’s a mess but I love her and she’s a source of comfort to me.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if our family members were as excited to see us as our pets are every day when we come home. Chief and Penelope waited every day out in the front yard for me to come home from work. She’d do the happy dance and he’d have the happy smile. The yard cats sitting with them would kick up a dust bowl running away from me.

Pets are good for lowering blood pressure. Not sure P fits in that category! Pets help with loneliness, too. They provide companionship and unconditional love. Edith Wharton sums up Penelope perfectly — “My little dog, a heartbeat at my feet.”