Squirrel World

Things run smoother than last week and the doggie activities are routine and predictable by now.
Reveille is still just around 5 in the morning, earlier, if I dare to sneak into the bathroom. Hoping that Schatzi would sleep through that, is strictly a dream.
She is bounding over the big bed, like a fur coat on a pogo stick. Molly would like to stay snuggled up, but she follows and goes outside.
There were clouds recently in the morning and it was still almost pitch black. Both girls do their stuff and I would like to go back to bed.

The big question is, should I really leave the doggie door open ?
Andy says YES. The likely hood to find a present on the carpet is very good, if you keep the door closed.
My little Spitz thinks, if my toilet is blocked, I have no choice but to use another one. And I know, she always has to use the facilities around the same time every morning.
I don't like to keep the door open, because we seem to have a raccoon again who is raiding the hummer feeder at night. It would be so easy to just hop in and see what's happening inside.
Like a very distance cousin of the raccoon in San Diego, who followed his nose through an open window to a pot of spaghetti sauce. The raccoon etiquette for eating italian food is different than ours. More like painting the town red.

So the door stays open and I sit on the deck and watch the colors in the sky and on the mountains change from gray to pink. A few houses in the foot hills reflect the sun like a bonfire and occasional a hot air balloon drifts by and heads to the airport.

The morning is for playing. Schatzi thinks, she established who is who in this house.
Molly looks a little intimidated, if Schatzi is on full throttle racing along the hall, a blond fur ball streaking by.
The purpose of this game is possession of the Green Willy. A short rest to catch a few breaths and the rules require to move outside and include the squirrels, that wait for breakfast.

Molly specializes in barking above and beyond the normal dachshund duty. So Andy has to haul her inside for several " time - outs " until she calms down.
Schatzi recognized the squirrels, but was never interested in a chase.
Molly however knows that two squirrels live way up in the big blue spruce. There is a nest for years which started originally as a robin 's nest. It was remodeled, while we watched a squirrel carrying twigs and leaves up there.
Schnapps already hunted around the blue spruce without success.
He yelled up there, circled, showed off, jumped and hopped into the branches and danced backwards on his hind legs.
Coming back into the house one time, he crashed into the glass door. He did not see it was closed. A trip to the vet was necessary because he had cornea abrasions from jumping into the branches.
After breakfast Schatzi mostly sits in her basket and guards the green Willy and several chewies.
Molly checks on the squirrels. She barks and jumps, has to go inside to be quiet, sees another one and wants to dig through the glass door and races off as soon as she is allowed.
Smart Molly noticed, that if she sits in the bay window, she can see if there is any squirrel activity in the blue spruces in the front and also keep an eye on the traffic in the aspen tree in the back. Molly is incredibly busy, while Schatzi growls and shows off her teeth, to keep her possessions under wrap.
We noticed by the way, that she is missing several tiny teeth right in the upper front.