Brodie is Aero's new shadow
Terri Webster Schrandt

Sunday Stills: National Love Your #Pet Day

“On February 20, we celebrate National Love Your Pet Day, a day to embrace one special trait that makes us human: our love of our pets!” Source

boys and dog

The Sweetest Furry Faces

Brodie Boykin Spaniel
Brodie the Boykin Spaniel
Boykin spaniel cup
brown dog
Brodie’s Snowy Side-Eye

“That it will never come again, is what makes life so sweet.” ~ Emily Dickinson

white and brown dogs
Brothers Gideon and Aero, forever missed.
Aero Birthday
I miss seeing Aero’s sweet face

“Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.” – Roger Caras

If you don’t have a pet of your own, perhaps you have a backyard that birds enjoy. While wild birds are not pets, they certainly cost their weight in bird feed. We enjoy the show!

finches perched in tree
Finch Winterfest
Perched Junco
Perched Junco

Good thing these female finches were keenly aware of their surroundings!

2 finches
Double Finch Lookout

Only minutes later, this Sharp-Shinned Hawk swooped in onto our patio table for a look-see!

cooper's hawk

Then he flew over to the bird feeder where the finches had left only moments before…

cooper's hawk

I’m thrilled to have captured my first Sharp-Shinned Hawk with my lens! I love gawking at the bird photos on the Spokane Birders Facebook page, and added these images to the group page.

cooper's hawk
Hmm, what do we have here?

Yep, Another Road Trip

“Still, round the corner, there may wait, a new road or a secret gate.” – J. R. R. Tolkien

This week, hubby and I are taking another road trip to Arizona and California to spend time with family and friends. We’ll drive home in late March via the Northern California coast and southern Oregon coast—places I have never visited.

Rather than stress about my weekly Sunday Stills posts, I am getting help from two wonderful bloggers and photographers who will host while I’m away. I’m thrilled to invite Cathy Ryan of Between the Lines and Susanne Swanson from Cats and Trails and Garden Tales to co-host Sunday Stills while we travel during March. Please follow their wonderful blogs!

This information is already published on my Sunday Stills page as well.

🌷 I will continue The Flower Hour each Tuesday as normally scheduled. 🌸

Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders

Each week, I find additional inspiration from my fellow bloggers’ photo challenges. I enjoy incorporating these into my Sunday Stills weekly themes.

  • Remember to title your blog post a little differently from mine.
  • Please create a new post for the theme or link to a recent one.
  • Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
  • Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
  • Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post.
  • I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.

As a challenge host, I always appreciate your comments. If you participate, please leave a comment with your link; they’re always read and appreciated.

If you are participating in the photo challenge, I look forward to seeing how you interpret this week’s theme! Creativity is encouraged, so please share your own photographs (old or new), poems, original short stories, and music inspired by the theme.

I will still post for The Flower Hour, but having them handle Sunday Stills will give me a bit of a break. Here is the schedule, themes, and who is hosting during March.

Mar 1 NO CHALLENGE
Mar 8 Seascapes hosted by Cathy Between the Lines
Mar 15 Monthly Color Challenge: Jade Green, Peridot hosted by Susanne Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Mar 22 Early (Celebrate Equinox: Spring or Autumn), hosted by Susanne
Mar 29 Your Favorite Places, hosted by Cathy

We plan to return home a few days after Easter (April 5th). Sunday Stills resumes April 12 with the Monthly color Challenge “Diamonds and Quartz.”

To see more of my images and other news, consider following Terri on Social Media by clicking the icons:

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74 comments

  1. Terri, I never knew that there are hawks that small. That’s a great picture! Your Brodie is handsome, and a lot of fun I’m sure. Helen and I have had nine dogs over our fifty years together, but had none for the last ten years. It was time to “re-dog” and I found Mortimer. He is a joy and a real love-sponge. Enjoy your road Trip and travel safely. Joe

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    • Thank you, Joe! He was so close and I was lucky my good camera was close by! Yes, dogs are “people,” Brodie is like our 5 yr old child. Unlike a 5 yr old child, I can put him in a crate in the back of the car. He loves going with us and we choose pet friendly hotels. So far, the first leg to Idaho was sunny and nice weather-wise.

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    • I do, thank you, Leslie. Brodie is 9 now. We figure 4-5 more years for him. We’re getting too old for a new dog. We’re enjoying him while we have him and love taking him on trips with us. Looking forward to your post!

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  9. Where would we be without our pets, Terri? Not only loving and loyal, but fun and a big part of the family. Plus, they can bring you into contact with so many new people, some of whom go on to become friends. And we must not forget about how some animals help us exercise.

    Have an amazing trip. I look forward to hearing all about it.

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    • Pets definitely create wonderful benefits, Hugh! We’re grateful Brodie can still travel with us at 9 yrs old although he has his own stuff that goes in the car! When we’re out, someone always asks about his breed which most have never heard of Boykin Spaniels.

      I’ll be popping in and out on the blog while we’re gone and plan to meet up with some bloggers too.

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  18. I always enjoy your pet photos Terri. Your backyard bird photos are always fun as well. I only have sparrows in my backyard now that I stopped feeding the birds at the house; I do feed the birds at the Park all year around. I have a few of those birds munching treats in today’s post. But I have Cooper’s Hawks, both in the neighborhood and at Council Point Park. That has only been since around 2020. I lost all the squirrels I used to feed at the house. The Cooper’s Hawk will sit in the tree across the street. I know to look up as the Jays will screech their heads off to warn the other birds of predators.

    I will have a Wordless Wednesday contribution for Flower Hour this week. I have no pets, unless you want to count the squirrels and birds at the Park. 🙂

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  20. So many beautiful pets, the ones gone forever missed. You got some amazing photos of that hawk. Wow! I’m glad the finches escaped in time; it would have been hard to see the hawk in action. Have a wonderful road trip! I’m hoping to link up later with my favorite pets.

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  29. These were awesome Terri,. Love the hawk. When I was down at my daughters, I spotted a small hawk on the excavator outside and ran to get my camera…it had flown away by the time I got back. I was so bummed.

    Have a great trip. I will certainly visit the other gals and hopefully link up. I’m heading to Canada March 6-10 so may miss that one as I decided not to bring my computer. Or, if I’m on top of it maybe I’ll schedule a post and figure out how to share it via my phone…..haha!

    https://troyerslovinglife.blogspot.com/2026/02/taking-in-life-around-mesunday-stills.html

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  31. Wonderful images Terri! Dogs are special, giving us their love and owning our hearts. Keep your camera ready and bring a lot of SD cards. The Northern CA and Southern OR coasts are stunning, especially Oregon.

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    • Thank you, Anne! My mom raised collies for show and breeding when I was a kid and dogs were always a part of our lives. We take road trips to accommodate our sweet Brodie. He loves them. I’m super excited about visiting some new areas. Hopefully the spring weather will cooperate.

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  32. I’ve been reading a lot about the domestication of wolves (or their domestication of us!)–the floppy ears, shorter snouts, look you right in the eye. I see it in all of your dog pictures. Great photos as always, Terri.

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