Sorry for the long delay in posting. After an extended, gorgeous, cool spring, summer came in hot--literally--and I've spent the last few weeks wilting on the floor like a dramatic Victorian heroine. While I still achingly miss my Thistle girl, I don't think she is missing this! Now the rains have come, cooling us down, and I feel like a functioning human again!
We've been doing a lot of nice dayhikes.
And my perennial garden is as lovely as ever. Look at all of my colors of columbine! With the exception of the purple and white ones, which were a split from a friend, I started these all from seeds I gathered myself, and now they are self-maintaining, hardy perennials. I don't even water them!
These gorgeous and hardy lilies are also perennials, and started from bulbs from a different friend.
And of course the eternal rhubarb. It's HUGE!!
Feed me, Seymour!
I did not have the courage to start harvesting until a friend agreed to take half. With the other half, I put half of THAT into the freezer, and with the remaining quarter, I made a pie.
The sound of slicing things on a cutting board always draws an audience in my house!
Nice pie, if I do say so myself!
Pie out, pizza in. I'm so happy it's cooler and rainy and I can turn on my oven!
I made this one with smoked mozzarella!
At the end of a storm, is a golden sky, and the sweet silver song of a lark!
Look at this pretty fireweed at the edge of my parking lot on campus!
Raven has graduated Basic Obedience, Beginner Scentwork, and Intermediate Obedience. She also picked up two Official Obedience Titles as well as her Canine Good Citizen certificate along the way! She's a very smart girl! Obedience titles are earned by doing 10 tricks from a long list that are at the appropriate level. The lists did not include any of the things she had already mastered that have made her such a great dog for us: "Gee", "Haw", "Come Gee", "Come Haw", "Over Gee", "Over Haw", "Whoa", "Stay", "On By", Walking By Moosey Without Going Apeshit, Lifting Paws In Correct Order to Put On or Remove Harness, Ignoring Other Dogs Who Appear to be Jerks... hey that is over ten things right there! But no, those did not qualify her to be a Trick Dog. Her Tricks are not half so pragmatic, they are things like Balance On a Strange Thing and Spin in a Circle. But these sorts of nonsense are good for brain development and dog-human bonding, so we had fun.
I have the Goodest Good Dogs. How do I keep getting so lucky??
6 comments:
Welcome back - happy everyone is well:)Congrats to Raven - such a smarty pants! Your girls are the bestest. Be happy that the rains have come to cool things down (great for the garden - the perennials look awesome. It feels like an inferno here with temps in the 110+ range for 2 wks. We're about ready to spontaneously combust! Drought tolerant plants are barely hanging on with daily watering. The pups are sprawled out on the tiles keeping cool & we're keeping A/C running so we don't melt away:) Baking anything right now seems prohibitive(unless done very early!) Send prayers for cooler weather :)
@e: Thank you, friend. Hope things are cooling down for you soon. We are bracing ourselves for another heat wave, but I will refrain from telling you the forecasted temperatures as it may feel like bragging. We bought a swamp cooler last year, and deployed it for the first time this year. It works great! It might be a good low-energy candidate for your arid area, too.
Smart Raven, wonder if Cricket knew her baby sister being so smart..
Amazing Columbines, you have a green thumb. Thank you for all your pictures.
@mdr: Cricket is even smarter in her own way. She's just not a people-pleaser so does not learn tricks. But, for example, when Thistle had diarrhea and had to go in the middle of the night, she would just go sit by the door, which did not wake me up. Cricket would run upstairs and howl. Like, "Mama! My sister needs to gooooooo!!!" I thought that was so caring and so smart. :)
Your flowers are lovely, such pretty colors. I'm glad you showed your pizza picture and mentioned smoked mozzarella. I've never tried it on a pizza but will now. Enjoy your summer!
@gina, thank you! Please let me know how your pizza turns out!
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