HFM

With the arrival of some incredible weather, we dedicated serious time this weekend to improvement of the Mars environment. Adrienne cut back the jungle of the back yard on Friday, filling about 90% of a 32 gallon compost/yard waste bin with various sorts of trimmings & invasive, out of control plants.  Zoey helped with the mowing of the grass. Chomp chomp chomp...yum! Sunday, we went out to the backyard to sit in the sunshine & enjoy the space her hard work created.  Here is Zoey enjoying the shade a blanket tent provides: Do you have something I can eat? Her lip gets stuck on her teeth sometimes. That's the underbite.  It's either that, or her cheeks are stuffed with kibble, chipmunk style. I took advantage of the time to transplant the brussels sprouts & collard sprouts to the back. Brussels. Mmm. Collards. Mmm. The grass & ivy & other assorted vegetation I pulled out while preparing the beds filled the compost bin another 5%. For the past couple we...

People have been asking for more photos of Zoey, so here are several from today's bath time & nail clipping fun: I don't think it's her favorite activity, but she certainly doesn't seem to mind it too much.

Some of us worked from home today. Some of us were home, but not working. Some of us are jealous.

Maybe it's the beautiful weather we had over the weekend, but Mars continues to produce its abundant vegetation. Mighty brussels sprouts are sprouting. Mighty lettuce are sprouting. Some sort of delicate yet mighty wildflowers. Mighty yellow roses are flowering again. Another mighty wildflower. And mighty mighty friends over for mahjong in the backyard. 

In the back yard today: Mighty mighty purple & orange flowers! Mighty mighty peas! Mighty mighty collard sprouts!

Not much to report this week. Today, I planted some more vegetables: carrots, butter lettuce, collards, & brussels sprouts. Skipping the photos of wet dirt this time. Adrienne is hard at work again, grading math tests: "How many points do I deduct for snarky comments written in the margins?" We have been happily admiring our fancy new wine decanter, given to us by our good friend Jhames, who was in town for a conference recently: Wine tastes better when served stylishly. Zoey has been enjoying a den-like tent we set up for her in her kennel. There's some debate about whether dogs really have a strong instinct for dens, or whether that's something people say to make themselves feel better about crate training, but after a horrible thunderstorm this week that literally shook the house & freaked us all out, we got to thinking that it couldn't hurt to set something up & see whether she likes it. So cozy! Later tonight, we are going to go grill up some deli...

A busy Sunday on Mars. For some of us. The work of a teacher is never done.  Pea plants were staked. "Do you mind? I'm trying to sleep."

It's official.  Mister Zoe Pickles Beschamel House of Duser Johnstonian is ours to love and squeeze and pick up poop forever and ever!  Yay!  Here she is making her stunning debut in "Zoe and the Blind Rhino." Here she is showing how much she loves Christine.  NO, I have got your sock and I will not let you go. And here she is enjoying a tasty pig ear after her first bath and nail clipping at our house.  It was smooth sailing.

Quiet Sunday on Mars. Mostly a lot of cleaning up of those sticky mats, & sweeping up massive amounts of dog hair. Two fun things, though: This morning we saw two people in the backyard two houses down (we can see 8 different yards from our back window) wearing broad-brimmed hats with mesh draped off them, holding little smoking canisters. Beekeepers! And look! Here is a truck full of their beekeeping things! Right in front of our house! Honey Production & Plant Pollination R Us I don't know how long they've been keeping bees, but I'm dying to meet them now. I have secretly wanted to keep bees for years. Later, we did some training work with Zoey in the backyard: Note the stylish blue treat pouch. "Zoey, hush -- it's rude to use that kind of language." Now off to fold laundry & get ready to go back to work tomorrow. Work is so much less fun than playing with a dog.