Some miscellanea from the day…
Firstly, I’ve discovered that the tree that in my initial hasty identification I labeled as a crab apple tree is actually a plum tree. I discovered this by finding plums laying on the ground underneath the tree.
Those college botany classes are really paying off.
And I suppose now that I think about it, it sure makes a heck of a lot more sense. I mean peach-plum-cherry, makes way more sense than peach-inediblecrabapple-cherry. Still one mystery tree to go. Watermelon tree? Here’s a shot of a tiny plum in our tree. Now I feel kind of badly for not watering this guy as much as I should’ve.
Secondly, we had thunder this morning accompanied by about five minutes of rain. I was hoping for more given the temperature assault on our lawn over the past week, but at least the air was cool for a couple of hours. Enough time to get a little more landscaping worked on in the backyard. Mary and I worked on digging out some root remnants from last weekend’s project and I continued moving loads of small rocks that previous residents had used as a border around the deck. I can’t believe how tedious this process is. Gotta be done though. Grass beats rocks.
But, the heat returned full bore by mid-afternoon, so (thirdly) we ended up running the dogs in the park sprinklers, resulting in one of my new all-time favorite shots of Taylor. See below. She’s never looked so glorious! All seventy-five pounds hurtling skyward, clutching that magical catch. Who knew the fatty had it in her? It’s worth a click for the full-sized image. And also a few more shots from the run.
Great form! Nice to hear a “good dog” story after the Naughty Nora one. Quite a family you have out there. “Hi” to Mary from Lindsay who’s just back from Honduras and sorry she missed seeing Mary before your move. (wanna guess where I saw Lindsay?).
Ummmm… Schuler’s? Yeah, Taylor’s a good one. Actually, Nora’s been doing better though lately too. With Mary’s current free time she’d been spending extra time training/socializing her. Slowly starting to mellow out.
“Hurtling skyward?” Her back legs are 2 inches off the ground. Taylor has the same vertical leap as Steenwyk.
Has Mary been watching the Dog Whisperer? I saw one over the weekend at the in-law’s cottage where one of those midget terriers (smaller than a chihuahua) would attack the ironing board every time her owner brought it out.
I’m pretty sure hurtling implies great momentum (actually, I just looked it up “to rush violently,” close enough). So yes, hurtling like a graceful Steeno. And two inches off the ground might be that dog’s crowning achievement. You can almost feel the gravity pulling in that picture. Good dog.
Yeah, actually, it’s funny that you should mention the Dog Whisperer, because that’s exactly what Mary’s been doing for the past week. Binging on downloaded Dog Whisperer episodes. Hence the training enthusiasm. I’ve watched a couple of episodes. They really are kind of amusing. We like it when Cesar Milan imitates the dogs behaviors. Growling and making dog faces. Good stuff.