So sweet is she?
Two Dogs
Like spring, my skills as a handler of a nervous new dog are improving. And spring is getting sweeter by the day - more Camellias flowering, rhododendrons too, the fancy-pants daffodils...
Getting sweeter...
Pebbles the new dog is also getting sweeter. We've had two more socialisation training sessions with Escher the big brown dog, and there are huge improvements in her behaviour and confidence. And, of course, the two are related - well, I'd like to think they are, in a bright, repsonsive Border Collie!
Dogs and visitors...
I've had lovely weekend visitors, and so my gardening has been limited to random weeding. But we've done lots of dog-walking, and Pebbles has been exceptionally good. Not so Winnie - this morning she ran off with a large dead rabbit. Would she drop it? Drop it? No way! I managed to grab her, so she then tried to gulp it down. But I won - I pulled the rabbit (slowly) out of her mouth.
Running...
Then I realised the whole shemozzle was being watched at close quarters by the nearly-four-year-old. Oops. Time for a country lesson on dogs getting sick, or seriously poisoned, by eating dead things. Sorry about the rabbit, but...
Spring lambs...
There are five spring lambs now - two sets of twins and one single. All are on their feet, following their mums around. And great spring vegetable news : my patio pots of spinach and lettuce are almost ready to start eating.
The blossom trees are beautifully dominant around the gardens. They are a great joy, and I love having them dotted around here and there, some early to flower, others late. Rather than having an avenue of the same trees, which of course would be stunning for three weeks. But then all the blossom would all blow off at once in a spoilsport wind.
Blossom trees in the late afternoon
Monday 18th September
It's going to rain for two days. And I was going to garden so robustly, so incisively, so thoroughly and energetically. Honestly!
So here's this morning's first plan. There's already quite a bit of surface pooling of water (free-draining soil still takes a wee time to work). I take the dogs for another walk around the orchard. We will do this a lot today.
Pebbles
Good dog, Pebbles...
I will wear my gumboots. I will be dog-vigilant - Pebbles is not allowed to bite at my footwear. This is not a cute and quirky dog-habit. Oh, by the way, our visit to Escher yesterday afternoon (another dog-training socialisation session) went really well. Are we almost there? Hmm. Have we come a long way? Yes!
I will take more photographs of spring things. Then return inside, light the log-burner, and await the visit of my dearest friend, who is bringing me a surprise breakfast. Yeay!
A Bit Later...
Sorry about this blow by blow account of a non-gardening day. We've been for another walk. More of the Wattle Woods Camellias are flowering now, and yet more of the unusual daffodils. And the Gunnera - new leaves, just formed and ready to unfurl. Yeay! It's blustery wet, but I will dump and spread some horse manure later. I promise, dear garden, I promise. Later.