Pet Wars II

There is a lot of gazing and adoringly looking into one another's eyes.

A long long drive

Welcome to the Jungle...

Sunday I loaded the car up with gifts, pillows, and dogs. We took the Loooooong drive to my parents. Kudos to Madison and Daisy -- they did an excellent job as road warriors!
The drive was pretty good... until Pesotum IL. The snow started to get rough and there were three wrecks in a .5 mile stretch. Traffic was pretty slow there.

I got to join up with one of my best friends from college, Nikki (from In the Nik of Time) for a quick dinner. We would have liked to have a little more time... but I had a bit more drive ahead of me. Seeing Nik reminded me of a December past in which we all met in STL for the annual Border War. Good Friends. Good Times.

Here is the first trip out into the snow at the Tolono rest stop on I-57....

Canine Friends

It has been observed in the past -- we are dog sitters extraordinaire. This weekend we had Molson and Barley over. The JGs enjoyed... or at least one JG did. Baddie Maddie and Barley discovered the joys of hanging out with another active little girl. When they played, they played hard. When they were out for the count, they were out for the count. Molson had some fun too... and Daisy enjoyed dogwatching from her corner.

Hot Time Summer in the City...

Or rather, summer in the country! We have hit our Mississippi summer stride - with humidity and heat everything else that it entails (including Smith Co. Watermelons). I had started working on a project around the house and was trying to keep up wtih the massive re-bedding of the house when I noticed that it just seemed really really hot. I blamed it on my status as a damn yankee and not being able to adjust well. After a few really cantankerous days I had a revelation -- it was cooler outside the house than in -- AC problem!!! Duh Sarah. Well, we had a few more duh Sarah moments, however the AC is up and running without major financial loss and only a few moments of 'wow am i clueless'.

During the times of heat we spent some time with friends -- turns out that Chin Master Chin the Chinchilla had the same effect on the JGs as Smokey the fat cat -- The fear factor. It was fun to watch them F-reak out over him.

Pool Party

it is hot

cool it is not

it is hot

you will sweat a lot

unless a pool, you got

it is hot

We remembered how to play in the pool. now i need to wash it out since it is full of dirt, rainwater, and dogwater.

It's called mulch people

Its been a LONG and fun afternoon Chez Sarah. This morning was raining.. and beautiful. Eventually mr. sunshine decided to come out and celebrate the fact that it wasn't 90 degrees. Thus, the JGs and I decided to head out to work on the yard, our permanent past time lately.

Yesterday while Miss Morgan played with the JGs on another play date I did some planting, primarily potting of some goodies I bought from the nursery (I skipped the depot in favor of the locally owned nursery where they have tons more options. We've got some impatiens in baskets on the front porch as well as some trailing petunias. Out back I've got a gerbra daisy (my favorites!) and some hot pink geraniums in pots. that was fun and successful.

The rain from last night and this morning made for good conditions for weeding. So I went at it. I pulled out the holly from the bed in the front yard. seriously -- who puts holly in a bed in Mississippi? Holly is for Christmas, not for the summer in Mississippi. I've wanted to get rid of that stuff since the day I moved in. Now, just under two years later it is gone. Let me tell you, it was a bit of work -- apparently holly has large roots. I got 95% of the roots out, so hopefully we'll just have a few to pull next year, and the won't be huge and large. now ther are some big holes in the ground cover. I guess I need to fill them up :)

I pulled out the rest of the weeds and leaves that were filling up that bed. I also cleaned up some of the perennials that are starting to come back. Next thing I knew I was pulling out the monkey grass that had been spreading in that bed. Suddenly a brilliant idea hit me. Next thing I knew I was pulling monkey grass from out front to transplant out back around the patio. I'm hoping it will hold up to the puppy wear and tear out there. This project is started.. but there is lots more monkey grass to pull from that bed and lots more patio to keep edging. I think this ought to be a sucessful project in the long run. Fingers crossed.

Meanwhile as a part of the transplanting process the brilliant ideas just kept comming. The previous owners had some 'interesting' ideas on gardening. When we closed they let me know that before I had looked at the hosue they had planted some stuff out in front of the house in the beds under the trees. Last summer there was nothing but weeds there. Imagine that. Well, last summer and all this year I've been collecting yard debris and mulching around the trees with leaves, sticks, and pine needles. This summer a couple of hasta magically popped up. It's called mulch people. If you put it out there the plants will come up... unlike if you just put the plants out there in the clayey soil and let it be. So... brilliant idea number two... take the three hasta that were out back where I want to put the monkey grass and split them and put them under the tree. So... i weeded the bed and transplanted the hastas. hopefully we'll get a 75% sucess rate and they'll start going to town. Maybe in a couple of years the ground will be nicely covered.

Throughout this prcoess the JGs hung out in the yard. We are making process. Daisy Dogg ran around and sniffed in the beds and explored around the house while staying within her boundaries. Eventually Ms. Madison came out. For the longest time she sat on the couch and came to stick her head out when Daisy gave her the cue that something was going on outside. Eventually she came out and took up her spot in front of the door. She actually laid out and looked comfy for quite a while rather than just sitting there looking like she wanted me to let her back in. They did a great job!! I'm really proud of my girls. We had lots of people walk by, and several dogs. They just did their barky bark thing but didn't head off to hit the road. They might take a few steps, but when I callled their names they stopped. I'm really happy to see this progress.

In the middle of the afternoon my friend Seth was walkiing around the lake with his adoreable daughters and his dog. We stopped to talk for a few minutes. First I have to compliment Daisy for comming up... getting zapped when she didn't listen to me... but just backing up 10 ft away instead of running to the door. You could tell she really wanted to play with Lumbda. Also.. I have to thank Seth... He was complimenting me on the yard and garden and telling me you could really tell I had been putting a lot of work into it. I have to say that was great! I know what I've been doing so I can tell the difference. However, i didn't know if anyone could tell that there were changes being made - from the grass growing and the clover being mowed to cleaning up the beds to putting out hanging baskets.

So for all my complaints, I really do enjoy working in the yard. I just don't enjoy it in July/August when its 100+ degrees Now the dogs are passed out and snoring. Big Time Snoring. I guess it was an exciting weekend.

A new puppy friend

Our friend Marie brought her pupy, Morgan, over to play this weekend. This was their first play date. It was a little rough at first - Madison was less than nice. She just wanted to get to playing and skip over the formalities. Eventually they had it out and the never-ending game of chase and jump on the people started. Meanwhile Daisy just followed them around... keeping herself out of things as the older, more mature dog.

Check out the ladies anxiously awaiting the arrival of their new friend.

Christmas Baking Part I

Tried a new type of Christmas Baking - puppy treats. We made peanut butter and cheese treats. Each dog got a sample of each. Approval ratings were high. They want more. They must wait until santa fills their stockigns for more :-)

You know it was hard core baking since I aproned up!