Spring Clean

 

This past Saturday I had someone come to give the meadow its annual haircut. It made the backyard so big that Stella and I played out there nearly all afternoon. Up to that point we'd had an invasion or rather I should say, a long visit from a flock of robins. Not everyone enjoyed this feathery wonderland but I was mesmerized. Unfortunately, they moved on when the mower came. 

I had planned to have someone cut the portion of the Cottonwood tree (on the left) that fell last summer but now that everything else is removed I think some free wheeling flowery vine on the trunk could be a nice transition. Not sure what'll grow back there in the shade but maybe there's something...

Return Visit

Some time ago we got word that one of our foster cats (mine and Stella's) was being returned due to a hopefully temporary economic setback. The extraordinarily handsome boy known to us back in the summer as Joey – now named Chance – has returned for an extended visit. This has made for an adventurous December as he's now somewhere in the neighborhood of nine months old which puts him in the "real wild child" category. My cat Gigi would love to hate him but he won't let her.

Stella loves him because apparently he knows the play bow which as you all might guess action sets off all manner of YouTube-worthy chaos. The two of them have been riding the rugs through the new living room and scattering cat litter all over the house for going on three weeks.

In case chasing after a dog that outweighs you by sixty pounds isn't enough in the "I might be a lunatic" department, Last Monday I had to get up and shower at 5 a.m. and after rinsing the shampoo out of my hair, I looked down and this cat was sitting in the shower with me. It was absolutely all I could do not to make eye contact.

Here's a picture of Joey Chance first from back in July, and then earlier today (on squirrel patrol with Stella).

New Territory (an encore)

Well we've been moving since January and hoping this is finally it for a while. I say January - that's when I started packing up the original house. We moved into storage and the interim house in May and then here in September but we didn't actually live in the new house until about two weeks ago. We visited every day though and got to see the progression of our new yard over the summer which was fun and educational. By the time the actual move came around I was a neurotic train wreck but I think it's going to work out fine.  Stella loves it and so does Gigi - the cat. There's only a partial fence but hopefully we can complete that thought at some point. For now we're getting back into our regular walking routine and learning where all the new neighborhood dogs live. It's a long process of learning what we can pee on and what would be better left alone. I guess from a dog's perspective you could say most days, that's pretty much the yardstick for everything.

Found in the move

Before I apologize for leaving you all sit well over a month, I offer up this vintage print of Easy that I found among the boxes when I moved. I never knew Easy to have a dog so much as a cat but there it is in black and white :)

Power nap

Mulchfest

This year (yesterday), Stella got a trip to the Metro Mulch Facility to celebrate "Gotcha Day." She was a big hit there, probably because she didn't mind all of the heavy machinery and dump trucks. She's a big fan of mulch too although usually she doesn't lie in it so much as she waters it.  She's been spending a lot of time prancing around in our soon-to-be-new yard with her giant tree-limb-type stick. We don't officially have a fence on the east side yet but she hasn't noticed.

Summer Vacation

 

 

The rabbit family that was living in our new yard seems to have gone undercover for the last couple of weeks. I hope they didn't turn into a buffet dinner for some passing hawk or fox but I wouldn't be surprised. They have to eat too I suppose. Part of the big Hackberry tree in the meadow fell down last week which was a terrible shame. On the upside, I got four more windows unstuck. Stella is no help at all. She can't even make coffee. It's bunny patrol or nothing as far as she's concerned.