Yard Play

Now that we have a nice "big" yard to play in, we are taking advantage of it.

Ball playing takes place several times a day, and the trees provide a cool, shady place to rest afterwards (yes, there are dogs under that tree.

We have a little elm tree that is shaped like an umbrella right in the middle of the runway.

Trix, Zip & Mav sit in the shade.

There are flowers along the long side of the fence. The nasturtiums are starting to bloom, so there is color now. The poppy is spent, but the delphinium is still blooming.

I have little tomatoes on the Roma & the Early Girl. Hopefully, Trix won't eat them! She likes to nibble on the flower leaves (heck, she rips them off!)

Newman likes hanging out around the porch too. He "treed" 2 snakes the other day. (gross!) I tried to put them in a bucket to relocate them, but they wiggled away.

The fuscia basket on the front porch, that I put together, is starting to bloom. I have stawberries & blueberries growing. The clematis has gotten really big & is starting to bloom. There are little balsams under the camilia, which is growing like a weed!

Iris Farm - Last Visit

Wow! Can't believe another week has gone by. So much has happened this past week. First, I got a part-time job. That will be a big change for the pups.

Second, we are now watering the fairgrounds so that we will have a green spot to run on for the flyball tournament. Third, we came in 6th on Saturday and 2nd on Sunday, at our tournament in British Columbia. Since it was really hazy, none of the mountain photos turned out. Guess I'll have to wait until the fall for some good shots. The only mountain that I saw, of the seven, was Mt. Baker.

Fourth, we went for our last visit of the year to the Iris Farm. The fur kids & I have loved traveling to different places over the last 6 months. I'm going to miss going on long jaunts with them. We'll still have the weekends tho'. So we commemorated our last outing with watering the fairgrounds & going to the Iris farm. We had missed out on the peak blooming, but what we saw was still gorgeous. I particularly loved the iris with pink centers and purple outer petals.

Yard Projects

Since we moved in last September, we have been working on several backyard projects to make the yard more dog friendly. Our side yard was a dog run (which we had removed) and overgrown with weeds & debris. Now we actually have grass (sorta). Yesterday the handy man fixed the railroad ties around the a/c handler so it would look nice. Now I'm hauling in dirt to raise up the area, so we won't have a "pool" come winter.

I have 1 small patch that I am going to plant gourds this year. We have an old ladder & I'm going to use it for a trellis. Will keep you posted on how that works. My flowers are starting to take off. I can tell the jasmine likes its location as there are new blooms & it is so fragrent there. I planted some balsam seeds (from PA) and they are now coming up. Time to thin them out. I love the new orange poppy I got at the Iris farm. It reminds me of the ones Mom grows. I also bought a couple of dwarf Alberta Spruces, so I can have some evergreen for the winter. Most of what I have planted are perennials, but I did plant a package of Nasturtiums, Moon Flowers, Blue Morning Glories, and Marigolds. One day my garden will actually look like it is landscaped....for now, at least I have a few flowers.