SUMMER DAYS

The day started out with a storm sky, but the weatherman stuck to his forecast for a hot afternoon, and he wasn't wrong.  You know how it is – there’s always heat in the summer sun. But – we received so much precipitation this past week that we still see wet spots in the fields and the water runs freely in the ditch by the lane.

Yesterday morning I set about weeding the bed at the south end of the front porch. It should have been done four years ago, but I’d rather do something else. I really don’t like to weed, but I identified something that was holding me back. We had planted three woody ground cherry bushes there, and I just couldn’t pull the grass and weeds out from under the heavy ground-hugging branches. I insisted they should come out, and Mike obliged me. I never could have done it without him. The bushes are history now (I hope), and I can remove the rest of the weeds and grass by myself and then plant something else. Yes, I already have daffodils and iris, and it would be easy to do more of that, but I think I need some summer bloomers. Daisies might do well – or coneflowers -- or maybe sunflowers! Sunflowers would be fun, don’t you think? And they would fit in with the hollyhocks which have been slowly but surely making themselves to home on that side of the house for the last 15 years. Well, it’s a work in progress.

At 8 ½ weeks, little Bess the Pup is now a member of the family. She’s lost her timidity and is obviously right at home inside and out. You know, it seems to be the great fear of the hunter that he could pay big bucks for a hunting dog that doesn’t want to hunt, but we’re happy to report that Bess has all the signs of making an excellent field dog. Apparently she comes from a line that’s supposed to have a lot of stamina, and we’ve seen evidence of that, too. Yesterday she followed Mike and Nellie on the practice hike. Then she took a long nap.

 

Bess isn’t much of a cuddler, but she’ll sit on our laps and play. Her favorite game with me is “nip the flab.” Of course, she doesn’t play that with Mike, but if you can “pinch an inch” anywhere, you’re in trouble with this pup. As for Nellie and Bess, I see less pestering and more camaraderie, though at 3:30 this morning Mike had to arbitrate another dispute.

Bess’ training is going well. We haven’t had an accident in the house for several days, but I suspect that’s because we’re trained. If it’s been 15 minutes, we know she should go outside. Training sessions occur several times a day wherein the trainer (Mike) uses a clicker and rewards with little bites of weiner. However, “guess who” didn’t bring the wieners, so Thursday Mike betook himself to town on his dirt bike to buy another package. He can carry very little, but he did agree to stop by the quilt shop, “The Wild Hare,” and buy some 505 spray for me. He was rather taken aback at what it cost -- I try to keep him from knowing these things -- but I was glad he could do it because it enabled me to finish another “Fourth of July” wall hanging.

 

That’s enough for now, but let me show you one last thing. During the rainy days, Mike created this lined leather holder for his iPhone. KW