Foggy morning 

And C. is digging rocks out of the flower bed. Not sure how all those rocks fit in that small space.

Here's Himself at 9 weeks. Pretty grey eye. Left, he's playing with Kewpie. And below, lolling in the puppy bed. He's huge!

Ferns unfurling along the lower road.

I'll bite you, too

That's C. with Himself in the garden. His teeth are sharper, but I think she could take him.

 




And he's bigger at 8 weeks. At right, 6 and a half weeks. Our little piglet is growing up. He had his first vaccination and worming yesterday. We expect he will now grow and thrive and become the St. Bernard he was meant to be. (That coat isn't very Australian shepherd-ish, is it? Or border collie-ish. I vote St. Bernard-Toggenburg. Wait until the horns come in.)


Around the place, a tiny green tree frog outside our back door, and a deserted(?) nest on the hill above the school. Pheasant?

The rabbits are spending most days out in their yard in the garden. That's Smokey sporting muttonchops and plotting his escape.

Below, Annie and Jack snuggling, which is weird because she swears she doesn't like him. I guess the puppy makes Jack look good. And she's actually playing with the pup sometimes, instead of trying to kill him or pull his brain out through his ears. 

The little nameless fellow loves his headless dinosaur. It started out as KC's dino about 20 years ago, then it was Annie's. She's ferociously removed the eyes, head and a lot of the stuffing. It's still cuddly, though. In a sort of headless way.

It's been really hot until the rain today, and we've been laboring in the garden. We had our first visit from deer - dainty footprints left in the carrot and beet beds - but no damage so far. Lucky! I immediately beefed up the fencing, which is still not finished. I made a rabbit yard out of a couple of cattle panels and chicken wire. It's inside the garden fence so we can supervise while we work. They've spend one day in it and frolicked, hid in the nest box, and escaped through holes in the gate three times. It's all tightened up now, though, so when the rain quits they can go back out.

Here's Kewpie looking very dignified, like a host for Masterpiece Theater.

Here's the garden, shot from the roof. The mulched areas are planted, the bare dirt at the bottom of the photo is where Richard tilled last time, and we're still raking out quack grass and knapweed. And rocks!

You can see the areas on the flat roof that need repair, with the garden and pump house in the background. And the new little crabapple tree at lower left, and the berry patch at middle left. (Maybe berry spot would be more accurate since there are exactly five plants.) Below, the driveway, the pretty red-leafed maple tree and the decayed garage.

Puppy's second day
Still no name, but he's spent time in the garden in his man cave, got very dirty, had a bath and learned about brushing. He loves food, and enjoys galloping backward.

 

It's a new puppy! 
He doesn't have a name yet, but isn't he almost handsome, with his round belly and spots? He's supposed to be Australian shepherd and border collie. We suspect a little blue heeler, considering the speckles. He's so little and fat he could be anything. He and Willie seem to have a special bond. Maybe it's a guy thing.

Annie was hostile, then aggressively interested, and after a day just ignores him. We'll take it.

 Tomatoes in the cold frame
C. started a bunch of tomato seedlings. There are 18 varieties, including some that did well in the longer Spokane season (like Black Krims, my favorite), and some interesting-sounding ones from the Ukraine (through eBay). She's just transplanted them from flats into recycled pots. (We need to eat more yogurt and cottage cheese.) We've also enlarged the cold frame, raising the patio glass onto straw bales and adding another slider, with help from P. and R. It looked plenty big until C. repotted the tomatoes.

I had a cow day of great clumsiness, dumping powdered milk all over the floor. Twice. Fortunately, my buddies were on hand to turn the dry mess into a sticky one. Thanks, guys.

 Rototilling party, with rabbits and goose

We gathered in the garden, and while Richard rototilled, we brought the two new angora rabbits out to frolic. The sneaky white one is Crystal, the peachy one Smokey. C. bought them at the South Spokane Fiber Fest a couple of weeks ago.

C. is brushing Crystal. Below, S. brought her gosling Freddy, who is about three weeks old.