Tomato Plants and Dog Puzzles

In honor of Earth Day, my friend gave me two tomato plants! Look at that super cute small one. I can hardly wait to get them in the garden and watch them fruit.

Apparently someone else couldn't wait either.

Emile!

Tomato plants are now surrounded by a wall of nalgenes until it warms up enough for planting.

We have had some sunny days and some really rainy ones. On a rainy one, Nim got his meaty bone and Emile was right there for assisting.

I also ordered another dog puzzle for Nim. When we got to All the Best in Issaquah, Nim knows exactly where the "play section" of the store is. I know. Anyway, they have all these puzzles out and he liked this one known as "Dog Brick."

Turns out, I can fit an entire meal + vitamins in this toy. That is a big plus. I have some puzzle toys that can hold entire meals while some are smaller treat ones.

I have started paying more attention to how he solves these. I wonder if all dogs are sequential? It isn't just this toy I have noticed it on. Once he decides an approach he seems to complete it. For example, all the center bones first...or on this other slide toy he has, he systematically slides them all the same direction first, and then goes back the other way.

I will leave you with a cute snuggle photo. Just because.

Happy Earth Day!

I have a really fond memory of my first Earth Day celebration. I was in college at the University of Washington. Reading the history of Earth Day, it looks like it has been around a lot longer than that, but I certainly don't remember doing anything at school for it like they do now.

Maybe I need to get a garden start today. I won't be able to plant today, so I can do my celebrating later in the week. :)

Saturday Chores

This weekend has brought beautiful weather to help me ease into my change of schedule. Fortunately I woke up Saturday feeling more like myself.

I got up, cut my hair, cleaned my car, and then moved Nim and myself outside for a day. I regret not getting anything to plant over the weekend, but I still had plenty of other yard chores to do.

First big task...the cleaning of the roof. This is the first year I haven't been able to do it in one session. I kind of pooped out. I will be back up there today.

View from the roof:

Then I sucked it up and at least started into the study system for the CPA exam section I plan to try - FAR. I am scared but motivated.

Finally after 3pm I took pity on Nim and brought him into the house for a nap since he couldn't settle enough to sleep in the yard. Yes, it is also curtain cleaning day as you can tell by the piles. I should clean the windows too, but I don't see it happening this weekend.

Nim was exhausted. He hasn't had a full day outdoors and fully free like that in a long time.

I have settled on a quilt pattern and hope to at least start cutting tonight. For a fleeting second I contemplated moving my quilting stuff outside, but that is way too much work and I still have the second half of the roof to work on.

Recovery

I am always surprised when I am less adaptable than I thought I would be (or perhaps that I don't rebound as fast as I think I should). I thought that April 16th I would wake up energized and ready to switch directions again for awhile, but instead it has taken me the past two days to start to feel more like myself.

A picture from my commute on April 15th. Preferable to the Seattle commute and look at that beautiful sunny weather!

On the 16th I was wide awake and on the trail at 6am. I had actually been in bed before 9pm the night before I was so tired by the time I got off work. I knew I was going to have to work my other jobs on the 16th, but I wanted to get just a little hike in. We didn't go far since we need to ease back into the hiking miles, but it felt great.

Today (the 17th) was beautiful and sunny. The cats lounged and I worked in my outside office. Slowly but surely I am feeling more like myself again.

Nim kept an eye on my activities today, but generally made up for days of missed sunbathing and bird chasing. He was also tired because he had his swim lessons in the morning.

Nim swim lessons day are a favorite for Emile. He can hardly wait for Nim to come home with his still damp life-vest. I don't know what it is about the smell or whatever, but Emile is all over it.

Eventually I have to take it away when he starts biting it. He is only this enamored with it right after swimming, so there is something in the water he loves.

It is a real Friday night and I am not working this weekend. I think I might be in shock. :) Have a great weekend. I want to start getting my garden beds ready. It is amazing how many of my friends already have theirs planted. Spring is early!

Tax Day

I think myself and a good chunk of the general public is probably more than happy for April 15th to be here and soon be gone.

Supposedly warmer and sunny weather is coming and I know I need it. I am sure Nim can't wait to do some sun baking.

I got online the other day and looked up "how long do plants hold the scent of dog urine?" It was an unproductive search except for this interesting theory that if you fill the hole a dog is digging with dog poo they will stop digging there.

That bizarre idea reminded me a bit of a dog training TV show in which the trainer was helping a family with a poo-eating dog train poo-eating aversion with this elaborate "flagging of the poo" system. I am laughing right now just remembering the show. There is a point in which the entire backyard was covered in flags. Money probably would have been better spent hiring someone to clean the poo in your backyard. Sometimes I think as humans we make things way more complicated than it needs to be.

I felt the same way about the hole-filled-with-poo digging deterrent system. Dogs aren't dumb. They will dig somewhere else. Not to mention I am sure there are dogs out there that wouldn't care about poo in their hole. Probably the same dogs that eat it.

Anyway, the reason I was looking up "how long do plants hold the scent of dog urine?" is because Nim is always drawn to this one clump of lilies and it is the same group that Rusty always marked. My yard is otherwise fenced off so no other dogs are in there. It got me thinking about the ghost of Rusty. Perhaps I should have searched on that.

I probably need a bit more sleep.

Have a great day!

The Quiltingdoberman Instagram

Well hello April! It is so nice to be well into it. I think many times this week I have felt like there was a Leela on my head. :) Only lucky Nim gets to actually experience it.

You will notice he has his little Easter bandana on. I do love this time of year.

I always thought that if I was going to get into microblogging that Instagram would be the way to go (although I do think Rusty would have loved his own twitter account). So when my youngest sister started an Instagram account for her crayfish Killian T Jones I knew I needed my own quiltingdoberman account too for following hers. :)


Happy Easter tomorrow!