Hello everyone; yes, once again it is I, Chess the purebred border collie, here to tell you all about my day. You may remember me from such delightful and excellent posts as “He Fixes Something” and “The Mysteries Of Life”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose.
I was wondering what the guy I live with was doing downstairs in the laundry room. He was checking on the little plants of Fremontodendron californicum that he grew from seed.
The reason there are only two seedlings is “due to misadventure”, according to the guy I live with, who said there were many more last August, but things happen, you know. He says it’s interesting that the seeds are winter hardy, because he started these by sowing them outdoors last winter, and a whole bunch of them came up in the spring. This is what’s left.
Believe it or not, that’s the only gardening-type thing that happened today. He looked at seedlings. He does that a lot, and wonders why they’re growing so slowly.
It was windy all day long, it felt a little like spring, and the snow has been melting pretty quickly. Except in our yard, where the “melt-proof” snow fell. Or so says the guy I live with. There was a mountain wave cloud because of the wind rippling over the mountain tops to the west of us. The lower cloud is a typical mountain wave one.
We went on our walk. It was really windy, and I liked that. The blue house off to the right is our house.
He went out into the garden to take pictures, but this was the only good one. You can probably tell why.
He took pictures of the mountain wave as it dissipated, and the sun went behind the mountains. (I know the sun doesn’t really go behind the mountains.) You can really see how the cloud at the bottom looks like it’s being blown by the wind, which, of course, it is.
And that was our day. Oh, well, we almost had a visitor earlier in the day, but the sliding glass door was closed. The glass is really scratched because my grandpa Flurry used to scratch the glass a lot. And the guy I live with says there are “nose prints” on the glass, but that’s kind of getting away from what I was talking about, which was our almost-visitor. The cord is for the birdbath heater, by the way.
That really is all there is for today.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
That is one visitor you really, really do not want in your house! Good friends of my grammy’s had a squirrel come down their chimney when they were away for an extended vacation. These folks lived in an old house built before the invention of dampers and since it was summer, the flue was left open. Short version, the varmints made a holy mess of the place and then decided that the best way out was to try to chew through the windows, which just goes to show how much mischief can result from just a bit of wrong reckoning, even for something as smart as a squirrel. We’ve also been having some mighty fine sunsets here abouts, although we don’t get that fancy mountain wave–that is truly something special. Almost enough to make a person look forward to a windy day? Are sunsets better in the winter or do we just notice them more?
No, no squirrels allowed in the house. There is a fierce purebred border collie guarding the perimeter. According to the guy I live with, the mountain wave is formed by winds sweeping across the mountains in a sort of ripple effect. Sometimes the mountain wave cloud can stay all day. He said “mountain wave” was one name he considered for the blog, but then people might think we live in the mountains, which we don’t. Or that we lived near the ocean and did a lot of surfing, which we also don’t. It was a chinook wind, more or less, all day, that made the mountain wave. I mean the mountain wave cloud.
Hey, y’all, greetings from North Carolina, the land of red clay. We sure enjoy those pictures of the “fire in the sky.” The gal I hang out with thinks a winter sky has a distinct beauty unlike anything else you see throughout the rest of the year. I personally don’t notice those things cause I’m to busy chasing birds, butterflies, lizards or even our common furry friends. As usual, Chess, you strike a regal pose no matter where you’re hanging out. Hmmmm, did your visitor knock to catch your attention or was (s)he just gazing longingly into your home in search of companionship or maybe a nut or two:-)?
I notice things because I sit around guarding stuff all day long. You can see a picture of me guarding the back yard in today’s post. We don’t know why the squirrels fake like they’re trying to come inside. They aren’t allowed to. The winter sky does seem bluer than at other times, doesn’t it? The guy I live with was particularly fond of what the French call l’heure blue, the blue hour, where it gets really, really dark blue right before night falls, and that’s most common right at this time of year.
You look a very wise doggie, Chess, in your portrait pose, and of course everything looks as though it revolves around you in the garden pose. You are like the jar placed on a hill in Tennessee.. And I agree, the snow in the garden looks melt-proof. It will melt tomorrow, though, if the red clouds are any guide. Your little squirrel buddy knows he is looking in at the source of All Food and he wants It All. Resist his pleas. Do you ever stand on the other side of the door and bark at him a warning?
No, I just lie in my fort and look very fierce. There are ears of dried corn out in the “way back” which should be good enough for the squirrels. They are eating the corn, so they know it’s there. Everything pretty much does revolve around me. Actually, the snow has been melting pretty quickly even in our yard. The guy I live with just complains about it a lot. He doesn’t like ice in the garden, and when it melts part way, then of course it freezes at night. Except last night, when it didn’t freeze at all, because of the wind.
Wow Chess, at first glance today I thought your guy had slipped in a puppy photo of you, so cute and cuddly you look. Then I realised it was now because your feet showed signs of your walk today. Still cute and cuddly though. The cloud and sunset photos were something else, so dramatic and such a cute neighbour waitng for you to let it in, how could you resist that look. Emulating one of your ‘please sir’ looks I might add. As you said just one good garden photo today, wouldn’t expect anything less. My girl used to have the same ‘misdaventures’ with her seedlings in the past, ending up with two from a dozen, she still has two quite tall potted silver birch, which I might add don’t resemble silver birch at all. She still has them because she cannot figure out why they are all wrong and what they could really be.
I definitely am cute and cuddly, aren’t I? As I said, the world kind of does revolve around me. Seed troubles can sometimes be instructive, and sometimes just plain frustrating, as in when he orders something and it turns out to be something completely different. There’s this supposed snapdragon, which was labeled “Antirrhinum sp.”, which for all I know means “against the nose”, but anyway he sowed seed of it, and it came up and he planted it, and it started to spread horribly. He ripped it all up about 1995 or so, and it just came back this summer. It was a beautiful sunset, though I couldn’t see the red part. I’m also supposed to say that at 9:51 p.m. the temperature is well above freezing, and it’s still windy. The chimes are ringing away on the patio.
Chess, the sky photos make it seem almost like summer out there although the fact that the guy you live with heats the bird feeder is a dead giveaway of the cold. I think your furry-tailed friend came by to gaze on your cuteness (or he’s heard about the Pottery Barn sheets). You’ll never be bored with squirrels around the yard.
Purebred border collies don’t pay much attention to squirrels. They’re too small to herd. The guy I live with does, though, and he think they’re irritating, especially since they’ve chewed the feeder he bought especially for them practically to pieces. He’s replacing the chewed pieces with metal. He also notes that we’ve had the third night above freezing in a row. He says this might be a trend, but somehow, since winter hasn’t even started yet, I don’t think so …..
The mention of nose prints reminded me to tell you that I bought Sprayway after the guy you live with recommended it, and it does a pretty good job on the nose swipes. I just don’t have the energy to be washing windows every other day, which is pretty much what it would take to keep them clean with three dogs taking their watch dog duties so seriously. Beautiful sunset.
Thanks. The guy I live with doesn’t do anything about nose prints, except maybe during a feverish bout of cleaning, to which he succumbs every so often. He says the nose prints help block out the intense sunlight here.
Pics 6 & 7 are gorgeous!
Thanks.