Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, Mani the increasingly large, yet still tiny, purebred border collie, filling in for the guy I live with, and here to bring you the latest news about me. You may remember me from such posts as “Passing The Time”, among at least a few others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose. 
The guy I live with was being “really clever” in trying to get me to stand still for a millisecond, and so he had one of my toys on top of his head. Guess which one of us looked dumbest?
Notice the green tinge on the patio concrete behind me? It’s been raining pretty much constantly. The rug is soaking wet. 
It isn’t raining in the picture there, but you can see that it did rain. You can also see all the fences. They remind me of pictures of the Western Front in World War One, and I asked the guy I live with if that’s what it was like. He didn’t think that was all that hilarious. He’s old, but I guess not that old.
So no gardening has been done for a while now. It’s really wet out there, and of course muddy, and so when I grabbed Ambrose, the lady of the house’s teddy bear, and raced outside with him and tore around the back yard and got him all muddy, the guy I live with said I shouldn’t do that, and put Ambrose in the washing machine.
It was pretty boring today, and yesterday too, but I do have stuff to do, and one thing that’s really fun, besides grabbing illegal teddy bears, is to get an old pine cone, 
kind of tear it to shreds,
and strew it all over the carpet.
Pine cones are really excellent and the guy I live with did admit, with a sigh, that all the border collies who have lived here have enjoyed them from time to time, even if they do roll, and disappear under stuff.
The chest did get pushed away and I was able to retrieve my pine cone, even though I’m not a retriever.
I think by now you can tell what simple lives the two of us lead. The guy I live with says the weeds are growing so fast I might get lost out in the garden, but that eventually the sun might shine again. That would be nice. 
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
Great video, as usual, although I did expect to see a broom handle or something appear to help you out. Instead of that, I may have heard what could have been a laugh at your expense. Could that be? I found your large snout pictures very cheering after I spent the day watching dark clouds appear and then sail away without giving us a drop of rain. Probably headed your way.
Thanks; that was indeed a snort or chuckle at my expense. The clouds here are so low you could almost touch them. The guy I live with complains about the gloom, but not about the rain.
Maybe no gardening happening, Mani, but on the evidence much fencing activity being done. If the guy you live with is all busy with the fencing, surely he can lower to the floor all house furniture so no pine cone gets lost again. I am familiar with green tinge. Out here, tinge on brick paths makes them slippery-slidey. I don’t know if this holds when a Border Collie walks on tinged bricks, but if it is true you’ll have a lot of fun. I like your attentive expression, Mani. The look makes for excellent photographs. Was the guy sporting one of your toys on his head for your last photo? Nice shot.
Thanks; yes, the last picture was part of the group taken with the stupid toy on his head. What a ding dong. I should also say that this is the rainy season for us, so this weather isn’t abnormal, just gloomy. But the patio dries out quickly.
The dog I live with, Maggie, learned how to fetch with pinecones!
I don’t do much fetching. I try to make the guy I live with do that…..
Quack quack from Gunbarell!
No pine cones allowed in our house, for exactly this reason! Although Shadow and Lola don’t seem to have quite grasped the “not allowed” concept.
I hear that indoor pine cones are illegal here, too. So many rules, in a place that isn’t supposed to have many rules.
We discourage pupster pine cone consumption and there are numerous long-leaf pines here. Do you have a secret method for removing pitch/resin from carpet/pup’s-coat? Crinum bulbispermum peaking here. Betcha you could grow this. Sub-tropically yours, M
No, we don’t have any recipe for removing stick stuff, though the guy I live with says EverClear will work, though the person at the liquor store will snicker when you say you’re using it to clean things with. The crinum is hardy here, but he says we no longer grow it. Needs too much water.