Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, Mani the not-as-tiny-as-earlier purebred border collie, filling in for the guy I live with, and here to bring you the latest news about our garden, and of course about me. You may remember me from such posts as “Passing The Time”, among quite a few others now.
Here I am in a characteristic pose. As maybe you can tell, the guy I live with is telling me to sit still, which I don’t really like to do, since there’s stuff to be done. You can also see how long my legs have gotten, and now I can stand up and swipe stuff off the cutting board. 
But anyway, since the last time we met, when you might have noticed that it was sunny, it’s been dark and raining and thundering pretty much constantly. I went to Day Care yesterday and it rained for most of the day. They have a roof, so that was okay. I like the rain, though.
The guy I live with doesn’t make fun of my radar ears, because he had another border collie with radar ears, as you can see here. 
That was my Uncle Pooka, whom I never knew. He always looked worried about something. The guy I live with said it was the mustache that made him look that way.
Oh, and if you aren’t on Facebook, the guy I live with posted some pictures there of my new neighbors. They’re pretty interesting. 
All the rain, or possibly I should say the fact that it only dried out for a day or so in the last month, means that it’s gotten really jungly here, according to the guy I live with, who also says it’s hazy because of fires “up north”.
He took some pictures to show just how jungly it is here. But first, maybe I should explain why everything looks so pink. This is why. Red Rocks is not very far away.
Anyway, back to the jungle. That’s Yucca rupicola flowering there. 
That’s Yucca pallida at the end of the path. 
A picture of the north path didn’t get taken like it should have, because there you would see that this year there isn’t any path at all, just jungliness.
The “way back” is super-extra jungly.
You need a guide to find your way through. 
So that’s why I haven’t done much posting. It’s been raining, and all hazy and jungly here. The internet was out for a while, too. We mostly take naps, and I listen to the guy I live with complain about the darkness. I’ve discovered that things go easier if ignore him.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
Looking good, Mani. My yard is extra jungly, too. Lush to the point of cloying.
Thanks; my legs are now so long I can just hop through the jungly parts. But it’s so dark here it’s almost impossible to tell day from night, which is why, at “beddy-bye time”, I try to get the guy I live with to let me stay up. It doesn’t always work.
My those legs have grown Mani, lucky for you when you are lost in the jungle… Have you been getting out for your walks in spite of the rain?
Thanks; they are quite long now. And yes, I do get to go for my walks, twice a day in fact, though not on the day that I’m at Day Care, which I really enjoy a lot. The guy I live with says I learn stuff there and then forget it when I come home, but he lets me go there once a week anyway. I saw some really big snakes on my walk yesterday. The guy I live with wouldn’t let me chase them, though.
Hi Mani, lovely name BTW, It’s beaut to see lush. Where I am it’s slush and mush. You are getting a big fella. Obviously the result of all that fertiliser and walks by the levee.
Cheers, Marcus from Down Under
Thanks; I am getting huge, am I not. The guy I live with, though, calls me “The Noodle”, as in naughty noodle, even though of course I hardly ever am. He says I don’t come when I’m called, which isn’t really true, because my report card from Day Care says I do, and it’s just because there are baby raccoons on the other side of the fence, and I have to make sure they don’t come into my yard, and so I have to not pay attention to anything the guy I live with says.
Happy Friday and enjoy your weekend with the guy you livewith😆
Thanks; same to you. Though we don’t have weekends here. Every day is pretty much the same, except for the day I get to go to Day Care.
Thats a doggy smile to treasure!
The ‘come hither’ down the garden path…
I can be very deceptive. What I’m really doing is completely ignoring the guy I live with, who was saying to come in, but I couldn’t see any reason to.
Those legs can only be described as shapely. Do you mind that word? Well, you are very handsome, as handsome as your yard is jungly. Raccoons are scary. Stay away, Mani.
Thanks; no, I don’t mind saying my legs are shapely, because they really are. (If you didn’t know, purebred border collies can be immodest at times.) The raccoons can’t get to me unless they climb the fence, which they’re not about to do, thanks to my innate ferocity and on-guard attitude.
I can’t be the first, dear Mani, to point out solemn Uncle Pooka’s resemblance to that Little Tramp, Charlie Chaplin. You, of course, are not at all solemn. With those Ears Up, you must hear quite well the calls of the guy you live with. Sometimes there may arise a situation when you should respond to the guy *immediately,* but I expect then you would hear a special note in his voice and know; a special situation being just the moment one of those big snakes eyes a shapely long leg and contemplates a chomp. The legs are so long, Mani, that I question further growth. Perhaps it is more a filling out that will occur much as your garden has filled out since the time I discovered this place of greetings and salutations and the latest news. The guy has created quite an environment. I like how you can be found out and about in the photographs if one scrutinizes, and of course one scrutinizes because the photos are of an exceptional garden and an exceptional border collie exploring.
Thanks. The guy I live with says he sees the resemblance to Charlie Chaplin too, and that it hadn’t been noticed before. Which is funny because the lady of the house, about whom the guy I live with thinks constantly these days (because of my essential cuddliness, mostly), was a huge fan of Chaplin, and Buster Keaton, and not Harold Lloyd but the other one, and there were tons of VHS tapes of their movies here at one time. Yes, one can see from older pictures of the Way The Garden Was Before that it has changed a lot, and is changing more. Mostly jungly right now. The guy I live with lost his grass sickle some years ago and made possible fiscal error by creating an account with Hida Tool and ordering a new sickle, and also getting their newsletter. (He’s ordered from them before many times, but an account, oh my, and a newsletter, oh dear.) But that was to help with the jungliness, so he said. My legs. They’ve become quite useful recently. The guy I live with was making an egg salad sandwich on the cutting board, and I discovered that not merely by sniffing, but actually by observing. The guy I live with was a bit put off by the prospect of “puppy lips” touching his fancy Boos Block, but I say if you’ve got ‘em, flaunt ‘em. I may not turn out to be huge like my Uncle Pooka was, and like my Uncle Slipper was. Which the guy I live with says is perfectly okay.
“huge fan of Chaplin, and Buster Keaton, and not Harold Lloyd but the other one,”
Oliver Hardy B4 Laurel. The fourth silent film comedy genius?
Harry Langdon.
Well, James Agee certainly agreed in his iconic Life article from 1949: https://books.google.com/books?id=zkkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA70&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false
Yep.