Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, Mani the fairly small purebred border collie, filling in for the guy I live with, who’s mad at me anyway, and here to bring you up to date on my adventures in the garden, as well as some work that’s been done, but not by me. You may remember me from such equally adventurous posts as “The Upended Breakfast”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose. The stock tank is empty, and I don’t know why.
The name of the artemisia behind me is ‘Silver Frost’, in case you wanted to know. It spreads underground, which is kind of creepy if you ask me.
Quite a few things have happened lately. We had terrific thunder and lightning in the middle of the night, twice, which is supposedly rare. It even rained here a bit, though not hugely a lot. One time it rained earlier at night, fairly rainingly, but it only lasted for a few minutes.
The guy I live with got a bunch of bulbs in the mail and planted them, while I watched. It wasn’t all that interesting, really.
Then, maybe at night, which is when I claim it probably happened, someone chewed through the hose. The guy I live with got extremely angry when he saw this. So he fixed the hose, with a hose-fixer deal, and then discovered, when he turned on the hose to test it, that it had been chewed in another place, and so he got even angrier. I insisted I didn’t know who did this, but I knew who the guy I live with suspected. 
Well, whatever, right? A chewed hose, no big deal.
And I went to Day Care, and came home with a good report card. The guy I live with let out a hearty guffaw when I saw the business about “coming when called”.
Meanwhile, though, he moved a bunch of troughs, out to the “trough patio” which was built just for that purpose. Built about eight years ago, I understand. 
And he did some stuff on the south side of the house, cutting down a dead incense cedar (Calocedrus decurrens) which had been here for about fifteen years but hated the cold snap last November, and died because of it. Then today he went out and came back again and put up this fence. You can see the other dead cedar still standing. For now, anyway.
I had to inspect the work and I guess it’s okay. 
That’s pretty much it, for now. We generally don’t do a whole lot around here, but all of a sudden there’s been this burst of activity which I find a little mysterious. Maybe it’s some kind of sign.
I’ll let you go with that thought.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
Oh, I see you’re a border collie who is into cliffhangers, Mani. And since you are young, puppy young, I have no assurance you will remember to tell us of what the mysterious burst of activity turns out to be in aid. I do have faith you will be reminded. Oh, and tell the guy you live with he should be better at hose-guarding, you know, against predators. He who would twice chew a hose has few scruples, as in “whatever,” “no big deal.” The first photo is beautifully framed. How fortunate you have a garden so suited to your portraits, Mani. Did you lift a leg to christen the new fence? It looks so new and virgin. Nicely made, that fence. Would you and your guy be available to help us hide a new neighbor and their tar paper monstrosity?
Thanks; the guy I live with says we have enough trouble with neighbors. We like most of them, a lot, but then there are others, you know. Ignoring watering restrictions, throwing trash into the street, riding ATVs in the open space where I go on walks, setting off firecrackers. There’s a list, you see. Quite a list. The guy I live with, who’s getting old you understand, said he’s going to go out into the front yard wearing slippers and shaking his cane at miscreants. Eventually. The burst of activity was the trough moving and picket putting-up. All of this should have been done years ago, but wasn’t, for some reason. Now the guy I live with says he needs a chipper-shredder, preferably an Echo, and will be accepting donations. There’s more stuff to be done, I guess. He’s also mad at me for not finishing my dinner and chewing on pieces of wood instead. And for knocking down a bunch of asters while searching for a snake I never found. It never ends.
Mani: That black rubber hose could look like a snake in the dark. Good job.
Fred the Giant
Thanks. I took care of another section a little while ago. You should have seen the expression on the guy I live with’s face. He was hopping mad.
Well they say the true test of a youngster’s upbringing is how he behaves AWAY from home, right? So apparently you are excellent and the hose isn’t talking anyway. For some reason I couldn’t run your video. Can you help with that Mani? Those troughs look interesting and I’m looking forward to spring when we will have full coverage, right? Until then Mani, give them none of your attention. Maybe you could give one of your pithy comments on one of the other blogs TGYLW has been looking at lately. Just to keep busy and free of thoughts of hoses.
Thanks, I guess so, though the guy I live with is still irked, because the rest of my dinner is just sitting in the bowl in the kitchen, and he says if it turns out that I’ve decided I don’t like the food he got he’s going to make me work for food, because this was a big bag of the food I’ve been eating and liking a lot. I don’t know about the movie; it worked for us. We always test that before publishing. They did change the format some so maybe that’s it. It’s just rain, anyway. “Just rain”, right? The garden here is still ultra-dry, except for the watered parts. The troughs are mostly empty of plants, for reasons I don’t understand. There are a lot of things I don’t understand.
Mani, you sound positively cat-like these days. I have about 60 cans of Friskie’s Liver & Chicken pate gathering dust in my pantry because my kitties suddenly turned up their noses at what I thought was their favorite dish. I know the food is “not off” (like, just a bad batch) because the feral outdoor cats eat it with gusto. So now I have to prepare TWO dinner menus. Are you part Siamese, by any chance?
I don’t think I’m Siamese, if you please, but I am little. Now I’m trying a new food, because apparently the guy I live with has an unlimited supply of money to buy all sorts of different dog foods. I just finished my lunch, and it was pretty good. I ate all of it. It’s called “High Prairie Puppy”, with bison and roast venison.
Mani, I see you are back at it—I mean reporting on all of the fun things you do. I also love reading the comments and comments on comments, as much as the regular blog. The fun never ends! Ah, when you speak of the neighbors I know exactly what TGYLW is talking about. There are the good ones—and they are very good. Then there are the trash-throwing, fireworks-blasting, and just plain creepy (not like the artemisia) ones….
As for the plants, I will be interested to hear of the bulbs-and-anything-plantlike going on in your once overly green garden. Are growth conditions normal for you for August? My garden, this time of year as in every year, is plagued by spidermite and sucking insects. Many of my plants look drought-ed, when in fact they are quite well-watered. The flowers can be wonderful, but the foliage completely ugly.
Thanks Mani! Be good. (My lunch is over.)
Thanks; I have been good, since I ate all my Taste of the Wild “high prairie puppy formula” for lunch just now. It was really excellent. Not very much has been happening in our garden. I know I keep saying that. The garden looks tired. A box of bulbs appeared, and most of them were planted. Mostly crocuses. The guy I live with doesn’t spend as much money on gardening as he used to, but when he does, well, I keep worrying that my high prairie puppy formula will be a one-time thing. Oh, there are some lavenders from Goodwin Creek and Bowles’ wooly mint sitting on the table outside, waiting to be planted.
The end of aestivation for TGYLW, sounds like. Do you have a Kong to chew on, Mani?
Indeed, the aestivation seems to have come to a close. Furious fence stuff today, digging and pounding and nailing. No, I have a hose to chew on. I can’t help myself. I’m in a chewing phase. The guy I live with was really angry with me, when I chewed the hose in two again this evening. I mean he was furious. I had to go hide in my fort. He didn’t paddle my butt on anything like that, but I knew he was super angry. Livid, even. I think the real reason was that he forgot to go to the hardware store to buy more hose-fixer deals, and so had to put the chewed hose in the garage, where he will trip over it later.
So nice to hear rain. I miss that sound. Things are getting very industrious around your place.
They are definitely getting industrious. Six troughs, weighing (according to You Know Who) about 300 pounds each have been moved, without incident, and the fence is being repaired. The hose did not get repaired tonight. The rain didn’t last more than a couple of minutes.
Previous post: That hose movie would win a prize in any documentary short film contest.
Thanks; I think I agree. Maybe I could get a film contract. The guy I live with says that if I don’t stop chewing the hoses in two, the hose will be so short it won’t reach anywhere, and then my film career won’t be any longer than the hose….. I like chewing; what can I say?