Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, your popular host, Mani the purebred border collie, here today with some possibly spring-like thoughts. You may remember me from such seasonal posts as “The Terrors Of Spring”, and “Much More Springy”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose. 
A couple of not-so-great things have happened recently; one was that we had a blizzard last week and so I didn’t get to go to Day Care and there was no radiation for the guy I live with, which means an extra day at the end, for him.
And after Day Care the other day, the veterinary technician took the guy I live with aside and said that I had been a bit too aggressive, herding the little puppies around, and that I had probably outgrown Day Care, so I won’t be going any more. It is Puppy Day Care, after all, and I’m no longer a puppy, as maybe you’ve noticed.
The guy I live with has told me many times that going to Day Care was kind of making up for me not having someone else in the house to cuddle me, but he also said that he and Chess, the purebred border collie who lived here before me, had a very good life together, even when Chess got sick, and so he saw no reason why we couldn’t have the same thing too, just without Day Care.
So that’s an abrupt change. I suppose we’ll deal with it like all the other changes have been dealt with here.
Anyway at least I’m not the one who has to go to their sixth appointment with a tax person. The guy I live with said there would probably be a couple more after that. He hasn’t said anything about it being fun.
Also, even though there’s still a little bit of snow on the ground, things have been happening in the garden. Some of these pictures are strangely focused.
Crocus alatavicus.
Galanthus ‘Wasp’.
Crocus korolkowii.
Crocus sieberi ‘Firefly’.
The little mugo pine, ‘Carsten’s Wintergold’ (or maybe just ‘Carstens’), is still golden, so it’s not like totally Spring here. 
Today it got cloudy and dark for a while, and I thought some geese were going to land in my yard. 
But they changed their minds and flew off to the south.
Then I went on my evening walk. I spent a lot of time hunting for voles. I didn’t find any, but it was fun to look, like it always is.
First I went into the creek bed to look. It was pretty sandy there, as you can see. Those paw prints are not all mine, by the way. They weren’t made by dogs, either. 
Then I decided to hop back up into the grass. There were lots of tunnel entrances close to the creek bank.
So that’s the news from here. Not a whole lot, I know.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
Sorry to hear you have no more day care. I hope there continues to be lots of voles to hunt.
Thanks. I think I will get over it. There will always be voles here; hopefully not in the garden though.
*Expelled* from Daycare?!? I’m shocked, shocked. Guess that means you’re still an undisciplined kid. I suppose we can hope that some day those geese WILL land in your yard. Tell the guy you live with we deal with my hubster’s mother’s estate, but he only has to jog across the street to the firm used to dealing with “the big guys.” John’s mother was not a big guy. Kinda surprised there’s been so many visits for your guy with more to come. His mother must have lived a complicated life. Lots of flowering going on, all beautiful. Perhaps you can take up a more intensive gardening routine with your new spare time. My, how close you’re coming to actually encountering a vole. Perhaps the guy should investigate Teenage Day Care.
Maybe “expelled” is too strong a word; “outgrown” is better, I think. The guy I live with said he might hire someone to help in the garden, if they worked for free. I thought that was kind of funny. Especially since if he spent less time thinking about the work and more time doing it, it would be done more or less quickly. Oh, the taxes. Three sets of them. His, his mom’s, and the estate’s. And changes made here and there. The amount of work involved definitely does not equate to the size of the estate, but, see, the guy I live with wants everything to be as right as possible. It didn’t freeze last night so maybe it is sort of Spring. It can still snow, of course.
Sorry to hear you are no longer going to Day Care. Who is going to keep these small puppies toegther now that you’re not there?
I will still get to go there, for shots, and if I need to spend a couple of nights there like when the guy I live with and his friend go places.
It sounds like there is a niche for grown up dog play groups. Although if our local dog park is any example that could get a bit rough. Nature, even dog nature, can be red in tooth and claw and thus not suitable for our darlings.
Condolences about the tax appointments. My brain glazes over so quickly in these settings.
Meanwhile, spring advances (pretty quickly here, we have bluebells coming up, always a cheerful harbinger for me.
ceci
It could be that there comes a time when we grown-up dogs don’t get as much out of playing with puppies as we used to. And I do get long walks twice a day. The guy I live with’s mind is now a riot of numbers and appointments, which have to be fit in somewhere because of getting radiated. The guy I live with’s mind kind of obsesses about numbers and like if he owed $15.82 in taxes he would see that number in his mind for a very long time. It wouldn’t be the taxes owed, it would be the number that his mind was fixated on. I know it’s weird. When he worked for the phone company his coworkers sometimes relied on his ability to memorize numbers after seeing or hearing them once.
The idea of a dog parks was well intended but a very bad idea. When dogs are allowed to run off-leash problems occur from people who have not properly established pack structure. This means their dogs are out of control. Stay outside the fence and keep your canine on a leash. When walking where there are unleashed dogs, carry a sturdy walking stick and a pocket canister of bear pepper spray just in case.
One more thing. If your dog is approached by an aggressive animal, YOU must be prepared to be the aggressor prior to things getting out of control.
Well, you’re a purebred Border collie, of course you were herding the puppies around! I’m sorry you can’t go anymore, we all know how much you enjoyed it. Maybe the guy you live with will find some neighborhood dogs you can have doggie play dates with. They aren’t just for people kids!
I love firefly crocus. It’s the only one of mine I know the name to.
The guy I live with said that they said at Day Care, a while ago, that I might prefer being an Only Dog, like Chess was, here. Chess loved his cousin Slipper but when Slipper died, Chess really got into being like Numero Uno. It’ll work out. ‘Firefly’ is a good one. So are the regular forms of Crocus chrysanthus like ‘Snowbunting’ and ‘Blue Pearl.
Well I hope this is the end of that melt-proof snow and all you get from here on is the regular kind. We had some of that yesterday and now more today, but I don’t expect it to last the day.
So what do you do if a vole is actually found?
The guy I live with said it was supposed to get up to 72F next week. Like the record high temperatures in January and February here, but in March. So it will probably snow the day after, because that’s what it does here. There is still a little bit of snow on the ground here, in shady spots. I’ve never found a vole. Flurry, the first purebred border collie who lived here, found several voles. And that was that, for the voles.
Meow meow Mani you look wunderfull. Wee red ’bout yore blizzard….wee nevurr got it….wee were told mee wuud butt it stayed south of us!!! Wee had rain; a lot of rain an most of our snow iss gone!! YIPPEE!!
An Snowdropss are inn our wee garden furianllee 😉
Concatss on ‘graduatin’ from Doggie Day Care…doess yore PawPaw have any doggie lovin frendss who cuud come take you or play gamess with you??? That wuud bee kewl if you had a purrsonal assistant rite???
Wee hope yore PawPaw iss stabull an doin guud. Wee think ’bout him a lot an LadyMew purrayss fore him (an you!)
Voless are sorta like Moless rite?? LadyMew sayss mee have Lowell THE Mole here…mee hopess to see him sumtime when out inn mee Condo….
Have fun huntin mee frend….
***purrsss*** BellaDharma an {{huggiesss}} LadyMew
Thanks. We’re glad your snow is going away. The guy I live with says it’s icky. Voles are like big mice, really. They make tunnels just under the grass. And eat plant roots. So we don’t want them in the garden. I’m pretty sure I will do just fine without Day Care, though I’ll miss it for a while. He’s doing okay though having to got to Tax Appointment Number Six is stressing him out a bit. (It isn’t the money, it’s the appointments and all the stuff going on.)
Meow meow Mani mee was out inn Condo yesterday an today for an hour1 Even LadyMew put on a Hoodie an brott her coffee an wee sat inn THE Sun….it was lovelee. Mee wunderss iff wee have Voless here???
Numburr 6 fore taxess??? Poor Mistur! LadyMew getss stressed out ’bout taxess so mee Aunty does them fore her. Maybee yore Mistur will take you fore a few more walkss an you can make mew frendss???
**purrsss** BellaDharma
I got to go on three walks today. You probably do have voles there; you can tell if there are shallow tunnels, like trenches, right under the grass. Easy to see when there’s a little snow on the ground. They aren’t really the guy I live with’s taxes but he has to get them done anyway.
That little mugo pine looks like a dog peed on it.
I mean, . . . . it looks like ‘someone’ peed on it. Perhaps whoever left those tracks did it.
The tax man and radiation, a double-whammy, and now no Day Care, a triple whammy. I feel for you. But don’t worry, Spring will come, it always does. In the meantime, keep your nose clean.
Thanks. It seems pretty springy right now. The guy I live with says I probably won’t miss Day Care all that much, now that I’m older, and anyway I have him, to entertain me.