Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, your popular host, Mani the purebred border collie, back after a longish absence. You may remember me from such posts as “The Haunted Toaster”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose.
Things, you know, like just things, have been pretty hectic around here lately, what with a letter to the estate attorney with a bank statement being stolen from our mail box, to more snow, to a mysterious gigantic black RV parked down the street, to a weird late-night phone call.
Not to mention that I now get to have the run of the house when the guy I live with leaves the house, which is pretty good, since I get to show off my fierce and deadly house-guarding prowess. The guy I live with said that Chess, the purebred border collie who lived here before me, was like “a total marshmallow”, but when someone walked up to the door, he transformed into the epitome of ferociousness and chomp-your-pants deadliness.
So that’s just excellent.
Anyway, the guy I live with went to the bank today, and the bank account number got changed, so that was a relief, and the mysterious RV (which he said looked like something out of “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”, but sprayed-painted black) disappeared, so it wasn’t like the government checking up on how he was coping with all the melt-proof snow, which melted anyway, and now it’s warmed up enough that it isn’t freezing at night, and things are flowering. There are even snowdrops in flower, in April. That should be included in the weird stuff that’s been happening.
Oh, and the phone call. The guy I live with has been getting dozens of spam phone calls a day on his cell phone, but the other night the land line phone beside the bed upstairs rang, which it hardly ever does, and someone asked if he was the author of High and Dry. The guy I live with said it was midnight, which it was, and the person hung up. What a really bizarre thing. “It’s midnight” wasn’t an answer to the question, but we had just tucked ourselves into bed, and so it was a good enough answer.
Why someone would ask about a book that’s been out of print for ten years is something he didn’t know. He has certainly moved on from that.
In fact a new bulb frame is being constructed, out of “found lumber”. Wood that was lying around the yard and in the garage. Some of the wood is a bit warped but that doesn’t matter.
It snowed about a week ago and I got to look at ducks, on my walk.
The guy I live with said they were waiting for water to start flowing in the canal, but that hasn’t happened yet. I forget when this does happen, but it will be soon. 
Speaking of water, it rained day before yesterday. The guy I live with said that three drops fell on the windshield as he drove home from being radiated. I guess three drops counts as rain.
And I had to check this out.
The guy I live with said this was called a hydrant. I thought the name of the manufacturer was pretty apropos.
It would be cool to have a hydrant in the back yard. Imagine the watering fun I could have.
Anyway, here are a couple of garden shots. Three, really. Not all of the pictures are in total focus, but the guy I live with says that makes them “artistic”. It’s a fine line, if you ask me.
There are kind of a lot of puschkinias in flower. But you see the pot there? I’m not sure I’ve ever talked about it before. It’s called an olla, and is really old. Say ninety years old. The guy I live with’s grampa had it in his garden in Los Angeles, and even though it’s flaked a bit from cold weather here, it’s still intact. 
There’s a tiny little fritillary flowering, probably Fritillaria crassifolia. 
And the equally tiny Hyacinthella glabrescens, which is super blue. This flower is about an inch tall.
Well, that’s it for now. I’m sure more stuff will be happening later. I am fine not going to Day Care, because I get extra cuddles, two extra walks, and more food.
And I get to guard the house in true purebred border collie fashion.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
Winter has resisted ending here in northern NM but the sun will insist and Spring will take over. I am sick of the cold and want to get on with gardening. I love the little bulbs in your gardens. I might plant some this Fall in spite of the horrendous soil and dry conditions where I live. Maybe I’ll go with pots. My daffodils have refused to flower. I might resort to pots with them too.
I’m glad that your new schedule pleases you. And the extra cuddles, food, and walks compensate for no more Day Care. Good!!
Hoping that both of your lives will be free of strange happenings as the year progresses.
Thanks. It can be hard to deal with weirdness. The guy I live with rented the movie “Slither”, with James Caan and Sally Kellerman, which he watched ages ago. It has RVs in it. That helped. It is a good idea to soak bulbs, especially daffodils, in water for an hour or two (a gallon plastic water jug cut in half makes a good soaking tub), but if they don’t flower, maybe a tomato fertilizer applied as the leaves die down in late spring might help. Bulbs generally like awful soil, clay, in the west, because the only time it can be wetted is from melting snow, just like in real life. Not daffodils, though; they grow in damper situations in the wild.
I forgot to mention the movie “Tremors.” Very amusing.
Also a great favorite here. It was one of his wife’s favorites, too. “Who died and left you Einstein?” Lol.
Love that olla but especially that it belonged to someone’s grandpa. All I have of my grandma’s is the container she stored her coffee in.
There is a lot of that kind of stuff here, but I think the olla has never been mentioned.
Love the olla, and the way it harmonizes with the shrub to its left. Are the orange-y bits leaf remains, or emerging foliage, or…? Very artistic, as TGYLW says.
Thanks; the shrub is Amorpha nana, the dwarf leadplant, and those are last year’s leaves.
Meow meow Mani what an inn-terestin post you rote….Soundss like you an yore ‘Guy’ had mysteree an inn-treegue! Wee wunder who was inn that black van?? Sorta weerd rite? An that fone call was sorta weerd too….
Iss a FURRY GUUD thing you are a feerelss Border Collie who can purrtect yore “Guy’ss” an yore house from ;stranger danger’!!!
Our weather iss a lot like yoress now…our Snowdropss are upss butt ree-fuse to bloom. They just sit with their little flowers droopin over. LadyMwe put out THE Solar litess (not that wee have much Sun yet). Most nitess THE Rainbow Angel twinkellss fore awhile an THE 2 flame litess flicker an look purrty…. Pawss crossed Spring iss furinallee here fore all of us!
Wee send meowsss an purrayerss to yore “Guy’ an hope hee iss feelin all rite.
***purrsss*** BellaDharma an {{huggiesss}} LadyMew
The guy I live with says it has to be over 50F, which is 10C, for snowdrop flowers to open fully. It would be nice if spring were here finally, but it can still snow here for the next two months. We have solar lights here, too. Some don’t work. The black van is gone. It was pretty mysterious and slightly scary.
Wee did not know this ’bout Snow dropss. They are still standin butt have not opened….it iss still not warm enuff here. FISHCAKESS!
Wee must bee on a simmylar lattytude thing bee-cause wee cuud have snow inn to May too! EEKKK!
An wee are furry reeleeved that scarey black van iss g-o-n-e!!
***purrsss*** BellaDharma
Yes, snowdrops need a bit of warmth to open fully. We’re 39 degrees latitude, 39’65” to be precise. But high elevation, so it does get this cold so far south in North America.
Meow meow mee asked LadyMew to find our Lattytude an Longytude an here it iss: 44.56 N bye 80.94 E. Shee said you Mani an yore PawPaw wuud know what these numburrss meen. All mee knows iss it iss still cloudy an chilley here an wee goin get wet snow Fursday!! FISHCAKESS!!! Wee hope wether peeps are WRONG 😉
We do know what those numbers mean. And we’re supposed to get another “bomb cyclone” day after tomorrow. Imagine the complaining ….
LadyMew says those numburrss are Lattytude an Longytude butt mee not know where shee got them from.
An wee has a bit of snow; sum ice pellets an then rain an so chilley here today (Fursday). Tomorrow iss supposed to bee 60 deegreess…..wee think weatherman iss crazey!
**purrsss** BellaDharma
It snowed here night before last. Not a lot of snow; it’s mostly gone now. It’s up and down here, weather-wise. The guy I live with prefers “up”.
A fire hydrant could be fun! Once I was a passenger in a car and we came across one that had popped its cap and was shooting water to the sky. The driver thought it would be great fun to drive under the shower and it was! A huge roar of falling water and gushing torrents over the car. When we emerged there was a police car sitting there watching us. But, perhaps that isn’t the watering fun you were contemplating? Maybe the black van was looking for more mailboxes to rifle through? The thieves around here are fond of big vehicles that hold a lot of merchandise. Lucky no one realizes the value of the wonderful plants in your garden, right?
Yes, we keep that fairly well under wraps. Visitors have to sign a non-disclosure form. (Lol.) It’s funny; you know how when you look at Wi-Fi connections on the computer, or phone with all the names they’ve been given, well, there’s one here called “NSA Surveillance Van”. The guy I live with said that was pretty clever, but would have been clever had “surveillance” been spelled correctly. Sometimes the hydrants up the street get emptied for reasons we don’t understand (emptied by water people) and lots of water flows down the gutters. But it sounds scary to me.
The guy with whom you live, Mani, is pretty smart — had I been asked, I would have recommended Slither as the very film to watch. The olla photo is so artistic, one of the best you’ve posted, dear dog. I also like the hit of intense blue and the penny placement for sizing purpose. In Balboa Park we have a world-class Desert Garden kept on the down-low because it is so very vulnerably public. Of course, when folk visit the SD Floral office, I direct them straight there. I believe DBG and the Huntington have more security than our park offers. Oh, “excellent” on your new ability to roam the house freely. Best of luck acting all fierce.
Thanks; I can be super fierce, you know. The guy I live with is not much of a role model for that, though. He also says he knows that there are gigantic plants of Agave malpisaga var. lisa in Balboa Park, or at least there were.
Wait… why do you get MORE food not going to daycare? Were they starving you? Not giving you the treats you so justly deserve?
Great to see soil instead of snow there.
We had a fire hydrant in our back yard. It didn’t work of course. When I moved it was one of the first things someone snatched up at a sale! You don’t find them much. I only had girl dogs, so it went to waste. I take that back, I had a boy dog, but he grew up with girls, so he didn’t learn to lift his leg!
Take care of your guy and the house when he’s out. Don’t answer the phone for him though. That was one weird question to ask at midnight. I guess it wasn’t midnight wherever the call came from.
Chess, the purebred border collie who lived here before me, rarely lifted his leg. That’s why I have my Personal Hill, out in the middle of what would otherwise be the lawn. No grass would grow there. I never ate breakfast before I went to Day Care, so now I get extra food. Or the food I would have gotten. It’s supposed to snow here later this week ….
How do you take selfies without holding the camera?
I have my own personal paparazzo.
Oh, of course.
Same paparazzo that Chess had.
Mew mew mew wee are with ‘yore guy’ Mani!!
Today iss cloudy BUTT it iss 14 C out an mee was out inn Condo fore 2 hourss…..LadyMew had coffee on patio an Aunty Marilyn came to vizzit. It was lovelee.
Now it iss rainin…..*sighsss*
That sounds nice. We don’t get very many visitors. It was around freezing all day long today. Supposed to snow again tonight.