Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, your popular host, Mani the purebred border collie, here today to bring you the news of the day. You may remember me from such posts as “Naughty Noodle”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose.
I’m waiting for the right moment to be naughty, I guess.
So today is the guy I live with’s birthday. He’s seventy-one. He doesn’t care much, one way or the other, except that his wife died when she was fifty-one, so he thinks about that, of course, and that’s the perspective.
He’s still here, and so am I.
I was super-naughty today and almost died, according to the guy I live with.
I was chasing squirrels, and barking at them, in the heat, this morning, and the guy I live with got unbelievably angry with me, and made me come in, and when I did, I was panting so hard that the guy I live with thought I was having heatstroke.
Eventually he soaked me down with the hose, and then when I stopped panting so hard, we went for our morning walk, and he told me to go into the canal, which I did. My paws got all cool.
That was the excitement for today.
After things calmed down, the guy I live with transplanted some seedlings. Most of them wilted the minute he transplanted them. The three desert willow seedlings look hopeless (he doesn’t know why this happened, and doesn’t know why they had so few roots, because they seemed so happy in their original pot), but the acacias seem okay.
There were a lot of heavy sighs when the seedlings wilted. “This is gardening”, the guy I live with said, kind of stoically.
And we saw a red-tailed hawk out in the field. It was doing something.
You can see how dry the field is. They forecast a seventy percent chance of thunderstorms today, but almost nothing happened. It sprinkled a little. The guy I live with was pretty disappointed, but that seems to be like the running metaphor, these days.
We’ve had about two millimeters of rain since the first of June.
I guess that’s it. I heard some thunder, and about twenty drops of rain fell, but I had to go to my Upstairs Fort, just in case. I mean you never know.
At least I’m still here, according to the guy I live with.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
mani, please say happy birthday for me to the guy you live with, and mani, please stop chasing those poor wee squirrels, hope the seedlings pick up, could have been transplant shock, i don’t transplant now unless i really have to, hope you both have a lovely day
Thanks. I don’t think it’s transplant shock, because the desert willows haven’t perked up. For some reason they had very small root systems which is just the opposite of usual.
The seedlings had to be transplanted because of the perched water table in the pots.
Cooler today.
“Happy Birfday to you,
Happy Birfday to you….
Happy Birfday Mistur Guy,
Happy Birfday to you…..
An many more….} 🙂
Wee furry happy yore 71 an think it iss kewl. Butt sad two that yore Lady leeved at 51…..
Yore a Sirvivor Guy!! Reememburr that OKay? Wee wunder why yore seedlinss not doin guud…..this entire yeer has been cray-cray weather an gardenin iss a joke!
Now Mani what inn THE name of Sky Cat an Sky Dog were you thinkin??? You gotta slow down mee frend! You cuud have heet stroked yoreself….not a guud idea….
Yore fotoss are grate of you an Mistur Red Tail…mee seen them beefore….they are lovelee butt fore a Kitty on THE meen steetss they are allso scarey!
Hope you had a guud day an have rain over THE weekend!
***nose bops*** BellaDharma an ((hugss)) BellaSita Mum
Thanks. The guy I live with said I must not have been thinking at all.
No real rain here, even though a few days ago they said we would have “heavy rain” early this morning. Instead, nothing.
Sumtimess wee sorta furget what wee apposta to due Mani ……
Mee went to touch BellaSita’ss feet last nite an that iss a “NO-NO”!
Man was shee upset with mee….iss is pawssibell fore a CAT to bee inn THE DOGHOUSE?? 😉
Same where ’bout rain…or lack of rain……it iss UCKY *hot*!
The guy I live with had cats and they sometimes got into trouble.
No measurable rain here for 45 straight days now.
You know Mani mee findss Poochiess are much MORE sennysibell than us Fee-liness!! Wee are so spontaneeus an can bee notty without reelly thinkin! 😉
NO RAIN YET???? CATFISH!
It rained here for half a minute.
RATSS!!! Only half a minutte??? That iss pawfull Mani an Guy! Okay wee due a ‘rain dance’ again mee frendss!!
The guy I live with said he doesn’t really expect it to rain here, the way things are going.
Same heer Mani! Wee need rain despurratlee!! Guud Luck there! 😉
Take a look at my latest post.
Thinking about you two today as I am sitting in the Denver airport for a layover while hoping desperately that my mask is doing a good job at filtering virus particles. Maybe only 5% of the people here are wearing masks despite it being such a crowded space. I was hoping that we flew over your garden and maybe I saw a tiny portion of it from up above, as unlikely as that would be. It was surprising to see the number of green lawns in Denver compared to the dry, brown hillsides outside of the city. What a weird, weird world we live in, with everyone in their own reality. Thanks for the update. Wishing a Happy Birthday to that guy you live with and I am glad you are okay. I hope you are doing something not miserable to celebrate.
Thanks. We didn’t do much except bask in the cool air from the swamp cooler.
It is kind of strange that people don’t wear masks any more, because they used to, a lot.
The lawns and stuff, well, that’s another story altogether. Water here, generally, is pretty cheap.(Half a cent a gallon.) And lawns have been a thing for a very long time.
We’re not into all of that, obviously, but plants that do well in the garden here aren’t always easy to find.
Best wishes on his birthday to the guy you live with, the guy who rescued you from heat exhaustion today, silly dog! I’m sorry that the day is heavily tinged with sadness. I think your dear wife was a very fortunate woman to have had you. Meantime, in Ireland, we have a weather warning for very hot weather! Imagine that!
Thanks. The guy I live with has been looking at weather forecasts for western Europe. The highest temperature here has been 39C, which is pretty toasty, but one the occasions when it gets over, say, 30C, it cools off at night, and is never, ever humid when it gets that hot. (Which is why evaporative coolers work here.)
But some rain would be nice.
Anything over 25C is meltdown here. We even have had warnings about melting roads! We are not designed for such heat. I intend taking refuge in beer… and shade, and ice cream.
The guy I live with said 25C won’t melt roads. Nor will 40C. 50C, maybe. That’s too hot for anything.
When we go on walks, he does check the temperature of the street outside our house, so my paws won’t blister.
He talked to his sister yesterday, and she said that when she and her husband went to San Antonio, Texas, it was unbelievably hot and humid. Like a steam bath. And it didn’t cool off at night there, like it does here.
(It’s 11:08 p.m. here and very pleasant.)
We are used to gentler conditions so …
It’s 33C here right now, with 16 percent humidity. Supposed to be hotter tomorrow.
No work will be done in the garden for a while, except watering.
We’re used to heat like this, but not almost every single day.
Happy birthday – I so enjoy reading your posts.
Wishing we would even get some misting here in Ukiah (northern California). My transplanting / rooting this year has not been very successful. I was trying to increase the purple and fuschia colored salvias in the yard but it looks like the purple are a no go this year.
Thanks. The guy I live with said the only failures were the desert willows, which had tiny little root systems.
He has some experience with these. A desert willow six inches tall normally has a root three feet long, so who knows what happened.
Oh, that is concerning! Warmth can be dangerous if you get too active in it. Rhody does not get too active when the weather is too warm, but likes to lay down on the hot pavement! I need to move him inside. It is as if he does not perceive how dangerously hot the pavement gets! I can not leave him outside while I am not here.
The guy I live with does leave me alone at home, sometimes, but he makes sure the drapes have been closed all day if he knows he had to go out.
The new swamp cooler is really great. I like to lie right where it’s blowing directly on me.
Well, that is healthier than being too active out in the warmth.
It is. The guy I live with says we can stay in the kitchen all summer, now, with the swamp cooler running.
It was super hot here today too Mani. You have to stay cool on hot days. Happy Birthday to the guy you live with. I hope he has a great year!
Thanks. The new swamp cooler is really great. “A valuable addition to our modern lifestyle.”
Some rain would be nice, though. They forecast a 70 percent chance of rain yesterday, and nothing happened.
Adorable!
Happy Birthday!
Thanks.