Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, Mani the purebred border collie, filling in for the guy I live with, and here today to talk about the rock and some other things. You may remember me from such posts as “The Big Turn Off”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose.
It’s super extra dry here, and the guy I live with is very much hoping we get some snow next week. Rain would be okay too.
So here are some white flowers, in anticipation.
This is Crocus ochroleucus.
Some more. This isn’t a hugely impressive crocus, but the fact that it flowers now is kind of nice.
This one is impressive; it’s the “late form” of Crocus niveus. It’s flowering right on time.
And there are still snowdrops, besides the ones I showed last time.
This is the autumn-flowering form of Galanthus cilicicus. It’s new at the zoo.
Today the guy I live with made a big design decision about the trough patio.
He said all it needed was a rock. It turns out that he had a particular rock in mind.
I spent the time looking at things while he worked.
After some very careful hauling and moving and pushing, the rock is now in place.
The guy I live with said it was heavy.
Aside from having to reset that one piece of flagstone in the background, and running the leaf blower over the flagstone, the designing is done.
He said that most gardeners would want to do other things here, but he’s perfectly content with just this.
And that’s all I have for today. I’ll leave you with a picture of me on my morning walk; maybe you can see how dry it is here.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
Well, it certainly is a rock.
For sure. A heavy one.
I had to stay inside for safety’s sake while he rolled the rock down the path, on a dolly.
This is the type of rock that really pulls a room together. I can’t believe how level it appears on the bottom. Nice.
Well done to the guy you live with on hauling it.
The fact that the rock was flat on the bottom made the choice easy. And it was the biggest “free range” rock in the garden.
The guy I live with has learned to be extra-cautious about moving heavy things, these days.
Always a love/ hate relationship with rocks: we curse them when they have to be dug out of our gardens yet we collect them to build with or add as decorations. I do lots of collecting on my travels much to my body’s chagrins. The one in the patio is a nice understatement allowing you to view it’s character. Just make sure you only view it Mani.
We don’t have any rocks in the soil here, fortunately, and the guy I live with has no idea where this rock came from. There were some rocks in his late wife’s parents’ yard and maybe that’s where.
We have a collection of small rocks from all over the world, which you can see in the post “The White Stuff”. Or as George Schenk said in his great book Moss Gardening, “pieces of the planet”.
That’s one big rock…tell the man you live with to take a few days off to recover from hauling that beast. Hopefully rain or snow arrives soon. Dust from the dried fallen leaves is getting ridiculous.
Oh, he used a dolly, and then just sort of pushed and wobbled the rock into place.
Rain or snow would be very, very nice. Or as the guy I live with would say, normal weather would be nice.
“Reverence Rock” (reiseki)… Buddhists used to stand beside to first view the garden and and reverently worship all the Buddhas of the world.
Yep. The guy I live with said he could have purchased a much larger rock, but then all the people who would have offered to help him move it would be mysteriously busy on rock-moving day.
Love the portrait of yourself “looking out,” dear dog, and, yes, the morning walk photo shows just how arid your conditions are. All that dry detritus and yet those delicate-looking flowers popping up and flourishing–sometimes gardens appear a mystery. We here down by the hot (usually) dry border received a drenching since last Saturday, the rain ongoing. We are astonished by the phenomenon. Rocks in our garden are layered to form the border of the small property in classic Arts and Crafts fashion. A rock with such personality as yours, dear dog, would ornament our garden, although we don’t much maneuver heavy anything these days.
It is super dry here and we could really use some rain. Or snow. The guy I live with says this is depressing, a subject he knows a lot about.
The guy I live with has been watering, though rain really helps plants flower more than watering does. The guy I live with says it’s an issue with pH, which I don’t understand.
There really wasn’t much maneuvering involved with the rock. He was able to pick it up and put it on the dolly, then move it down the path, pick it up again and set it on the patio, and kind of push and wobble it in place. (It didn’t occur to him to put it back on the dolly once the rock was on the patio.)
Yikess! It ISS dry there! Yore flowerss look so lovee inn spite of thingss Mani. THE Rock lookss grate Guy! Mani you look adorrbs purr usual.
**purrss** BellaDharma an **wavess** BellaSita Mum
Thanks. It is very dry here.
YIKESS!! WerdPress not lettin us commint..this our 3rd try. Heer goess: THE flowerss are lovelee deespite not enuff rain (or snow). THE Rock lookss happy there Guy. An Mani yoe adoorbss purr usual…
**purrss** BellaDharma an **wavess** BellaSita Mum
No, we are seeing the comments.
Wee see this….furry strange Mani an Guy! Sorry if wee tooked up too much space….EEKKK!
No, it’s okay. WordPress can behave weirdly at times, just like other websites.