the miserable gardener

Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, your popular host, Mani the purebred border collie, here today to talk about some plants, and other stuff. You may remember me from such posts as “Dry Grass”, among so many, many others.

Here I am in a characteristic pose.
It’s been really hot. Every day. Like, roastingly hot.
I’ve been enjoying the new swamp cooler, but I also like to lie out on the patio even when it’s hot, until the guy I live with tells me to come inside so I won’t roast to death outside. He’d have an awful lot of explaining to do if I roasted.

I guess, technically, it’s rained here every day for a while now, though usually only a few drops.
The guy I live with took some pictures of what you might call “post-rain clouds” the other night.
And it rained a little just this evening. Not a whole lot, but some.
So, anyway, about the title of today’s post. The guy I live with ordered some plants from Cistus Nursery in Oregon. Mostly cactus, but some other things as well.
He might be one of the only gardeners who orders plants when it’s like 95 degrees, especially considering the vagaries of delivery services these days, but the box arrived this morning and everything was totally fine.
The guy I live with is probably the only gardener who plants things when it’s 95 degrees, too, but maybe that’s another story.
He makes little flags, and sticks them next to new plants, to remind him that they need water. And every new plant is repotted into the special mix so that they grow more roots before planting.
The cactus are going in the front yard, so I won’t stick my nose into them, and believe it or not, there are even places for them.

However, and I know this from hearing all the stuff from the guy I live with about plants, even though I admit I don’t hugely care, except that plants make him happy, and I benefit from that, that you don’t just plant cactus into the garden unless they’ve been grown outdoors in an intensely sunny climate like this one.
The epidermis of the cacti need to be acclimated to the sunlight here, otherwise they’ll get fried. Like if you went outside without sunscreen and spent the whole day out in the sun.
So they’re going to sit out on the patio for a week or so. Maybe longer.

That’s the gardening news.
I also have some other news, but instead of talking about it, I’ll just show it.
That’s right. They’re back. We didn’t see them this evening, though.

I’ll wind this up for today with a picture of me doing what I do best.

Until next time, then.

Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, your popular host, Mani the purebred border collie, here today for a brief post about the surprising event of the day. You may remember me from such posts as “Behind The Grape Vine”, among so many, many others.

Here I am in an increasingly characteristic pose.
The guy I live with posted a different picture of me cooling off my paws, on Facebook, but this is now what I do every day, on my morning walk.
I didn’t see the huge trout while I was in the canal, and probably would have been totally creeped out if it touched me, but nothing happened except for cool water from the mountains flowing by my personal self.

If you’re wondering, and I knew you were, this water ultimately comes from Summit Lake (12,840 feet, or 3,913.6 meters, above sea level) near Mount Evans.
It’s not exactly warm.

But today was. I was so hot I didn’t know what to do with myself, except lie in the path of the swamp cooler in the kitchen.

Then it started to thunder, so I had to conceal myself in my Upstairs Fort, just in case.
And then this happened.

What a relief.

That’s all I have for today.

Until next time, then.