the miserable gardener

Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, your popular host, Mani the purebred border collie. You may remember me from such posts as “Another Sentimental Post”, among so many, many others.

Here I am in a completely ridiculous pose. 

I’m not going to talk very long, and no, this post isn’t about the rock group. The guy I live with at first said he might not make a post today, but then said it would be wrong not to, because this day isn’t about him, but about her.

This is a Polaroid taken in May or June of 1982 shortly after the guy I live with met Cindy, in his mom’s back yard, with Taffy, the golden retriever. It was love at first sight. She’s been gone for ten years now, today.

The pain doesn’t go away, he said. It changes. It’s part of being alive and there’s nothing wrong with feeling the pain even if things have changed in his life, which they definitely have. He is very grateful for all the happiness they shared, and for the pain, too.

Here’s a picture of her after she got a Wacom tablet and began to play with it.

And that’s all. The pain, and the happiness.

I’ll leave you with a picture of me, looking for something in the grass, on what turned out to be a beautiful day. I never found what I was looking for, but that was half the fun, at least.

Until next time, then.

Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, your popular host, Mani the purebred border collie, here to bring you up to date on the latest news, even though there isn’t much to report. You may remember me from such posts as “Misty, Drizzly, Rainy”, among so many other dampish posts.

Here I am in a characteristic pose.

It’s been raining here on and off for several days now, and so hardly anything has gotten done. It even snowed here on Monday night. Kind of an atmospheric picture, don’t you think?The snow mostly melted the next day and nothing really happened. It didn’t even freeze.

I guess the only interesting thing, besides all the rain, is the invasion of giant ants here. Maybe just one ant isn’t an invasion. Robins are collecting nesting material, too. You might not be able to see the robin I’m looking at here, because all these pictures were taken with the phone, and they won’t enlarge the way regular pictures do. It’s right out there in front of the pots.There are hummingbirds everywhere. You might not be able to see this, either. (I’m not sure why we’re posting pictures of things no one can see.)Oh. A couple of things. Today is the ninth anniversary of the death of Slipper, a purebred border collie who lived here with Chess, and so I thought I should take a moment to acknowledge that. He died on the back patio, here, with Chess and the guy I live with right there with him.
There’s another anniversary tomorrow. I’m not sure if we’re going to do a post or not. 

And, also, the laptop here is broken and the guy I live with has to buy another one. He thinks that’s annoying, but a whole bunch of the keys don’t work, and the graphics card is broken somehow. 

Here’s a picture of the “way back” showing how wet and weedy it is.Of course, the guy I live with, whose mind is obviously not functioning properly, agreed to have the garden on tour next month. I’m not sure who’s going to do all the weeding. 

In the meanwhile, he ordered some more hens and chicks, or sempervivums if you prefer, and planted them in the containers which were either empty or had dead plants in them. He said that at one time he didn’t care for the idea of troughs filled with hens and chicks, but now he thinks these are a better choice than a lot of plants that need constant watering.

That really is all I have for now. It just started to rain again, so Ill have to wait a bit before I can go on my walk. It will probably be a damp walk anyway.

Until next time, then.