the miserable gardener

the couch–an interlude

Hello everyone; yes, once again it is I, Mani the purebred border collie, here today to show you my new discovery, since there’s no gardening going on today. (There’s snow on the ground.)

What happened today was that I discovered I can get onto the couch. Here I am on the couch, in what I believe to be a fairly cute pose. The guy I live with keeps saying how cute I am, so I must be, I guess. Be sure to notice my spotted tummy. I came with that, by the way; it wasn’t a painting accident or anything. Well, so, there’s this couch in the living room. The guy I live with says it’s rattan, and was made about eighty years ago, maybe more, and so is what I would call really, really old.

I don’t know why the light was on, there. Anyway, I understand that years ago there was some talk of getting rid of this ancient rattan furniture, but the guy I live with protested, saying that all the border collies who have lived in this house have absolutely loved the couch.

The first one, Flurry, ate a lot of the stuffing out of the cushions, and so there’s hardly any stuffing left, which is why there are blankets on the couch. The couch is really creaky, so I can’t get up there in secret.

I think I look pretty good on the couch, don’t you?

Well, that’s really all there is. I guess there’s a little “forced vacation from gardening”, which is making someone slightly frustrated, but he spends the time playing with me, so that’s not so bad.

I did get left at home today for just a little while; I spent the time in my new, big fort, which I’m beginning to like a lot. It has a bathroom rug from Pottery Barn in it, and that’s very comfortable indeed.

I’ll leave you with a picture of me being comfortable.

Until next time, then.

cabin fever

Hello everyone; it is I, Mani the purebred border collie, and a very tiny purebred border collie at that. The guy I live with says this introduction is supposed to go a different way, because I am a purebred border collie, but I’ve had three urpy car rides in three days, and, so, you know.

Here I am in a characteristic pose. (I got that right.) I don’t stand still for very long, except when I’m asleep. Even then, I sometimes run, a little. We have “cabin fever”. That’s what’s called an expression. We don’t have a cabin, and I know this because I learned to climb the stairs this morning, and have been everywhere in the house except for downstairs. I also noticed that there are dogs that look just like me in the glass things hanging on the walls, but the guy I live with says they won’t chomp me.

I learned to climb down the stairs just a while ago, and come when I’m called (well, sometimes), and am practicing staying in my fort in the kitchen. I have an important role to play in the household, here, and I’m working at it. Mostly.

Neither of us has a fever, either, though there is some feverish activity going on here, to help with the cabin fever, or so I’m told, and I did create quite a bit of excitement by being taken on a “good will tour” today where I got to meet some of the neighbors. They liked me.

I had my lunch just a little while ago. It took some time for me to get over the urping. I did suggest, rather loudly, to the guy I live with, that we get up at one o’clock this morning so I could do some eating, and, surprisingly, he got up, and we went downstairs. We went back to bed after that.

Oh, and also, I learned how to get into the real bed. I know that the guy I live with’s former buddy slept there, and died there several days ago, but as I said, my role here is super important, and I can hardly wait to get big enough so that it becomes my bed, and I can sleep in it just like his last buddy did, because that’s what we purebred border collies do, and I’m looking forward to a good, cozy life here.

I thought, since there were pictures taken today, that I would show some of the feverish activity going on here, which I have nothing to do with, naturally.

cactus seedlings

more cactus seedlings

The “downstairs iris”. Don’t ask me. I just got here a couple of days ago. I know there are some strange things going on here, that have something to do with gardening, but how strange, I guess you’ll never know, because I just don’t understand them at all. As I said before, I’m little.

Iris lineolata subsp. grossheimii

The iris in the laundry room. The laundry room is downstairs, I’m pretty sure, and I don’t know why these are different from the “downstairs iris”. They just are, I guess.

There are “upstairs iris” too, but how many pictures of iris can a person stand, anyway?

So that’s the gardening part of the blog. I get that it’s a requirement. The part about me is much better.

I discovered that there are some rules here. “No eating the pine cones” is the only one so far. This is this collection of pine cones that’s supposed to be really important or something. They were in the basket before I showed up. I tried to pretend that someone else had moved them, but the guy I live with didn’t believe me. Well, if I can’t chew on pine cones, things are pretty boring here right now. That’s why we have cabin fever.

I looked for something to readbut decided on a nap instead.I did get to play in the snow in the back yard for quite a while, and that was fun. In fact, I have a short movie to show you, featuring me.