the miserable gardener

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 tell you how bored I am. You may remember me from such posts as “Caulk And Vernation”, among so many, many others.

Here I am in a characteristically sun-drenched pose.You may notice a kind of exhausted or apprehensive look in my expression.
Things here have been very weird indeed.

There are a lot of crocuses in flower now. This is one called ‘Ladykiller’, which is a pretty weird name, apparently inspired by a 1930s movie.
And there are so many snowdrops I can hardly keep track.
This is Galanthus plicatus.
There was a very weird snowdrop flowering here last week. The guy I live with said he thought this was one called ‘Trym’.
He told me he doesn’t like things like this at all. Not one little bit. Like less than zero percent. He knows that a few people go nuts over stuff like this, but he’s not one of those people.
So he’s going to give it away.

The first colchicum has appeared. This is Colchicum bulbocodium, which used to be called Bulbocodium vernum.

Mostly, though, I’ve been watching paint dry. I can’t begin to tell you how exciting this is.
The guy I live with has been so stressed out by the news that he decided to paint the inside of our house, which requires a lot of moving things around, and taping walls and stuff, and possibly way too much thinking about things.

He has a lot of paintbrushes, which he takes very good care of.
His grandfather taught him how to paint, and I guess he’s very good at it, and I know he likes painting a lot, but seriously, watching someone paint, and then watching the paint dry, is very, very boring.

Just today he blocked off the living room window so he could paint around it, which I found very upsetting, because I like to look out of that window, and bark at things that need to be barked at, but he left the front door open just for me.
It was like 67 degrees F (19.4 C), so having the front door open was normal, but I was very glad when all the tape was removed, the curtains were hung again, and the guy I live with signalled “all clear” for me.

So that’s all I have for today. A lot less gardening, and a bunch of boring painting.

Until next time, then.

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 after a very long absence. You may remember me from such posts as “Bulking Up”, among so many, many others.

Here I am in a characteristic pose.
I think you get why we’ve been gone for so very long. Longer than ever before, according to the guy I live with.
Things have been like this for quite some time.

We did have a couple of nice days at the beginning of this month, and the snowdrops were out.
But it’s mostly been cold here. In fact, I haven’t gone on my evening walk at least five times in the last month, because it’s been so cold.

There are a lot of geese, and lots of honking in the sky. The guy I live with said in the winter there are more geese than humans along the Front Range in Colorado.
It’s hard to believe that in maybe less than a month water will be flowing in the canal.
The guy I live with has mostly been taking pictures of the willows, and posting some of them on Facebook.
The same willow on an overcast evening.
We haven’t heard any owls lately, though I have seen coyote tracks in the snow.

The guy I live with said we’re just waiting for spring, which here can come early and then go away, over and over again.
He says it’s more beneficial to live in the moment, which I of course do naturally, except when dinnertime gets close, but it’s been so much colder than normal, or felt like it anyway, that just being in the moment can sometimes feel like being in an endless loop.

And also the willow pictures are better in the winter than they are in the summer, because naturally they’re hidden by lots of leaves in the summer.
This was taken right before it started to snow.
This one was taken a few evenings ago when it wasn’t too cold to walk down the creek.

So that’s it for today. We’re still here. The guy I live with is painting the kitchen, and I’m taking lots of naps.

Until next time, then.