the miserable gardener

Namaste, everyone; yes, once again it is I, Chess the purebred border collie, here to amaze you with the thrilling details of my daily life, and maybe tell you one or two things about the gardening that goes on here. You may remember me from such posts as “Gray Day, With Days” and “Stinker’s Revenge”, among so many others.

Here I am in a characteristic pose, photographed “artistically”, which means, of course, that the guy I live with had the camera on the wrong setting. I’d just finished a couple of really good biscuits after a completely excellent day. When the guy I live with realized that he had the camera on the wrong setting, I came closer to make sure he was using the camera correctly. I mean, you never know with him.Well, while my day was completely excellent, with long walks in the morning and afternoon, the guy I live with’s day was not so great. He does have some bad days, but in this case it was because he spent most of it cleaning the carpet, which he said looked like a crime scene. It’s pretty clean now. Thank goodness for Nature’s Miracle. 

He cleaned and cleaned. And cleaned some more. Obviously (I guess obviously) carpets were on his mind, and so, since he didn’t go out into the garden a lot today, he decided to scan some of my mommy’s slides, and what we have for you tonight are pictures of the fringed gentian, Gentianopsis thermalis.

You may well think that a whole bunch of pictures of the same plant are boring. The truth is we’re not really all that interesting ourselves. Our idea of a good time is taking a long nap in the morning after our walk, and then another one after lunch. The guy I live with does often spoil this by listening to opera in the afternoon, but what can you do. I fall asleep anyway.

The gentian is an annual, and in late summer there are “carpets” of them in the wetlands in South Park. That’s less than an hour from our house, but I’ve never been there. It would be boring to watch someone take hundred of pictures. The guy I live with says it is, very. He also says we might go on some trips next summer; unless, that is, he clips my toenails again.

The pictures were taken near Jefferson, Colorado, in August of 1998. You’ll notice one white-flowered one, too. 

That’s a lot of blue, isn’t it? Some years, according to the guy I live with, the wetlands are blue as far as the eye can see, because South Park is a pretty big place.

Anyway, this is how the guy I live with told me to make a post out of an excellent, do-nothing kind of day. Lots of pictures of the same plant. I hope you enjoyed them.

Until next time, then.