A Dog's Life

Charing Flashdance (Tweed)
A sketch by a friend who is an artist living in Scotland

The picture is that of Tweed who will feature somewhat in my blog today.

At this moment I am watching the little sparrows have a nice bath in the birdbath, it is very hot today and if you watch the birds closely you can see their mouths are open trying to cool down.They wait in turn to hop in and out of the water then proceed to hop on to a bush close by and shake all the water off, and so it goes on. The loud singing of the cicadas can be heard all over the garden, having been buried in the ground for 7 years who would not be singing their freedom song!

At this time last year my brother-in-law decided it would be a good idea to grow a few rockmelons.
The crop was very successful and they were a treat to eat. This year was no different out came the melon seeds and they were sown, manually germinated and watered every night without fail. Each day as we walked round the garden with the dogs we would watch these melons grow into little buds, then bigger buds, then small melons. There were about five in number at different stages of growth and we were all pleased with the progress.

Our apples are also becoming edible now, and for some time now our two insatiable Labradors have been sampling the fruit and have been enjoying the ones they considered edible to them. Of course the lower apples are all gone and now the dogs are actually eyeing the next apple higher up in the tree and jumping up to catch and eat them. The persimmons also have been sampled by these two rascals and they are not nearly ready, but hey guys, have a go they may be fine to eat........

This brings me now to Tweed and her antics at night.  The dogs have the run of the securely fenced garden and so can take nightly strolls at their leisure. We have a vege garden that we thought was dog proof, although we have had both dogs in and eating the broccoli, only because the gate was ajar and a target for hungry labradors. Anyhow, these prize melons were next on the hit list and last week on our tour of the garden we found the largest of the melons on the lawn, half eaten with half the plant attached. I could see where Tweed got in, I guessed it was her because she is the one that would rip the plastic coated fencing and her brute strength pushed the gate open. Bridie, her litter sister, would only follow as she is more of a softie and does not like to be scolded. I was quite sad about this night feed as my brother-in-law would not know about this until he and his wife returned from a few days away. So, I patched up the gate and of course could not chastise the dogs, not knowing exactly who the culprit was, too late after the deed was done.

Next morning on my rounds, there again were three little melons with the plants attached on the lawn but only the tops eaten!! and my perfectly patched gate in shreds. This was too much......the prize melons all gone, how was I to explain this one?

Luckily enough, Tweed and Bridie (my precious oldies) were off the hook and the funny side to the event was soon realised. It was decided that the gate was NOT dog proof from the start and perhaps a new stronger gate was the answer, I might add, the new gate has not yet been made and so before I plant the Autumn veges this has to be a priority. Who said it is not a dog's life........... it is at our house.

A Little song from The Te of Piglet

Let's leave
Behind
The things that do not matter,
And Turn
Our lives
To a more important chapter.


Have a wonderful day, and be kind to your canine friends.