Our peas and beans are really starting to stretch and climb after some recent rains and warm days, which is always very exciting. However, our purple flowering raspberries have started showing off and they took my breath away....
the yard is very crunchy. we haven't had rain in a few weeks (2-3?), but it looks like it could rain this weekend. i did water my few potted plants that live on the porch since they were looking especially thirsty.
got some teva sandals for children that i'm digging and a shade hoodie for those really hot days when i don't wanna wear sunscreen.
went to the beach over the weekend, which echo loved! jean (little dog) hates the water, and i didn't want to have to clean all the sand out of loki's coat, hah.
new to us (15-year-old) mazda5 was awesome for hauling all three dog crates and our gear, but the AC stopped working 1/3 of the way back home, so it was a hot ride. 🥵
If yours was better than that, care to drop a name for me to go look into?
i ended up getting the sahara shade hoodie from REI because it was on sale. i don't have much to compare it to, but i thought it was really breezy! i even wore it on my ~10 mile bike ride and didn't feel too bad as long as there was a bit of wind.
echo (border collie) passed her community canine test last thursday. 🎓 pics in a separate post when we get our certificate later this week. also got to meet one of the other foster dogs (buck, pictured below) in our program, and he is a beautiful dog. very driven and toy-motivated. gonna make a nice sport dog for someone.
rode to the other town over on greenways on saturday (~50 miles) with a couple of folks, then met up with some friends for dinner/drinks. took the train back home; it was all pretty chill.
finally hung a bunch of the artwork in the house over the weekend. feeling much more homey now.
heading to the beach this weekend, which i'm looking forward to. it'll be echo's first time there! 🏖️
weekend before last was a two-day agility/rally training event for the dogs. they all did wonderfully! didn't manage to get a good video of loki, but i got a few of the others.
ordered some tablets to make a few of these after i saw the concept recommended on a local forum. can't wait to murder millions of (mosquito) children. 🦟
spent the weekend at a wedding a couple of hours away. sent the two herding dogs to my agility coach and the chi mix to a friend's house for boarding. chi mix and aussie did great! the border collie had a rough time. apparently barked more or less the whole weekend and couldn't settle. i think she was just bored and overwhelmed/overstimulated, sigh.
we've had a few thunderstorms, and the xanax the vet gave me doesn't seem to be helping the border collie's severe reaction (barking, leaping, basically inconsolable making both humans lose sleep for a couple of nights). i'm wondering if i could up her dose. also picked up a thundershirt, but haven't had a chance to test it out during a real thunderstorm yet.
we've got a two-day mock agility trial this weekend, and i'm hoping to get all three dogs in the ring at some point or another.
RAGBRAI is steadily approaching, but due to lack of sleep and being out of town, i didn't get a chance to ride at all last week or this past weekend. fingers crossed i can get a decent ride in after work tonight.
i was meant to go camping and biking on the new river trail in virginia this past weekend, but it looked like it was probably going to rain a lot of the time, so i stayed home. friday we went to a friend's jam party. i went in the house to use the toilet, and every dog ran at me barking. one nipped me pretty bad in the thigh, but i can't blame the dog since i didn't have an escort with me and kinda assumed it would be okay to pop in and use the bathroom, oops.
saturday was a lazy day, which i haven't had in a really long time. we ended up staying in and watching the first few episodes of fallout. didn't want to be out late anywho because i did end up making plans for sunday...
rode the train to the next town over (about a 30 minute ride) on sunday morning, then biked back for a good 50 miles! still felt pretty good by the end of it, which is a good sign for the impending ~430 mile ride at the end of july. i've nearly biked more this year to date than i did all of last year. 😅
we went and saw the new apes movie (kingdom of the planet of the apes), and it was by far better than all the first three combined. more likable characters, better writing, and better acting. to be fair, i went in with very low expectations, but i think you could skip the first three, just watch this one, and it would be a decent movie.
not much in dog news. i did have a private lesson with a new trainer, and she was great! she sent me a detailed list of homework until i book with her again. :)
edit: also just got asked to speak at the local bike shop about bike camping next month!
(kinda) got answers about my knee. it's not a bone problem, and it's not an artery problem, so i've been taking larger doses of ibuprofen and got a better knee brace for cycling. so far, so good!
little dog got her first agility ribbons! border collie is probably getting her trick title soon, and we have our first lesson with a new agility trainer wednesday morning.
went bike camping over the weekend, which was nice. just a short ~13 mile ride there and a single night. i felt strong, knee held up well, and we had excellent weather and a fun group. RAGBRAI is only a couple of months away, which means i gotta get serious about riding my bike longer distances. the good news is i think i've only missed three days of biking so far this month (yay, bike month)!
My indoor growing space is bursting at the seams with mountain mint and some very leggy tomatoes I'm babysitting for a friend while she's on vacation. The weather has been relatively pleasant though, so I've gotten a few more things potted and several more trays going now as well....
we had to cut down a native cherry tree last year because it was crowding the deck. a new one popped up just far enough away that we decided to keep it, and it is absolutely thriving!
we also have some weird fruiting trees out there, which are dropping all over the place. might be an almond tree? and another one might be a plum or peach tree? whoever planted these was really going wild.
was supposed to watch a couple of my favorite (dog) clients last friday, but their owner missed his flight, so i just went and took them out for a walk. still got paid the full day rate. 😎
went to go watch a sheepdog trial on saturday morning, which was really cool! talked to several people there, including the lady who owns the farm. saw a couple of people smacking their dogs, though (including the owner), so i don't think i'll be doing any herding lessons there.
saturday evening we had our annual beer party (everybody brings a 6-pack of something to drink, and we throw them all together in a big bucket of ice). the dogs did really well up until about midnight when they started getting cranky, so i turned in early and let my partner watch the party-goers for the rest of the evening.
sunday was whiffle ball with friends followed by challengers, and oh my gosh, what a movie. absolutely loved the whole thing.
yeah… it’s really hard to watch. the most i do is a very upbeat “oops!” or “nope!” with my dogs when we’re training. i do occasionally get frustrated with my barky aussie, but i try to keep it positive as much as possible.
What's growing on, Beehaw? ( beehaw.org )
Our peas and beans are really starting to stretch and climb after some recent rains and warm days, which is always very exciting. However, our purple flowering raspberries have started showing off and they took my breath away....
how's your week going, Beehaw
having to sort out an administrative clusterfuck this week, thank you government
Asparagus in the morning. ( beehaw.org )
what’s your favorite way to beat the heat?
today’s the summer solstice (for the northern hemisphere), so tell me your favorite way to cool down while we’re watching the world burn. 🔥
What do you think should be the demonym for Beehaw users?
Reddit users are called Redditors, Tumblr has Tumblrinas, Lemmy has Lemmings, Twitter has Twits......
how's your week going, Beehaw
busy as always
How's your week going, Beehaw?
mosquito bucket of doom ( sidewalknature.com )
ordered some tablets to make a few of these after i saw the concept recommended on a local forum. can't wait to murder millions of (mosquito) children. 🦟
how's your week going, Beehaw
busy as usual, alas
how's your week going, Beehaw
currently working on book 28 of 40 for the year
how's your week going, Beehaw
busy
What's growing on, Beehaw?
My indoor growing space is bursting at the seams with mountain mint and some very leggy tomatoes I'm babysitting for a friend while she's on vacation. The weather has been relatively pleasant though, so I've gotten a few more things potted and several more trays going now as well....
how's your week going, Beehaw
busy as usual, currently reading Alt-America (David Neiwert)