Guest Blogging By Puppy Jack Cheese

PJC here. Just call me Jack. Mom left the computer on while she's at work so I decided to tell you how mad I am. First of all Mom refused to wake up on time. I did everything I could to wake her. I sat on her. I put a dirty sock on her head. I even slurped some water and licked her to make it extra sloppy. Finally I had to give up for a while and lay next to her and Brandi. How dare they all sleep in today.

When mom FINALLY got up she only throw my toy for me half a dozen times. And then let me out to potty. She gave Brandi and I treats even though I still won't "Shake Paw" like she is trying to make me do. I then told her it was time to go to the beach for our 5 mile walk to the lake to play. It's always so much fun. I whined. She ignored me. I whined some more. She just would not get it into her head that it was time to go. And then whats even worse, she got dressed into her scrubs and went to work! She would rather go to work then go hiking with ME! Can you see why I'm so mad?

Well this is what I did. Mom forgot her lunch on the table. I learned this genius trick from Brandi on how to get things off the table and i could smell my favorite things in the bag on the table. Meat. Lentils. Broccoli. Tomatoes. All yummy stuff. Plastic is no defense against my teeth. I chewed it all up and had me a feast. Brandi helped. Actually she hogged most of it but I did get a taste.

Still, mom didn't come back to take me to the lake to run around. So I had to do something worse. Moms brand new winter coat, the pink puffy thing, was hanging on the coat hook by the door. It smelled like mom. I just had to have that too. And guess what? It had fun stuff in the middle of it. All you have to do is make holes with your mouth to get it out. It made a pretty good place to nap too.

So, mom, can you come home now? I miss you and I want to go to the lake. Daddy is home now but he won't take me to the lake either.

Current cross-stitch project.

It's taking me a while :)

56*, 60% humidity, SW 4 mph wind, partly cloudy


Today the Bellis seedlings look like this:
Happy little green things.
The cactus has little spines :)

A couple plants needed to be trimmed, they had dead flowers that needed to be deadheaded. The trimmings of course went to the compost pile.

See? They look much better now. Kalenchoe.

Chrysanthemum.

I gave them a shot of organic fertilizer too, just to perk them up a bit.

some things

43*, 92% humidity, SE 3 mph wind, overcast


Just some Bellis seeds sprouting already. :)

My cactus seedlings. Some of them are getting little spines.

Spider plant young un's

Curiosity

It is gray today but I am heartened despite the weather. I had some of my books in storage mailed to me and they arrived yesterday. This morning I had a chance to go through them and was thrilled to find a trail journal of a research trip I took several years ago. That brought back many pleasant memories which both soothed and inspired me. How can scientific notes on things like soil types, vegetation, weather and elevation bring so much joy? I really MUST be a nerd. But the truth is it's very rare--especially around here-- to find companions so interested and in tune with the world around them that I can even discus such things with.

I had enjoyed that trip not only as a learning experience but because of the people who were right there along beside me as we struggled up razor sharp rocks to discover funny lizards wedged in cracks, fossils, and newly found petroglyphs. Our minds were absorbing everything- every moment, every fragment of the whole, every rock glacier held the secrets of God, every desert oasis a plethora of wonder, every dry canyon we climbed about in was a piece of a fascinating puzzle. On that trip I reached my highest elevation ever by foot. I bivyed in a place so isolated that I could not tell one star from another in the night sky. Sure you had to shake scorpions from your boots in the morning but it was well worth it.

I may not have the kind of environmental playground around here like that but what's stopping me from dissecting this place? And it's not just me. Trying to find any reading material about the ecosystem around here is like searching for that needle in a hay stake. Everything I have found has been very basic and very unsatisfying. I live here and should know every rock, beast, bug and bit of greenery. I should at least become intimately aware of the natural processes involved of our own climate and how things work around here. The journal with it's little sketches of escarpments, bristle cones, soaring golden eagles and mountain goats along with the notes is an inspiration to me now.

I wonder what inspires others? Am I alone here with being so fascinated by the process and the functions of the world around me that makes up the bigger pictures or are most people just content to accept only the big picture with little thought to what it's composed of? I cannot imagine life without questions. Even Mr Hyper tells me occasionally that my curiosity is out of hand!

Birdfoot Violet

47*, 91% humidity, SW 1 mph wind, light rain mist


I went back and got some of the birdfoot violets. I thought about it and decided I needed them, :)


So i took them out of the package. One was already growing. That's a good sign.
The other one was a tiny something or other. The directions on the package said to just bury the contents of the package an inch deep.

But since the other one was already growing, I planted it upright with the roots spread out nicely.

I put them in the window, but I may put them under lights if they really start growing.

Today I planted Bellis seeds in the light stand and potted up 3 rooted spider plant plantlets. :)

I saw something neat for sale at Lowes yesterday--wildflower "bulbs". There were ferns, trilliums, trout lilies, etc. But what grabbed my interest most was the birdfoot violet. I didn't buy any BUT I've been reading a book about Violets (not the African kind, the hardy kind) so have been mulling over going back and getting some. They are just under 2 bucks each so I wouldn't be spending a lot....

Yummy

Homemade.........

So tasty......

The house smells like a bakery today.

It's a dog's life.

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY JACK!

Today I decided it was Jack's Birthday. We rescued him in February of this year and he was at best guess 3 months old. So being that it was such a warm weekend, it would be Jack's.

So I took Jack out to the dunes-Cowls Bog Trail. I thought he'd have fun at the big lake and with all that sand. He had to learn the hard way though not to sniff sand into his nose.

I don;t know who got wetter, me or him. The lake was FREEZING.

So here's to my Puppy Jack Cheese, the best hiker buddy one could ask for.