We're Still Here

We're just hiding from you. We're lounging on the back porch in the last warm Fall sunbeams, soaking up the good weather before winter arrives.

Don't fret, we're not hiding. It's just been the typical cornucopia of excuses in why we haven't posted in months. You would think that with staying at home we would have more time, but it seems like we've been busier than ever.

And it hasn't helped one bit that John got an actual job. As in a real job, where he has to go into an office every day and work. It's been...an adjustment. That's an understatement. It's like saying 2020 has been difficult. An understatement. 

So we'll do what we always do, give you a cute deaf dog picture and promise to post more frequently. I think you all know what to do with that promise.

Stay safe and stay healthy. This too shall pass. Pet your dogs and hug the people in your quarantine circle. We'll get through this together.

Mid Summer Sun Naps

When the heat of Summer hits you, sometimes it's best to not resist the powerful sunbean.

We nap hard here at the homestead.

Some locations for napping are better than others. I personally wouldn't sleep right next to the downspout but we've learned over the years not to questions Shaak Ti.

Expanded Pool Hours at the Homestead

We had a very warm day on Saturday. On very warm days the backyard pool at the homestead is usually open and ready for business.

The lawn needed moving though and we had to empty and close the pool for a few minutes. Shadowfax was outraged. Her solution was 1) get in empty pool 2) lay down in empty pool 3) look as sad as possible.

Management fielded her complaints and opened the pool as fast as humanly possible.

Sharing the Dog Bed

Shaak Ti and Shadowfax generally prefer to have their own space while napping. But every once in a while they tolerate some sharing.

On the back patio the other morning, sharing seemed to be acceptable.

It was pretty warm out though. The mid-morning sun was already strong and the pups made a hasty retreat inside where it was cooler.

Storm Carnage and Clematis Blooms

We had a big storm roll through on Thursday afternoon. The wind howled and the rain lashed down for a few hours. There were numerous lightening strikes, a few transformers were hit, and there were reports of minor damage throughout town.

We lost a limb from the Norway spruce tree in the backyard. It got hung up on the fence and one of the new clematis trellis.

It was a good sized limb and took a little while to chop up and wrangle into our compost bin. We were lucky to just have a branch come down. A few houses away a tree came down and crushed the cab of a parked truck. Nobody was injured, but it was a decent mess to clean up.

While we were out taking pictures of the storm carnage we snapped a picture of the lovely clematis blooms. This is Clematis "Killian Donohue" that we planted about two weeks ago. It seems very happy in its new spot.

Shaak Ti the Plant Lover

Alycia was strolling outside the other day and looking at the plants and asked me "Why are these 2 plants struggling?" That's pretty simple, because Shaak Ti uses them for a pillow. Here she's using the patented "one plant for my head and one plant for my rump" technique. It's very advanced.

Sorry for my shadow in the picture, but it was the only way that I could get the shot without waking up Shaak Ti. She usually hops up when a shadow passes by. 

Shaak Ti, she's always had a special connection to plants. We've posted before about Shaak Ti and her plant friend. She's always had a unique relationship with both indoor and outdoor plants.

Sacked Out Dogs

We're nearing the end of fireplace season here at the homestead. Overnight temperatures are forecast to stay above 40 degrees starting this weekend. Not to worry though, the end of fireplace season coincides with the start of outdoor sunbeam season.

Shadowfax is enjoying one of the last fireplace warming sessions of the year. She does well with the transition to outdoor sunbeam season.

Shaak Ti had a pretty big day, thus the little bit of tongue sticking out. Her two normal walks plus a bonus walk with Alycia, along with her standard schedule of squirrel barking. Luckily for Shaak Ti the squirrel barking is still in person and not with Zoom. She'd be pretty bummed about that.

The View Inside the Greenhouse

Here's what it looks like inside our greenhouse right now. It is chock full of all manner of plants in various stages of growth.

We're in the process of hardening off the first set of plants. Hardening off consists of bringing the plants outside and exposing them to increasing duration and intensity of sunlight and natural conditions over the course of a week or so.

It's a necessary step to ensure that these little plants don't get transplants shock or stressed in their new digs outside. It involves a whole lot of hauling pots/buckets/flats of seedlings outside in the morning and then back inside in the evening, but it's worth it.