For forty days and forty nights... well it seems so anyway. My rain guage topped out at 6" of rain several days ago. This and the fact I had a flat tire on my lawn tractor has made for an interesting jungle of grass and weeds on our 3 acres of cleared land, and very happy trees on the other 4 acres.
My husband finally got the tire fixed, so I went out to mow the lawn only to have the rain fall again. Saturday I finally finished the front and back, and got about another .75 acres mowed of side yard just in time for it to rain again Sunday. So, no weed and feed, or ant and grub control has been put down as yet. The good news is, all the rain has given me time to spend cleaning up mud... good news? hmmm...
Saturday early, it was 37 degrees, and the dogs were all hyper, so I decided to work out some of the excess energy from Bandit and Bucky. I harnessed them up by 7am then realized my tires were low on the bike. Searching did not turn up the pump, so I ensured the tires were inflated enough to handle my weight, hooked up the boys, and was on down the road before 8. On the corner after the bridge a new family had moved in with an ornery pit bull mix that came rushing out aggressively and unfettered towards my boys. This made me mad, and I looked that dog in the eyes, pointed to it and screamed "NO!" Meanwhile Bucky thinks it's social hour and wants to go see the new dog. Fortunately the other dog got the message and stayed at least ten feet away from us as I finally convinced the boys is was more fun to continue down the road than to stare down the new dog. We were followed and barked at, but the new dog did not come any closer than ten feet from the boarder of its yard. Problem was we would have to go by him again on the return trip.
We went just over a mile and turned around, and on the way back the pit bull mix's attention was more on me than on my boys as he raced along the boarder of his yard but did not follow when I told him "NO!" again. That was a mild relief, and I'm hoping there won't be future issues, but this puts a serious damper in my training route. If I can't go that way any more for fear of a fight, I will not be able to train from our house any longer. As a full-time engineer that ends up having to work a lot of overtime, this is a very serious bummer, but hopefully the county land will be of great assistance to me once I have the chance to explore its boundaries.
I've also been able to spend some time playing with and training puppies. There is nothing so fun as working with young siberian puppies! It's very hard to get them to sit still long enough to learn something, but that is part of the fun. Their joyful exhuberance and intelligent curiosity are amazing to watch and impossible to control for long. Above is about the level of activity I strive for before beginning a very short training session. Note the temporary pose of depleted energy while the curious mind is working a mile a minute? Yup.
Worked on the outdoor puppy kennel as well Saturday morning, and I can tell you with experience that mixing and pouring your own concrete really sux. I know I have to finish what I started, but now that I've put in 60lbs, I'm ready to call a contractor, too bad that is out of my budget planning for now... sigh. I'll probably put in another 60lbs whenever it isn't raining this week. Are we beginning to see a pattern here?
While the world turns on and news reaches us of the demise of Osama bin Laden, I have to go back and think of where I was during September 11th, 2001, and the chilling reality which pulled me from my deer stand and into a realization that nothing would ever be the same again. Rather than dwell on this event, I will simply salute those active and veteran service members who defend our freedoms. May this always remain a free country.
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