Friday, June 30, 2017

Life with a Puppy

Life with a new puppy can be very educational. I've taught my Owner quite a few things in the last couple of weeks.

For example, we now have a much better idea of how many small pieces of lumber and other sticks were tucked away under the counters in the Studio. Quite a few. This is something we were wondering about.

When done properly, a spot of digging can make dirt fly into the Studio, covering the entrance, the shelf of old pots beside the door, the buckets waiting to be washed, even the foot pedals on the wheels. The 600-lb rock step at the door might not get dislodged, but you can make a new and exciting gap between it and the threshold.

A bag of Styrofoam cups, when chewed and shaken by an expert, can cover a large territory. Half the driveway in front of the house, in fact. It will take Her 15 minutes of bending and scrabbling in the mud (it's been raining for 39 days so far...) to pick up most of the bits. The rest can wait. If it rains another day, it may not matter.

Bees are tasty. If you chomp them fast, they don't sting. But you may throw up later.

If you see a lovely small sponge you want, and She drops it into a slip bucket and it sinks, you can dive in after it. She might yell, but you've got the sponge.

Mosquitoes aren't much bothered by being barked at.

Turtles, on the other hand, don't care for it and tend to turn into small round things a lot like rocks, very hard to pick up and carry in your mouth. And they pee on you. Yuck.

Speaking of water, dropping large sticks into the dog water bowl is pretty cool. It makes a big splash and then you can lick the water off the wall. And you can get wet and then play in the mud from the hole you're working on as a surprise for your Owner, making it a double surprise.

Clay boxes are really fun to chew and rip. Newspapers are even better but they don't get soggy nearly as well. But if you chew on the corners of boxes with stuff in them, she makes with that 'No, Rosie, Bad Girl' routine. Does this make sense to you?

Don't chew on pin tools, ballpoint pens, or $90 red-handled secateurs. This makes her shriek.

But you can grab them and run. And leave them under various rose bushes... oh, gardening is so much fun.

Being  a puppy is fun!




Wednesday, June 7, 2017

New Puppy!!!

Drum roll, please!

Introducing: the world's cutest, smartest and most lovable puppy, Elphin Rosie.

Here she is sitting and considering her new world:


It's a strange one, and a wet one, as you can see! But after a bit of thought, she sets out to explore. Clearly, she's a true Border Collie, she already has 'the stare' down pat, all she needs is some sheep.

 Or a juniper that smells interesting:


Today the sun came out and we worked in the garden for a while. Rosie helped by dragging the trowel about 100' down the driveway, then making off with my phone (No, Rosie, bad girl....). After all that, a rest is in order!

So far, Rosie has managed to make Pepper the cat decide that she (Pepper) is never going into the kitchen again, has adopted an old oven mitt as her favourite toy, has raced a dangerous tea towel all around the Studio, and has taken on re-modeling one of the kitchen chairs. Yesterday in the Studio she did something I have never seen a dog do before. She found an old masking tape core in a box of empty clay bags and grabbed it for some serious and vigorous playing. It rolled, it bounced... she raced it around the tables. She growled at it, pawed at it, and raced it around some more. Then she walked over to the box, and dropped the tape back in.

Welcome home, Rosie!