The Atherton Dogs

When I go out to Atherton to work in the garden, one of the highlights is seeing the dogs. One of the lowlights is trying to keep them out of my garden.... The party is as follows:

This is Nelson. He's my cairn terrier that lives at the house with us. But he LOVES the trips to the farm. He's always been a super social dog, so he starts to get cabin fever if I don't take him out to see his buddies. I got Nelson awhile back to be the yin to Charlie's yang. Charlie was smart and handsome, so I got a funny looking little dog to compliment him. But then Charlie died so now all I have is this dog that perpetually looks like he's homeless. But I'll tell you my favorite thing about Nelson -- he sings.

Here is Velda. My #1 Girl. She's the gem that comes to our house a few times a year while she's in heat, and also the lucky mom that bore 10 pups earlier this year. She and I had some serious bonding time during her pregnancy, birth, and mother-time. What a lot of work! She's a unique and special. She's very pretty, but she always makes this funny face when you smile at her:

This is Pablo. One of our friends found him as a pup a few years ago, so we took him out to the farm and he's been a happy camper since. I will admit, in the past, I have not liked Pablo so much... he is a big jumper and I just never felt a connection with him. But this year, he's really calmed down and become quite a neat dog. Plus he's the fastest runner I've ever seen -- even catches killdeer. I like him. Just look at his goofy face!

This is Josephina. She's a sweet (but slightly funny looking) chocolate lab mix. Kind of a neat story here.... A week after Charlie died last fall, a trucker dropped this little pup off at the farm. She's still a young girl, and such a super sweetie.

The Johnston Farm

Every year Tory plants trees; it's part of growing. But they take up quite a bit of space, and it's not like a row crop that disappears in the winter and then leaves you the same field for your next crop. The past few years have required buying new land, which is always an ordeal -- has to be a specific soil type, size, and in a certain location.

This year one of the solutions was to rent ground. We call this one the Johnston Farm. It's 37 acres and I think he planted about 25,000 trees on it this spring.

I Reeeally Want to, BUT......

It's time to start blogging again.

After a busy winter of a lot of snow and a lot of hours -- and no blogging -- I think I may be ready again. The only downside is that I don't work anymore, which means I no longer have access to a speedy internet connection. So the whole picture part of this process is fairly frustrating. We'll see if I can get through it patiently, or if the challenge will fizzle the endeavor. Because this stuff takes time.

Not that time is a rare commodity to me these days. My last day at True North was April 12th, and boy has life been a blast since. Not that TNS was bad, but it definitely did not have my heart. My garden, my yard, my house, and my family & friends definitely do! And that is how I've been spending my time for the last few weeks. I have to say, I've worked harder and burned more calories than I have in a long time!

I'll wrap this one up, and we'll see how my little Sprint wireless card holds up with the new blogging resolution. You may be hearing from me -- you may not!