Outside

Brix's First Day in the Garden

Today was an adventure in the garden - Brix joined me as I tried to do some planting and weeding. Spouse headed up north (as we say here in Minnesota) to meet a friend for fishing and beer brewing, so it's just me and the puppy for the weekend.

This morning, I went to the garden store to buy annuals for my front yard pots and stopped in at work to re-pot my pepper plants. (Yes, my light set-up is in the warehouse at work on the dead computer shelf.) Brix was in his crate the entire morning, so I figured I would bring him outside with me while I worked.

Because he has had only 3.5 weeks of training, I knew Brix had to be on a leash in the half-unfenced garden. So, I hooked him to a long lead and hoped for the best. And what, you may ask, is "the best" for a 7-month old puppy? It includes digging a hole in the rhubarb bed, discovering that gravel sprays in interesting directions when vigorously pawed at, and continually lying down on the growing coneflowers and rudbekia. Plus, there are treats in the garden: He likes to munch on lettuce, snap pea foliage and spinach (see picture at right). So, after only an hour and a half in the garden (and about 45 minutes of actual work), I decided to head inside with the dog. I'll have to give it another go tomorrow morning while he's in the crate.

But even if I didn't have so much fun, it's obvious Brix thought it was a great afternoon.

Men with Tools

Spouse loves power tools, any power tools.

His new favorite is the chainsaw. This is ironic because up until now he has been very vocal on his opposition to cutting down trees of any sort. We have had a long-standing discussion about a particular green ash tree in the yard. In my long-range vision of the garden, this tree doesn't exist. In Spouse's view, this tree - and every other tree we have - should stay just where it is.

However, I've been bugging (nagging?) him about cutting down a small dead pine tree that's smack dab in the middle of the view from the kitchen window. Additionally, a late snow broke two branches on a dogwood which were too large to clean up with the loppers.

Since Spouse is on break from teaching and is in the project mood, he decided to get out the new chainsaw and tackle the projects. I got home from work to find him in the woods with a huge smile on his face. Not only had he taken care of the pine and the dogwood, but he also cut up a large fallen branch that was smothering a maple tree and was starting to cut down some buckthorn that had grown into small trees. He decided to bring his new toy to his mom's lake place for the weekend, where he trimmed up some basswood suckers for her.

But the real reason I know he loves his chainsaw is because he told me on Monday that he could cut down the green ash tree for me. Now that's love.