First Day of Spring

The girls celebrated the first day of spring by posing for cookies in front of some surprise crocuses that popped up in the front yard.

Happy spring, everyone!

Full Moon

Last night was a full moon but supposedly it was the "biggest" full moon we'll see for many years to come. For once we actually had minimal cloud cover so I could photograph the evidence.

Random Puppy Pics

Random cuteness that must be shared. It is required of me by law.

My landscaping dude asked for a photo of these patio chairs I have since we're thinking of incorporating them into the garden design (reusing them vs throwing them away). The dogs make good chair models.

Violet wants to know why Sadie is all the way UP THERE!

Are we done yet?

Sunbathing in dining room

 

Snuggles with mama

Relaxed Sadie

Worried Sadie

That's all I got...for now!

Garden Upheaval

The lovely Brenda and Terry came over today to claim some of our unwanted garden plants. They ended up taking my lilac, a couple small japanese maples, my big hebe, & my even bigger wild flowering currant.  They TRIED to take my rose bush but it ended up looking something like this...

In case it's not entirely clear what happened... TERRY BROKE THE SHOVEL!!

Rosebush 1, Terry 0

I'm pretty sure Terry was very unhappy with mr rose bush - he didn't even want the damn thing but his wife insisted. The rose had other plans.

It was a beautiful day today - the girls got a little spring fever and tore up and down the house and then continued outside.

Cute puppies doing cute things. Life is good.

Violet is a good girl!

Last weekend Violet and I went to the Seattle Kennel Club dog show. Lots of dogs & lots of people. While we were there princess Violet took her Canine Good Citizen test! For those interested here is a list of things the dogs have to complete in order to pass: http://www.akc.org/events/cgc/training_testing.cfm

Out of 10 items on the list, I was positive Vi would do beautifully on 9 items.  The one I wasn't so sure about was 'reaction to another dog' - on this test I have to meet another person who has their dog on leash. I have to get close enough to shake hands and have a conversation with this person and have my dog sit politely at my side and not pull towards or react out towards the other dog. I kid you not, Violet passed with flying colors. As long as they didn't bump noses she was fine.

My little gremlin who eats puppies for breakfast passed! A  years worth of hard work with the princess paid off.

Look, ma! I PASSED!!!

 Violet making out with Bethany, her breeder

Not only did Vi get to take and pass her CGC test, but she also got to partake in the 'meet the breed' at the local staffy club's booth where she charmed the socks off the general public. She liked that part a lot. She also got to meet up with her sissy which then prompted a ton of HAPPY submissive peeing. Good weekend for the princess!

Cute Puppies

Princess Violet, sitting on her little cow

My cute little Valentine Puppies <3

Apple Strudel Muffins

I made muffins! With apples. And strudel.

They're tasty.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Apple-Strudel-Muffins/Detail.aspx

I added 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 C white sugar, 1/2 C brown sugar.
Only bake for 18-19 minutes. 20 minutes was a little too crunchy.

The Current Plant List

Our Landscaper dude would like a list of our plants that are staying and going. So if you are reading this but are not our Landscaper Dude you may find this post rather boring.

The following plants are in the ground and were here when we moved in 3 years ago.

2 Hydrangeas, Large & healthy. One gives us baby blue blooms and the other is a purplish pink laceleaf.

A blue hosta. I guess it would be a matter of me pointing to where it is since it's hiding under the ground right now.  It's large and the girls (dogs) run right around (vs right through it) so while the outer leaves might get a little tattered, it weathers the girls pretty well. And I like Hostas :)

A large Rose of Sharon. Right now it's probably 6' tall through I assume could be pruned back for moving day.

The following plants are ones I acquired when I thought I was going to do a massive container garden to outsmart the morning glory. They are all in containers but would love to see many of them in the ground.

Several Hebes. I bought these last year so they are still small.  I enjoyed their evergreen foliage, different varieties of looks and the different flowers that pop up! Hebes are nifty :)

Okay so I went outside to take pics of them and two didn't fare well after this last cold snap. Whoops! So we're down to two good ones. I have two more but they're pretty pathetic looking now.

Black Dragon Wisteria - this cutie is currently trained like a tree though it still needs to be staked as the main "trunk" is still pretty week and flops over. I sought one in tree form because I thought the free standing "tree" wisterias were beautiful. I am open to this being in a container, going in the ground, and am even open to it losing its tree form if you think we can do something better.

Serpentine Flowering Cherry Tree - I heart this tree. Very pretty. Gives off white blossoms early spring.

Dwarf Lilac - I don't remember much about it except that it was supposed to stay small (max 4' I think?) and it gives off purple blooms.

Dwarf Rhodie - gives off purple blossoms. Stays small.

I can't remember what this plant is called. It's currently blooming. Whatever it is, we can keep it.

Ukigumo - aka floating cloud. white/green leaves. Grows slowly up to 12'. Needs a mix of sun/shade so it does well hiding behind the shady fence.


Inaba Shirare - red weeping laceleaf JM with a more upright form. Does well in shade/sun combo. Can reach 8' in 12 yrs.


Katsura Japanese Maple - usually 4-6' tall but can get up to 10' tall. Leaves are full of red, orange, and green.

Beni schichihenge - Pink & green leaves. Sun/Shade. Can get up to 8' tall.

In the same container as Beni schichihenge are some blue flowers whose name I cannot remember. They got kinda big last year. They can go in the ground (keepers)

I can't remember the name of this plant. Gives off small white flowers that are very fragrant. Twiggy in nature and would prefer it to be around other plants so it's woody legs don't stand out as much.

 

Pixie - small red Japanese Maple that gets up to 6' tall. Sun/Shade (currently in the front yard)

Murasaki Kiyohime - another dwarf JM that gets 6' in 8 yrs. Green leaves with red margins. (currently in the front yard)

Hupps Dwarf - tiny Japanese maple. In the ground vs leaving it in a pot? Only gets 20" or so tall. Not very big. (currently in the front yard)

Aoba Jo - another dwarf JM that gets 4-6' tall in 10 years.

I have a bunch of Vinca Minor that can be moved over to the back as ground cover. Right now I have many of these dwarf japanese maples in the front but I think I want to  encorporate them to the back but to be honest this is something I want to talk with you more about to decide if this is the right move or not.

Plants that can go byebye -

That random ?plum? tree

Two red currant bushes

Large Lilac

Large Hebe bush by the rose of sharon

Smaller Hebe between the two hydrangeas