Garden Tuesday: Hydrangea

My daughter planted this little hydrangea a couple of years ago.  And by "planted," of course, I mean that she bought it and supervised while her brothers dug the holes for it and the plants on either side of it, put them in place, and backfilled.  Then she watered them.

But it's grown about a foot.  I believe its ambition is to grow up to be just like its cousin in the other corner of our yard.

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Thorsday: Yep, He's Growing

Remember a long time ago, like 5 weeks, when Brutus came to his nurse sister's birthday party as a lap puppy?

Well, the same sister was here last week, and picked him up the same way.  It's a little different now.

I think that is the last time she'll hoist the little porker that way.

Happy Thorsday, everyone!

Wordless Wednesday: Playing

It's a great day when Amazon brings something for the puppy, too.

Garden Tuesday....Sorta

There's nothing here in Garden Tuesday which is actually from my garden, but it's pretty cool anyway.

A couple of weeks ago, my delightful friend Miranda, AKA The Blond Duck, asked for my address.  Imagine my joy yesterday when Lou the Mailman arrived early, bearing an oversized white envelope.  I eagerly cut it open, and found this:

Yes!  Baby Brutus, in the garden, playing with a butterfly!  Isn't it sweet?

Now, to be fair, Brutus hasn't actually seen butterflies, but he does chase moths across the porch.  He might have eaten one or two moths that he caught, but I'm not going to testify to that.  We're friends, after all, and I wouldn't want the Moth Mob after our friend Brutus.

And for any of you who wanted to see flowers, how about my daughter's bouquet from her friend's wedding?  She left it in water on my kitchen table, and it lasted nearly 2 weeks.  Pretty good, right?

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Thorsday: Checking in with Relatives

Remember when Brutus was 9 weeks old, and slept like this?

Well, his Mama emailed a picture of herself and Brutus' sister, Daisy.

She also emailed a picture of Daisy, sleeping.  (Clever mastiff, that one.)

Brutus sleeps like that, too.

And he's getting much bigger.  He weighed 30 pounds when he got here, and was 53 pounds last Friday (which means he's pushing 60 pounds by now).  Daisy was a dainty 45 pounds last Friday.  But it's nice of Mama Mastiff to send us pictures, since we send her regular Brutus updates!

Happy Thorsday, everyone!

Wordless Wednesday

Hey there!  What's going on?

Garden Tuesday: Blue Spruce

The new growth on a blue spruce tree is beautiful.

It really is a lovely light blue.

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

4th of July Potato Salad

I hate potato salad.  There; I said it.  Now you can all laugh.

But on Memorial Day, my boys pleaded with me to make potato salad ("Don't you know how to make it?  Can you look it up in a cookbook?"), and how could I deny them this all-American picnic food?  Well, they liked it so well that Ryan plopped the bag of potatoes on the counter on the morning of the Fourth, so I wouldn't forget to make it for him.  So, here it is....

THE POTATO SALAD HATER'S POTATO SALAD

5 pounds redskin potatoes, scrubbed
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup ranch dressing mix
5 carrots, peeled and shredded
1-1/2 cup pickle slices, shredded

Scrub the potatoes, cut into bite sized chunks, and boil in salted water until just fork tender.  Drain, then cover in cold water and ice to quickly chill them.  While the potatoes are chilling, shred the pickle slices and carrots.  In your serving bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, sour cream and ranch dressing mix (I used low fat sour cream and mayo, and no one knew the difference).  Stir in the carrots and pickle slices, then drain the potatoes again, and stir them into the dressing mixture.  If you want the mixture to have more dressing, add more mayonnaise, and stir well to incorporate.  Store in the refrigerator until serving time.

And I didn't take a picture of this, of course, but the boys ate the whole 5 pounds in 2 days - and there were only 3 of them at home.

So, since food pictures are lacking, how about a picture of Brutus getting a bath on the 4th of July, when we actually had sun in the afternoon - a rare event around here for the last few weeks:

No puppy bath would be complete without said puppy soaking his person.  As you can see, Dan had to hug Brutus to get him to stay in his washtub.  End result:  Both smelled like oatmeal puppy shampoo!

Brutus went for his third puppy shots this morning.  I was concerned when he went for his second shots a month ago, because he only weighed 36 pounds.  But today he's up to 53 pounds, at 3.5 months old.  So he is making progress!

Happy Weekending, everyone!

Thorsday: Boxing

No, not fisticuffs.

The UPS man brought me an external backup hard drive.  After the lightning strike, I was spooked, and wanted to insure that when my computer takes its dirt nap, I don't lose all of my recent work and photos just because I don't back up to DVD every week.

Evidently, he also brought Brutus a box.

And that box was brutalized. 

It was a great deal of fun.

Happy Thorsday, everyone!

Wordless Wednesday: A Bridesmaid and...

...her puppy and her boyfriend.

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Happy End of Holiday Weekend!

Oh, yes, I know I'm very late in my post-holiday greetings.  But it's not my fault.

For months, I've known that I had to go to the 5th of July wedding of my oldest daughter's best friend since second grade.  And you know that my dearly beloved was having a fit over having to get dressed up and go to this event.  But this girl called me personally to make sure we would come, and so we did.

Of course, it wasn't until I saw the invitation in April, which said "Black Tie Preferred" that I began to worry.  And it wasn't until the week before that I decided to think about my attire. 

It's OK.  I decided on Wednesday night that I'd wear a long dress to both the ceremony and reception.  And Thursday morning I settled on the design.  And Thursday afternoon, I settled on the fabric, cut it out, and got rolling on the dress.  No worries; we didn't have to leave for the wedding until 3PM Friday, and the dress was hemmed by 2.  Plenty of time to get dressed, do my hair, etc.

And didn't I look great with my dearly beloved?

OK, so in fairness, these pictures were taken between the wedding and reception, and the humidity was about 200%, so my hair wasn't as good as it had been 4 hours earlier.  But you get the idea.

And I was going to post these pictures over the weekend, or maybe Monday.  But we had a fierce thunderstorm around midnight Friday.  Evidently, a lightning strike fried my modem, router, and one phone line.  That was way more fun than a human has a right to have.  And it's only been fixed today.  My business email was stuffed, absolutely stuffed.  So, now that I've let you all know that we're still alive and kicking, I need to get back to work. 
 
And here's an obligatory picture of Brutus, nesting in some laundry.

So, happy Tuesday, everyone!

Dogs on Thorsday: On Wednesday

I was reading the Wall Street Journal, and one section slipped off the table.  Brutus immediately pounced on it.  Evidently, he plans to follow in Thor's Pawprints, and become a well educated puppy.

Or something like that.

Have a great Independence Day, everyone!

Garden Tuesday: Visitor

"Mommy, what is that thing in my yard?  I can't go outside!!!"

"Don't worry, Brutus.  He'll leave in a minute.  Just let me take a picture of him."

Happy Garden Tuesday, everyone!