Bird ... and dog

I love seeing pileated woodpeckers. This one was grabbing a suet snack before the wind kicked up and the temperature plummeted.

And I love watching the Silly Dog enjoying a walk in fresh snow.

Back to normal

The Silly Dog had the staples from his surgery of two weeks ago removed today, and we're happy to report that he is back chasing chipmunks and racing the UPS truck.

Life is good.

It's not always about the garden ...

... sometimes it's about the silly dog.

A hot, hot day is the perfect day to give Dakota a bath.  Whewww ... now he smells better!

Comfortable summer evening

The silly dog monitors the situation while resting between the fennel and the just-germinating carrots in the vegetable garden. Dakota is good about sticking to the paths in the garden, but he's a big pooch so sometimes a few footprints are inevitable.

Meanwhile, just across the way, the head vegetable gardener tends to a patch of onions by the cold frame behind the potatoes. 

After-breakfast nap

Going outside to pee and check on the status of the squirrels first thing in the morning and then having breakfast takes a lot of energy. Nothing a little post-breakfast shut-eye in a favorite spot won't cure.

Short respite from the gloom

It felt good to soak up some blue sky for a little while this afternoon.

We had a sliver of blue sky this afternoon, a rarity this soggy October. So there was opportunity for a little playtime outside with the silly dog. But playtime makes him thirsty and with all of the water garden tubs emptied for the winter, he made do with the weedy ditch on the north side of the front yard. It's actually one of his favorite places to get a drink; he likes to lie down in it and lap up the water.

Find the dog in the tall grass.

Later in the day, there was another burst of rain and one of the best rainbows I've seen in years -- the photo doesn't do it justice. It happened so fast -- within a minute the sun was behind a cloud again.

The rainbow was gone almost as quickly as it appeared.