The pleasure of dog-sitting.

We got a new member in the household for a few days. 

I think she is a Maltese, looks a bit 

like Denise's Bennie, and she is very easy to have around. 

Her name is "Gracie" and she belongs to the owners 

of the Whale Watch Motel, Fran and Jim.

They had to go away for some days and I agreed to take 

Gracy for the time of their absence.

Molly is not so happy with all the developments. 

She is not right herself at the moment. 

No wonder.

First: her daddy disappears.

Second: she has to be on the leash all the time, 

now that we got new neighbours with three small kids. 

No roaming around anymore. 

No chasing of rabbits and squirrles any more.

That's not fun! :((

Third: this new dog shows up at our home. 

But she doesn't argue. 

Just a little bit of whining and 

a doleful glance in my direction.

 Gracie pulls her bed right in the middle of the room and

flopps down on it. There! Settled.

Our first walk went fine, it is just hard for me to manage 

two leashes without getting entangled 

AND the camera. :)) 

Of course, nobody turns around when I shoot....

Our first walk, Molly in the lead. But I guess that will change, 

because Gracie is the bossier one of the two.

 In the evening both were snoozing while I had my tea and cookie.

I was told by the dog owners (Fran and Jim) that Gracie 

always sleeps on her doggie-bed 

on the first floor of their home. 

She never ventures upstairs into their bedroom. 

Well, that's what she does here ....Laugh! 

Obviously, Gracie must have felt too lonely downstairs.

She made it all the way upstairs and onto my bed. 

Molly claimed her regular spot on Peter's pillow, 

for her daily 20 minutes in the morning, 

after I started the furnace and waited for the house to warm up. 

Gracie looks like she doesn't want to be roused yet. 

Too cozy up here.

The pleasure of dog-sitting!

Getting into gear... sort of

Tuesday was really bad, with torrential rain, 

blustery winds and later thick fog.

That kind of weather always makes me lazy. 

The best thing to do seems to cuddle on the couch, reading. 

Even walking the dog in the rain is not a task looking forward to. 

Molly doesn't seem to bother. Sniffing around is more important 

than a "few" raindrops.

~~~

Wednesday turned out much better. 

The afternoon was downright warm 50 °F (10°C), 

and I spent quite a while outside in the sunshine.

I started to clean up some of my flower beds.

Lots of old leafs had to be removed. 

 See what was underneath:

A new generation of chives is about to wake up!

I like them, not for eating, but mostly 

because of their pretty pink flowers in late fall/early summer.

Some of my crocus survived as well.
~~~
A few birds are also back from their winter retreat.

Same ones as last year (I guess), they look so alike, 

when they visited the feeder I soon as I put it up. 

Nice to have you back, my little friends!

White & Red Winged Black Bird

Common Grackle

Purple Finch

Song Sparrow

~~~

Later I had to stack the woodpile anew, 

it had toppled into a puddle of melting water -UHG! 

It took me at least 2 hours.

Some of the driest wood pieces were moved into the basement.

Did I manage managed to break a bone in the process?

Sure, I dropped a chunk of wood and it happened to hit one of my little toes. 

OUCH! That hurt.

Looks purple now, but is no major problem, I am able to limp around.

That's all from the "battle field" for today!

A Blue Jay at my feeder

It's NOT the end of the world!

So, there we are, Molly and I , 

to keep the fort up and running.

This is all temporary, I am sure. We have been through rough patches before and we'll get through this as well.

And Molly is keeping me company.

Wondering - what is going on?
~ ~ ~ 
Luckily we have spent several summers here and developed friendships. 
There is a social network around 
should I need help. 

And last not least, here are
jobs waiting for me.

No reason for WHINING at all!

~ ~ ~

The first thing I need to do is: 

making a plan.

A structure, and a list 

of what kind of things I want 

to have done.

There will be hubby's postings; following him on his new adventure..:))

There is the house 

ready for spring cleaning;

 lots of stuff to sort through 

and throw out.

There is the garden, 

patiently waiting for a major clean up.

Flower seeds have to be sown indoors.

Birds have to be fed, 

the dog to be walked.

Postings to be written, postings to read.

and so on and so on...

That should keep me busy.

Soon the tourist season will start and

time will fly.

~ ~ ~

The weather today was sultry, with lots of rain and wind. 

Looking at the bright side: the snow is melting rapidly now!

When I pulled up the photos I shot of the blooming crocus last year it wasn't before April 18 they showed up! 

 With a few days of warm weather there IS a chance that they will be "en route" this year as well.

If you like, I will keep you up about how things go.

I am looking forward to you reading my blog.