New Bed

I was cutting back some big unruly grasses in the beautiful sunshine this morning when Dana and Blake came by for coffee and a play date. I noticed that Spike had made a bed out of all the grasses I had put on the ground in a semi-neat pile, spreading them out a bit and lying down right in the middle of the rearranged pile. We were but a few feet away on the porch sitting on the newly arranged chairs drinking our coffee and he couldn't decide whether to stay on his  bed of grasses or sit next to Dana on the loveseat. She solved his dilemma by making a bed out of the box the chair came in and putting it on the porch! There will probably be more boxes. Almost all our outdoor furniture is full of big ember burns and will eventually have to be replaced, but probably not just as the rains are starting.

This won't be all-Spike-pictures-all-the-time but it is quite pleasant when there is nothing else to do but drink coffee in the sun, watch Spike and chat. It's funny that Spike wants nothing to do with his fancy Costco memory foam bed but he loves his box full of straw. He is a silly dog.

 He is still compelled to keep track of where everyone is so he can be right with them, but becomes manic when some of us are inside and some outside....we're still working on teaching him to use the dog door, but there are times when being able to shut the door is necessary....

Pedro came by and we discussed plans for rebuilding the black metal hog wire fence with metal posts outside our bedroom, and leveling the bed where the fig tree was. That and rebuilding the white wall will be the last of the major reconstruction projects...maybe.

I mopped the floor for the umpteenth time and am still getting up massive amounts of black sooty dust which means it is still coming in on feet both canine and human. Trying to get John to leave his sooty shoes at the door is about as successful as getting Ozzie and Spike to leave their feet there! I hope the fairly light rain we had yesterday was just the right amount to settle the ash and soot and encourage it to return to the soil.

Jim has gone to visit his mother in Indiana. I don't think he wouldn't go just as the virus seems to be spiking again if he didn't feel it was necessary to do it now. He had a negative test result this morning and I'm sure he will take all possible precautions. We wish him a safe journey.