The sheltered area on the right side of the picture is under the back deck, an ideal place for the dog mats and their food dishes. From there to the backyard it used to be all grass, until Emma came to live with us. She made her own roads all over the yard, wore the grass down and carved her own path into the dirt by the back door.
That dirt was tracked into the house faster than I could vacuum it up. Something had to be done.
We shoveled out a path that was a bit wider than Emma’s own homemade runway, and it was my job to lay bricks on either side of it. “I put two bricks at the side,” the Captain said. “Did you move that one to the middle of the path?”
“Nope. Ask Emma.” She’ll steal anything – caps, gloves, underwear, and now bricks.
The dogs kept getting underfoot so I gave them a short timeout while I took their picture.
The Captain had cut a stick 40 inches long for me to use as a measure so the path would be the same width all along. He painted the ends black so I’d know this was the special measuring stick.
“Where did you put the stick?” I asked.
“Over by the wheelbarrow.”
Mistake!
We had to go looking for the stick. Lying in the grass some distance away was the measuring stick with most of the black missing on one end, and now measuring only 36 inches.
Underfoot again, Ruby is trying to be a black and white spaniel instead of liver and white. Check out the feet that will want to curl up on the living room rug later on.
And this little hellion (below) is dirtier than her black coat allows us to see, but if you click on the photo you’ll see the dirt magnified. Look on her feet, her nose, the ends of her ears, and the flag on her tail. She’s SO dirty. But that’s what happens when you run under the shovelful of flying dirt that is heaved out of the path to make room for the crushed rock.
To help keep the weeds down, we put down some landscape matting that is supposed to let water through but keep weeds down.
The Captain will finish filling up the path with crushed rock, but then comes the dilemma. Do we let the dogs inspect the new path while we go into the house? Emma is a thief, a chewer, and a notorious hole digger. Do we dare leave her out here? I have a picture in my mind that I can’t shake off. It’s an image of Emma having dug a deep hole in the middle of the crushed rock path, grabbing a hold of the landscaping mat and running around the backyard with her prize trailing behind her like a bridal train.
Life was easier when we had cats.
No question about cats being so much easier to care for than dogs. Depending on your experiences of course. Having had dogs for so many years now I believe the next pet will be a cat. Nice work on the path. 👍🏻
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I love them both, but I don’t remember our cats chewing up my slippers or dragging one of them to another place in the house (I can often be see walking around with one slipper on, looking for the other.
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Your dogs looks so sweet! Ah, my cats are plenty of work ;).
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Thoughts so; cats are not that easy after all??
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They are easy in that you can get a rest without a cat bothering you all the time. But they are not easy in that people think you can just let them be on their own and they need love and affection and taking care of their health and picky eating habits.
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I find it exasperating when people say cats are independent so they just stick them outside and make sure they have water. They can find their own food. Others will put the food down but they haven’t heard of animals needing love and affection.
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Have you noticed that the more animals get that love and affection (and care) the more responsive, shiny, and even smart they appear? It’s true with humans, too, as evidenced by those extreme cases of child neglect you hear about every so often.
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So true. My friend has adopted some dogs that are in rough shape and after a few months with her you wouldn’t know it was the same dog. The love and affection she gives them is paid back many times over.
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Aww, that is so wonderful to see!!!
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Well, maybe they are a bit of work too, but cats are happy to lie down in a sunny spot for hours, while Emma is “in my face” wondering “What are we going to do now, huh, huh, huh?”
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Yes, that’s so true. I don’t like though how some people take it too far with cats and think they are able to care for themselves.
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Yes, easier!
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Haha, I’m quite familiar with problems like this. That’s the retriever for you. 🙂 Lovely, utterly gorgeous dogs and what a great new path you got for your clever helpers, Anneli!
Wishing you a relaxing weekend,
Dina & co
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Thanks, Dina. There’s never a dull moment around here with those two. Have a great weekend.
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Nice work, Anneli! I love the time-out photo…both appear so innocent. 🙂 Happy Weekend!
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Innocent, eh? Ha ha. It’s a good thing we love them so much.Enjoy your weekend, Jill.
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Sweet dogs and quite the enterprise!
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Yes, a big job for old backs. I would hate to see it dismantled by the “sweet dogs” after all that work. 😉
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They’re so sweet, and I loved looking at the photos. The one where the two of them are sitting, is priceless … they look so innocent! 🙂
Did you ever find that brick?
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Oh, yeah. Things get dragged off here and there. When anything goes missing around here, I always tell the Captain the same thing – go ask Emma.
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I hope that’s the solution and not a new place to dig! Next step would be a doggie wash and blow-dry station.
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I’ve set up their two wading pools but the water was muddy in no time. I’ll work on that more when the weather warms up a bit. For now, it’s a little rubber washtub in the laundry room and they get a foot bath before coming in to destroy the house. I think Emma is due for a complete shower though.
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Maybe you should have used re-inforced concrete?! 😉 But whatever else they are: you certainly have two cuties!
Have a great weekend,
Pit
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We thought of that, but we weren’t sure how far we wanted to go with the path. This way, it’s semi-temporary and we’ll see how it works out. Cement may still be an option for later on. I would like that better, actually, but there’s also a time factor right now.
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Well, I’d always prefer gravel over concrete.
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At least it’s not as permanent.
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I thought sure you were going to say Emma came up with a Chinaman. 🙂 Hope the rest of your weekend is more enjoyable.
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Isn’t that funny? When we were kids, digging holes in the ground we always wondered if we kept digging, would we come out in China, or maybe Australia. I bet a lot of kids thought about that.
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Sweet dogs but a lot of retrieving to do for the both of YOU – LOL
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Yeah, they’re training US to do the retrieving instead of the other way around.
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It will be a nice path, if Emma leaves it alone! I can’t believe she chewed 4 inches off your measuring stick.
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I don’t know how many mops and brooms and rakes she has dragged out into the backyard and chewed the ends off.
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Dogs. Beautiful backyard. B.C. What else could one possibly want?
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I feel pretty lucky. You really should make that trip out west one day!
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Ich weiß gar nicht, was du hast, die zwei gucken ganz lieb und unschuldig. 🙂
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That’s because I made them sit still for a minute (well, maybe 30 seconds). You need to see Emma in action. I think you have an idea, going by what you’ve said about Felix. They are both still looking for mischief.
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🙂 Dann würden sie sich gut mit Felix verstehen. 😀
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Das ist sicher!
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great post and photos! wonderful dilemma too… cats or dogs.
I’ve had both and sometimes at the same time. now with 4 shelter rescue cats for the last 7 years…… And. they are just as bad as 4 bloody Kids!! whiners, bullies, mama’s boy, piggy pants, chew my plants, my art brushes, ready to pull my hair out….. (my dogs weren’t pests!)
But, I love them 🙂 and they are funny!
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LOL! You reminded me of how my cats used to get up on my lap when I was writing something and they’d try to get onto the page, and if that didn’t get my attention they’d chew on the pen as I was writing. I guess when it wiggled they thought I was playing cat and mouse. They were pests but we loved them just as you do yours.
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I know! I do love your pics of your sweet looking dogs, they are so beautiful 🙂
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I have to come up with other blog material. I think people might be getting tired of the dog posts, nice as the dogs may be…. But I’m glad you’ve enjoyed them so far.
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I hear you! and one never knows, which topics are going to work or not. and for how long, or why. let alone the tech aspects of seo, keywords, blah, blah blah.. 😦
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Right. So something different will happen next time. Not sure what yet.
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Your dogs are definitely independent and naughty as the “dickens,” Anneli! They get underfoot, steal items, bite off inches and those feet are decidely dirty and yucky bodies, too. Of course, they both are cute and put “Who me?” looks on their faces and appear irresistible sitting and looking well behaved, upon picture-taking moments! 😀
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You’ve got their number exactly!
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