aries at the door

x-ix-xi

Woke to thunder and lightning and water falling from the sky...looks like we got about an inch and a half early this morning, with maybe another half inch on the way. Woo hoo! I took the selkie out in it for half an hour; we ran across four crows playing in a puddle in the park, laughing their heads off.

x-viii-xi

sprinkles today

garden camping x!

My tenth backyard adventure this year.

The utility district abutting ours has put out signs declaring, "Stage 3 emergency watering restrictions - absolutely no outdoor watering of any kind." Our district hasn't gone that far yet (we can still hand-water) but probably will soon. Crazy dire. We need days and days of ar-eh-eye-en (we dare not speak its name lest we jinx it). It's been close a few times lately, but keeps missing us. We had a nice breeze last evening - nothing better than falling asleep to wind in the leaves - and a 40 percent chance of something something over the weekend. Cross your hope springs.



A handheld 10-second exposure (+5 EV).

things that sneak up on you

The new exhibit at the Blanton moved me deeply. Go see El Anatsui - When I Last Wrote to You About Africa if you have a chance. (I couldn't stay very long - a couple of his sculptures are so beautiful they made me want to cry.)

x-ii-xi

comfort

x-i-xi

garden camping ix

Just keeping score. I've almost made it to the x's!

The neighbor has chimney swallows who squabble all night. Arguing over roosts, maybe?

chillin'

ix-xxix-xi

Under mostly cloudy skies and only 89 degrees (instead of over 100 as it has been), Ondine and I jogged from home to Cat Hollow, then walked a half-mile and back on a gravel path, then jogged back home from the park.

She's leading me back into running.

o training note

After nine full months of trial and error with a variety of collars and harnesses - including a front-pull harness, a head collar, a limited-slip martingale, and a sturdy Ruffwear harness - and months of carefully timing our walks to encounter as few cars as possible, a scary encounter with a truck last week convinced me to go against my instincts and try a pinch collar. The transformation has been miraculous. Ondine is terrific with it. She doesn't object at all to having it put on (as she does to every other option we've tried) and it really helps her maintain her composure when cars go by. I'm kicking myself for not trying it months ago. It's not a permanent solution - we're working on correcting a very specific, very dangerous problem - so now the challenge will be to work her back into a regular collar by consistently, patiently reinforcing her when she stays calm. Wish us luck!

In other news, I discovered tonight that she LOVES it when I sing her songs from Hair and Godspell. Hippy.

And this is just a gratuitous grab shot of Fawkes. Note that his cheek is a little slobbery. (No worries. He's a more-than-equal partner in that game.)