The Bachelor

 Last week, Rob was out of town and I was the bachelor, home with two kids, spending all my time trying to potty train one of them.  

I kept to most of our routines...but I enjoyed sleeping late.  

Lots of progress was made in teaching me to sense when the puppy needed out.  I suppose that's a form of potty training.  She did learn what "no" means.  And, she spends more time in the crate and less time in my lap during the workday.  

The biggest thing was I teaching her to crate at night, which means getting up to let her out.  That's been a whole 'nother adventure.  I started out setting an alarm, but now I just let her out when I get up.  

We made significant progress.  And, I reminded myself frequently that' she's only 3 months old and sometimes, she loses track of what is "good dog!" and what is "NO".

And, I enjoyed playing in the yard and looking at the pretty flowers.  

This week's new bloom was this daylily.  It's named Charlene's Patio.  It's a hybrid of my Mom's and she gave it to my Aunt Charlene who planted it near her patio.  And, they gave me a fan.

There were also Evolvulus (sp) flowers.  This is a great ground cover for places that get part shade.  It can be a little hard to control and will roll over anything that's smaller, so I have to be diligent with it in shady spots.  

The 4 o'clocks have started to bloom.  These take over if I'm not careful.  I planted seeds about 5 years ago and they just keep coming back, year after year.  

And, the coneflowers are really getting started, including the non-traditional colors.  This red one opened and I saw a yellow one about to open last night and an orange one on the way.  

Plus the yellow and orange daylilies are going strong.  I believe every daylily has a scape this year.  Some of them have never bloomed here before and I'm looking forward to seeing what colors they are.  

And, then there are these.  Do you have a plant that you love and hate?  I love the blue flowers on this plant.  I think it's a dayflower.  But, it's so aggressive!  It reproduces by seed and root and the roots are deep, so I can't just walk by and pull it out from everywhere it's trying to take a start.  I need the weeding tool or I just break it off and it comes right back with two stems instead of one.  I've pulled it out of places 35 feet from this place, which is the only place I let it grow.  

While the puppy slept last week, I tried to rest.  I did a pretty good job of it, too.  I spent a good bit of time reading, including some time just sitting in the yard with a book.  It was nice, but I had to force myself to do it.  I'm glad I did.  

Everybody have a great week!  Do what you enjoy and enjoy what you do.  I sometimes struggle with that.  Not the doing what I enjoy part, but sometimes the enjoying what I'm doing.  I get caught up and frustrated when things don't turn out just right.  

And, it's a good thing puppies are cute or I'd have wrung this one's neck.  I wasn't actually being held captive like my face says.  I was focused on getting a picture before she wheeled around and tried to bite me on the nose again.  She's got a thing for noses and ears and has drawn blood on us both.

Lane