Flowers, backhoes & dogs, of course!

One of Kona's (our black dog) rear legs is bothering him. Back in April, the vet said it was impacted inward at the knee. We're not sure if it could be the roughhousing he does with his sister (we've seen her ram into him pretty hard but he bounces back for more) or maybe a moose finally lashed back at him for chasing her. After 4-5 weeks of restricting physical activity for him, more like him holding it up not using it, he was finally starting to put some weight on the foot. His leg looked very unstable, bowing in at the knee as he walked. Scott trimmed the hair from the bottom of the paw, it was over an inch long from not using it for so long. All his muscle on his leg/thigh had atrophied.

We went back to the vet for x-rays at the end of May, he said it didn't look promising. The knee bone looks bad, maybe a tumor there (?) and no cartlidge left. The vet suggested amputation just above the knee, ugh. We decided to think about it for a bit, knowing Kona was using it at times, being hopeful and also not looking forward to the expense. It doesn't slow him down too much, but he is protective of it, quickly throwing himself down before Sissy can ram into him (she's also learned to jump over him rather than trip over him when he does this). Boy, that Kona seems to have a health problem of somekind that drives us to the vet about once a month or more. The gals there joke about his monthly visit : }

Anyway, Scott had to go into Anchorage yesterday, he took Sissy. So I ran some errands out Palmer way, taking Kona. I stopped at a friend's to checkout her flowers and have some doggy play time for Kona, and to check in with her, since I hadn't heard from her in MONTHS (Hello MB!!) : ) She had several beautiful bunches of blooming flowers, but these here flowers always enamor me.

Fuchsias....

Red and Purple Fuchsias, I'd think they'd be the flower of choice for the Red Hatters! (but what do I know, I'm not even 40 yet, whew!).

It was a sunny day, can you tell?

Oh, and here's Kona with Lilly.... : )

Again, looking thru the flower vines where I was taking pics of fuchsias. I think the vines were hanging from the purple petunias, but petunias are petunias, they don't enamor me...tho they did look cool, full/bushy, flowery, purple. Ok, I only took one picture of them but it didn't do them justice so I'm not sharing it, so there!

When Kona and I got home, we found Scott hard at work, power washing his new (new to him, it's probably 10-20 yrs old really) toy, uh, tool.

The BACKHOE!

Oh oh, I think he's smiling! He's having fun, even though he's finding what's REALLY under all those grease balls. Hmmm, maybe he's just focusing, squinting, and it draws up his upper lip like a smile...could get messy tho with that back spray (hence the rainsuit he's wearing). I can't remember if I took this shot before or after he knew I was peeking out around the corner at him, zooming in, catching him in the act...

He'll be using this to do alot of the dirt work for our little business that we started this year, installing and renting out mailboxes in Cluster Box Units (CBUs). They're metal boxes on pedastals with 16 mailboxes, an outgoing mail slot and 2 small parcel boxes (USPS approved, manufactured in KS for USPS, contractors & distributors). Scott dreamt this up as a way to keep him busy and for us to make money, maybe, in 5-10 years... : }

There's only 1 other company in town that installs these mailbox units besides private contractors & Homeowners Assoc. so he knew we had opportunity. Like many construction businesses in Alaska, we only have a limited number of months in which we can excavate to install them, so Scott's going at it. I help out with the administrative work : ) We're hoping by the time the "season" runs out that he'll find a job (with pay). Wow, it's been 3 months since he was laid off; how time flies, and money!

Dogs who graze & Blooms

Ahhhh, the garden is finally planted. All except the herb seedlings have been transplanted or planted as seed. Seeds: carrots, radishes, spinach, beans (bush) & seed potatoes (Iditareds). Seedlings: Cabbage, Cauliflower, Brocolli (the 3 favorites of Moose), Lettuce (head), Zucs, Tomatoes, Cucumbers and even a pumpkin plant. Yum! I look forward to harvest already : ) Oh, but it's a long way off...a long time to try to keep the moose from devouring & trampling it all.... : (

It's cloudy today, good time to take some pics. I won't bore you with pics of dirt, since there's just tiny sprouts or seeds in the ground. But I think there's something blooming out there in our yard somewhere.

The dogs are taking a break from their playing, oh, they hear me opening the door ... Who is that peeking at me from under Sissy? I can just barely see Kona's brown eyes shining out from his black fur.

Off we tromp to check out the flowers, but heah! Grass anyone?

Ahhh, fiber!

Don't strain yourself Kona, you're not picky are you?

Ok, doggies, lets move on.

Hmmmm, wait do you smell something?

Alright, a few poses then let's find some flowers.... (besides the dandelions!)

That's right don't look at me. Give me the attentive, perky look; anything but the "ugh, it's that camera thingy in my face again" look! You two are rather cute, in your own ways!

Ah! Wild Flowers, in June!

Our Alaska Wild Rose, growing wild, everywhere.

Wild Geraniums! I transplanted a few of these beside our garden a few years ago so we could see them to enjoy them more often.

This....Well, I keep forgetting what it is! I think it's a pea plant of some kind. They're 6-7 feet tall, prickly bushes, and produce little pods after they flower, but I don't think they're edible, not normally, not by me anyway.... My neighbor had given me 6 or so of these bushes (tall sticks with roots) a few years ago, and I ask her almost every year what it's called. I should write it down, some year.