Toys, Eyes and Such

First off, our neighbor is a saint. Some of you may remember that he dug out the section of the irrigation ditch that was in front of our house and then when the county complained because it was all piled on the road in front of our house (which gave the view out of our door a distinctly World War I trench look), he moved all of the dirt off the road and into one of the corners of one of his fields.

Well... I was out with the dogs on Friday when a man on an ATV stopped by and asked if we would mind if they (meaning the men who work for my neighbor) sprayed our pasture for weeds, since apparently the government weed control people have contacted Roger (our neighbor) though they haven't contacted us. I said, "umhmm... sure. The entry is right there." I'm not sure if they've sprayed or not because I then left to run errands but isn't that pretty incredible? So... if any of you have suggestions of nice things to do for neighbors who you don't know and whom you have never been inside their house, please let us know!

But all of that to explain the picture below... we decided we needed to do a wee bit better job controlling the weeds that we have growing around our property. So on Saturday we bit the bullet and Reid went and bought us a new toy... though you can see who is enjoying it the most!

(Boys with their Toys!)

Now to change to puppy subject (which I'm sure is incredibly boring for most of you), as if there is an internal clock programmed in, they all began opening their eyes yesterday! Some are more open than others and all of them still look like a cross between being stoned and blind, but they do have eyes! Unfortunately, they are not all gaining weight. So when I get done posting and then showering I'm off to the vet's office to pick up some supplement. I'm hoping that will give them all the boost they need.

(Looking at this picture, doesn't it make you glad that we as humans generally only have one at a time??)

(Not sure how this can be a comfortable place to sleep, but Squeaker worked hard to get there!)

(Don't look now, but even sleeping you can see that Mohawk, formerly twin boy, is opening his eyes... you can really see in 2 Spot and Mohawk that at least one of the daddies in the mix was a cattle dog! Look at those grey spots)

(Need a comfortable place to sleep? How about mom's face??)

And another thing... Glory knows how to climb! We've transitioned her and the puppies from our bathroom to the guest bathroom (more room for her and a little quieter at night for us). And Saturday morning I heard a thump, looked up and there was Glory in the dining room... but the baby gate was still up in front of the guest bathroom door. I hoped and prayed that it was just a flook. Last night she did it again at 2am. After going outside we came back in and I double-baby-gated her in for the rest of the night, praying that she was not dumb enough to try and climb two as she would certainly break something on the fall on the other side. I told Reid when he woke up this morning that Glory was practicing should she be called to be an extra in a WWI epic (Going over the top... get it?? :). And then after breakfast this morning I put her back in with her pups so Tater could eat his breakfast. I even switched baby gates I put in front of her as I figured the diamond plastic would be harder to climb than the wire cross-hatches... alas, no. She was up and over that thing in no time flat. So, while in DC, I will be looking for baby gates that are vertical bars without horizontal bars that hopefully she can't climb.

(Lying on the "correct" side of the baby gate, plotting how to climb it... though with that nursing picture up above, how could you blame her??)

(Especially when this is what is laying in the other room! Don't worry Glory... it won't be long before you can join him)

And one last world war reference, I think I'm beginning to understand what it must have been like to live in a "safe" part of England during WWII... I obviously don't duck for cover, but the crop dusting planes take off from the Monte Vista airport which is literally about a mile from our house every morning... and then fly back and forth several times so close that it sounds like they might touch our roof. Their planes are pretty cool to look at, but at 6:30 in the morning I would rather be asleep.