So quiet

Our dwarf flowering crabapple was thick with blossoms
but it got hit by a late (and hopefully last) frost. The frost
also killed the tender new leaves on a few of the trees,
but they managed to put out some more.

Scarlett went home last week and Toquima went back to his home on Wednesday evening. We don't even have the puppy, Finn, anymore.

I'm becoming a bee keeper. The hive
is painted and bees arrive next week.

He went back to the vet on Tuesday to have his splint checked. I had messed up and left him without the cone on Monday night and he chewed into the bandage so I knew it would need to be replaced. In the process of doing so they discovered a nasty case of foot rot because the bandage had gotten wet. They felt he should stay in the hospital for a few days without the splint so the skin could dry and heal. He also needs to be kept on complete crate rest without the splint on his leg so he's going into boarding for the next week when he leaves the vet's office. That's mostly my fault for not keeping his foot dry and for leaving him alone too long without the cone. But I think it's for his benefit to go into boarding. If he was crated here 24/7, with all the other dogs running around, he'd go crazy, drive me crazy, and quite possibly end up hurting his un-splinted leg in the process. He's going to be miserable for a while, but it's his quickest road to full recovery. He's young, I think the leg will heal quickly.

As a consequence of all this, we are down to seven dogs at home now, our six plus Max, and I should probably quit fooling myself about Max. It seems quiet without the puppy, and feeding time goes so quickly I have to double check and make sure I didn't forget someone. 

I leave for Kansas a week from Saturday, and I've still been busy with yard and garden stuff around here, so it's a good time to have fewer dogs. My container garden was fully planted in two fast, furious, and expensive days this past weekend. Until recently the weather has been very cooperative, sunny days and low humidity, perfect for spring time yard work. 

After securing the staves with self-tapping screws, I cut one
of the barrels in half to make planters. The other one will be
a grill table.

Maya continues to frequent breweries. Here she
is at Blue Mountain Brewery's barrel house where
I bought two whiskey barrels at a bargain price.

This empty spot had been an overgrown mass of vines. I have
several beds like this in the yard and I've reclaimed them this
year. This one will be home to my new container-based perennial
garden, with day lilies planted in the ground around them.
This bed had mostly honey suckle vine and Virginia creeper,
the one infested with poison ivy was much worse.

That's Scarlett behind the fence, keeping watch over a small
flock of migrating pink flamingos that were displaced by
one of my bed clearing projects.

Toquima cooling in the shade after a good romp in the pasture with Theo, et al. 

Finn at the vet's office.

Theo, relaxing near Toquima, with ball in his mouth.