I hate folding socks

This weekend has been so aaaaaaaaaah with all the alone time. The only scheduled event was a puppy play date for Tabitha. Besides work, this meant making the house look B E A uitful and taking the dogs for long walks. At first the walks were not what I would call enjoyable or fun. They sucked out loud. There was Tabitha dragging along behind fighting her harness and Jim up front dragging me about by his harness. For a little while I contemplated tying them to a tree and walking away but then I remembered that's how the James came about to begin with. And I promised I would never do that because I am better than that and we can work through anything. Sigh. After the second walk of horror my brain was working over time. What if I just went for walks myself and pretended to have them with me? Weak. Ooo! I could ship them to Iowa and Mr. F could walk them! To expensive. I could amputate their legs and have them replaced with little rubber all terrain wheels. Does creativity ever void out moral issues? Well, it should. After dreamily thinking of ways to blow my dogs up without getting caught or making noise, I got a little more practical about the whole thing. You know that little metal circle that holds the harness straps together on the chest? I put the leash hooks there. TA DA! Tabitha no longer has anything to fight because she is now being lead by her chest. She can dig in, but stopping is not an option. Jim is also controlled by his chest so pulling is out of the question. He steps forward to much and he's headed back to me. Ha! He also HATES the feeling the leash makes when it rubs up on his shoulder. Good. Enjoy heeling you bastard.

I know I am not inventing anything new and you know I am not inventing anything new, but have you ever used those front clasp harnesses? No? Yeah, don't. They suck. I personally feel the design of them is lacking. The front ring the leash hook attaches to comes out from the harness making it sit to low and the harness itself goes on weird. Don't get me wrong here, the theory behind it is a great one. Like I said, I just don't like the construction. Whatever. Million dollar idea. Good for them, blah blah blah. The end result is that we have gone on walk after heavenly walk and it's so pleasant and I so enjoy walking the dogs now. Sure, Tabitha's little legs make it more of a saunter but this gives me time to spy on the neighbors while looking totally innocent of such nonsense. Sweet.

I built a tiny little spring pole tug thing for Tabitha. It is the cutest. It's a little larger than the spring size you'd normally use for a screen door. She can barely get it stretched. I attached it to the leg of the futon in the living room. I didn't think hanging it up in a tree was appropriate. It's kind of scary when Jim takes it from her because he'll be on one side of the living room with this spring stretched as far as it'll go. You know he's going to let go at some point. Just thinking about getting whacked in the leg by a fast moving metal spring led by a big heavy rope toy makes me agitated.

I have decided the back yard needs a flower garden along the house. A nice xeric flower garden. Here are the flowers I have chosen:

"Rocky Mountain" Pensemon

Sedum Autumn Joys Blatant name abuse alert!

Centranthus Ruber (Valerian)

Agastache "Desert Sunrise"s

They all do well with about 10 inches of rain per year. Uh huh. They all do well with brutally hot, full sun all day long. Okay. They are all capable of growing in less than ideal situations. Yup. They all grow well in below average soil or clay like soil. Hello? Does that not sound so like my flower garden?!?! I am going to use some of the left over bricks as a nice little border. I am starting them from seeds since it's less expensive. I know I can start plants from seed because I have my chia pet herb garden on my new work space. Very green. Very chia.