A Much-Improved Day, I’m Melting!

The Ridge

Thursday, June 10^th was my day off, so Bill let me sleep in. I extended an invite to Gibbs and Bill brought him into bed with me for half hour. It only took him 5 minutes to realize that I wasn’t playing up there. At 6:30 or so, we came downstairs and Gibbs and I said goodbye to Bill. Until I left the house at 8:30, he was very good, sleeping mostly. I put him in his crate and left for Hanover for my shopping trip.

The evidence of the storm
I'll call it Gibbs' Tantrum
I would have loved a spy cam to see how it came about

I call it a trip but it was just to Walmart for our stock up on food. It wasn’t as hot out as it has been for the last few days, which was a wonderful relief. Even the humidity had lessened. Ptooties was reading 23C/73F on her dash but it was beautiful with the breeze. My cart was pretty full when I pulled into a spot in the self-checkout. My preference, sorry if that upsets you, because I like the ease of packing my own bags the way I like, at my own speed, and the staff are always quite fun to chat with. Plus, there is never a line-up. 😊

No sooner had I emptied the bag when
Gibbs jumped into it

Scruff ball 🐶

I drove to Home Hardware where I thought I might run into Bill. He’d informed me that he was going to get wood but I didn’t know where. No meetup so I headed home. After unloading everything, I went to get Gibbs out of his crate. It looked like a Tsunami had hit in there. Gibbs’ blanket was half in his dish, the floor had water all over it and he was very wet from chest to the tips of his feet. What the heck happened?

Gibbs got spoiled

All I can figure is that he was upset when I left him alone and he decided to destroy his home. Well, he did a fine job but ended up having to sit in the wet. ☹ I took him out and put him on his rope leash while I cleaned things up and dried his crate. With his small blanket and a towel on the line, I picked him up and gave him a rub down. It wouldn’t take him long to dry the rest of the way in the heat. I put the groceries away and brought him in throughout the process. He did not get chastised, this was a first.

New location for the Spirea and a hosta  🍃

He was very playful and then became the little monster again. Ringing the bell over and over, in and out and I had a bit of a meltdown. Sometimes I don’t feel like I’m getting through to him and today I raised my voice and spanked his bottom before storming in the house. I know, childish, but I was reaching a point where I felt quite beaten by this little 7 lb. baby. When I went back out a few minutes later, it was like he wanted to make up for it.

And the hosta where the Spirea started
I'm thinking it might not be the fault of the soil (or lack of it)
after all
Maybe I just got a dud plant. The other one is healthy.

He was calm and laid down beside and then on me as I sat in the lawn chair. After a bit of lunch, I changed into work clothes and put Gibbs on his leash. He settled down immediately in the shade by the step as I walked away and went to work weeding in my garden. I dug up a huge hosta that was being hidden by the blue spruce and then moved it to the dreaded hill. I dug up the dying Spirea (suggestion from a commenter) and after splitting the hosta into two, planted them both. Another meltdown on the hill. I slipped a few times but prevented myself from another tumble.

Hard to see in both pictures but a hummer was sitting
in the tree, checking out the feeders

I was feeling like throwing in the towel. On the garden hill, not Gibbs. It isn't fun nor pleasurable any more. It’s quite slippery with rocks and sand underfoot so I can’t wait for the plants to fill in the empty spaces. I’m not too hopeful that the 3 new plantings will take off but it is worth a shot and it’s not costing me anything extra other than a few moments of 'yikes!'. I sat with Gibbs under the awning for another 45 minutes and we both came inside. He was properly worn out after 3 hours of fresh air so I went up for my shower. 😊 Felt great!

When I finished weeding the garden and transplanting
Gibbs made me happy by sitting on my lap, calmly

And then he slept soundly beside me 💓
Back in Mom's good gracious

Bill was home around 4:30 and Gibbs cuddled in his arms for a nice little ‘welcome home, Daddy’. He was really so good all afternoon. He has a new leash, a new brush, some chewies and a new tether rope so I can have one in a couple of different areas. Bill sat in his chair, after he changed, with Gibbs and attempted to brush him. His fur is so long and soft, made even softer when they were done. I can’t say that Gibbs liked it completely but there were parts that he didn’t mind. Bill was patient too and didn't give up trying. 😍

No laughing
I wanted something cool to slip on my feet in the Suite
These very unflattering lightweight slippers were a gift from Akumal, Mx
but obviously One Size only

Bill dozed and I lit the Weber at 5:40 to bbq farmer’s sausage. Yum. We each had some of our rice leftover so I added butter and reheated those while the meat was grilling and the veggies cooked on the stove. Supper was very good but I couldn’t finish my portion of sausage. Obviously, we didn’t need dessert. When dishes were done, we put on appropriate clothing and all 3 of us went out to do some weed-eating. Gibbs supervised as he watched from the patio. Very patiently, I might add.

So, I cut them off behind my heel
Not a pro job by any standards but comfy enough
I like barefeet but with a gravel patio, small tiny stones are so annoying
on the floors. Doesn't matter how many times I sweep.

My machine is lighter weight than Bill’s, making it easy to work with but it wasn’t working properly for some reason. I had to let it cool down, the bolt and string holder came apart and was too hot to handle for half hour. I actually burned my finger trying to fix it right away. Duh! So, I pulled some weeds around one garden by hand and then at 8 I fed Gibbs his supper. He was continuing his good behaviour so I didn’t want to make him wait.

A bad photo of Mr. & Mrs. Goldfinch
taken with my phones zoom 

After a couple of adjustments, fixing the string and putting it back together, my weed trimmer worked better than ever and I was able to carry on. Bill hadn’t stopped except for restringing and gassing up. Once he starts……. It was 9 when I finished and Gibbs had been out after his supper and then waiting inside for us. When I walked in, he was laying by the door and hadn’t touched our shoes or anything. I gave him a couple of treats. 😊

Another delicious supper

Bill wasn’t far behind me and he went up for a shower. I sat to work on my post. We were both feeling that we could have had a snack but it was too late to start eating! I  warmed up some milk and cream to fill that little hole. We worked hard out there for a couple of hours but the weather was perfect to be doing that kind of job. This was an awesome day and I’ve got a couple more bites (again) on some of our things on Kijiji. I hope they pan out or the items are going to the auction a week from Sunday.

It's hard to tell for you, likely

But what an improvement, trimming does!
Good night!

Thank you for your visit!