This weekend we planted a little garden in the backyard. The garden looks very nice, but we had ulterior motives for planting it. It seems that Benjamin & Henry have taken a real liking to lifting their leg and peeing on he screen of the screened-in pool area. Which of course means that the pee comes through the screen and gets on the pool deck and the lanai. We have fussed at them a million times for doing it, but they just look at us like, “Look, you trained me to go potty in the yard and technically I am in the yard so I don’t think I am doing anything wrong.”
So, we figured there was only one way to beat them at their own game. Plant some of their favorite plants, so that they have something to water other than the screen. Plus, the garden sorta acts like a barrier and keeps them away for the screen a bit. I say a bit, because none of them are above tramping through the garden. So far our plan is working and the boys’ attention has been diverted from the screen to the freshly planted plants.
The other thing you might noticed is that we have put down rocks rather than mulch. If we had put down mulch, Benjamin & Henry would have thought they hit the lottery. They love to chew on and eat mulch. So if we had put down mulch we would have never been able to let them lounge in the yard again.
So, Little Luna had plenty of opportunities to remind us this weekend of what a good girl she is and just how mischievous her big bros can be.
Last night Space Shuttle Endeavour blasted into space and we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of it as it headed into space. To me, being able to watch the shuttle launches from your driveway, is one of the really cool things about living in Central Florida. Sure, it isn’t as exciting as being at Kennedy Space Center, but with all the launches that get scrubbed by NASA it is pretty cool to be able to walk outside of your house with 30 seconds left in the countdown and see the shuttle go up.
The pugs had no idea that the space shuttle was going up and they starred at me from the door wondering what in the world I was doing standing in the driveway pointing that thing that normally points at them up to the sky.
When I was out at Walmart this weekend, I saw an assortment of kiddie pools all lined up. I immediately thought of Benny, Henry & Luna and thought that since Benny & Luna don’t really care much for the pool since they can’t touch the bottom that this would be the perfect way for them to cool off while everyone else was swimming. So we splurged and spent the $8.00 on the pool and went to the checkout with huge grins on our faces.
It was plenty hot this weekend and we couldn’t wait to cool off on the pool on Saturday. So, before we got in we setup the pugs’ new puppy pool. They were immediately interested in what we were doing, but Benjamin & Luna got a little less interested when they saw that we were putting water in the pool.
After everything was setup, we plopped Henry in the pool. He turned around in a circle and immediately jumped out of the pool. He simply could not be seen in such a baby pool.
Next in was Luna, and this came as a complete shock to us, but little Luna like the pool the best! She walked around a bit, and stood (she would not sit) there cooling down.
Benjamin was very confused by the pool and was not sure why we had purchases such a big water bowl. When we put him in the pool he just walked around lapping up all the water and throughout the day he kept walking over to the pool, sticking his head over the edge and helping himself to a refreshing drink.
Even though Luna liked the pool, she didn’t really want to be in there all by herself.
After the pugs had a chance to play in there pool, I think the general consensus was that the next time I am in Walmart, I should only visit the grocery side of the store and I should not come home unless I have treats for pugs. Oh, well! At least the cat liked the pool!
There is nothing the pugs seem to enjoy more than freshly cut grass. As soon as we are done mowing, the pugs are very anxious to get out int the yard and run and roll around. There is just something about the smell and feel of the grass that just gets them all fired up.
Benjamin really runs around like a mad man and with the summer heat his face gets dirty real quick. Just look at how filthy his wrinkles are in the picture above. His face gets dirty so quickly and he has the deepest wrinkles. We use Malacetic wipes to clean him up and while he isn’t fond of them he does let us wipe out his wrinkles. More details on wrinkle cleaning to come, I am just amazed at how quickly Benny’s wrinkles get dirty compared to the other two. What about your pugs? How often do their wrinkles need to be cleaned?
So the snake saga continues. I see my friend the black racer a few times each week. I can’t be 100% sure that it is the same snake, but I like to tell myself that we only have one. However, this guy in the picture is definitely not a black racer. I found him in the gutter in front of my house and as soon as I saw him the little rhyme, “red on yellow can kill a fellow” popped into my head. I looked him up in a little book that I have and I believe it is a coral snake.
Other than that, I have spotted a grayish snake in the backyard as well. He was very hard to spot because it looked like he was trying to go under ground. I’m not exactly sure what was going on.
As you can tell, I don’t really know that much about snakes. I’m not really sure why we have so many either. We do have a lot of frogs, so I guess they are here for them.
They just make me a little nervous because it seems like we are always stumbling upon one. I guess, I am going to have to read up on snakes and other Florida wildlife so that I am just more prepared.
I have been having a lot of fun learning how to make videos, so I thought I would try my hand at a little video montage of the boys swimming with some pictures of Luna thrown in there. Unfortunately, Luna’s swimming videos from this weekend didn’t turn out too good. I think she sabotaged them on purpose once she heard I was making a montage. She wants her own video and she doesn’t want to share screen time with the boys! She is a pretty woman after all! I hope you enjoy!
Summer has officially arrived and the current weather here in Florida is not very pug friendly. Heck, it isn’t really people friendly either. On some days it is downright hot. Because of the heat, the pugs haven’t been keeping to their normal routine. They no longer go out for a walk when I get off work, instead they just go out long enough to do their business and then everyone retreats back to the air conditioned house.
We have pushed their normal long walk back to around 9:30ish at night. By this time, it is completely dark and while it is still hot, the pugs are able to cope with the heat. In an ideal world, I would get up early and give the pugs a nice long walk in the morning before things warm up, but with my current work load and schedule that just isn’t going to happen. I wish I could muster it, but I know for a fact that it just isn’t going to happen.
Because we have been walking so late at night, our walks have been restricted to just around the neighborhood. On the weekends we usually try to go to the park or the beach or someplace fun, but since we are going out at odd hours of the night that pretty much rules all of those places out. This is the hardest on Henry as he really likes to mix things up and he can easily get bored with walking the neighborhood each night. We try to take a different route each night, but there are only so many possible combinations that is it pretty impossible to give Henry all the variety that he needs.
But despite the fact that they don’t get out nearly as much in the heat, the pugs are taking it all in stride. They spend the cooler hours of the morning lounging around the pool and they move inside when it gets unbearably hot. One day this week, Henry was laying outside soaking up the sun’s rays when I saw him get up and plop himself down on the first step of the pool. This cracked me up because he has never gotten in the pool when no one else was swimming. He just had all he could take of the sun and he just wanted to cool himself off. When I went out to keep an eye on him, he looked at me like, “What, you do the same thing all the time!”
I’m glad to see that Henry is resourceful, but now I have to keep a really close eye on him because he knows that he can’t go swimming when there is no lifeguard on duty!
