Rain . . .

Not hard, but at least it is happening today. Hard to believe that we have had less than half our normal rainfall so far this year. That's on top of being down 7 inches last year. We don't need a gully washer, but could sure use a few days of steady rain. Lawn and flower beds look good, but my water bill will be large. Again. No watering restrictions yet, but it will certainly happen if things don't pick up. I worry the most about all the beautiful trees that have gone through four or five years of drought stress. People seem to forget about the trees, and many boulevard trees will be lost again this year. Wish this weather cycle would come to an end.

The family room floor is covered with "green guts" this morning, as Josie and Argus brought the big stuffed spider in from the deck to play with, and things got rough. How they love unstuffing toys! The spider is now on top of the refrigerator, but Josie is sitting there watching it, like she watches squirrels in trees. The spider was a gift from Cheyenne & her mom and makes a wonderful puppy toy, so I'll stitch him back together for future use. Just minor damage so far. Josie and Argus absolutely adore the toy, but they play far too rough.

A mystery similar to the one that involves missing socks (how can you put pairs of socks in the wash but end up with singles?). I dropped off two items at the library on Sunday evening using the same drop off box. The book was logged in, the tape was not. When I stopped in to pay my overdue fine yesterday noon, they had no record of the tape being returned. So where did it go? Presumably it will turn up. I finished an excellent tape AND an excellent book last weekend. Both the kind that is so good you just hate to see it end. Since getting a new library card this spring (or was it winter?) I have gotten maximum usage out of it and have enjoyed a number of excellent mysteries, as books, tapes and CDs. The latter sure make long trips easier. I have a stack of dog and fish magazines next to the bed, that I SHOULD read, but the mysteries are hard to resist. When Jess was a toddler, before I went back to work, I used to enjoy mysteries. When I started working full time I let my library card lapse and only read an occasional mystery usually a Dick Francis horsey mystery. Now I have discovered Michael Connolly, the Kellermans and others. After a lapse of 30 years (OH MY) I have rediscovered the joys of juicy mysteries.

Gem is doing great in her new home. I sometimes regret that I did not keep her to show and especially to breed, as Gem had a number of particularly nice features including a gorgeous front (very hard to get in this breed, any breed), but she has a perfect such a perfect home, and gets to do so much more than she would have done here. A recent email from Michelle mentions -

Gemmie LOVES water and swimming. We hiked a bit and came along the Brushy Creek and an awesome area to let Anna and her cousin swim. I don't force a dog to get in the water. I let them choose with their trust in me and the situation, especially now that we are forming our bond. Well we walked the creeked and the girls swam the deep portions, while Brook and I went to the bank. We didn't have suits on. Spyder is a huge swimmer and Gemmie followed her lead. She would run up and down and jump in, leap in the air. It was fun to watch.

Gemmie also had the photo shoot at work. They put her on a seamless background to clip her out. She had to sit and lay down with a birthday hat on and "pose". I told them we would see how it goes. No guarantees as she is a young dog with a short attention span and I wasn't going to push her for a couple interior book shots at her age and this stage in our relationship. Well the photographer had all the shots she needed within 10 minutes. Gemmie posed beautifully. Afterward we toured the Creative dept. where I work and everyone met her and gave her a treat. We were in and out of work within a 1/2 hour. Very positive experience.

I'm looking forward to seeing Gem's pictures. With her cute expressive face, sparkling black eyes, and rich coloring, Gem should be very photogenic.