Alex says Happy 4th of July! Alex was a good model for the Stars & Stripes until Bella got into the act.

psssssttt ... hey alex ...

i think that’s my tiara!

hah! got it!

my tiara ... mine, all mine ...

ahhh… see how good it looks on me?

Here’s hoping your 4th of July weekend looks good on you too!

As you already know, our nearly ten-month-old Berner Bella loves the water. She has gone in the pool once before but I was not smart enough with the video camera to actually turn it “on.” sigh. Okay, today was not perfect pool weather and the temperature has not increased any (still 70-ish degrees), but we had to dunk ourselves today in the tiny sunny window that we had. Hey, after nearly another inch of rain in the past two days I think we need to take advantage of any short sunlit opportunity that comes our way.

You can view Bella’s super cool movie one of three ways:

The best quality with a fast internet connection can be viewed here:
http://gallery.me.com/bmtndog/100200

You can view it on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ15Nl61lZs

Or you can watch it here:

I was manning the video, but Rick did all the super editing of the movie and he is responsible for the end result.

I hope it makes you smile!

hello to all my adoring fans out there. i know you’ve been waiting to see me post again. mom has sort of taken over for me since she got a new keyboard and the keys are smaller. i’ve been growing and growing and being really really good and then being really really bad. anyway, you don’t want to hear about the bad things, really you don’t. i think they love me anyway but sometimes it’s hard to tell like when mom’s face gets all red and steam comes out of her ears. like yesterday when she came out of the grocery store to find i had pulled up and chewed on the carpet in the back of the truck. oops.

anyway i’m supposed to be telling you about the pool ...

here’s the thing: i really really really really like water. i’ve always had my front feet in the water bucket and i like to stick my head below the water level to drink. it’s just what i do. mom and dad found an old kid’s wading pool under the deck where pool junk is stored that was left behind by the people who used to live here. it had some holes in it so dad fixed it up with black stuff. i liked it! just like a big drinking bowl. cool. but i tried to get the black stuff off.

then they opened up this really really big thing with water in it. i’ve been running over the top of the cover that was on it all winter long. mom always yelled at me when i did that but it was fun. i knew they were doing something out there in the yard with the thing last week and i couldn’t wait to go and see what it was. the minute mom opened the door i ran right down to it. i drank it. yucko! tastes funny. i pawed at it. i almost felled in. twice. mom and dad thought i would for sure just jump right in but i didn’t.

a couple of days after that mom and dad put this other cover over it. it looks like water but it isn’t. anyway, mom and dad were outside the pool area weeding and they heard a huge splash. when they looked up they saw me fly out of the pool by the stairs with my tail between my legs. i was totally wet. i know what happened but they don’t. they don’t know if i jumped or fell in. i know and i’m not tellin. i ran and ran and ran around the yard with water flying off of me. i was cold!!!!! i didn’t stop running around for a long time. i don’t know if i’ll try that again. it was scary.

then they put this funny thing in there. it moves around and it tried to get me but i barked at it and told it what-for. mom says it’s cleaning the pool but i don’t care. i don’t like it much.

i’m sure i’ll have more adventures with the pool this summer. i might even really get in if mom and dad are in there too. i still can’t figure it out. but i will. don’t you worry.

UPDATE! Saturday afternoon.
i did it! i wented in the pool! dad got in and called me to him and i jumped right in and swam to him. dad caught me and held me for a minute then turned me back the way i got in. i doggie-paddled as hard as i could to get out. i didn’t run around after i got out like i did last time either. mom had her little camera that takes moving pictures but she forgot to push the button. so .... nothing to show for my few minutes of glory. mom is dumb. but i will probably do it again. it wasn’t too bad!

Well, okay, it’s not technically summer yet but this weekend we made our preparations as best we could. It was a beautiful weekend weather-wise for doing things in the yard.

We put the screens and curtains up on the poolside cabana, brought out the umbrella and the deck lounges and chairs. (Pool not open yet, but hopefully this week!)

I planted some pots.

I did a lot of weeding of the back flower beds. In doing so I discovered two very different columbines. At least I think they are a variety of columbine since the leaf is the same. They are both in different flower beds and very far apart. Here is the double one.

And this one doesn’t open any more than this but has many layers. Anyone have any ideas? They were not there last year and I certainly didn’t plant them. ? Maybe I pulled them up last year in a fit of zealous weeding but they had dropped seeds the year before?

We planted marigolds in the front flower bed. We planted our kitchen herbs in the old dry sink which join the already planted and potted tomatoes on the deck. I am hoping for a great harvest of patio and cherry tomatoes this year.

Last year we didn’t plant tomatoes because we got such a late start with our trip back to Colorado in mid June. This year we decided to stay home for June since it’s such a lovely time of year here and the pool really suffered while we were gone. Plus, we missed some quality pool time, not to mention firefly season! So, this year we’ll do our cabin trip in September instead.

Water dog Bella had fun with her wading pool this weekend too. She is always sticking her feet and head in the water bucket, so we thought she’d enjoy having a bigger water feature.

...testing, testing ....

hey, this is fun ...

i think there’s a bone in here somewhere ...

I have no idea what’s going to happen once the pool is open. I know she’s going to end up in it at least once. Oh boy.

We went to the Warwick farmer’s market and bought fresh baby lettuces, scallions, radishes, bread, cheese, and a mini quiche for our Sunday lunch. Yum. I’m glad the market has started back up again. It’s a summer tradition for us and one that we love.

So, we had a busy weekend but it felt good to get things done. We ended the weekend with one of our favorite meals last night: grilled artichokes and lamb chops “scotta dita” (or burned fingers because they sell them on the streets of Italy and you just hold them by the bone and eat them quick while they are hot!) while listening to the cool vibe of Bossa ‘n Stones, (the Rolling Stones hits done with a bossa nova beat) which we discovered while eating in a restaurant in San Miguel.

I hope you all had a great kick-off weekend to the beginning of summer!

Tomorrow I’m taking you back to San Miguel again. I certainly hope you’re not getting bored with your armchair vacation ...

Free to patient home:

one over-exuberant

pant-leg-grabbing

hole-digging

truffle-hunting

flower-bud-eating

bog-trolling

Bella.

P.S. Just kidding ya know. With all her

faults

charms we love her dearly.