ooblets is one of my favorite in this genre. it’s got a great soundtrack, the humor is spot-on, and it’s got an anti-capitalist message.

Miss Shirley, my 10yo cat, is walking on a leash now!

i love that!

scheduled when i plan to vote (early). need to do my research first!

good news: jean (chi mix) got a new personal best on sunday for her 100-yard dash (8.65 seconds / 23.65 mph)! we have another event this coming weekend at a different club, and we’ll probably meet up with some social media dog friends. :)

i’m pet sitting for a sweet border collie from the same rescue where i got echo, so that’s been fun. speaking of echo, we’ve stalled a bit on our nose work course, so i need to get back into that once i’m back at home. been having too much fun with treibball.

firewatch is a personal favorite.

the individual therapist matters a lot. i know friends who have gone through many before landing on one that actually helped them. i know that’s not ideal, but it is an option. it’s also a slow process for lots of folks.

two friends of mine are actually on ketamine treatments to help with their mental health after trying everything else.

Therapy didn’t help

there are lots of different kinds of therapy, so i hope it doesn’t completely discourage you from ever going again.

saw the substance last week, and i’m still thinking about how great it was.

planted an oak tree.

took loki (aussie) and echo (border collie) to try a couple of new sports on sunday: treibball (pronounced try-ball) and barn hunt. loki liked pushing the big ball around a lot in the former, and echo has a great nose for barn hunt.

oh yeah, no dogs in the front yard thank goodness!

I think posting about your plan would be a good starting point for some conversations and might encourage some other folks to emulate you

once i actually start doing the work, i definitely will!

Did they talk to you about solarizing next spring using tarps?

they did, but this area of the yard is pretty shady, so the guy leading the workshop specifically recommended using cardboard and mulch for maximum annihilation.

the plan itself isn’t that difficult, just takes a lot of time to kill all the invasive plants off so the native plants have a chance to grow. you completely clear the ground first, let the invasive seeds germinate, kill them again, then seed it with native grasses and plants (prairie moon has a lot of US mixes, so i’ll probably use them). you won’t get blooms for at least two years, i think. and you need to cut everything down to about 1.5 feet the first fall to get the invasive plants before they go to seed. unfortunately, that means you’re also cutting down the plants you want to grow, so they take another year of seeding before things really get going, but they should help keep out the invasives at that point.

i have a Meadow Plan for the last ~20 feet of our back yard now. first step is laying down cardboard and mulch and leaving it there until next may.

i’m picking up a white oak tree sapling on saturday to plant in the same spot where we had to cut down a big ol’ maple in our front yard (it was dying a slow death and a danger to our house).

“what remains of edith finch” and “gone home.” waiting for the right rainy day to play them.

wingspan

i love both the physical and digital versions of this game. 🕊️

been offering moral support for a friend who is (was?) renting a house in black mountain (western NC). they still have no power or water, and they can’t get their cars down from the mountain because the road is still blocked by a ton of trees. they were able to get a friend to pick them up at the end of their road at the bottom of the mountain at least.

got to see zach galifianakis and josh stein (NC governor candidate) on saturday which was neat.

ordered an oak tree that is going to replace the maple we had to cut down in the front yard last year. picking that up on saturday.

echo is currently going through an online scent work class which has been fun. loki and jean started agility lessons back up now that the weather is a smidge cooler.

i’m attending a meadow-making workshop tomorrow, and i’m hoping to learn a lot about what to do with the little plot of land we take care of. i would love to do some fall planting!

haha, no worries! i have three dogs total, so even i call them by the wrong names. ;)

echo unfortunately has a bum wrist, so she can’t do any sustained running without hurting herself. jean is the speed gremlin (but she rides in a backpack when i take her cycling).

had some really icky back pain last week, so i’ve been trying to do yoga in the mornings before work.

jean got another title and i fostered a puppy over the weekend.

picked up a dog bike trailer yesterday from a friend, and i started teaching echo (border collie) how to sit/stand/lay calmly in it this afternoon in the driveway. hoping she will enjoy it!

she’s clearly the most popular of the bunch (and she knows it).

it’s the dogs! i love dogs, but having them jump through the window destroyed me.