Orange

I mowed the lawn today…for the first time since late July when I injured my foot and for the last time this year. Mowing the lawn makes gong farming easier. “Gong farming” is a discreet way of saying that I pick up Hannah Joy’s poop with a shovel and fling it into the forest so we don’t step in it. Gong farming is just one of several unpleasant jobs done in the Middle Ages.

For the last few days, EJ has been working on the soffit. Today he fastened a long metal thingy to the roof to divert rain water from falling off the roof right where the porch step is. I would have taken a photo of the thingy, but I was busy holding the ladder for EJ. Our orange step ladder didn’t reach as high as he needed it to so he backed up the pickup truck, put the stepladder on the opened tailgate, and climbed. Which is why I held the ladder. I had visions of him crashing down, ladder and all. “You know,” I told EJ. “This is why women live longer than men. We don’t do stupid things like this.” But EJ got the thingy in place so now maybe we won’t get wet going out of the house. And maybe the step won’t get dangerously icy when rain/melted ice freezes overnight in the cold.

Yesterday was so nice that Hannah Joy and I walked down the driveway for the mail. Since it’s nearing hunting season, I wore my bright orange hat and Hannah Joy wore her bright orange coat so we wouldn’t be mistaken for deer by foolish hunters. Most hunters are very careful, but it always pays for us to be careful too.

When we go for a walk, we put Hannah Joy on a long retractable leash so she can wander a bit, but not get lost. She is NOT the most enjoyable dog to walk because she constantly gets into mischief. She likes to eat any animal poop she might find, and she likes to roll in stuff, so I have to keep careful watch of her and pull her away. Yesterday she wandered a bit into the field and found a bloody bone of some sort. It was maybe a foot long and quite thin. I pulled her to me and tried to take it away, but Hannah Joy is stubborn and doesn’t let go of anything she wants. In our tug-of-war, I managed to break away a small piece, which I flung into the field, but Hannah Joy ate the rest of it as we walked along. Sigh.

We went on another walk today and I kept her on a tighter leash so she couldn’t retrieve the small piece of bone I had thrown away or find more bones.

Today I laughed at Hannah Joy’s cleverness. I was working on my computer when I noticed her carefully place her orange ball down on the center of my footstool. Then she backed away. I looked at her and she backed away a few more steps. “Hmmm. It appears to me you are setting a trap for me and your ball is the bait. Are you trying to trick me?” I asked her. She looked at me intently. I made a slight move toward the ball and she rushed forward and grabbed it. Hannah Joy sometimes invents new games for us to play. She keeps us entertained and laughing.

I thought you’d enjoy seeing a little bit of what Hannah Joy does when she knows it’s time for her supper. When it’s time to eat, it’s TIME TO EAT! She doesn’t take “no” for an answer. LOL.