Hard to believe we’re more than half way through August already which means we’re just a little over a month (34 days if precision is your jam) until autumn arrives. Count us in the happy column.
Elsa here, your award winning correspondent, and I’m joining the LLB Gang for this week’s look at what nature dished out this week. Don’t forget to check out their Nature blog hop.
We started the week out with…ahem…steady yourselves…a nice little shower! I know, who’d have thunk it, right? Mom was expecting our usual 16 drops when she took me for a second walk all by myself. I was so excited spending one on one time with her, that is until about halfway to the post office when those 16 drops multiplied by a jillion. It wasn’t a heavy rain but it did drench us fairly well. We figured it’s be only a couple of minutes but ended up lasting for over an hour. Hurrah. They haven’t been too horribly bad and I’m hoping the 90º+F days are pretty much over. We’re beginning to see very, very subtle signs that autumn is coming. Then again it could be that some trees are so stressed, they’re just giving up for the season-they just can’t take it anymore.
At any rate, this week I decided to share some pretty gladiolus from around our ‘Hood. Mom has never planted them (she says her partial shade garden wouldn’t be a good place for planting them and she’s kind of OCD when it comes to any plant that flops over). Oh well, at least she has neighbors who have sunny yards and apparently don’t mind having to support them. Let’s check out this year’s crop of Glads, shall we?
This ruffled, purple one is my favorite although I have to say they all were quite pretty.
Mom was hoping she’d find a bee noshing down the throats of these flowers but she didn’t see any. Doggone it, I love following them buzz around and luckily don’t think they’re ‘sky raisins’ which makes Mom very happy.
Mom also liked this pink one. She just kept saying out loud, “Oh my gosh, that’s just so gorgeous.” As you can imagine, I just shook my head. We had things to do and places to see. What’s wrong with our huMoms is a question I ask myself all the time.
Ok, I’ll give her a pass. This time. It is kinda pretty.
Moving along on our tour…we walk past this house all the time but hadn’t noticed the front garden with the bike and wagon before until Mom was out photographing gladiolus. It may be a new feature this year. The border garden is quite lovely and we both were a bit surprised no one has stolen the bike which unfortunately seems to be a favorite of urban hoodlums these days. It seems that if you don’t have something nailed down, you can probably figure someone will filch it. Recently someone reported their baby stroller was stolen from their front porch and someone else reported someone swiped a potted plant. It’s getting ridiculous. How come people aren’t walking around the neighborhood to check out the beautiful flowers instead of causing larcenous mischief?
Well that’s it for the ‘Glad’ show. I do have a critter pic to share though. A raccoon mom and her two babies have been combing the block early in the mornings while we’re out doing our thing. The babies are quite afraid of me and Norman but the mama seems poised to go all Oprah on us. She stands her ground till we get a little closer and then they either climb a tree or most often zip down into the storm sewer. That reminds me, anybody know what is so doggone interesting about those storm sewers anyway? I’ve seen foxes go down them too. The mysteries of life are just so confounding to us doggos.
So…you got anything exciting going on this weekend? I’m trying to get Mom to do something different, but we’ll see. She’s been so busy lately and then there’s the fact she’ll be doing hospital visits next week so we’ll both likely be getting bathed and groomed. Ugh…Mom…you know that wasn’t what I had in mind, right?
Have a cool weekend, both in what you do as well as temperature wise.
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Welcome to National Check The Chip Day — a day created as a reminder for pet parents to check their pet’s microchips, to make sure they contain the most up to date information with the provider. With last month’s July 4th celebrations where more pets are lost than any day of the year, microchips are especially important for keeping your pets safe. Pets are far more likely to be reunited with their pet parents when they are chipped. Personally I think National Chip Day should be July 5th, but that’s just me. Visit 
Welcome to the first Friday of August. Hi-ya, Elsa here. My inbox has been flooded with requests to be this week’s correspondent for the post.
Happy 146th birthday to the State of Colorado. On this date in history, Colorado became the 38th state after previously being a territory from 1861. Designed by architect Elijah E. Myers, construction on the state capitol began in the 1890’s and opened to the public in November 1894 in a style reminiscent of the US capitol building using Colorado white granite and topped with a gold-coated dome. The dome is covered in copper panels and gilded with gold leaf from a Colorado mine and was added in 1908 to commemorate Colorado’s Gold Rush. A fresh application of 65 ounces of .999 pure Colorado mined gold was reapplied a few years ago. Sparkling in the Rocky Mountain sun, the dome now commemorates modern day settlers arriving for a different kind of rush…the flourishing marijuana industry and a robust state economy as thousands move to the state every year. According to the 2020 census, there are now over 5.685 million people in Colorado.
It’s Friday and that means it’s time to join our pals 
Elsa [from Mom’s studio]: Of course you would…you NEVER miss a chance to sniff or water ANY plants. You’re probably the main reason why they don’t let us good dogs accompany their parents to the botanical gardens.
