Devil Dogs and Garden Critters

Yesterday I was admiring the sunlight falling on the devil dogs in the kitchen, and I had to take a picture. Doesn't it seem appropriate that I bought those, and now have a real devil dog of my own? (Ignore the dust.)

Yesterday was pretty low-key. I spent most of the morning reading and doing some minor gardening. At this point gardening is pretty much limited to trying to keep everything alive.

The dahlias continue to perform, and we don't have much sign of powdery mildew, which I'm hoping means the new soil I gave them at the beginning of the summer is holding moisture better than that compost I used last year.

In the afternoon Bailey and I took a walk to the cemetery. On the way we passed this display in front of a neighbor's house. The plants look a little parched but I like the blue pots and the colorful zinnias.

Bailey's new long lead arrived yesterday, and we tried it out at the cemetery. (That's her normal lead above, but never mind.) I envisioned her being able to run around, chase tennis balls and maybe even squirrels, all while tethered to me in case I need to reel her in and away from other dogs. Well, it didn't quite work out that way.

Bailey was happy to run in a wider radius, but she showed no interest in chasing a ball. I'm sure if she'd seen a squirrel she'd have been after it like a shot, but that didn't happen either. It was mostly just aimless sniffing, while I tried my best not to get tangled up in excess leash.

More experimentation is required.

In other news, did you see that Jeanine Pirro dropped the absurd vandalism charges against the Olympic athlete who was accused of damaging Trump's newly renovated reflecting pool? We all knew the charges wouldn't stick, but what made the episode extra delicious was Pirro's assertion that the renovation was "botched" and she had been misled about the nature of the damage. Trump, of course, fired back at her and I suspect she's not long for this administration. Of course, she's a woman, so like Noem and Bondi and Gabbard, she's expendable in Trump's eyes -- unlike Hegseth and Bessent and Miller and the rest of his male co-conspirators.

Some of you were wondering how the arrival of Bailey would affect the garden wildlife, so last night I set up the camera to see what might be going on out there after dark. As you can see, the foxes are not deterred by Bailey's presence. (You'll see Bailey in the first clip, checking out the camera -- I thought her sniffing was cute.) It's remarkable that at least two, and possibly three, foxes wandered through the garden last night and as tightly wound as Bailey is, from inside the house she had no idea. She didn't react at all.

No cats appeared in the video, but honestly, I'm fine with that. I'd just as soon they do their hunting elsewhere. And with our bird feeders temporarily removed to discourage Ratthew, there were no signs of birds, squirrels or small animals. Then again, birds and squirrels aren't usually on the ground at night. Too many foxes around! (I know the squirrels are still here in daytime because Bailey chases them!)