Potholders and Potpourri

 

Bill selected this red potholder to keep near the wood stove. 

Occasionally, the door handle gets hot, so it's nice to grab the potholder to open the stove door.

It wasn't long before the potholder began disappearing from its assigned spot and appeared on the floor near the sliding glass door where Bridie deposits all her pilfered items---socks, toilet paper rolls, gloves and other paper items. 

Bridie's pilfering has diminished a bit with her maturity. Nevertheless, pretty much every day, the potholder has to be returned from Bridie's cache area to the stove area. 

Interestingly enough, she no longer chews on it. Instead, she cuddles it and naps with it. So, I guess it will continue to be her comfort toy.  

While on the dogs, I must note that chuck-it sessions in the front yard have a new dynamic.

First, Foster's blindness has caused him to make a few changes, but his interest in participating is as passionate as ever. 

Instead of taking the ball and trotting off to hide it, he sticks around and growls if anyone gets near him and his ball. The first night Foster's ball disappeared through a hole in the snow covering our French drain. 

Try as he might, Liam could not dig enough snow to retrieve the ball, so Foster had to settle for a pine cone.  That didn't matter. He was happy to play in a little circle near me as I continued to fling balls for Liam. 

Bridie still won't compete with Liam for grabbing the ball, but she has changed her tactics. 

Instead of lying in her usual herding position, she now jumps up and actually herds Liam until he grabs the ball and then comes back to her launch-off spot. 

Regardless of their individual strategies, the trio of pups returns to the house after a session, totally dog tired. 

Nice to have the area open for them to play again. 

As you'll see in the picture below, water from snow melt is actively flowing through the dips in the fields. 

It's amazing how much snow disappeared yesterday alone.  This morning I noticed one little patch left in the north lawn.

By afternoon, most of our yard area should be bare but still soggy.

It's definitely welcome progress. 

I spent most of the late afternoon and evening wearing sunglasses every time I went outside and wearing regular glasses inside. 

It took quite a while for my eyes to recover from having the pupils dilated during my pre-cataract consultation.

Meeting Dr. Torres and his staff opened a new chapter in my personal maintenance journey. 

I liked "Doc," as his tech calls him.  He's a retired Army ophthalmologist who practiced at Fort Lewis before moving to Sandpoint. 

We had a lively conversation about our Irish road trip experiences. 

Anywho, everything is set up for me start seeing more clearly in late October/early November.

And, a night's sleep helped the eyes return to normal.  

Today is supposed to be beautiful. Robins are singing, ducks are quacking and geese are honking while busily engaged in their morning activities. 

It's a lovely morning out there.

So, we'll make the most of enjoying the outdoors, including a lacrosse match this evening where my neighbor and friend Terra is playing. 

Should be fun.

Happy Wednesday.