My million bells are looking better since warmer weather has arrived. They looked pretty sad when I first planted them. It was not only chilly outside, but the plants had been grown in a green house with no wind and perfect moisture and temperature. No wonder it was a bit of a shock to be suddenly outside with all the changes in their environment.

Little boys are not the only guys who like to get down and play with puppies. This is my husband, Warren, and Rosie Joy tonight on the floor. She is getting more adventurous now and has explored just about every corner of the house -- and tasted everything, too.

We've also taken several walks, usually down the block to Chris's house.
Today we came home the back way and when we got in back of our house,
Rosie recognized it as our yard and bounded up to the garden gate as fast
as she could. I think that is pretty good for a puppy who has been
living here less than two weeks.

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Find of the Day: 35 Fantastic HDR Pictures

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My first rose has bloomed. Nearly Wild is the variety name. I love single roses like this. The knockout roses are covered with buds, so it won't be long until they are blooming, too. 

Rosie Joy is 13 weeks old now and she has now been with us 8 days. Even after just a short period of time, she has developed some patterns. Every evening she plays wildly for about an hour and then settles down under my feet at my computer desk while I catch up on email and post to xanga. I've made a little nest for her under my desk because that's where she wants to be. My lap is just not quite comfortable enough for more than a few minutes.

She is such a smart little girl and is doing great with her house training. Couldn't say it yesterday, but no puddles on the floor today at all. We go out about every hour, and she gets right to the reason she is there. She gets a little treat (puppy chow nugget) right after she makes a pee pee, and that is working like magic. Below is the nest at my feet where Rosie is right now.

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Find of the Day: Great Wall Panorama View

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Gill and her two little ones were over this morning to visit Rosie Joy. I think the little guy especially had fun with the puppy and even asked if he could take her home. I believe at one point he was willing to trade his cat for her. I hope their cat doesn't get wind of that.

 He even brought his camera and took pictures. Some of them were pretty good shots, too. I was glad he reluctantly let his little sister use the camera for a while. They are sweet children -- full of life, rather like Rosie Joy.

It was the first time Rosie had been with children, as far as I know. It was quite an adventure for her and a bit overwhelming. She was so tired when they left that she slept the entire afternoon away.

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Find of the Day: Deadly Sins of Web Design

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Rosie Joy continues to be cute and I believe is making progress in her house training. Tomorrow we will have had her for only one week and we are both madly in love with her. She is two pounds of Joy.

I almost didn't post any pictures of her today -- but I thought I better post at least one for her fan club in Edmond. Gill's children will be coming tomorrow morning to meet and play with Rosie. I think she will love having some children to play with. It will be good for her too, to have some contact with children. We want her very socialized and now when she is a puppy is the time to do it, so we'll look for opportunities for her to have contact with other people.

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I found some Johnny Jumpups that I didn't plant in my garden. I hope they multiply. A white Dutch Iris bloomed today.  I did just a little deadheading today, practically the only gardening I've done since Rosie has been with us. I'm going to try to get a little work done outside next week, though. I think she is doing well enough for me to not have to watch her constantly.

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Find of the Day: The Most Incredible Ways To Improve Thyself!

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My first Dutch Iris bloomed today. I love them. I haven't done much gardening at all this week with the new puppy. I had visions of her playing in the garden or lying in the sun while I pulled weeds and such, but that is not practical now. Rosie Joy tries to eat the flowers. If I knew that it wouldn't hurt her, I wouldn't mind it. How much can a little puppy eat? But considering that many of the flowers I grow -- including the daylilies -- can be toxic to dogs, I just can't let her eat things in the garden.

Rosie Joy loves her toys. Our last dog, Annie, never really liked toys, but then we got her when she was already grown. Perhaps Rosie will grow out of it, but she has a great time throwing her toys around.

I took Rosie to Mom's
place today when I went there to do her laundry. She did beautifully in
the strange surroundings with all kinds of people she didn't know.
Everyone thought she was adorable and she liked everybody making over
her. Mom really loved getting to meet her, and Rosie was content to sit
on her lap for a long time while I did Mom's chores.

No puddles
on the rug today. However, that is mostly due to my diligence in taking
her out every twenty minutes or so unless she was napping. Still, I
think it represents some progress. The more times she does it in the
acceptable place -- and gets praised -- the more that behavior will be
entrenched.

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Find of the Day: A recipe I must try

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Chris was over tonight and we played a game of scrabble. Rosie took turns sitting on our laps while we played most of the game.

It wasn't a great day in the house training department -- three puddles on the floor. We were fairly diligent in taking her out, too. Frustrating when we've just taken her out fifteen minutes before. She does know what we want when we take her out and is good about complying, but she doesn't have a clue yet what to do when she wants to pee pee and she is not outside. It will all come, though. After all it's been less than a week.

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Find of the Day: How to Have a Happy Dog

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The garden is coming along nicely at this point. Although it has been
chilly and we are not as far along as we were this time last year,
still the plants look healthy. We've had rains when we have needed
moisture and even the frost scare a couple days ago was mostly scare.

While I wait for other perennials to mature and flower, I still have spring bulbs blooming, thanks to the wide variety of daffodils I have. The very late double daffodils pictured here are really just beginning to bloom. Most of them are still in the bud. The Gaillardia pictured is a plant I bought from a nursery, and thus way ahead of the Gaillardias that I have coming up from seed. I hope they do well this year. When they do, they provide wonderful color all season long.

Rosie Joy is doing nicely too. She has eaten well today and is making progress in her house training. She is smart and already knows exactly what we want from her when we take her out and set her down and say, "make a pee pee."  She often squeezes out a few drops just to please us. I think that is really good for a total of 3 ½ days with us.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, Rosie Joy likes to chew -- like most puppies. Since I am feeding her soft food, I'm giving her a milk bone or two a day to help clean her teeth. It takes her a long time to eat one, but she really enjoys carrying them around, chewing them, and playing with them like a toy. That is what she is up to in the two pictures of her today.

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Find of the Day: Top 10 Most Positive Habits of Life

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My garden came through the frost unscathed, I think. There was ice in the bird bath this morning, but I can't find any damage really. Some of the heat loving annuals that I planted last week are not too happy, but they weren't too happy before the frost. I think they will perk up and do much better when our chilly days give way to more seasonable weather.

The first picture is my viburnum. I'm excited that it is blooming for the first time. I bought the shrub as a tiny plant in 2004, the first year I lived here, so it has come a long way in four years. I love the deeply textured leaves even without the blooms, but the interesting clusters of blossoms are definitely a plus. There are hundreds of varieties of viburnum, so it is quite possible that this viburnum does not look like the one you are familiar with,

Rosie Joy did not eat anything at all today until supper time. She refused breakfast -- a mixture of milk softened puppy chow and canned dogfood. She refused a similar lunch. I suspected she was holding out for something better, and I'm sure she would not have starved to death, but we decided to let her try the homemade dog food that I fed our last two poodles their whole lives. It is a mixture of ground turkey, cabbage, carrots, potatoes and rice. They both lived long lives with very few health issues, so I think it must be a healthy diet. She liked it and ate a good supper, so I guess I'll be making dog food for another 16 years or so. The picture below is Rosie Joy and her squeak toy -- her favorite.

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Find of the Day: A Lion Reunion

Rosie Joy is settling in and we are learning some things about her.
One... she likes to chew. Boy, does she like to chew. We bought her an assortment of chew toys, but she is likely to put her mouth around anything and chew. I'm really going to have to watch her when she is in the garden with me because there are so many plants that are poison if they are ingested.

Two... is how many pounds she weighs. I weighed her this morning.

Three... She really likes my husband. One of her favorite places to nap is next to him on the futon in the TV room.

Four... We have a long way to go before we can say Rosie Joy is house trained.

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 My ajuga is beginning to bloom. I haven't paid it much attention until it did. It has been so chilly the past few days that I haven't got to spend much time in the garden. The weather men are predicting a frost tonight. There are so many tender things growing now that if we do it could set the garden back considerably.

I used to get more uptight when we'd have a late frost warning like this. I tried all kinds of ways to cover them and other strategies for protecting frost tender plants when a freeze was expected. I sometimes did more harm than good with my feeble efforts. Often the plants that weren't covered fared better than the ones of the same kind that I covered. Now, I just try to take it in stride. Yes, some plants may get frosted and set back, but there is so little one can do that really works, that I now just do little or nothing and hope for the best.Usually the damage is minimal.

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Find of the Day: 12 Suggestions for Success

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Rosie Joy is the name we've given our new little girl. She is a toy poodle -- not the cream colored one we were looking for, but perfect nonetheless.  She is 3 months old, being born on January 12th. Her mother is white, her father black and she had two black siblings, who were already sold. We did meet her parents.

Rosie Joy has been so brave her first time away from her mother. She relaxed on
the 25 mile trip home and even went to sleep on my lap at one point. She's romped and played with her new chew toys and seems to be making herself at home.  She is sleeping on my husband's lap now. More later... what an adventure this will be to have a puppy in the house again.


  
That is Chris, my sister, holding her in the last two pictures.

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