Cyrus and the iris, plus a few other goodies for The Husband who says I have too many dog pics up here

We have fawns!

We heard Bandit (Don's dog) up on the hill being pummeled by a doe last weekend. Trained bird dog that he is, he was following a grouse and happened upon a doe and her baby. We haven't seen too many deer here at the bottom of the hill recently, not until a day or 2 after Bandit's adventure. Then, as Cyrus has been pointing out, there is this one doe who has just been wandering about by herself. Only she wasn't actually by herself. It's hard to get a good pic without a good telephoto lens, but here are 2 that came out OK. Tiny, tiny fawn baby!

This deer post is for The Husband who has been saying the blog is a bit too dog-centric. Perhaps he is right about that. Just so happens they are the best posers and always present. Woody spends the nice days sunning himself in the backyard. I use that time to sneak Cyrus out for a power walk—something recommended by the trainer—all walking and no sniffing. Then the WoodMan gets his walk while Cyrus goes in the crate for 20 minutes or so. Not loving the crate, won't even touch any of the special treats I put in there. Woody goes in the crate when I let Cyrus out, and steals whatever Cyrus hasn't eaten. Cyrus doesn't care, he is too upset about being crated. There is no way I can leave him in there for longer periods of time while I am in work. I'll just have to keep on plugging with other ways to convince him that the house is not his bathroom.

We are still having some crazy spring weather in mid-June. I even fired up the woodstove a couple of times this past week when it was down in the 40°s at night. The apple trees did not have a good year for blossoms, so we won't get a large crop this year, but the little garden in the backyard inside the dog fence is doing very well. Even though the painter knocked off one of the iris stems before it bloomed, this is the first year where my NJ transplant is doing well. Semi-wild rose (right of the iris) that we bought from someone up here looks like it is going to bloom like crazy for the first time too. Chives to the right of the rose, lady's mantle that we bought at the Heritage Plant Sale at the Farmer's Museum to the left of the iris.

Last pic is the MonkeyCat on the dog bed in the music room that is really supposed to be the human bed in the guest bedroom. Beware B&E when you come to visit, you may have some nighttime visitors!