Update on the garden front

This morning I had a nice walk across the nearby campground. 

I was all by myself. So peaceful.

Soon they will open for the season and this opportunity will be gone until Fall. 

I was giving Dixie her walk and watching birds at the same time. 

Because of the chill in the air the birds were not very active.

Just a few Yellow-rumped Warblers were chasing bugs in the air. 

*

Back at home I decided to do some work in my garden, 

because it seemed to not getting anywhere. 

It also grew in size and I will now be able to grow potatoes in the back.

I finally got the fence around and the rose arbor up. 

(by the way: this is not our house, no-one is living there)

And I added another small bed, for my perennial herbs

Then I planned my square-foot garden bed.

I started this way of gardening several years ago and I like it.

Growing something different in each square.

At the end of the day I got the first seeds into the ground. 

Hopefully there will be some green to show in a few weeks from now. 

And -

not to forget - the hummingbirds are back! 

The first male one arrived on May 5th at my feeder and 

a few days later I saw the first female.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Summer is near, even if the temperatures are still on the cool side.

On the other side: there are no nasty black flies around yet!

Translation

________________________________________

Nach einem entspannenden Spaziergang quer über den nahegelegenen Campingplatz habe ich mich endlich an meinen neu geplanten Garten gemacht. Er ist etwas größer ausgefallen als ursprünglich gedacht, aber nun kann ich noch Kartoffel anbauen.

Der Zaun ist endlich aufgestellt und auch der Rosenbogen. Ein Beet für die Kräuter ist auch dazu gekommen. Am Ende des Nachmittags habe ich dann endlich die ersten Samen in die Erde gelegt. 

In ein paar Wochen wird es hoffentlich etwas grüner aussehen.

Die ersten Kolibris sind auch schon angekommen. 

Es wird langsam Sommer. Die kalten Tage haben allerdings einen Vorteil:

Man wird noch nicht von Mücken und Fliegen geplagt!
Photos: Kronwaldsänger, Kolibri

Doggie Dates

These days we have been busy with doggie dates. 

One neighbour, who owns a beautiful Golden Retriever, asked me if I could think of 

walking our dogs together for an hour a day. 

That way her dog could play and run off excess energy. 

"Beau" is about a 10 month older than Dixie and was already 50 pounds when we got her in October. 

She was way too small at that time to match up to him. 

Now they are better suited. Off we went for our first play date. 

And many days have followed after that. Beau and Dixie are best friends now. 

Sometimes it does not look like it. All part of the fun!

She even followed him into a pond.

But then had some second thought.

Dixie: "You go swimming -I am not a water loving retriever!"

Beau: "Chicken!"

After our play date today I had another lined up for Dixie. Her girlfriend "Summer", a standard poodle, returned from Florida to spend her summer on the island. 

Summer is 5 month older than Dixie and she was also much taller

when they first met in October. 

Of course, this has changed.

Summer: "Hello it's me again!" 

Dixie: "Do I know you?"

A few minutes after:

"Shall we play?"

They were rough for a while.

And winding down together. "Good to meet you again!"

After all that exercise Dixie will be totally "exhausted", I thought.

Dixie: "Nope! Not at all!"

More play dates to come. That is for sure.

And more dog friends to arrive soon.

Translation

_____________________________________

Hunde brauchen viel Bewegung um glücklich zu sein. Eine Nachbarin fragte mich neulich ob ihr Hund nicht mit unserem spielen könnte. Wir haben es ausprobiert und es hat wunderbar 

geklappt. Der Golden Retriever "Beau" ist jetzt Dixie`s bester Freund.

Heute haben wir dann noch ihre Pudelfreundin "Summer" vom letzten Oktober wieder

getroffen. Damals war Dixie noch viel kleiner. Nach ein paar unsicheren Minuten ging

das Spielen wieder los. Auch sie sind nun wieder "Busenfreunde".

Danach dachte ich dass Dixie nun wohl total erschöpft wäre. "Pustekuchen!" 

Na ja, weitere Spielstunden sind geplant und es werden auch noch weitere 

Hundefreunde dazu kommen.