Herbs and puppies

I'm thrilled to have a herb garden planted up.   On Monday I had a visit to Bunnings (Aussie version of B&Q) with my friend Tammy.  We bought so many plants between us that we couldn't fit another thing in the car to come home.  What a fun morning that was.  In the afternoon I got out in the garden and planted everything.  Klara went absolutely nuts while I was planting the herbs.  She dashed up and down outside the little fence and barked furiously.  She didn't at all like being left out of this gardening session.  There is a couple more things I'd like to plant but it's looking great already.

I ended up digging out the herbs that have been in the tub by the back door since we got home.  It was one of the first things I did when we moved into this house.  Unfortunately Klara discovered it the other day and made great sport from a game that involved leaping into the tub and landing on her stomach among the parsley and chives!  I've put a mint plant in that tub now and will get another couple of mint varieties too.  They're hopefully tough enough to withstand a puppy assault.

The trees and shrubs in our garden are filling with green leaves.  The one that we look at from our back door is particularly lovely.  It will give us good shade from the hot afternoon sun.  Our veggies are growing well too.  It's just a shame we get such a short period of this mild weather before the heat sets in.  Tracey and I did a little project the week before and cut out a rooster from a leftover sheet of board.  We've painted them with blackboard paint and ours is a message board at the back door.

On Wednesday evening Klara and I had our first dog club obedience meeting.  It was only her second time in the car in the crate and it was only the second time she'd be meeting a strange dog.  She did well in the car but I stopped half way to let her out for a run as it's a 40 minute drive.  She was beside herself with excitement at seeing other pups.  Interestingly, the first dozen or so that she met she sniffed at them and then rolled onto her back in submission.  I think this came about from being told off by Zac, Anthony and Leanne's dog, when the came to visit the weekend before.  The next puppy she met was very timid and she didn't do the laying on her back thing.  It seemed to give her more confidence and from then on she met them a bit more enthusiastically.

It was a very long session of excitement for a little girl.  We had to sit at a table and fill in paperwork, stand in a queue to pay our membership, wait about in a meeting room while everyone else sorted out their paperwork and payments, and then a talk of about 15 minutes about the club rules etc.  Klara was one of the youngest pups and she was certainly among the most excitable.  She strained on her lead while the lady was speaking and barked back and forth with the dog next to us.  The poor lady had to raise her voice to be heard.  I was certainly glad when it was over and we all went outside for our first little training session.

We both did well and had fun.  We feed Klara a raw diet and when the trainer offered her a piece of cooked sausage when he asked her to do something she couldn't get her backside on the ground quick enough.  She "sat" and "dropped" and "sat" up again in record time!!

Saturday I returned to Bunnings, this time with Tracey, as they had new plant stock in.  I bought a few more to finish the herb garden.  I even found the lovely herb markers we bought on a day out with Andy and Jean from nb Josephine last year.  It was a warm, sunny day and half of Bendigo must have been in Bunnings!

Mick was home on his own the other day and heard a huge fuss from the chooks.  We lost one a couple of days earlier, she just upped and died.  He rushed out to see what the problem was and Klara had managed to get into the chooks corner of the yard.  She is always very interested in them through the fence and they weren't at all happy about having her in their territory.  There's a new gate at the back of the carport now... replacing the section of temporary fencing!

Now it's Sunday and it's been very warm.  In fact it's the first time I've felt hot since we got home.  It reached 30 degrees!  Klara has been feeling the heat today too.  She came down to Tracey's with us and had fun exploring the garden.  We gave her an ice cream container with water in it for a drink and she played with it instead.  When we got home I found a larger plastic tub and put water in that.  What a hit!  She splashed and played happily.  I think we will have to take her to the creek for a paddle.