Anyone who knew me from my previous life in Nebraska knew how much I hated taking care of our lawn. Mowing was for Wednesdays. I had to mow every Wednesday throughout the spring, summer, and fall months, as well as other lawn and garden work. Oh, I hated it. It was so hot and such tedious work. Then I'd mow over the occasional walnut which would come shooting out and smack me in the shin. Or I would have to engage in terrifying acrobatics to try to avoid slipping and mowing my feet off when I was mowing the ditch.

I don't really understand dogs. Every day when I would feed them, they both insisted on eating on the rug instead of the linoleum. Penny in particular would freak out if I tried to make her eat on the linoleum. So to her, being crammed underneath a chair, as long as there were protective fibers beneath her feet, was far superior to the open space of the rest of the kitchen floor.

Our Chihuahua, Zoe, isn't much for cold weather. I know she's going to love it here in Uruguay for that reason! But last winter we moved her heated bed out to the main sofa so she could be closer to us.

It's not difficult to tell that this Chihuahua loves her heated bed and big gold blanket! I wish I could relax that easily...

I thought this was a cute picture of our stray cat we named Heretic. It looks foggy because I had to take the picture through two doors. I thought if I opened the first door, he would move. Sometimes he sits up there and plays with the wind chime below. It's hilarious to watch him sit there and furiously paw at the dangling chime. Silly Heretic!

If there were an award for the number of beds one dog could have, I think Zoe would be in the running for the top prize. She has claimed sleeping areas all over the house. Her two favorite right now are a wingback chair and an antique sofa directly across from the chair. That way she can jump across from one to the other, at her whim, without having to touch the floor. :-)

Zoe is very used to having her picture taken by now. She's been the subject of hundreds of photos in her 8 years. I thought I would post this series of pictures Shawn took of her on her favorite couch. She sleeps there most of the day and her heated bed is on that couch through the winter.

Sleeping beauty.

One eye open.

Today I bit the bullet, seeing how it was such a nice day (90 F) and cleaned the pond for the year. I can’t believe we had such a warm day this early in the year, but it was kind of nice to get it over with.

Sadly most of my outdoor fish died early this spring. The tank heater (used for livestock tanks to keep the water from freezing over so the animals can drink it) malfunctioned and killed all but three of my fish. It was a sad day having to bury 7 of my biggest fish that I’d had for years and years.

This is what the pond looked like when I started draining it.

This is a post for my best friend. She likes a stray cat that comes to my house frequently, so I took this short video for her.

So, Aline, here is your Roxy! :)

I haven’t posted any pictures of her quite yet, but I have a Husky named Penny.

Every time the whistle blows here in my town, Penny’s inner wolf genes come through. She’s great at howling and it’s a riot watching and listening to her. Today we got a video of her doing her Husky thing. Go Penny!