Flowers and fun

Past few weeks we have been super busy, spending most of our time having fun and being outisde. Working like crazy at the project and building the little paradise we want. Magnus is leaving on the day that is Maja's birthsday so he wanted to spoil her a bit and we drove to a place she holds sacred hihi, but before we went there we drove to the vets for some supplies (booo ear cleaning solution), food and cookies. I was shaking when I saw where we were going but once we arrived and Maja went in without me, I just needed to go and join her, no matter how afraid I was. So I pulled Mags and he took us into the clinic where Maja was, man oh man was I happy to see her hehe. We gathered all the stuff she bought and drove out of town, to a place I was once before but Mags hasn't seen yet. A place where horses are running outside and the smell of flowers is intoxicating. Maja's favorite flower nursery called Valner.

All the halls inside are filled with tables of pretty flowers

It is quite a big place and such friendly people, dogs are allowed in but my owners don't want to take me inside since my tail is really happy and wiggly all the time, wouldn't want to smack something down or break any flowers haha. Wise owners. So our friend was watching me while my owners were inside admiring the place and making up plans which flowers to buy and in which color. Dahlias, begonias, daisies, so many pretty flowers to chose from, so we got those and plenty more of diffirent varieties, but the smell of them, mmmm I had to nibble on a carnation which was closest to me haha. We ended up buying so many flowers we couldn't fit them in the car haha, but we somehow managed and started driving back to town and to the vineyards. The weather wasn't on our side, it was raining and cold, really not pleasant. Once we arrived and Maja's parents saw all the boxes with colored flowers they just stood in awe, their beauty was overwhelming. Maja kept looking at our new flowers and hoping the rain would stop, so she could atleast plant one haha. They also bought her mom a beautiful mini sunflower in a pot, it's very symbolic to her and Maja, she gets one every year. But this sunflower is supposed to be in a pot and not outside since it's so gentile. But the rest of us  have to wait for ours to grow a little bigger, we planted to many down at our little park. This year is going to be very colorful at the project, looks like the long winter did all the plants really good, well all apart from begonias, which were crazy low price and well haha my owners went crazy and bought so many, but how can one not, they are simple majestic. The non stop series as the picture below shows are a must have, so we got these beauties to grow in our shade also.

Hopefully tomorrow the sun will show itself a little and we can take some pictures of the plants and the newly developed area at our zen project,  it is coming along so fast, even with Maja being ill for a week or so, we managed to also complete almost all the construction needed below the lowest park is built up. And the fruits and vegetables are just going crazy, what on earth are we going to do with all these paprikas while Mags is away is beyond me haha. But our potatos!!! Our potatos are just exploding, no bugs either, since we planted those smelly plants around them. They are so huge already and starting to bloom, soon we will be eating our baby potatos with butter and salt and just be happy. Yum yum, cannot wait! But now, I am going to get the rest I need to be super energic tomorrow when the owners are planting, maybe they will allow me to help them dig holes hehe, probably not, but I will atleast be able to run around them like crazy and fetch some sticks hehe. We will post some pictures if the weather is nice.

Azaleas in bloom and Emma the sheep

Yesterday Emma came for a visit, we promised her a spa day after the vet visits she had lately, and she is now healthy and happy enough to be groomed and bathed. We have never attempted to give Emma a puppy cut grooming, which means all the fur is cut down to about a centimeter, somewhat what my owners did to me after all the antibiotics ruined my fur. Emma was in real need of a nice short haircut, since her skin needed some refreshment after all the invasive treatments and the oily laxitives which glued together the fur on her thighs. So down she came by car, we wanted to show her it's not only driving to the vets when she enters a car. She unlike me hates driving, she gets car sick and now, when she came down to us, she saw it can be fun where she is going to also.

Once we got home, after a long relaxing walk with us, she layed on the bed, on our grooming blanket - the blanket my owners use, so us dogs can lay and sleep on the bed when we are being given a haircut so the hairs don't go all over the room. After a few long hours of sleeping next to her, she became like a little fluffy sheep. Her bubbly butt was so adorable, and her fat belly didn't seem so fat anymore. Well she is a bit on the heavy side but in this "new skin" she is just a cutie hehe. Her long beautiful curls will grow out again soon and she will feel a lot better again once the fur can be combed and maintained nicely. She does look funny but sooooo cute haha.

A little before and after picture to show the amount of work which went into the short cut, which my crazy owners did with scissors to avoid hair curling which is a side effect of shaving.

Emma with her uncontrollable fur in march 2013

Haha sheep shape today, such a cutie

She was a real sport while being cut to such short hair and I, well I was kissing her all the time and being supportive to what she was going thru.
And now an uber cute picture of our furry little butts, well...mine is tiny, Emmas is like a ball, but I love her hehe.

Hehe that's my little fatty girl, adorable!

Today was fun when we were up at the vineyards, we were so lazy we actually called for a ride up. The air pressure was extreme and it felt like it was really heavy to even walk, let alone work. But we enjoy the area so much, we couldn't sit still. Magnus was a good boy, he cut the grass on our little zen project and me, well I collected sticks and carried them around the newly cut area haha. I am so stick obsessed that both vineyards are filled with sticks I left behind, you never know where one might need a stick to play with, so it's best to make sure they are all over haha.

But before I forget, I need to mention my paw. It was not an insect bite, but a small grass/branch thing which got stuck under my skin. After the swelling went down, we thought it was over, but the paw swell up again after I was secretly licking it. And then, when I was laying in bed, my owners saw it was licked (I deny everything hihi) and a small black piece was showing. Once they pulled it out with pincers, we saw how long and hurtful the thing really was. They felt bad for not taking me to the vet, but I have to admit, it was no need, since it took a bit to get to the surface and we sorted it just fine. Now my paw is pretty, unswallen and healthy again. But we took a picture of what it was and how it looked.

Ofcourse I have to sniff it, it was in my paw, so it's mine hihi

Close up of the wound, which is now all healed and furry

But to go back to today, the pride of my owners, their rhododendrons and azalea bushes are almost all in bloom, some due to the extreme heat have actually stopped blooming within a few days sadly, but, most are still in full bloom and an amazing sight to look at. So ofcourse I had to pose for the pictures hihi. Keep in mind the area is not even close to being finished and most of the fences and stairs are still in the symbolic stage hehe.
The azelea hill, will in a few years become one huge collection of bubble like blooming colorful bushes and the tiny fern in between will create pretty feathering. The hill has 10 azaleas and 5 rhododendrons which are still small all apart from one. But with years they will grow and become prettier and prettier, cannot wait hihi. So now we have 11 azaleas and 10 rhododendrons planted in our project.

Baby azalea bushes, under the spruce

Our pride and joy, the rhododendrons from last spring

Even among such beauty, I am still the prettiest

The blueberries under me where I am not allowed to go

Cooling off under the Tayberry arch

Both archways will have a lot of fruit this year

Pretty boys

Mags being greeted on the second vineyard

It's as if it is no longer spring in this country, as you can see the sun is very warm in the evening, this picture was taken at around 6 o'clock and temperatures were around 25 degrees. Quite summerish already and the grass is growing wild. But so much fun running around with no leash with my girls, playing in high grass and getting dirty while we work on the lower side of the project. More pictures comming soon hihi.

Insects, mice and the brook

Past few days have been really hot, but I got unlucky and got biten by something in my paw, it was bleeding in two spots and swelling like crazy. My owners didn't panic at all, we didn't rush to the vet, instead they cleaned out my paw with colloidal silver and the powersept spray we have for diffirent fungal infection and such, we didn't over do it, instead we kept it clean and let it heal. Today the paw is looking great, a little bit of a wound left, but nicely disappearing.

We have been super busy in our forest connecting both sides of the project. Owners got into their heads that we will clean out the old, overly covered by branching and mudd, tiny brook which flows by the border all the way down the forest. And so we did, it took us three days, saving every freshwater crab we saw and letting tiny frogs hop away while working, many minutes of waiting for the animals to clear, but it was worth it. Unfortunately we didn't take a before picture so we could compare, since this picture might not be anything special, let me mention you couldn't see the water before and the piles of branches were all the way up between lands.

Brook as it is now, clean and wider

We also met a new friend, a mouse that has been around us for the second day. We met him under the spruce trees, I liked him a lot, but my owners didn't let me get too close, so I wouldn't step on him or catch any diseases from him if he had any. He was so cute, so sleepy that he could barely walk. So he got to his "house" and just dozed of. Maja took a tiny stick and started petting his back, which he loved, no panic what so ever, he just started sleeping and stretching. We named him Ferdinand haha, he is resting at Mags' finger and me, well I played with the hose just before we got to the forest, so I am still a little wet hehe.

Ferdinand, the narcoleptic mouse haha

Sleeping at Mags' finger and me being wet and curious

Maja ran up to get some apple for Ferdinand, and while we were gone, he and Magnus kept being lazy by the tree. The mouse was so sleepy, he actually fell down in his sleep, on his back and needed a few seconds to wake up and get back to a more comfortable sleeping position haha. Mags took a video of it, but it's flipped upside down sadly. But we made a short video on the cam, where he is petted and ticklish haha.

He lives below the root of that tree

Once Maja's mom and Emma got down, they were really impressed with how beautiful the forest looked after we cleaned it and then Emma jumped down and grabbed Ferdinand, Maja stopped her and he was safe and scared, but not hurt. So no worries, he is just fine, well maybe a little more scared of me, since I brought him a ball and dropped it on him, I didn't think he would get hit by it, poor mouse haha. He is now great, safely walking the forest and enjoying all the food the spring has brought. He walked away from us, towards the water and enjoyed the summer like breeze.
     Emma is known for her rodent hunting crazyness, so my owners don't let her get to any tiny furry creatures, we will protect our little Ferdinand, hihi. And let me mention the crabs, there are sooooo many! They are protected since the water are getting polluted, they can only survive in the cleanest of waters in this country, so we are very proud our brook is clean and inhabits hundreds of them. So much life in the forest!

Today the weather was great for us, it was cloudy and warm, unlike past days the temperatures were actually bareable and we could work on the project, when the sun gets really warm it's too hot to stand in it, it's as if summer already arrived. But today we managed to put in two support pillars for the last plateau, which is the main terrase of the lower area by the upper brook. It's going to be sooo pretty once it's done, and now when all Maja's azaleas and rhododendrons are slowely starting to bloom, the hill will be one big connecting bush of color. Cannot wait to pose for pictures there soon!
All our fruit trees and shrubs are also in bloom, which means that this year we will finally be able to taste some of the new hybrid trees we planted and last years Tayberry. Going to be a fantastic summer, knowing my owners there will be loads of homemade ice cream, which I will be allowed to taste and now with our own amazing fruits, the taste choice is unlimited, ohhhh homemade icecream and pies here I come!!!

Update on the past few weeks:)

Finally able to sit down and relax a little longer and update the blog about the previous happenings.

Easter was lovely, rainy but very fun, however Emma got very sick. Poor girl couldn't hold any food down and nothing was getting better. On monday Maja took her to the vet, where after a short examination we knew what the problem was. The ultimate enemy. Bones. Us pups, we love to gnaw on bones, but if we eat them, they create this cement like paste which clogs our intestense and start piling up inside us. The vet and Maja had to start cleaning her out with laxatives and enimas, nothing improved after a day. Basically it went like, fluids in, run around the parking lot and hope for poop all afternoon. Second day, they went back to try again, she was in so much pain poor girl, but after a few hours of struggle, they finally managed to break down the mass in her stomach, but even though it sounds very yucky, it was amazing to see how she understood what was happening.
While the vet was elbow deep inside her to break the mass, she knew it was helping, and Emma in all that pain, didn't go crazy on them, she actually layed out on her back and stretched out completely, as if she was saying thank you for helping. The vet was joking that if it was him, he would have punched his doctor by now, doing all this to him, but Emma... she was just greatful. And then, it worked, things started comming out of her. Those two girls took a long walk home from the vet and we met them half way, and oh man was I happy to see them! I kissed both of them and I was very gentle to Emma, I knew those medical smells and well...lets be honest, Maja smelled like laxitives and parafin also, poor girl haha, she did deserve some well earned love also haha.  But all was well on the back front haha.

So thats for the easter and the ban on the yummy bones, boo.

For the past few weeks, when the sun came out we started really working up at our little zen project, which is no longer so little, we managed to dig out terrases and the area is becoming really beautiful. We meet snakes, no worries, these weren't poisonous, huge green lizzards, which are really fast while running away and birds. Those damn birds, how they annoy me haha. I guess there is a bit of a bird hunter still left inside me, because those birds do make me run around like a fool every now and then, and then there is deer, beautiful white butt deer, who stop and look at us and then as if they are mocking me, hop away before I can decide to chase them or not haha. Our tiny little brook not only has crabs in it, but also leeches, funky little creatures, but owners keep me away from those. The only problem we had past few days with the weather so pretty is that there is a huge tick infestation, I had 11 of them on my ears when we got home, already sucking on my blood, so yesterday Maja went to the vets and bought the anti tick drops, no need to risk it, it's going to be fun today when they try and prevent me from swimming haha, since with this medication you are not allowed to dive into water for two days, haha good luck owners.

The weather went from cold and damp to really hot, past few days have been up to 28 degrees in the sun and I have been jumping into water anywhere I could find it. Spring is amazing, even when I am not allowed to bite of a tulip or narciss flower, which are so tempting when the wind plays with them haha. But everything is in color, our little project has this old plum tree which they didn't want to cut down, and now in it's full bloom when the wind comes it looks like its snowing with the white flower petals falling everywhere, its really zen and relaxing down there. Magnus hit his thumb, nothing really bad but it is preventing him to work hard so he stole a bag of mulch, which he put in the sun to sit on, and us boys sunbathe while Maja is working haha. But the area is becoming really pretty down there, it's actually very shocking, it went from overgrown messy jungle to a beautiful terrased garden, with a little aquaduct, haha. We are all joking about it, Mags keeps his aquaduct unclogged and running, while all us dogs love running on it, there is this water flowing down from the orchard which is up above with half a vineyard between and making the area muddy, so Magsy made it to prevent spilling where we have terrases, we are joking that his Donava (huge river going from Germany all the way to black sea) is leaking and he has to repair it by using a stick, which ofc all dogs follow and stomp on while watching what he is doing haha, it's really Siziphus work, but he likes it haha. Today we are going to take a lot of pictures and post them tomorrow, so everyone can see me in the spring and my owners flower obsession isn's silly haha. soooo many colors and pretty areas ready for planting. And don't even get me started on Maja's symbolic fencing, haha, she made this silly fences for us dogs and deer to respect the little stairs and edges she likes, but they actually work, we don't run over the pretty bushes and flowers, though it would be easier to get to places haha. But now, its full sun and not a cloud in the sky, so we are leaving this comfortable bed and going into the wild flower world.

Mags kissing Emma after after we came from the vet

Lower part of the project before we started digging

Posing by the gardenbeds above the second vineyard

Resting by the house after the long hot walk up

Upper side of the project, by our beautiful baby magnolia

One word. LOVE.

And for the grand finale, the before and after pics of the work we do by the forest at our little garden project, we are not even half way done, but we are very proud of the work that has already been done so far, especially since we had snow till only a few weeks ago and started on this area this year.

Before our work has begun, pic taken in november 2012

Pic taken today, after some planting and leveling

We are very proud, and as soon as we clean it up a bit, and the flowers grow bigger and actually show, the trees we intend to plant will be in a nice line, it will truly be majestic. The plum tree is dancing in the wind and coloring the paths white, making it a lot prettier then the picture shows, but we will show more pictures soon, but before that, one picture of the other side where we have a whole rhododenron and azalea hill, soon they will bloom and we will post more of those pics since these aren't showing the full beauty of the areas yet. Hihi.

This picture was taken a week or so ago and is now a lot more green and lively, cannot wait to show these bushes as they bloom.

The 30 year old rhododendron we got from the old neighbour, that was neglected and unfertilized, but was successfully replanted and given proper care by my owners, and hopefully it will bloom next year, it seems quite happy with the move and the bush infront of it will turn crimson red in the fall, it will be so pretty. I helped with the digging and below the rhododendron is where I rest my head when the sun is too hot, I managed to move the mulch up on the shelf by leaning my face on it haha. I love this shade. But more pictures which allow me to show where I get my paws all muddy comming soon, Hihi.

3rd Birthsday

Yesterday was my third birthsday, I had so much fun, and gotten so much love and spoiling from my owners and my friends. We have been so busy lately, we have been working hard on the new landscaping project, which I will have to update about soon, thought tonight I am way too tired for it, but I did want to share, how beautiful the spring is and how lovely it is to be three years old.

Pictures coming soon:)