Around and around and around...

Sassy has been spending nights in the laundry room using the litter box with the puppy pad.  We tried to talk her into the box with litter (both boxes were in the laundry room and then we removed the puppy pad box) but she just used the floor.  So, the puppy pad box was returned to the laundry room.  Before we had a chance to lock her up Sunday night, she pooped on the living room carpet right in front of the bay window.  So (light bulb!!), I cleaned another box really well, added a puppy pad and put the box where she likes to poop.  By late morning on Monday she had used the box to pee.  I talked Carl into leaving her out last night - he was skeptical, but he did it.  Before I went to bed, I had a heart to heart talk with her and told her 'daddy' would be really mad if she made another mess and she might end up living her entire life in the laundry room if she didn't behave.  This morning she had pooped in the puppy pad box in the living room.  Sadie is completely off her meds.  She's back to waking us up in the morning by grooming us and pushing her head into our hands.  This morning it was at 4:30 AM.  We haven't seen any evidence of her marking around the doors.

We finally got up the nerve to shave and bathe Sassy.  She had lumpy knots close to her skin that she would not let me brush.  So, we got out the electric shaver and while it's not a professional job, it's not bad.  She's gone from laying on the brick hearth to laying on a window seat in the sun.  She actually looks like a puppy now.  Since she seemed to be cold I crocheted her a sweater.  I just put it on her this morning and when she tried to back out of it, she fell off the window seat.  I'll keep an eye on her and we'll see how it goes.   Soon after I typed this I heard this low howl and found her in the hallway making this continuous growl so I figured she was finished with it.  I'll try it on her again later.  It's funny that Sadie and Sassy had a 'no aggression' pact.  They just walk wide around each other.  After Sassy's bath and shave, they both started hissing at each other again just like they didn't know each other. 

The white crabapple and the red bud are both losing their blossoms.  The white petals of the crabapple rained like snow yesterday morning and the rain last night finished them off, but they were both glorious.  The pink crabapple is just starting to bloom.  The Solomon's Seal and wild Columbine are both blooming, the iris are showing color in the buds, one of the salvias has a stalk of blossoms, the catmint is showing flower buds, the peonies are 3 feet tall with buds on them, all the hydrangeas have stalks coming up, the American Plum we planted bare root last Thursday has popped several leaves.  I love the garden in spring, everything looks so fresh and clean.  Either the toads or tree frogs laid eggs in the pond last night.  Unfortunately, they wrapped them around the cord of the UV light I was going to remove from the pond, guess it will have to stay until the eggs hatch.  That should only take a few days.  I actually sent my husband to the big city with a flower list.  I have 12 window boxes around the deck and several pots that need to be filled every year.  Seven of the window boxes are in the shade and five are in the sun so I wanted Impatiens and Begonias.  We also need Gartenmeister Fuschia and Black and Blue Salvia for the hummingbirds and 3 Dracena for the pots on the north side of the house.  The Dracena are pretty much neglected but they do very well in that location.  He came back with everything I wanted except the Fuschia which they didn't have.  I will need to head to a nursery to pick that up.  I was so proud of him.  Our last trip to Hornbakers in Princeton, we picked up another pot of shade plants for his garden in the trees.  He plants and waters his own garden and has some lovely shade wild flowers blooming out there.

Tree frog or toad eggs

 The pond garden that we established last year.

 The other side of the pond garden.

The new pergola

The bluebirds have built their nest in the north bluebird box.  She just finished the nest on Sunday and we don't have an egg yet.  I'm hoping for today, she just went into the box so I'll check it around noon today.  She won't start incubating until she lays her last egg.  Since they aren't in the nest box until that last egg, we need to be vigilant in watching the eggs so the wren, house sparrow or cowbird doesn't get into the box.  The wren and house sparrow will destroy the eggs and the cowbird will lay an egg in the nest, she expects the bluebirds to raise her young.