14 November 2011

Dog and roses.

I thought that as I haven’t posted any pictures of Tess recently I’d better put that right so I took these two the other night during our evening walk. I call it a walk but it’s turned in to a half mile leash walk followed by a one mile game of ball which isn’t easy on a narrow track when the light is fading fast although I think we have done quite well because so far we’ve only completely lost one ball in the past week although we have spent quite a while looking for them on occasion. It’s amazing how easy it is to lose a tennis ball in undergrowth. There have been a couple of times now when I’ve just about been ready to give up when Tess has sniffed it out right from under my nose. Anyway that’s all good fun and not only gives Tess a bit of extra running but also takes her mind off chasing rabbits and other things. The ball game is then followed by another half mile walking to heel or at least in the region of my heel, there are times when she get led astray by something rustling in the undergrowth.

Tess guarding the ball from some idiot who keeps 
throwing it onto the long grass!
Stop messing around with that camera and throw the ball please.

I also realise I haven’t had much to say about the gardening of late, the main reason for this being the lack of anything to talk about. Since returning from our holiday I’ve been spending a lot of time renewing a big rose border on the north front. When planting new roses where old have been growing you really need to renew the soil before the new roses go in so I spend over a week doing that moving 90 loads all by hand, that’s 45 out and 45 back in again, it was a back breaking job that is for sure. One hundred roses arrived last week which I have just got finished planting. There are fifty each of ‘William and Catherine’ and ‘Queen Anne’, I just have to go over the border and fork out the foot prints now and the job will be finished and I can then hopefully get on with some normal Autumn work which I have fallen behind with.

The new rose border.
Queen Anne Rose
 William & Catherine Rose

9 comments:

An English Shepherd said...

That sounds like a nice long walk :-)

Sara said...

I spend a lot of time ball hunting too, especially with the loss of daylight. I've had to resort to "charging" a glow in the dark ball with a flashlight. Kind of a pain to charge it up between every throw, but I spend less time hunting.

ellen abbott said...

that Tess has gotten quite leggy.

Gail said...

I like roses but I love that little girl! She has grown so much.

Kimmie said...

Tess is a beauty...as much as what those roses will reveal later in life.

I too realized that I haven't taken any pictures of our new dog Ruby (a purebred chocolate lab that a business acquaintance of my husband gave to us a few weeks back). Need to get moving, as she is such a keeper. We are so in love with this gentle quiet spirited girl...what a balm to my soul she is after losing our Hunter this spring.

Hope all is well with you my friend.

Kimmie
mama to 8
one homemade and 7 adopted

Darlene said...

Oh Tess, I could just squish you up! In a good way, of course...

And that rose bed will be stunning! Poor you with all of that hauling though.

Beth said...

Tess is beautiful. The walks sound like fun.

Anonymous said...

WOW...Tess is all grown up...she looks like she's ready to go chase that ball again! That's a lot of dirt moving...but the end result will be the blooming of all those beautiful roses!

Doc said...

Rob,
Tess is certainly a sweet girl. Wow you certainly have had a time with that rose garden, what a lot of hard work. I bet next summer it will be quite the display....pictures please!