Today's Cloud

There's lots to do in the garden these days. Especially for me, who's fighting against the pollen clock. Soon there will be no possibility for me to do much at all outdoors for a while...

So I find myself rationalizing spending less time with Monster. I try to tell myself just being outside with him a lot, letting him chew on sticks, bark at the neighbors (well, I don't let him, but...), and "help" me with the flowerbeds, weeds, dead leaves, sticks and general springy stuff, is enough for him. After all, even if it's not a walk, he's moving around a lot. And even if it's not training, he's active.

Found another apple, Mom! I'll put it in the pile, OK?

But the truth is he's sort of on his own, even though he's right beside me. I'm focused on what I'm doing, leaving him to amuse himself. And he's even locked inside the house when I'm outside. It turns out that while he's fine around a "dead" chainsaw, as soon as I yank the starter cord he goes nuts and and tries to grab the sword. NOT SAFE! So, crazy Monster gets to sit indoors and howl whenever it's tree massacre time...

He does have a lot of sticks to play around with afterwards, though.

You think that makes up for it? It doesn't.