Monday, August 14, 2017

Country girl to city girl



Mamie is adjusting nicely to condo living, although I’m sure she misses her favorite patch of pachysandra back at the house. 

Long ago, I bought two small trays of the stuff to jazz up the front of the house and over the years transplanted its offspring to create a ring around our massive oak tree, fill in an area next to the woods to discourage the weeds that used to take up residence there, and to fill in a bare patch next to the garage.

Everything rooted with abandon, which meant I spent the next few years yanking pachysandra out of the front lawn and from the flowerbeds. But more importantly, it meant that whichever side of the house I worked, since she's as rooted to my side as the pachysandra to the earth, Mamie could wriggle her fluffy self into a happy green nest and watch me to make sure I didn't get away.

          She’s really a city girl at heart, though, and loves a good sidewalk. Yesterday I took her out for a stroll, and thinking it would be a treat, walked to the one undeveloped area in the complex. The road simply ends at a patch of goldenrod and weeds, backed by trees in the distance, a great opportunity for a good snuffle, unlike all the pristine lawns in front of everyone’s place.

          Result: Hoping to encourage her wild side, I stumbled through weeds and got pebbles in my sandals while she watched and waited for me on the blacktop. 


(Proof that periwinkle and tiger lilies are good nesting materials, too.)

9 comments:

  1. It does indeed sound as if she is a city girl to the bone...

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  2. Mamie looks so sweet almost buried in the green stuff, she'll get used to getting off the paving. The greenery will be welcome relief for her paws when the summer heats up the footpaths.

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  3. Ground cover can be a blessing and a curse at the same time. Lily of the valley is something I never even planted here, but it's taking over! Mamie will be happy with her sidewalk walks now! -Jenn

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  4. She's a smart doggie, all right. She knows a good sidewalk when she sees one. :-)

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  5. Maybe she knows more than you. Maybe there was stuff in the weeds she does not want to encounter.

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  6. weird. when we first got Minnie as a puppy she would walk on the grass beside the street when we walked. not that her little footsies are two years old and tough, she prefers the street.

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  7. Mamie is so cute! I bought a pot or two of Pachysandra several years ago since we have lots of shade. Never have known how to pronounce "Pachysandra". It really takes root easily.

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