A new garden 'helper'

There is a big thing that's changed here at the Grackle that I haven't been able to bring myself to write about: we lost our sweet Libby. She was our beautiful creature, part-time gardener (many things in our garden reflect that it was designed to house a blind black lab inhabitant) and sometimes crazy companion. We miss her terribly, and will for some time.

We've had about a month now to heal a bit and both had become ever restless with the silence and lack of four paws prancing. So we recently began to look for another dog. There are just so many out there that need good homes. Places like P.A.W.S. in Kyle and Austin Pets Alive! are good places to find animals in need of good homes.

And this past weekend we met our newest crush when visiting Austin Pets Alive at Petsmart: Mr. Bodi.


I snapped this photo of Bodi patiently waiting for me as I toodled around the garden with a camera taking photos for this blog the other morning. What a sweet little guy! We're going through some "wait, this Bodi is nothing like Libby" adjustments at the moment, but I think we'll all emerge just fine. (I mean, it's really weird to have a dog that can watch what I'm doing!)

It feels a bit strange or sacrilegious or something to talk about Libby and Bodi in just one blog post, but I can't think of a different way to go about it.

And on another subject, I feel that I've been neglecting the garden a bit lately, and largely, they've been taking care of themselves with this milder weather. Translation: there are weeds EVERYWHERE! I'm going to be taking some time this holiday weekend being thankful for mulch, and thankful (or is it hopeful) that my hands won't get too sore from pulling weeds...