Lots of barking in our yard

Molly waiting for the Naked Ladies
 to throw the ball back.

Our dog thinks we're crazy and she told me so. Molly had loads of grass to run on when we moved here. It was a tennis ball addicted canine's paradise. We could throw the ball pretty much anywhere and she would make a bee line at break neck speed to catch it. She gets quite a thrill catching it on the first or second bounce. Then came the Giant Pile of Mulch (GPOM), but she learned to run around it. Then we put in the fence around the pool, which really cramped her style. But she made new pathways to fetch her beloved ball, and after a while she got used to the obstacles. Then came the dance floor. Our little pup lost more of her playing fields, but she took it in stride.

Yesterday was the last straw and she let me know it. It was the day we finally tackled the GPOM and the Enormous Lizard Producing Stash of Cardboard (both the stash and the lizards were enormous). By laying out the cardboard on the last patch of grass we plan to kill, and then piling on the GPOM, we managed to tick off our dog. She was lying on the sidewalk between the grass that stays and the grass that went. She was watching me pile on the mulch that blocked off her smooth path around the pool fence to the east. If a dog can watch in horror, that is what she did. Then she barked. An unusually loud, pathetic and whiny bark that I interpreted to mean "Now this is going too far, I'm calling the SPCA." Pathways through the mulch are planned, but for now her ball chasing route changes once again. 

Me and Molly in the future veggie garden.

Ernst planted five fruit trees!
Apple, plum, cherry and two more I can't remember.
I need to eat more fruit to improve my memory.

The maples out front are leafing out.
These trees are for growing shade.

More work ahead - irises from Myra and family.
The colors will be a surprise.

Our other GPOM. Our neighbor calls this Mount Mulch.
We plan on conquering it soon.