Well, I’ve done my yardwork for the day. I just mowed the garden. I had the mower right up against the house, and Bear was sitting inside at the window, barking. At first I thought he was proudly demonstrating that he can be louder than the mower, but then I saw the FedEx truck across the street. FedEx, UPS, amazon…all must be barked at.

I got Bear a little plastic wading pool a couple years ago. He used to splash around in it all the time. Not anymore. At most, he’ll drink out of it. I think I’ve only seen him play in it once this year. As a result, I haven’t changed the water like I used to, so now it has become frog habitat. I’ve seen as many as five frogs sitting on the rim at any one time. And there’s been a couple times I saw some tiny critters in there that I hope were tadpoles. So, given what I remember hearing a few years ago about frog populations mysteriously declining worldwide, I’m afraid that if I clean the pool, I’ll be violating the Endangered Species Act. Maybe I’ll put the end of the hose in there, and leave it continually running just a trickle, so it’ll be a little fresher, a little cooler, and a little less mosquito-breedy. Yeah, it’s gettin’ pretty rank.