You People Are Relentless

All I hear are demands for puppy pictures. I bet no one even cares that my poor baby Mia has a swollen ankle this morning and is limping around very pathetically. No, you're all just concerned with the tiny, newer dogs. Luckily for you, I am a benevolent dictator and will acquiesce to your demands. I'm even going to post TWO photos, because I'm indulgent like that. The things I do for you.

The black and the brown, living in harmony. We could all take lessons from the puppies.

I think Otty is getting a little sick of nursing. Who can blame her? They're getting so big, it's hard for them all to find space in there.

There's No Place Like Blackrock

When A. and I rolled into the driveway at 10:30 p.m. last night, the sheep yelled at us, Otty came running up to greet me at the car door, and we immediately went to see the puppies, which appear to have tripled in size. Maybe the MiL is feeding them steroids?

The forsythia branches I had cut before I left and put in a vase of warm water in the house to bloom* were actually blooming. How nice that I left a vase of dead-looking sticks and came back to a vase of flowers. The magic of Blackrock. The eggplant and pepper seeds I planted before I left have not yet sprouted, but I remain hopeful. The MiL planted lettuce in the garden while I was gone, the crocuses are coming up in the magnolia tree bed, and A.'s pond has grown in size due to rain and flooding.

Spring is coming to Blackrock, and I've come home just in time.

* In case you care, this is called "forcing," because you force the plant to bloom before it naturally would outside.

On the Road Again

Today A. and I will be leaving Tucson and driving north to Phoenix to spend the night with my brother and his family before flying home tomorrow. This means that we will be leaving my parents (of course) and my sister, who also lives in Tucson. Sad.

It also means that we will be leaving my parents' house. This is also sad. It's an insanely comfortable house. Built that way on purpose, because my parents had it built to their own specifications. All the furniture is soft and cushy, there's unlimited hot water, lots of light, beautiful views. And it's really, really clean. All of this means it's pretty much the antithesis of Blackrock. Not a bad place to spend a vacation.

But still, Blackrock--with all its mess, chaos, needy animals, lack of water, and constant chill--is calling us home. It's time.

P.S.--Just Because I Love You

You're welcome.

No, I'm Still Not Home

When I said we had returned from our road trip, I meant we had returned to my parents' house in Tucson. I won't be back at Blackrock until late Thursday night, which means there will be no playing with puppies until Friday. This is like the vacation that never ends. *

In the meantime, allow me to give you a recommendation. If you ever find yourself in Tucson, you should absolutely go to the International Wildlife Museum. We went this morning. It is astounding. If taxidermy freaks you out, it wouldn't be for you, but this is seriously one of the most detailed, most educational museums about animals I've ever seen. It's about on par with The Field Museum in Chicago. The displays are realistic in setting and the activities the animals are engaged in, which means if you might find the sight of four stuffed wolves taking down a stuffed elk disturbing, then you probably wouldn't like it.

But for those of you who can handle nature in all her beauty and cruelty, I really can't recommend this place too highly. Thousands and thousands of stuffed animals, arranged and explained extremely well. If I had four thumbs, I would give it all four thumbs up. But since I'm not a mutant, two thumbs up will have to do.

* It just goes on and on my friends. Some people started vacationing not knowing what it was, and they'll continue vacationing forever just because this is the vacation that never ends . . . thank you Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop, for that supremely annoying song that can be so easily adapted to all situations.

I'm Such a Tease

A. and I returned from our little southern Arizona road trip yesterday. There are many, many stories to be told. Encounters with hippies, border patrol agents, cowboys, and miners. Trips to wineries, artists' colonies, ghost towns, and Spanish forts. Plus! The bestest part--an exciting and not-so-safe drive along a dirt road running two feet from the Mexican border.

But you'll just have to wait for all of that, because I'm still on vacation and I don't feel like sitting down to write a novella at the moment when there are more fun things to be done.

So sit tight, duckies, be patient, and I promise you good stories soon.

Hasta luego! (There's supposed to be one of those upside-down exclamation marks at the beginning of that, but I can't figure out how to do it.)