One of the dog toys, a multi-color thick rope with a few knots, has been so chewed and tugged that the strands are shedding rapidly, a condition that can be dangerous if they start eating the cotton strands (though the old Lab ate lots of cloth items and survived it all). I looked on top of the freezer where the spare toys live and found another one. (There are also two squeaky toys up there that drive the blue heeler out of her merle mind so they stay out of sight.) There was some interesting territorial posturing with the new rope toy, the blue heeler in charge at first, but it didn't take the pit-boxer mix long to appear to lose interest only to sneak back around the front hall and grab it. The old one is in the trash.

The kitchen is looking better and I've scrubbed the countertop where I brew (and sometimes slosh) my morning tea. As clean as it all is I'm still seeing a few ants, so it's time for another spritz of diatomaceous earth along the back edge of the counter. (Too bad I can't train the wasps to eat the ants!)

The new long garden hose is in a relaxing stage - I've stretched it out to diminish the curl of being wrapped up tight. As I lay it across the patio (in front of the door, so close to the edge that it isn't trod upon) I'll sweep and rearrange around the area. I need to do a little watering today, and mostly I need to put out fertilizer in advance of what is forecast to be another wet week. And getting a few bags of the free mulch for the areas where the last of the seedling vegetables will be planted soon. The house gets short shrift when the garden is in full gear. I bought this house because of the yard.