Today I cornered the Labrador retriever and started using the faux-Furminator to brush the coat he has blown. Tons of hair, I can only make one pass with the device before knocking a wad of hair off in the bag I have positioned for this work. His hindquarters are so weak that I hold him up under the abdomen with one arm as I brush (though when he's lying on the floor is best, because I can roll him around to reach more places). This will take several days of work because if I am too insistent about doing it all at once he'll start avoiding me. He is a happy old guy despite being deaf and arthritic. He loves eating, he adores getting fruit or vegetables in with his dry kibble, and loves the treats the nextdoor neighbor gives the dogs each morning. As long as he is enjoying life we will live with the other stuff.

This week I start a push to finish the fence, first by painting wood preservative on the pickets for the next panel. My friend's last trip out of town (and my cat sitting for her) paid for the rest of the fence project. When I bought the preservative I had an interesting conversation with a guy in Home Depot who was comparing brands - he has a wood floor in his house he wants to use wood preservative on. That sounds like a mistake, but I can't say for sure. He's trying to solve a problem, so he gets points for that.

On Weather Underground the 10-day forecast has six of those days at or over 100^o. This is early in the year for so many hot days. We take them one day at a time now, keeping things alive, keeping enough water on the foundation to prevent the house from crumbling, keeping the garden alive, and letting the toads enjoy a few spots of water. I put a couple of terracotta saucers under the sump pump outlet for the new AC, and with Bt chunks there I can keep the mosquitoes at bay while the toads enjoy a little garden spa.