Curly Q
Tag: out of the dirt
Sprouts!
Clover
DPP ~ Day 15 & 16
Y’all.
Puppy hours are rough!
The first two nights they were up at 4am and let me tell you, I am somewhat an early riser but starting the day that early is not my favorite thing. At all.
But yesterday the pups were a little more adventurous and willing to explore their new home more and we stretched their awake time before bed further. Which was great but they woke up at 3 o’clock. (That sentence should be read with a tone…incredulity, horror, maybe even a whimper of sadness.) The good news is that we took them outside to use the bathroom and then put them back in their crate and they slept until about 6:30. And oddly enough I will take that over being up at 4 in the morning.
We have always said that having babies was a young person’s game and I think taking on puppies might be too. I am feeling all of my 50 years on this earth all at once at various moments throughout the day. But they are just so stinking cute and sweet.
Okay, enough puppy talk and on to yesterday and today’s dpp pictures. I took a few pictures yesterday but see the above paragraphs and I am sure you can imagine why I didn’t get to post them.
I’m really trying not to overdo it with puppy pictures (although I am sure they will show up on here again) so I stepped into the front yard yesterday and enjoyed nosing around the front flower beds with my camera. I don’t think we will be leaving things as they are but for now it looks nice and adds some color.
I have no idea what kind of berry bush this is but I have never seen one with purple and red berries on it at the same time. I’m guessing the berries are changing from one color to the other but I’ve just never seen that before. It’s really pretty!
So, I may not be sharing pictures of the pups but I do have a shot of Milo that I took this morning. He and Tom are both quietly settling in to having other four legged furry creatures around. Maybe a better word is slowly getting used to them. They no longer bolt at the first sign of Rex and Louis and we’re counting that as a win. Tom is still the only one of the cats to have any kind of interaction with the puppies. Time will take care of things but for now they seem to alternate between looking at us as if asking, “What in the world?” or “Why? Why would you do this?” Don’t worry though, the kids are pretty quick to make sure the cats gets lots of attention so they know they’re still loved.
See you tomorrow!
The Lovely Echinacea
What a fun little flower these are! Commonly known as a coneflower, the scientific name is derived from the Greek word for hedgehog, echinos, due to its prickly center. How fun is that?
Part of the daisy family it is also considered a type of herb and is used to treat common colds, earaches and is thought to boost the immune system. According to one ethnobotanist the cone flower, native to North America, is probably used as a remedy for more ailments than any other plant. Native Americans (specifically the Cheyenne, Choctaw and Kiowa) used it as a natural cough medicine and to treat sore throats by chewing on the root. The Dakotas would scrap the root and use it to treat snake bites while the Delaware tribe would actually use it to treat venereal disease. Skin conditions, infected wounds, and even toothaches were treated with parts of the echinacea plant.
Today it is most often used as a tea or taken in some other form of herbal supplement. With the advancement of modern medicine it has fallen out of favor with much of the medical community but has enjoyed a bit of a comeback within the last decade with the more natural remedy crowd.
It is a beautiful and dramatic addition to your garden and a big bonus is that bees and butterflies love them too. They also make for a lovely cut flower. They photograph beautifully and tomorrow I will share some “portraits” I enjoyed taking of mine 🙂
The Common Place 