After all the weather excitement of the other day, this weekend ended up being pretty quiet ... we did get an inch or so of snow from that storm Friday night (much less than predicted) and it's been pretty cold still, but nothing too dramatic. Just Ole Man Winter overstaying his welcome (as if he really ever had one!) a bit too long. And March entered quietly, if cold ... so who knows what that portends for the rest of the month. I'm still battling the residual effects of the double whammy flu-then-cold I had all February and wasn't worth much (again!) this weekend. Neither one of us has really been able to shake this persistent bug we've had and quite frankly, I'm quite tired of spending what little time off I have feeling lousy! Anyway, at least I awoke today to a cheery sight downstairs ... the tulips (which have been budding the past few days) opened up to their full glory today! The Hyacinth and Squill have been open a few days now ... perfuming the room nicely ... but the tulips were a real eye opener, and though there are still two more budding, the first three are quite lovely don't you think?
Fernymoss took these shots this morning as the sun was pouring into the kitchen and was able to really capture some firepower from the tulips. They're really a great shade of red, and have yellowish interiors and though they're a bit small, probably because they've been forced, they'll look fabulous once they're established out in the front garden! As you can see, the Narcissus have done their thing and the Crocus are now just a memory, but we should get at least another week or so out of the tulips, hyacinth and remaining white squill. I gave them a light feeding a week or so ago, and as soon as they are done, we'll just let them die back naturally and water lightly until the foliage is ready to go. Then we'll find them a nice spot out front where we can plant the whole arrangement when the ground thaws (if it ever does!) later this spring and hope for the best next year.... No matter what, we've really enjoyed having them brighten the house even during this brief period ... though they were a bit pricey, they were well worth it! Oh, and the Primrose I have in the kitchen window has stopped blooming for the moment, but is doing quite well with the sun it gets there, so it should be able to hang in there until it can join its cousins out in the primrose bed by the steps....
Well, little Princess Hanna has been getting used to having a visitor around the past few days (until March 9) ... Fernymoss' parents are on a trip so we have their wonderful big girl Lacey staying with us! Lacey is a fantastic dog, just sweetness and obedience personified, and we're hoping she'll pass on plenty of "good dog tips" to Hanna while she's here. Lacey is only eight, but really graying quickly (as you can see in the photo below) and I swear that every time I see her she has gotten grayer! No matter, she is still a pretty lively dog for her age and is a joy to have around the house, and sometimes she's so quiet that it's easy to forget she's even here! We think she finds Hanna a bit of a "pawful" because she is so insistent on wanting to play with her, but when Lacey's in the mood to play, she's been really accommodating and she and Hanna have had some vigorous wrestle and snarl (all in play) sessions. But when Lacey's done, she just sits down and refuses to play anymore and that's when we have to call Hanna off. But being the good pup she is, she cooperates and calms down quickly, and then both of them usually take a nap to rest up for the next round....
Here we have the two girls posing by the table in the dining room ... I like this shot because it gives a much better idea of just how small Hanna is in comparison to other dogs ... of course Lacey weighs about 100 pounds and is one hefty girl (whereas Hanna weighs less than 20 pounds!) but Hanna could care less ... she loves playing with the big dogs. She may be small, but she's in no way intimidated by the big dogs! It will be interesting to see how she does with Lacey here for an extended visit ... she has shown a bit of mild territorial "pique" at first and of course is jealous of any attention Lacey gets (which is plenty), but we figure she'll just have to get over herself, as her place at the pinnacle of the house here is well assured. We think it's just a good step in her continuing socialization with other dogs that will pay off in the future. After all, she is still a puppy and learning every day, but thanks to her foster mom, she has a great start on becoming the really great dog she has every indication of being ... and we're learning along the way as well, so the experience is good for all of us! 
Over the past 6 weeks we've had Hanna with us, we nicknamed her "Hanna the flying banana" because of the way she positively sails around the house when she's wound up ... she can go airborne in an instant and when she goes up the stairs she usually skips the last 3 and flies right into the upstairs hall. So, when I took this shot (while she was on my lap!), I immediately envisioned her sailing through the air with her ears pinned back. She's quite the jumper and several times today I saw her jump higher than Lacey ... she's a real "boing boing" cartoon type dog who can go vertical in a heartbeat, and though it's fun to watch, it's something we know we have to work with her on, because not everyone likes having a dog flying through the air at them! But for the moment we are enjoying her displays of exuberance and to her credit, she does tend to limit them to greetings and being told it's time for "walkies" so we're being indulgent for now. I'm sure that as she matures more, she'll learn when it's ok behavior (Pepa did eventually, and when she was young she was an amazing jumper too... even into her later years) and mellow out a bit.I think we're all just getting impatient for Spring to arrive and going a bit stir crazy being inside all the time ... I know I am! We can't wait for warmer weather to arrive for real because we have some great activities planned for Hanna ... we've decided that since she likes to jump so much, we'd work with her on some basic agility activities such as jumping the hoop and perhaps going through a tunnel ... we'll have to improvise (I've priced the equipment and it's expensive!) a bit, but we don't have any intentions of having her compete, we just want to help her burn off the puppy energy and have some fun! Fernymoss has even dreamed up a way to make a course of "weave poles" for her using bamboo stakes, so we'll see what we can come up with to make the back yard an agility course for her. She's got the potential to excel at agility, so we might as well take advantage of that while she's young and in her formative days.... And as a final aside, she recently had her first encounter with a bunny in the back, and she was NOT amused. If she hadn't been on the leash, who knows what that bunny would have experienced! True to terrier/corgi form, she will not suffer rodents gladly ... which is something we're happy to see in her. After all, that's something that has bonded terriers with humans for centuries ... the instinct to go after vermin, and it's a strong instinct we shouldn't (and probably can't) discourage. At least the bunnies are on notice from now on out that even if Pepa is gone, they're not in the clear!
A final movie plug: Friday night we introduced Hanna to Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were Rabbit, mostly because we love that movie so much and we were curious as to what she'd think of it. Well, for Hanna it was pretty much a snooze-a-thon, but we enjoyed it as always! That film is so much fun on so many levels and every time we watch it, we get more of the the "in jokes" built into the script and background details. After all, you have to love a movie devoted to gardening and vegetables and battling bunnies ... and for me, the best smile comes from having a vegetable merchant named "Harvey's" with a giant carrot as their sign. I'm sure that kids under "a certain age" don't get the humor, but the reference to one of my favorite movies of all time always does it for me! If you haven't seen Wallace and Gromit, put it on your list and get ready for a veg-tastic time at the movies ... it's that good!
