it is that time of the year

Just like anything in the dog, or anything in general, there always seem to be that proverbial 'double edged sword'.

My dogs are outside, chained in a large fenced in enclosure. The dogf pen is nestled in the woods that provide absolute shade in the summer. The pine trees and the oak trees provide quite the canopy.

The flip side is the leaves and pine straw are falling in droves. I can clean water bowls in the morning, and they are drinking pine needle and oak leaf tea by late afternoon.

It is quite the trade off. I am so appreciative of the trees in the summer and curse them this time of the year.

Funny how that works.

S

 

Our leaves never quit falling til the spring when they come back. We don't get enough snow to knock them off that last time.

It seems ever lasting.

I now use a leaf blower, blow them to one end of the fence and then go back and clean water bowls.

The worst part is these fuckers don't appreciate shit. They attack the blower like some sort of sociopaths.

I often ask myself WHY?

S

 

We do the same in the yard around the house and the cabin. I can't get a mower in with the dogs. I blow them to one end and then use the blower to push thru the field fence.

Last night I cleaned water bowls in the dark around 7PM. We had some pretty good wind last night followed by what looks like a heavy dew this morning as the wet weather is on the way. I will try to get a pic of the pine needle soup and oak tree tea the dogs have when they roll out this morning.

In NC if we could have a hard frost early on followed by a solid snow the leaves would not be as big an issue. I could get them all in one or two attempts. Unfortunately (but mostly fortunately) we stay mild. It has been in the high 70's low 80's the last two weeks with minimal rain. The leaves just hang around all winter. I could pretty much put two or three hours into leaves two times a week from now til spring. The last of the leaves fall when the new buds pop up in early spring.

As far as the dogs are concerned, the trade-off is the shade, and I am very thankful for that as I do not have to build an elaborate style house with man-made shade.

Leaves in the chain spaces does not really hurt anything other than it looks bad and can hide a pile here and there.

Sometimes my babbling turns to a slight rant. My apologies.

S