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According to all the weather forecasts for our area we were expecting a great
deal of rain on Sunday. I had some last minute planting I wanted to get done
so out we went early Sunday morning to begin. I had a few seeds to get added
to the garden, and then had bought three new bushes to plant in the back
flower bed. Kimi of course had to help me out.
Out we went to the garden area with Kimi on her leash. That part of the
property is not fenced and is to close to the road to let her out there
without a leash. So here I went, seeds, hand trowel, gloves and Kimi's leash
all in hand. And here comes Kimi bouncing up and down like a hoppy little
bunny all excited about life and gardening.
As Kimi bounced up and down beside me her tiny ears flip flopped all over the
place and her pink tongue bounced and jiggled between her smiling lips. This
girl never knows how to walk quiet beside me. Why should she walk so stiff
and quiet when she can bounce and play and have fun? Life is for having fun,
and for living. Kimi proves to us everyday she knows this lesson well and
practices it all the time. After all practice also makes perfect and her life
is as close to perfect as she can get it.
We rounded the corner of the garage to head across the paved driveway and
toward the garden. Kimi still bouncing along up and down up and down. One
thing she had forgotten or perhaps just not given much thought too is that
when it rains water collects on the ground where it cannot soak in. Like the
paved driveway. So here she goes bouncing up and down up and down, smiling
happily, trying to grab for her own leash as she likes to lead herself. That
way you see, she is in control of her own destiny. And wherever she leads I
follow. Usually. I saw the puddle. Kimi did not. I warned her, but she failed
to take heed of mommies warning. She here she goes bouncing up and down, up
and down, up and SPLASH! Letting out a surprised "YIP!" Kimi came to a
quick stop. Still standing in the water! I stopped to watch her.
She stood there, all fours ankle deep in what was probably warm water,
sitting there in the waning sun as it was. Her face held a mixture of
dismay, surprise and a very weak grin. Kimi looked all around her, perhaps
trying to figure out the best way to get herself out of this wet situation.
She picked up one tiny dripping foot and shook the water from it. And looked
around her again. Just how does one shake the water off the other three feet
without getting the first one wet again anyway? While pondering this
question, an idea must have come to her spirited little mind. Her head lifted
and her eyes lit up like two tiny light bulbs. I watched as she gathered
herself like a cat getting ready to leap onto something high above. Her tiny
little tail end wiggled back and forth. Seeing a look of determination come
over her, I stepped back out of the way. Suddenly Kimi launched herself way
up into the air, like she was trying out for a spot on the high jump team.
Way, way up she went, clearing not only the water puddle, but about two feet
of added air. She was definitely determined to not get her feet wet a second
time.
When she landed there was a set of foot prints following her. Now you and I
know it had to be her own, caused by her soggy toes. Kimi however wasn't so
sure. Once she landed and turned around to see where she had been, she
spotted those wet footprints. Her eyes got big and serious. Dropping her head
she reached out a timid nose to sniff them. They almost smelled like her, but
yet not. They also smelled like water, and the driveway. So maybe they
weren't hers after all! Kimi dropped her delicate head to the ground and I
watched as her shiny black nose began to twitch and wiggle. Working like a
profession tracking dog, Kimi set about following those footprints! I
watched her most serious intent to track this intruder.
This interloper didn't walk a straight path, but swerved several times. Kimi
and her nose did their best to follow them anyway. One she went sniffing
madly, drawing ever closer to the edge of the puddle she had just jumped
from! I guess she was focusing to much on back tracking those tracks to pay
attention to where they were headed from. Sniffing along, she suddenly hit
the edge of the water with her nose. Before she could stop herself she had
sniffed again. Kimi snorted water right up her nose!
Backing up quickly she shook her head, making her tags jingle. Sneezing once
PPFFT!...twice PPFFFTTTTT!! as she shook her head, trying to get the water
out of her nose. Man, so it IS true! Fish breath water, but Shelties breath
air! Kimi coughed once or twice, shook her head again, ears flipping back
and forth on her head, and her front feet dancing on the pavement from the
force of her shake. Tap Tap Tap went her nails on the pavement. Jingle Jingle
Jingle went her tags. With this adventure being called on account of water,
we went on to the garden.
I laid the packet of seeds down while I slipped on my gloves. Kimi laid down
on the ground near my feet and picked up the packet of seeds. As I knelt
down to work the soil loose on the top of the hill of dirt I had waiting for
me, I hear this ..."RRIP.......rrriipp..." I looked down to see what it was
from. Gee, how nice Kimi! She opened the packet of seeds for me! There, lying
on the ground at my side was Kimi. The packet of seeds held between her
delicately crossed front feet. Just as I hear RRIIPP again I said none too
quietly, "KIMI!"
Up popped her head, little Miss Innocence! Eyes shining brightly, ears
perked at the sound of my voice and with a touch of evidence between her
lips, she looked at me as if to say "WHAT!?" I asked her, "Exactly WHAT is
that hanging from between your lips?" And of course, Miss Perfect had the
grace to look down as she spit it out. PETOOEY! Her pink little tongue worked
it out of her mouth and flicked it on to the ground at her feet. Looking
back up at me as I said to her "Ya Missy, THAT, what were you doing?" One
could see absolutely no shame on her face at all. Instead she sported a
confused look as if to question "Gee, now where ever did THAT come from?" I
patted her on the head, thanked her for opening the seeds for me and reached
down to take them.
And got my hand swatted in the process! Yes, I said SWATTED! Just as I
reached down, Kimi's left paw which had until then been crossed over her
right front paw, came up quickly and swatted the back of my hand! I had a
muddy paw print on my hand to prove it! I quickly drew back my hand, looked
at it in surprise and said "HEY YOU!" Kimi just as quickly looked up to my
face, and there with eyes aglow, pink tongue drooping between smiling lips,
lay Kimi. In all her innocent glory. I reached down, uncrossed her paws, and
as she leaned forward to playfully nip at my fingers I removed the packet of
seeds that had come between us!
That problem solved, I began to make small indents on the top of my flattened
mound of dirt for the seeds. Kimi had by now sat up and moved in for a closer
look. Glancing over at her once I saw how intently she watched the process.
Not once did the thought of what she could be thinking cross my mind. Mistake
number one.
Once I had the indents made I went to dropping 4 seeds in each hole. Four
because that is what my grandfather taught me. One for the worms, one for the
rain, one for the birds and one for me. This way we are sure of having at
least one seed take to root. Paying close attention to where the seeds were
going and how many were dropping into each small hole, I felt Kimi move next
to me, but didn't pay attention to what she was doing. Mistake number two.
Which I soon discovered. Once finished with dropping the seeds in, I laid
down the packet and went back to the beginning to close up each tiny hole.
Problem is, there were no longer my tiny holes. What had begun as a tiny hole
with four seeds, had become a bigger hole with NO seeds! As I moved along,
Kimi had moved one step behind me. Or was I the one always one step behind
her? Seeing the perfect tiny holes made into bigger ones, I looked into them
for the seeds. The very seeds I had just put in there. The very seeds no
longer there at all! Rocking back on my heels, I looked to Miss Kimi. Sitting
back on her own haunches the imp looked at me. I couldn't help but laugh.
There all around her pointy little nose was dirt and tiny bits of the wood
chips mixed in with the horse stable stuff we use to make our garden dirt
richer. With a perfectly innocent look of pure delight on her face, ears
perked high, Kimi cocked her head slightly to the left she she looked at me,
and waited for my laughter to stop. Which actually only became louder when I
saw a very messy tongue slip from betwixt her lips with a piece of cucumber
seed stuck to the end of it!
Okay, I began to see the error of my ways. I had failed to explain fully the
concept of gardening to Kimi. We have to plant the seeds, then allow the
plants to grow before eating anything! I guess she figured mommy planted the
seeds, then it was time to eat them! Moving her back, brushing the dirt of
her nose, I gave her a kiss and replanted seeds where Kimi had been sticking
her nose. Into my business you could say! I got the seeds back into the
holes, and then patted them down. I know Kimi wanted to help with this part,
but I felt she had already done quite enough. Besides, we still had 3 bushes
to plant.
Picking up the now empty packet of seeds, the hand tool and Kimi's leash we
set off for the yard again. Once inside the fenced yard I took her leash
off. Kimi grabbed it from my hands and off she ran. Getting about half way
through the yard she turned to look at me, green leash hanging from each side
of her mouth, her ears perked like she wanted me to give chase. Sorry love,
I've got work to do.
Walking over to where my bushes and the shovel lay in wait I picked up said
shovel and one bush. Moving to the back side to the house, I heard Kimi's dog
tags as the jingle grew closer and closer. Here comes my little green-pawed
wonder. I set down the plant and began to dig. Have you ever tried to dig
with a large pointed shovel? Yes? Okay, have you ever tried to dig with a
large pointed shovel that was in your fur-friends mouth?
Each time I stuck the point of the shovel into the dirt, Kimi would grab the
metal between her teeth and growl as wickedly as she could. "GGRrrrrrr!" I
would call out "Kimi let go!" Not that she often did! Most of the time our
digging a hole for the plant went like this. I stick the point of the shovel
into the ground. Kimi jumps forward and latches onto it with her teeth,
growling fiercely. "GGrrr!" Mommy calls out "Kimi no!" Kimi ignores in her
attempts to kill this evil thing under my foot.
I would then reach down and pull her off the shovel. She is of course still
growling. She will NOT be intimidated by this shovel! I sit her down and tell
her to stay, then go back to the shovel again. Just as I stick the point to
the shovel back into the dirt our little tigress of the heart attacks once
again. Now you are probably thinking long about now, 'gee she doesn't mind to
well.' Well, you are wrong. She minds very well. This just happened to be my
error. Again. You see I failed to tell her how LONG she had to stay there!
When dealing with one if such high intelligence, you must be very explicit in
your expectations and commands.
Just as I reached down to once again grab a hold of her, from out across our
back yard came a noise. A very loud noise of very odd origin. Kimi's little
head popped up, her ears like little radar's moving in semi circles of
alertness. I quickly jabbed the shovel into the ground and scooped out some
dirt. One must take advantage of opportunity when when can with Kimi around.
Hearing the sound of the scoop. Kimi's ears rotated back my direction but
that odd noise coming from across the way of neighbors proved to be more
enticing. And with issuing once quick "YIP!" over her shoulder my direction
she was off. Did she just tell ME to stay?
As Kimi chased off through the back yard toward the fence barking and yipping
madly, warning whatever that noise came from to stay where it was, I dug as
fast as I could. Not waiting to plant anything, I kept digging. I had
succeeded in getting two holes dug when Miss Kimi returned. Expecting her to
once again grab the shovel I prepared to defend it from her clutches. Okay, I
was wrong.
As she approached my position her growl of "rrrrRRRRR!" grew. Just as I
expected her to attack my poor defenseless shovel again Kimi launched herself
into the air. My eyes automatically closed, waiting for her assault. It
never came. At least not to my shovel. Hearing her "RRUF!" as she landed one
eye opened a peek. So I could take a peek. Kimi had thrown herself onto one
hole already dug and as quickly as she could make the dirt fly from under her
belly, she dug it deeper. Her tiny white paws flew in her digging fury and
within no time at all they went from pearly white to dirt brown. Okay, I can
see she too likes the get the feel of dirt between her toes.
I laughed at the speed in which she dug and up popped her head at the sound.
Between her and me, the hole was by now more than deep enough. With her front
feet still in the bottom, this left her rear end way up in the air. As she
lifted her head to the sound of my laugh, her tiny chin barely cleared the
edge of the hole. Her ears, ever alert, eyes shiny brightly, she had the look
of pure joy on her face. Her grin however was not quite as bright as usual,
but what can you expect from who has has been tasting the salt of the Earth
as she dug? There was a small chunk of dirt on her tongue, which did a sort
of melt down to mud as her slobbers, uh...saliva, mixed with the drier dirt.
One could not help but return her smile of joy.
Hearing that noise from the back yard again, Kimi tried to back her way out
of the hole. Scrambling madly back and up, her back feet holding tightly to
solid ground and her front feet scrambling over shifting soil, I laughed at
her determined efforts to right herself from said hole. Realizing she had
perhaps jumped in over her head, Kimi went forward instead. Landing with a
twist, her whole body now in the hole, Kimi jumped up to the edge. Hanging on
the the edge for dear life, she managed to hook one back paw over the edge.
It may have been a graceless scramble, but it worked. Freed once more from
the chains of dirt that held her, Kimi took off at a dusty run for the back
yard.
Finishing the holes I was digging, I placed one bush into each hole. Looking
over my shoulder to see where Kimi was I estimated if I worked quickly I
could get the bushes in and packed tight before she returned. Success was at
hand and I patted down the last clump before she made her way back to me.
Standing and moving the shovel and empty plant pots out of the way, I opened
the roll of landscaping cover so I could roll it out. I laid the roll end
down and took a hold of the lose end. Wondering how I would unroll this
without it following me instead, Kimi solved the problem for me. She jumped
on to the covering and help it firmly as I moved toward the other end of the
house unrolling it as I went. Only thing is, as I unrolled, it pulled Kimi
along, like a kid on a blanket. Not that she minded one wit!
Yipping with joy, she grabbed a mouth full to hold on tightly, set her legs
against the direction of the pull and rode the cover like a champion surfer!
So together we worked and accomplished a great deal. Once I had it rolled
out, I cut it to the right length and went back to my plants. After cutting
an X into the fabric to place it over the plant. I had to give it a tug to
lift it over to where I needed it.
I tugged once and over it came. No problem. Tucking it down to where I needed
it, I moved on to the next bush. Then just as I had picked up the covering to
make my X cut into it, I felt it tugged from my hand! Surprised I looked up.
Go figure. There stood Kimi, down on the opposite end with the material
between her teeth. She was watching for me to notice her, for at the exact
moment I did she set her tail to swinging. Little imp that she is, she was
waiting for MY tug! Picking up the covering again I quickly made my X cut
into it where I needed it. Just as I set about to place it over the bush, it
was once again jerked from my hand. Shaking my head and giggling I looked
back to where Kimi stood. Grinning wickedly around her mouth full, her tail
once again wagged in humor. I heard her muffled "YIIFFF!" and laughed with
her. I pulled my end back and tucked it around the plant then moved on to
the next bush.
I got that one covered in much the same fashion as the first two, with Kimi
yanking it out of my hands. And of course laughing her breathy little laugh
over it. Finishing with that, I wanted to get the rest of it laid down over
the flower bed and tucked in waiting for me to plant more bushes in. I got
Kimi to let go easily which should have been my first clue. Just as I went to
give the cover a sharp little snap to bring it all up to where I wanted it,
Kimi pounced it. Cutting short my snap and jerking it from my fingers, the
now loose end flew up up up and OVER Kimi!
She rose up on her back feet to meet it head on but it covered her head
anyway. I watched and laughed as she looked like two cats fighting in a bag
trying to paw her way out from under it. I heard her frustrated "GGGRRRS!"
but that didn't get her to far either. Taking pity on her I unrolled her
from her tomb, shaking my head wondering how on earth one tiny pup can get so
wrapped up in her work.
That finished I set about cleaning up my tools and mess, as Kimi set about
patrolling her back yard for the unsuspecting evil doers that could be
lurking there. Knowing that before long I would have to go pull her out of
another fine mess she has gotten herself into. One thing about Kimi and her
zest for life, she has yet to fully accept that most fools rush in where
angels fear to tread. She often lets her zealousness override common sense.
And on this day, seeing all the fun she has had while I worked diligently, I
find myself being somewhat envious of her approach. Angels may take a more
cautious approach to life, but Kimi knows living your life to the fullest
often means making mistakes. The thing about mistakes is not only in learning
from them, but knowing how to turn a mistake into a happy accident. Some of
the greatest things in life were discovered by sheer accident.
walk in beauty
Kristi & Kimi
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