The beast has a name . It is Milo and he is my grand dog. He belongs to my son but stays here at the sandpit a lot of the time playing with my other dogs.
Milo is a very good dog but is huge weighing
over 100 pounds. Him romping around the backyard has dug up large sections of grass leaving barren dirt holes.The dogs like to play around at the end of my back porch and have made a dirt pit. I have replanted grass there twice that I pulled up from edging by my fence but the grass is no match for the Beast and his big feet.
Milo has a water bowl on my porch and for some reason known only to him insists on putting his right paw in the water as he drinks. Maybe he is checkin' the depth. Who can say?
Anyway between his wet foot and the dirt pit he makes mud. Of course he tracks the mud across my porch and into my house leaving Milo prints everywhere.
I have been cogitatin' on some solution and finally reached a conclusion. That being that I need to make some type of barrier between the dirt and my porch and I best be doing it soon before the rainy season starts up.
I got some inspiration from reading one of my gardening blog friends post.
http://africanaussie.blogspot.com/2009/12/i-never-promised-you-rose-garden.html
She replaced an area with rock and removed the grass . It looks good and creates a barrier.
With an idea in my head I decided that I am fittin' to take care of this problem. For my northern friends when a southern boy says they are fittin to take care of something best stand by because something is about to happen.
This project is going to take some capital expenditures so I had to steel my resolve and get up off my wallet.
Not that I am cheap but I do tend to have a frugal nature. In fact I have been known to squeeze a quarter so hard that the eagle screamed as they say in the south.
Any
way I broke down and started puttin' up supplies for the project. I hope to work on it this week if time permits.Getting off the subject I did notice that the Passion Vine is coming back out. You can see where the freeze from the first half of January partially killed some of the leaves. I read in the local paper that if there was still some green in the leaves it is best just to leave them on the plant so I did.
So I am making progress with my list of things that I really ought to do one day. This week it is the beast project that has my attention.
---------sanddune------------------
Great post Sanddune! Made me laugh. I have the same problem but mine happened from people (500 or so) on a garden tour. The grass never came back. Now it resembles a miniature car track opn dirt.
ReplyDeleteHi Sanddune, thanks for linking back to my post! I am honoured! I loved this post, you have a great way of writing, I always enjoy keeping up with your adventures.. We are in the midst of "mud season" and it really has helped to keep the mud out of the house.
ReplyDeleteHe's a handsome beast.
ReplyDeleteI can deal with the digging and the water splashing, but my dog wants to love the cat, me and my plants to death, literally. Her doggy exuberance is almost too much.
Not that sweet looking doggy. Our Fred digs, digs, digs, looks around for approval, and digs some more. it is like his inner terrier is talking to him. Bob just watches. He doesn't step in his bowl. He just kinks it around, water and all. Love the post. jim
ReplyDeleteI laughed at Milo putting his feet in the water. We once bought a puppy, a black lab named Jasmine, who did the very same thing. We also had an older dog, Susie, who was an English setter. She watched Jasmine muddy the water bowl a few times. You could tell she thought it was a stupid thing to do. Susie was an even tempered dog, but one day she had had it with the muddy water. Jasmine put her feet in the water and Susie growled and barked sternly at her. Problem solved! Good luck on your project; it should look great!
ReplyDeleteJim,
ReplyDeleteI suspect your rose gardens make quite a attraction. The way I see it any grass that I can get rid of is a advantage.Figuring out how to do that to keep the sandpit from becoming a mudpit is the the issue.
Gillian,
You being my geographical inverse twin gives me lots of good info on what will grow here.I get ideas and inspiration from your posts quite often.
Nell Jean,
When Milo decides to play with someone he literally can. He is a good tempered dog { thank God }but I don't think he knows how big he is or how strong. As to my humble garden he is akin to a bull in a china shop.
Jim G.,
I'm glad Milo doesn't dig. He can clear enough land just by running over it.If he did we would be on the news about another Florida sink hole opening up and swallowing a house.
Deborah,
Perhaps I need to borrow Susie for awhile to learn Milo some table manners. I figure dogs are like people with their own individual quirks.I might try growling at him when he puts his paw in the water bowl.On second thought considerin' his gator like mouth full of gator like teeth mayby that's not such a good idea.
Hey, Sanddune! I'm on the Treasure Coast in SE FL! I found you via Africanaussie. I too share your problem...I have two dogs (not as large as yours) and two children (they and their toys can be pretty brutal on the landscape!). Great post!
ReplyDeleteI'll glad to find another S FL blogger!
Hi Kimberly,
ReplyDeleteThanks for visitin'. Not a lot of Southern Florida blogs to go around so I was glad to find yours also.