A healthy dog

Up till today, I've been taking Iris along on a leash when we walk.  When she was sick, she kept wanting to go back to the house without us, and I wanted her to stay with us.  Besides, I didn't want her to stray and get lost.
Today Iris and I walked alone while Cliff slept, since he wants to spend his "walk-time" setting a corner post for a fence where the trailer house used to be.  I decided to take the dog without a leash.
I've never seen such speed in a dog.  If I called her, she'd come running toward me... and pass me by!   I wanted to get a video, but she was so fast it was well nigh impossible.  I managed to get seven seconds of her running recorded, and then she was out of sight.   And truthfully, this wasn't her top speed, not even close.  I hope to get a video in tomorrow morning at the beginning of our walk, when she's at top speed.





I read that whippets can run up to thirty-five miles per hour.  
Occasionally she'd take time out to roll in the wet grass, and then she was off again.  Whenever we used to see Sadie rolling, we knew she had found something nasty and rotten to roll in, but Iris simply rolls for the pure joy of living, the same reason she runs so freely.
I can't wait for Cliff to see the speed of this dog.  
Now for the negative doggie-news:  The little neighbor girl was in our yard with her chihuahua, and it started yapping at me and Iris.  I knew there could be trouble and tried to grab Iris by the collar, but it was too late; she was off like a rocket, with me yelling "Nooooo" to no avail.  
As luck with have it, the chihuahua was able to run under the body of an old car, and Iris was too big to follow; the little girl grabbed her dog, who was just fine.  Thank God for that!  I warned her that Iris is capable of hurting her dog, since she did catch Angel and rough her up, with several people watching and trying to intervene.    
  One of my regular readers, Wil, suggested Iris goes after small dogs because she is a sighthound, bred to go after rabbits and other small game.  I tend to agree with him.  Even though she is only half whippet, she certainly has all the traits of a purebred.    
So, Iris is out to kill cats and small dogs.  I have a brother-in-law in St. Louis who would consider that a wonderful trait, but I really would prefer she not hurt other people's pets.   

Stuff

I have several tomatoes on my vines, the largest of them about an inch wide.  I can't wait!

This is a hibiscus I got last year from a seed company.  It's very tall, and strong winds have damaged some of the stalks.  I wonder if I should somehow stake it?  I'm fairly new to hibiscus.  

My daughter gave me this hibiscus from her flowerbed.  It's less than two feet tall.  Are there both tall and short varieties of hibiscus?  

This is an Asiatic lily I bought yesterday.  I have several regular day lilies almost ready to bloom, but they are nothing like this.  

Here's a hydrangea, also purchased yesterday; it was marked down.  Now that it's already planted, I read online that it should be at least in partial shade.  Shall I leave it where it stands, or move it to the north side of the house with the astilbes?  

Whoever said ignorance is bliss certainly didn't know what they were talking about, because I'm very ignorant about flowers and I don't feel blissful about it.  

Now, to answer a question someone asked about our "new" dog:  Iris doesn't show up in any of the pictures taken Saturday because it was storming, and she's terrified of storms.  So I had her safely tucked away in her hidey-hole.  Later in the day when the storms abated, she did indeed mix with the people and dogs that were present.

  

We still watch her closely with Angel, but I believe she is getting to the point where she will live and let live.  Granddaughter Amber spent a lot of time here with her Mini-pin, Sophie; For the most part, Iris ignored her.  We've found that Iris isn't worried about other dogs eating her food, which was a real sore spot with Sadie.  She is possessive about her toys, and does not want any dog approaching those.  So we know what to watch out for when a dog is visiting. 

Iris has settled in nicely and has become a real part of our household.  We do watch her closely because of her counter-surfing habits; I don't leave her in the house alone even for a minute; she either goes out with me, or into her pet taxi.  Now that she's totally recovered from her pneumonia, or whatever she had, she's a live wire.  She will chase a ball or Frisbee as long as someone is willing to throw it for her; she really got a workout with all the company we had last week.

A snotty update on Iris (don't read if you have a queasy stomach)

It cracks me up the way Iris flops down in this position to rest.

We got Iris at Wayside Waifs May 1.  She was doing quite a bit of coughing; I chalked it up to kennel cough and waited.  And waited.  And waited.  She's had such a horribly snotty nose that I've gone through a box of Kleenex and a roll of toilet paper wiping that nose.  She patiently allows me to wipe off the snot; if she has an extra big amount of it hanging from her nose, she will actually come to me and lay her head on my lap, as if to say, "Here, fix this, will you?"  
Because she was showing no improvement, we took her to the vet, who announced that Iris did not have kennel cough.  
"When they have that greenish-yellow snot, it's something else."  
I wish I had asked what the "something else" was.  I'm thinking it's canine influenza, but who knows.   
He sent me home with a ten-day supply of antibiotic pills; Iris took the last one yesterday: she still has coughing fits and her nose still runs, although not quite as much as it did as its worst.  
If Iris wakes up coughing at 3 A.M., obviously I wake up too.  She'd be fine having the run of the house while we sleep, but who wants snot all over the carpet?  So I've put her in the pet taxi beside my bed.  And been awakened often.  
Much as I hate to, I'm going to start putting her in the outside pen at night until she gets over whatever it is she has.   I've been sleep-deprived long enough.
Meanwhile, Iris doesn't seem to feel sick at all.  She eats from four to six cups of Science Diet daily; for a twenty-seven pound dog, I think that's amazing.  She brings toys to me, wanting to play.  She chases the frisbee until she's overcome by a coughing fit.  She goes walking with me and stays ahead of me, looking over her shoulder from time to time to make sure I'm coming.  
If you're wondering why I haven't taken her back to the vet, our budget has been stretched to the limit lately by dog expenses.  I would take her back to Wayside Waifs and ask for another dog in exchange, but I really love Iris.  If she ever gets over this crud, she is going to be a super-wonderful pet.  Actually, she already is.  Just a little snotty, that's all. 

Thankful

As I begin this post, I remind myself how lucky I am that I can blog as I please.  If I bore some of my readers, they might stay away for days (or perhaps forever), but it doesn't matter.  I keep this blather going mainly to please myself.  Sometimes I will add an entry that I know is trite and meaningless (like most of this blog) just because Cliff's sister in St. Louis worries if I don't write something every day.  I'm not doing this blogging thing to make money or to try to attract thousands of readers.  There's great freedom in that, and I am thankful.  So today, I choose to tell you about my strawberries.  And of course, I am liable to include a picture or two of my dog; nobody will set up a blog with a huge following telling the world how boring I am or how sick and tired they are of my dog.  They SURELY won't be complaining that I'm making too much money doing this.  Although, hey, I'm up to $78.55 with Google Adsense.  When I get to $100, I get a check for that amount.  $100 every six years is better than nothing, right?  

This is today's pickins, about a quart.  We've had cold weather and rain for days on end, so the strawberries are slow to ripen.  I've been getting enough, though, for our cereal each day, and a nice bowl of berries for dessert sometimes.

Matthew 6:26: Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.   
My heavenly Father is feeding those birds my strawberries!  It's OK, though; there's plenty for us all.  When I'm picking berries, I can almost hear Miriam Makeba singing "Love Tastes Like Strawberries".

Here's what the birds left me, all coated with sugar and chilling in the refrigerator.  I'm hoping the strawberries will hit their peak when my son, his wife, and my granddaughter are here from Georgia.  I believe they're arriving June 6.

Cliff thought I was asleep, so he grabbed the camera and aimed.  I heard him moving around, opened my eyes, and asked him, "Do you want me to act like I'm asleep?"  He did, and I did.  Iris, I believe, was actually sleeping.