weeds...

I know what you're thinking. He IS one handsome devil! Despite a few gray hairs on his chinny chin chin, Scooter's looking pretty great for a pug at the ripe ol' age of 8 and half! (Eight and a half years...I can hardly believe I've had him that long...it seems like yesterday that I first saw him as a tiny 8-week old puppy!) We've been taking lots of long walks lately and I think it's the source of his youthful appearance, tiny waist and much more manageable nails!

Unfortunately, he's posing in a yard that is completely unmanageable! When I first learned that we were moving to this housing area, I was so excited! One of the biggest sources of excitement (other than the very spacious brand spankin' new home) was the fenced in yard. Now this fenced in yard is one of my biggest sources of frustration! While I don't mind mowing the grass, the mere thought of dealing with the overgrown 'landscaped' section of the yard has the power to bring me to near-tears. Actually dealing with the overgrown mess has induced actual tears and a lot of cursing! Dealing with the yard and with any car issues are the two things that make my blood boil and straight up piss me off about deployment. It's not that I think that the yard and the car are Jerry's duties (I'm way too much of a feminist for that!), but I do know that they would be shared burdens if he were here. But because of the deployment, if I don't take care of these things, no one will. And after long work hours and the demands of everything else that goes into maintaining a house, it just doesn't seem like there's enough time to deal with the yard. And sadly, I'm not. I'm letting it be the overgrown jungle with the promise from Jerry that next year he'll take care of it...or we'll take care of it together. So while the grass is kept neat, the rest of the yard is a little bit of a white trash embarrassment:

Okay, that picture is a bad example of the grass being kept neat. Normally, it's in much better condition than that....the picture was taken immediately before an overdue mowing!

To give you an idea of the weeds that have struck fear into my heart, take a look:

Seriously, this is the stuff of nightmares! Can you see the spikes all over those things?! In Germany, the chemicals used to destroy weeds are tightly controlled, making it difficult to just spray them and be done with it. In addition to these monsters, the yard is frought with stinging nettles, plants that actually sting you! Even through gloves! I've managed to clear a small section of the yard of the nasty nettles and thistles, but the process is a hilarious one, involving wielding shovels and shears at arm length to avoid the spikes and stinging poisons that are anxious to attack me!

After battling the monsters in our yard, Scooter and I often retire to the cool tranquility of the house. He's created a little pug cabana by scooching one of his doggy beds right up to the window and then positioning himself between the curtain and the sheers, allowing him a little privacy while basking in the sun. My escape from the brutal terrors of the yard is a nice bubble bath with a good book and a glass of wine (or Bailey's). Ahhhh.