Where else would a queen knit?

Mr. Pug (aka the semispouse) has been working hard to create a backyard oasis for us. There are several stages:

(1) Build knitting perch (yes, I said perch) for the queen (Ms. Pug) - check!
(2) Build pond/water feature - check! (well, except for a couple of details)
(3) Add ground cover (pachysandra in this case) - check!
(4) Fill in other miscellaneous bare spots
(5) Build screened porch addition

The perch is my favorite. He called it a porch, but it's really just a spot for me to perch, maybe with a pug or two for company, with my knitting or a book. The little plastic box on the shelf under the table is a waterproof hiding place for my bird book (so I can identify the guys that are nesting in our birdhouses and otherwise inhabiting the yard) and a lighter so I can fire up the bug candle. Poifect!



Lucy likes it too. Bluto likes it, but from the floor level. He's pretty timid and not too coordinated, so he has to be lifted onto the cushion. Once he's up there, he's got a short attention span and won't stay long. Lucy will stay as long as I'm there--she's a people pug and just wants to snuggle up with anyone she can.

And Lightning's very excited about more pachysandra ready to be planted--she actually got into the flat and rolled around when we brought it home. Hurry up, Dad!


Finally, the water feature. This is one of those pond kits that you buy from Sam's Club and it looks like it will (a) be simple to install and (b) be complete. Wrong on both counts, although I can't blame Sam's for that. I'd call those assumptions naivete on our parts.



But many hours of digging, filling, digging, filling, etc. later, plus several trips to the stone store to buy the perfect stones and the plant store to buy the perfect plants, it's just about done. It's burbling along pretty nicely and now I just have to worry that Lulu will dive into it. She's definitely the most adventurous of the pug babies and if one of them is going to fall in, it will be Lulu.

Finally, in other pug news, Lightning has a foot abscess on one of her back paws.



She and I both ended up needing medical assistance last weekend, she at home in Georgia and me in Charlotte. It hasn't escaped my attention that Mr. Pug remained in Georgia with Lightning instead of racing to my side--where, to be fair, I would have been annoyed to see him. But still ...

Anyway, Mr. Pug and Jake drove Lightning to Virginia yesterday to visit their other mothers, aka flatmates, Linda and Cathy. They are giving her all the nursing care that any pug could want. Thanks, flatmates!