EXPLORING AUNT CHERYL'S BACK YARD, by Gabe

I convinced Piper that I could do a better job of writing about Aunt Cheryl's back yard than she could, so she is letting me write her blog entry today.  The reason why I think I am better suited for this job is because I am a boy dog, and boy dogs always explore areas more thoroughly while they are looking for suitable places to mark.

So with the help of some photos that Mom took, I will try to explain all about Aunt Cheryl's yard.  First of all I will say that when I have been there in the past, there was a whole bunch of bamboo at one end of the yard.  There was so much of it that it was like a special little forest that was perfect for dogs to run around in.  Sadly, Aunt Cheryl decided that she wanted to get rid of the bamboo, so she hired someone to cut it all down and dig it up.  But digging it up is really hard work, so that job is not finished yet.

Here is a picture of the part of the yard that used to have bamboo in it.  Now it is very empty and not nearly as interesting as it used to be, at least in my opinion.  But one thing I really liked was that a bunch of grass and stuff got thrown over the back fence after it was dug up.  So it was in a pile against the fence in sort of a woodsy area where there are armadillos and lots of other really cool wildlife.  This plant stuff was all kind of rotting, so it smelled totally wonderful, and I wanted to roll in it, but I couldn't because it was on the other side of the fence.  So what I did instead was I rubbed myself on the fence a whole bunch.

Anyway, what Aunt Cheryl is trying to do with her yard is to get rid of stuff like bamboo and grass, and replace it with plants that would just normally grow in Texas.  This is a really big project, so it will probably take many years to get it all finished.

I will also mention that Aunt Cheryl likes all kinds of containers and pots and weird pieces of iron and pottery, so she buys these things at yard sales and thrift stores, and then she brings them home and puts them in her yard.  Most of this stuff is good to pee on, so I like it for that reason.  Hank also likes to pee on this kind of stuff because he is a boy dog, just like me.

Anyway, another thing Aunt Cheryl likes to do is go to garden centers and buy plants.  Then she brings them home and puts them in the funny containers she bought.  But so far, she has more containers than plants, so things are a little stacked up.

While we were there visiting Hank and Aunt Cheryl, some men were working on the front yard, and they were digging up the grass.  Also they were putting paving stones in to make places to walk on where you could go without stepping on plants.  Mom didn't take any pictures of the front yard, so I can't show you what it looks like.  That's okay, though, because there was plenty to check out in the back yard.  Now that we are home again, our own back yard seems really boring by comparison, but I guess there's nothing I can really do about that unless I can get Aunt Cheryl to adopt me!