For the Love of Crucifers

I already knew that Lily was a freak of dog nature in her abiding love of cauliflower, but when she started sniffing around the kitchen while I chopped up cabbage for coleslaw, I thought her devotion might extend to other cruciferous veggies. Sure enough. . . .

Lily of the Garden

Space is pretty limited in Santa Monica; the community gardens have five-year waits. Through a friend, we got hooked up with a program in Santa Monica whereby you can have a garden in the yard of a homeowner who has the space but not the inclination for gardening. . . . In our case, we are gardening part of a double lot, a huge backyard, where the homeowner is also gardening while occasionally dipping into our produce. Lily loves to wander the giant yard, sniffing things out as she goes . . . and racing to me with her helicopter tail going, when I realize I can't see her and get concerned enough to call her. Then she's off again to explore some more.

Play Time

I love play time with Lily. She carefully chooses a toy from the bowl of toys. Often, she races all around by herself, throwing it in the air, chasing it, smooshing it between her back and the couch. But my favorite is when she shakes the toy, over and over again, like she's a headbanger. She really teaches that toy a lesson.

If she wants us to play with her, she brings the toy over and nudges us in the leg with it. She loves tug-of-war like little else.

Comfort

Before bedtime, I took off my wide-leg jeans and threw them over the chair before I got in the shower. Post-shower, this is how I found Lily.

In other Lily news, we started dog training! She already knows a few commands (sit, shake, go to bed, stay, sit by your bowl, let's dance), but we think it'd be good for her (and maybe fun for her) t0 learn more. She is learning "leave it" and "park" really easily. At the dog training class, she was like, "Um, that's DIRT below my belly" when we tried to get her to learn to lie down. But we'll work on that one more at home before the next class. She's very eager to please, so I'm sure she'll get it.

Really, we ended up with the sweetest dog ever. We are so lucky.

Pow! Bam! Pow!

I assured Lily the loud noises were just early July 4th fireworks and not her gangsta past coming back to haunt her, but she's not so sure.

Dog Tired

Summer Cut

Today, Lily got a summer cut. We want to see if her fur grow back in a little less unruly now that she has gotten a good trim. Lily has been giving me doleful looks ever since I laughed when I picked her up from the groomer, though.