Transformation

If you have a dog, you don't have grass.  Growing grass in our backyard has been a battle for 18 years (13 years of Brandy & Topaz, 5 years of Fargo).  The cycle is predictable:  plant grass, water grass, enjoy grass, play with dog on grass, dog pees on grass, grass dies.  Lather, rinse, repeat ....  So I have spent a good part of the summer so far trying to achieve green.  And finally, there is success!!

Yesterday, we started with this:

Which turned into to this ...

then this ...

and finally, this ....

Yup.  It's artificial turf.  It's a product called "Pet-n-Play" designed spedifically for pet yards and play areas.  It's made from recycled and waste polypropolene, requires no watering, no fertilizer, no mowing, etc.  And if you ever want it removed, they come take it out and recycle it back into new turf.  I plan on enjoying this for years without any upkeep other than raking debris off of it in the fall and spring.  Yay.  :-)

5 Days of Summer in Toronto

Last Friday Linda, Benjamin and I hopped on a plane and headed for Toronto.  This was Benjamin's first plane trip (at 3 months old) and he was so good.  More or less slept the entire 4+ hours on the plane.  And when he wasn't sleeping he was smiling a big toothless grin at anyone who looked at him.  (He's a very happy baby.) 

Our goal in Toronto was to help Dayna clean and paint in her new house.  Our goal was NOT to do it during one of the worst heat waves of the year!  The average daily temperature was 35C (95F) with 75-80% humidity.  Ugh!!  Did I mention that there's no air conditioning in her new place?  There was so much power being drawn on the system for air conditioners that one day included a power blackout in downtown Toronto.  Fortnately we missed the blackout by a few blocks.  On that day (the hottest of the 5) we were invited to a nice dinner at a friends' place ... in a luxury apartment building ... on the 16th floor with a great view AND air conditioning!  Aaaaaahhhhhhh!  :-)

Even though it was hot, we had a great time.  We got a lot of work done with the help of many of her friends and we even had some playtime ...

Thanks, Dayna, for a good time!  Thanks, Linda for coming along!  Thanks, Benjamin for being such a good baby for the entire time!