Feeling very Friday today

I'm feeling very Friday today. You? Coffee on the porch far too early this morning in my new mug from Lori.

Backyard vistas. I am crazy for solar lights.

Hates couch protectors. Ben is my interior decorator dog - he moves dog beds all over and removes as much of the couch covers as he can immediately.

I didn't make it to Thursday Thoughts yesterday, but I did get all my work work done, finally finish the 230498304 loads of laundry from the shore and home, returned two dresses, packed clothes and house laundry and food  and work stuff up to come back to the shore, picked up some of the shore shit I needed to replace in the house (and a polish, who can resist). Earlier in the week I completed the bloodwork for my physical, which I tend to put off. I'm feeling good about this week personally.

I'm back at the shore to stay for the first time since the beginning of June. I've been down and back three times since then to do turnovers, but I've missed being here. This will be a longer stretch for me and I get to see some of my favorites while here. 

I bought my stamps for holiday cards today because they're going up in two days. Thanks to Cory on Instagram for the tip off. 

Bruce is the laziest dog I have ever had.

Joy is in the smallest things. This week it's been dishtowels, getting back on the good book foot, finding that new lovely polish, not much traffic on the way to the shore. It is not in a clean oven. If you have any care about anything outside of yourself, it is so fucking hard to keep yourself on an even keel right now because you can do all the therapy, wellness work, personal inventory, boundaries, actual self care, etc., but the far reaching social issues that arise from massive structural inequality across every system in this country impact all of us and our mental and emotional health. Fight for yourselves and each other. We all deserve more ease in this life. 

And stickers. Since childhood and forever, always stickers. 

It's guns and...a lot of very American things tied up in toxic masculinity and white nationalism with a side of shitty social safety nets follow Amanda Faun on IG

Reminder: no one owes you a reason or a story for why abortion must be available to all pregnant people. People who are pregnant need abortions for medical reasons but also because they cannot or do not want to care for a child in the circumstance they are in, and before you go on about birth control or abstinence I will ask you what in the fuck you have said about men in regards to birth control and abstinence and the answer will be nothing so you can STFU about women and forcing birth on pregnant people and pivot yourself to responsible ejaculation. This country has zero social safety nets for unwanted children that are operating at the appropriate capacity and zero social safety nets for wanted children that people cannot afford to raise here that are operating at the appropriate capacity. This is about white men staying in control and THAT IS IT. 

How to help within the system we are currently operating in - carrying this over from last week for the resource links We must first take care of each other - fund abortion. Do not try to be a rogue actor because you feel the need to do something - I get the desire to be part of a "camping" crew but we must use the well established and networked organizations to safely help people. The best thing to do if you are able is open your wallet. Every organization below will take donations right now. If you are unable to donate, share these resources in your networks and encourage others to donate. Links:

Donate to abortion funds: National Network of Abortion Funds

Donate to organizations that provide travel to those seeking abortions: The Brigid Alliance

Know your digital security rights: Digital Defense Fund

Know your options: INeedanA.com, Plan C, Hey Jane

Support independent clinics: Keep Our Clinics

Support during or after a miscarriage or abortion: M+A Hotline, 1-833-246-2632 (call or text)

Legal advice: IfwhenHow - lawyering for reproductive justice

Take care of each other out there.

Is it possible to have a beautiful garden when you have dogs?

I was actually thinking about my spring flowers in the shower on Wednesday morning. Given that we'll be down the shore a lot this spring, when will I plant them? And given that we'll likely be down a lot in the summer, how will I tend to them? I crapped out on them last year as it was. Something I go back and forth on every year is what to do in the back yard given that it's dog land back there. This sponsored post talks a little about that. I won't lie, I'm intrigued by easier clean up.

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Dogs are great, and are so fun, loving and cute that there is no question. But there are a few things that come with having a dog as a pet. Each pet comes with its caveats, fishes grow too big for their tanks, an axolotl needs updated habitat every few years, and cats sometimes use your sofa as a scratch post. If you asked a dog lover which they would choose out of their dogs and a perfectly manicured garden what they would say. However, there is something of a revolution going on in domestic garden design that may prove interesting to dog owners: the use of artificial grass. 

There was a time when artificial grass was largely just associated with golf clubs, tennis courts and leisure centres, but these days, artificial grass is big news in design. This is probably because the technology has advanced so much that high end artificial grass by some of the leading names like Grono is virtually indistinguishable from very well kept live grass. Now, rather than looking unnaturally green or plastic and strange, artificial grass looks as good as a live lawn – better, in fact, when you consider that there are very few things that can mess it up and you don’t have to mow it to keep it neat!

Why This is a Great Option for Dog People

The garden can be a great place for your dogs to play and run free – and to spend time with them in the warmer months playing fetch or just hanging out! Unfortunately, however, dogs do tend to mess up even the best maintained lawns, creating big divots of turf with their claws as they run, jump and dig. While at first the dogs may seem suspicious of an artificial lawn because it doesn’t smell the same to them as natural grass, this is more likely to make them curious than anything, and the soft feel of the slightly springy surface – even when the weather is dry and normal lawns would feel dry, scratchy and hard – usually appeals as a great place to play, sunbathe or do whatever your dogs love to do!

The resilience of an artificial lawn means that it is very hard for them to affect how it looks, so no matter how boisterous your furry friends are, the garden will stay looking perfect – and artificial lawns last for as many as 20 years!

Keeping It Clean

Artificial lawns absorb and drain moisture efficiently, so your dogs’ ‘number ones’ are no more of a problem than on live grass. When it comes to their ‘other business’, it is actually much easier to keep the lawn clean, as once you’ve removed the evidence you can rinse the grass with detergent or a natural vinegar solution.

Some Other Benefits

As well as being great for keeping your lawn looking good when you have pets, artificial grass also saves you a huge amount of time on garden maintenance, and is also eco-friendly – you will save gallons of water every year because it never needs to be watered, and you won’t need to use any pesticides, weed killers or fertilizers.

There are of course other ways to have a nice looking garden when you have playful pets, but if you love the look of grass, an artificial lawn can give you the look you want without your canine friends messing it up or tracking muddy paws through the house after a session out playing!

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How do you maintain your grass and flowers with dogs around?