Two weeks late and two days early in blogging…my apologies for both. My excuses for lateness? Not sure that there are any that are acceptible.
We got a dog…but then so did Martha, and she still found time to blog.
I’ve been trying to keep my garden under control…picking, preserving, watering, weeding, deadheading, fertilizing, tieing up…but I wasn’t working in the garden 24/7. We had children and grandchildren visiting and made the most of every minute…but that was for just three wonderful days.
It’s been too hot…well, that seems to be a popular excuse and forgiveable for almost everything these days. I won’t bother with excuses for being early…afterall I didn’t catch you just getting out of the shower, and no one cares if you haven’t done your make-up yet. If it really bothers you, then please wait until Tuesday to read this.

Let me tell you about our dog. She’s an eight and a half year old Bernese Mountain Dog. Picture big, bearlike, lotsa curly fur, black with white and rust markings on her face and paws (and oh what paws).
Her name is Monah. We found her through a Berner rescue group in Maryland. We had had a Berner before, and they are truly gentle giants. When we had visited her in her previous home, we saw how attached she was to her people and place and so had some trepidations about how successful we would be in rehoming her. She had been a kind of celebrity in the town of Ellicott City, MD, since she was raised in a little shop and everyone in the town knew Monah. When her family found out that their son was allergic to her, it was difficult to find a new home because Berners just live an average of 7 to 9 years, and few people want to make the emotional and financial investment that an older dog requires given that time frame. But we fell in love with her, and I can say after our two weeks together that the feeling seems to be mutual. Whatever the time we will have with Monah, we will think of it as a fortuitious gift.

There’s a lot to be said for taking on an older dog: no puppy shenanigans, no chewing, no house breaking, no jumping up on visitors. Given her size, she cannot squeeze through our front gate or under the fence; she will not jump over the wall or need four-mile walks each day (pulling all the way) the way our last pup did. And old dogs seem to recognize when someone has opened a special place in their hearts for them. They give you unconditional love in return.