Lily in the Back Yard

Despite her relatively small size (about 17 lbs), Lily runs and runs all over the back yard. Amazing to me how such a small dog can occupy such a big space so thoroughly.

Lily resting in the back yard. A tip of the hat to Andrew Wyeth, of course.

Our back yard is about an acre in size, and Lily covers all of it, all day long, over and over and over. It’s rare to see her resting as above. I think it’s partly her age: she’s young, has plenty of energy, and loves all the dog things all the time.

If I come up to her, her affectionate side takes over. She really loves belly rubs.

“Pet me!”

Since I was outside with my camera to test a lens that I got for my son Justen, I decided to photograph the backyard “landscape” with Lily in it. Here she is in the newly graded driveway.

Lily is wondering where the cows have gone; there used to be a herd across the road.

The grading was a do-it-yourself project. I can tell you this: it’s not nearly as simple as I expected (isn’t that always the case?). But it’s largely done except for a bit of raking and chain-dragging to even out the texture. The tractor naturally compresses the stone, and the rain hardens it nicely. It’s about 2-3” on top of the old weekly mess—31 tons of crusher-run driveway gravel.