Primping for the Selfies

Today is such a beautiful, sunny day. Bow and I decided we would go outside together and take some selfies. Before we went outside, I decided to brush my hair. Bow seemed to think that he needed to do the same, because when I was experimenting with camera angles, I suddenly saw him behind me, brushing his hair. He was very diligent about it.

Everything has been blooming lately, nature putting forth its most attractive face.

The apple blossoms have opened wide, even though there are still no pollinators in sight.

The daffodils are in full bloom, and the peach blossoms are doing their part.

No wonder Bow also wanted to look his best for his photo shoot in full sunlight.

He needed his chance to shine, too. He waited patiently for me to find just the right angle.

Spring and Daffodils

It's spring. One way to tell is that the daffodils are blooming.

And then there's this other flower.

I don't know what is is called, but it looks so frail and small and rare, that when picking a flower to bring home to Bow, I decided to leave this one alone. Instead, I picked a daffodil, as we have plenty.

I normally don't pick flowers, but I wanted to bring a bit of the spring back to Bow.

Bow was happy to receive this gift, but right from the start I felt that he was sniffing the wrong end of the daffodil. The flower held no fascination for him. It was the stem that he wanted.

He took a bite and yet another bite of the green stem.

All the while, the blossom was still there.

Finally, when he had eaten all the stem and all that remained was the bloom, he handed the yellow flower back to me.

At first, I thought this was a generous impulse, so I gave it back to him, saying it was his flower. But he gave it right back to me. Finally, after several repetitions of handing the flower back and forth, Bow took the flower and deliberately threw it into his potty. Then he took my hand and spelled that he wanted to go outside.

Bow always throws things that have no value into the potty. It is his trash can. I was stunned. Who knew that the stem was the most valuable part of the daffodil?

Spring

It's definitely spring now. The daffodils are out in full force.

We have times when it gets very warm out, and then a little while later it rains and cools down. The backyard is getting a little greener, and the dogwood tree has buds on it, but no blossoms yet.

Bow spends a lot of time outdoors, and Leo stays close to him, even when they are not playing together.

This video is from yesterday. Every once in while Bow would vocalize to let the whole world know how big and strong he is. But most of the time he was very relaxed, and Leo stayed close on the discarded bench just outside the pen. Meanwhile Brownie entertained himself by retrieving rocks that he'd thrown himself and then chewing on them. (Did you notice how flexible Bow's upper lip is?)

If I did not have Bow, I would probably spend more time one-on-one with the dogs. But the dogs have each other, and they have Bow, too. Companionship is not always about actively engaging one another. Sometimes companionship is playing in parallel and just knowing someone else is there for you.

Bow and Baylor Magazine

The flowers are continuing with their plans to bloom. Yesterday the daffodils were all shut tightly in their casings. And today one of them already looks like this.

Bow has been going outside many times a day, but this morning it was still quite cold, and he did not stay long. When he came in, he asked to look at my Baylor Magazine.

Looking at Baylor football players, Bow puffs himself up to look bigger

Because I graduated from Baylor Law School many years ago, I keep getting Baylor Magazine. I usually don't find much that is of interest to me there, but this time there was an article about C.S. Lewis, and so I settled down to read it. But Bow insisted that he needed to see the magazine first.

Bow took a very long time with Baylor Magazine, not even allowing the dogs outside barking to distract him from the task for long. Highlights for Bow included baby pictures in  the birth announcement section for alumni, the Baylor Bear Cub Corner. Here he is pointing at one of the cute babies.

I never throw away magazines that I receive in the mail before Bow gets a chance to read them.No matter how mundane or uninteresting I think a publication is, Bow finds depths of interest in unusual places.  He seems to value those things that the rest of us take for granted.