The Ball Tree

A lot of you have been asking me how the puppies are adjusting to life in Arizona.

Well, while they quickly seemed to grasp that this was their new home, they did not embrace the backyard quite as easily. Both seemed rather weary of this new place where it is blistering hot, oddly dry, where in place of grass there are sticky weeds, in place of red mud there is white dust, and where the critters for them to chase were not quite as cute (chipmunks = cute; bugs = not cute). For a while, when we put them outside, they didn't run around and play (even in the evening when the temperature drops down). They just stood at the back door, motionless, and waited for us to let them in. Even when Patrick or I went outside, they would just stand in the doorway observing us, instead of venturing all the way outside (just in case we were trying to trick 'em). Dagny even refused to drink water for a few days - I think out of protest - turning her nose up at the bowl every time I sat it in front of her (thanks, mom - for teaching her that being hand fed ice cubes is an acceptable way to remain hydrated ).

And, while they still do some of these things from time to time, life did get a little better on the day that Dagny and Hank discovered the BALL TREE!

And don't tell me that balls do not grow on trees . . .

Grapefruits, balls, same difference.
Until he saw it for himself, Patrick even thought I was kidding when I came in one day and told him that Dagny and Hank thought that the grapefruit tree was a ball tree. I am truly not exaggerating in the slightest. They are not ripe and certainly not falling off on their own, yet, there are now grapefruits ALL OVER the yard. At last count, they had pulled off 12, but that was about two weeks ago.

Posing with their tree
"I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine."

Hopefully waiting on the patio: If you still don't believe me . . .

Oh, and for those of you thinking, "well, y'all just shouldn't have thrown them in the place" . . .We didn't! They pulled them off, and they thought this all up on their own! You just can't make this stuff up.

P.S. We actually think Dagny got so sick because she ate part of a grapefruit, but they have not stopped bringing them to us . . . darn.