Red Peonies Bloom

They actually are a deep, deep dark pink but the peony growers call this red.  I went out this morning and cut all the almost open reds and all the budded singles.  I left the buds that have a younger bud attached to the stem.  They opened a bit during the day but still have plenty of time to fill my house with the aroma of peonies.  And memories of a delightfully long (lunch and dinner and two bottles of red Sekt) stay in the outdoor restaurant beside the Rhein River in Germany with our dear friends.  Inside the hotel, to which this terraced restaurant was attached, was the most spectacular (and huge) vase full of, probably, 100 pink peonies.  Outrageous.  Gorgeous.  Deliciously aromatic.  Memorable.

My vase of nine or ten blossoms will have to do.  I only have one pink plant.  Somehow, I have one white, one pink and two red.  The plants are close to 20 years old now.  Still reliable.  Still blooming like crazy.  Unless it rains.

Riley is pretty much "normal" again.  He is happy, eating, going in and out (rather than just out and not coming back in) and most of all, he's sleeping, playing with toys and following us around.  The Tech at Bayer thinks he is sensitive (suddenly) to one of the ingredients in Advantix.  The ingredient that keeps the ticks from settling in and biting.  She did say that her dog is also sensitive to this ingredient and her solution, for her dog, was to rub vitamin E oil on the area where she would then apply the Advantix and then apply another layer of vitamin E oil over that.  She thinks the ingredient overstimulates the nerves in his back and makes him nervous.  Since we applied the stuff in the house--that's where bad things happen so he wants no part of being in the house.  He also would want no part of either of the people who put the tingly stuff on him.  She says that people who have had this stuff on their skin (test subjects?) have said it feels like your foot does when it falls asleep.  Numb and tingly.  I can see why it would frighten him when it lasts 4 days.

Work has been busier and I am tired.  Didn't help that I woke up at 5 am and couldn't go back to sleep. The weather report says it was 80 today with no clouds and lots of sun.  Could have been as my underwear was damp most of the day.  I really don't like working, walking or doing anything with damp underwear.  And my shoes were full of dirt when I got home.  I was one big mess.

Now I am clean, full of food and sleepy.  G and Riley are already asleep.  I think I will join them.