Barley, a dog, closely inspects the plastic head of a Spider-Man action figure, lying by itself on some grass with no body in sight. One of the curious features of Spider-Man as a creative property is that it has long practiced a form of “facial erasure” that, to varying degrees, denies the geometry of the human head. The degree of indulgence varies from artist to artist; nearly all deny the existence of the nose to a degree that makes anime seem anatomical by comparison, but skim through panels rendered for the comic and you’ll often spy depictions that gloss over the ears and chin as well. From this cutting of corners, one can only conclude that the logical conclusion of the Spider-Man brand is a sort of Spider-Egg, with the entire franchise following a slow Benjamin Button arc of the character gradually morphing to his pre-hatched state.

Barley, a dog, stands beside an austere black metal fence, beyond which is a laws whose color and uniformity both seem completely unnatural. I generally try not to put a person’s home on blast in these commentaries, but sometimes a come across a yard whose aesthetic seems to alien to my own sensibilities, and so effortful to maintain, that it leaves my mind a little boggled. I’m pretty sure this yard has living grass, but I haven’t reached through the fence to feel around and find out. Every other aspect of this yard is maintained within such intense tolerances that I feel checking if the lawn is astroturf would be seen as an invasion of the perimeter by the homeowner. It’s possible I’ve been fooled and the grass is really high quality astroturf, but given that the homeowner clearly removes any leaves or debris larger than my thumb on a daily basis, I would not put it past them to tend to this patch with the attention of a PGA-rated golf course botanist.

Barley, a dog, walks in the grass along the base of a white stucco wall. As someone in just the right age bracket to have been charmed by Banksy’s rise to fame early enough to retain a sense of nostalgia for that era of street art, I can’t help but see the potential in a blank patch of wall. In this case, however, Barley is already such a work of art that I think this photo lends itself more to another gag popular in the oughts: chroma key compositing. So if anyone wants to pull the bright whites out of this to give Barley a different mural as a backdrop, feel free to do so.

Barley, a dog, stands in the lower center frame, with an incense cedar and a giant sequoia reaching their painterly trunks into the sky behind her. There are some very lovely trees where I work. The nearer of the two in this photo is (I believe) an incense cedar, while the more distance is an ornamental giant sequoia. The two in juxtaposition regularly give me art history vibes, as their coloration and the shape of their crowns strike me as altogether too impressionistic. Seeing them gives me the same sort of, “Oh, you!” amusement as a surprising outfit worn by a flamboyant coworker.

Barley, a dog, enthusiastically asserts dominance over a golden retriever, who submits with equal enthusiasm. Barley’s encounters with her once-in-a-while work buddy are very fun to watch, because their personalities are complementary opposites. Barley is quite bossy with other dogs - she wants to play, but very much as a top dog who is issuing An Edict Promoting Play at all times. Her pal, on the other hand, is one of the most submissive dogs I’ve ever met, and she immediately shows Barley her belly as soon as Barley gives even a hint of throwing her weight around. So a typical greeting between the two is Barley pinning her pal to the floor, making a chin-on-head stack, as both wag their tails excitedly.

Barley, a dog, walks past a fallen tree those upper branches have been sectioned off to clear the path, revealing the tree rings beneath. It’s funny how quickly the brain falls back into essentialist thinking. If I see a mossy log, my first instinct is to think of it as a feature of the environment, almost like a piece of furniture, and not as the horizontal afterlife of a once-living tree. Awareness that the features of the natural world all had to have somehow gotten to where they are, and that their position and character is transient on the scale of years or decades, is slippery, especially for someone as indoorsy as myself. I all-too-easily take today’s thin slice in time and extrapolate, assuming something superficial extends durably into the past and future. All of which is my long-winded way of trying to justify the dumb thought I had when I took this picture: “Huh! How weird that this log has rings!”

Juniper, a dog, rests her head on a very firm and lofty pillow while relaxing on the guest bed. In contrast to Barley’s “I’ll just plop down right here and then figure out what I’m doing later” approach to soft surfaces, Juniper’s meticulous and calculating approach to everything shows through in the ways she seem to “use” the features of those surfaces. She’s picky about getting things ‘just so,’ pawing and fussing if they’re not in a good configuration and finally settling into what seems like very deliberate poses.

Barley, a dog, peers out across a grassy field, lined in the distance by buildings and tall trees. This photo is now just a bit out of date, reflecting the final days of wintry weather back in mid-March. We may consider this as a marker in time before three major changes. First, the deciduous trees have finally begun to provide some greenery to compete with the conifers. Second, the grass has begun to grow more rapidly, and the passing of the lawn mowers have done away with the lingering leaf litter visible in this photo. Third, the most significant development from Barley’s perspective, has been the return of the Canadian geese that by the hundreds claim this lawn as their turf for six-to-eight months every year. With their arrival, the lawn is effectively closed to Barley, not because she poses any meaningful risk to the geese themselves, but because she simply will not stop trying to eat goose poop.

Barley, a dog, sploot-stands while enthusiastically holding a toy donkey, either about to stand or about to lie down. A lot of Barley’s play behavior involves an intuitive sort of call-and-response. A person crouching down might be settling down to roll around on the floor, or might be making a bow before springing into motion. Fortunately, she does not mind a playmate who hasn’t quite made of their mind. Just pick a direction and Barley will follow your lead; wait too long, and she’ll just take the lead herself.

Barley, a dog, trots along a concrete path that shines with a thin layer of fresh rainwater. In contrast with the drab patches mentioned in yesterday’s post, other parts of our walks feel enlivened with the coming of spring. Even the rain feels more lively. In the place of winter drizzle, it’s now quite common for the clouds to break after a rainfall and for the pavement to reflect light back up at us as we walk toward the sun.

Barley, a dog, sniffs about among the dead leaves and branches beside a foot path. Even as spring is making itself undeniably felt with the warming weather and blooming flowers, I can’t help but feel as though some patches of land have yet to slip free of winter’s grasp. Through some mix of tough soil and limited exposure, I swear there are bits I walk Barley past that have had the same layer of leaf litter, hardly changed for the last six months.

Barley, a dog, makes herself as small as she can as she crouches behind a piece of furniture, nervous on account of distant thunder. As I’ve mentioned in the past, Barley experiences a lot of anxiety relating to stormy weather, and a pretty broad class of “sky rumbles” will inspire her to seek cover and make herself small. Note here how her legs are tucked under her body and her chin is lowered to the floor. This is not a dog who is curling up for a nap. She is also very insistent that her hiding spot have a solid-seeming roof. Her crate, for example, does not pass muster, and when as storm rolls through, it’s very common for her to spring out of her crate and get under a neighboring table instead. This tells me she has some intuition that distinguishes “soft cover” from “hard cover,” but I haven’t quite deciphered her rule of thumb for making that distinction.

Barley, a dog, is captured on camera pulling hard on her leash to try to get closer to a wary cat visible at the top of the frame. One of Barley’s many fans recently quipped that Barley is “only one or two steps from being perfect.” One such step would be her unsavory interest in cats. While Barley will show a lot of enthusiasm in her approach toward other dogs, and will show fleeting and casual interest in other furry animals (such as squirrels), she becomes laster-focused if she ever sees a cat. This tunnel vision does not seem pro-social. I wouldn’t try to stage such an encounter (by, say, approaching a cat on purpose), because there are too many ways doing so could go sideways. However, it so happened that I was getting my phone out to take an unrelated picture of Barley when she spotted the cat pictured above and started to scrabble forward along the pavement. I managed to snap this picture as I was steering her away from the encounter, and figured the image came out clearly enough that it would be worth documenting this facet of her personality.

Juniper, a dog, lies atop, and sinks into, the very lofty comforter atop a queen-size bed in an AirBnB bedroom. During a trip taken earlier this year, Juniper stayed in a dog-friendly AirBnB. I’m told that, upon arriving in the unfamiliar space, she no sooner had her harness removed before tearing off to explore the house and disappearing from view. Minutes later, she was found as you see her here, apparently committing early to which bedroom she wanted to claim for herself.

Barley, a dog seen from up close, sprawls luxuriously on a big cushion, paws forward, and gazes with rapt attention into the camera. Like many dogs, Barley spends a lot of the day sleeping. She’s a light sleeper, though, floating along just beneath the threshold of consciousness during daylight hours so as not to miss excitement that might arise. What’s a little disconcerting is that Barley also spends a lot of her day supervising whomever she’s around. I think she just often concludes that the people around her are the most interesting things going on, even moreso than, say, any wildlife that might be scampering about outside a nearby window.

Barley, a dog, gives her ear a scratch with her hind leg, which is a blur of motion as she squints and grins in satisfaction. For the most part, Barley doesn’t seem to be a particularly itchy dog. Every once in a while she’ll feel an itch at her ear or collar that warrants a scratch, but these are rare enough that I have few opportunities to capture them on camera. Much more common are her full-body back-wiggles, as previously documented, but even these have never been common enough to suggest anything concerning. It surely helps that she gets to say hello to her friends every day, who give her plenty of affectionate scritches.

Barley, a dog, stands beside an accumulation of branches and other woodsy detritus. Grounds crews have finally begin to gather and mulch the accumulating casualties of various wind storms since the New Year. I’ve been confused as to why this has been such a long time coming, and I’m beginning to think that this only becomes a priority when regular lawn care begins to loom on the horizon. Or, perhaps, wood that’s been allowed to weather for months is easier to mulch. Whatever the reason, piles have begun to spring up all over on Barley’s walks, turning to piles of mulch soon after.

Barley, a dog, looms large over the camera, kaiju-enormous, too immense to fit into the frame. As far as Barley is concerned, a human who has joined her on the floor is ready for shenanigans. Sofas and futons are for snuggles, but the floor is for wrasslin’. It’s a little mysterious when she deems a person as joined her for a tussle. Kneeling isn’t usually enough, but sitting on the floor often crosses the threshold. Lying down? Well, then it’s time to party.

Barley, a dog, trots through leaf litter that has been soaked in rain. The coming of spring has definitely been a mixed bag, weather-wise. The daily high has been swinging by as much as twenty degrees day to day, and while it’s never quite cold enough to fall back on my winter coat, it’s often wet enough for me to regret having made my transition to spring attire. For Barley’s part, there’s not been a downpour heavy enough to justify wearing her orange rain jacket, but she’s certainly been getting her share of foot and leg wipe-downs to keep mud from getting tracked in after her walks.