Shelby has been overjoyed to help me in the garden. She delights in keeping the soil turned all over the place. The only place I'm really concerned about is my garden. I've been looking high and low to find something to encourage her to not dig in the garden. Last night I had a dream that I put chicken wire over the top of the raised bed, and plant under the wire, letting the plants grow up between the open slots in the wire. Ideally one try on her part to dig will be so unpleasant that she will be convinced to not dig there anymore.
I’ve also been giving the back part of the yard some consideration. We have something of a drainage problem in this area. The soil is so rocky that after extended rains we have thoroughly saturated soil and standing water. I’m looking for a tree or type of shrub that will drink up all the water during the winter, but still do well in the summer when it is drier. Optimally this will be something that doesn’t get too tall as I still want the sun in the yard during the growing season. Someone suggested a Willow to me, but boy do I not want to go that big!