The Door, the Scarecrow, the Portulaca and the Guard Dogs

This is what my front door looked like last week. Kind of a snoozer, huh? Well, I like the wreath on the door, but the door itself? Ho-hum. You know what this door "says"? It says "Boring people live here. Step on in and catch up on your shut eye". (Impertinent door...its lucky I haven't had it replaced.) But replacing the door would have required effort and possibly power tools, neither of which I was in the mood for. So I painted it. Red. Check it out...
See? That is one good-lookin' door. I whistle at it everytime I see it. Well. I would whistle, if I knew how. But since I don't, I merely stand back and gaze upon it with admiration and love. This is one color choice I don't regret (which is almost a first for me - I almost always end up painting something 3 times before I decide I'm happy). The new door color inspired me so much, that I went ahead and put my scarecrow out in the front flower bed. (I think he looks a little lonely, but that's a topic for another post.)
While I was outside, I noticed the Portulaca was blooming like crazy. This amazed me, mainly because I rarely go out the front door anymore (yes, I leave the house, I just usually leave through the garage!) and had forgotten that we'd even put the Portulaca in that pot. It's a lovely sight - I think I'll look at it more often now that I know it's there.
After standing out front admiring the front door, the scarecrow and the Portulaca, I came back inside to the blissful cool of the A/C. Blu-boy immediately took up a post in front of the door. He kept growling low in his throat, something he does when he sees humans walking about anywhere within his field of vision. I checked, though. No humans anywhere. Still, he kept growling. Sydney the Wonder Dog decided to consult with him over this issue. I checked again. Nope, no one. Not a single soul in sight. This went on forever. Blu standing (or sitting) guard, growling deep, Sydney standing next to him, ready to proceed with uncontrolled barking at the first hint of human movement (or animal movement in Sydney's case - he can't stand for anyone or anything to be anywhere near his domain).
Magnificent looking guard dog(s), huh? Took me all day to realize that Blu was growling at the scarecrow. Yeah. The scarecrow. I guess to my dog's way of thinking, a strange human-like form is a strange human-like form. Boy...with these two on the job, I feel ....protected. Yeah, that's the word. Right? Of course it is. Protected. By my two sharp-eyed, ever-ready, scarecrow hatin' guard dogs.