Day 120 of Dog; owls and onions

Still working on that "putting out the birdseed" phobia. She's not happy with it.

On a lighter note, I finally got some owl pictures! For some reason the 'dark' one didn't copy/paste right, but the other looks fine.

    

Out in the garden (a.k.a. dirt) my little onions look sad. They're not dead--mostly--but not exactly "perky". My hose wouldn't reach that far, so I gave them as much water as I could from an old-fashioned (plastic) watering can. And I put "buy hose" on the shopping list for this week.

I'll water them by hand again tomorrow and make sure I have a really full watering can.

Day 119 of Dog & rain, please?

Izzy as she was 119 days ago--skinny and scared.


Soon as I get her a good brushing, I'll post her picture now.

Being mean to the little girl today. I have to pick up a kid at eight, so what's the point of going home first? I'll give her especial attention when I get there. And a treat tomorrow.

Our chances of getting any rain out of this front are rapidly slipping away. I should have sprinkled my seeds yesterday but now it's really late and I can't see to do it. The chance of rain was only 30%, but I was hopeful. Now I can only hope that none of the little lettuce and spinach are struggling through the dried crust; shriveling in the wind; drying into dust.

Day 117 of Dog - plastic bag phobia

I transplanted some more of the little onions, plus I went ahead and finished planting the spinach. The weather's been warm and the forecast is calling for still more warm, there was no point in waiting. Spinach should have been in the ground two weeks ago.

Spring sneaking in....


Dog had an interesting day. First the walk, then a pickup of some trash down the street where a neighbor moved out. I learned that Izzy really doesn't like me having a plastic band in my left hand while I'm holding the leash.

After that I took her with me while I went to put out the bird seed...and she really acted funny. Even though nothing bad's ever happened to her while we're putting out the bird seed, she just didn't want to approach the spot, period. I coaxed her close enough to get the job done. After than I knew we had to work on some serious training--this is dragging on too, too long.

So we went out in the back yard and worked on Come!--with turkey.

Progress.

After the rains came & Day 116 of Dog

It's not as dry and desolate as it looks...underneath that ghoulish gray crust is a rich world of teeming life. Slumbering grubs, overwintering weed seeds, hibernating grass roots--it's a jungle in there.

After three weeks rain, it's finally dry enough to walk out there and start planting. Just lettuce, radishes and spinach (a second planting--I did a first planting last weekend), and maybe a tentative patch of Swiss Chard. And I'll transplant a few of the brocolli that survived an overnight frost in my cold frame that I forgot to close the lid of.



The strawberries don't look so good. Clearly they're not dead, so keep fingers crossed.



I was planning to fertilize them in the spring but it'll take a little research to find out when the time for that should be. Later.

It's so good to see these guys are still with us. After all the dire warnings about declining populations and hive failures...we got bees!



Izzy is so strange! I bought two big bones at the grocery last night. So I put her and the big dog out, put the two bones at the bottom of the steps, and waited. Big dog sniffs at them, clearly unable to decide which to take. Finally I pick up one and hand it to him. He takes it and walks a few steps away to eat it.

Expecting her to come get the other one, I go inside. And I wait. And wait. And the bone just sits there!

So what was her deal? Does she think they're both his?

Being human and of less than infinite patience, I went back outside. She rushes to the top of the steps like she always does--somewhere in her poor, confused brain she thinks that's the safe place to be when a big, scary human is outside. So I put the bone on the step in front of her and I went back inside.

Swift as a shadow, she seizes the bone and starts her routine with it.

What's this routine, you may wonder? Holding the bone in her mouth, she circles the yard three or four times. Then she buries it; goes and lays down; then digs it up; circles the yard some more; buries it again....

Oops! I was wrong. This time she's taken it to the far end of the yard under a tree and appears to be eating it.

Yay, dog.

Dry on top & Day 114 of Dog

Believe it or not, after two weeks of twice-weekly rain I actually had to mist the lettuce and spinach planting today! Hope it worked.

Poor thing! I've been taking them all three together for walks, but since I'm having to put the little dog on a leash I end up spending more time dealing with the tangled mess of Big Dog and Little Dog than with the training of Middle Dog. Today little dog's leash got all tangled around her legs in the garage. She didn't panic, just sat down. Good girl.

Day 110 of Dog & The Three Sisters Stew

Good dog today. She overcome the fear of the rolling garbage can, the birdseed bags, and endured no less than three episodes of thinking the walk was over but then having to start back into it.

She panics so bad sometimes, I'm afraid she hurts herself.


For my weekly adventure in cooking wholesomely, I made a Three Sisters Stew. Corn, beans and squash with a few onions, tomatoes and herbs thrown in. I messed up a little--put in four cups of cooked beans instead of three. Also I left off the cinnamon, so I'll never know what it was really supposed to taste like. Sorry about that--I just can't get into cinnamon in meat or vegetable dishes.

Day 107 of Dog

Poop on the floor this morning. Why, why, why? Not diarhea, thank heavens.

Day 106 of Dog

Just a short walk today but that's better than nothing. I hope.

Day 105 of Dog

Not eating! Grrrrowwllll!

Day 104 of Dog

It was pretty rainy this morning and awfully cold--mid-thirties. The housesitter says they went out twice. I hope that's enough. I gave them all some yoghurt today, hopefully to regulate digestive habits.

Day 103 of Dog - coming out her cage

She sat on her little bed today, then lay on it. Not for long, but long enough to get some smell on it.

She's such a curious thing! When I'm at the dining room table, typing on my laptop, she comes out and sits by me, as I mentioned before. Not always, but frequently.

She's figured out--finally--that me sitting at the laptop is not a threat. I can talk to her and even look at her and she's okay with that. If I wanted trouble I would slip her treats from my seat--but enough with that from the little dog. He thinks Chex Mix is doggie treats.

Day 102 of Dog

She comes out of her corner sometimes and hangs around by my feet. Not reliably but frequently. Despite the ice-cold wind we had an extra long walk today and then she went with me to put out some bird seed. She was a little skittish as I poured out the seed, but other than that she did okay.

Funny thing, when the little dog comes over for attention while I was typing at the dining table, she came over to see what we were up to. Her curiousity is going to be her undoing, heh, heh, heh.

Day 101 girls just want to have fun

Poor big dog and poor little dog. All Miss NoName wants to do is play, play, play!

She doesn't know how to play with humans--I'd throw frisbee all day long for her if she would bring it back--but she sure wants to play with her buddies. Big dog will play a little, but usually he creeps into the dog house and takes a snooze. Little dog prefers to play with humans; he seems to play with her but sometimes he looks like he's just fighting to hold his own against that big bundle of play.

Day 100 of Dog - miscommunication and its results

About that bone yesterday...I asked my spouse to give her and the big dog the bones but I forgot to tell him how. So he tried to give it to her as she went out the door and of course that failed. She freaked--he freaked--I don't know exactly what happened but I think he ended up carrying her out. And when I got home, both dogs were eating their bones. Inside.

Wrong.

I appreciate his efforts but the end result was me cleaning up diarrhea in the dining room this morning.

Day 97 of Dog

Oops! Time to put her out. AFter eating her own supper, she snuck into the pantry and started eating the little dog's. I admire her daring, but I couldn't alllow it. I gave her an extra cup of her own food and she just finished eating it.

They're out now, and howling in two-part harmony.

Day 95 of Dog - scheduling woes

It turned awful chilly. After a few nights where the heat didn't even come on, tonight it's getting down to 37. Perfectly normal and perfect for this time of year, but it makes it hard to keep dogs on a schedule. They're supposed to eat at six-thirty and then be outside from seven-ish until nine-thirty. The big dogs, I mean. The little one just goes out for a half-hour before bedtime.

Day 92 of Dog

I went jogging with the big dog but then I took her and the little one for a walk. It went well enough--hope she enjoyed it. No more diarhea in the dining room, but my big dog had a bunch of it outside.  They're both getting yogurt with supper.