Day 242 - is this progress?

Home to dogs and guess what happened?  We went for a walk tonight and Izzy pooped!  That is probably of no importance in the process of socializing a dog, but it seems like a major step forward to me.  It means that someday, somehow, we are going to travel together!

Day 238 - she's eating, for once

No posts for a couple of days--I'm off to Paducah, Kentucky and the dogs are staying behind.  I'll try to take a lot of pictures.

Day 237 - if this is June, what's July going to be?

No dog news, but I did get Callie to dump and refill their kiddie pool today.  I'd give my right arm to know if any of them has ever stepped foot in it.  Well...no...but I'd give my right pinkie toe.

If nothing else, when there's a wind blowing they can lay downwind of it and get a little evaporation effect.

They're going to be spending a lot of time indoors this summer.  103 today.

Day 236 - one sane animal

I think my old dog is going senile.  And I know the cat is.

Today Werewolf woke up from his nap, jumped tohis feet and starting barking the alarm.  Alert!  Alert!  The British are coming!

I looked all over but couldn't see or hear a thing.  Either my crappy human ears failed to detect the intruder, or else he woke  up from a bad dream and thought it was real.

The cat went out for a total of ten minutes today.  Probably it's the smell of the visitor cat--he doesn't feel like his own yard is his anymore. 

But the senile part is that he sits on my lap when I know it's not cold--and a few days ago he went into the bedroom and peed on my blanket--I caught him in the act!  What the heck?

Day 235 - no dog news--oh, wait.

Oh, sing the joys of sub-standard plumbing.  There is truly nothing to compare!  You go to use the toiled and discover that the previous flush failed.  You begin to plunge, the water disappears, so you do a second flush--and watch grey water is spill over the floor with every push of the plunger.

Isn't that the way to start a day?

But...it can only go uphill from here.  I'm planning simply to mow the garden, deal with the tomatoes, bell peppers and peas, and then do laundry and clean house.  No stress.

Later.  I got the tomatoes turned into stewed tomatoes and tomato sauce.  That's about it.


Oh, wait.  When I gave the dogs a bone today, she actually picked hers up and started down the steps with it--while I was still there.

Of course she immediately dropped it, noticed I was there, and backed off, but that's progress.

Day 233 - too hot for dogs

Air conditioning is still out and the highs are creeping up--today, 93, tomorrow, 95, Saturday, 97, Sunday, 100, Monday, 103.   I gave the dogs ice water.

Day 232 - dogs acclimated, why not us?

Funny...we're all complaining about how hot it is (air conditioning's out) but the dogs aren't even panting.  I guess we're spoiled.

Here's a picture of the final harvest of the onion crop I was going all hoop-di-lah about this spring.   I'm sure they'll taste great.  All five of them.

Day 230 - finally she's acting like a normal dog on a walk

Cooked my spaghetti squash yesterday and learned a valuable winter squash lesson. 
              winter squash = mature fruit
The seeds are hard.  I was supposed to remove the seeds before I scraped out the flesh.

I'm not even going to post the picture of the barbequed meatballs.  They weren't the recipe I remembered--not even close.  They were edible but not good.

Hurray!  Miss Picky Eater is eating her supper now.  It's so funny to walk dogs and have them all so intensely interested in the smell of a spot on the ground.  To my underdeveloped nose, it's just a spot on the ground.  Even if I pressed my nose into it--and trust me, there's no way I'm going to press my nose into a spot on the ground that the dogs find so interesting--

Even if I did, I'd probably smell nothing.  I smell nothing!  -Sergeant Schultz

On a prettier note, here's the sole survivor of my package of "Beneficial Bug Blend" seeds.

Day 229 - no walk yet but her nails are nicely clipped

We've been fighting the heat pump all weekend.  It just won't keep running without freezing up and I mean literally, freezing up.  Right now, the indoor temperature is halfway between uncomfortable and yuuck!   And I have to turn on the oven to make barbequed meatballs.

Re: gardening, I have a question.  Why does the simple act of growing a vegetable garden result in an inordinate amount of boiling water?  My fingers are screaming bloody murder--I blanched purple hull peas, four batches of them, and accidentally steamed my fingers each time.  Then I peeled tomatoes which means immersing the fruit in boiling water for 20-30 minutes.  And somehow my fingers kept getting between the hot pad and the steaming water.  Ow.



I'm excited about the spaghetti squash--it doesn't have to be immersed in steaming water!



If it turns out any good at all, there are several more in the garden waiting to be harvested.

Day 228 dogs and bones and bony dogs

Here's what happens when I give Izzy a bone--

Nothing--that's what happens.   She'll stand there frozen, staring it me, for as long as I can imagine.  Not until I shut the door and am gone will carefully pick it up and slink away with it.

By the way, remember the arugula seed I planted?  I didn't really want it but I had empty space in the herb bed so I picked it off the rack at Wal-mart.  And it turns out, I kind of like it!   In small quantities it really spices up a salad.  (Plus it's easy to grow and bugs don't seem to care for it.)

I'm trying to get caught up on the gardening before going to the movies this afternoon, but it's hard.  I went off on a tangent, cleaning up my junk that I'd piled in the garage over the last couple of years and trying to find the source of the "dead animal" odor.  I didn't find it--clearly something had been living at the bottom of the rag bag, but its remains were nowhere to be seen.

It came a short rain so it's dripping humidity out there.  It's 83 outside, 84 inside because the heat pump froze up and we had to leave it turned off while we went to the movies...I just took the dogs for a walk and I'm hot-flashing like crazy....

And there's a cat on my lap.

Day 227 - dog walking duty and the reward

I saw a tarantula today!  Only the third one I've ever seen and they've all been right here.  Close to here--one was in the driveway, the second was in the road about halfway up the hill, and this one in the road at the end of the driveway.  The dogs were interested but didn't insist on becoming better acquainted.

And no, I didn't have my camera.  Why do I always see cool things when I don't have my camera?

Don't answer that.

Don't radishes make a lovely flower?  I know you're not supposed to let them go to seed--I haven't had the time to clean up the bed and plant a cover crop.  So my bolting lettuce and flowering radishes are the cover crop.

Day 225 - dogs don't eat taters?

Ah, peace and quiet.  Izzy isn't eating--again--and I'm really beginning to lose patience with her.  She has to be hungry.  She didn't even eat all of her breakfast.

But there appear to be thunderstorms moving through so she might not get outside for an hour or so.  If she hasn't eaten by eight-thirty, I'll add a little yogurt.

Look what I dug up last weekend!

Day 224 - smart or acclimated?

So here's this thing.

The Internet says to harvest when the rind is hard enough that it can't be pierced with a fingernail.  And that is definitely true--but maybe I have weak nails?  A good number of the plants are turning yellow.  I thought it was squash vine borers, but it isn't.  With those, the vine wilts overnight, but these are just turning yellow and brown and dying off slowly.

So I think I'll have some spaghetti squash this weekend!

One thing for sure--if I'm ever going to get any ranchera sauce it needs to be made this weekend.  Next weekend I'll probably be out of town and everything will probably smash, rot and die.

I only had two Roma tomato plants; I'm pretty sure I planted four but at least one died.  That's okay--I'll make it with what I have, but it's a shame--the celebrity and other "eating" tomatoes have way too much juice in them.

Dog report--today she stepped into her own harness.  I don't know if she's eager to go for a walk, a slave of routine, or desperately anxious to do what the scary human wants, but whichever it is, I truly think one of these days she's going to figure out how to put her own harness and leash on.

All I'll have to do is say, "Let's go for a walk," and she'll be dressed and waiting for me.

Day 223 - happy tales

Day 222 - still fighting the treat taking issue

I was too tired to write yesterday, after a little work outside, a movie and a larger-than-usual meal--I took the girls to Chili's for treat.  All that I accomplished was the mowing and the beets.

So that leaves today as harvest day, plus weeding the strawberries.  They're in serious need of attention.

Later.  I attended.  I weeded more than half of the row, dug some potatoes, picked a mess of purple hull peas, and picked the tomatoes.  And then dealt with the mess!

And tried, as usual, to get Izzy to take a treat out of my hand.  And failed.

Day 220 - dogs don't eat tomatoes

I am lost in contemplation...

 ...of the amount of work that ought to get done this weekend.

By the way, my pepper predicament of yesterday has proven to be just a big misunderstanding.  Not all of the peppers are evil--I ate two today that were fine.  I'll just need to be very, very careful--taste first; chop into small pieces in mix into a salad, second.

So, as to the weekend.  I should mow; dig and prepare beets; mow with the hand mower; put out cardboard to cover weeds beside the purple hull peas; weed strawberries; pick peas; finish digging up and/or tilling the beds that didn't get planted--

And then Sunday.  Sunday I need to dig potatoes and pick Swiss chard.

I forgot the tomatoes--I need to tie up the plant that kind of drooped over during the rain this week.  And pick them...endlessly.  There is no gardening job easier or more rewarding than picking tomatoes.

Every...stinking...day.


On the dog issue, I can't figure out how to get her to gain just a little weight.  When I give her extra treats, like yogurt on her dog food, she just learns not to eat her dog food until I treat it.  I really don't want to go that route, although my dog sitter does it with hers--she adds chicken broth to their dry food.  I never have to add special treats to Werewolf's food, or Zack's--why does she have to be the picky eater?

Something terrible has happened in the garden.

Not the weeds--they're terrible, all right, but two or three hours of hard labor will get them under control.
Not the tomato topping over--unless it snaps in the night, I can stake it back upright again.
Not even the purple hull peas springing out in awesome quantity.
It's the peppers.  They're....

Crossed.

I guess that's the problem--I dunno.  I planted all sweet peppers except two.  One was supposed to be a "mildly" spicy banana.  And the other a jalapeno--just one jalapeno--but here's the problem.  I forgot to sequester it at a far spot in the garden, and now--they're all hot as heck!   I picked several banana peppers yesterday and put them in a salad and...

I nearly died.

Do peppers really cross-breed like that?

Day 218 - wet dog alert

Monday's promise was a complete lie, and I admit it freely.  On Tuesday I had to pick beans, peas, peppers, and tomatoes, so there was no time for pictures. The results:

 

Lovely purple hull peas!  I was thinking of doing fajitas for Sunday supper, but the garden has dictated the side dishes.  New potatoes, purple hull peas, beets, and ripe tomatoes!


Today it's raining--lovely--but I have to put the dogs out.  Are they ever going to figure out what a dog house is for?

Day 216 - dog play

I will have some pictures...tomorrow.  Today I had to do maintenance on Callie's computer and pick purple hull peas.  There weren't as many of them as I had thought but then I didn't really did down through them and find the hidden jewels. 

All that I can say for sure is, I need a weekend!

Weeds run rampant.  Grass (and weeds) is growing up all along the sides.  The strawberries especially are struggling.

And the dog is home and out of her mind with play!   When I was in the bathroom, she was in all of the front rooms looking for me.  And when I was putting on my shoes in the bedroom, she practically pranced--just like a dog will when trying to start a game with another dog!

I'm a dog!!!!

Day 215 - poor dog takes the back burner

Akon 2012.  Unbelievable, indescribable, and over.

Dogs are home, waiting for me to put them out after supper.  The garden is so much in need of attention that it's ludicrous to think I'm not out there, but really, I'm too tired to care.  I went out long enough to turn on a sprinkler and grabbed a nice big tomato, ripe but not overripe.  I was going to eat a big salad for supper but my little girl just had a major meltdown and I lost my appetite.

We're tired.  We're both tired.  Only she won't admit it.

Day 213 - dog and human gone; garden stays

Off to A-kon in the morning.  See ya Sunday.

I got into the garden for the first time in three days.  No only are there millions of cherry tomatoes ripe but there's a few larger tomatoes turning.  Several of the cherries are either split or have a bite out; I'm okay with that.  Plenty of good ones for me.

But the sad thing is--if I had time to deal with them--there's a perfect crop of new purple hull peas.  Just the way I like them, too--firm and bumpy and only just starting to dry out.

Well, fart!  They'll have to wait.