Daisy Maisy in front of the EMPTY Pots (and She Didn’t Eat Bo)

Bo was over the other night and bravely offered to follow the Dog Lady’s advice.  Daisy was all offended that he was back.  She clearly thought that she had scared him away for good.  (The dog lady thinks that I am letting my nervousness spill over onto the scene and that Daisy picks up my vibes).

So I sucked up my courage and Bo stood his ground, Daisy went ballistic, Bo stuck out his fist and said “hi, Daisy” in his best I-am-not-scared-but-I-really-am voice.  And she immediately stopped barking, sniffed, wagged har tail and moved on to something else more interesting.  He wasn’t here long, so I can’t say we are out of the woods yet, but this is way more encouraging!

Make a Self Watering Container Out of Anything

I think that it is just too long to say “Self Watering Container” over and over, so I am going to abbreviate to “SWC”.  And I am too lazy to use caps all the time so it may end up being “swc”.

I have been obsessed with making self watering containers.  Among the list of things that are included in my reasons for “never saying never” are these:  “I will never make a quilt” and “I will never garden”.  In years past I left the gardening to Tom.  As in, “if you want to garden, go ahead”.  And I let him.  But now with the state of the world the way it is, I am increasingly concerned with our ability/capability to produce our own food.

And I am increasingly concerned that others may have the capability to grow their own food and NOT KNOW IT, (that is, not know that they are capable).  For me, a major obstacle to garden success was remembering to water.  Hence my motivation to develop easy SWCs.  First, I thought big, ie 55 gallon drums, but now I am thinking big and little,  drums and used containers, treasure from trash, etc.

We have looked at our property with new eyes, planted trees, bushes, fruits and veggies, as well as some herbs and flowers.  But one thing is leading to another.  How to water.  Where to get water in case of drought.  How to store/preserve.  How to fertilize/repel pests.  Questions, questions.

Which leads me back to this picture.  A simple juice bottle which was cut up and inverted.  Holes were placed with a soldering iron for overflow and a watering tube.  Broccoli was planted.  It turns out that broccoli plants come in 9 packs, so what to do with the other 8 plants?  I put some in with a blueberry bush, some in my square foot garden, and made some smaller SWCs for experimentation.

I want to find the easiest, most nutrient dense food that can be grown with the most ease.  A daunting challenge?  I’ll let you know…

Aren’t They Cute?

They are sharing the bed.  Awwww…..

Two Dogs and a Boy on a Bed

Daisy, Merlin and Freddy crowd onto one cozy dog bed during Scripture and prayer time.  Cozy everyone?

Daisy was (Finally) Spayed

She is resting comfortably.

Sonny sets a new personal record

Ursula was afraid that I would get busted for this, but the window glare I think stopped me from showing the incredible amount of emergency personal in Sonny’s driveway.  I think this is a new personal best for him:  5 cruisers, 1 fire truck and 2 ambulances.  If you don’t know who Sonny is, look here.

They eventually got him out of his truck and carted him off.  Apparently, he used his truck to block the interstate, and when he tired of that, simply drove home.  By then (surprise to him) the powers that be, followed him.  Right home.  And took him away.

Sonny and Tom are both disabled veterans with serious psychiatric “issues”.  What a difference in how their lives play out.  Sonny’s mom loves him dearly, but not enough to set common sense boundaries to protect him, herself and people at large.  Tom takes his medicine, does what his doctors tell him and maintains an astonishingly high level of functioning (according to his therapists) because he has “strong family support”, and folks, that includes strong, healthy boundaries.

Shoes for Bubbles

I LOVE my cell phone.  I can “blog” from the store, call Bubbles and tell her to look at Zelda to see shoes that I could buy her.  They were a steal at $5.00 a pair.  I was giving her a choice, but she liked them both so in the cart they went.  Poor thing doesn’t feel well (sore throat) so this was a quick pick me up.

Tom asked if I was going to leave this on here, usually I just delete as soon as I get home, but this is a way to explain why you sometimes see pictures and then you don’t!  And why they actually do serve a purpose, well, sometimes.

Daisy Meets More People…

Friday, Ursula appeared after her early morning class, with a friend in tow.  I watched as they approached the car.  Daisy watched too.  She began to drool.  I was feeding her little bitty hot dog treats to calm her and now I was out of treats.  It became clear to me that Ursula fully intended for her friend Linda-Lou to GET IN THE CAR and have a ride home.  Was she insane?  I cracked the window and told Linda-Lou to climb up on the roof rack and hold on, because that was as good as I could do.

Ursula told me I was insane.  So she (Ursula) climbed into the back seat and held Daisy while Linda-Lou got in the front seat.  Woof Woof Woof Slobber Foam Drool Woof.  Linda-Lou (bravely) extended her hand.  Woof Woof Sluuuurrrp  Sluuurrrpp  Kiss Kiss Whimper Whimper.  The big mean vicious sounding dog turned into a pussy cat.  And that was it.  No problem.  The BIG problem is that she sounds so scary and won’t stop sounding scary when I want her to.  Any ideas anyone?

I took her back to Linda-Lou’s house that night so she could “see” her again before she “forgot” who she was.  Same reaction.  Woof Woof.  The child got in the car, put out her hand and Slurp Kiss.  Hmmm.

The very next day, the Dog Lady, um, “Bea” called and said she could stop by with her family if we wanted.  We wanted.

They showed up in the rain.  Cold, wet rain.  With two huge GSD’s.  I must say, anecdotally, that Bea obviously loves her older son more.  She left him somewhere else and was willing to sacrifice the younger one to a visit with Daisy.  This is kind of smart, not putting all of your eggs in one basket, still have a spare if something went wrong, that sort of thing.

I was kind of unsure how to proceed.  Carnage in the rain?  The dogs (well, Daisy) seemed kind of fierce and determined and disturbed about these intruders.  Bark, bark, growl, bark, throaty growl, pull mom’s shoulder out of socket, watch mom slide on the slippery grass, growl some more.  But then something magical happened.  Maybe it was the increase of the rain, the physical discomfort of the humans, or just because; the dogs actually played.

We brought out Merlin to join them and moved into the backyard.  Within minutes they were all frolicking without leashes and establishing a doggy hierarchy.  Daisy, it being her yard, naturally won.  She wasn’t a really pushy hostess, just set up a few basic guidelines like “don’t pee on me” and “I can jump on you, you can’t jump on me”.  She was, after all, the only girl and girls do command such respect.

Bea’s husband, “the Dog Lady’s Husband”, arrived with a pocket full of treats which he donated liberally to the cause.  This made him quite popular.  The sacrificial son was polite and offered pertinent comments about the dog’s behavior.  Then out came Freddy and Grace and Bubbles and we watched in the pouring, cold rain, as the dogs romped, periodically taking breaks and taking shelter under the roof, as we humans commented that they had more sense than we did to get out of the rain.

It was so rainy that I did not break out the camera, but what a sight of these magnificent animals romping in the yard!  To think that they were all rescued as other people’s throwaways is heart rending.   How happy they look now!

Daisy Didn’t Eat the Dog Lady

Ursula engineered this shot.  She has future career potential as a dog wrangler.  Aren’t they cute?  They are definately paying attention (good), but don’t always (bad).

So the dog lady, we’ll call her, um, Bea, has been reading this blog, and noted (with concern) that Daisy seemed to want to eat our son Bo the other day.  Knowing this, she OFFERED to come to our house and risk life and limb to meet Daisy.

We met the the “dog lady” when she came to our house for a home visit to determine if we had what it takes to be raised (ahem) by a german shepherd.  She was very kind and sorrowful when we told her about Rufus and Lily.  She approved our application.  The very next day we met Daisy and brought her home.  A week later she (Daisy) wanted to eat Bo.  Not good.

So Bea came back at the appointed time and she and I stood out in the bitter cold strategizing how she would meet Daisy and survive.  We mapped out a plan, she would ring the bell, Ursula would answer the door, I would pretend that it was no big deal, just a friend at the door, minimize Daisy’s response, and be really cool and low-key.  I suggested she leave her purse in the car. 

So what you have now is 3 humans plotting to outsmart one cute, only sweet to her family, GSD.  She rang the bell.  Ursula opened the door.  Daisy wagged her tail and for a millisecond it looked good.  Then the barking, the foaming, the frothing.  If I were Bea, I would have turned and fled and not looked back.

What did she do???  She stuck out her fist (TOWARD THE BARKING FOAMING SNOUT!!!!!)  And what did Daisy do?  LICKED IT!!!!! How did she know that her hand would still be attached?

Daisy wasn’t exactly overjoyed that she was there, but she calmed considerably when offered a hand and “allowed” us to chat, even move around the room.  We visited a while and then Bea offered to return with HER FAMILY so that they could further assist in the socialization process.  Bless her heart.  As she walked away from the house, I realized that she had indeed, put her purse in the car.

She doesn’t LOOK like she would eat someone…

Daisy likes to get on anyone’s bed with her favorite toys.  In fact, she and Merlin often go from bed to bed, visit, and then move on.

The other day she wanted to eat Bo.  Well, it looked to us that she wanted to eat him.  We need help redirecting this people eating behavior so we are calling in the professionals.  I have to clarify that we don’t really think she was going to eat him, no snarling, growling, teeth bearing, foaming, gnashing, etc, but she SOUNDED scary.  Big guy that he is, 6″4″ was meeting her for the first time.  Nothing I did or didn’t do seemed to matter.  So I brought her out back (on leash) to think about what I was going to do.

As I was sitting there thinking, all you -know-what broke loose, the neighbor’s pit pull dove under the fence, Daisy pulled away from me AND the guy hopped the fence.  The barking was so loud, my neighbor couldn’t hear me warn him that “THE REASON WE WERE OUTSIDE WAS THAT DAISY WAS TRYING TO EAT MY SON!!!!”

To my horror, he just leaned over Daisy, patted her head and continued to retrieve his pit bull who was not cooperating.  She dropped down, wagged her tail and that was that.  Happy dog, not trying to eat anyone, in fact, she seemed downright pleased that she had a new friend.

So, experimentally, we brought Bo out back thinking that maybe she was just defensive because he was in the house.  She still didn’t like him.  He left.  So I guess the path to her heart involves hopping the fence in persuit of a dog, not entering the front door??

We are going to try extinction for the barking with food rewards, but I am not crazy about food bribes in general.