We’re growing a tomato plant indoors. It has grown a couple of feet in the past three weeks and it is spindly and loosely tied to two stakes. It flowered for the first time yesterday and my husband learned how to self-pollenate using a brush or ear swab.
Fifteen years ago we had a plant outdoors and it was inundated with bugs and tomato worms. I think we got 2-3 tomatoes all season and not so tasty. We’ll see.
We cared for a challenging young pup last weekend and my husband, old dog Zoe and I have been catching up on sleep! I’ve worked with shelter dogs and feral cats for many years but this is an interesting dog who taught me things I’ve never seen before.
We were out with Zoe last evening and ran into said pup and her dad. When I walked up, she graced me with a “happy pee” on the bottom of my pants and top of my shoes. Graced, I felt. She is teething, bad, but she didn’t try to bite or have relations with one of my legs as I walked. I could tell she wanted to but daddy was there. She was calm and friendly in my arms when she asked me to pick her up. With time, attention and training she will be a great dog for this young, smart couple.
The pants and shoes are already washed and I’ve several pairs of the pants and even more Crocs. I think I’ve graduated from sitter she couldn’t let out of her sight because her parents were gone for the weekend, to member of the family. That’s good, because they’re our neighbors! She shook Zoe up a bit and Zoe had to put her kindly in line several times, saying “I’m an old lady, leave me alone to nap!” That’s what difference over 13 years, and slightly over three months, makes.
That said, I don’t know if I’ve another pup in me to raise, certainly not while Zoe is alive. Before, I had a rescue who was in a no-kill shelter for a year, after a year being raised by an abusive deputy sheriff and having rocks thrown at her over the fence by neighborhood kids. We got over that, starting the day I adopted her. Every kid in the tot lot called out her name at the park and their mothers would let them pet her. When she died all the dog owners and parents bought the city a tree, in the park, in her memory.
My husband arrived on the scene several months later, after 9/11. When we married and moved we decided to get a pup and start from scratch. No more older abused animals for now. Zoe is the best dog in the world, a mascot around here and the neighborhood. She’s like “Cheers,” everyone knows her name. Oh, when our Aussie mix is too smart for her britches, he always says “we should have gotten the dumb one.”
That would be a breed I love, Swiss cart-pullers, the affable and quiet Bernese Mountain Dog. Our lives would have been very different with that choice. Zoe had a hold on her but we filled out all the paperwork with the male Bernese as #2. Early the next morning we got a phone call from the shelter saying the hold was lifted, they didn’t want our Zoe (we chose the name) so we picked her up right away and spent the rest having her hips taken out as a pup. Hey, they don’t call me the dog lady for nada! Such a sweet girl, healthy but getting old.
Please spay/neuter your pets at the appropriate age (ask your vet) and adopt from local shelters. Over the past 30 years I’ve had four amazing pets, two dogs, two cats. I’m not going to “show” them except for a walk in the neighborhood. The dogs, wash & wear like me, the cats cleaned themselves mostly, or I did in case of emergency. No hair spray needed. I do have Dee’s Torture Chamber of Horrors, a plastic bag with combs and brushes and avocado oil spray to keep down winter heat sparks. Be kind, Dee
Cooking with Dee 