Apropos of Nothing v.18

Woaaaah... octocarrots!

My zucchini don't even have baby ones yet- just lots of blossoms. I wish they'd hurry up!

Octocarrot...love it Pony! My tomitillos only have blossoms too. It's a sad..sad situation...

I don't wanna think about tomatoes. Lost most of mine to blight. I have two plants that pulled out of it, with one tomato each and a ton of blossoms. Too late... *cry*

Those carrots look like mites under a microscope. Just bigger. My chickens have been eating all of my tomatoes. They wait until they just start to turn color and boink. Yum Yum. Also my dog is eating my chickens eggs. I have only had about a dozen in the last 3 months. I have an easter egg hunt every day for finding any. Little buggers.

That's why my chickens are not allowed in my garden. Anything that's happy with bugs and weeds doesn't need my tomatoes. An egg-eating dog is bad news, too. At least he's not going after the chickens!

She only eats the ones that they lay out of the box. With 7 chickens and only 3 boxes it gets competitive. She actually tries to bring them in the house but has cracked some on the way in and eats them. She has successfully brought in 3 and left them on the kitchen floor. She always brings us the apple on her back. LOL

Ouch. I know that paint. But she's a beauty, and that paint will last a long time. When one considers you'll be living aboard that boat, the expenses are put in perspective a bit. You have to love a boat to feel okay spending money on it, unless you are wealthy, indeed. Bring out another thousand, to be sure.
Mike wants to know if you leave the boat in the water through the winter in that part of Alaska.
I want to know what that small furry animal is in your hand.

Cute apple, Sofer. NICE boat. We just got back from a cruise. Our son from OR and his family were on board also. DH and I took a sail/snorkel excursion on a 65' schooner off of St. Marten in the Caribbean. It was a dream!!! I loved leaning over while we sailed. That was a highlight of our trip.

Trying to play catch up here. Sounds like you've gotten some of the heat we have been having all summer. Today is beautiful, windows are open. People staying with mom didn't keep up on the garden, so I came home to some icky tomatoes. I've gotten them cleaned up, so hopefully I'll get more. GHGal, your tomatoes are bearing for me, YIPPEE. The romas look great. I'll have some of the others for dinner tonight.

Which ones are bearing, Jan? The ones you call romas are probably the Cornue des Andes, and I love the flavor of those. Are you going to save seed? A friend saved seeds from the Ste. Colombes that he grew last year and the plants never flowered. He was really disappointed. I'll have to give him some more this year.

What a wonderful vacation you had! I've never been on a cruise. DH was saying that he'd love to go to Alaska and take a cruise some time.

Yes all boats have expense. But this is a way to enjoy and adventure. I will leave it in the water all year because each time I come up I will be motorsailing it from Petersburg to Wrangell and back. The moorage in the winter is kind of nice because I can put it on the "grid" to clean any debris and work on any issues of concern.
The cute thing in my hand is my Jack Russel McKenzie. She of course is young in this picture and it is the only one I have with the apple on her back.
Just got back from Glacier Park hauling some of the most beautiful rocks out of the river. We saw a nice friendly Griz who left the area we were looking for rocks.

Hey all - I've got tomorrow off work and I'm thinking about dragging my family along on a nursery viewing adventure. I'm looking for plant nurseries in the greater Seattle area that are particularly pretty or might make a good day trip. Also I figure I'll have to bribe my husband and kids with lunch somewhere quaint with pie.

Anyone have any suggestions?

k

Something on Bainbridge, Vashon, or the Kitsap peninsula? I think the weather is still supposed to be nice tomorrow (here, anyway) Then the kids get a ferry boat ride out of it, tons of places to eat, seems like a real getaway?

That's a good idea - The Country Store & Garden on Vashon looks interesting. Lots to look at besides plants - that might be just the ticket.

Probably too late, but Emery's north of Seattle is nice, as are Sky and Swanson's in North Seattle. There's supposed to be a great, inexpensive nursery in Arlington somewhere, but I don't know the name of it (that doesn't help). Have you been to Flower World in awhile?

There's Fancy Fronds in Gold Bar, too.

I think Vashon would be fun. Let us know what you do!

Happy birthday, Kim!!

This is where I go up north:

My Garden Nusery: Millcreek, Lots of heurchea, very small

Emerys:Alderwood Mall area, Nice nursery, Japanese Maples, Nice perennials

Machias Nusery: Small, Nice plants and the owners are Nice people, Lots of Japanese Maples, Perennials

Sunnyide Nursery: Marysville, Has lots of things, is shopped heavy so are out of some things this time of year, has much of the time newer hybrids

Christenson's (sp) nursery: Mt. Vernon Has nice plants, buy some of my annuals and perennials up there. From here you could go to deception pass and hit some of the Nusery's on Whidby Island. The Whidby people could tell you about those. I have only been to a few and the best was the Cultis Bay Nusery. Then take the ferry home.

Flower World is big but seams to have run of the mill plants, have not been up there for years.
Arlington Plant Farm is about the same as Flower world only smaller but still good size. I shop the others up here more than these two.


The food I have no idea as not much for eating out.

What are you looking for? A birthday treat? Happy Birthday!

Oooooh a nursery "crawl" sounds fun! Find lots of good stuff. Happy Birthday!

It has been in the mid 90s the last few days but is supposed to be in the low 70s tomorrow and I am looking forward to that.

My house has been chaotic for the past week. My daughter and her laid-off-teacher-husband moved in last weekend so that they can rent out their house. They have a big dog that likes to torment my two cats, so we are all getting used to a few rules! So far it is working our fine, but it's only been a week. I hope we are all still happy after a few months.......

Sofer why isn't that dog named McIntosh, for the apples, or Jonathan, or Granny Smith?

Thanks for the list of northern nurseries, Springcolor. I'll put them on my list!!

Judi - it's a great thing you're doing for the kids. I'm sure the dog will settle down with Koka for a good example and a lot of the dog experience from grandma . . .

Thanks for the birthday wishes and nursery suggestions y'all! I've put the North Seattle crawl on my list. Today we did Vashon. The Country Store & Gardens was a bit underwhelming - almost seemed like they have too much space and too few people to keep it up - but Dig Nursery (dignursery.com) was great. I loved their 'Sedumville' and 'Zonal Denial' sections! We broke the nursery stops up with hamburgers and icecream and then took the boys to the beach - so the whining was kept to bearable levels.

I got a tiny Cotinus (purple smokebush) and a Campanula poscharskyana (Serbian bellflower) at The Country Store (total of $12!) and at Dig got three dark foliaged dahlias (two yellow shades and a red), a sedum called 'Isle of Sakhalin' which is short with purple blossoms, and a tall lime green flowered one called 'Citrus Twist'. The bees were loving Citrus Twist. The dahlias were on sale for $5 each, so my total was low there too - guess I can't stop being a bargain shopper, even on my birthday! Oh well, that's part of the enjoyment I guess.

When we got home my cherry tomato plant had decided to give me my first ripe tomato of the season - so all and all a very nice garden day and a nice birthday.

Julie her name was Mac but that was too masculine so I thought McKenzie the explorer.

Happy birthday to you, Kim! :)

Glad you had a good time. I'm into sedums, like to go to dig nusery. I have some of mine rooting for the round up. They are the tall ones.

Kym Happy Birthday!!!

KYM happy b day. May your growth the last year make you a vessel for happiness.

Happy Birthday Kim!!!

Kim, glad to hear your day went so well, and Happy late birthday wishes to you, too! And, sounds like you came home with some great garden additions as well. That citrus twist sounds great. :)

gosh, just catching up throught all of this - belated birthday greetings, gosh, Portland, that is generosity - you are so pleased with your private space and to welcome back children is truely generous. Nicely done. And Sofer, I like the name McKenzie the explorer. Good purposeful name.

Now, question. Hands up who has taken on a rescue dog, any particular plus or minus points that you found? I have just been told about an 18 mo. Fox terrier girl, 'a real sweetie' (is that possible in a fox terrier?) is looking for a new home (makes her sound like she has packed her bag and left in a little terrier hissy fit). I don't know why she needs rehoming, yet. But before I say yea or nay to putting myself forward - and the incredible palaver of it (I have to be 'investigated' to make sure I don't have an animal restriction lodged against me), as well as fill in a multi page form to consider my fitness to keep a dog, and have a home visit, and show willingness to make any repairs/facilities for the health and safety of the animal - I just wanted to know of other's experiences. Sofer? As another terrier lover (albeit one with much more terrier savvy than I have) Any thoughts?

Laurie, we have taken on rescue dogs and for us they have never worked, although I know people who have had wonderful luck. One Great Dane was very sweet but turned out to have grand mal seizures; the shelter wasn't aware of that because they hadn't had her that long, and the person who relinquished her didn't share that information. Another Great Dane turned out, once he got settled, to be very territorial, and tried to attack two different friends who came over. He'd been in a foster home for a while and was fine there, so it wasn't their fault. Then we had a Doberman type who was just a nervous wreck and couldn't be handled. I have had dogs all my life, and usually trained them myself and had great experiences with them, but all the ones that made good companions were animals I got as small puppies from carefully screened breeders.

I have email friends who have several rescue dogs and they seem to rule their lives with their problems. They have severe health issues or are very destructive. I would not have kept those dogs, but then I feel that a companion animal should ideally fit in well with a family and not require enormous amounts of vet intervention or home care. Those people are far more dedicated than I!

But again, that's just my experience.

Laurie, I have basically the same opinions as ggal. Have tried "used dogs" once in a while and find that there is always good reason why someone no longer wants them. I now will only add a new dog as a puppy also. Puppies are lots of work but they are the dog you create in the end.

Happy Birthday, Kym. Glad your day out was wonderful.

GHG, it's both the roma and the round one. Delicious. Yes, I'll try saving seeds. Otherwise, I'll just have to visit you someday and get a tomato to use for seed-saving. :)

Best wishes, Portland, on melding households and furbabies. I hope to alternate staying with the kids someday. Hopefully, we'll move on before we outstay our welcome.

Just found out we will be grandparents again. Our newly married son and wife are expecting next spring. They wanted to try right away to get pregnant. She teased that our son said he had magical sperm. Guess he was right. :)

Sofer, that is a very adorable doggie face!

Congratulations Jan - grandchildren are fun as you know. I like the term "magical sperm"!

Laurie, my son in-law is taking classes to get certified for special education teaching and my daughter is in grad school, so they are certainly not idle. And they are able to have an income by renting out their house to a group of Reed students whose parents also live in Portland and have agreed to keep an eye on the house. There were several hundred teachers laid off this year in the Portland area, most of them being young without tenure. A lot of families are having to pull together to get through this time. And the dogs? They are having a great time together. My two elderly cats like my dog Koka, but are not so fond of the guest dog Bleecker. But Bleecker will do anything I say and is very trainable, and is learning that cats = pain.

Kym I love purple smokebush. Such nice colors.

We've had one rescue dog, plus two pure breds, plus when I was growing up a dog some nuns gave my cousins during a festival and he ended up in our house.

Hands down, the rescue has been my favorite dog. He was my heart dog. We got him when he was 5 and he died at 7 and a half. :( He was a golden retriever. The sweetest dog ever. He had zero training. He was HUGE. He aimed to please tho. Goldens usually do, which makes then trainable (to an extent) at any age.

I would definitely recommend the rescue route.

Oh, we did have one rescue dog that had to go back. She turned out to have major aggression issues towards other dogs. We were told she was a chow mix when we adopted her. I think the reality was that she was a pit bull golden mix. Her golden nature came out when she was with people. Her pit bull mix came out when she was with other dogs. She was our first dog. We wouldn't have been the family for her as we had younger kids at that time and not a lot of time to spend training a dog. Esp since we lived next door to a rottie who was friendly but liked to assert himself by running up and down the fence lining our properties barking, which drove our rescue wild.

If I had a nickel for everyone at the dog park that I met who had a wonderful rescue dog I'd be a rich person. Invariably they say something like, "I don't know why anyone would give her up."

There are dogs with issues, for sure - and if you're going to get a herding breed (known for nipping/biting) or a guarding breed (known for guarding) or a protective breed (known for being suspicious of strangers and having territory), then you have to know what you're getting into. It seems to me that, having owned a terrier, you know the pros and the cons of the breed. You don't have cats, so you may be okay there.

Pit Bulls are not all the same:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfvxk_n6lgA

Any "rescue" is an already baked loaf of bread. You don't know what you have and there is no way to change it. You can have paitience to let it sit on the counter as an ornament, taste it's flavor and develope an attitude of loving it regardless, cover it with a overwhelming flavor and ignore it's taste, or most importantly allow it to be who it is and create a world that it thrives in. If that is impossible look for the person who could accept this gift and love its message.
This dog "Dennis" sitting on my lap on a sunny day, was not wanted by anyone in Valdez and I took him for my friend for 2 monthly visits to Valdez. He could not find value in people and separated from their love never sitting on laps and ignoring their responses to him. But after tender joy and time he became somewhat house-trained responded to males for affection. Most importantly after recieving a encouraging opinion of his need, found a home with an equally unwanted young man who became changed with his losses in life through my Dennis.
You never know but you definatly try.

This message was edited Aug 26, 2010 7:13 PM

*Like*

I like the last statement... definitety try. Kudoos.

Soferdig
Nicely said! Love the story! I have two dogs that have come to me one way or another. Both needed a home so I took them in. In time we have bonded and now are my great companions. Both came with some issues but who doesn't have some baggage. A dog just needs the right person and environment. Sadly, many dogs do not get that combo and suffer. I guess as do people. This makes me sad!

On to a happy note. I went to Emerys and they were runnng 30% of perennials. Came home with two cape fushias, one penstemon, and a phlox. Happy land!!!!
Can one have too many plants?

Sofer do you have trouble keeping yourself from adopting all the strays you come across? I would think so, with your kind heart. :)

My Koka came to me at the age of 4 after being returned to the breeder. She was trained as an angel dog for children, and was with a family with a sick child. When the child died the family returned her. Koka then went through an Angel dog refresher course but no longer was able to walk through an airport with confidence. She then became a family-type dog on the breeder's ranch, and he thought she would live out her life there. When I went to see his dogs and perhaps get one, Koka glued herself to my side and that was that. The two of us went through an adjustment period until she learned that I was her new boss, and now we are best friends. I've learned to pay attention to her instincts. Her life and habits fit together with mine, and it's as if I've had her forever.

I never adopt too many. I do though work with dogs/cats and find them homes. After all I do carry some weight with my clients and they trust me for what to expect. Dennis ran the gamut of his severe anxieties. I just burned them out with high risk and let him go and watched. His joy came out about 3 days into my time spent. He began looking forward to my arrival every night after work and stopped pacing in circles. His progress was slow but after my two monthly visits to Valdez he was ready. I made up a C/D and showed his joy in running on the beach and the first person who came kept him. You must also know I prayed for this person and God gave them Dennis.