Advance warning

This is an advance warning that lots of garden pictures will be coming your way very soon.

Mid-June is the very nicest time in the garden, I think. The vegetables are all still tiny and manageable and there aren't too many bugs infesting them yet, and the flowers are starting to really pop. Everything's still clean - nothing's gone out of control as of yet, but it's only a matter of time.

Currently, I am enjoying the contrast of my hot red poppies next to my deep purple siberian irises, against the backdrop of the orange marigolds in the veggie garden. My eyeballs aren't big enough.

Today or tomorrow, the yellow iris that I transplanted into my upper perennial bed will bloom for the first time, against the deep purple of the centaurea and, if it sticks around, the hot pink of my gorgeous peonies. Seriously, the camera can't even capture it. I've been taking pictures of nice garden pairings but then when I look at them, they all seem drab on-screen. My brother's girlfriend got a nice digital SLR camera, and takes the most gorgeous flower pictures, so maybe I'll have to hire her out for an evening, ply her with alcohol or something.

In the veggie garden, I am also experiencing moderate success: The garlic's trucking along, but I haven't seen hide nor hair of the neighboring corn yet. Maybe that won't work out, but that's not a tragedy; there's enough corn in the world and I don't even really like eating it that much. The tomatoes are bouncing back, growing themselves some dark green, hardy, outdoor leaves - the nicest ones are the ones I bought off of the little boy at the garage sale.

I think the basil that I transplanted is ok, but it's so tiny still that I can't be sure when looking at it from a distance. I haven't been through the gate since the weekend. 2 of my 3 cucumbers are doing well, the third had it's leaves eaten off by something (sluggy?) but may still bounce back. I had no success with the squash that I started in the grow-op, but stuck the remaining 5 seeds directly into the ground, and they've grown and are happy to be there. The lettuce is coming along, spinach is almost ready to eat, and I have a ton of cilantro. The beans are up, and the beets are doing well, and I may have a nice little crop of strawberries this year as well. My nasturtiums are poking their adorable little leaves out of the ground, and I have mounded up my potatoes already. May have to do it again this weekend, they're growing so fast in this weather. 5 of my 6 pumpkins are doing really well, and even the one that Rosie yanked out of the ground is bouncing back ok. I am considering spreading compost over the rows and then covering them with straw once the plants are a bit bigger - but we'll see. Damn I love the veggie garden in June. August... not so much but in June I am full of enthusiasm.

And the best part is, I've reached the point where there's very little to do aside from management. I've been spending a lot of time in my hammock, just watching the apples grow. Weeding, top-dressing and mounding, staking, bug control, and harvesting, that's about all I have to worry about until fall. I do have to clean up the grow-op though - it's a filthy disaster.

It's been so hot and humid these days (but raining at night - perfect for the garden) that Rosie doesn't know what to do with herself. We've moved her crate into the darker, cooler back room and put a fan on it, so she's ok during the day, but she really doesn't want to play sillybuggers outside much these days in the heat and the bugs. Life's hard for a black dog in summertime. So, we are going to the nearby lake a lot. I got her one of these:

It's called a Wubba and it's a hollow lightweight Kong, covered in neoprene, which floats really well. She LOVES it. I got the bright yellow one, so it's not easy to lose sight of, and the little tassles make it really easy to throw far, even for a klutz like me. She dives in so inelegantly after it, it's worth the $10 I spent on it in laughs alone. I'm an idiot for this dog.

Look at that curly butt! How could you not want to buy toys for it!?

Funny thing: when you get a 9-lb puppy in your arms who's a mix of two breeds, you're never really sure what you're going to end up with. I was convinced she was all lab. Her mum's a golden retriever, and in this shot you can see it. Usually she looks more like a black lab, save for this longer, curly coat. I adore it. I snuggle my face into this coat at least three times a day. I crave the smell of this fur all day when I'm at work. She is so handsome too, just perfectly proportioned, perfectly athletically put together. I would take credit, but I didn't birth this creature - she's someone else's miracle. I just get to watch her grow, which is pure pleasure. Bittersweet though, I do miss that tiny 9 lb pup. She was so damn cute.

I'll post pictures tomorrow... someone has to do some work around here.

Best.Discovery.Ever.

Yesterday, we brought Rosie to our latest favourite place: the doggy daycare 15 minutes from our house.

You may dismiss me as being a crazy dog lady, one of these bourgeouis pet owners who treats their animals like children and buys them all kinds of expensive crap that they don't care about, and you'd probably be at least 35% right (I treat everyone like children ha ha). Sure Rosie gets pampered, and we buy her the healthiest food we can find, and we feed her people food (peppers, bananas, apples, broccoli, yogurt, peanut butter) as snacks to switch it up a bit, but we do that for the cats too. They occasionally get the water from our tuna cans, shrimp tails, and occasionally fish skin or other end bits that we can't stomach. They don't get as many snacks, mostly because they've traditionally had weight issues, and they only really eat meat and dairy. It's much more fun - and tidier - to give a puppy veggie snacks for good behaviour.

Anyway, back to our discovery. This daycare is actually a boarding kennel, and it's run by this supercool lady who also works at the vet's office. She's german, and no-nonsense, and has 20-something sled dogs in a seperate pen in the yard, this neat enclosure outfitted with parasols and christmas lights, where each dog has a little 'fort' made out of overturned plastic barrels, with little wooden decks and stairs. It's very neat. Those dogs seem pretty happy.

The facility itself looks like a cool brand-new house. Inside the doors, to the right, there's a sunroom with about 12 built-in pens for cats, each containing a bed, food and water dishes, a window, and a couple of tiered shelves that they can climb and sleep on.

Down the hall at the back and to the left, you enter a big concrete and chain-link-fence hall filled with barking dogs. Each dog (or family of dogs) gets their own pen, which is attached to their own outdoor dog run, so they come and go as they please. You bring your own bed and toy and food. The facility is very clean, and they seem very conscientious. When we bring the dog in, her pen has been freshly mopped, and she has a little clipboard on the front with her name on it and special instructions (one dog last week had 'needs extra cuddles' written on her instructions - she was an over-nighter). We gave her the container of food and a baggie with treats - a chunk of pepper and two chunks of banana - and she feeds them at the assigned times.

She breaks the dogs into 'teams' based on their personalities, for play time. Originally she was only going to put Rosie in with the little nice dogs, but eventually she was in with the whole gang - she's very social. I was informed that many dogs would be completely pooped that night thanks to my Rosie, who played hard until she fell promptly asleep in the playground. Then she woke up and played again. She was terrified when we dropped her off, but had a great day, and was playing with a 6-month-old Newfoundlander and my brother's neighbor's English Spaniel when we picked her up, minus one more tooth. As soon as she hit the car, she fell asleep.

And she pretty much stayed asleep until this morning.

This wonderful service costs $10 for the day, plus tax. So we figure, for once a week, to have Rosie playing with other dogs and happy and social, and to switch up her routine so she's not in a crate 5 days a week, it's worth it to her. And it's so worth it to us, because we effectively get a night off. I could have done almost anything last night. I would pay double that to be able to nap, knit, read a book, snack, or whatever (last night I assembled our new patio umbrella) for one night a week. Not that I don't enjoy hanging with Rosie in the evenings, but it's hard to get anything done when she's in full week-night mode.

Anyway, best discovery so far. Soon she will go for her first overnight, and I will be scared and sad, but it'll be part of her growing-up that she spends a night away from her humans. I hope that by now, she's learned that no matter what length of time we're away - 2 hours or a week - we always come back for her. If not, this is part of the process.

Batten down the hatches!

This past weekend I put most of the remaining seeds and seedlings into the veggie garden. It rained all weekend long, so perfect weather for a lazy gardener like me - easier to weed, no need to water after planting, keeps the bugs down, yadda yadda. I am no fair-weather gardener.

Now I have to prepare for the onslaught.

My tomatoes were the first hit; I guess I didn't do a good enough job of hardening them off (my problem every.single.year - one would think I'd learn eventually?), and they turned white and crispy a few days after planting them out. They're bouncing back, but some of the leggier ones and the tinier ones are experiencing a real set-back. I will need to give them extra attention and kisses in the coming weeks, and remember to stake them properly when (if?) they get larger.

Actually, the first round of baby bok choi that I planted were the first hit, as they were completely uprooted by Rosie.

Then I did the same thing to a row of beets. (sigh). Rosie comes by it honestly.

I am going to be armed and dangerous this year. I'm going to watch very carefully for cucumber beetles - I've moved everything around and I hope to hell they've been thwarted. I want cukes this year. The past couple of years they have been a crashing failure. I tossed the rotting trellis and flipped everything in the garden over, and changed the location of my cukes, and moved the other squash and melons elsewhere, so I hope that's done some good. If not, I will resort to killing them, spraying with oils, you name it.

I also plan to get on top of the currant problem this year. Every year we have a caterpillar infestation on the currant bush and it affects productivity and makes it a disgusting pain in the ass to pick the berries. I have to spray the base of the tree with vegetable oil, apparently, and I guess I have to start doing it soon.

Yesterday I put out (prematurely?) my little adorable pepper plants. Some barely have a second set of leaves but dammit I am impatient, and it was rainy. As soon as I see flowers on them, I will start surrounding them with diatomaceous earth to deter earwigs - the pox of my peppers. I also stuck a lot of marigolds in and around the tomatoes and peppers this year, we'll see if that scares anything off.

I tried my best to plan the garden using companion planting guides. I think I screwed it up here and there by changing plans, but for the most part, I hope to grow a lot of veggies in a small space well, by making sure they're all compatible with each other. The only things left to go in the ground are the melons, which are going into the perennial bed, and the basils (thai and regular), which are healthy and prolific but still very small. They'll go in very soon - maybe next weekend. But I am happy - the grow-op is shut down for 2008.

Once all of that's done, I go into maintenance mode. I'll weed and try not to pull up the vegetables by mistake, kill insects and try not to kill the good ones, mound the earth on my potatoes but try not to smother them, and try my darndest not to step on anything.

I will post more photos when the garden looks like more than just straw, marigolds, cilantro and weeds.

The Spoils

This year's Great Glebe Garage Sale did not disappoint. After a chaotic morning in which darling Rosie and I went for a walk but she took her sweet time, and it ended up taking 40 minutes, during which loving hubby was freaking out about not getting a parking spot downtown and 'words' were exchanged, we finally found a spot (albeit not close) and made our way into the heart of the Glebe. So, after a week of paying for every $1 purchase with $20 bills, we waddled off with our backpacks full of change and had a terrific day of deal-making and chit-chatting with strangers and old friends.


Behold, our 2008 purchases:

(the darned cat is in the way)

From left to right:

• electric lawnmower ($20)
• cabinet of metal drawers for my seeds etc. ($5 or $2 can't remember)
• lawn edging - never used ($1)
• kiddie tent, to be used for animals ($2)
• rawhides for puppy (free)
• frisbee for puppy, which she can't play with yet ($1)
• electric boat motor ($10)
• Buster cube toy for Rosie ($2)
• all episodes of Twin Peaks on VHS tapes (free)
• little box of ancient fishing flies ($5)
• cool handmade plate, maybe from Mexico or something ($2)
• hummingbird feeder ($0.25)
• large laminated map of Quebec (free)
• ceramic cat teapot for my cat collection ($1)
• shortie Iris ($2)
• cool euphorbia ($5)
• tomato seedling grown by a very sick little boy ($0.50)
• canoe 'foamies' ($2)
• ice cream maker ($3)
• two silver spoons (?)
• a crowbar ($1)
• Bill Mason canoe book - Path of the Paddle ($3)
• Easy to make Outdoor Furniture ($2)
• large yellow wooden crate in which to store our pet food ($10 - with a story)

The lawnmower works great, I have hung up the hummingbird feeder and hubby enjoyed fishing with his electric motor - all in one day. So we made off like bandits, all for about $70.

The crate was a terrific find: we both saw it from afar, but they were asking $30 because it came with a sump pump and 100 feet of hose. As the guy was calling his buddy to see if he could sell just the box to us for $20, a goth-y looking couple came up and expressed interest in the sump pump, so we made a deal - they got the pump for $20 and we got the crate for $10. They had to stuff the 100 feet of hose into a suitcase they'd bought earlier, but it worked out well and we both went on our merry way.

That evening, we took Rosie to her first city party. That dog had never been to the city before, and she did pretty well, all things considered. She jumped on people and knocked over beer bottles and had the runs and barked at the neighbor's pet squirrels and managed to score a hamburger bun, but all in all she was pretty good, and was excellent when I took her for walks down busy sidewalks. I was very proud and will do it again.

I worked outside on Sunday, which was beautiful, and again on Monday, which started out yucky but ended up pretty ok, and managed to get a few things done. I put out my annuals, built a garden gate, and therefore was able to plant my tomatoes. See?

Shots of the perennial garden thrown in for good measure, though it doesn't look nearly as colourful as it should.

That's it for GGGS 2008. We are already making our list for 2009.

Dog gardening.

This past Victoria Day weekend presented me with new challenges, as two areas of my life are now necessarily intersecting.

It was a long weekend, and I was determined to get some plants into the ground, dammit. Seems I've only been able to work in short, 20-minute bursts so far this season, and I was resolved to get some planting done. I went to the garden centre with my mom and spent $56 on annuals for pots, for the garden, marigolds for the veggie garden, clover seed for the lawn, and a couple of other seedy things.

On Sunday I went out in the rain and put in additional rows of lettuce, beets, spinach, and bok choi. Then, on Monday, I tied the dog to her new little stake, measuring the approximate distance so that she'd be able to enter the veggie garden, but only by about 2 feet or so.

Well.

That didn't go well. I had all my flats of marigolds sitting there and she loves the bright flowers and the crinkly plastic. There went my marigolds, across the lawn. I managed to rescue them by pointing her towards a pansy bloom that she could eat, but she ripped out the entire pansy and flung it around. Every time she saw me digging a new hole for a marigold, she would start digging too - no matter what had previously been planted. Finally I managed to distract her enough to plant the marigolds (some had to be planted near the entrance), and moved on to other things. All was well.

Then yesterday (Monday) I planted up the rest of the annuals, and another pot. Missy didn't like that very much - once she was bored of her rawhide, she started barking at me, and every time I walked past her - necessary - she bit me. Hung onto my clothing with her teeth. It was charming. Not to mention that some had to be planted near her, so as soon as she saw that little crinkly plastic flat, she'd select a plant and run off with it in her mouth. What a brat.

Later on, I made the mistake of letting her off the leash. Well. She ran right into the veggie garden and went up and down the paths like a tasmanian devil, stopping only to dig dig dig riiiight where my baby bok choi and beets were trying to come up. I think she busted a few onions, chewed on a few others, and tossed up a couple of marigolds before I caught her.

This is all aside from the other problem of her pooing in my shade garden, and running through my perennial garden to chew on the cat.

So I need a gate. It's slipped my mind (or my energy?) for the last little while but I do need a gate. A really strong one. Otherwise that $56 (and more!) will have gone down the turlet.

In good news: I don't seem to have allergies anymore. Huh. Just like that, I am breathing through my nose. You'd think adding another animal to the household (and to the bedroom) would make everything worse, but it only seems to have improved things. Rosie is magic.

The photo post

I finally took some pictures of the stuff I've been doing, remembered to bring in my camera, and bothered to re-size them all. And so now, for your viewing pleasure, may I present the photo post (wherein I stack all of the photos relating to all of the things I've written about in the last 10 entries or so).

First up! Our trip to BC.

Our first day there, we went to the Vancouver Aquarium. These were a real highlight of our visit (in my opinion):

Don't ask me what kinds of jellyfish these are.

On our way back home, after visiting Kelowna.......we hit an all-you-can-eat sushi place. It was like eating on a dare. It was stunt eating. We didn't know when we first got there that A) you can order any quantity of anything you want, as long as you eat it within 2 hours, and B) whatever you don't finish, you will be charged full menu price for. Makes sense, from a business perspective, but we filled the table with a totally hedonistic array of raw stuff before we realized that rule. Also I drank a huge beer. After about an hour of eating, and my guiltily spitting a half-chewed California roll into my napkin (I was full up my neck!), this is what we were left with:

Actually I think I have the chronology wrong on this. I think that's the doomed california roll in the foreground. Who knew it'd be filled with crab salad and about the size of my fist?

Luckily we weren't charged. Our dinners were still $17.95 each - a total steal.

Then we came home and I gardened more. This is what the perennial beds look like these days:

I know! Same photo as last year right? But here's something I know you will be really excited about:
That there is an artichoke. They are biennial, so I grew them from seed last spring, planted them into the perennial bed (3 of them), and when winter came, I covered them in buckets stuffed with dry leaves. Then we had like 8 feet of snow on them or something. When I uncovered the buckets, they had been pressed into the ground so much by the weight of the snow that the earth heaved up and made big hills when I pulled the buckets off. Inside, what was left of the artichokes was all black and slimy and dead. I wrote them off. I said "oh well that serves me right for trying to grow mediterranean vegetables in Quebec." Then I saw these little guys last night. Totally adorable - gives me hope for the future and all that.

This weekend, I took my Saturday (by myself, hubby was fishing) and said "today I am going to do frivolous pretty things and no backbreaking work." So I did. I built birdhouses. For the veggie garden, to go on top of the new fenceposts I put in, which are still crooked grrrr. Here's the overall effect: And now a close-up:

When my dad asked me "what kinds of birds do you think you will get living in there?" I said "umm, the decorative kind?"


Last night we went on a long walk with Rosie - down the hill, across the road, down the path, through the swamp (well, Rosie did - she went for a wee swim), up the trail, around the mountain, and down the road again. While up on the mountain, at the end of a freshly-blasted road, we found a spot of land that looks like it'd been cleared for a lot, but maybe 5 years ago. It had plants all over it, including this little beauty, which I promptly dug up with a stick and transplanted to my own garden:

I have no idea what it is - overall it's abotu 4" tall, the flowers are green (centre) and look a bit like little hellebores, except for the leaves, which almost have a ginkgo look to them. Here it had been freshly watered so it looks a bit worse for the wear, but I think it'll be fine. You see, the place where we got it from is owned by a bad bad man who likes dynamite too much, and builds ugly houses, and loves bulldozers. And he is a real jerk, and nobody in my neighborhood likes him. So I took his plant. He would never have known its beauty anyway. I am going up there again tonight to see what else I can take, I hate him that much.

ANYWAY! On to nicer things. Here's something I love more than I ever could have known:

And I have an update to yesterday's post, in which I showed off my new patio set. When I went onto the website to get the photo of the set, I discovered that it was ON SALE. I bought it Friday and it was on sale, 3 days later. So I promptly finished the post, and called them up, and got them to reimburse me the $250 difference. VICTORY! I felt like a million bucks, I tell you. There's nobody who likes a deal more than me. OK well maybe my grandmother.

So that was the photo post. Hopefully I'll be able to do this more often, post photos more regularly.

getting better all the time

6.6!

That's the number of hours I managed to sleep last night! That's really big news.

We've managed to find a new groove, me n' Rosie, where she actually wants to follow me up to bed each night.

Since we keep the stairs blocked off during the day, and she weighs almost 40 lbs, she has to have permission to come upstairs. On Friday night, I went to bed at 11 and she busted down the barricade, came upstairs and sniffed around beside my bed for a bit, then went into her crate. Hubby brought her out again, fearing that she wouldn't sleep through the night if allowed to go to bed early. On Saturday night, I had a bath late, and went upstairs to get dressed, and she once again forced her way up, thinking I was going to bed. I had to convince her to get out of her crate and follow me downstairs, where we snuggled on the couch instead.

Last night, I brought her to bed with me at the normal time. Only I had to clean up laundry before getting into bed, and she wanted to invade the bed and it was chaos, so I had to put her in the crate while sorting laundry and that wasn't a popular idea. She barked and barked and barked and then 'thunk' - passed out. And stayed passed out for six-point-six hours.

The real experiment will be to see if she does it again tonight. Since she's active all day long while we're home, she burns more energy and is more pooped at night. During the week, not so much. She's active in the morning, at noon, and at night. She sleeps through the rest of it.

This sleeping upstairs thing is working well for us. The cats are even able to sleep on the bed without being barked at, and their presence doesn't keep her from sleeping. She seems to relax immediately and completely up there. When she wakes up, I can hear her breathing and moving and scratching herself, and hear her tags jingling a bit, but she's very quiet and doesn't wake us up until she feels it's really necessary. When I open the crate door, it takes her awhile to get out - she has to stretch and do her morning yoga routine before she can get going. Then she sits at the top of the stairs and waits, because she's not totally confident on the stairs when she just wakes up.

The key really is to have her in a spot where she can see, hear and smell us all night long. She quickly tunes into our sleep patterns, and it doesn't hurt that the bedroom is really really dark thanks to my newish dark purple Ikea curtains. She has a seperate crate for daytime - a wire one, so it's very open and airy and her comfy dog bed is in it - but the sleeping crate is like a big plastic cave. She needs zero convincing to go in there. I can't say I blame her.

There are now only THREE major problems we have to deal with in terms of Rosie:

1) She pees when she meets people and gets really excited. She jumps up too.
2) She attacks the cat harder than ever. Sometimes she dribbles here too, from excitement.

3) She jumps up against counters and tables and will eat or lick or paw at anything that's within 8" of the edge.

Aside from that, everything's just normal puppy stuff. She's gotten mouthy and bitey again, but it seems to be a teething thing, and mostly playful or done for relief. I think the texture of my hand is perfect for sore gums, like a pliant rubber. She does snap at me once in a while but that's a phase. She's testing her limitations. She doesn't do it with my parents, but I have found it's even common in humans to treat your grandparents better than you treat your parents. Especially as a teenager. And why would she snap at them? When she's over there she's spoiled ROTTEN! I came home Friday after an event, picked her up at my parents', and she had enjoyed treats all afternoon long, including a simply enormous beef marrow bone that my mom had gotten from the butcher - special order no less. It's as long as her leg. It looks like a dinosaur bone and it's totally repulsive. The way to Rosie's heart is definitely through her stomach.

And on the plus side, I get a lot done when I wake up at 5 or 5:30 - the days seem very long and full and satisfying. I just don't have a lot of wiggle room in the evenings. If I go to bed at one a.m., that means 4.5 hours of sleep. No more Saturday Night Live for me. I am getting used to this new routine.

Tomorrow I'll post pictures of what I did with my weekend. In the meantime, here's a shot of the wee giftie I bought myself last week.....due to arrive in a week or so.

Fa la la la la

SO! 'Tis almost the season to be jolly, thrifty, spendy, and all that. If I were to rank holidays in terms of their importance and excitement level in my household, I would have to rank them accordingly:

- Christmas
- Great Glebe Garage Sale
- Halloween
- Victoria Day weekend
- Canada Day weekend
- August long weekend
- Labour day
- Easter
- Thanksgiving
- New Year's

.... and so on to all of the other holidays from other cultures that we do not celebrate in our home, which do not come with government holidays (i.e. St. Patrick's Day. ha ha ha).

The Great Glebe Garage sale happens the fourth Saturday of every May, and it is the most fabulous thing ever. When I was young, I would meet cool, hip, 'adults' who would tell me about the most interesting amazing things they managed to buy at the GGGS. I always wanted to go. But I was a country kid, and the GGGS happens in the city, so without wheels or adult supervision I was unable to see it, or to even fathom the giganticness and fabulosity of the event.

Basically, the Glebe is a neat area of Ottawa filled with residential homes that are a mix of upwardly mobile young families, students, and older people who have been living there for ages and are also therefore upwardly mobile. It's not cheap, let's say. People have nice gardens and there are a lot of individuals who seem to travel the world a lot. The houses are mostly old, and cool, and stately, and for the most part very well maintained. Bank street is a major artery that runs through the area, and the Glebe section of it has become completely gentrified with interesting little knicknack shops, pubs, knitting stores, bookstores, Starbucks, organic bakeries, restaurants, etc. You get the picture.

On this one Saturday of the year, all the residents empty out their basements and garages and put their stuff all out on the lawns to form one massive garage sale that spans about 60 city blocks. To put it into perspective, when we go each year, we are only able to see about 2o% of it in 6 hours of solid walking. Bank street businesses all have sidewalk sales, and the only way to travel around is by foot, it's all so busy. If you haven't gotten a parking spot on the street by 7:30 a.m., you won't, even though the official start time is 9:00.

It's like a big county fair, urban market, or bazaar. All of the streetmeat vendors are out, all of the buskers are around, there is a Dixieland jazz band made up of very talented old-timers that plays on a front porch every year, gathering huge crowds, and every kid who plays the violin or cello is out on the front lawn with an open case for donations. Little ones set up lemonade stands and sell their mom's overpriced cookies, and all of the local churches fill their parking lots and front yards with tables that out-of-neighborhooders can rent. People with gardens, who have necessarily done their spring perennial-dividing and tomato-starting, sell the plants and herbs that you can see flourishing in their yards. The ATMs are empty by 10 a.m. You have to wait in line for 30 minutes to get a Starbucks, if you are so inclined. On a sunny day, it feels like the most amazing place in the world.

If you are sitting there thinking "well Gennyland must just like to shop," consider this: it's my husband's favourite day of the year. He's mental for it. The day after the GGGS, he's already making a list of stuff to look for at the next year's sale.

Here is a partial list of things we have bought at the GGGS in past years:

- African straw basket that stores our kindling;
- Moroccan lantern/light fixture that I haven't yet installed anywhere, but which the dog likes to carry around in her mouth;
- Anton Pieck framed relief picture;
- Set of left-handed golf clubs for $10. I am right-handed. I re-sold them for $20;
- Brand-new camping cot;
- Book of retro cottage/cabin designs, which we consult more often than you might guess;
- My everyday set of '70s flowered pots and pans;
- Miscellaneous perennials which have now completely integrated into my garden. Includes silver ferns;
- An old turntable, which was free, because it doesn't work;
- Another black cat for my ceramic black cat collection;
- Many many old and new fishing lures (hubby's);
- Antique 'Urine Sample' bottle, which sits on the bathroom vanity;
- Roof racks that didn't come with their key, or even fit our car;
- set of 6 'wrought iron' sea creatures;
- antique galvanized tin bucket that I use as a planter in the summer;
- a 1980's video camera which takes VHS tapes. It's humungous, but hubby wanted to try making his own fishing show (sigh).

It's our annual opportunity to acquire eclectic objects for our home and garden. This year, however, I've gotten hard-ass about it. I've told hubby that if we want to go to town at the GGGS as we have in previous years, we have to first spend a day cleaning out the basement and throwing some of our current junk away. We have no more room to store camping cots, left-handed golf clubs, turntables that don't work and roof racks that are useless to us. We have yet to tackle this tossing of the junk, but I feel confident that we will have the chance sometime in the next 22 days. I'm thinking we could probably lose the plastic outdoor furniture that's been under the deck for 6 years, the headboard that we found in the garbage which doesn't fit any of our beds, the used-outdoors rug that's been mouldy and rolled up in the corner of the basement for 5 years, OR the 1950's fridge that occupies the middle section of my laundry area, which when we moved in contained only a rusted old pick-axe.

Just sayin'.

So, the GGGS kicks off the summer for us. It's the first chance to wear shorts in public and wear sunscreen for the day. I have to save up my coins and find myself a decent fannypack (when did I ever think I'd hear myself say/write that?) I'm off to make myself a list of things to look for.

What a difference a week makes

Hey everybody! I went on vacation last week!

One would not naturally assume that when one takes a vacation to British Columbia in mid-late April, one would experience a snowstorm. But I guess that's Canada for ya. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, it was about +27 degrees and tropical, so I came back to this:

And, more importantly, this:

The cat's not dead, he's just lazy. Looking at this photo makes me realize that my black cat's not as black as I always thought he was. Huh. Like a panther. Do you know that they're actually spotted?

Anyway, the vacation was good, but back home all the snow was melting and the garden was growing. When we returned, I was able to rake out all the dead stuff and get a move on outside, but gardening with a puppy is challenging, especially when the hubby's out fishing for the weekend. Being a single parent is hard.

But Rosie turned a new leaf while we were away. My parents had her, and had a wonderful time. We almost didn't get her back. Apparently she's developed a taste for running around in swamps and eating rawhides, which are pretty harmless habits. Also, she experienced being tied up for the day, and she was ok with it. They had lots of playtime and the weather was great, and she slept a lot during her stay. Now that we've got her back, she's all mature and stuff. She doesn't bite us anymore, and she's more mellow. We can put her to bed earlier, and just turn out all the lights and she's fine. This morning I also noticed that she's lost some of her baby teeth. I'm sad. My baby's growing up. She had her final shots on Saturday, and graduated from Puppy K (not with flying colours but that's just as well. Probably my fault), and she weighs 32.6 lbs. And now she is losing her teeth.

She still attacks the cat really hard - I'm not sure when or if that will pass, but I am ready anytime. It's very stressful. They're better outside, but inside it's total chaos. My poor cat's fur is always crusty around the neck and ears area.

In the garden, the bulbs are up though I am a bit disappointed - I think I may have lost some over the winter because I could swear that I had waaaay more tulips planted than what I see. Like I should have in the neighborhood of 50, and I only see about 20. Perhaps some of them aren't really up yet.

The perennials were all poking their heads up even through the snow, so I can now also see where things didn't come back. One of these days I will reconcile myself to the now-irrefutable fact that I cannot grow artichokes. It makes me sad. Not that I love eating them, I just think they're fantastic-looking. When I uncovered the buckets full of leaves that I'd covered the artichokes with last fall, all I saw was black mush. I don't think they're coming back.

The perennials are all out at the garden centres now, which is a ton of fun. I want some new things this year, surprise surprise. I think I'd like a few more ornamental grasses for the area around the veggie garden, and some tall red flowers (lobelia?) for the perennial beds and veggie garden areas. I want to attract more hummingbirds. I have a lot of monarda, but I think it might need to be refreshed and spread around. I love me some monarda.

As for the veggie garden, I really have to get a move-on and work it. Luckily, the last few days haven't been great or warm so I have a bit of a grace period, but I have to get the garden composted, turned, and tilled/formed into rows next weekend so I can plant out the onions, beets, lettuce, spinach and other early direct-seeded veggies. The rhubarb is up, and some onions, and all of the garlic that I planted last fall (yay!) and I will have to work around the strawberries, sage, and inevitable cilantro that'll be up before long.

I also have to figure out what the hell I'm going to do about my squash and melons. I'm thinking they'll go at the edges of my perennial beds so they can tumble out and over the lawn. It'll be a mess. I have a great spot at the back of the house but unfortunately it's bordered by railway ties so I can't grow any edibles there. I am wondering about sunlight levels on the west side of my veggie garden, and whether I can make a quickie newspaper garden there for the behemoth plants. Maybe that'll be a plan for next year. This year, I think I will have to improvise.

Tomorrow I'm going to pick up my potoatoes, and bags of shrimp or mushroom compost, and some peat moss. I also should have bought a tie-out for Rosie, so she can be close to me in the veggie garden but ideally not peeing or digging in the soil. Or worse. I will need a new garden gate and I think I am going to go professional this time, and buy something sturdy. She is a lot different than a delicate cat.

I also have to pot up my tomato seedlings, becasue they're enormous and leggy and not looking so hot. I can fix it, but I should act fast. Like tonight. Maybe I'll ask hubby for an hour off of dog duty and do that this evening. Or I'll let her 'help' me outside on the picnic table. Ha. I need to find a spot to harden them off...every year I burn the leaves in the sun, so ideally I need a shady spot out of the wind to start, then gradually bring them into the bright sunlight. They look soft.

The peppers are coming up - a bit slower than the tomatoes but that's not unusual. I also have basil, thai basil, and my "Big Max" pumpkins which have sprouted, and will likely need potting up by tonight as well.

I have to look at the garden plan and plot my time. I also have to be reasonable, because with the dog, I get a lot less done. I do, however, want to buy more fruit trees and plants (blueberries?), and this year, I will probably part ways with the old plum tree. I'll wait until it blooms though - it's so pretty.

(Sigh). How can something so enjoyable also be so stressful!? I need another vacation.

Leaving on a jet plane.

On Friday, despite it being kind of a busy time at work, the weather taking a turn for much better at home, and my desperate fear of flying, hubby and I are leaving for a week-long vacation in BC.

We booked this trip way before Rosie was a twinkle in our eyes, so there are some canine logistics to be worked out. Turns out, Rosie doesn't pack light. I need to gather up her crate, her food, her bed, her dishes, her many toys, her leashes, etc., etc., pack it up and take it, along with the dog, to my parents' place, where she will be pampered for a week (I hope). I'm sad to be leaving her, and will miss her terribly, but on the other hand I am looking forward to a week of doing whatever we want whenever we want and, especially, sleeping in. I intend to sleep a lot.

Rosie's becoming quite the little lady now. She's biting me a lot less (though this morning was still a bit rough) so my hands are healing up nicely. She is responding to the squirt bottle training technique we adopted out of desperation, which we use only when she's going nuts on the cat or biting us. Now, sometimes she will calm down when we just hold the spray bottle. Sometimes she licks it. Maybe it won't be effective for very long but for now Loki's appreciating the reprieve.

She has become a real dog. It's funny; one minute she's a tiny delicate puppy who can't even get up onto the futon, and the next minute she's a DOG, jumping up on all the furniture and running over the back of the couch. She's getting leggy, and is all claws and elbows. We keep her lean and exercise her a lot so she's not chubby, and the large-breed puppy food we feed her is keeping her growth at a nice slow rate, so she's not over-size or stressed. She has a lovely face and we've taught her to "kiss kiss" which is the cutest thing going. She loves routine, so when she wakes me up at 5:30 a.m. to pee, she immediately comes back inside and heads straight to the futon for a snoozy cuddle time. I kind of look forward to it, even though I protest the early start.

Anyway, next week will be mommy and daddy time. We're looking forward to going to the Vancouver aquarium and visiting the otters behind the scenes. I am very much looking forward to visiting my cousin who I haven't seen in 12 years, and her husband and four children who I have never met (she has another on the way!). I can't wait to stay with my girlfriend in Kelowna for a few days, and hang out with her little dude (and observe the growth of his new little baby brother/sister, due this summer). We will get our baby mojo on with all of these pregnant mommies around!

When we get back, I fully expect spring to be in full swing. Already the grow-op is going full speed, I have the lights rigged on timers and EVerything. So far I've started:

- Red peppers (up)
- Cayenne peppers (coming up)
- Striped tomatoes (waaay up)
- Roma Tomatoes (waaay up)
- Melons (just started on Saturday)
- Squash (ditto)
- Basil (")
- Thai basil (")
- Pumpkins (")
- Ground cherries (")

Hopefully the snow will be long gone when we get back and then my order of operations will be:

1. Fix my fences - the snow toppled them.
2. Get a new garden gate, esp. now with the dog
3. Get a tie-out for Rosie, for the front lawn
4. Till the garden. Dig in compost. Remove weeds and dead stuff.
5. Make rows in the garden.
6. Plant the spring crops (spinach, coriander, etc.)
7. Get the new greenhouse-row cover-coldframe set up in the garden
8. Plant out the tomatoes and peppers in said coldframe
9. Figure out a spot for the large vines - the pumpkins, squash, and melons.
...and everything after that is status quo.

I hope I have time for the garden this year. We're looking for an electric lawnmower too, and some flagstones, so I can finally dress up the area around the firepit with my new side-by-side Muskoka chair (and table) from Costco, on a wee flagstone patio. We also have to (sigh) start thinking about the renovations again. I need an influx of money.

OK I'm getting ahead of myself. One thing at a time. We're off to BC. I can't wait.

And the winner is....

The irises! (photo taken April 5, 2008). More evidence of spring and it's springing.

Talk me down why don't ya

Today has not been the best.

Rosie got me up at 5:30 a.m. That isn't the worst thing ever, except that last night's bedtime was fraught with anxiety re: the cat, the dog, the husband, etc. So I don't know if I fell asleep very peacefully. Hubby's flair for the dramatic can make my blood pressure rise, as when I say "what's going on down there?" he'll say something subtle like "all hell is breaking loose down here - the dog is trying to KILL the cat!" So yeah, not too relaxing for bedtime.

We haven't been getting along great these days. I don't know if we're resentful towards each other because of the dog, or if we're competitive with each other -- I tend to think it's a bit of both -- but we are fighting like the cat and the dog. Well maybe more silently and less physically. I don't know how to address it, I'm in a bit over my head. The tension does break, for example we don't seem to fight once we're at work and e-mailing each other, but at home it's just nasty a lot of the time. We're both frustrated, resentful, tired, feeling put out, and full-on taking it out on each other.

So this morning was the pits. Up at 5:30, out for a pee break (not for me, for the dog), then a cozy nap on the futon, which has become my favourite time of day since Rosie gets nice and snuggly on me. Then she wakes up, bites me for awhile and trots off, and has to pee again. Today, I put on my lined rubber boots and jacket over my housecoat and nightie, and went out. Which would be fine, except that I thought she had to poo so I brought her to the side, and she walked down too far and got wrapped around a tree. I let go of the leash to try to get her back that way, but the leash got tangled in the tree, which was in the deep deep snow and down a hill, on the edge of the forest. So I had to go in. I was walking on top of the snow just fine, then sunk in. Up to my knees. Half naked, bare legged, and really really pissed off. I did this a bunch of times. My feet and shins were raw and miserable. I was blowing blue smoke out of my ears, I'm sure, and swearing like a sailor.

Then hubby woke up, and shaved at a leisurely pace on the couch, which pissed me off more. I don't think he know exactly how rotten my morning had been up to that point. The dog was jumping all over the place so I left her with him and I took a shower. Put my bathrobe back on. Then hubby had a [waaay too long but that's another issue] shower but Rosie had to go BACK out meanwhile, so out I went again wearing hubby's boots this time, my housecoat, and jacket, but nothing under my housecoat. She went down the front yard to poo, and I followed. For some reason. And sunk in again. Le sigh.

Then we had chaos leaving, I ONCE AGAIN didn't have any time to do my hair or makeup, and so I look a tired wreck, and Rosie got frantic when I went upstairs to change, and so when I came back down she started jumping at me and biting me and nipping my legs and pulling on my sweater, and hubby just sort of stood there not knowing what to do, which sent me into a snarling rage. I was literally stunned into silence by the time I got into the car, I was so angry at the world. Rosie didn't want to go into her crate and was barking so loud we could hear it from the car.

Then I had a combative complainy meeting for two hours once I got to work. More sigh.

And to top it all off, it's frigging snowing. April 4. And it's yucky wet snow and makes everything dirty and messy and terrible. To quote the inestimable Liz Lemon "Augh, Everything's the worst."

Today is the kind of day where I need a start-over. It feels like nothing will ever get better. It feels like I will always be tired, the dog will always be misbehaving, we will always be fighting, winter will never go away, work will always stink and we will always be panicked and running late for everything. I hate it all.

So talk me down already. I think I need to go home and get dee-runk.

Spring is springing

OK let's get this over with quickly. Mandatory cute animal picture for today. Hold onto your hats :

I think Rosie was surprised to see me. In order to be able to take this picture, I had to kind of jump out at them from around the doorframe. Loki looks nonplussed.

So spring is finally springing, I do believe. Things are melting, the dog poo is in full bloom, and my seedlings are growing up into leggy little tomatoes and peppers. Pretty soon I will have to find a dog-proof (ha!) spot in front of a southern window for my little greenhouse, and move the tomatoes and peppers to the grown-up table. Next up at the kiddie table are melons and squash, which need 4 to 6 weeks before last frost, and I'm going to tempt fate by starting them April 6. Maybe I should wait oooone more weekend. I have the garden all planned out already and yes, it's ambitious, and yes, it will probably not work out and be infested by cucumber beetles and cilantro and weeds and probably I will forget to water it or mulch properly, and I will get earwigs in my peppers and my tomatoes will be late, but what the heck. I amuse myself.

I want to find a good book on survival, or 'wild', food from my area. I would like to do at least one meal using the ingredients found in our yard. I would call it the 100-metre diet. Thing is, within 100 metres of my house, I have the following native delicacies:

- burdock (ha! lots of it)

- mushrooms (in fall)

- wild ginger (I promise not to take much of it)

- dandelions (meh)

- birch trees (I am interested in making flour out of the bark, for some odd reason)

- miscellaneous edible flowers

- black raspberries

- red raspberries

- wild strawberries

- fiddleheads (spring only)

- venison (ha ha ha)

- sumac berries

- nettles

...and I'm sure there are more things that I'm forgetting. Perhaps I could serve venison with a sauce of wild ginger, sumac berries, and mushrooms, garnished with edible flowers, served with burdock and steamed nettles on the side, paired with a lovely dandelion wine.

Sounds like a lot of work.

Can you milk deer? ("I got nipples Focker, can you milk me?") I could then conceivably make deer cheese. That should have been the title of this post.

Gone to the dogs

I used to think that people were either cat people or dog people. I saw them as two very specific types: introverts vs. extroverts, sedentary vs. active, etc. I am learning that that was very wrong of me, because it is completely possible to be both a cat person and a dog person, to be introverted yet still enjoy the company of others all the time, to be sedentary part of the time but enjoy a good stiff hike once in a while. To love cats and dogs equally.

The other day a cat-loving friend said to me "as long as you're not neglecting your cats!" and it stuck. I feel bad. I think I have been neglecting my cats. Splitting my soul between two cats -- who are very accustomed to us, who know their way around the house like the back of their paws, who have been with us 6 and 10 years respectively and who get along like a husband and wife -- and a new puppy who's learning it all for the first time and testing her limits, who can't really be left alone for too long, who needs constant interaction while we're home, has been really emotionally difficult. I feel like the cats are feeling neglected too - Sasha has started demanding attention vocally, which is great. At least she's letting us know what she needs. Loki on the other hand is having a rough time of it. The dog is relentless with him. She wants to play constantly, and rough. It's exactly like Loki's got his very own Kato.


(Incidentally, that is one of the funniest scenes of any movie ever. It's a masterpiece of slapstick).


Anyway, he's losing weight. We're all losing weight (well except for Sasha). My pants are all falling off of me. Even my underwear's sorta too big these days. If I think of it, it's a radical lifestyle change. I don't think I've spent this much time outside any winter of my life. We go for a walk every night, snow or shine. When we're in the house, we run up and down the hallways, and as soon as we sit down to watch t.v., Rosie immediately has to be somewhere else - likely outside peeing - so we get up constantly. Remember that gym membership I bought about a month and a half ago? That was a bit of a waste of money. If anyone out there hates going to the gym but needs to lose weight, my advice is to get a large-breed puppy. You walk constantly, picking them up is work (she's now 20 lbs), and they leave you very little time to eat.


Good things about Rosie: she's toilet trained, pretty much. She's not a picky eater (ha!). She loves veggies. She's learning not to go near Sasha, who lets her have it whenever she gets close. She loooooves going on new adventures. When we're off-site, she listens like a trooper. She sits when told, and comes when called. She's learning basic hand signals. She hasn't bitten me on the face in like three days. She smells good. Her adult fur has come in, and it's wavy. She's well-socialized, eager to meet new people and kids. She is ok on a leash. She's ok in the car, in her little crate (for now). She sleeps about 5 hours straight. She is the cutest dog that ever lived.


Bad things about Rosie: She sleeps only 5 hours straight. She harrasses Loki and has torn his ear. She bites our arms and has periods where she will bite anything in front of her, and flesh and hair are preferred. She chews bark and houseplants, and the floors are filthy. She barks at the cats incessantly. She selectively listens when we tell her to get off the couch. She runs upstairs at any given opportunity. She is bossy on her leash, carrying it in her mouth most of the time, which just gets her front paws all tangled up. Sometimes she sits down on the road and refuses to walk anywhere. She chews my knitting so the sweater I'm making will be for next winter. She eats rocks.


We started Puppy kindergarten the other day and holy crap is that ever cute. 7 puppies all playing together, leashes all tangled up - it's total chaos. The good thing is that the instructor seems to think that Rosie's great. She's impressed with how she sits on command, and how well-socialized she is. She hasn't seen Rosie's bad side just yet so I'm still worried, but at least she wasn't kicked out of the first class, like my friend's (admittedly too old and too large and much too hyper) puppy was.

So, in conclusion, I respectfully submit the following:


CATS:

• Soft, snuggly


• Shed cat hair


• Claws hurt when applied to skin


• Bite infrequently


• Have destroyed corner of the couch and all deck railing posts


• Purr


• Eat cat food


• Can jump easily from/to high surfaces


• Can sit on our laps for hours


• Sleep on the bed


• When afraid, sleep in the basement


• Poo in the litter box


• Let out throughout the day, as needed, freely. Come when called at dinnertime.


• Occasionally get into fights with wild animals and are injured


• Hate the car


• Cannot travel, go camping, etc. (see previous item)


• Uninterested in toys such as balls, frisbees, other interactive things beyond the cat dancer


• Get high on catnip


• Meat eaters


• Whine for food


• Easily overweight - weight difficult to lose


• Hate water


• Affectionate on their terms (well, Loki is. Sasha's always good to go)


• Sasha not interested in strangers, friends, parties, etc. Anti-social.

DOG:

• Snuggly, bony, soft fur


• Shed dog hair and drool


• Claws hurt but are rarely applied to skin


• Bites frequently


• Will destroy anything if left to her own devices


• Bark sharply. Doesn't purr when pleased


• Eats everything in front of her


• Slams body into any barrier in front of her, loudly


• Can sit on our laps for a short while, before starting to bite


• Sleeps on the futon and in her crate


• When afraid, walks between my feet


• Poos all over the deck and yard, preferably 4 feet up a snowbank


• Let out every hour to pee while we're home. Always on a leash


• Gets into fights with Loki. So far not gravely injured


• Is ok with the car


• Will come absolutely everywhere, except on planes, with us


• Interested in anything interactive, be it a ball or my bathrobe


• High on life


• Everything eater. Favourite snacks include peppers, celery and apples


• Sits patiently while waiting for food


• Slender - very active. Losing weight will not be an issue for years


• Is ok with water, though hasn't experienced it yet. Will be a swimmer


• Always affectionate, always happy to see us, follows us around the house.
  
• Loves everyone. Wants to meet the world.

Stuff I like

A friend just pointed me to this blog, Chocolate and Zucchini. Perhaps the entire world already knows about it, but I just discovered it, and I love her voice and her taste for all things chocolatey and good.

I have also recently been active on http://www.blacklabrador.com/, to get advice and reassurance from all of the seasoned black lab owners out there. It helps to calm my nerves when Rosie's been particularly stubborn and rambunctious.

I've been drinking Aranciata every day for lunch. I am developing a habit.

I've been faithfully attending my pottery classes again this session, but I have to admit it's hard for me to work up the motivation. I don't like feeling pressured re: the wheels, since there are too many people in the class for everyone to have a wheel, and I'm running out of inspired ideas for other projects. Also, I don't feel right being away for 2.5 hours on a wednesday, leaving hubby alone with Rosie at her craziest time of day.

I've not had much time for anything else these days, but I did start my seeds. I started "Ring of Fire" cayenne peppers, "Frank's" red peppers, "Tigerella" tomatoes, and "Principe Borghese" paste tomatoes. So far nothing's shown it's face yet. There's no rush, it was minus 21 out this morning.

I've also finally primed the wall where our new window is, so I will soon be able to hang the curtains again. That ought to buy us some time until we finish the window mouldings. I think we're a bit stymied by the style of the window - neither of us seems to be able to figure out how to finish the trim.

And finally, I really like my Rosie. She's a fun kid. Still the cutest damn dog on the block.









So that's my life this week. What are you up to?

Pseudo-mommy

Phew! (pant pant pant).

Well finally our little pup came home, and I am very happy to be introducing Rosie to the reader(s) of this blog.

She's a spitfire. Approximately 9-10 lbs of pure joy and exhuberance, just bursting at the seams and ready to play. She's nuts cute eh? I don't mean to brag, but I daresay I have the cutest dog in the world. Tied quite closely with her big brother Tonka, my brother's pup, who is a jolly good-natured, easy-going bruiser.

So this thinly-veiled attempt at motherhood is so far putting me through my paces. I've been reflecting on what it is to become a parent of a dog vis-à-vis the parent of a human. There are many similarities, and many stark differences. Herewith, I outline the differences:

Human: when they need to pee at 3 a.m., they do it in their diapers in bed, often while sleeping.

Dog: when they need to pee at 3 a.m., I have to stand outside in -20 degrees and snow in my housecoat and slippers, and then attempt to fall back asleep.

Human: When they want to play, there's mess involved.

Dog: When they want to play, more often than not there's biting involved.

Human: Eventually they will pick up commands such as "can you take this shovel and put it back in the garden shed? And bring me those gloves on the shelf? Thanks."

Dog: I would be happy with "Go get your ball! Come to momma!"

Human: When they play with cats, they can be indelicate.

Dog: When she plays with the cats, it's a mess of teeth, claws, fur, hissing and barking.

Human: Wears clothes.

Dog: Wears every scrap of dirt that ever fell on our floors.

Human: The results of their elimination end up in a diaper genie or down the toilet.

Dog: The results of her elimination end up all over my deck. Really nice in the rain! My siding got spattered with dog poo!

Human: When you cook dinner, you can put them in a high chair.

Dog: When you cook dinner, you have to designate a dog-minder, and work in carefully orchestrated shifts in order to maintain her frenzied state, so that you have a chance of sleeping through the night.

Human: Knocks over or plays with/ruins houseplants.

Dog: Eats houseplants.

Hubby's co-workers yesterday assured him that what we're going through is much worse than having a baby. They remarked on the bags under his eyes, the frenzied, desperate look on his face. The clothes that didn't quite match and were pulled slightly apart at the cuffs. Teeth marks in his belt. Yep, for the most part, babies don't bite, and you don't have to go back to work the day after having them, leaving them to their own devices.

I'm only joking about the comparisons to human babies. But I have no experience with having a human baby so I'm taking what I can get and running with it. All I know is that babies snuggle without biting your lips.

Oh and I don't want to seem as though I'm complaining. Rosie is an awesome little dog. She's smart, feisty, loving, snuggly, super cute and very curious. She lets us know what she does and doesn't like, and she is learning lessons daily. I've even almost got her fetching... not bad after 5 days. She has pretty much taken to her crate, and goes in without protest (when she's asleep or halfway there). When she plays, half the time she grabs her toy and scrambles into my lap, as I sit on the floor, to play with it. It's really very adorable.

She's got us on a pretty short leash though. I have to work on the 'dominance' issue, because Rosie is a pretty dominant, self-confident dog. She bites a lot, which is apparently natural as she's teething with her first round of chompers. She bites everything in sight. She isn't yet tall enough to climb the stairs (this morning she slid down three of them on her chin: ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump - I felt so bad) but dammit she'll keep trying. She's fascinated by Loki - he makes her totally crazy. That actually stresses me out quite a bit because I didn't really expect it for some reason, I thought the cats would stay away from the dog and that Loki would beat her up if they mixed - I was actually worried about her safety. He does, but she still gets way too close for comfort and obviously hasn't learned the lesson just yet. I feel like he can train her not to bite better than I can and he needs to step up to the plate. Oh well. They only interact for short periods of the day. For the most part, Loki's still got the run of the house. Sasha is freaked out completely but has taken to eating her meals on our dining room table (at the end where we don't sit) and is now starting to come around. I feel good if I can get her purring a few times a day. Rosie's not that crazy-interested in her for some reason. Probably because they're not the same colour...

Things Rosie really likes include: Loki, my hair, her nylabone, her squeaky squirrel, the monkey cushion which she's adopted, towels in general, tassled rugs, hands, plants, eating snow, tummy rubs, cat food, boots (she stuffs her whole face into them, it's hysterical), hunting for ants (don't judge me, I have ants), trying to get up onto the couch, and the variegated legs of the kitchen chairs.

OK I miss her. Only 3 hours and 20 minutes until we're home. I have to hold out.

Two more big sleeps

Happy valentine's day.

Notice that I used lower-case letters up there. I am not a celebrator of valentine's day - oh I know lots of people say they're not into valentine's and then they still expect cards and flowers, but I am different. I am lucky to get a chocolate or something from hubby, and he usually gets nothing from me but a kiss. I just feel like it's a useless, pink, arbitrary holiday. I don't celebrate anything that doesn't get me a day off work (St. Patrick's day, I'm looking at you) with the obvious exception of Halloween.

The fact that it's February 14, however, means that the puppies are ready to go to their new homes. It means that there are 2 more big sleeps until our little squirmy bundle of love is introduced to our house, our two jealous cats, our area rugs and all of our chewable belongings. We built her a nice pen in the living room so she can spend her days peeing and pooping on newspapers, contained, while still feeling like a part of the family, able to observe the cats and the comings and goings outside the patio door. It's sunny, and right beside the woodstove, and right in the centre of activity in our house. I've put a little bed in it but that's already changed, I have a little day-time sleeping crate in there for her now. Her large night-time crate has arrived at the bus station as well, courtesy of my girlfriend in B.C., so I can decorate that at make it cozy before her arrival Saturday morning.

Here's the pen:

Also, I think we've settled on a name: Rosie. Not after the O'Donnell version, more like the Riveter one. It sounds awfully close to "Loki" but we'll have to emphasize the "Z" sound when calling her.

As you can imagine, it's all about dogs these days in my world. Dog this dog that. I am obsessive, as you've probably surmised from my other posts, and so for the months of February/March it is all about dogs. I have been googling dog stuff, reading up on dog training techniques, google-imaging pictures of 7-week old Black Lab puppies, just to get my fix pre-Rosie. I have told everyone I meet and have shown her picture to all of my co-workers. I have quizzed my girlfriend until she's thoroughly sick of me. I have asked for tips from a dog-trainer friend of ours. I have purchased toys, a bed, a leash, a collar, a brush, some tennis balls, food, treats, and today I will go invest in a wee Kong for the little lady, to give her something to work on during the day while we're away. I've scrounged up a training harness, a giant dog bowl with a big suction cup on the bottom, a jaunty stripey placement (seen in the photo), small dishes (left over from Peter, R.I.P.). I've made a large dog bowl in pottery class, and I've even spool-knitted a long looped and knotted rope to hang from the doorknob with bells on it, so I can train her to let us know when she has to pee. Eventually. I have been a complete pain in the ass. I am nothing if not eager, and am very very thorough.

I have even been priming the cats by telling them that we're getting them a puppy. I don't know if it's sunken in yet, but they are naturally very curious about the pen.

Also, in other news, I did join the gym and have now gone three times. I tried to go four times, but the first time my pass-key didn't work, so that was discouragement number one. The first time I actually went was a bit of a washout. I didn't have great clothes - I threw together some old stretchy pants and a yucky t-shirt that didn't really match, since I believed that the gym would be empty after work hours. I was wrong. I also didn't have proper shoes, so was wearing flat-bottom skateboard sneakers that I dug out of the bottom of the closet and cleared of dust-bunnies and spider carcasses. I felt embarrassed. My shoes felt like clown-shoes. My Mp3 player wasn't charged up. It felt like it wasn't meant to be. When I approached the machine, I couldn't figure out how to turn it on and, like a dunce, figured it was out of order and went to try another one. When I realized they were all like that, and I'd hit all the buttons with no effect, I got frustrated and left. When I got back to the change room I thought "don't be such a baby" and went back to the gym, got on the machine, and PRESTO! it came on automatically. Duh. So I spent awhile fiddling with the buttons (what kind of workout? Heart monitoring? Cardio? Weight Loss? For how long? At what level?) and finally got to work out for about half an hour. It felt great.

Then I went and got some cheapo gym-type sneakers, standard-issue, and charged up my Mp3 player, and wore my black yoga pants, and a decent top that matched. I've been twice since and have developed my own little routine, and I feel great afterwards, so I've told my husband to make sure I stick with it, because I know myself and will quit as soon as I have the first good excuse. I will never be a gym bunny, but with the right music it is quite enjoyable. I figure if I go two or three times a week for 40 minutes, I'll be way better off than I am now in many different ways.

Along the same lines, I went to the fertility doctor again last week. I had been avoiding him. I had been unsatisfied with the treatment and sort of feeling like they were trying to make a buck out of me. But I have changed my tune. I went in there believing that I would stomp in, put my foot down and insist on progressing with IUI treatments. But he discouraged me for all good reasons, not the least of which is financial. So I guess I trust him again. I'm going back on the meds (monitored this time, as he seems to think I'm a "triplet risk" which would be a nightmare), and getting more tests, and staying the course. It's a bit frustrating but what the heck.

At least I have the fur children.

A Whole New World

Wow, so this past weekend I had my socks knocked off by the world's cutest puppies.

Before I knew it, hubby had one in his arms and as he was passing it to me, he said "go see mummy!" by mistake. Oops indeed. As of this writing, we now have a puppy waiting for us with a tiny red collar on and a special haircut to mark her. Our little bundle of joy. Typically, I picked the shy one, the runt of the litter (one of 11!), the one who wasn't as eager to jump into the pile of writhing sleeping biting climbing smothering other black puppies.

She's a girl, and she's adorable. I am a proud new mother.

So now we are tasked with the enviable job of finding a name for this little sweetie pie. So far, the top contenders for names are: Pixie (her mom's name is Trixie, and she's the smallest of the litter), Cricket (because she's small and black), and Lola. Her mum is a beautiful, happy and humungous one-year-old Golden Retriever and her dad (R.I.P.) was a Black Lab, a championship hunting dog who made this his one beautiful final act. I don't think she'll end up being as tiny - I have a habit of super-sizing my pets.

Her biggest brother is going to my brother, which is nice, because they'll grow up together and have the chance to play together a lot with someone else their own size (kind of) since we live 3 minutes apart. That's his butt in the foreground. He's a real bruiser.

I have visions of having the dog in our red canoe, having the dog on the boat, having the dog camping on islands, having the dog on road trips, having the dog while ice fishing, having the dog on long walks in the woods, teaching the dog to swim, gently. Having the dog hang out while I garden. Having the dog be raised by my two giant cats, who will totally dominate her in the first few months, and maybe later as well, at least until she realizes how big she is. The cats are easily twice her size right now. Hubby has visions of them riding around on her back, and has made them promise not to use their claws on her.

I want to buy her healthy chew toys, healthy dog food, healthy treats, and healthy bedding. My girlfriend's sending us her crate, for bedtime, and we now have to figure out where her potty-training zone is going to be while we're away at work. She'll need a room, with a baby gate, covered in a tarp and newspapers on top of that. Problem is, we don't really have rooms like that, like other people do - laundry rooms or utility rooms or spare bathrooms. All of our extra rooms are in the basement, and it's too cold and lonely down there for a baby pup.

I'm registering her with the municipality, getting her license, getting her checked by the vet and getting her microchipped. We're going to do this all right.

I am so ready to be a parent it's completely ridiculous. Just when I thought there was not much hope for me, this is filling the niche quite nicely. We have been waiting for the "right time;" for a rescue dog, or for maternity leave when I'll be home all day. But the following factors made our minds up for us:

- we met a vet at a party who had two dogs, and she keeps them inside all day, and they're fine.

- these puppies were made known to us the day after the party - it's karma.

- I may never go on maternity leave - why wait for that?

- even if I did go on maternity leave, who wants to potty train a puppy while dealing with a new baby?

- we're never going to be unemployed otherwise -may as well bite the bullet and get it over with now, as difficult as it may be.

So here's our babe, our sweet little girl. I will keep you updated on her progress, of course, and post more pictures when I bring her home.

Oh, also I joined the gym at work.

Help me! I'm stranded!

Alright I'm just being dramatic.

Today we are experiencing inclement weather conditions. I actually got a memo in my inbox here at work at about 2 p.m. that said "due to inclement weather conditions all _____ employees are permitted to leave at 3 p.m." I have never received that particular memo before, so it got me all excited, except that I'm a commuter so I really am powerless to leave work early and that's why I'm sitting here stranded at work, in a blizzard, quietly writing my blog like a big dork. I'm now trying to decide which junk food I should indulge in, just because of the fun snow-day-like setting (chocolate or chips? The eternal question.)

I think everyone all over the internets has gone home for the day because I don't think I've received an email that wasn't from my husband in at least 2 hours.

So here's the news, for those who care:

• Have not joined the gym yet; will do so Monday (I promise)
• Have not yet gotten a puppy, but am still enthusiastic and karma's brought one my way, so I believe it's in my near future. Like, two weeks.
• I have a cold.

I am very excited about the idea of being a dog-mother. The puppies which have become available are a Golden Retriever/Black lab mix, and there are 11 of them. My brother and his girlfriend are considering it as well, so we two siblings could have two siblings, which is fun. They'll be ready to go (12 weeks?) on Feb. 14 or so, so we'd have a couple of weeks to get used to the idea, to get everything out of chewing range, to cover up my wires, and to buy a dog bed. I have never had a dog, but I can picture it - walks, having a companion by my side, having a warm body lying across my feet while I watch t.v. at night, having a large defender for the cats. Apparently these puppies' father is a champion hunting dog, so that could be interesting.

I feel like I'd need a short maternity leave, however. Maybe a week, just to get used to having the kid around. We're gone from the house for long stretches, so I hope it'll be ok, but it will have the cats as companions and I'm sure they'll raise him/her to be an obediant little soldier. My Loki takes no crap. Sasha on the other hand might just permanently move under the bed, but I'm not worried - she needs to toughen up. She's becoming a sissy in her old age.

I will keep you all updated.

Getting through it

Today is January 28. Two of my friends have their birthdays on this day, and it's a Monday. My baby brother's driving around somewhere in Detroit, and I am thinking about joining a gym and getting a puppy, in that order.

We had another hilariously fun winter weekend. On Friday night we went skiing, as we seem to do every week these days, and on Saturday we went to a 'winter party' where some friends shovelled out a rink on their pond and my hubby went ice fishing. There was a bonfire and red wine was enjoyed. There was food, and nice bunch of new people to hang out with. There were also 4 lovely dogs, bounding around in the snow getting to know each other, which sent us over the edge in our dog/no dog debate. Yesterday hubby went ice fishing again, and I stayed home to clean the house, which was much less heinous than you'd think on a nice sunny winter day.

Winter is funny. I always feel like I hate it so much when it's happening, but I can't imagine not having one. I think it would screw up my biorhythms completely. I am a person who needs four perfect seasons: spring for new flowers and exploration, the smell of wet dirt, seeds sprouting in the basement and the sound of running water in the gully by our house. Summer for snorkelling in clear northern lakes and making friends with the bass, cold beers and late afternoon barbecues on docks, bare feet and fresh veggies from the garden. Fall for putting everything to sleep and working like the ant in Aesop's fable, cooking up comfort food for the wood stackers, getting itchy knitter's fingers and pulling out the warm clothes like old friends from the steamer trunk. And now we have winter, which means firewood, shovelling fun paths around the yard, deer tracks all over our property, that clear clear light that you get at no other time of year, skiing, and looking forward to nothing more in the world than a cup of hot chocolate and a rented movie. I don't even think I'm a person who really needs to go south during the winter, though certainly a week of beachcoming, diving for shells and coral, and a poolside bar does sound easy enough to take.

We're getting through this winter. It makes us feel tough and secure to see the end in sight, to start noticing that the days are getting longer and we're still ok. We're not depressed yet. When depression starts to creep in, it's easy enough for us to dress up, load the skis into the car, and outrun it on the slopes. Also, skiing is on t.v., as is hockey, which are the only two sports I can stomach watching (the former more than the latter).

Another sign of spring: I bought my vegetable seeds the other day. I found this terrific local seed company - Greta's Organic Gardens - which offers a good selection of organic heirloom seeds. I ordered them online, and POOF! they were at my house in 24 hours. It was a miracle. I've never seen such fast service. Check them out at www.seeds-organic.com. I am still looking for kale seed, and I still need to buy potato sets and onions, but I've got the bulk now and most importantly, I have the things that need to be started soon (tomatos, peppers). So soon the grow-op will be put back together, I will clean out the kitchen in the basement, and get going on those early birds. I am going for rows in the garden for the first time this year, and I'm trying to use companion planting to squeeze in as many things as I can in my short-ish season. I need to find another spot for squash and melons, though, because they take up more than their fare share of space. I also have a long, short, plastic greenhouse that hubby brought home for me one day by surprise, which I'll use for the peppers, tomatos, basil, etc. to get them out into the dirt a bit earlier.

But for now I'm happy to be without the gentle pressures of gardening, renovations, and week-end getaways. I'm happy enough with the cleaning and the skiing and the winter parties and the hot chocolate.

Food Report

Wow you don't hear from me for months and then I'm here twice in one day. Feast or famine I tell you.

Speaking of feasts, I thought I would update on all of the culinary adventures I've had since October. It's been a productive little time and I've learned a lot, so onwards. But I really have to stop this habit of mine of tackling huge food production projects every time I have a holiday, because it's really not relaxing in the least.

1. Apple Cider
We were like a couple of little kids with our cider making this fall. When we finally were able to take it out of the bucket and put it in the carboy, it became a singular obsession. We checked the bubbling several times a day and were obsessing over its clarity. We didn't need to obsess, in the end, because it became abundantly obvious when it was ready to bottle. Bottling was fun, but we didn't get as much cider as I'd expected - about 10 x 750 ml bottles. I was expecting 12 litres. Anyway, the cider is delicious - nice and smoothly fizzy (like champagne!) and strong as hell - but it has a slight metallic taste, likely from the early pressing in the metal cider press, and it is super powerful so it means an instant drunk, with a nasty headache afterwards. I dubbed it "De Dronken Maker" - the drunk-maker. Eric calls his "I'm the D-Cider" as in Dubya's "I'm the decider! I decide!" Hardy har. Anyway, homemade cider is a fun party trick.

2. Cheddar Cheese
I finally worked up the courage to do a farmhouse cheddar just before Christmas. It was a hell of a lot of work, mostly trying to figure out how to press it with the correct weight. It was also very expensive, as it requires two gallons of milk, which is about 9-10 dollars' worth where I live. Once it was pressed, it was beautiful, but I think I may have wrecked it by cutting the wheel in half BEFORE waxing it. It oozed all over the place, and this during the time where I had the stomach flu, and I now have absolutely no appetite to ever eat cheddar cheese ever again. I'm kidding I love cheese. Once it was waxed (now THAT was fun) it was beautiful - so red and glossy. I gave it as gifts, but it's only edible after Jan. 20 so we'll see what the report is.

3. Venison
My little (well, younger) brother shot a deer this fall, and gave us some venison to try. I appreciate it. I appreciate the local-ness of it, the ethics of it (I've come a long way since I was 16), and the health benefits, for sure. We ate steaks first, though, which may have been a mistake as venison is something of an acquired taste if you're not really much of a red-meat-eater to start with. My stomach reacted violently, though it could have been the stomach bug on its return voyage. Also there was a bit of fur stuck to our steaks. Hell, only two or three hairs, but it was enough for the effect. Later on, I made venison ravioli out of the ground meat he gave us, and that was totally delicious. We also had it on Christmas eve at our first-ever fondue party (make that FUN-due party!) and New Year's eve in chili. My verdict: I love it in stuff. Plain steaks, maybe not so much. But in chili, pasta, stews, etc. - bring it on.

4. Duck
I was petrified to cook up a duck for the first time, since all I'd ever heard about it was that it was super fatty, had less meat on it, blah blah quack quack. Hubby had bought three free-range-type ducks from his colleague/farmer, for a pretty penny (many pretty pennies), and I was under contractual obligation to cook them up. He harrassed me for weeks with his guilt campaign. I finally invited my brother and sister-in-law for dinner and did duck à l'orange, Julia-Child-style. It was fussy and finicky, and yes very fatty, but all in all not that difficult or unpleasant and it ended up being delicious. I apologize to the ducks of the world, because my brother decided that night to become a duck hunter as well as an everything-else hunter.

5. Goat's cheese
I bought goat'$ milk ($$) with the intent of making delicious crumbly goat's cheese at home. It was easy enough to make, initially, though took a long time and was messy to press (2 days of dripping in the sink). It was delicious the one time I ate it, but it went bad really quickly. We admittedly didn't eat it soon enough so next time, I'll only make it if there's a reason and a chance to eat it all at once. And I learned something! There's nothing in the world that smells worse than rotten home-made goat's cheese!

6. Real French Artisanal Bread
This wasn't as much work as I expected. Lots of waiting around. I made a starter first (again, not as dramatic as I'd expected) and let that sit for 16 hours or so. Then I made three baguettes, following the recipe in the second-last Martha Stewart magazine. Easy! Great! Delicious! Only don't forget the salt like I did!

I will try most of these things again soon. I will eat all of my goat's cheese, I will remember the salt, I will marinade my venison steaks, I will NOT cut the cheese (ha ha), and I will drink the remainder of my cider in moderation.