mudpies's Blog

The great escape artist
Aug 5, 2009 | 7:30 AM PST
Tags: cotula , hosta , Calendula , stonecrop , bugloss

Yesterday was a bit stressful.  My found hound managed to free himself yet again.  I call him my found hound because a neighbour, assuming he was one of C's hunting dogs, brought him to us about four years ago.  He was really skinny, but still full of energy.  The vet thinks he was about a year old at the time - still not much more than a big, awkward puppy.  I thought that he may have been left behind by a hunter after he wandered too far, so I told everyone I knew, put an ad in the local paper, and made posters and put them up all over town with negative results.  I fell in love with him, dubbed him Clyde, and allowed him to adopt us.  (As time went by, having become intimately acquainted with the little rascal, I now believe he may have been discarded by a hunter.  He's gun-shy to the point of cowering, trembling and hiding whenever he hears a loud noise.)

Now, one would think that a foundling would be an inexpensive proposition.  WRONG!!  First came an initial veterinary examination - $$$.  Clyde was underweight and needed high-protein food - $$$, and flea protection - $$$.  Of course, I just had to buy him a nice collar and retractable leash - $$$.  Next, I needed to trim his claws.  That precipitated a fruitless episode of extreme exertion on my part and on C's.  Hence, he goes to the vet every six weeks for a pedicure - $$$, $$$, $$$.  He's a runner, so I had to buy a long chain - $$$.  Then he barked incessantly at dogs, passing motorists, squirrels, pedestrians, etc.  Out of consideration for my neighbours, I bought a 'bark collar' - $$$.  This particular device, while effective, gave him an electrical shock each time he barked.  I came to regard it as cruel, so I bought a different kind - an equally effective one that sprays eucalyptus whenever he barks - $$$.  (He eventually learned not to bark all the time and no longer needs to wear that collar.)  One day when C had taken him for a walk, he bolted after a squirrel and broke his retractable leash, so I bought a new, heavy-duty one - $$$.  It lasted a few months till he decided to chase something again, so I had to buy a conventional leash - $$$.  On his second visit to the vet, she discovered he had a mild case of heartworm and needed medication for that - $$$.  When he nearly had a heart attack from fear of a thunderstorm, I took him back to the vet who prescribed tranquilizers - $$$.  He eventually became overweight, so I need to buy special food to try (unsuccessfully) to slim him down - $$$.

 Yesterday, he managed to slip his collar for the umpteenth time.  Because he has a small head (due, no doubt, to a lack of brains) and a fat neck (due to his propensity for stealing the cat's food), I couldn't make it smaller without strangling him.  I happened to look outside to see him capering all over the busy street beside my house.  I've learned not to chase him because he regards that as a game and allows me to get within a foot of him before he runs off again.  I got some venison sausage out of the fridge and, after waiting for traffic to clear, coaxed him across the street and into the house by making a trail of sausage bits.  Then I headed for the local Co-op to buy a harness - $$$.  He is, without a doubt, the most expensive found hound in history.

Not only that, but the nursery at the Co-op had an end-of-season sale of perennials.  I've been attending 'Plant Buyers Anonymous' meetings regularly, but the temptation was just too much yesterday.  When I couldn't reach my sponsor, I had a serious relapse and bought some more - a stonecrop (even though I have one at home that I could split), a spotted bellflower calendula, a beautiful little gold hosta, a spotted bugloss, and one that I've never seen before - a cotula 'Pratt's Black Brass Buttons', all for $10.00.  While I tend to be frugal in most other aspects of my life, I'm afraid I overspend drastically on pets and plants. 

A day in the sun
Jun 3, 2009 | 5:56 PM PST
Tags: Doctor , holding bed , Calendula , sunflower , birds , blue jays , barn swallows , hummingbirds , wax beans , Royal Burgundy beans , frost

Well, I had a most satisfactory visit with my new physician yesterday.  Having a doctor who's younger than my eldest child is a bit disconcerting, but she seems more than competent and is definitely a sweet-natured little thing.  I probably could have bullied her out of ordering a mammogram, had I tried.  I haven't endured that particularly nasty form of torture for a very long time and I'm certainly not looking forward to the procedure, but I guess it's for my own good.  She also ordered some blood work which I don't mind, and prescribed a topical therapy for my poor old knees.  It was expensive, but seems to provide some relief.  Apparently, the effects get better with time.  I hope so.  I hobble around like a 90-year old.

I didn't get my planter potted up yesterday, so I did that this morning before I went to the farm.  This is the first time I've started flowers from seed.  Usually I buy strong, healthy annuals from local nurseries.  Mine look pretty spindly.  I'm sure they'll fill in quickly, but I'm an impatient old woman.

I tidied up my holding bed.  I don't know how I managed to double plant one row, but I corrected that by moving some clumps of irises to a different area.  Then I moved more volunteer sunflowers into a second row and planted more seeds.  It's strange how one's tastes change.  There was a time when I thought sunflowers were coarse, ugly plants.  Now my only problems with them are (a) that I need big heavy vases complete with rocks in the bottom to ensure they don't topple over;  and (b) that they drop pollen like crazy, leaving a yellow mess on my tables.  But I love their cheerful faces enough to bring them inside on a regular basis.  I plan to plant some more tomorrow.  They're great for attracting bees early on, and blue jays later.  I also planted a row of calendulas for cutting later on.  What curious seeds!

Speaking of birds, I must comment on their particular dislike of me.  Kindly old ME, who never does harm to any of them!  We have tons of resident barn swallows.  Now, I admire and value those voracious little supersonic flyers, ( Their aerial acrobatics are a sight to behold and each one eats about  850 mosquitoes per day.)  but do they return my affection?  NOT!!  They dive-bomb me on a regular basis, and I KNOW that this chubby old body doesn't resemble a mosquito in the least!  Barn swallows are not alone in their aversion for me.  My mom feeds hummingbirds all summer.  Whenever I visit, one of my chores is to refill and rehang the feeders.  You'd think those miniature helicopters would be grateful, but no.  They, too, reward my generosity by using my head for target practice, swooping up and away at the last possible moment.  The blue jays sit atop my sunflowers in the fall and scold me mercilessly while gorging on the seeds.  Surely, they ought to be grateful that I plant their feast.  Only our robins seem to have any regard for me at all, and then only when I've turned the soil and they've grabbed a hapless worm or two.

After I played with my flower plants and seeds, I turned my attention to the veggie bed again and got a row of wax beans and a row of Royal Burgundy beans planted before heading home.  There's frost in the forecast tonight.  Can't the weatherman read the calendar?  It's June, for heaven's sake!  I'll have to be up before the crack of dawn tomorrow to spray down some of my tender plants.

Enough ranting and raving for one evening!  Happy gardening, everyone.