I haven't gotten hardly any gardening done in the past week, but not only has Georg been picking up the slack, but the plants have been working their magic on their own, too. By which I mean, the butterfly garden is doing well, the mini dahlias look great, the chard is just about ready to pick, and lots of seedlings are up: basil, cilantro, zucchini, nasturtiums, and sunflowers! Yay! The sunflowers are on that bank by the road, that we tilled a couple of weeks ago. So far it's just the back row that are emerging, about a dozen and a half of them. I'm wondering how long I should wait before re-sowing those that don't come up.
Georg found a web page on dealing with rabbits, and based on that page's advice we sprinkled blood meal on the beets and the chard. Apparently they don't like the smell of dried blood. (Makes sense for an animal that is prey.) The web page says that rabbits love beet greens and also like parsley, cilantro, chard and summer squash. But they don't like any of the other vegetables we planted.
Thirteen is doing OK, same as before. I'm putting this bad-tasting gel called "Uck" on her leg, that works pretty well to stop her from chewing. I haven't heard back yet from Dr. Broussard but she had told me last week that since the situation isn't urgent, she would ask some friends for free opinions on the X-rays, rather than paying for a consultation. Which means it might take a little longer. I'm actually relieved by this because if Dr. Broussard thought there was a chance of cancer in Thirteen's leg, she wouldn't wait.
Tonight Janey has her first obedience class. We're going to Pet Behavior Help, recommended by Lisa B. Rockmeier. Who is in fact an instructor there! But not of our class, alas. I'm supposed to bring tasty dog treats, and a chew toy to keep Janey occupied for the discussion portion of the class. I was pretty sure that Jane wasn't into toys -- she's never tried to chew anything in the house, and she looked puzzled when I threw a stick for her to chase. But I dutifully bought her a chew toy this afternoon. When I offered it to her, she dutifully sniffed, and then ignored it. So does anyone want a steak-flavored chew toy? The kind made of rope to floss their teeth.
Instead of Gene Wolfe I pulled out my old copy of The Last Temptation of Christ and started reading it again. Actually "again" might not be the right word because I don't think I finished it the first time around. It's a good antidote to Left Behind.
I'm sorry if you got 3 or 4 copies of my comment on your last post. I kept trying to post it, and it kept looking like it hadn't gone thru. Eventually I gave up, but it looks as though at least one attempt succeeded.
[Unsolicited dog advice warning!] Hey, don't give up on the toy yet! For some dogs, the fun part about a toy is when their owner is playing with it--the toy itself isn't the fun thing, but the interaction with their owner is. So if you act like it's you're favorite thing (you kind of have to be dorky about it and act like an idiot) Jane may take more interest in it. Then play tug with her, and after a few mninutes say "out" or "Give" and offer her a treat for giving up the toy. After you do that she'll learn that she can play a fun game with you but you're the one who decides when the game ends.
Then you can ask her to sit or lie down and start offering the toy as a reward--with a lot of dogs this increases the toy's value ("Oh, I've got to WORK for it!")
Anyway, I'm so happy you decided to go to PBH. I hope you enjoyed your first class!
And some of us love to read about your dogs in your blog, hint, hint!
Jane really doesn't seem like the type to want to play with toys, but I'll keep trying and see if I can get her interested in the floss bone. Her main desire is to sit and stare up into the trees, looking for squirrels. She wakes me up early every morning so she can get out there and stare at the trees.