New Dog Gets New Digs!

We adopted a new dog. A little one to keep our big one company. Little Jennie is a cute little chihuahua mix (with pomeranian maybe), 7 years old, and 9.5 pounds. She has pretty good behavior for a newly adopted shelter dog and though we'll be training her for living under our roof, it's remarkably easy having her here. I've been reading up on how to deal with little dogs and trying to stick with training even though they look irresistibly cute when they growl and jump up on stuff. Our dobie is tolerant of her and I'm thinking that they'll become good friends eventually. Jennie already seems calmed by being near him.

Taking the Plunge for a Toilet Seat

In preparation for hand/wrist surgery in a few days to release my nagging trigger fingers and cranky carpal tunnel, I bought a luxury toilet seat/bidet. I wanted one anyway, but the limitations on my hand use for a week or two gave me a great excuse to take the plunge. The "seating unit" was $650, which is a lot for a toilet seat, but wait --- there's more! An electrician (at $110/hr) has to run a dedicated circuit from the breakers on the furthermost end of the house, which involves a lot of messy work, including cutting a hole into the wall in my bathroom for access to drill a big hole through the firewall crosspiece inside the wall. I'll have to patch up and paint the wall later (sigh).

Boy, this seat better be worth it.

What happened to the summer?

It's been a really cold summer. Nothing really worked in my yard for the season. This was supposed to be my "year of the peppers." I planted several varieties of peppers and none of them has thrived. Out of 6 jalapeño plants, I have a few little miniature sized peppers and not even 1 bell pepper from 3 plants. I'll never have more than a half dozen tomatoes from my yard though I have over a dozen plants. It's been very discouraging, but I now know that I need to increase the sun exposure to my planting beds. Either I have to cut down one of my favorite trees -- a beautiful native big leaf maple -- or I need to move the beds themselves.

Wearing Sensible Shoes in a Perfect World: I Like Watching Everything Grow and Change

Wearing Sensible Shoes in a Perfect World: I Like Watching Everything Grow and Change

I Like Watching Everything Grow and Change

Update on the veggie garden:
My winter crops were mostly a great success. We ate greens nearly every day from January through June and some are still producing a bit. The celery never really worked right -- too bitter, so I yanked all of them out today to make room for zucchini. The summer plants are slowly coming along: tomatillos, green beans, and peppers seem okay, but it's too soon to tell for sure. The zucchini and cucumbers are covered with a white fungus or mildew or something because we get so much fog and cool temps. The tomatoes are still in pots, because I haven't finished preparing their proper bed. Soon. Soon. After all, I have over 2 dozen of them. I'll probably end up planting about 10 of them and then give away the rest. Maybe I'll just put them in all over the place and can what I'm able when the glut arrives.

I still really like spending time out in the garden, watering, digging, and just watching everything grow and change, but I need to spend some serious construction time on the structure of the yard. I started with that this afternoon and hope to get more done in the next few days. The summer is going by especially fast this year because I've been traveling a bit and will be doing more of that from time to time. I'm also getting more focused on my work with Winning Situation. I've promised to do a lot of writing: copy for their website, designing a brochure, updating activities on Facebook and other types of outreach materials. I like doing these kinds of things. Hopefully, it will become a more regular job with an actual income rather than just feeling like I'm contributing to the greater good!

Happy July 4th!

A Dog that Likes Sensible Shoes

On St. Pat's Day, my family adopted a doberman dog that came to our door. He was starving and sick and sad and we took him in because someone needed to. Now it's four months later and he's turning out to be a pretty great pet. He's healthy and loyal and friendly...and he knows that if I'm putting on walking or hiking shoes, there's a pretty good chance that he'll be going on a walk. I never would have chosen a big dobie for a pet, but this guy is tolerant, medium energy, not too barky, really smart, and since his ears were never clipped or trained up, is actually cute. Now I just need to keep him from peeing on my strawberry pot.

First, Blow My Nose. Then Save the World.

I've been sick for 2 months. I can't remember ever having such a lengthy down time. On top of the nagging non-bacterial bronchitis that has been bothering me, a nasty cold has hit me like a ton of bricks this week. All I can hope for is better health soon.

Meanwhile, a friend has asked me to work with her on her mission to save the world, one community at a time. Winning Situation, Inc. is her non-profit that provides a liaison between businesses and agencies. She learns what specific items an organization or agency needs, and then finds a business that has a surplus of those items. Her vision is vast, her effective orbit is expanding, and her reach has extended to me. I am very excited that I might be able to finally make a contribution to my world in a way that brings more peace, more fulfillment, and less pain to others. First, however, I have to blow my nose and get over this cold.