That's a pretty sad state of affairs for our neighbours with anaphylaxis. The disadvantaged already can't afford to pay for an emergency room visit, and now their ability to avoid the emergency room has been curtailed. 75 cents worth of medication in a plastic applicator that costs a dollar max to manufacture. Arggh.
like this makes me wish the whole world had been nuked in WWII, seriously. On to brighter things before I go to a dark place.
Good Morning, everyone!
Despite very late planting, drought and inattention (weeds are now the height of the corn), my way-too-enormous veggie garden has done stupidly well up until the rains last week. I have pumpkins ready, WTF? I have watermelon and cantaloupe ready, and being able to grow those is a first as well. Not for lack of trying--in the past 20 years I've been able to get some toonie-sized melons before the bugs get them--but this soil they love and they just exploded. 30 lb watermelons. Swiss chard (planted for the chickens lol) is waist high and growing faster than I can pick it despite 100 birds chowing down. There's about 20 swiss chard plants, and anything wilty-looking or turning funny colours goes to the pigs, and I STILL have too much. Anyway, you might be wondering why I said my gardens were doing well up until the rains last week, especially since we've been in a drought and rains should be more than welcome...well, it's because my plants were watered regularly, and are so heavy with fruit and veg that they're bowing to the ground and I cannot keep up with staking. And now that the ground actually has water in it, I'm starting to see fungus, insect problems, etc. The ants and wasps are eating anything that touches the ground, the beans and peas are getting rust, almost all the zucchini plants are infected with squash borer despite there being no sign a month ago, and despite the 'experts' saying that the worst of squash borer infestations are done by mid-July. All the bugs and fungus and bacteria are taking advantage of the increased weed cover and moisture. And the coons are taking advantage of my abundance of 8' cobs of sweet corn, in spite of the sardines sitting in a trap RIGHT THERE. Only thing that hasn't done well is red cabbage (not heading yet for some weird reason, while the green cabbage right next to it is huge), broccoli and cauliflower...not even showing signs of heading yet, meanwhile I expected them to bolt a month ago. No idea why they're not doing well, but I have so much excess of almost everything else that I'm putting the reasons why on a back burner. So much abundance in fact that I've about filled my freezer for winter veg., have given lots away, and am now as of Saturday, selling fruit and veg at a new flea market in Smiths Falls and will still have lots left over. Speaking of which, GREAT DEAL, We got a room indoors to sell Richard's 'treasures' and a spot outside to sell veggies, FOR FREE, insurance and permits are covered, and in exchange all I have to do is lock up when I'm done, and Richard has to help the owner with space optimization and shelf building. F-U, smiths falls farmers market that wanted 250$ for 6 months of a 4 hour saturday market, plus expensive insurance. So, we've been there for parts of the past two days, and managed to sell 60$ worth of stuff doing pretty much nothing but setting up for next weekend which is supposed to be big opening day. $55. of that was some veg and beet pickles I brought in rubbermaid tubs. I could get used to that--getting paid for what I love to do. Only been there two days, and got 2 potential regular customers already--an older fellow bought a slightly underripe, big, old-fashioned , seeded watermelon on Saturday, and an overpriced by mistake) 1/2 lb bag of yellow beans for him and his wife to share that night. Sunday afternoon he shows up again and raves about the flavour and colour, asks what heavenly variety it is, buys another watermelon and bag of beans AT FULL PRICE and leaves a tip, and says he'd be happy to have a regular supply and asks repeatedly how long I will be there for. I offered to give him back what he overpaid yesterday and he staunchly refused. Another fellow bought a bag of beans on Saturday and came back Sunday for everything I could give him. At the accidentally overpriced amount. (funny story that, I wanted to set a price of 4$/lb of yellow beans but ended up stickering them at 2$/ 1/4 lb, not sure how I managed that, but customers assured me they were worth it and refused refunds.) I can't tell you how much this thrills me. Not because I had anything to do with it (the soil and manure take all the credit) but because somebody else has realized that trucked-in, seedless mexican watermelon, and ten day old beans are tasteless. Never mind tasteless hothouse tomatoes. Wait til they get a load of the varieEN AN ties I grow! If I can outpace the fungus, I may just make myself a niche market if not a name. My tomatoes are f-ing delicious, and I don't even like raw tomatoes for the most part. The soil this year should make them even better in theory. My most-often-grown favourite slicing variety is growing to almost pie-plate sizes, and my favourite paste variety is growing to the size of plantain bananas.
OMG, I should have put this in the gardening thread. Where is my friend Jesse when I need him, to say "Too Long, Didn't Read." On to the next thing.
We might have a few lines on a new LG dog. Killerbunny told me about a lady dog that needs a home, but she has some issues with other dogs. I'm still grilling the owner, but she's a definite maybe. Guy down the road had his Beagle knocked up by Ask'im (rip) he thinks, (only time Ask'im ever showed interest in lady dogs), and we're going to see the puppies next week to see if they look anything like him. If they do, that is my first choice as I know my dogs inside out and what they are like personality-wise. It would also be great because Ask'im was the only one of his line left intact, so if he didn't reproduce, the blood of my little dwarf border collies/akitas is at an end, which would be a shame. Best dogs ever at killing predators. If they are all Beagle, it's a no-go. I do NOT have the patience or time for one with a Beagle personality. They really don't make the greatest housedogs if you ever want any peace. Third option is a nice looking BC/GS/Lab puppy ready Sept.9, for way too much money. Town-raised, non-house-broken new puppy, non-working parents. Like I don't have enough to do, or enough to remember. It's been decades since I had to pack my pockets with treats to convince a puppy to only pee outside. Not looking forward to that. Plus, Lab? Had one once, Pappy, a black labrador rescue dog, friendly to a fault and did whatever I asked of her except potty outside. She was badly treated for the first 18 months of her life, and was brain damaged or something because she simply would NOT housebreak. After two years of consistantly trying everything I knew, I gave up and tied her out for a bit(which I wholeheartedly do NOT agree to) until I or LAWS could find her a good home. It didn't happen, nobody was willing to deal with a dog that messed the house. I had her put down and still regret it. It was before the time of electric collars, and I still wonder to this day if it wouldn't have helped a bit. Either way, she soured me on Labs. Her and the Golden of a friend of my sons that was a biter. I know it's not the dog's fault, but the training or lack thereof, but some breeds can be more challenging to the novice than others. I really think today's "background checks" should include how human children are raised/successful. If you can't do that to some degree, don't own a dog because dogs can be harder than human children!
I know a person who always wanted to own a wolfdog. She researched hard, prepared in everyway she possibly could, arranged 'puppy kindergarten" and then bought one. Puppy kindergarten did not help her with a schizophrenic half breed that chewed everything no matter what she tried. Different breeds of dogs have traits bred out or bred in. Some follow smells, some chase anything moving, some like to swim, some are good lapdogs, some are good at nipping heels and moving a herd, some think anything fuzzy is a baby to be protected, and some are smart enough to differentiate between all those things. Either way, they all need an alpha to tell them what is what and which is which, to train and keep them under control. A small dog being yappy or showing teeth or chasing cats is not cute just because it's small. They need the same training and correction their larger (or wilder) cousins do, or you'll have trouble. Larger dogs need the same stimulation and exercise that smaller dogs get if they are to live a full life, and because of their size are more of a challenge.
I get angry when someone comes through my drive-through with a barking dog (or a tantrumming child. No different.). The owner sometimes goes "shhh. shhh. shhhhhhh." or ignores it completely. Either way, if you are one of these people, at best drive-thru people can't hear you and you are stupid and headed for trouble. At worst someone is going to get hurt down the line and you'll have no-one to blame but yourself.
I should really stop rambling, but it's what I do what I get 5 minutes of time to sit down. Should be sleeping, but like Ross' mom always said, plenty of time to sleep when you're dead :) Just thank gods you didn't catch me angry or something LOL. But to end this on a positive note, garden good. Nummy food for winter. Poultry good. Nummy food for winter. Garden market stand good, people like beans and watermelon. Need cut grass between garden rows.
. Yep RIP Mom . Luck