Sadie

The last two Saturdays we've gone into town to check out the Swap Meet. One can find good deals there, from used garden tools like tillers to used clothes, books and guns. The vendors vary with each week. Yesterday there was even one vendor selling used XXX adult videos, and several curious middle-aged men were standing under that tent.

We had seen a new tiller last week for $175 but didn't have the cash on hand. This week we did, but this time the vendor wasn't there. Another couple was selling their tiller for $75, but they didn't bother to wash the dirt off the machine, nor put air in the tires. "It needs a new pull string" said the man, "but I can start it up for you!" We passed.

A little disappointed, we stopped at our favorite feed store to stock up on dog food. We feed our dogs only the best, from Nutro to ProPlan or Eukanuba. It all depends on what's on sale each week.

I looked around the racks of dog food and noticed a three-month old sable German Shepherd Dog puppy that one of the clerks had brought in. She had her litter of pups on sale since early May but at that time was asking $500 a pup, a bit steep for me. But this time she was asking $300.

I showed Kevin the little pup and he almost fell in love right there all over again. I could see it in his eyes, the way he looked at that sable bundle. I talked to the seller some more, asking quesitons about the parentage. She had only one more pup left. She lives on five acres in the country not too far from us, with several horses and five dogs.

The little pup's name was "Chinky," a name I knew I'd immediately change. She didn't look "Chinky" nor would I ever use that name in reference to any one else.

We left the store with the puppy. I held her in my lap as we approached our street.

What to name the puppy? We went over some German names.
"I like Rommel" but that name was better suited for a male puppy. What about Gretchen, Gertrude? Edie?

"Sadie" said Kevin as he turned into our street.
"I like that!"

So Sadie it became.

The clumsy little girl jumped to the ground as we got home and I took her to the back yard where the two unsuspecting dogs were. Sadie yelped in fear at the sight of the approaching dogs, and placed her tail between her legs.

Luckily, there were no fights, just curiousity. Later there were a few attempts by all dogs to initiate play. Sammy growled at Sadie a few times in that Back-off-kid look I've never seen him use before.

Kevin was so excited about the little dog that he tried to call his best friend Tom in Bisbee with the news.

Kevin was in love, taking the little pup everywhere, even to bed later that night where Sadie whined all night long. I kept the light on until she fell asleep. Having her whine was like having a newborn back in the bedroom again.

Today was more of the same between the dogs. Sammy and Sara perhaps were annoyed that the pup was still there today, but they seem less annoyed with her, and when we are in the living room all three dogs are a mere feet away from eachother. When we went on our nightly walk Sadie tried to keep pace with the two big dogs, sometimes getting too close to Sara.

As long as I'm not working fulltime, I will devote some time to training the little pup, perhaps even check on a Schutzhund club in the county. There's one in Elfrida but that's a 90 mile drive one way and tuition for the training will be several thousand dollars, money I'd rather spend on my own education.

But Sadie is now in our lives and will hopefully enliven us for many years. She's already shown a keen intelligence, curiosity and self confidence for her tender years.

"We should have bought her sister too" added Kevin tonight. FOUR DOGS? Has Kevin gone insane?

No doubt talking about having a pure bred German Shepherd Dog these last few years has gotten to Kevin. I'm glad. I think Kevin and Sadie are going to be inseparable soon.

Beans and beets

I didn't realize I hadn't posted in three weeks.

The triple-digit heat is here. Most of my tomatoes are surviving by the shade of the hedges they are near. If they don't stay warm and moist during the heat of the day, the tomatoes wilt. When we were gone a week for a carcamp in Northeastern Arizona, we came back to wilted tomatotes. They all recovered and are fine now, but our sweet peppers dropped their blossoms and won't bear any fruit for a while.

The beets are still doing well, which is amazing as beets are cool-weather plants. The beets are under the shade of an old futon frame I placed over the cabbage/beets/spinach. All three veggies are doing well; nothing has bolted yet.

Another thing that has amazed me is the corn. I planted an old packet dated 11/2006 a week ago and by gawd the corn's sprouting! With lows at night in the low 70s everything is just taking off. We have five stalks of sweet corn (planted 4-28) that are now over 3' tall. The butternut squash is also growing fast.

Only our pole beans are still philosophizing about whether they should grow beans or not. Both the pole and bush beans are vegetatively growing tall, it's just that they haven't borne much fruit.

My garden is growing!

We were gone a few days, camping in the Whites, and returned to see the Sunset Coneflowers in bloom. Our Century Plant is also growing a flower stalk...and the rest of the flowers are filling in with their yellows and reds and blues. In another month the front yard will be in complete lush!