Oh, boy, it’s been a week. Not even worth going into, trying to be positive and moving forward into good vibes, happy times and good projects to come… but it’s been a doozy.
But look how Saturday has started!!!! I found a super nice fellow on Craig’s List with a couple hundred of those interlocking paver stones that he wanted to get rid of! So we made the connection and he dropped them off this morning for us! I just got 100, but now I’m thinking I want more!!! I’ll probably give him a call this week and see if we can get the rest. He has 100 more left. I would like to finish ringing in the peach tree and maybe even do the kitty garden area.
Didn’t take us long to stack them nicely. There are a few we probably should move and level a bit more, but it was starting to get hot and I figure they might settle a bit. I think they look lovely! How nice! I need to get a bag or two of mulch and fill in a bit right behind the wall but still… I love the look!
I wish more people would come to understand that a mobile home is a good place to live when you go into the idea of fixing it up and treating it like a real home and not just some sort of half way house in life. I am constantly getting compliments on really, the simplest things… decent sized plants and trees and just nice touches like the pavers or pots of nice plants. These are not expensive things. And the mere fact that I OWN my home. Free and clear… to me that’s wonderful. Now I can afford to spend money on doing upgrades to the place. And if I’m not too flush, well, I can wait a while. Anything I do to the place, makes it nicer and nicer to live in.
And my lot rent is CHEAP when compared to real estate taxes or renting a home or apartment and I have so many more freedoms.. to have a dog, a garden, outdoor space, and all that. Sure, I have to deal with management and right now, we’re all in a battle over parking and harsh behavior, but in reality, as long as you keep the place tidy and follow some basic rules, it’s not that hard to be a good resident. Pay your rent on time and keep the grass mowed and pretty much, you’re good as gold.
I love having my gardens and my little bit of lawn. It’s just enough. I can grow a LOT of veggies, still have room for my dogs and a hammock, feed birds, sit on my patio and not be chained to hours and hours of yard work. It’s a JOY to spend an hour outside working, not drugery. When I remember how long it took to mow and edge and weedwack and blow my big house in the swanky suburbs, no wonder we finally got a lawn crew to do it. It was EASILY a 3-4 hour ordeal, nearly every week. Here at the Moby? An hour will get you done with all that plus some puppy pickup, a little weeding, some lemonade in the hammock and throwing the stick for the dog and maybe even harvesting veggies from the raised beds for dinner!
Look how lovely the garden beds are looking! Corn is coming up great, sunflowers are making some serious strides and I am going to have SO many tomatoes, I think I will be making about 250 jars of sauce and salsa and who knows what else this fall! I still have a few open spots for growing and I think I’m going to hit the local places and scoop up some herbs on sale. Most are perrienials and I think it would be great to have a bed devoted to perrienial herbs! Rosemary, thymes, dill, and a few others. I have a couple lovely mint plants that are doing fantastic, but I might consider some spearmint.
Purple coneflower is starting to bloom as are the Black-Eyed Susies. They will really be all out in a week or so. We FINALLY got a day of rain on Thursday, and are due to get another day on Monday, so hopefully we will be okay. That 9 days without rain really shocked some of the new plants and trees, but we worked hard to keep them flush with water throughout.
Pickles are doing pretty good. We’ve already had about 2 or 3 pounds out of the patch, and there are a lot more forming. The plants are really starting to grow and settle in and there is no doubt that putting them RIGHT next to the spickot was a good decision. Last year my pickles were too far from the water and we would often not get to them. The resulting on and off of water really didn’t do the plants any good. From all I read, pickles love a nice constant watering. And it’s easy to give them a drink often right next to the source.
Beans are doing great! They love being in the slightly shady area on the east side of the Moby. My peas definately got hot shocked, they are pretty wilty and some are even dead. But some are hanging in there. I think I’ll probably let these go and plant again in late August or so for a late fall harvest. I LOVE sweet peas from the garden, so this is a bit of a disappointment to me. However, the beans are doing great and have beautiful purple blooms, so it might be okay after all… if I get lots of beans, I’ll be happy!
Well, I think I’m due for a little nap, and then I have to get up and on my way to a gig in Michigan! We’re playing at the Wayne County Raccoon Hunters Festival today… fun, friends and music!
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Well, little Evee is growing big. She’s going to be 15 weeks old on Saturday. Almost 4 months old now! She’s really getting tall. She has these long gangly legs right now and the rest of her doesn’t quite match.
She’s a smart little cookie, and relentless! She doesn’t give up without a fight for the most part and is getting good at spreading mayham and terror through the house. (haha) She’s a wild lass, there’s no doubt. It’s become apparent that we need to step up some training with her. Some of her cute “puppy” behaviors and becoming more annoying young adult behaviors!
I have to say, though, the biggest issue at hand is her total lack of an outside recall. Once she’s out, it’s forget about you and she’s off for big adventure. And if you chase after her? She is very fast and thinks it’s a game and trust me, very annoying.
We put up a little temporary fence to help with potty training, so that we could get her out the door quickly and regularly to help establish a good routine. Well, that worked for a while, but in the last day or two, she’s figgered out at least 3 different ways to get out! (Hence the need to chase her!) We reenforced the fence a bit, and she’s never left out alone at all, but I don’t think the fence is going to work for much longer. I hate to immediately have to put her on a leash or line out in the yard, she needs time to run free and have puppy time. I think we’ll be readjusting our fence a bit and see if we can’t gain another few weeks of a safe spot for her.
We’re not allowed to have “real fences” so that’s not an option at the moment. Maybe some day if we ever get the chance to move the moby to a bit of land, that won’t be a problem, but that’s not going to be any time soon. So, we have to work on some alternatives.
I think that readjusting the fence to a long narrow run and making it a little sturdier will help for awhile. In the meanwhile, we’re going to be working on outside recall on a leash line. If Jessy wants to compete with Evee in agility, then she has to have a decent recall. There’s nothing worse in a competition than a dog that can’t be trusted off leash to stay focused and with her companion. Granted, she’s a pup and pup’s are great for being all willy nilly and excited about the world, but still, she’s a herd dog breed and they are also known for their focus and attention to their owner.
We’ve also noticed that she’s entering a bit of stranger fear, which is very common at this age. So we’re going to have to up the “out in public” time, to get her a little more comfortable with lots of people and situations. We have several nice dog parks around, and some nice community parks that we can start to practice walking on the lead (which she’s still not too great at) Lots of training to do!
But she’s got such a fun personality and she’s eager and willing to learn tricks and other little behaviors so I know that she’ll be great with stepping up things a bit. I really want her to be a great companion to Jessy, and for them to have years of fun and wonderful times together. An out of control crazy dog is no fun. It’s best for both of them to start having these times to learn and train each other. Everyone wins!
As you can see, she is getting bigger! Evee and Luna are becoming buddies. Evee would really like to play a lot more with the cat, but Luna only plays with her outside in the yard. It’s pretty funny to watch. Luna pretty much stays in one place and the pup races around and around her, trying to herd her this way or that. Luna will walk a few steps and stop, and spin to try and get the pup with a slap paw shot, but Evee is fast. Especially after feeling the sting of a kitty claw a time or two! Great encouragement to stay clear of the sharp kitty!
Funny thing though, this morning… Evee had escaped and I was in hot pursuit. I was doing my very best moves, like “I’m not chasing you, I’m going this way and it’s more fun” and “Oh look at this stick I have FUN FUN FUN” and of course the favorite… “hurt puppy noise and crouch down” which normally works but she’s getting wise to that one… I hate to yell at her and act like an insane woman and make it worse… but I was getting pretty annoyed. All the while, Luna is trotting after us, meowing pitifully. A couple times the puppy dashed over to check on the kitty and I was ALMOST fast enough to grab her, but missed. When I finally got the little wort, she did get a paddling and a stern scoulding and Luna about went nuts! She was meowing so loudly and was jumping at my leg as if to save her little crazy dog friend from a beating! Made me laugh, and of course, how could you be mad at a goofball puppy. As we were walking back, Luna was trotting along perfectly at my heel. If we could only train the dog to act like the cat!!!
Well, I fixed the problem with an old training trick a friend taught me. She was a great dog trainer, had her own place and did some wonderful stuff with really hard luck cases. She would take a short piece of leash, about 3 to 4 feet long. Cut off the handle part and knot it a time or two. Nothing heavy, but dangly. Now, when Evee is out in the yard, she has this leash clipped on her. Doesn’t interfere with playing and running for the most part, but it gives us something longer to grab if she gets away, or to step on if she’s running off. And you can use it as a short lead when you first go out in the yard, to reinforce the whole stick around me thing. We’ll see if it helps.
Wow, well, it’s getting late and didn’t mean to start a whole dog training post. Just tired and rambling on a bit! Been working hard and then went to practice at 8 PM! We’ve got a little festival this weekend and we had to run through a few things. Didn’t get home till almost 11 and then had emails to get through and of course, had to check my facebook thingy and of course, my Mafia wars game! (yeah, I’m hooked… always did like the Godfather movies… )
Oh, by the way, if you want to be my friend on Facebook… look me up. Sherri Chekal is my name… and when you see a banjo picking gal, it’s me. I think I’m probably the only Sherri Chekal on there. Chekal’s not that common a last name!!!
Well off to bed! Hope all is well with you all!
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