Labor Day Round-up

It's Labor Day in the US and I am off to see hubby and giant dog.

My niece called me the other day. She said: 'You are so lucky that all the dogs you've ever had were really nice dogs.' I laughed. That's not luck, darlin', that's training.

We've had some willful dogs in our day (Iko being one of them) but not a single bad dog. We understand the pack mentality all too well and that's our secret for raising good dogs. :o)

People are always astonished at how sweet and docile our dogs are, especially the rottweilers. Please don't believe all the media hype about rotties. These are the sweetest, most loving dogs you'll ever meet. If you meet a bad one, I'm willing to lay odds it's due to his human owner.

***

I'm still in a lot of pain. I can't get comfortable regardless whether I stand, sit, or lay down. I won't lie. I was feeling pretty sorry for myself. And then I caught a story about a quadraplegic with Lou Gehrig's disease. That ended my pity party. The pain still makes me cranky, but I'm not going to let it stop me. Since traditional medicine hasn't been much help, I'm looking into homeopathic therapies. I refuse to let this take over my life.

***

I harvested my soybeans yesterday. I didn't plant a lot, since it was just an experiment. I will plant a lot more next year and try to space them two weeks apart so I won't have to shell them all in one go. I love edamame. It is easy to grow, and soy is good medicine for man or beast.

Speaking of gardening, please be careful if you use Milestone herbicide or get your compost from an unknown source. Apparently a lot of gardens in the UK were affected and some here too. Hay, manure and compost were contaminated with this herbicide and turned it into killer compost. Here's the article from Mother Earth News that tells the whole story.

I was about to buy compost this year, but my nursery person warned me not to. She had bought a ton of it from a reputable dealer. It looked gorgeous, deep brown and rich, but EVERY plant she put in using this compost either died or stayed the same size as when she planted it.

You can't even trust organic material any more! We're on our own.

Comments

Marianne Arkins said…
Look into a good chiropractor, if you haven't already. I swear, they can work miracles.

And, I agree about the dogs. Surprisingly (aside from still not being leash-trained) Dakota has turned out to be one of the best behaved dogs I've ever had... but WOW was it a lot of work.

Happy Labor Day!

And, LOL... my word verification is "CROPS". **snort**
Maria Zannini said…
Greg mentioned trying a chiro. I guess that's my next step.

Ref: Dakota
You really worked hard with Dakota to get her where she is. Agility was perfect for her.

You'll probably have to wait a while longer before you can trust her off leash. Every dog of mine has been different. Some I could leave off leash since puppyhood, others not until they were several years old.

Have a great holiday!
Kaz Augustin said…
Oh, another edamame freak! Fabulous. Will have to get some growing tips from you, M. I hadn't heard the news about Milestone. Oh no, how terrible. A bit saved here, as we don't have the kind of gardening stores that I'm used to in the States and Australia, but there are a lot of organic farms in Malaysia that are proud of what they do, and I hope they're alert to this. Will have to keep tabs.

You and Greg have a great Labor Day! :)
Maria Zannini said…
I was surprised how easy it was to grow soybeans. It does need 3-5 months of warm weather--which you have. I'm glad I started with a trial run. That gave me a good idea on how much I could harvest at one time without destroying my back.

They taste so good too! I was eating them right out of the garden.