Better Pets & Garden

We had Odin neutered last week.

We actually learned quite a lot about this dog after his first surgery. 

• He's a drama queen, whining for a whole day. And he didn't let me sleep for two days. (Unlike our poor Iko who underwent numerous surgeries after his coyote attack, but still loved on everyone despite his pain.)
  
  
• More importantly, we learned we can't trust Odin when he's semi-conscious.
  
  Unlike other dogs, our vet gave him a doggie downer at our vehicle. We waited for him to doze off then we carried him into surgery where he was intubated and given anesthetic. She did his surgery first and we came back an hour and a half later while he was still noodle-limp and put him back into the truck.
  
  I went back inside to pay and get his medication while Greg stayed with Odin. It was then Greg discovered how deep Odin's self-preservation went.
  
  He tried to adjust Odin's head so he wasn't so scrunched up. Odin, still half asleep, chomped down on Greg's thumb like a vise and would not let go. Greg had to pry his jaws open.
  
  Odin went back to snoring, oblivious to what had happened, and Greg was left bleeding buckets. As soon as we got home (we live only 1/4 mile from the vet) I drenched the thumb in peroxide and dabbed antibacterial cream on the punctures before bandaging him. Both my boys are fine now.
  
  
• Odin is so energetic we had to get a bottle of tranquilizers to slow him down post surgery. He needs to remain calm for two weeks. Many years ago, we had a bad experience with two Samoyeds who'd been neutered. Their scrotums swelled to the size of baseballs filled with fluid. High activity and/or bad suturing can cause this fluid build up. Because Odin is hyper on his slow days we didn't want to take any chances.
  
  
• The best news was that we opted to buy an inflatable donut collar instead of using the "cone of shame". BEST purchase we ever made for the dogs. If you've had a dog with a cone of shame, you know what it is to have bruised shins, head-banging at doorways, and clearing everything off low-lying tables. Dogs are menaces with those plastic cones.

This inflatable donut was the best! Not only did Odin take to it right away, it didn't trigger any adverse behavior. I was shocked, fully expecting him to go nuts. (He's skitso when things are unfamiliar.) Not only did it keep him from licking his wound, but it didn't drive him crazy like a plastic cone would. An added benefit is that when he did bump into us, it was a soft bounce. Good for both of us.

Highly recommended!

GARDEN TRICKS

We had several errands to run in the big city last week. One of my stops was to an enormous Korean supermarket called H Mart. I like to buy my fish and hard-to-find seasonings there. It's also where I get to use my favorite gardening trick.

In the past, I've bought unusual types of sweet potato, turmeric, and ginger roots and planted them in the ground. All sprouted and grew to great success. 

This time I bought lemongrass stalks, purple potatoes, and a small bag of soybeans. I didn't have much hope for the lemongrass. It looked pretty dried out. Yet within days it started sprouting shoots. I am going to be a happy camper if I get full plants out of these shoots.

The purple potatoes are pretty fresh but I hope they'll form eyes so I can plant them in the ground.

The soybeans were my surprise success. Soybeans, as you can expect from an Asian market are common and comes in a variety of forms and sizes. I bought the smallest bag of whole beans I could find (1 lb for 89 cents!).

I pulled a few beans out and put them in water. Before I bothered to put them in the ground I wanted to test them to see if they'd sprout. To my joy, they did!

In any Western market, produce would be overly processed, cleaned, heated, or sprayed with anti-sprout chemicals. Not so with Asian markets. This is why I like to buy their produce and turn them into my starter plants.

This is a great way to try new plants and get them way, way cheaper than what you could find in a nursery or through mail order.

If you've not tried an ethnic grocery store, make the trip. You'll find a lot of delightful new smells and tastes--and some unusual ones as well. They're also your best source of produce that's not been overly processed.

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