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Volume 76 - November 25th, 2004 Materials in this newsletter are the sole possession of the authors and Dog Company. Please do not copy or use in any fashion without written permission |
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From the Editor's Paw: ""A well trained dog is a free dog" We have had lots of email especially on the West coast here about Lawns and products, what would be safe around animals and how to restore the lawns after the summer. We are well into the fall and here it is from the experts. Woof……Sweep “ doing it on the lawn” ^..^~! Fall Lawn Boost We want to remind all of you who are fortunate to have a lawn to worry about. Just as spring is a time for getting the lawn back into shape, fall is a time to add the ingredients a beautiful lawn will need when it wakes up in the spring. Just as we spray our pastures and our own lawn and garden before the ground is frozen, you might think about doing the same thing at your place. We use these same ingredients. What we do is take a gallon of distilled water, add one or two tablespoons of Gardener's Dream (this is a heavy duty calcium base). Add one tablespoon of boron from the 20 Mule Team Borax that you get in the laundry section of your grocery store. Let these soak for twenty-four hours or more. The distilled water will leach out of the calcium and boron what your lawn needs. Then when we are ready, we pour the water part of the above (leaving the heavy part on the bottom although some will come) into a dial a hose that we get from the garden store (this fits onto the end of the hose). We pour the heavy part out directly onto our garden. Next, we add 5 to 10 drops of Concentrated Trace Minerals to the dial a hose container too. Next we add a half cup of Terra Cleanse. Terra Cleanse has microbes in it that help the soil to actively make new humus for feeding the grass. Organic farmers around the globe are doing this and getting fantastic yields from their crops. Microbes are essential for soil health. Then you turn on the faucet to your hose and lightly spray every inch of your lawn, your flower beds, your garden and any other soil. Or you can add this to a gallon or so hand pump sprayer and spray your yard this way. Just so you know, we add 2 gallons of distilled calcium/boron, 30 drops of trace minerals, and one pint of Terra Cleanse to 50 gallons of water. We always add our ingredients AFTER the sprayer is filled with water. This is VERY important. This literally is all we do to care for our yards and pastures here. We do this once a month until the ground freezes. When the ground wakes up in the spring, it will have everything it needs to feed the plants that grow there. We have been doing this for the past five years and literally do NOT have any weeds of any sort in our yard. The pastures still need more help (although certain weeds are excellent for the cows), but the lawns are now weed free and no poisons of any sort have been used we are proud to say. Thought we had better remind you. Oh, the Gardener's Dream info is located here: Our Gardener Information is located down at the bottom of our web pages and is labeled as Lawns Naturally. (just so you know) This is pretty important for having a safe place for your pet's to play. By the way, several people have asked "how much will one container do?" The answer==about 300 acres, so share this with your family and friends. Yours for excellent pet health The Team
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Classified (To our advertisers: we'd love to hear if your ad in the Woof was successful. Please drop us a line and let us know.) Happy Birthdays: "Full" Monty - September 17, 1993 = 11 years (Disclaimer: Advertisements posted by the Woof are done as a service, not as an endorsement. Please communicate directly with the ad contact for further information on any items.)
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ASK MAM'SELLE Dear Poutine We had a black bear visit our cabin over the long weekend, I kept my distance and did do some barking at the bear to advise my humans it was there. They then called me into the cabin and kept an eye on the bear until it meandered off. Did I do the right thing? Dear Sadie: woof..Pouie ^..^~~! Is teann madra ar a thairseacht făin.
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Dog Gone great Gardening "Sandy" Garden Centre Official Greeter & Guard Dog! Hours: We are open daily from 9-4:30 until December 20th and then closed until Feb. 1st, 2005. Wain Road, North Saanich B.C. Christmas Trees: Island grown and freshly cut, our trees are top quality. They will be arriving on Dec. 4th this year and there will be a good range of sizes, types and prices. Wreaths and Greens: As usual, we will have mountains of greenery, holly, cones, berries and more to help with your decorating. We also have a selection of wire wreath forms, paddle wire and moss. Not into do it yourself? No problem. Leave the work to us. We’re busy making all kinds of wreaths, swags and centrepieces. Special orders welcomed. Wreath-making classes: Get in touch with your inner elf and try your hand at creating a one of a kind wreath. The classes are held in our heated greenhouse and last about 1˝ hours. The cost is $25.00 plus gst. The schedule is as follows: Sat. Dec 4th, 10am and 1pm; Friday, Dec 10th, 10am; Sat. Dec 11th, 10 am and 1 pm; Tues. Dec 14th, 10am; Friday, Dec 17th, 10am; Sat. Dec 18th, 10 am. Space is limited so please call 656-0384 to reserve a spot. Finnerty Gardens Calendars: We are helping the Friends of the Gardens with fundraising by selling their calendars. These calendars are gorgeous, full of colour photos taken in all seasons and they make a nice present. As we were getting the nursery ready for Christmas we started to think about why it is that we ‘deck the halls’, other than because it’s what we always do. We thought it would be fun to get to the root of some our more enduring traditions, especially as they relate to plants and thought you might be interested in what we found out. Evergreens of all kinds symbolize eternal life and have always been used since ancient times in celebration of the winter solstice. The Egyptians brought fronds of date palms into their homes at solstice to symbolize the triumph of life over death. The pagan Romans called their winter festival Saturnalia, in honour of Saturn, the god of agriculture. They decorated their homes with greens and exchanged gifts. The Druids used sprigs of holly and mistletoe in their rituals and branches of evergreens were placed over doors to keep out witches and evil spirits. The early Scandinavians were said to pay homage to the fir tree. Holly has many symbolic meanings. It is a symbol of good luck and people used to settle disputes under the holly tree. Putting a sprig of holly on the bedpost ensured sweet dreams. Tradition held that whoever brought the first holly into the house at Christmas, whether it be the master or the mistress, would be the one to rule the household for the coming year. Holly also has an association with the word ‘holy’ and represented the crown of thorns worn by Christ. Ivy came to represent promise and eternal life in the Christian world. In ancient times it was the symbol of Bacchus, the god of wine and revelry. The Christmas rose (Helleborus niger) is a true Christmas flower as it blooms in the depths of winter in the mountains of Central Europe. Legend links it with the birth of Christ and a little shepherd girl named Madelon. Evergreens wreaths are meant to represent immortality and the continuance of life. To the Romans a laurel (what we call bay) wreath was a sign of victory. During the Middle Ages rosemary was spread on the floor at Christmas. Its fragrant smell filled the house when people walked on it. It was also believed to be offensive to evil spirits. The Christmas tree tradition as we know it first began in 1851, when a farmer from the Catskills hauled two sleds of cut evergreen trees into New York. He sold them all and by the 1920’s the custom of having a Christmas tree had become well established. Christmas tree farms began in the 1930’s when nurserymen couldn’t sell their evergreens for landscaping, so they cut them for Christmas trees. In recent times poinsettias have become a modern tradition, and so it goes. Old or new, the traditions are all part of what makes the season special. Here at the nursery our traditions are focused on the change of season. Plants are put away in greenhouses, leaves are cleaned up, and evergreens become the focus of our displays. Everyone helps to make wreaths and cut greens. The fire in the shop is lit and on weekends the aroma of mulled cider is in the air. There is a strong sense of things ending but it all leads to a new beginning come spring. We’d like to thank all our friends and customers for another great year and we look forward to seeing you again in the spring. All the best for the season! From everyone at Russell Nursery. |
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Crossing Over Suddenly........ "Levi" Just over 1 year died of kidney failure & complications. Linda and I would like to thank you Peni & Dog Company, for your great support in turning our scared little dog into a wonderful, affectionate, friendly and obedient dog we all appreciated. Fighting for her, every inch of the way, is what made all the little victories so special. We are all heartbroken and will miss her. |
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Monty's Movies AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS (2004) Starring: Jackie Chan as Passepartout/Lau Xing, and Steve Coogan as Phileas Fogg Rated: PG Genre: Adventure / Comedy / Action / Romance SUMMARY Around the World in 80 Days is based on the classic novel by Jules Verne. This version focuses on Passepartout (Chan), who has stolen a valuable jade Buddha that belongs to his village. He takes refuge from being caught posing as the eccentric London inventor and adventurer Phileas Fogg’s (Coogan) valet. They set out to travel around the world as Phileas Fogg has taken a bet, with the associates of the Royal Academy of Science, that he could not make it around the world in just 80 days. Fogg and Passepartout use various means to achieve their goals, and overcome impossible obstacles at every planned and unplanned stop along the way. Ruffffff... Monty
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Halloween Halloween..costumes were terrific the games the course having to take off and put on costume while the dogs in a down on the table etc.......just the whole thing was FUN! Winners of the costumes (the costumes had to be able to be worn during the course & be safe for the dogs!) Bravo...good job the Lewis family! Giant pumpkin with legs "Sage"....and her trusty companion The masked Bichon frise..."Winston". 
The fastest team goes to "George and "Chinook"/"Pia & "Swift" Watch out these "Pairs Teams" they are already getting hard to beat..."Swift" is just a beginner yet! Thank you Brianna & Susan for your fun courses and treats for everyone...the courses were so different everyone had to stop and re-think when they changed....GOOD JOB! |
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'Bout Books by the Diabolical Duo THE WAITING DOG by Carolyn Beck & Andrea Beck The first time Carolyn told the story of the waiting dog at a family dinner. she had everyone at the table laughing at the 'gutsy romp" you will too! enjoy! Free your mind Read a book. woof.."Swift & Reba" ^..^~~!
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This is fast becoming our favourite Thanksgiving story.My American cousin sent in this story to us and seeing it is the thanksgiving for our American friends it is time to share it again. Jasper and The Uncooked Yeast Rolls or The Case of the Pillsbury Dough Dog We have a fox terrier by the name of Jasper. He came to us in the summer of 2001 from the fox terrier rescue program. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this type of adoption, imagine taking in a 10 year old child whom you know nothing about and committing to doing your best to be a good parent. Like a child, the dog came with his own idiosyncrasies. He will only sleep on the bed, on top of the covers, nuzzled as close to my face as he can get without actually performing a French kiss on me. Lest you think this is a bad case of 'no discipline', I should tell you that Perry and I tried every means to break him of this habit including locking him in a separate bedroom for several! nights. The new door cost over $200. But I digress. Five weeks ago we began remodelling our house. Although the cost of the project is downright obnoxious, it was 20 years overdue AND it got me out of cooking Thanksgiving for family, extended family and a lot of friends that I like more than family most of the time. I was however assigned the task of preparing 124 of my famous yeast dinner rolls for the two Thanksgiving feasts we did attend. I am still cursing the electrician for getting the new oven hooked up so quickly. It was the only appliance in the whole darn house that worked, thus the assignment. I made the decision to cook the rolls on Wednesday evening to reheat on Thursday morning. Since the kitchen was freshly painted you can imagine the odor. Not wanting the rolls to smell like Sherwin Williams latex paint #586, I put the rolls on baking sheets and set them in the living room to rise for 5 hours. After 3 hours, Perry and I decided to go out to eat, returning in about an hour. An hour later the rolls were ready to go in the oven. It was 8:30pm. When I went to the living room to retrieve the pans, much to my shock one whole pan of 12 rolls was empty. I called out to Jasper and my worst nightmare became a reality. He literally wobbled over to me. He looked like a combination of the Pillsbury dough boy and the Michelin Tire man wrapped up in fur. He groaned when he walked. I swear even his cheeks were bloated. I ran to the phone and called our vet. After a few seconds of uproarious laughter, he told me the dog would probably be OK, however, I needed to give him Pepto Bismol every two hours for the rest of the night. God only knows why I thought a dog would like Pepto Bismol any more than my kids did when they were sick. Suffice to say that by the time we went to bed, the dog was black, white and pink. He was so bloated we had to lift him onto the bed for the night. Naively thinking the dog would be all better by morning was very stupid on my part. We arose at 7:30 and as we always do first thing, put the dogs out to relieve themselves. Well, the damn dog was as drunk as a sailor on his first leave. He was running into walls, falling flat on his butt and most of the time when he was walking, his front half was going one direction and the other half was either dragging the floor or headed 90 degrees in another direction. He couldn't lift his leg to pee, so he would just walk and pee at the same time. When he ran down the small incline in our back yard he couldn't stop himself and nearly ended up running into the fence. His pupils were dilated and he was as dizzy as a loon. I endured another few seconds of laughter from the vet (second call within 12 hours) before he explained that the yeast had fermented in his belly and that he was indeed drunk. He assured me that, not unlike most binges we humans go through, it would wear off after about 4 or 5 hours! and to keep giving him Pepto Bismol. Afraid to leave him by himself in the house, Perry and I loaded him up and took him with us to my sister's house for the first Thanksgiving meal of the day. My sister lives outside of Muskogee on a ranch, (10 to 15 minute drive). Rolls firmly secured in the trunk (124 less 12) and drunk dog leaning from the back seat onto the console of the car between Perry and I, we took off. Now I know you probably don't believe that dogs burp, but believe me when I say that after eating a tray of risen unbaked yeast rolls, DOGS WILL BURP. These burps were pure Old Charter. They would have matched or beat any smell in a drunk tank at the police station. But that's not the worst of it. Now he was beginning to fart and they smelled like baked rolls. God strike me dead if I am not telling the truth! We endured this for the entire trip to Karee's, thankful she didn't live any further away than she did. Once Jasper was firmly placed in my sister's garage with the door locked, we finally sat down to enjoy our first Thanksgiving meal of the day. The dog was the topic of conversation all morning long and everyone made trips to the garage to witness my drunk dog, each returning with a tale of Jasper's latest endeavour to walk without running into something. Of course, as the old adage goes, "what goes in must come out" and Jasper was no exception. Granted if it had been me that had eaten 12 risen, unbaked yeast rolls, you might as well have put a concrete block up my behind, but alas, a dog's digestive system is quite different from yours or mine. I discovered this was a mixed blessing when we prepared to leave Karee's house. Having discovered his "packages" on the garage floor, we loaded him up in the car so we could hose down the floor. This was another naive decision on our part. The blast of water from the hose hit the poop on the floor and the poop on the floor withstood the blast from the hose. It was like Portland cement beginning to set up and cure. We finally tried to remove it with a shovel. I (obviously no one else was going to offer their services) had to get on my hands and knees with a coarse brush to get the remnants off of the floor. And as if this wasn't degrading enough, the damn dog in his drunken state had walked through the poop and left paw prints all over the garage floor that had to be brushed too. Well, by this time the dog was sobering up nicely so we took him home and dropped him off before we left for our second Thanksgiving dinner at Perry's sister's house. I am happy to report that as of today (Monday) the dog is back to normal both in size and temperament. He has had a bath and is no longer tricolour. None the worse for wear I presume. I am also happy to report that just this evening I found two risen unbaked yeast rolls hidden inside my closet door. It appears he must have come to his senses after eating 10 of them but decided hiding two of them for later would not be a bad idea. Now, I'm doing research on the computer as to *How to clean unbaked dough from the Carpet*. And how was your day?" woof.. Peni & the "girls" ^..^~~! |
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Did You Know? There are more chickens than people in the world. |
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The View from the Vet’s Table It’s awfully high up when you’re sitting on the vet’s table…especially when you’re a little dog like I am—a Silky Terrier. And the darn thing is shiny, slippery and cold—kind of like a very small indoor skating rink. I’ve been spending way too much time on that table lately. I’ve done some very impressive figure skating moves on it too, somewhat resembling double axels and triple toe loops, while trying to avoid various diagnostic procedures. It seems that I have high blood pressure. Who’d have thought it? It’s not that I really notice that I have blood pressure either. I guess we’re like humans in that way; I think they call high blood pressure ‘the silent killer.’ So I’m glad that someone noticed that things weren’t quite right with me. I’m going on 14, so I guess I can expect to have a few medical inconveniences start to crop up….but in general I’ve been pretty darn lucky. Did you know that they take my blood pressure with a Doppler device? It sort of makes me think of Doppler radar, which measures the speed and direction of moving objects. So I have this mental image of my blood getting a speeding ticket for speeding on an “arterial highway” or zooming through an intersection (like my heart!). High blood pressure can be a very expensive ticket too: just ask my mom about that when she’s paying the bill at the pharmacy. We managed to stump their new computer program at the pharmacy when they tried to enter me into their records: I didn’t have a medical number or Pharmacare, so the system kept rejecting me, But they finally got that sorted out, and now I have my very own file and drug history on their computer, just like a human. My vet, Lorie, wanted to be sure to get my blood pressure down to a reasonable level so that she could do some dental work for me. It seems that vets worry about giving you anesthetic when your blood pressure is out of whack. Go figure. Better to be safe than sorry, I guess. But I managed to get my teeth cleaned, my ‘roots planed’ and a little growth removed from my cheek one fine morning a few weeks ago. The good news is that I didn’t have to have any teeth pulled. The bad news is that that little growth was malignant. I have encountered the “Big C”. But on a positive note, a few follow-up tests showed that it hasn’t spread, so I guess I’m good for a few more miles yet. But like a fine automobile, I must return to my mechanic (i.e. Lorie) on a regular basis. Drat! More time on the metal skating rink….. In the meantime, I’ve got trails to hike, dance moves to learn and agility equipment to conquer! Your roving reporting terrier, Finnegan |
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Dog's Note We have no interest in propagating unwanted email. If this has reached you in error or is unwelcome, please let us know, and we will take you off our mailing list. |
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