Wednesday, July 29, 2009

plants, animals, it's a dog's life

I've had lots of problems with blight on my tomatoes over the years; at times I've even threatened to give up on tomatoes. This year I searched online and found a blight-resistant tomato, and gave them a try.

So far, I'm pleased. They're a little "blighty" on the oldest parts of the plants, but it hasn't affected the tomatoes at all so far. There is no such thing as a blight-free tomato, but this comes close.

Cliff and Rena planted some Early Girl tomatoes and some Celebrity.

The Celebrity tomato plants are in about the same condition as my Legend tomatoes.

The Early-Girls, not so much.

Even the actual tomatoes on the Early Girl plants are spotted with blight.

So, if you have problems with blight, get yourself some Legend or Celebrity tomatoes.

I brought in a ripe butternut squash yesterday evening. I microwaved half of it and made that my supper. I'll do the other half for dinner today, for me and Cliff. We'll also have a couple of roasting-ears and some stir-fried cabbage. Maybe even a baked Yukon Gold potato, and some sliced peaches for dessert. No, I guess I'd better forget about the potato. We'll be overeating if we have all that stuff!

I milked Bonnie this morning, and for the first time she didn't have to be coaxed into the barn, and then into the stanchion. She walked right in. Then when I opened the door for Sir Loin, he knew which side of his mother to go on. When you only milk two or three times a week, it takes them awhile to learn, but they've figured it out now.

I've had lots of problems with my hyper-active dog, Sadie, running away when I turn her loose. A few days ago she disappeared while I was milking, but showed up within five minutes. I got to thinking, our neighborhood is pretty quiet in the early mornings; what if I let her go free for an hour or so? Maybe if she had a little freedom each morning, she wouldn't go so crazy on the occasion that she does get loose.

I realize there's a risk here, but I decided to try it, and it's working well. Most mornings now, she doesn't even leave the yard, but contents herself with sniffing at the flowerbed, smelling where visiting dogs left their calling cards, and chasing toads.

This morning, she did disappear for about twenty minutes. I wasn't too terribly concerned, but I was glad to see her on the porch waiting to be let in the house. I was washing milk things and didn't really pay much attention, but when she passed close by me, I realized she had been rolling in something dead. Why is it that dogs seem to be so proud of themselves when they've done this?

Bath-time for Sadie. She hates it, but she puts up with it fairly well.

Wouldn't you think she'd eventually make the connection? Let's see, I roll in carrion, I go home, I get a bath.

*sigh*

9 comments:

  1. My dogs were always rolling in anything they could find too...I guess they like the smell. Who knows why they do things like that?
    Glad you've still got milk. Hope it continues for you for a long time. Your dinner sounds mighty good for sure.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Our dogs roll in stuff like that too. I just don't understand it.

    Then they come running wanting to get all over us & share their smell. YUCK!

    ReplyDelete
  3. The smell of dead funk is just too powerful. It overrides the knowledge that they'll get a bath. The bad thing is that it only seems to be the extremely furry dogs are the ones to go rolling in grossness. Blech...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Isn't that the truth about dogs!! I know our dog is like that too! Hugs Grams

    ReplyDelete
  5. The spores for blight live in the soil. Around here it happens on the second week of August, but I haven had a problem since I started raising them in the green house which gets new soil and compost every year. I can usually keep them going until December. The latest one year was January 21st.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Well, the tomatoes that ARE working out for you are making me VERY happy. Thanks Mom!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Over here we fight urban blight which no more fun than what you're facing...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Here's my theory on dogs and that which reeks:

    A dog's main source of stimulation is it's nose. The stronger the smell, the more stimulation (pleasure) they get from it. Rolling in it is like a human spraying on a scent they find attractive.

    It's like food. They don't really care what it TASTES like, as long as the smell appeals to them.

    Which (at least to me) explains Grump's really disgusting diet...

    ReplyDelete
  9. We haven't had any blight on our few tomatoes. That's great that you can let Sadie run loose for a while. Smart cow and calf. Our Daisy did that rolling thing the other day and Ken had to bathe her. Helen

    ReplyDelete

I love comments!