Thursday 23 April 2015

Update: Betty and green things growing

Well, I have done it again! I have failed to keep up with posting on a semi-regular basis like I promised I would (anyone surprised by that?!). It's spring now (although the sprinkling of snow outside would beg to differ) and my last post in February was about Betty getting spayed - my little baby growing up! What has been happening since then?!

Betty sporting her cone-of-shame on her bed in front of heat vent.

Betty was totally fine after her spay, she was sleepy for about half a day after she came home them BAM she was back to crazy puppy (so much for a break!). After Betty got home from surgery she was doing really well with her house training - I had feared the night in the vets doing her business in a kennel would set her back but she seemed okay...seemed is the key word there. Two days after the surgery and Betty seemed to revert back to the week we got her, pooping and peeing in her crate over night, going anywhere/everywhere in the house. What a nightmare! It took some time but she got back on track with her pees on the training pad at the back door but poops?! Lost cause. Keeping up with Betty has been keeping me busy. She has completed the next level of obedience at PetSmart, she has so much energy I take her for two walks a day (average walk distance is 3 km, usually takes anywhere from 45-60 minutes to get the walk completed) and as for house training?! I am taking her out in the backyard at set times to do her thing and she is getting it! The only thing we need to work on is her telling me when she as to go outside. I can't imagine the scheduled trips outside will work for her and I forever, so I have to get her to give me the signal that she has to go out - especially if we are visiting my mum (the only place she is still using a training pad is at my mums, since she plays so much more, drinks so much more and has to pee way more!). All around Betty is doing much better, I think the walks and scheduled days make a huge difference in focusing her energy. The only issue that I am currently dealing with is her new desire to attack my feet when we are on a walk - this is a whole other issue that I won't get into today.

Betty is growing up and is learning about the joys of laying in a warm sunny patch.

So what else has been happening? Well it is spring and major garden preparations have begun. There have been some beautiful days so far, I have been digging in the dirt, things are being constructed in the backyard (more on that later). But over the past two days the temperature has dipped again and there is a tiny bit of snow in the backyard - enough already! I have plants that are crying out to get in the garden, I need to set them free!

Pepper forest starring Jalapeno, Ghost and Trinidad Scorpion peppers.

Close up of a Ghost pepper.

I have started plants from seeds again thins year. A lot of plants. Vegetables and flowers (annuals and perennials). And yes, in my excitement I started too many and some I started too soon. Oh well, could be worse!? I have a forest of pepper plants in the upstairs studio. I have lost count of how many plants to be exact, but lets just say we wont be short on Jalapeno, Ghost and Trinidad Scorpion peppers. Funny thing, I know I will only use the Jalapeno peppers, the other two super hot peppers are for my brother, but if these plants are successful there will still be too many peppers for him to use...what else can I do with an excess of such hot peppers?! The rest of the plants I have started are in the basement. I have three shelves set up with grow lights and they are overflowing with plants! There are several varieties of tomatoes that are doing pretty well but I know the basement has been a cold and less than ideal space for them to get started in. I also have eggplants, bell peppers, daisies, cone flowers, forget-me-not, sage and hyssop growing like crazy. I so desperately need the weather to improve so I can get some of the flowers outside to make room for more seeds to be started. I think I have a problem...addicted to sowing seeds?! Is that a thing?!