Our dog Calli passed away today.
This is a photo of her resting in the garden, which was one of her favorite pastimes. She didn’t learn many tricks, except “shaking hands”; she was a pro at that. Calli was such a gentle dog and a big sweetheart.
We actually don’t remember exactly how old she was, but she had a litter in 1996 and she was probably about 1 or 2 at that time, so our best guess is that she was 14 or 15…
Calli, rest in peace… We will miss you!
Sunday, July 9, 2006
I was able to catch up on some repotting today. I repotted the Arguta Kiwi (female), White Genoa Fig, Forsythia and some Taros into larger one gallon containers.
I also repotted my Pink Echeveria, and discovered that the grower didn’t even remove the plastic basket it was originally grown in. I had to cut the basket into pieces so I wouldn’t damage its roots and the baby plants. Here’s the before and after photos.
Here’s a photo of the vegetable bed I been working on.
And finally, as I was done with most of my gardening chores, I got a bag a potato chips and Calli kept chasing me around the garden trying to get some. I gave her a few, but ened up giving her some doggie snacks. Here she is one the other side of the vegetable bed.
We’ve been having weird weather. Last weekend was sooooo hot, reaching the low 90s on Sunday. Throughout the week it’s been getting cooler and cooler, then this weekend, we got rain again. It’s actually not bad’ it’s kinda nice not having to water outdoors.
Before it rained today, I was cutting down more of our bolting Swiss Chard (in vegetable bed #1), because I want to fix it up and start my vegetable garden. At the same time, Calli was running around exploring the back yard and my oldest brother came to visit and was pulling out the Peach leaves with Peach Leaf Curl.
As I was pulling up the Swiss Chard, I found a whole bunch of bugs. There was a couple of Ladybird Beetle larvae, which I relocated to our aphid stricken Italian Plum tree.
I think the left photo above is a Soldier Fly, but I’m not sure. If you click the photo and view the large version, you can see the details of its purple and blue eyes. It has an interesting pattern.
As for bug on the right… I don’t know what that bug is, but I’ve seen them in our Persimmon Tree. They are slow moving and very very shy. This one was very good at hiding from the camera. I’m surprised I got a photo of it.
I can’t wait to get the lens I ordered on Friday. I also got myself a 10x Macro Lens which I hope will give me more detail with photo like above.
As I was walking to the carpool from work, I saw this weed underneath a street tree and thought is was cool, so I took a few cutting of it to try to root.
The stems are reddish brown and slightly hairy. The main stem seems semi-woody, since I could not pinch it off. Anyone know what this is?
SOLVED: This is White Snakeroot ‘Chocolate’ (Eupatorium rugosum) ( DG PlantFile )
Here is a close up of the leaves.
I’m also trying to root these other two cuttings I got:
top: Unknown Weed (from above)
left: Perilla Magilla ‘Vanilla’
right: Euonymus Fortunei Radicans ‘Harlequin’ (Bigleaf Winter Creeper)
Here is a photo of the Taro and Ginger I planted earlier this morning.
And finally, Calli wants to show you a new trick:
Afterwords, she discovers Marty inside the house.
Yesterday, I wasn’t feeling well, so I called in sick for work and pretty much stayed in bed all day. I didn’t check email nor checked up on the plants outside.
This morning I noticed that some of the ornamental grasses were wilting a bit, but gave them plenty of water before I left for work.
After work, I checked the Coleus that I potted up and I wasn’t too happy. Some of them got too much sun and were also wilting or had sun damage on their foliage. None (I dont’ think) were at the point of dying, but some are not doing well :( I thought the spot under the persimmon tree would provide enough shade, but apparently I was wrong, so I move some of them to the front patio and some under the pear tree which has a lot of shade. I hope they will all recover…
Also after work, I took Calli out for a bit, again in the front yard and back. I tried something new. I unleashed her in the back yard to see how she does without a chain… and surprisingly she was well behaved. I blocked off some areas–like behind the storage–and she didn’t try to cross over my road blocks. She also stayed on the paved areas and did not trample on any plants! So, good Calli!!!
She’s not that good at coming to me when I call her, though, but I gave her a little treat when she did or gave her a good pat, and she responded well. I think she will learn to come when I call… Who says you can’t teach a old dog new tricks? I was also happy that she did not run away when I came to get her or held her collar.
The ultimate test will be when we go over to the new dog park when it opens. She hasn’t interacted much with other dogs or ridden in a car regularly… so we’ll see…
This has been a long week, and I have not been keeping up with my plants, photos, LiveJournal and sleep. (I will this weekend)
I’ve been thinking a lot about the pit bull attack on Wednesday and have this weird feeling. I don’t know if it’s like a feeling of feeling violated… I can’t quite put it in words. I no longer feel safe walking Calli around the neighborhood. I know that was probably a freak thing that happened, but I just can’t go out there with Calli, even thought I know she’s been enjoying our time together when I take her for a dog walk after work.
Yesterday, I took her out… but we just staying within our property, going back and fort between the front yard and back. It kinda felt silly, but that’s just how it’s got to be for now.
This evening, I had an idea to search for dog parks around the area, because I don’t think Vallejo has one. I was so surprised to see the results I found on Google.
Vallejo is opening it’s first dog park next week!!!!!!!
I can’t tell you how great this feels.
I just went through one of the most frightening experiences in my life.
I was walking our dog Calli near the bay and we were attacked by a stray pit bull.
As I was walking from the carpool lot to my car, parked several blocks away, I noticed these seeds scattered here and there as if it was a trail marker. It was beckoning me collect it… so I did.
I have a feeling that some school children were eating “whatever this is” and spitting it out the seeds as they walked home. These may be Loquat seeds, but I’m not sure.
Once I got home, I took our dog Kelly for a walk. We walked all the way along the bay. She’s getting old, but she still enjoyed getting out. We saw these two doin’ it on a bush by the bay.
Finally, the sun began to set… and we headed back home.
