In the garden 'n' stuff Well, the past couple of weeks have found us on Saturday afternoons outside in our gardens, cleaning up brush, tilling and planting.

In our front yard we have a cherry tree, a couple of grape vines, and a pear tree. These have been here for several years now, inherited with the house. I've also put a strawberry pot in the front, I got it for $5 at a local store, it comes with a brick of coconut fiber that you soak in water for 10 minutes, then you put in the 3 shoots of strawberry plants and wait. There's already leaves on 2 of them, but it looks like one of them got broken by something.

The cherry tree looks like it will be fruitful this year, if we can keep the birds off it. James figures he'll sit out on the front yard with a b-b gun to shoot them away! Or get a net to throw over it...that may be the more humane way.

The grapes look also like they'll give us a few bunches, again, if we can keep the birds off.

The pear tree however looks like its got some sort of blight that has taken most of the pear trees in the neighbourhood, and we may or may not get any from it this year.

There is also a wildflower shade garden in the front, I just tossed in some seeds, and I'll have to distribute the plants once they fill up.

Out back, in the vegetable garden that once was a swimming pool, we've put in some carrots, parsnips, peas, beans, ocra, tomatoes and blackberries. James also wants to put in some corn, but he needs to clear out a couple of small saplings first.

Yesterday I was in the fenced dog yard portion of our garden, clearing out some rather invasive vines and a few small trees that have sprung up since the yard had not been tended in a couple of years. There are 2 big trees, perfect distance apart for us to hang a hammock from, but we need to clear out that corner first. It'll be a perfect meditation and relaxation garden, its shady and private. As I was tossing dead tree branches behind me however, I heard a small rattle and decided to let sleeping snakes lie, and I came back into the house to watch a few DVD episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. :-))

We do have several types of venomous snakes in the area, including rattlers. We found a dead baby in the driveway 2 weeks ago. We don't know what killed it, but we hadn't run it over with the car, it wasn't squished, it was just dead. With its mouth gaping open like it went down fighting. It wasn't even old enough to have developed a rattle yet, but apparently the young ones are more venomous than the adults, so James picked it up with the pooper-scooper and tossed it into the vacant spot next-door that big brother Randy doesn't use.

The prominence of snakes is another reason we're clearing out the dead brush and opportunistic vines and trees from the dog yard and surrounding gardens. If we give them fewer places to hide, they'll go hide elsewhere!

I am however quite fond of the wee lizards and salamanders we have around here. All of these are harmless, and they're kinda cute.

If our cherries, blackberries and strawberries all give us fruit this year, we'll have some nice bumbleberry crumble at harvest feasts! Fingers crossed...  ¶ 6:36 PM 0 Comments

  Earth Day sorry for the lack up updates lately, but we've been having ISP problems. Its been down more than up the past couple of weeks. They suck. :-p Not only does it knock out my internet, but also my Voip phone. bleah.

Anyhoo...Today is Earth Day. What are you doing to reduce your carbon footprint today? Or any day for that matter. We've replaced pretty much all of our incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents. I buy organic when I can. Yesterday I re-potted a whole bunch of houseplants, and James started our vegetable garden. We're growing our own, and yes, organic.

I bought a permanent coffee filter for my coffee maker last week. And when I do my grocery shopping, I take my own, re-usable canvas shopping bags. I've been doing that for several years now, but I think I'm one of very few, if not the only one, in this town that does! Its fairly common back home, but apparently not so much here.

I've been thinking of getting a couple portable solar panels. We can't afford to convert entirely to solar, but maybe we can take a couple of small appliances off-grid. Like our cell phones and coffee maker, maybe the bread machine.

I have been looking at new car price-tags, and wondering how I'll be able to get something a lot more environmentally friendly. I can't afford a hybrid (not with my wages and with our medical bills!), but I may be able to finagle a smaller car that uses less gas than our gas guzzling Escape. We'd have to keep the Escape to take the dogs when they go anywhere with us, but for me to just get back and forth to work or shopping, I don't need the monstrosity.

Here's a website that has a list of things that we can all do to help reduce greenhouse gasses.

Well....Happy Earth Day. What will you do to make a difference?  ¶ 10:01 AM 1 Comments

  Pet food recall extended... More pet foods have been added to the recal list. Alpo (made by Purina) canned foods have now been recalled.

Please, please please! Everybody, read your pet's food labels to make sure they Do Not Contain wheat gluten! Wheat Gluten is the common denominator in all of these foods being recalled. The supplier in China (where they do not have the same regulations as we do) is sending contaminated wheat gluten to pet food manufacturers in North America, so far it is just Menu Foods (who manufacture several dozens of brands of foods) and Purina.

However, it is Only the canned and "wet" pouched foods, and some treats. The wheat gluten is being used as a thickener in the gravies in these foods, and as a binder in some "chewy" treats from Purina.

Just read the labels, and if it has wheat gluten in it, stay away from it! Buy something else. DO NOT feed your pet any food that has wheat gluten in it, just because they are not currently showing any signs of illness. They may already be sick, and by the time they start showing symptoms, it could be too late!

There are several brands of foods that do not use wheat at all. Chicken Soup brands does not. Most dry foods do not have wheat gluten (but most have too many other grains in them, which are not generally good for pets. corn especially). We are currently eating Nutro Ultra Holistic. Its a bit expensive, but there's no wheat, and no corn, and no soy. Just chicken, lamb, salmon and rice and brewers yeast. But we will probably switch back to Chicken Soup brand again. The Nutro doesn't seem to fill them up and they need to eat more of it. The Chicken Soup keeps them full and healhy on just 2 cups per feeding. The Nutro they keep looking for more a couple hours later. Maybe its like Chinese food. ;-)

If anybody's pet has been affected by this nasty recall, please take care of them. I hope they recover.

If you have not been affected by the recall, just remember to keep reading those food labels! If it says "wheat gluten" on it, don't buy it! And stay tuned to the news, we never know if more products will be added to the list of recalls.

Paws crossed, this will be over soon. Eat safe!  ¶ 12:44 PM 0 Comments