Okay, you may think we’re nuts, with all the snow and cold we’ve been experiencing. But to do a good job, we’ve got lots to think about. With six big gardens, growing several different varieties of squash, melons, and corn is tricky. You have to plan well to avoid crossing these varieties. Corn is pollinated by the wind. So, we’ve got to make sure the wind can’t blow pollen from one garden’s corn to another. We also plant very early corns with quite late corns, giving them two or three weeks between pollination times. Then you have the insect pollinated varieties of squash and melons. Maybe the wind can’t blow from one garden to another, but we have to figure out how far pollinators will fly. Such “tricks” as having plenty of flowers in each garden, including “real” flowers which usually grace flower beds, will hold pollinators in one garden until they get their fill. Even then, we make sure there’s also a barrier, such as a heavily wooded area plus great distances between gardens growing the same species of crop. Then, we have to figure out just how much of a certain crop we really need, what has to be started indoors and how much can be direct seeded. It becomes a real period of study, for sure!
We are puzzled at the behavior of Sarge, our Mastiff puppy. For some reason, sometimes he refuses to walk through the entryway, like it was covered with rattlesnakes. Then he’ll just walk through, as if there was nothing wrong. We joke and say sometimes there are ghosts there and we just can’t see them. Now, this 80 pound “puppy” has never been hurt there and Hondo walks through calmly. Tonight, Will took half an hour, walking a few inches ahead of him, then stopping until Sarge caught up. Finally, Sarge took a hop and trotted into the living room. But when I came upstairs to blog, he walked to the front door and is now there, whining, trying to get up enough courage to go back to the living room. I sure hope he grows out of that! Hondo thinks it’s funny. They will play for a long time. Then, when Hondo is tired of it, he’ll just back up past the “danger zone” and sit down. You can just about hear him say “Suck it up, Buttercup!”
— Jackie
We’ve seen cats, yes, cat(s) that are scared of heater vents in the floor. I’m wondering if Sarge is going blind and there are just some places he can’t recognize, or maybe has early onset senility.
Happy a Thanksgiving! I sure hope you figure out what is going on with Sarge. It sounds quite interesting. Garden planning is always a joy. I like to start in January when the weather is foul outside. It gives me hope for spring. Prayers for a blessed week.
Hi Jackie! Happy Thanksgiving! Interesting about your dog. We’ve got one, similar. Got him as a young pup, never raised a voice to him or anything, and yet….. sometimes we wonder what’s going through his mind. He’s 3 now. My daughter says he’s autistic. Afraid of the dark, won’t go off the porch at night unless we throw a ‘cookie’, sometimes is fine and then for no reason, acts weird. More sensitive than others we’ve had. Just one of those extra grace required lives. We all love him like crazy. Not sure if he’s gotten confidence or not from the other 2 dogs. It just seems like everything is on his own time and terms. He’s good, just different.
My dog is exactly the same way. He is the first dog I have ever had that acts this way.
Maybe they sense something going on in the world that we are unaware of? Maybe the 5G towers affect them? Time will tell.
Hey Jackie and Will, Happy Thanksgiving for sure. We all have so much to be thankful for. And just thinking about all your intended planting makes me tired LOL… I would trust my pet. He senses “something”. If it were a mouse under the floor, he would not be afraid but digging and sniffing. I forgot where you got him. Maybe his former owner knows something, too, that might help. Does he tremble or growl? Does his hair stand up on his neck? Does he lay his ears back? Dogs are smart, take heed!! It might be something above him and he is waiting until it is gone. But whatever it is, he don’t like it!
Get down on the floor and look at it from his level.
My dog slid somehow on a section of floor and I think he thought something “got him”. He developed some anxiety over it. I put a rug across that area and he was fine after that. If a rug doesn’t work try changing up the area by moving some things around temporarily. Good luck and let us know how it goes.
Sure hope your Thanksgiving is lovely!!! Pyro
Happy Thanksgiving, Selena!!
You’re not nuts to be planning the garden already. I’ve been doing that too as far as determinating rotation between families of veggies so now I know where legumes will go, where brassicas will go etc. How much of exactly what will go where and when is still TBA. But you sure have a lot more layers of thinking to do with that 3D chess game you have to plan!
Happy Thanksgiving to your and yours. Y’all are gonna eat WELL! :D
Yep, we will. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!
What about the antlers hanging on wall. Think he’s just noticed them?
I don’t think it’s that. He looks down at the floor when he walks, like it was going to fall out from under him.
Do you have something electric near that entryway that is on sometimes but not others? Is he sensing an electromagnetic field? Or maybe he’s just messing with you ;-) Enjoy your planning and your Thanksgiving!
That’s an idea, but I don’t think so. Maybe he’s training us. Happy Thanksgiving!!
Can’t wai for the new catalog. We have to try the new paste tomatoes.
Happy Turkey Day!! We had a dog that was afraid of hard wook floors! Pulled most of my hair out trying to get the dog to go outside. Had to get a long throw rug to get to the back door. When we put that down, dog walked arcoss the bridge.
I’m picturing Hondo laughing his butt off. Maybe offer a treat to cross the threshold, this is strange behavior but Sarge must be afraid of a noise. A most joyous Thanksgiving to your wonderful family regardless of the day it’s celebrated. Together is better.
Treats don’t work. We’ve tried everything he loves. No dice. Hondo says he’ll gladly eat them, though!! There really isn’t any noise there. And he’ll do the “I’m afraid of the boogey man!” thing, then turn right around and trot back to the front door, unafraid. It’s got us puzzled for sure!
Yes, together is definitely better! Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving . Snow about gone here with unexpected warm up. I’m hauling blocked up wood previously cut up. Something has spooked Sarge. I’ve always found pets (dogs) more sensitive to danger than us. We got 6 does and 3 bucks in our hunt which has created a lot of work (but good). I’ll start soon to plan next year’s gardens. I’m thankful for each day.
And Happy Thanksgiving to you, too! We’re warm too. What a relief! We thought something had spooked Sarge but he’ll act deadly afraid, come into the living room, then turn right around and trot to the front door. Or the other way around.
Happy T-Day and who knows what goes thru the minds of our pets lol. Planning is a great use of being-stuck-inside time.
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