Let's Talk about Gardens

@jimhd, Jim what a loving tribute to your Barnabas love. The joy of a pet and the grief at their loss is so hard. When I've told others that I've held my pets as they were being mercifully sent for their final sleep, they say they can't imagine doing that. I am so glad you could because being together for that goodbye has been so meaningful for me and I hope it brought some comfort along with the tears that flow for you as well. If others could witness how quick and painless for the pet euthanasia is, I think more would be comforted in their loss.

Argh, I also know well the exasperation of the neighbor's Bermuda grass creep under the fence onto my garden that makes for a constant chore for me. If only my veggies would flourish as profusely! Smiles

@jimhd, Jim what a loving tribute to your Barnabas love. The joy of a pet and the grief at their loss is so hard. When I've told others that I've held my pets as they were being mercifully sent for their final sleep, they say they can't imagine doing that. I am so glad you could because being together for that goodbye has been so meaningful for me and I hope it brought some comfort along with the tears that flow for you as well. If others could witness how quick and painless for the pet euthanasia is, I think more would be comforted in their loss.

Argh, I also know well the exasperation of the neighbor's Bermuda grass creep under the fence onto my garden that makes for a constant chore for me. If only my veggies would flourish as profusely! Smiles

@funcountess Are they hardy to -10? I have a collection indoors, but don't ask me their names. My cactus guide is out in the garage, and I won't get out there until tomorrow. My feet and back are hurting too much to take any non-essential steps.

This week I laid a path from the deck to the cellar, using 12" pavers. Today I trundled dirt with my wheelbarrow from the pile out at the northwest corner of our place to the new path. I needed to put quite a bit of dirt next to the path to make it level with the lawn. Several years ago I made the path, two pavers wide. Over time the shrub and a bunch of blue fescue clumps had grown and nearly covered the path. So I moved the pavers a bit and pruned the shrub (the name of which is buried somewhere in the back of my brain) and made the path three pavers wide. A lot of work down on my knees.

After moving dirt and some rocks to put next to the path, I weeded my Barnabas garden. Barnabas was my service dog for 7 years, and one night he had a stroke or some other brain event and couldn't walk. Having him put down the next morning was a really distressing job. At the vet's office they have a quiet room, and I sat next to him and cried for an hour. One of our neighbors came over with his bobcat and dug a big grave for Barnabas. I planted an orange wild rose, along with several other things, to mark his new home.

I put the Barnabas garden next to the fence, which may not have been the best place. Our neighbors have their field in pasture grass, with 2 or 3 cuttings a year, and their grass makes its way to our side of the fence, so it's an ongoing chore keeping the fence line clean. That accounts for 90% of the weeds in his garden.

Time for supper now.

Jim

@fiesty76 @jimhd I'll trade [I think] crabgrass for the wild blackberries invading from the empty lot next door. The only thing positive about them is the fact they are helping to hold up the old fence ;)) The neighbor brush-hogged our property lines on two sides which border empty lots, so we have added repair/replace fence to the list. There are 10 empty lots, a long crazy legal story, next to us. The wild blackberries have taken over the marshy soil. Canes are almost as thick as my wrist! The urge to get starts and plant some veggies is getting stronger! I had no idea how much this was a big deal around here, everyone trading starts and crops!

@funcountess Thanks for the information. First I'll see if that cactus makes it onto the truck this weekend. We drive Interstate 5 usually because it is a straight shot.
Ginger

@fiesty76 @jimhd I'll trade [I think] crabgrass for the wild blackberries invading from the empty lot next door. The only thing positive about them is the fact they are helping to hold up the old fence ;)) The neighbor brush-hogged our property lines on two sides which border empty lots, so we have added repair/replace fence to the list. There are 10 empty lots, a long crazy legal story, next to us. The wild blackberries have taken over the marshy soil. Canes are almost as thick as my wrist! The urge to get starts and plant some veggies is getting stronger! I had no idea how much this was a big deal around here, everyone trading starts and crops!

@funcountess Thanks for the information. First I'll see if that cactus makes it onto the truck this weekend. We drive Interstate 5 usually because it is a straight shot.
Ginger

@fiesty @gingerw @zep @funcountess @zep and others who've responded.

Barnabas was a family pet the first couple years of his life - he was the runt of a litter on a ranch east of us, from unplanned breeding between an Ausie dad and a border collie mom, and people chose his litter mates, but no one wanted him and he was going to be put down the day after we found him - he loved everyone and the feeling was mutual. So he was one of our rescue dogs. He became my service dog after some training, much more than a pet. He was very well behaved. The relationship between a handler and his service animal is even closer than a pet. The evening Barnabas had the stroke I took him to an emergency vet that's open 24/7, then went back home and spent a sleepless night with him. In the morning I took him to our local vet and sat in the back seat with him, and held him while she injected the medication. I felt him finally relax, then stop breathing.

We lived for 14 years in Albany, Oregon, on the frontage road next to I 5. Over the course of those years, we saw a huge difference in the traffic flow. For a long time, we knew when it was 11 p.m.because the freeway emptied and it became quiet. But the last several years it changed. Traffic continued through the night. We got used to the noise. If we wanted to talk and be heard, we sat in the back yard.

And you probably noticed that I referred the freeway as I 5. Sometimes we called it Highway 5, but our young son called it our freeway.

Jim

@jimhd I am so sorry you had to put Barnabas down . I had to with my dog also it was the hardest thing I had to do . After my husband died he was my buddy even more so It was hard especially that year I had just fractured my L2 from work . He had fallen of my bed and broke his hip also . Yoda was 15 . sob I,ll still get choked up

@gingerw I'm surprised to see you refer to it as Interstate 5, rather than "the 5", something that always cracked me up when we were in CA a lot visiting my stepson in S.F. and my son in L.A. One time we did "the 5" from stepson to son's, and that road is so boring.
JK