i have a secret
but after you see this, the cat...errr...dog will be out of the bag!
i have been on a list for years to receive a retired show dog from a specific breeder. carolyn bred the dog who won best of breed at westminster this year, a truly awesome accomplishment!!! ALL of her dogs are health tested to the max, as are all of the outside stud dogs she uses. "outside" meaning she does not keep a stud dog herself.
carolyn contacted me last week and offered me this girl...meet "Divine Acres Out of Paradise", call name Eden. eden is 3 years old and carolyn tells me she loves everybody and everything. we talked at length about 3 females in the same house but we are both satisfied that eden and my girls will become fast friends from the get-go. i am beyond excited about this girl!! at 3 years old and known to be healthy (good hips, thyroid, heart, eyes, elbows), she should be with me for many years to come.
since this opportunity has come up, i have wrestled with myself over and over and over again about taking her as opposed to waiting for another dane in need of rescue. this is a chance i will have only once as there are many people on her list. after losing samson at such a tender age, a dog i thought i would have for years and not just months, i have decided to take advantage of this opportunity to have a super well-bred dane. there will be other rescues in my future, of that i am sure. i just need a break from unhealthy dogs after losing 3 danes in less than 18 months.
eden is scheduled to be spayed august 5. it will be 3 weeks before she is healed so i will be getting her sometime in early september. i am only posting this here (not on facebook or anywhere else until she is here with us) because i can't contain my excitement!
hope you all approve! :)
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Comments (9)Dreams, particularly recurring dreams, are often our nocturnal way of working through conflicts and unresolved issues. The key to interepreting them is to realize that there are no outside pieces - there really weren't any hostas or yard or neighbor or landscapers - everything in the dream is a part of you. A Gestalt therapist would help you sort our what part of you is the irate gardener, what part is the hostas, the hardscape, the "landscaper", the neighbor... and how those parts are in conflict. (on a side note... it is amazing how often in dreams that people like landscapers, mechanics, managers, DMV workers, cops, etc. stand it to bring out our conflicts with God/nature/fate and the unreasonable curves life tosses at us...) One reasonable interpretation would be that the hostas and garden are the part of you that is your current life, including home, marriage, children, work... always with the possibility of improving, adjusting, doing a major refurbishing, or dumping it all and starting over again. Anyone who is married with kids must have days when that lingering underlying question rises, even if we don't ever let ourselves say it out loud - "what if I just dumped all of this and started over?!" Another reasonable possibility is that you had too much pepperoni pizza too close to bedtime......See MoreOpinions?
Comments (23)All right acj, I am going to attempt coloring my petty markup here: Paul, I will take the liberty of highlighting things I feel need correcting though I feel your story is vastly improved. Greetings from the garden - I enjoy this time of year because we get a little rest. Not a lot of rest because of all the festivals and shows, including the Oklahoma Garden Festival next week downtown Downtown where? There is still plenty of gardening to be done. As my cohort says Nothing says Valentines like onions. This is true, at least in terms of when we need to plant them. Mid-February is the best time to get your onions in the ground to ensure that (use "the" not that) largest bulbs possible. You have a few choices variety wise. What ever (whatever, one word) you do dont fall for the Vidalia onion hype. The big V only tastes like the big V if it is grown in Vidalia county and the surrounding counties in Georgia. In Oklahoma it will just taste like a yellow granex onion. The Texas 1015y is the best sweet onion variety for Oklahoma. So do like I do and give your sweetheart a bunch of 1015s for Valentines. (1015y's?) There is still a little time for armchair gardening. The seed catalogs started flowing in after the holidays and they are sooooooo enticing. I love to dream about all the new gardens I am going to put in this year. The dreams are so much easier to handle than the shovel and wheelbarrow. I start making lists of the seed I want to order. There is (are)always a couple from Burpees and a few from Territorial Seed and a few more from Seed Savers and and and (and so on). I try to list all the seeds from all the companies on one sheet of paper with cost (including shipping). I try not to let my wife see this list. She gets to see version 2.0 or so. Once I regain consciousness ( I know you are being humorous but the consciousness line doesn't work for me as presented) I start to weed (weed out) the seeds. I try to cut the list in half and maybe half again. My eyes are always bigger than my appetite, or at least my budget. I know seeds are pretty economical, but I dont usually need 50 Echinacea. Why dont all the seed companies offer a seed packet with about 10 seeds for about a dollar? I would order a lot more from a company that catered to my kind of gardener. Once I have paired (pared) my list down I let my wife take a look at it. She is pretty good at reducing it further. I dont like this color, Im allergic to this, or we dont have 10 acres Gosh, I hope she doesnt read this? (not a question so ditch ?). Dont forget to visit your local garden center. They carry many of the seeds you want and you dont have to pay shipping. I would reword this to say something like: Local garden centers will carry many of the seeds you want and you will save the cost of shipping so visit them first. Ok, (Okay)now I have the secret (to success) for your 2004 garden. (something doesn't sound right here, don't open with okay, now) To borrow (to repeat a phrase,)an overused phrase Just Do It. Thats right, dont let this season go without doing something in the garden that you really want to do. I dont care if it is a water garden, an arbor, new blackberries, or an island bed in the front yard. You (front yard, you-no period just comma is it is a continuation of the same sentence) wont be disappointed if you go for it. Here is an example - last year we put a hoophouse in the backyard. Weve wanted a hoophouse for several years, (no comma) but we never got a round (around is one word) to it. It has been wonderful to enjoy a (ditch the "a" and pluralize salads) fresh home grown salad all winter. There are so many projects on my 2004 wish list that I need to quit my job or get another one so I can afford to have someone else do the grunt work. I want a new porch in the front and a new patio in the back The new patio will need an arbor. A water garden would be wonderful. Oh well, good luck with your wish list, (add- and I will dream on.) The story still seems a slight bit fragmented going from onions to what you want to what I want , your wish list, my wish list. I can't put my finger on it but I think JC forinari offered the best observations further back in the forum. This is all offered in good spirit. I wasn't going to post this here because it may seem a bit too critical. Again, proofreading of this sort will make articles more editor friendly....See MoreAnyone have a great pumpernickel recipe?
Comments (1)I haven't made one but the most recent issue of The Baking Sheet from KA has one...I don't see it on line but this one caught my eye. King ARthur Russian Rye ....See MoreNinapearl
7 years ago
nannygoat18
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7 years agolast modified: 7 years agohi everybody!!! we're finally home!!! had a wonderful visit with carolyn and learned so much doggy stuff from her!
eden is absolutely EVERYTHING i was hoping for! she is gorgeous, lovable, adaptable and nicely obedient although she wants to explore every nook and cranny of the farm so i have to keep a close eye on her until she learns her boundaries.
the dogs' first meeting went very well. we all went for a walk and then hung out in the hotel room, the dogs slept and carolyn and i visited.
on our way home! they pretty much slept for the entire 6 hour trip. we hit every rest stop on the way to stretch our legs and give myself a break. they attracted crowds everywhere we went! there must be a hundred pictures of me and my danes taken by complete strangers. LOL
i attached a lightweight rope to her collar just for a little security. she was very good about staying right with us and if she wandered very far, all i had to do was call her name and she would come bounding back.
Ninapearl
7 years ago
pigs were all new to her. it was hilarious, she danced and bounced up and down the fence and seemed utterly fascinated with the oinkers. i'll have to take my camera out tomorrow as i'm sure she will be excited again!
wranglin' pigs is hard work!
and so typical of the breed, she loves a good sun bath!
i will have more as the days go by. please let me know when you get sick of seeing them! ;)
Ninapearl
7 years agothanks, everybody! our first night together was stellar. i left her sleeping on the couch when i went to bed as i wanted her to choose her sleeping spot. i have no idea what time during the night but she joined us eventually. she is a HUGE snuggler! today will be spent just wandering around, learning boundaries, and filling the hummingbird feeders every hour! LOL
waiting for breakfast...
Ninapearl
7 years agoi've had so much fun and enjoyment sharing this news with all of you! still haven't put it "out there" yet, will give it another couple of days but her transition here has been flawless. i often hear about the "honeymoon" period and i'm well aware of it having had several rescues over the years. however, i have never once experienced it with my danes. every single time i have brought a new dane into the fold, it has been perfect from day one! eden is no exception. she acts like she has been here her whole life! i'm sure you are entirely correct, susan, in that having well balanced dogs already here goes a long way. also, danes do so much better with their own kind. they seem to adjust much easier when there are other danes in the home.
she LOVES exploring and when she is intent on sniffing certain spots, she goes deaf. she got out of my sight while i was feeding pigs and i had a moment of panic but i called her name and she came trotting in from the alfalfa field. :)
after breakfast nap. <3
thanks for indulging me! i have waited for this girl, literally, for years! carolyn said she had me in mind all along when she got ready to place eden because she knows how much i LOVE "needy" dogs. eden is perfect that way...if i wanna cuddle, she's all up in my face. if i'm busy, she is happy to just lay in the same room with me. :)
Ninapearl
7 years agoi thought it would take longer but, here you have it!
she loves the fountain!
she asked for the keys. i couldn't say no. LOL
Ninapearl
7 years agoNinapearl
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7 years agoyes, MM, i'd love to do that! maybe i can find somebody who can photoshop the t.v. remote out. LOL
mamapinky, yes all 3 are danes. while eden is a well-bred dane, destiny is a close second although she is average as far as conformation. olivia's parents were both great danes but poorly bred ones so she does not have the typical dane conformation but her lack of physical "type" is more than made up for by her dane personality. 'livi is as lovable as they come!
i think it's safe to say, the first episode of "as the dane settles in" has concluded. LOL
Ninapearl
7 years agothanks, mamapinky. they bring me such joy!
after breakfast nap...
#rubberdog! LOL
nannygoat18