Our baby we adopted a year ago. A Rags to Riches story.
8 years ago
This is Rags our baby we adopted a year ago. He was only 4 lbs., very skinny and terribly afraid of any loud noises and fast movements. We think he had been abused and I know very neglected. The shelter told us that a teenager had him and banned him to a dirt basement and he was tied up with no water or food when they found him and rescued him. I do not understand how they got the owners to hand over the dog without prosecution but that is what happened. He had been living on bugs and STILL likes to eat them. He is fed well, but I think it is from a time when he had no food and it has become a habit. He might be a little over weight now, but the vet has not said. He weighs a healthy 18 lbs. now. So this is his Rags to Riches story. We adore and love him with all our hearts. He is the King of the House now and we think that is just fine. He had such a hard life before so he deserves to be the King now. What do you think he is mixed with?
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First year failure stories please!
Comments (22)My first year of gardening was in my mid teens (I was given a fairly sheltered life and still prefer it). I had made two 2Âx4Â raised beds 12" high, filled them with topsoil harvested from an out of the way location (on the property) and a few bags of store-bought manure. My parentÂs place happened to be where a full grown bodybuilder would be lucky to get the tip of a shovel 3" into undisturbed ground , so the filling of the beds was an ordeal. I planted each of the beds with 3 rows of red bush beans (I donÂt know why anymore, I was just a kid). I watered and waited, watered again the next day, and again the next. Then at one strange moment the next day I looked upon my creation and just happened to notice the five 18" tall tomato plants growing in each of the beds! You might think that at this point I was very excited about having plants in the garden, or that one of my parents was being nice, making sure that their child had a successful first garden - I tell you now that this was NOT the case! First, I was 15ish - not 5ish! - I knew there were differences between plants and had a bit of a grasp on the concept of time. There is no second point, but what I tell you now is that I had awoken a sleeping gardener who had coveted my land and claimed it as her own (sure she is my Ma and technically maybe it could have possibly been her own, but anyway). I listened to her excuses and cleverly concealed my rage eventually salvaging a bit of a "crop" from my remaining shaded/stunted red beans. Long story short - The next year I grew a 98 lb. pumpkin(who knows why? I was just a kid) - I was aiming for a 100+ but oh well ( IÂm still waiting for the "Pacific Giant" pumpkin) Oh, and I also had probably about 10 Roma tomato plants... :) Many years have passed... I have a garden at my own place now but continue to garden with Ma in the same spot (that has expanded quite a bit). It has been rewarding beyond words (even though the scars from that first year have left me a bitter, bitter husk of a person.) Pep talk time: Get back out there and garden! The fall crops of many vegetables are said to be better than the spring crop - especially root crops. The link below seems to be a good one for your state - it is from an interesting college called Purdue (where it seems that they are famous for making train parts in addition to gardening calendars). Check out Table 2. Too bad that you donÂt have a piece of ground that you could garden regularly for a while - IMO the ground improves quite a bit during the first few years. Maybe you could make raised beds and take the soil with you ? - I read somewhere that this was a French tradition. Best of luck to you! Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/hort/ext/Pubs/ho/HO_186.pdf...See MoreThank you and a raccoon story (long)
Comments (20)Thanks Marilyn for your story. Although I am not a rescuer, I had my bunch of racoon friends (worked nightshift, alone as a desk clerk) who visited the trash cans, ate my night snack and tried to enter the motel lobby daily. Righ now my backyard seems to be a haven for short-tailed critters. Stumpy, a squirrel with 1" tail comes daily for her peanuts, she showed up for the first time in 03. She also has only 2 claws on her right front paw. Bobby (bobtail) is a racoon who sits at the backdoor every morning and waits for the bowl of food and that I move the big saucers I use as birdbath in order to check if there are snails underneath and once in a while I see a possum which also has a short tail, about 6" long. My horde of squirrels all have names too and some of them sem to know theirs, Stumpy sure does. I really admire your work and am so sorry that Vernon did not make it....See MoreWe Had Our Christmas With Zachary.........
Comments (24)What a cutie! I am so happy he was told early. My friend and neighbor never told her daughter that her dad wasn't her real dad...she found out at school from her friend who is in reality her half sister! Her friend and her share the same dad and she never knew it! Her half sister knew for years and when they were in junior high she told some friends and it got back to my friends daughter. They were 13 at the time and things have never been the same around their house. It destroyed the relationship between her and the dad that raised her since birth. Terrible resentment and it really put a strian on the whole famly. I think it's better to tell them young and let them grow with it. Zach is so lucky to have 2 families that can do this for him! He's such a cutie...looks like Caryn, I've always thought so....See MoreOur baby we adopted a year ago.
Comments (9)That is the unmistakable terrier face and also looks like some terrier hard coat. The legs are something else - hard to tell because I can't see the rest of the body. It could even be golden retriever, just going by the legs alone. How about behavior? Does he like to chase a ball and bring it back? Does he like to swim? Is he loveable, but doesn't learn new things easily? Those are retriever traits. Does he chase small animals with great focus and determination? Does he bark to warn you that someone is coming? (And bark and bark and bark.) Is he determined to hold his ground and stand up to much larger animals? Is he independent and fine being on his own for hours at a time? Those are terrier behaviors. Is he always where you are? Does he get stressed being left alone? Is he happy being next to you on the couch without having to play a game or be the focus of attention? Those are companion dog traits - dogs like Havanese, Tibetian Terrier, and Shih Tzu. What else does he do? What are his strengths and weaknesses....See More
8 years ago- 8 years ago
8 years ago
8 years ago- 8 years ago
8 years agoI
we adopted Penny in March. Apparent,y the person who adopted her from the same shelter in Jan 2017 had to pick her up there in November when she was picked up as a stray. At that time they told 5he owner she had heart worm and needed to see a vet ASAP. She was picked up again in February limping. It was thought she might have been hit by a car. She still had heart worms and the owner didn’t claim her this time. We adopted her the day she was eligible for adoption. Our first time adopting an older dog. Shelter said she was 7, vet thinks she is 5. She has an easy life now! Daily dog walks, her own quilt fior her bed, lots of treats, toys, an upcoming trip planned to a local ice cream shop that sells pup pops. We are going there Saturday after the vet. One thing I don’t ‘get’. She does not know the command for sit, come, lay down. We even had someone we knew that knows several languages try them. Nope- just looks and wags her tail. The vet said maybe she was an outside dog. She is very well mannered though. There are DNA tests now for dogs to see what breeds they are. That would be interesting.
User thanked lisa_fla- 8 years ago
8 years agolast modified: 8 years ago
I may have posted this before, but this is my Mama donkey that I rescued last fall, and her baby, Frosty, that was born Dec. 23. I also have her older brother, Tramp, and this is the three of them, made a couple of weeks ago.Frosty, Tramp and Mama
User thanked marilyn_c
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