A couple of full tree shots. The more I look at this Fireglow the more the ultimate shape solidifies in my mind. I'm very glad that Al (tapla) encouraged me to remove the main trunk on this tree. The lower limb is going to turn into a beautiful 2-3' tall tree. The basic shape of this tree is there. There are multiple plains (vertically) and multiple clusters (in the round). Now, over the next couple of years, I need to put into practice what I've been reading about judicious pruning, bud pinching (to reduce internode length and finish each limb), and partial defoliation (to reduce leaf size). Probably my favorite tree at this point. The Corallinum (due mostly to Al's help in pruning) is developing its top on on side. This tree certainly has shown resilience after loosing alot of it's root mass when dug out of the ground this spring. Now to keep the top in check so the bottom back buds and begins to fill in. Some back budding is already beginning low on this tree. Yay! Thanks for the encouragement and guidance Al. Blake

That just shows you how dogs just need the "right" home. Those two dogs just didn't get along - in another environment he was a perfectly good dog. That's a great story - thanks for sharing. That's why I wouldn't tell a shelter why I was giving up a dog if I felt that it was just a situational problem. But honestly, I've been bit by my own dogs while trying to break up fights between them. It's amazingly painful. One time I felt physically sick for an hour or so after I was bit - I think my body was in a mild state of shock. vicky

I will offer advice based on my own experience. First of all, I don't really believe that there is a one-size-fits-all solution for all dogs and all situations. I do believe that your dog needs to know that you are the boss. I do not, however, like to hear people talk of "domination" or "pack leader." You must, first and foremost, protect your child. I would think that a terrible bite on a child could happen in a matter of seconds, and you would not be able to sufficiently intervene in time. Just because it has "never" happened before, doesn't mean it can't. You have to exercise reasonable caution. I would guess that he is stressed from the change of having a baby in the house. This can be a major adjustment for some dogs and dealing with a dog undergoing this stress has been well documented. One of my favorite dog behaviorists is Dr. Dodman. I'm attaching a link below to his books. If you google his name, you'll see that he offers advice as a guest on many websites and programs, too. He is not a fan of Cesar Milan's methods. Taking him on bike rides and walks is great! We used to babysit a Dalmatian and they are definitely hyper dogs. Giving him that exercise can only be good. I also think that making a dog perform SOME subservient type things like allowing you out the door first reinforces that you are the boss, but being super dominant to the point of scaring a dog or breaking its spirit isn't very constructive, IMHO. My dog was an Irish Wolfhound, adopted at 5 months. He would growl at the kids if they walked near him when he was chewing on a chewy or eating. I think this is innate behavior. Not at my husband or me, just the kids. Perhaps he felt that they were competition bc of their size. Perhaps he just respected us more as the bosses. When he would exhibit this behavior, we would immediately scold him and take away his treat. We then worked on the "leave it" command with the treats (not the food), where he would only be allowed to have the treat when we said it was ok, even if it was laying right next to him. We wanted him to lose the proprietary feeling toward the treat. Within a safe distance, and with both of us supervising, we would have the oldest child (12) walk near the dog and immediately scold him and take away the treat if he showed any signs of aggression. We then did this with the younger child (7). Eventually, we were able to shorten the distance and ultimately taught him to allow the kids to actually take the treat away. He eventually learned that aggressive behavior was unacceptable and where he landed in the hierarchy. Now - he was a puppy at the time first of all, AND the kids were older. This was my experience with my dog. I had a neighbor who bought a St. Bernard as a puppy and the minute it showed any aggression toward her daughter, she had it put to sleep, saying that a dog is either docile or not. So there are differing opinions on what can be taught, at what age, and to what breed. That's why I encourage you to read material by some respected behaviorists and try some initial related training to see how successful you are. Training a dog is highly dependent on timing and clarity so that they can understand exactly what you want them to do. And it requires a lot of consistent repetition. CamG, you sound very intelligent and sensitive to me. If, after reasonable efforts, your dog cannot be trained appropriately, you may have to find him a new home. Having to make that decision is the last resort, of course, but may be necessary in YOUR situation. Rather than CL, it might be better to turn your dog over to a no-kill shelter that will have adoption safeguards in place. I do hope you can keep him as a member of your family, tho. Good luck. Here is a link that might be useful: Dr. Nicholas Dodman

Jen, How rude of your DH to bring home germs to you. I hope you get well more quickly than usual. Jennifer, I really think more and more than whatever you and I both had in November was the flu. I've been around so many sick people (despite my best efforts to avoid them all) and haven't come down with anything, so I think I've already had it and now have some degree of immunity. I really do believe that. Eva Purple Ball is a good tomato. The color really is a deep pink, not purple, and the fruit are very smooth and globe-shaped, and maybe weigh 5-7 oz. each. It produces a decent harvest here. Rebecca, Take care of yourself. Everything else can wait until you're able to breathe more easily again. I've noticed lots of folks in our area are having respiratory issues lately. Nancy, We fed the Daytimer lust by buying them and they were marvelous. I think that was in the 1980s, maybe the 1990s too. I don't miss having one now and y'all know if I had one now, I wouldn't use it. I used to always buy Tim one for either his birthday (which is in December) or for Christmas until he started keeping track of everything on his phone maybe 5 years back. If he ever loses his phone, he's going to be so disorganized. Lucky went out yesterday, stayed out all night, but was outdoors wanting to come in and screaming to be fed this morning, so I do believe she's here to stay. We have been adopted so many times by so many animals since moving here. I guess we are big suckers because we cannot turn away an animal that needs a home. Like you, I never forget the pets we've lost. I think of them with happiness and with sadness, and I don't want to forget them. I've learned the more love we give to these animals, the more we receive back from them....and the more love we have to share with the next animal that comes along. Sometimes people tell me they don't have enough love to expand to another animal. I think they are wrong---I don't think you have to stretch some finite amount of love to make it cover another animal----I think the amount of love you have to give just is infinite and just grows and multiplies. Don't freak out over the seed sowing and WSing. It isn't like you get only one chance and don't get a do-over. Be patient. Stuff will sprout and grow. You'll find places to plant it all, and if any varieties don't grow (assuming you didn't sow a whole pack of seeds), you can just sow more seeds. We have a long season and plenty of time to plant more and more and more..... If y'all were warm yesterday at 46, then today we were hot at 63 degrees---and sunny! I love it and think we will have a couple more 'hot' January days before the next wintery blast hits us down here sometime Thursday. It's supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow and maybe tomorrow night, and they mentioned the word 'thunderstorm'. The amount of rain expected is small, except for anyone who lucks out and gets a thunderstorm. If we are going to have a thunderstorm, I wish it would just go ahead and hail. That way, we can get our annual quota of hail out of the way before there's any plants out in the garden that it could hurt. Amy, I think God sends us replacement animals before an old one dies. It happens every time. Lucky had been hanging around for quite some time now, but lurking nearby---not coming directly to us. I saw her for weeks and weeks before Yellow Cat suddenly went downhill and died. She has taken his place in the spare room upstairs and acts like she's been here forever. Shady is the last of a couple of litters of kittens gifted to us by Emmitt and Midnight when we first moved here and they just showed up out of nowhere. I enjoyed raising kittens and keeping them together their whole lives, but we got Midnight fixed after her second litter because we didn't want to turn into crazy cat people with 247 cats or something. Since then, we get each cat fixed ASAP after it shows up or at the appropriate time after it is born. (This, of course, does not work when a mama cat shows up with a bunch of babies in tow. and you find yourself adopting 5, 6 or 7 cats instead of 1.) It must be lonely for Shady to have outlived all his litter mates. He is a good decade older than the other cats we have now, and he does act paternal towards them. I think he learned good paternal behavior from his dad, Emmitt. He loves on all of them, likes to cuddle and snuggle, and tolerates no infighting amongst them, just like his dad before him. He even sits in the exact same spot on the back steps where Emmitt used to sit and watch over the yard and its inhabitants. It is like Shady was in training to take Emmitt's place. Honey sounds so sweet, while at the same time being pure puppy and totally destructive. I love it when a dog has that sort of happiness just oozing out of her pores----no wonder we fall in love with them. I have found it very aggravating to garden with puppies, but they aren't puppies long and don't remember destructive forever. One day you realize they've settled down a lot, and then it seems like they suddenly, somehow, in the blink of an eye have gone from being settled down to old and lazy. I look at Jet now and think of how he aggravated me his first 3 years or so and think that I'd give anything to have one of those puppy years back. He mostly sleeps now, and I guess that is the stage he's at in his life now. He is still refusing to eat his Prescription canned food, and the dry is not due to arrive until Tuesday, but the medication seems to be helping him a lot. He doesn't have to go outside nearly as often and he seems like he even feels better. Kim, The story about the Pyrex cup being your coffee mug made me giggle. I'm glad Sophie didn't lose her pups. Rebecca, Our TSC usually has 3 to 5 good basic varieties selected just for OK, sold in bulk from large containers by the pound. They usually have them sometime in January or earliest February. A little later in the season, they'll have maybe 4 to 6 varieties of fingerlings in little bags like bulbs come in. I've grown and liked all the fingerlings, though they produce less for the space than full-sized tomatoes. Atwoods has seed potatoes, about the same varieties as TSC, and usually a little earlier, but theirs come in netting bags of maybe 3, 5 or 7 lbs. Our Wal-Mart usually gets seed potatoes in January (the common ones like Yukon Gold, Norland Red, sometimes Adirondack Blue or All Blue), some form of Russett, etc. and Home Depot usually gets them in February. I have ordered seed potatoes online a few times, but they are very costly when ordered online/shipped and I haven't bought them that way in some time since it really isn't necessary. I started doing it so I could try some of the fingerlings....but now those are available here, and I ordered online the last time so I could grow some of the purple potatoes---fun, but not necessary. Just relax. The potatoes likely will be in the stores by February, and I don't think I'd plant any early than February if I lived as far north as you do. I haven't been in any of the stores here looking for seed potatoes this week, but it would not surprise me if the potatoes are there now. If not, they'll be here in another week or so. If I'm watching for them, they never show up, but as soon as I forget about them and stop watching for them to appear, suddenly they are everywhere. It happens every time. If you buy any grocery store potatoes to use as seed potatoes, just buy them (now) and put them in a cool, dry place and they'll sprout and be ready to plant by the time you're ready to plant them. The only downside is you won't know the exact variety and they won't be certified seed potatoes. Certified seed potatoes haven't been treated with a fungicide to ensure they are not carrrying diseases, but in the years in which I have used grocery store potatoes as seed potatoes, I have not had any special disease issues with them either. Remember, the reason to buy organic is so they'll sprout---conventional grocery store potatoes are sprayed with anti-sprouting chemicals to prevent them from sprouting so, even though that stuff wears off and they eventually sprout, it can take months and months. I have bought seed potatoes from The Potato Garden and they arrived a little later than I had hoped for (but they have to work around what the weather is doing). The seed potatoes were small but healthy but grew just fine and produced well. Still, it was much more costly than buying local. I already had received the catalogs you got today, but the new ones that arrived here today were Willhite Seed and Richter's Herbs. Now, if there is a catalog that is going to have some things I simply cannot resist, it is Richter's. I always have fun ordering new (to me) herbs from them and growing them. I've never had a crop failure or germination issues with their seeds either. The stores here have a lot more seed-starting supplies this week than they did last week, and it does my heart so much good to see them. Irrationally, while we were in Sam's, I wanted to buy some MG Soil-less Mix---not because I have a need for it or a plan for it, but simply because it was there. I didn't buy any because if there is one word that describes my approach to gardening this year it is "restraint". (lol, and we'll see how long that lasts). Dawn