pictures of Charley – a budding gardener

 
 
Though I can definitely see he has a lot of potential for excellent gardening skills, he still spends a lot of time goofing off with “big sister”. Running, rolling around. Charley likes to grab her tail and not let go. Also he’s good at biting her ears. I sort of remember this is what Suzie used to do with Skippy.
 

Suzie and Charley

 
 
Charley is keeping me pretty busy. He loves being in the vegetable garden and quickly found the little lettuce plants. He thinks they taste very good.
 

Suzie by my garden

 
 
The garden is still producing lot’s. So many peppers and beans. I made a couple batches of bean pickles and am planting to roast and freeze peppers soon. My pepper plants are taller than me and all tangled together with the tomato vines. I love searching through them (deep in the vegetable garden jungle) for fruits. My fall salad greens, planted late, are coming along. Tomatoes aren’t ripening fast any more but still many of green ones on the vines. My average first frost is tomorrow. I guess it will…
 

here’s Charley

 
 
Charley is the new puppy we are getting. He was born Aug 26 – the day Skippy died 🙁 Charley is beautiful. He’s little right now, born a week prematurely, but growing fast. The breeder can tell he’ll have long legs and a long body. I’d like a big dog – like Skippy was. We plan to bring him home Friday October 28. He’ll be 9 weeks old then.     The breeder calls our pup Inky. He is black as ink with a very silky coat. I don’t know…
 

a walk in the woods

 
 
Suzie and I took a nice long walk in the woods today. the evening sunlight filtering through the trees was lovely. I took many photos. After looking st then I’m thinking that they look like late fall or early spring – bare trees and leaves fallen already. That’s our dryness I guess. It was lovely just the same. Suzie has learned to pose for the camera She’s pretty fast though. She wants to hear that click and then get to her treat. Here’s one that I managed to get somewhat…
 

today’s harvest

 
 
This is what I picked today from my community garden plot. That’s Suzie helping me out. I’ll have to donate some of the butternut to the Pantry I think – it’s probably way too much for us. Especially since I let a volunteer plant grow over my chicken coop at home and it’s a giant plant producing another 4 or 5 squashes.
 

in memory

 
 
  These are photos of Skippy. It’s been a week and a half since he died. Still hard for me. He was with me nearly every day for 11 years and was such a vibrant, active, protective, and smart dog. Good bye Skip, my friend. I miss you. Skippy was a Portuguese water dog. He was bred by C-Lion PWDs in Bedford MA. His mom was Clio and his dad, Brisco. He was born the day before Easter in 2005. Skippy was my companion. He was an unruly pup and…
 

distractions

 
 
An hour or so after Skippy died, my husband came home from work. My mother in law was visiting. We worked together, talked, cried. We made and canned bread-and-butter pickles, dilled beans, raspberry jam, and bottled 50 lbs of honey. The next day we dried 4 pints of tomatoes, and donated 30 lbs of squash to the local food pantry. I have to stay busy.
 

 
 
Skippy has died in surgery. My faithful friend. We are heartbroken.
 

Skippy

 
 
I’m at an emergency pet hospital now, waiting for Skippy. He’s not doing well. A mass in his abdomen has ruptured. The doctor says it’s probably liver or spleen cancer, and there’s a 50 50 chance that it’s malignant. They’re doing ultrasound now and will operate soon if it’s in the spleen and hasn’t already spread. 🙁 My poor buddy.
 
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