watching things grow

We have been crazy busy. Schoolwork is still very much in progress. In fact, we're in the midst of the annual "June heroic assault on the list of things we were supposed to get through this school year and didn't get around to yet, and theoretically could get through in June if we, say, give up sleep entirely." I pulled out the 08-09 lists and the wonderful schedules which I prepared in the fall, pondered the apparent time/space warp which always messes up my reality, chose the most important stuff to get through & made the final list. I think we may end up spilling work into the first couple weeks of July but certainly I want August to be an off month.

Amelia is considering keeping up some of her school work throughout the entire summer, because she has been working really hard and worries that it will all spill out of her head the moment she lies down on a beach.

In between whipping children with history texts, I've been watching Darwin change his coat.

This is looking straight down at him and if you observe carefully, you can actually see a kind of line where the old coat and new coat meet. The new coat is longer and fluffier.

Here is a side shot of the same area. We've been watching the line advance. It started on his neck and has been making its way down the front to his chest, and down the back, first to the collar, then past the collar, than to the shoulders. It's now quite a bit past the shoulder.

His belly is still pretty bald but there's a bit of peachfuzz starting to grow. You can't really see it well but I can feel it if I run my fingers against the coat.

When Darwin came his skin was dry and flaky and his coat thin. The 'feathers' which are the tufts of fur on the back of the legs and tail, are dry and dull - like old Barbie hair. Within a few weeks, we started to see a change. The flaky, yet oily skin disappeared. And a new coat started growing.

As far as I'm concerned, it's all due to diet and supplementing with EFA's.

Want to see how it worked with Daisy?

Hai! I look dorky! My neck is almost bald!
I need better food and some EFA's please!

That's much better!

And that is Daisy in May after she's blown her winter coat. This is her 'light' summer coat. The collar is her house collar and is worn about 2-3 inchess too loose. A regular fitting collar disappears in her coat, as do your fingers when you give her a scritch.

Darwin and Daisy are both on raw. My EFA supplement of choice is wild Pacific salmon oil. Daisy (75 lbs) gets 1000 mg twice a day. Darwin (50lbs) gets 2000mg twice a day and will stay at this higher dose until he's turned his coat over entirely, then I'll drop him to the same dose as Daisy.

Want to see how the rest of Darwin looks? Well, that's kind of tricky because he is still scared of the camera.

Maybe if I look small, sad and pathetic she'll put it away?

I have to sneak up on him with it, like here.

I don't see any camera. I'm looking at that bird!

And here:

Mmmm. Pretty smell!

Actually, this is the rambler William Booth (Explorer) Rose and while it's hardy and vigorous, it has a disappointingly weak scent. Pretty though, I'll give it that, and also comes recommended if you like disease resistant varieties.

I zoomed in on that photo to show you the girth padding I needed to make for Darwin's Sense-ible harness. Darwin needed it because he has very little fur on his belly and because walking on leash is still a lesson in progress for him. These front clip harnesses are excellent tools to help a dog adjust to walking politely on leash. (If you're in the Lower Mainland, Coquitlam Animal shelter sells them for a very reasonable price.)

The girth padding is just a two strips of vellux blanket sewed together. You need to make two of them as there are two straps on the girth which buckle together. Make them the length of each strap plus a bit more, so that you can pull it down over the buckle if necessary. On Darwin, the buckle is actually what is causing a bit of the chafing so I'm considering making a separate flap for it. The only tricky bit is that you want to be sure that when you're buckling the girth, you don't get any of the padding stuck in the buckle, preventing it from fully closing. That would be a bad thing. Especially if you're dealing with a dog who wants to run, run, run, run, run, run..........

The harness as it's sitting on him in the photo is not quite properly fitted (I have to do it in small increments with this wiggle boy). If you decide to use one, do spend the time to fit it; and it does take time - 5 mins before you're do to go for a walk will not cut it.

On the harness you can also just make out Darwin's boomerang tag. It's the piece of metal on the shoulder strap. Boomerang tags are DA BOMB. No jingle-jangle (I HATE the jingle of tags), sturdy, will last forever. Daisy and Darwin do not wear their municipal tags - they have their municipal licence # engraved under their names ("Daisy Reward" and "Darwin Reward"), followed by a bunch of phone numbers.

What else have we been watching grow?

This is our first greenhouse cucumber. We've got a bunch of plants in the greenhouse this year and things are growing beautifully in there.

Roo is having a try at small patch of corn. We grew corn years ago when we had the community garden plot and it's Roo's favourite crop. I have some doubts about it as that area may not get quite enough sunshine but I'm in no position to mutter Sysiphus because I'm stubbornly trying to grow grass in the dog run.

More realistically, I am also growing salad thingies, on the deck in containers. Out in the big garden I was losing too much to slugs, raccoons and other pesky buffet diners.

Here on the deck, my salad fixings are thriving. They're also conveniently close for picking and watering.