Homecoming night for Phoebe. Chet Baker's 12th birfday, December 12, 2016. She puts him through his tricks. Or tries to. Prepare to be amazed! For me, the highlight of this video is not Chet's prowess at tricks. It's the oinking. Turn your volume up. He oinks when he sits up (0:17) and again when he flops down to play dead (0:45). The dog whisperers among you will note that Chet is not the most deferential of dogs. He was the dominant pup in a two-pup litter, nearly twice the size of his sibling. photo by Jane Streett, Boston Terrer Breeder Emeritus Extraordinaire Hard to believe our little chunker ever fit in someone's palm but there you have it: newborn Bacon! And a bit later, when he was coming into his Bakertude: photo by Jane Streett, Boston Terrer Breeder Emeritus Extraordinaire When a pup starts out life as the dominant one in the litter, he can be expected to cop an attitude with people, too. The point being, Chet has been a bossy guy f...
A 10 x 12' hobbyist greenhouse is like a very small boat. It can only hold so much. My natural tendency as someone who loves and actually needs flowers is to stuff it to the gills with plants I think I can't live without. Which is OK until the plants get big and old and start taking more than their fair share of space. Even that I can deal with, until they also begin harboring insect pests. A plant I adore can easily overstay its welcome and become a liability almost overnight. Such was the case with the original edition of Hibiscus sinensis "The Path." This monster is head-high to me, and taking up the whole southwest corner of the greenhouse. She was given to me by my dear friend Donna as a foot-tall youngster in the spring of 2014, as a sort of greenhouse warming gift after the Great Greenhouse Apocalypse of November 24, 2013. She was part of that which saved me, the replacing and planting and salvaging of all the plants that I had loved that died th...