A Garden Update

I looked at "Midnights Mountain" yesterday, it is amazing how the pumpkin vines have grown.

They have covered the mountain, the path, the garage roof and now they have climbed over the wysteria, the magnolia, the bottle brush and now they are climbing the sycamore.

I peeped through the giant leaves and there is a pumpkin the size of a tennis ball hanging from a branch, higher up 

than my head.

The biggest pumpkin is now the size of a squashed soccer ball, well that is what I am told, 

I cannot see it because it is too far into the jungle.

Here is the latest photo.....

a little hard to see, but it is in there!

My tomatoes are starting to ripen, 

there are dozens on the bushes, but I think the strange weather is not helping them ripen.We might be eating green tomato chutney this winter.

I planted a different variety of egg plant this year,

this is what I found yesterday ----

isn't it beautiful, pale purple with white stripes.

So far I can only see two, I hope more come soon.

As you know, I love taking closeups of my plants,

here are a few I took on Sunday.

a pumpkin flower,

the sun shining through a pumpkin leaf,

tiny toadstools among the strawberries.

I love my garden, I dont get a lot of produce from it,

but just watching the plants growing is magic.

Until next time ----- smell a tomato

AND

hug a puppy!!!

More garden miracles

My garden never ceases to amaze me.

Last winter I threw the seeds from my beautiful pumpkin onto "Midnights mountain" -- a hill of old garden soil that was piled up at the side of the house .

This photo shows Sekoya on the mountain, 

just before Christmas,

just a neat little plant.

The next photo was taken mid January!!

Midnights mountain has disappeared.

Look at the size of the leaves,

Laurence is holding my house phone!!!!!

The next photos were taken on the 30th of January.

It is almost impossible for me to get to the garage,

the pumpkin is trying to reach the side of the house.

Look what Jessika has found!

She said there are more, I hope they grow!

Will this flower become a pumpkin??

The weather has become so hot and humid, I hope everything keeps thriving.

Until next time --- Keep cool!!

I'm seven months!

Look at me, I am seven months old

and I have beautiful eyes!!

Until next time ----- Hug a puppy!

The MAGIC time!

We have had so much rain and sun over the last two weeks that my garden has gone crazy.

It is the  time when everything suddenly has a growth spurt and tiny vegetables magically appear.

First the tiny tomatoes pop out, this one is only half the size of

my thumb.

Less than a week ago this is what I saw on my bean plants.

The most delicate pink flowers, so small that you would not believe in three days, 

they would have become

  these -------

 Still small, but in another couple of days,

they will be big enough to eat.

      There is even one lonely green capsicum,

     I hope it will soon have some company.

Most of my vegetables grow in large green boxes, that are watered from below.

These are my Lebanese cucumbers, they are already starting to wander of the table!!!

On the side of the box is the plastic tube that I must fill with water to keep the soil moist. The theory is great, but sometimes I find it very difficult to reach the tube.

Yesterday it suddenly occurred to me ,

if I poked a short piece of hose pipe down the tube,

I could pour the water down that.

IT WORKS!!

Tomorrow I am going to buy a small funnel which I will push into the end of the hose and life will be even easier!

 Here is my strawberry box, my little hose makes it much easier to place the water just where I want it.

I am 66 now and I have just solved  this watering problem.Shows you are never too old to learn!!!!!!!

Until next time -------- enjoy your garden!

A Dogs Christmas!!

Christmas is such a tiring time when you are only six months old!

When you are older you learn to put up with all the funny clothes and just sit!

But puppies can be such a problem. 

Midnight just doesn't get the idea of Christmas hats!!

Thank goodness he has gone to sleep at last!

Happy Christmas from Me

And me too!

Until next Time ------- Have a Wonderful Day!

A Christmas Tradition

I think gingerbread houses are becoming a tradition at our house.

For the las two years Jess and Indie have gone to 

William Angliss and made a gingerbread house together.

This year they both made houses at home for special gifts.

Just look at these.

Of course Nacho had to be part of it all.

Midnight was not allowed into the kitchen, 

his nose now reaches the top of the table, and a long pink toungue might try and sample the goodies!!

Apart from houses, Jess makes gingerbread biscuits,

they are my downfall, 

I cant stop eating them because they are so thin and crispy.

Heaven in a biscuit!!!!!!!

Until next Time ------ Enjoy Life!

Growing up!

Just in case you have forgotten what the boy looks like

here is a lovely picture of him.

Today was "hair cut"day,and as the grass is full of burrs

I asked for Midnight's legs to be clipped short .

What a surprise I got when I saw him!

His legs are like skinny chopsticks, 

with huge paws  

at the end.

Look --

He  really is going to be very big 

 when  he reaches his full size.

Now he looks so skinny but he actually weights

21.5 kgs.

His beautiful head is getting larger each day

and his nose can reach further into my bags!.

His favourite trick at present

is to come up behind my chair and push his head 

between my arm and the chair for a scratch.

Look at that face, those eyes 

and that big long nose.

I love him so much, 

he is bringing such joy into my life.

There is nothing more relaxing than going for a run

with your own dog,

that is, until you see a strange dog that wants to play!

This is all Midnight has been doing 

since he arrived home [apart from eating a bit of dinner].

Jess was trying to take pictures for our Christmas cards,

even the reindeer ears didn't wake him up.

Tomorrow we are going to the farmers market, 

I hope all this sleep doesn't make him too energetic, 

I want people to see him at his very best.

Until next time --- hug a puppy every day!!!

An email!!

Yesterday I recieved an email from a friend,

it talks about my "beautiful boy" .

Parts of it were so lovely, that I had to put them on my blog.

 "I read your blog.
I'm glad I did and now I understand the connection between yourself and midnight. I will be honest, sometimes he does "do my head in" and I forget sometimes due to his size that its all new to him and he needs guidance. He's only been in this big curious world for a short time.

I understand now that if we do get on top of his bad habits and persist with him we will eventually get there. Its called patience lol, I suppose thats why your a teacher and I'm not.
He is so adorable. You are doing so remarkably well with him and just reading your blog I understand what he means to you and why your protective over him.
Sometimes I forget that you do have a disability and tonight after reading your blog I put myself into your shoes (slippers) and realised how difficult it is for you too at times, frustrating. 

I also realised how special midnight is for you not only as a service dog but a part of the family too, he has settled in well I think and of course niddle accepts him."

This encouragement is what keeps me going

when I think it is all too hard!

Thankyou!

Could this be the boy we are talking about!!!

Yes, I think it is!!

Until next time ---- Make someone happy!

Great news!

Today I had some great news,

 we have a "PET stock" shop in Ormond,

I have been taking Midnight  there each weekend

to get used to shops,people and animals.

A couple of weeks ago one of the staff told me 

they were thinking of sponsoring Midnight and me 

on our journey towards his  registration as 

an "Assistance dog".

Now it is official!

Here he is in the beautiful new  coat  he was given today, isn't he gorgeous.

I believe one of the dog food companies is also going to help by providing Midnight's food. 

More about that when it starts.

I am always amazed by the generosity of some people.

I can't resist taking pictures of him sleeping

his legs just seem to get longer and longer!

Until next time --- Hug someone you love!

An update

I can not believe it has been nearly a month since I last wrote anything in my blog.

I think it is time to update mine,

and Midnight's progress.

This photo was taken 19/11/2010

Look how long his legs are now, 

they look like fuzzy icy-pole sticks

and go in four different directions

when he runs!!

Every day I write notes on how he is progressing,

some days are good

and some are terrible.

Hopefully I am going to paste in my notes about going to the Bentleigh Festival.

You will see it was a very good day,

I was so proud of him.

Here goes ---

Sunday – Bentleigh Festival!!

The disability ambassador.

Quote -- We have been out and about being ambassadors for disability and service dogs. I think Midnight likes people, we have done both the farmers market and the Bentleigh Festival and he didnt put a nose wrong at either. He charmed my local MP who is a great supporter of disability and I know he will try and help me get Midnight registered, he could not resist the big black eyes and sloppy tongue! We had balloons bursting in our faces, loud music, children grabbing him, adults bumping us both, and even treading on his poor toes, nothing fazed him, we both loved it. Best part was the little boy who is terrified of even the family dogs fed Midnight on his own and they were both so gentle, I wish we had a video of the day, it was so lovely.

Walked 5km, a hot day as said above, noises were no problem to him, only me! Walked loose rein all day, too interested in everything to misbehave. Crossed railway via the long ramp, talked to children while waiting for train. Street very crowded, walked close

to chair, did not appear afraid, just interested. Very tired walking home, stopped for a rest under a tree, Midnight fell asleep!!  Went to toilet when we arrived home, slept all afternoon.

It really was an amazing day for both of us.

This is how he slept for the whole afternoon!!

 I love him so much, to be able to go out

with a dog beside me, is freedom!!

Until next time ---- Hug a puppy

Update.

I thought  it was time I did  an update on "puppy training", or perhaps it should be called "granny training"!

Here is Midnight after a hard day 

walking the streets of Glen Eira!!

It's a tough life isn't it?

Notice how big he is getting, 

when he climbs on the bed with me, he takes up more than half of it.

 Newest trick is to lie the length of the bed with his head on the pillow and then very quietly push his feet against the rails, next thing I know, I am squashed against the rails and he is in the middle of the bed.

Here we are out and about in our new harness,

it makes such a difference. He is now attached to my chair by a D ring on the side, no more twisted harness.

I am now looking for sheep skin seat belt covers and they seem to have disappeared from the market.

We are now walking from 2-4 k per day, 

sometimes he is brilliant and we have a great walk, 

other days nothing seems to go right.

Now we have started a daily diary, 

this will be very important when it comes time to try and get him registered.

We have learned one very important skill,

I can now clip his lead onto his collar and he knows that he must walk behind me from the house, 

through the veranda gate, down the path 

and through the very narrow front gate.

He then sits next to the chair 

so I can clip on his wheel chair lead.

I am amazed how quickly he has learned this difficult maneuver,

the path is very narrow.

He also sits beautifully,

reminds me of when I was at school and the teacher would say the person sitting up the straightest 

could go outside first. 

He pushes his little chest out just like the boys did!

We also have sort of mastered "stop",

  "Midnight walk on" and "up the hill".

Our biggest problem at present is dogs!

we don't meet enough of them, so when we do

he goes crazy and doesnot concentrate at all.

Chris, our trainer, says he must go to the dog park,

not with me, because he is too strong for my arm, 

so it will be Jessika walking him, 

and me watching.

Sometimes I get very frustrated,

I am finding it is so much harder 

to do things in my chair -- I cannot reach far, turn quickly,

or even get down on the ground and give him a cuddle'

when he has done something really clever. 

I guess we are both learning.

I think I have written enough for now, 

my boy is sleeping next to my chair waiting for a walk.

I wonder how we will go tonight?

Until next time --- hug a puppy!!