Doris the Cat's "New" Bed

With the loss of our Missy, we had a couple of big dog beds laying around that I really didn't want to look at anymore. At the same time, I couldn't bare to throw them into the garbage can (aside from the fact that they are too big to fit in our teeny can!). Doris the Cat still enjoyed lounging on the beds, so I decided to cut the newest one down to her size. Again, my serger saved the day. I LOVE THIS THING! It's so great... so easy... so fast!

Anastasia begged for the job of photographer, so here is her picture tutorial of the process:

Missy Dog

I was really hoping this year would not bring any bad news (wishful thinking, I know), as last year had a bit too much for my liking. Unfortunately, we had to euthanize our family dog today, after learning it was a brain tumor that had been keeping her from being able to walk straight or even stand unassisted for the past few days. I write this not for sympathy--her passing was very peaceful and quick--but, I hope, as an aid for other parents who may be suddenly faced with the same question I was today:

How do you explain euthanasia to a not-quite-four-year-old?...

Only knowing that I wanted to be honest and not tell her we were taking her buddy to a farm, I consulted the web and found these very helpful sites that gave me some key words and phrases to use while we had our heart-to-heart chat about what was going to happen:

• "Explaining Pet Death to Children" from the University of Illinois Vet School
• "When a Pet Dies" from Kids Health
• "Talking to Children About Death" from Hospice

It was very difficult, and I even began by telling her "I don't really know how to explain this to you." A lot of tears were shed. But, she knows the truth and is making up little songs to help express her grief and the way that she understands what has happened. I hope that you do not need to reference these sites now, but will remember where you can find them when the time may come.

Missy the Dog vs. Skunky the Skunk

This happened in August, but I still want to share in case any of you ever need this information:

Missy (my pound puppy who is now 8 and 1/2 but still acts 1 and 1/2) got into a tussle with a skunk. I've kind of been waiting for this to happen, since I always see a skunk out in the neighborhood when I come home after dark, so really I should have been more prepared. [Now I am!]

Luckily, she is current on her rabies shot, because she got either bitten or scratched by the skunk on her cheek/lip. It's smallish and she's let me clean it with witch hazel and tea tree oil, so I'm hoping that it will just heal nicely and not get infected. [it did]

I got a nice recipe (below) to remove the smell from Missy, which seems to have worked. Sadly, I brought her into the house as soon as this happened (fearing an angry skunk was roaming the backyard, looking for revenge) and now the house reeks... I took out the rugs from the animals' room and Missy's bed is in the trash can. I don't know what else the smell is on. I still have some of the anti-smell solution, so I am going to try scrubbing the floor with that. Thank goodness Anastasia went to bed fairly quickly tonight, or I would have a screaming child on top of this! Small miracles... [I ended up needing to diffuse Purification throughout the house to get rid of the smell. It took a couple days.]

Dog loving friends--have hydrogen peroxide and baking soda on hand at all times "just in case". I'm so glad I just happened to have some the night this happened. Here's the recipe for de-skunking your dog:

Mix in a bucket:
1 pint hydrogen peroxide
1 small box baking soda
squirt of dish soap
gallon water

Do not cover the bucket! This will lead to an explosion, and you really don't need another mess to clean up at this point.

This solution will be good for about an hour. Pour it on your dog, avoiding the face area. Of course, Missy got skunked all over her face, so the smell was lingering there even after the de-skunking solution. I put some orange oil or citrus fresh (I can't remember what I had on hand at the time) on her face and neck, which greatly helped to neutralize the smell.

Hoping you don't need to use this information, but if you do... good luck!

**I discovered the next morning that Missy had killed the skunk. Skunky was curled up in the place where the tussle occured the night before, so I found a little comfort in the fact that it must have passed quickly. I also discovered that animal control will come out and remove a dead skunk from your property, thank goodness.

Wild Turkeys

If you have any ideas for this problem, I need to hear it soon.

I am in the process of clearing part of my front yard to plant an herbal lawn. Pulling many grasses and weeds by hand is proving to take longer than I had anticipated, but I still intend to finish this project before I my vacation is over and I am back to teaching on the 30th. So, here's the problem...Turkeys. I enjoy the little buggers being my neighbors. Really, I do. And, up until now, they have only been a minor irritation when scratching up my yard and unearthing bulbs while looking for food. But, now I plan to scatter seeds for this new "lawn" and we are in prime turkey season. There are several of them around, all day long.

How do I keep the turkeys off my newly planted seeds (when I get to that point)? I don't want them to scratch around or make dirt bath holes and ruin all of my work. Any ideas? The only thing I have contemplated is laying down chicken wire on top of the seeds, but that would be a lot of wire and I would need to take it off before the plants get so big that they would be destroyed when I removed the wire...

Seriously. Help me, please. Katie, at gardenpunks, was kind enough to post my question on her site as well. I am hoping to get a few more good ideas from her followers as well. She is also a NorCal girl; you should visit her lovely site.