Salmonberries

 The salmonberries are late this year, just like everything else.  I don't think I've ever picked them in July before.  We battled the stinging nettles and a few mosquitoes this morning and got a couple of buckets picked.

And here's why you always check inside a salmonberry before putting it in your mouth:(

It's a gross feeling, and unfortunately I'm speaking from experience.

And now I'm all caught up with my posts, hooray!

In case you aren't aware, there is a post for every day, starting July 1, as I've combined my 365 blog with this one.  I've done four days of posts tonight, so you may need to click 'older post' at the bottom of the page to see the posts you've missed.

Beer and Blood Meal

July 5 

So the next morning after putting out a half dozen or so little containers of beer near the dahlias, these three slugs were the total catch.  These had been sitting out in the sun all day, so most of the beer had evaporated, and the slugs are well and truly pickled, and really really gross.

This poor plant has been struggling to get ahead of the slugs, so now at least it has a chance.

I left the empty beer can out there too. If you've ever picked up beer cans along the roadside in the summer, inevitably they have slugs in them.

There are a couple of the dahlias that are close to blooming.  These are ones that I started in pots in the greenhouse, in a slug free zone.

I also sprinkled some blood meal on the blueberry plants.  They are finally looking decent, and I don't want the deer to stop in and eat that new growth.

Luna's just hoping that I'm going to start that rototiller.

The blackberries are blooming now.  That's a good thing.  I sold my last jar of blackberry jam last weekend.  The sooner this year's crop is ripe, the better.

I should be picking the red currants any day now.

I've got a customer waiting for a case of red currant jelly.

Party Time for the Slugs

July 4

We finally got around to buying the cheapest beer we could find.  Calling all slugs, party time tonight!

Doggy Day at the Market

July 3

 Both farmers markets that we attend are happy to see you bring your dog to the market, and there are lots of them that come.  At the White Rock market there is a special day for the dogs.

Last Sunday on one of the grassy areas, there was a little ring roped off, and various classes that you could enter.  You know, really important ones like biggest dog, smallest dog, best trick, oldest dog, dogs that didn't win any other class....

You might have seen this Shar Pei puppy in my 365 blog, the previous Sunday.  I did a little reading about them.  They are fairly new to North America, and of course it didn't take long for the breeders here to create dogs with even more wrinkles.  What on earth for?  There's lots of Shar Pei info here if you're interested.

I sure hope this puppy grows into his wrinkles...it looks like he can barely see.

*What the....is that some kind of baby hippo?*

That baby hippo won the smallest dog class.

Now if there had been a 'So ugly that it's cute class'......

See that braided tug toy with the ball, it was part of the first place prize package.

I made those:)

There were a few kids in the 'Best Trick' class.  Jake won this class a few years running, so I retired him while he was at the top.

Ya know, can't hog the prize every year:)

This chocolate lab was my favourite dog there.  Nice compact size, great personality... just lovely looking

Don't know what was with that dangly collar though, looks like a good spot to get a foot caught.

Then there were these two lovely grande dames.

Layla won the oldest dog, she is 16

And here's Milly.  She's 12.  She's been coming to the market for a lot of years.

Here they are stepping out in their class.

The Duck Tollers didn't enter the ring, but where happy to give the others lot of vocal encouragement.

But here's one of the best dogs of all

And this one too.  Thanks to Meredith for these shots.  Poor Jake missed out.

And have I ever told you that one of my pet peeves are pudgy pooches?

Ugh.  There were a few of those there.

Here's Porky Pig Pug.

Two Great Dane pups for sale.

Only $1000 a pop, I mean pup.

A quality breeder I'm sure.  

Don't all quality breeders try to flog their pups at farmers markets?

Dogs, Shmogs....

What about having a cat show?

July 2

An evening walk, down at the dyke

PS  There is a post for July 1 also, that was posted about the same time.

Canada Day Demo

Last Friday was Canada Day, and as usual, our dog club went to Mission to be part of the celebrations there.  Mission is north of Abbotsford, on the other side of the Fraser River.  Quite a few of our members live there.  It's held at Heritage Park, a lovely spot, and our club is given a decent honorarium for participating.  

Just over from where we were set up was the hot air balloon ride.  Next to it was the logging show, complete with revving chainsaws.  Thankfully it was far enough away to not bother the dogs sensitive to those kinds of sounds.

There are loads of things for kids to do.

As the day went on this red and white balloon arch got bigger and bigger

Until it finally looked like this.

We did some flyball demos, including one race where the dogs race the kids.  You try to arrange it so the kids win, but it doesn't always work out that way.

A little girl in the appropriate coloured dress greets Pippin.

Between the second and third demo we took the dogs out to the big off leash field.  They had a great time, and Pippin and Luna did get around to chasing each other. 

The mosquitoes were vicious though, and we were glad to get out of there.  Fortunately in the main part of the park there was a good breeze, so we weren't too bothered there.

We did three demos.  The first one was just a regular agility run.  Not everyone got to participate in every demo, because lots of club members had come, and we were only allotted a certain amount of time.

I ran Jake in the first one.  It was a pretty sad run, we just didn't gel at all, therefore there is no video:)

The second run, everyone had to run holding a cup of water.  I said to heck with taking it easy, what is the fun in that.  When we were done I had just over half a cup left.  It certainly does make it more awkward to handle your dog.

The third demo was a rely race, on identical courses, and the dogs running in opposite directions. 

It was a fun day.

Getting Back on Track and Making a Change

I've been feeling a bit guilty.  Four days without going for a morning walk.  Friday we had to get moving early to be at the park in Mission for 9 for the Canada Day demo our dog club was doing.  Saturday and Sunday were farmers markets, and since there is actually produce to pick for them, there is no time to walk in the morning.  Then yesterday I felt exhausted from the previous three days and I just couldn't interest myself in getting out there for a walk in the morning.  I did get back at it this morning, and just after 7am went for a four miler.

Do you know how hard it is to get a picture of the dogs walking, while you are moving.  Trying to see the image on the screen on the back of the camera, while holding it low enough to show the road ahead... not as easy as you'd think:) 

I swear that Luna isn't pulling as hard as it looks, even though she wasn't wearing a gentle leader this morning.

I also want to blog more than I have been.  Lots of times I'll take pictures or videos, with a blog post in mind, but it just doesn't happen.

I have been managing to take a picture, sometimes bad ones, for the 365 Wyndson Farm blog, but even there I'm getting behind with the posting.

So I've decided that as of July 2, I'm going to combine the two blogs, and see how that goes.  A couple of people had suggested it to me, and now they'll be happy to know I'm taking their advice:)

They say a change is as good as a rest.

We'll see about that!