The Anxiety Wrap

I can't remember if I ever mentioned Noodle's fear of rain, thunder & lightning. She works herself into such a state of craziness. Well, my neighbor told me about a kind of jacket that calms the animal down. Then a friend at work, (she has a spastic dog also) abouth the anxiety wrap.I bought it. You are supposed to put it on the dog for 20 to 40 minutes a day for at least 7 days. I put it on Noodle. I got a phone call and an hour and a half later had passed and I had forgotten about Noodle. She didn't care. I left it on her because there was a storm that night. It seemed to have worked. Noodle didn't huff or puff once. This was unbelievable. Watch the video on their web site it you have a problem animal. http://www.anxietywrap.com/ Here's a picture of the new and very calm Noodle.

Good and bad news

The good news is that I have 2 cantaloupes and 2 watermelons. The sad news is that last week I picked my biggest watermelon.  It weighed 13.5 pounds. It was 80 days since it was planted. The suspense was immense. I sliced it open and low and behold it had barely ripened at all. There were a couple pink spots and a few seeds. As the tears flowed from my eyes I disposed of it down the garbage disposal. It took about 15 minutes to get rid of the body.  It was very traumatic. I'm waiting another two weeks and will try again.

The other day I was opening the gate in my yard and I spot this giant beetle. It blended right in with the fence. I took a picture. It was pretty scarey looking.

One last tidbit. I'm walking in the Dana Farber Jimmy Fund Walk, Sept 18th. I'll be walking 13.1 miles. That's half a marathon. I did it a couple of years ago. It's a nice walk from Newton to Boston and it's for a good cause.
http://www.jimmyfundwalk.org/   Click Give and then support a walker. Look for Patricia Holmes. That's me.

The Garden

The garden is doing great. The pickling cukes are out of control. I can't keep up with them. I've been making bread & butter pickles like crazy. They're wicked easy to make. I got the receipe from Martha Stewart of course. I have two canteloupes so far and one huge watermelon. There might be more but I can't find them in the jungle.

The tomatoes are just beginning to ripen. They are supposed to be grape tomatoes but they look more like cherry tomatoes. One plant grows so many I might start a small farm stand.