I was going to go up north on Friday last week, but Sammy the Wonder Dog put a kink in my plans, starting Thursday night when she couldn't keep her dinner down. She didn't eat any food on Friday or on Saturday morning, though she was drinking water. I decided to stick at home until whatever was bothering her had passed or I knew what was going on. Long story short, passed was the operative word on Saturday. As in a mostly, but not entirely, intact little packet of peppers. You know the kind, what you get to shake on a pizza. A pizza like the one I got on Wednesday night. I didn't use those peppers and the packet must have fallen off the side of my desk when I ate the pizza. I'm guessing it had some sauce or grease on it and Sammy wolfed it down. Anyway, she appears to be ok today and ate her food this morning, and kept it down. This was not her first experience along these lines. At this stage, I just shake my head.
It was a nice Twins win today against the Tigers, 6-2. Nick Blackburn pitched his third complete game in his last four starts and is looking like the solid inning-chewing starter I had hoped he would be this year. The Twins overall have stepped it up a notch in the last month and have gone 7-3 over their last ten games, and won seven of their last eight series including five that were on the road. Starting on Tuesday, the Twins have three against the Yankees and three against the White Sox at home. After the All-Star break they go to Texas, Oakland, and get four at the Angels. They are only two games behind Detroit after today, and I think those next five series are going to make or break them as far as contending for the rest of the season. They can play with any of those teams right now, even the Yankees, if they play the solid ball I know they are capable of playing. 12-4 is probably too much to ask, but if they only manage 8-8 or worse, I think they are likely toast for this season. Even if they are only a handful of games behind, I think it will mean they just aren't going to gel into the team that they need to be to make the playoffs, or compete even if they do.
The obligatory weekly garden photo, whether you want it or not:
The radishes, onions, tomatoes, and peppers from the first planting are doing well. The beans are also, except for the ones the bunnies chowed on. They hammered the corn and carrots this week also. On the plus side, everything is emerging from the second planting last week. I think I'm going to start on a permanent fence solution this week. I think that liquid fence did work somewhat, but it doesn't last as long as I thought it would, and at $16 a bottle it is looking like it makes more sense to build a real fence around the garden. With guard towers and razor wire. Can you get land mines for rabbits?
More: Haha, we're a bit slow here. My tomato plants are still flowering and just producing fruit. Rob is already done.
Looking good. Not sure your stakes are tall enough for tomatoes. Most of mione topped 6 feet this season.
Posted by: Rob | July 05, 2009 at 09:15 PM
Yeah, I was wondering about that too. I'll be shocked if they hit 6 feet though, we simply don't have your growing season and it has been a cool one even for us. I've got some taller bamboo stakes I can use, but back in May I figured that using those would have just been hubris on my part.
Posted by: Dave E. | July 05, 2009 at 09:33 PM
Are our pets e-mailing each other to coordinate their "psych out the owner" moves? My cat ate something funny on Friday, too--I think she caught a bug that got past the screen on the sliding door. That was some fun barf to clean up.
Tell Sammy the red pepper is for keeping the bunnies away!
Posted by: Kate P | July 05, 2009 at 11:54 PM
"That was some fun barf to clean up."
Heh, isn't it always? Sammy has done even worse in the past. I'll spare you the details.
Posted by: Dave E. | July 06, 2009 at 03:44 PM