[Ag-eq] Guideon and the garden

[nfoster at extremezone.com]

Jewel:

What kind of dog is Guideon?

It sounds like you're growing a lot of things, how large is your garden and what
all do you usually grow?

What is your climate like there?

I know nothing about New Zealand, so would love to hear more.

Nella
Quoting Jewel <jewelblanch at kinect.co.nz>:

> Starting at the tender age of 19 and a half in 1960, I have trained all my
> own guide dogs, with the
> exception of Emma, dog #2, but more of that in the future, if anyone is
> interested;  so going back
> to my subject line of Guideon and the garden:  Guideon is the latest and what
> will be the last of my
> owner-trained dogs.  Due to difficulties I have these days with distance
> walking, he is now a dog of
> all work rather than a specialist guide.
> His main tasks involve the garden wherein he will show me to objects that I
> have left "alone and
> palely loitering" somewhere in my extensive garden. plus bring me my
> guide/balance  stick.
> If, in his educated opinion, it is high time that we packed it in and
> returned to the house, the
> stick will be brought to me as a not-so-subtle hint whether I have requested
> it or not!
> I am in the lengthy process of digging this season's crop of spuds, and a
> pretty good-looking crop
> it is too!  I have Rua, Ilam Hardy, Red rascal, and Agra:  a variety I have
> never grown before, but
> of which I have heard very good reports.
> As well as the spuds, I picked 3 whongaparoa Crown pumpkins.  The was a
> fourth, but it had,
> prematurely, parted company with the vine and had started to rot  so that was
> thrown in the general
> direction of the paddock fence in the hope that the goats, Minstrel and Heidi
> would get it.
> The remaining 3 pumpkins I called the "three bears" as there was one large
> one, one slightly smaller
> and one very small.
> I left them on a patch of grass while I got on with the digging of the
> potatoes, but when I,
> finally, took the hint of the oft-proffered walking stick, I found the baby
> bear pumpkin was
> missing.  Now that pumpkin would have needed help to disappear, and that help
> would have come from a
> certain black gentleman of my acquaintance.
> I asked said "black gentleman" to bring me the pumpkin but to no avail.
> Well, I had 2 good-sized
> pumpkins so the loss of the little'n was of no great moment.
> My home help was due the next day so I asked Fay to take a look around the
> garden.  Now I had asked
> this worthy lady, at the time of her last visit, to have a look for the few
> pears that the tree had
> produced this year:  earlier, I had found a paltry 3, but at the time, they
> were too immature to
> harvest, but, ready or not, they had to be picked.
> After an absence of several minutes, Fay returned to the house, saying that
> she had checked the tree
> and there were no pears, either on it or the ground.
> The following day I picked 5 pears from that very same tree!
> but I digress!
> Fay did find the missing pumpkin, but a gnawed shadow of its former self:  a
> guy has to do something
> while he is just hangin' abaht, and the aphorism of "The devil finds work for
> idlehands/teeth to
> do!" was amongst those that sprang to mind!  I am sure that there is a lot of
> goodness in a raw
> pumpkin.  I took a slice off it last night and boiled it up to join the rest
> of the assorted
> contents of Guideon's dinner bowl.
> Looking at the undamaged half of it, the pumpkin looks rather good, so
> Guideon may not get what is
> left!
>
>      Jewel--------------------------------------------------
> From: "Jody Ianuzzi" <jody at thewhitehats.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 16, 2013 11:59 AM
> To: "'Jewel'" <jewelblanch at kinect.co.nz>; "'Agricultural and Equestrean
> Division List'"
> <ag-eq at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: RE: [Ag-eq] New member replying was
>
> Hi Jewel,
>
> It is good to see you on the list.
>
> You might also mention Guideon your owner trained guide dog.
>
> Of course in New Zealand you have just ended your growing season and you are
> getting ready for fall and winter.
>
> JODY
>
>
>
>
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