Life In The Fast Lane
Master Gardening and Dying Kitties
(never a dull moment)
Ozark The Emperor
Ozark is 13.5 years old and is dying of FIV which, if you didn't already know it, is kitty AIDS. Ozark is hanging on like a general because that's the kind of guy he is. We've been talking to Max about him dying because the signs that the end is nigh are pretty clear.
He has become very gaunt, especially near his tail where his back bone is so visible that you can count his tiny vertebrae, he has started peeing on any heap of comfy clothes he sees lying on the floor. He has never been a cat who's had "accidents" inside. This cat prefers to do his business outdoors and once held his bladder for two whole days while we made him stay to protect a bandage on his foot- he refused to use his litter box. Incontinence is one of those signs that a kitty's body is breaking down. He's hardly eating anything, and only very soft food. He's still drinking water but not much.
He walks very slowly and holds himself in a defensive huddle. He has started looking unsteady when he's standing up, as though he might topple. I was afraid to check on him in Max's room when I came home from class yesterday because I am sure that at any minute now I'm going to find him dead. I don't want to have to hold his dead body and say goodbye to him. At the very same time, I fear that he is in pain and wonder if I shouldn't take him to the vet and see if they think he's in pain and if he is, perhaps euthanizing him would be merciful. Poor little guy.
(never a dull moment)
Ozark The EmperorOzark is 13.5 years old and is dying of FIV which, if you didn't already know it, is kitty AIDS. Ozark is hanging on like a general because that's the kind of guy he is. We've been talking to Max about him dying because the signs that the end is nigh are pretty clear.
He has become very gaunt, especially near his tail where his back bone is so visible that you can count his tiny vertebrae, he has started peeing on any heap of comfy clothes he sees lying on the floor. He has never been a cat who's had "accidents" inside. This cat prefers to do his business outdoors and once held his bladder for two whole days while we made him stay to protect a bandage on his foot- he refused to use his litter box. Incontinence is one of those signs that a kitty's body is breaking down. He's hardly eating anything, and only very soft food. He's still drinking water but not much.
He walks very slowly and holds himself in a defensive huddle. He has started looking unsteady when he's standing up, as though he might topple. I was afraid to check on him in Max's room when I came home from class yesterday because I am sure that at any minute now I'm going to find him dead. I don't want to have to hold his dead body and say goodbye to him. At the very same time, I fear that he is in pain and wonder if I shouldn't take him to the vet and see if they think he's in pain and if he is, perhaps euthanizing him would be merciful. Poor little guy.
Master Gardening Class
I have certainly learned my lesson about writing about local people and events and how even though 99% of the people in my town don't read my blog, the day I describe them on my blog and use pithy observations or use any kind of criticism, they will find their way to it and I will eventually get myself lynched. So. Carefully onward...
Although I expected a largish proportion of older classmates (retirement is a great time to really dig into the garden), at 38 years old I didn't expect to be the second youngest person there. The class was filled with kind, enthusiastic, and eager septuagenarian students. I admit I felt a little out of place (how surprised is anyone to hear that?). Happily there were only a couple people who looked as though they needed an expression readjustment due to perpetually soured features (who knows, could be a medical condition?).
It will be clear to anyone who visits Dustpan Alley regularly that my plant interests are intensely focused on edible and flowering plants. I'm not a huge fan of ornamental shrubs, nor am I particularly dying to be able to name every conifer variety that is native to Oregon. I admire the native plant society's efforts to preserve the native plant variety in my state. Variety everywhere is a matter in need of great attention. However, I can tell right now that the Directrice of the program would like me to get very excited about Pieris Japonica which she loves (as does every gardener in Mac) and would be shocked to find out with what venom and viciousness I ripped it out of my front yard. I particularly hate Pieris.
I have only a 10,000 square foot city lot. I must be ruthless about what is growing on it if I am to be a productive urban homesteader. I need edible plants, plants that are multi purpose (like roses that feed the beneficial insects, provide joy in my home as cut flowers, and make medicinal rose hips). Every garden must have things in it that particularly please the insects and birds, because without them, well, us humans will die off.* Yet, there are many things besides Pieris that please both the birds, the bees, and me.
Speaking of my lot size... I have to admit that it gave me great big pangs of unattractive envy that fully 50% of the students have acreage and are there to learn to tame their property. Every other person who stood up to introduce themselves said something like this "Hi, I'm Janet Shrewsbury, my husband and I just bought our dream property of seven acres..." or "Hi, I'm Roddy, I have an acre and a half in Sheridan and I just want to learn what to plant in it..." or "Neiner neiner! I have five acres and my dream farm house and you don't!! You only have a city lot and a stupid boring ranch house!" Oh the pain of it.
I felt exactly like a person who has just quit smoking and is totally at peace with not lighting up ever again but finds themselves suddenly at a party where almost everyone is smoking and the temptation is surrounding you. I have come to a place of peace with the fact that I really do have all I need. Seriously, I have yet to reach the potential of the square feet of dirt at my personal disposal and even if I had, if I need to grow more than I can grow here on my lot, there is a community garden here in town that I plan to support, there are obviously plenty of people with property they barely know what to do with and might be willing to let me farm small parts of it for part of the crop.
Anyway, because I have a limited amount of space, I am not going to dedicate much of it to native specimen plants. I fear that my Directrice and I do not have the same Utopian dream. She assures me that that's what's "wonderful" about master gardeners; that they have all different passions. I hope she means that.
So a part of me is chomping at the bit to get to the part where we learn about pruning fruit trees and growing food, but I have to admit that I am truly a plant geek and I found myself getting rather keenly interested in our discussion of slime molds and the difference between gymnosperm and angiosperm plants. The plant world is full of incredible symbiotic relationships, wild habits, and weird fruiting bodies.
Back to the property issue- I think perhaps it's good that I am not in a position to own a piece of acreage, nor am I likely to before I am myself a septuagenarian, because so many other people out there are in the same boat as I am and would like to know how they can grow more of their own food and take part in rural kinds of activities on their limited space. We can't all have farms or our own meadows to run across in dirndls while strumming "The Sound Of Music" on acoustic guitars. Lots of us would like to figure out how to make a small space yield the maximum amount of food and healthy miniature eco-systems. I'm by no means the only person doing this, but we need a lot more people doing it, talking about how they're doing it, and showing others how to have the wholesomeness of farm life on a city lot.
I keep trying to compile lists of blogs out there that are doing the urban homesteading thing without acreage and my list is still somewhat small so if anyone has links out there to share, please do, baring in mind that I don't add blogs to my list that post infrequently. Here is my list so far (remember, these are people who are living on city lots):
The Tardy Homemaker
These Days In French Life**
Her Able Hands
Wordy Diva
The Apartment Farm
Spadework: From Plot To Plate
Bliss
Homegrown Revolution
City Farm***
*Not as dire a pronouncement as you might imagine.
**I'm not actually sure whether Riana has acreage of her own or not, she does have access to acreage. But either way, I include her because she does things on a scale that anyone can relate to even if they don't have more than a city lot.
***Riana's sister's blog.
I have certainly learned my lesson about writing about local people and events and how even though 99% of the people in my town don't read my blog, the day I describe them on my blog and use pithy observations or use any kind of criticism, they will find their way to it and I will eventually get myself lynched. So. Carefully onward...
Although I expected a largish proportion of older classmates (retirement is a great time to really dig into the garden), at 38 years old I didn't expect to be the second youngest person there. The class was filled with kind, enthusiastic, and eager septuagenarian students. I admit I felt a little out of place (how surprised is anyone to hear that?). Happily there were only a couple people who looked as though they needed an expression readjustment due to perpetually soured features (who knows, could be a medical condition?).
It will be clear to anyone who visits Dustpan Alley regularly that my plant interests are intensely focused on edible and flowering plants. I'm not a huge fan of ornamental shrubs, nor am I particularly dying to be able to name every conifer variety that is native to Oregon. I admire the native plant society's efforts to preserve the native plant variety in my state. Variety everywhere is a matter in need of great attention. However, I can tell right now that the Directrice of the program would like me to get very excited about Pieris Japonica which she loves (as does every gardener in Mac) and would be shocked to find out with what venom and viciousness I ripped it out of my front yard. I particularly hate Pieris.
I have only a 10,000 square foot city lot. I must be ruthless about what is growing on it if I am to be a productive urban homesteader. I need edible plants, plants that are multi purpose (like roses that feed the beneficial insects, provide joy in my home as cut flowers, and make medicinal rose hips). Every garden must have things in it that particularly please the insects and birds, because without them, well, us humans will die off.* Yet, there are many things besides Pieris that please both the birds, the bees, and me.
Speaking of my lot size... I have to admit that it gave me great big pangs of unattractive envy that fully 50% of the students have acreage and are there to learn to tame their property. Every other person who stood up to introduce themselves said something like this "Hi, I'm Janet Shrewsbury, my husband and I just bought our dream property of seven acres..." or "Hi, I'm Roddy, I have an acre and a half in Sheridan and I just want to learn what to plant in it..." or "Neiner neiner! I have five acres and my dream farm house and you don't!! You only have a city lot and a stupid boring ranch house!" Oh the pain of it.
I felt exactly like a person who has just quit smoking and is totally at peace with not lighting up ever again but finds themselves suddenly at a party where almost everyone is smoking and the temptation is surrounding you. I have come to a place of peace with the fact that I really do have all I need. Seriously, I have yet to reach the potential of the square feet of dirt at my personal disposal and even if I had, if I need to grow more than I can grow here on my lot, there is a community garden here in town that I plan to support, there are obviously plenty of people with property they barely know what to do with and might be willing to let me farm small parts of it for part of the crop.
Anyway, because I have a limited amount of space, I am not going to dedicate much of it to native specimen plants. I fear that my Directrice and I do not have the same Utopian dream. She assures me that that's what's "wonderful" about master gardeners; that they have all different passions. I hope she means that.
So a part of me is chomping at the bit to get to the part where we learn about pruning fruit trees and growing food, but I have to admit that I am truly a plant geek and I found myself getting rather keenly interested in our discussion of slime molds and the difference between gymnosperm and angiosperm plants. The plant world is full of incredible symbiotic relationships, wild habits, and weird fruiting bodies.
Back to the property issue- I think perhaps it's good that I am not in a position to own a piece of acreage, nor am I likely to before I am myself a septuagenarian, because so many other people out there are in the same boat as I am and would like to know how they can grow more of their own food and take part in rural kinds of activities on their limited space. We can't all have farms or our own meadows to run across in dirndls while strumming "The Sound Of Music" on acoustic guitars. Lots of us would like to figure out how to make a small space yield the maximum amount of food and healthy miniature eco-systems. I'm by no means the only person doing this, but we need a lot more people doing it, talking about how they're doing it, and showing others how to have the wholesomeness of farm life on a city lot.
I keep trying to compile lists of blogs out there that are doing the urban homesteading thing without acreage and my list is still somewhat small so if anyone has links out there to share, please do, baring in mind that I don't add blogs to my list that post infrequently. Here is my list so far (remember, these are people who are living on city lots):
The Tardy Homemaker
These Days In French Life**
Her Able Hands
Wordy Diva
The Apartment Farm
Spadework: From Plot To Plate
Bliss
Homegrown Revolution
City Farm***
*Not as dire a pronouncement as you might imagine.
**I'm not actually sure whether Riana has acreage of her own or not, she does have access to acreage. But either way, I include her because she does things on a scale that anyone can relate to even if they don't have more than a city lot.
***Riana's sister's blog.
Labels: classes, dying cat, gardening, kitty, links, Master Gardener's course, urban homesteading