Wolf's Den

So, someone in the Gardening comm on LJ, is moving, selling their house with it's gorgeously gardened land. They had an iris they really wanted to see continued on, as there's no knowing who will take the house and if they'll love the gardens as much as the current owners.

They offered some rhizomes to me, for free, they just wanted to ensure the Iris would continue. Not only did she send me 4 rhizomes of the one Iris, she sent me a rhizome of an Iris I had, but that didn't transplant well from North Carolina, 2 gorgeous Calla Lilly bulbs, and some tuberose corms/bulbs!

So now I have this Iris- (and I had to swipe her photo, as it's not sold any longer, hope she doesn't mind)


'Jacaranda' Bearded Iris

and this one-


'Superstition' Bearded Iris


If you scroll past all the other wonderful garden photos in this entry, you can see what the 2 Calla Lillies she sent me will look like.}:)

I'm thinking of sending my dad a Jacaranda rhizome, sharing the wealth, so to speak. Especially since he loves them as much as me.}:) And when I dig up/split my Irises, I may send another rhizome with them to the friend I'm sharing mine with this year.

So, Raven, when you get resettled, I meant what I said, let me know and I'll gladly share my Irises and plants with you as well.

She's started having issues with one of her back legs not cooperating fully yesterday. Mark says it was as if the leg was a asleep and she tried walking on it, it collapsed beneath her.

She's not doing much better today, wobbly, even fell as she was trying to go outside to go to the bathroom.

Her appetite HAD started picking up last week. Today, she's barely eaten.

So we've been putting the baby gate up at the bottom of the stairs, to keep her from attempting to go up them and falling. I've been scarce on the net lately, because, today especially, I've been with her.

We spent some time together outside while I planted my new Irises, Callas and Tuberose. I got a photo of her in the shaded sun.

This afternoon, I've been sitting downstairs with her, watching TV, working on a chainmaille cuff for my dad for Father's Day, and generally hanging out with her. She's been sleeping next to the couch or between the coffee table and Mark's chair.

I think she knows it's almost time and is getting ready to go. I'm still holding out hope that she'll go on her own and I won't have to go through with that final choice.

I decided to go with the dark green and blue ceramic urn for her as well. It fits her better than any of the others. My sister in law agrees, as does Mark.

They're coming over on Sat with Mikayla, so they can say goodbye and I can talk to Mikayla about Dante going to live with Great Meme, as Mikayla called her (Memom, Mark's mom's mom, who died April 10, 2007).

We're taking it one day at a time now, just enjoying the time we have left.

I'm pretty sure my neighbors heard me when the Penguins tied the score with 30 seconds on the clock.

We are now in overtime.

Edit- 1131pm- Make that double overtime. *headdesk*

Edit-1216am- Triple Overtime. I have no words. This is what happens when both Teams want the Cup badly enough that neither is willing to budge an inch. For one Team, it's the end of the road if they lose, for the other, it's on to the next game if they lose, and the end of an 11 year drought if we win.

Now THIS? Is Hockey.

Edit-1248am- And with that, we go to Game 6 at Pittsburgh.

Permission to cross post.

This past Saturday May 24 my Ibizan Hound, Lance (Ch. Serandida's
Camelot), was hit by a car and died. This occurred while he was at a
dog show in Freehold, NJ. The show on Friday was held by the Staten
Island Kennel Club but I do not know the name of the kennel club which
held Saturday's show.

Lance's handler Joe brought Lance back to his crate after he was
shown. Joe realized he needed to buy a food bowl for Lance as he had
forgotten his. Joe secured Lance in his crate (which was in Joe's van
in the parking lot) and left. Joe went to the men's room and then got
on line at a concession stand to buy a bowl, a total of 10-15 minutes
had passed when someone came running up to Joe yelling that Lance had
been hit by a car. This all happened around 9 am in the morning.

Joe ran to the dog, picked him up and got in the car with the man in
that was in charge of the show and they rushed to the vet where Lance
died. When Joe got back to his van later in the morning he saw that
the crate door was wide open, unfortunately no one has come forward as
a witness so far.

The reason that I am posting this is because there are very strong
indications that someone let Lance out of his cage. The police have
spoken with us and did a preliminary investigation but the bottom line
is that unless someone at the show witnessed something we are at a
total dead end.

If anyone witnessed anything at this show I would greatly appreciate
it you would contact me privately, otherwise if you could cross post
this I would appreciate it.

Thank you,

Natasha Berardi
natasha.berardi at gmail.com