Bumper crop - er...NOT!

The potato tower has been in for some months. The green shoots came up and flourished, then they died off. A tomato plant sprouted, but I decided to sacrifice it yesterday to harvest the potatoes. We planned to eat them last night. At the fruit shop I ummed and aahed about buying potatoes, but decided to play it safe and bought a few big old ones. Michael planned to make potato soup from the harvest. Here they are!



Not as many as I had hoped. In fact, not very impressive at all. But even less impressive was their size. This picture gives a rather better perspective. Pea-sized potatoes. No potato soup. We ate them all at dinner, but needed to supplement them with the bought ones. I don't think I'll be trying potato growing again, somehow!


Majic News

This might be a regular spot. For those readers who don't care about pugs (!!!) you can skip this bit.

Pug Story 1: We get out and about a lot - I like a dog to go walkies with. The other day we were in the cemetery at St. Stephen's, Newtown. It is large and walled, so dogs often go there to bound free. Majic is a bit timid, but was getting into things. Suddenly this HUGE German Shepherd chased him, scaring him and me half to death.

"He only wants to play!" said the owner gaily.

Didn't look like it to me or to Majic.

"He's only a puppy - he's only three" said the owner, who was at a bit of a distance.

Three years isn't a puppy in MY book.

Majic and the big dog were at my feet, Majic seeking shelter. The German Shepherd was looming over him, teeth bared. Not a good look.

"Call your dog NOW- he's snarling," I instructed the owner.

"Banjo - come on," he said. Thankfully, Banjo bounded off. For some reason the owner thanked me. I thanked our lucky stars, and Majic and I skittled off home.

Owners don't realise that their dogs are DOGS, and not cute little puppies. I realise this is the first of probably more episodes like this one. Jonty had lots of them, and many times Michael had to use the patented Athol Grip to control an attacking dog. The Athol Grip? Grab the dog's balls and squeeze and pull HARD. It works. Of course it is usually the un-desexed dogs that attack each other. Jonty was such an assertive dog he often provoked it.


Pug Story 1: We are teaching Majic not to jump up on people. He is a wiggle-on-a-stick at the moment, and everyone is his friend. He is also very bright and a quick learner. He knows what NO! means, especialy in relation to jumping up. We were at Erskineville Park yesterday, and there he raced up to an eldery lady sitting on a bench. He almost jumped up when I said the Majic word, and to his enormous credit he restrained himself. She wanted to pat him, he wanted to jump, and I could just see the struggle going on in his mind. He wiggled a lot, and sat at her feet barely containing himself while she gave him a pat. Then we moved on, and he had to have a couple of episodes of Crazy Pug (otherwise known as the Pug Scuttle) to get himself in order again.