The Dog and the Fruit Trees

Photographic evidence of why we don't end up with many figs at the end of the summer....
Jack likes to snack on them before they're even ripe!

I also have a couple of low-branching apple trees that finally, many years after being planted, have baby apples on the branches. Pointy Boy has decided that small, hard green apples are his next-favorite tasty treat. We all know what havoc green apples can wreak on the digestive system, right? Y'all, it's not good.

I guess one of the joys of being a dog is that absolute living-in-the-moment consciousness, and the bliss of stealing apples from the tree and crunching them up far outweighs the tummy rumbles (and worse) that come later.

Dogs + Gardens - it's a challenge some days.

For Miss Janey... since she mentioned fig trees recently.

If the Gas Shortage continues much longer...

I may have to rig up something like this to get to work!



Surely,Miss Ophelia wouldn't mind.



All Great Dane owners are all too familiar with statements like "you need a saddle for that thing!" or the ever popular "who's walking who?!", so we might not even raise an eyebrow.

I'm kidding of course, but the gas situation here in Atlanta is pretty serious, and it's not looking like it's going to get resolved quickly. The latest word is that the shortage will continue for a few more weeks. People are freaking out, gas stations are literally out of gas, and I read that in the midst or all this, our governor is traveling in Europe today!

While the idea of a dog cart isn't likely to be a realistic mode of modern day green transportation, I did do a quick search on 'dog carts'. There is a historic tradition of dogs being used as draft animals to pull small carts - either as recreation for children, or used by tradespeople to transport goods. There's really interesting info and pictures here at this site.

And there's a modern spin on dog carts as well. See this site and this site for a sport and exercise options related to carting.

The Dog Days of Summer?

After a beautiful month of weather in May, we've been hit hard with real summer temps (hello mid-90's and high humidity) for the last week or so. As a result, my attention span has dwindled to that of a two year old, so it's looking like blog topics may be real lazy for a little while. With that in mind, I've taken some inspiration from SillyMonkey's blog, by raiding my photo archives for dog antics. We've had plenty of misbehaving dog stories over the years, even if only a small portion of them have actually been captured by a camera.

We have a fig tree in the back yard, and it didn't take Ophelia and Jack long to figure out that they really like the taste of figs. Between them and the birds, Smithy and I don't actually get to eat many figs ourselves! Here's Jack's impression of a giraffe:

Jack actually has a long and notorious career as a troublemaker, and one of his less-flattering-but-printable nicknames has been Anxiety Boy. He's had separation anxiety problems in the past that medication and re-training only put a slight dent in. (He's also fear-aggressive with new dogs, but that's a story for another day.) So, in the wake of his anxiety and stress, there were many, many times that I came home to scenes like this. This is an old picture of Jack and the late, great Blue, my first Great Dane, in (an old incarnation of) my kitchen. Frankly, there were a lot of days that I just didn't want to come home.


Yes, that's a homemade dog gate that Smithy constructed in order to keep Miss Blue confined, but it looks a little like Shawshank in the pic!

Here's the beginning of the devastation to the kitchen floor:

(Yes, we've tried crating, medication, and several trainers and behaviorists...)

Then there are the harder-to-capture dog moments, often tying in with behavior and body language. For all her statuesque grandeur, Blue could be quite the alpha bitch bully to the other dogs. We all -eventually- learned how to manage a multi-dog household, especially one containing 'she who must rule the world'.

And we managed to have a good time...

(black and white photos by Louis Cahill, see link to the right)

Even though I could do without a lot of the dog-related drama, I would hate to live without a dog!

In the moment

This is where I've been spending a lot of time lately....

'The Fairy' Rose

Robin Hood and The Fairy Roses

just hanging out with whatever book I'm pouring through at the moment. Enjoying the beasts, and the sunshine, and the amazing spring showing of roses and other perennials.

Mutabilis Rose

Mystery Rose

Spiderwort

We should have a couple kinds of Irises coming up next....



For a small yard with three big dogs, we're not doing too badly.

Ophelia and Loropetalum

A happy Ophelia, posing near the blooming Loropetalum.

Sunday morning gratitude

The sun is shining, birds are flirting with each other, Smithy still has a studio, and Chez Dame is still standing. In light of the wild spring storms and the tornado that came through my city this weekend, we're feeling quite fortunate at the moment.
Happy to be here and very willing to overlook the dust, the dog hair, the (dog) drool, and the clutter - all under one nice, solid roof. Not that these punks would ever dream of being messy....

Round Up the Usual Suspects...

Welcome to the Great Dame site. Somehow this all seemed like a good idea after a glass (or two) of wine.... After reading the blogs of much more talented design-oriented writers, like Casapinka and My Marrakech, and Dachshund wrangler extraodinaire, Miss Doxie, I started thinking that I might try blogging too. Only problem is, I'm not that funny, and my subject matter is likely to be all over the place. So... topics you're likely to hear about include my attempts to renovate and redecorate my 1917 millworker's cottage, rearrange my tiny garden in a way that my dogs are less likely to trample, and generally wrangle my four-legged crew. I'm sure my beloved, the Blacksmith, will make many appearances too. So who the hell am I, anyway? Allow me to introduce what will likely be the cast of Usual Suspects. Great Dame: that's me, with a wee bit more bravado than I usually feel. Not that you could tell from looking at my own garden, but I'm trained as a landscape architect, and I'm a total design geek with an addiction to Art Deco furniture. And Great Danes. The Blacksmith: that would be my longtime boyfriend, and duh, no odd euphemism there, he really is a blacksmith. No, he doesn't shoe horses - that's a farrier - he does hand-forged architectural metalwork, and slightly insane sculptures. More on that later. The Dogs: fervent barkers, diggers, cat-haters and anti-decorators, the dogs both keep me grounded and make me completely crazed with their antics - just depends on the day, really. Lucy, the Redbone Hound, rules the pack, despite being the smallest. We like to say that she 'put the Grrrrr in girl.' Ophelia, the Great Dane is the jock and cheerleader of the group. Sweet and laid-back, she thinks she's a lapdog. Jack. Hmmm... Where to start. Let's say that you have an anxious dog, and your vet recommends an anti-anxiety medication to calm the dog down. You come home from work to find a scene straight out of a bad rockumentary: overturned pill bottle on the floor, broken knife on the floor, and two very mellowed out dogs snoozing in the corner. Yep, the meds that are supposed to calm him down so that he stays out of trouble. Or let's say that your dog seems a little 'off'. You take him to the vet, and discover - after many expensive tests - that he has a blockage in his stomach. Somehow, your anxious dog has managed to turn your $10 gardening glove into a $1400 operation - on the day before Thanksgiving. That, my friends, is Jack.