Ann’s Weblog

One herald of spring for me is the journey to pick up trees and shrubs for our little garden centre. Last April, after several years of having all nursery stock freighted in, I made a plan to pick up the biggest of my orders in my own truck and our small horse trailer. It worked well last year, and this year I travelled with a friend instead of alone, and it made the trip seem much faster and was so enjoyable. The drive was almost 16 hours long, but was uneventful except for having to brake HARD (laying rubber) for a moose, at which time I became more aware what a heavy load we were carrying.

Our little garden centre, called Blackwood Gardens, might not seem a serious enterprise to some, but one wholesale nursery salesman told me that “mom and pop operations” were every bit as important as the big names like Canadian Tire and Art Knapps. That fed my confidence a lot, because we do feel like we’re bringing a lovely product to the local population, to the best of our ability.

Even the cab of the truck had trees packed in; we couldn’t have brought home much more! It seemed quite an adventure, even getting the truck and trailer packed, as it is hard to judge the issues of space and size of containers, while placing an order. It’s not only me, and my inexperience… the men who loaded the stock, said at first, “Oh, it’s only 150 items, no problem…” and then they were starting to worry along with we ladies. We joked that Eunice almost had to ride home with pots all around her and on her lap.

In the photo of my truck and magnetic sign, I have changed my phone number. You who know us or need us will still be able to get hold of us… the real number has not changed.

I have a number of plants, trees and shrubs left over from last year… they looked dormant still, rather odd beside the “new” stock which is leafing out. I hope we don’t have an extremely hard frost again, although it was below freezing even Thursday night, the day we made the trip. And today, Saturday… it snowed.

Last week I was throwing the ball for Lady, and it seemed like Spring had arrived…

Lady is looking a bit portly (NOT poorly), as does her “mistress”, after a relaxing winter.

Time to turn my attention to a guy on TV who is potting up some container gardens. Glad to talk to you this morning, though… thank you for checking my blog.

Love, Ann

Haven’t had too much time to work in the garden centre “department” today, but I’ve had fun with the dogs!

We have a full “house”still. Makalu, Sasha, Max, Tess and Jose, Bruno and Meikka, Chester and Beowulf, Taffy, Jethro, Chico and Allie are here. Today I groomed Shyla who is a gentle, timid sheltie X. She’s a little sweetie:

We met a new dog today, an American Bulldog, who is just here for daycare plus shampoo and toenails, while his owner is sledding in the area. This is Jethro:

Jethro from top left: “maybe if I just don’t look at her…”, “maybe I’ll just leave…”, “this is getting boring”, and “perhaps I’ll give her the piteous look”. Jethro was compliant to bathe, to lift onto the grooming table (all 70 pounds or so), and didn’t mind the nail clipping either.

The care of dogs and a BIT of tidying in the yard has taken all day, but that’s fine.

Yesterday was a LONG day with the grooming of the two matted dogs, who will remain anonymous. There’s something new every day around here; when the dogs were dropped off yesterday for grooming, I noticed that one had a bloody ear. The owner acknowledged that the dog HAD an injury, but it was difficult to say what was going on because the blood was soaking a matt. I gently sponged that ear flap, and hair by hair picked off the matted clump. To my dismay, the wound was not simply a puncture or a scrape, but it appeared that the whole tip of the ear had been sliced off. After cleaning the fur from this laceration, it was difficult to get the bleeding stopped. The little dog, after being bathed, would shake herself and managed to get rid of any kind of dressing I put on her head, also spraying blood over herself and her kennel. Finally with some manual pressure on the ear tip, I staunched the bleeding, and soon the dogs were picked up. I never discussed my theory with the owners, but I’m convinced that they booked the dogs for grooming after trying to chop the matts off, on their own, and injuring the pet’s ear. The dogs were both otherwise in great condition, and happy little guys indeed.

We went to the Chinese restaurant for smorgasbord last night, and then to movie night at the high school. We saw “Benjamin Button” which I thought was a strange and poignant story, and well-made movie. It was good to have a “date night” out on the town!

Pictured below are the perennials that I’ve unearthed from the vegetable garden, and the driveway. I’m not sure why I’m showing you the driveway.

More croccuses are out:

It’s time to think of something for supper here. Take care, everyone, and thanks for reading my blog.

Love, Ann

Seems like we’ve gone from sedentary (almost) and hibernation (virtually) to RUNNING in a very short time.

The kennels are full-as-can-be at the moment, although couple of pets will be going home by end of day. We have Makalu, Max, Jose and Tess, Bruno and Meikka, Chester and Beowolf, Miller, Axel, Chico and Allie.

Today I have two little poodle crosses to groom, and they’re matted so it will take extra time, but I’m always “game”!

I checked the perennials in the greenhouse a few minutes ago. These are the roots that were sold to me a few weeks ago; I have planted them in good purchased soil, in pots, and kept the heater going out there. There are some VERY good-looking plants already! Particularly the bleeding hearts have just sprung up and look so leafy and green (and in bud!). That bigger greenhouse which was fabricated for us by our friend Dale is a TREASURE and the best investment ever. Even if I didn’t have a plant “business” it would be wonderful to have.

Over the last few days I have dug up the perennials which were not sold last year. It’s hard to tell what they will do… I pried them out of the icy garden soil, so they are not warm enough yet to show much sign of life. I’m hoping they’ll warm up and dry out a little now that they’re sitting on the surface. Some trees and shrubs which I didn’t get “buried”, but which were protected by drifts of snow, are showing live buds, so I’m hopeful about those also.

I just phoned the wholesaler in Kelowna about my “trees and shrubs” order. The salesperson for this area was entirely gracious when I wanted to add to my order; sometimes I’m told that I have to fax an addition to my order (which is more trouble). I’m travelling with a friend next Thursday to get the items with my truck and our horse trailer. “ROAD TRIP”!! yippee.

I need to keep running now…. some plants need watering and the dogs need clipping. I’ve finished feeding and watering all our animal guests. Will try to check in later.

Love, Ann

Sorry it has been quite some time, but thanks for checking my blog. Here I am again… but it’s late and I’m quite tired. Will just take a little stab at catching up.

Here is Jazz, a dear small dog who is American Eskimo crossed with Coton de Tulear:

Jazz was gentle to groom and slept during some of the procedure! However, to get his picture was another story… he was convinced that it was playtime.

Last week it was “back to normal” after a trip to Calgary and a brief bout of the flu. My perennial roots had arrived, and I have been trying to get all those potted up to sell in May.

Left to right: Gary saying, “camera’s not working, maybe the batteries are dead…”, then a shot of me in the greenhouse, very comfortable out of the cold wind. The other shot shows the company I keep while working out there…. sweet little kitty named Kelly.

My trip to Calgary was good, and I had a marvelous time with my 3 daughters. I visited with my stepmother in a nursing home, where she has just been moved to a sumptious private room & bath. The time went by too quickly, but I was also anxious to get back to work at home.

When I travel between home and Calgary, I stop as infrequently as possible. However, I did pull in at a rest area in the Rockies, on the Banff-Jasper Parkway:

As usual, if you want to see a slightly larger photo, just click on the thumbnails. At the one particular rest area (Parker Ridge), the ravens land even before the truck stops; this has happened time and again. I usually have something to feed the birds, which are very large even for ravens. Even when there are just two there, some politics are at work… the larger bird went back and forth, almost preventing the other one from getting anything.

Our yard is gradually getting free of snow. Most of the gardens look rather drab at this time of year:

It’s a coincidence that these two shots happen to be an almost “panoramic” view of our main garden area.

A few days ago, these crocusses appeared, and many more have bloomed since:

That is all I can manage for tonight. Besides little “Jazz”, I’ve groomed quite a few other dogs and a couple of cats this week, and next week will be moderately busy also. I’ve managed to pot up almost all of the perennials that I bought for the business, and I will soon travel to get the trees and shrubs that I’ll offer for sale as well.

I’ll try not to leave it so long between blog posts! I appreciate your visits to this blog.

~ Ann