the nursery's best friend

17 Sep '06 7:03 am

meet Edward. He's a cross great dane and rottweiler and he's the best friend of our local nursery. Not because he goes to visit, but because he tramples our poor plants before they have a chance to grow!
We have planted a rosemary hedge around the pool, and its surrounded by all the protection I can give it, and hopefully it will grow.
Rosemary and parsley are the only herbs we can grow... Edward eats all the rest, He particularly loves basil and mint.
Sigh.

17 Sep '06 8:35 am

You have a cute, huge, beautiful baby, Lynne !! He is very lucky, not only because he satisfies ...his refine taste...with your herbs, but also, because he has a lot of space to stroll around in your spacious garden and he is so much loved!

18 Sep '06 7:18 pm

Hi Liza
Yes, he is much loved but he gets into lots of trouble when he eats my plants! We are planning to build a wall around the vegetable garden so that we can protect the plants from him! We are planning a low wall built of straw bales, covered in chicken wire and plastered and then whitewashed ... I think it will look great.
Luckily he doesn't jump over the walls.

Edward is the only herb eater. Rizla, our other dog and the two cats just ignore them.

19 Sep '06 4:24 am

Lynne, your text has a peculiar humor that makes me laugh, while you "talk" seriously! Ts! Ts!! Naughty , lovely Edward, loving eating best quality herbs!

But Edward is nothing compared to a stray puppy I had brought home, when I was very young: when my mum was cooking either cauliflower or Sword Fish (not any other fish..), he was behaving like starving to death! So, mum had to always close the kitchen door, while cooking these two things! And then, when dinner was ready, he was having his own big portion, which usually disappeared ...within moments...

This adorable creature finally had become very big for our small apartment , and was eventually adopted by a friend with a big garden (not like yours...). I never asked the friend about his likes or dislikes concerning cauliflower and Sword Fish...

Please, send us some photos of all your pets!

21 Sep '06 1:27 am

Hi Liza
Here are the rest of the family (except the human ones, of course...I have two sons)

There's Rizla. His mother was a boxer and his father was a wandering man. We think he has alsation in there somewhere. He's my younger son's dog, but is staying with us (permanently) while Ben is working on a cruise ship in the Bahamas. I say permanently because there is no way Ben is getting him back.

There's Sam the grey cat. He is a bit strange because his mother and father were brother and sister. He had four siblings and his mother was run over when they were five days old, so we had to bottle feed all the kittens. We kept Sam, and his father, Heavy. Heavy died a few years ago.

And finally, there's Smudge. Her father was a wild cat from the Riebeeck mountains, and her mother was a domestic cat that had gone wild. Smudge's mother decided to bring her kittens to a family we know, and we got Smudge. She has tufts on her ears like a lynx and spots on her tummy - her wild cat heritage. And she's a great hunter of mice. She brings them into the bath where they can't get away from her.

Oh, and the fish. They live in a bowl in a birdcage so they look like they are flying.

21 Sep '06 2:03 am

Dear Lynne,

I really feel closer to you in a certain way, through your descriptions of your dear "babies" ' Who s'Who !! You are a real animal lover!

Well! First of all, this round, grey, cute, Sam boy is SO adorable!! And he looks like the male version of my late lady cat , Tsika, who died last February being 21-22 years old! I also think, he is like your cute Edward dog in a..Feline version!!

Regarding Rizla , I also think he has a lot of Alsatian blood in him! Concerning Smudge, and especially in this beautiful cat photo, he is a purely wilde beauty!

I am just wondering, all these animal boys , do they fight some times ,living under the same ...Kingdom, within the same...animal borders?

And ...the flying fish!! What an excellent, decorative,entertaining idea!! Edward seems really delighted!

21 Sep '06 2:21 am

Hi Liza
No, they don't fight ... they are all the best of friends. The cats curl up with the dogs on their 'bed' when its cold.

21 Sep '06 2:26 am

Then, just take a ..great photo of them together and send it to us!!

21 Sep '06 2:35 am

I thought you might say that! I was looking for a picture but couldn't find it ... I must learn to lable cds! I'll take another pic on the next chilly evening. They don't snuggle when its warm!

22 Sep '06 1:43 am

Lynne, what a wonderful animal family you have there - such differences and yet they all love each other! Smile

I second the motion to see a picture of them all snuggled up together - I'm a sucker for animals cuddling!! Wink

And what a great idea to put the fish in that lovely cage! We used to have goldfish, but one of our cats loved to dip her paw into the water and "fish" out the little plants we had in there. She never bothered the goldfish themselves, but I don't think the stress helped them in any way Sad

Sam is just lovely, he looks just like my friend's cat, Bobo; it's so sad about his mother, though. I'm sure you must be right about the Alsatian in Rizla - his head is identical; but is he stocky like his boxer father? I just adore Smudge too - what a perfect pose for a (partly) wild cat, it's just so appropriate for him, I think! And of course not forgetting darling Edward - he's so cute with his head on one side in your last photo, he looks like a bit of a natural with a camera, doesn't he! And I'm sure his breath smells lovely what with all the mint he eats!! Laughing

Bambi
x

the nursery's best friend

the nursery's best friend

Edward is so cute!

edward the herb eater

Strange dogs' tastes

the smit family

Thank you, Lynne!

best friends

disorganised