RUNuts 2018 Garden thread (attempt)

[RUNuts]

Hmm. Should I ask about the Salukis? The wording implies a negative experience, yet bringing it up implies that @Nyboy wants to share. Hmm. Would it be impolite if I asked or more impolite if I did not ask? @baymule - what is internet etiquette here? Usually everyone overshares.

Look feathers!

 

[Nyboy]

Salukis where quick to bite, other dogs/ people not my type of dog.

 

[baymule]

On this forum we ask. Internet etiquette here is just be polite, it's ok to be nosey. LOL

Your birds will fly the nest soon!

 

[RUNuts]

Turn out Crazy Lady doesn't like Salukis either.

I should get today's picture. 18 days to fledge. About halfway there. Amazing how fast!

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Never been lure coursing have been to greyhound racing my mother was a big fan. @Gardening with Rabbits father worked with racing greyhounds. One of my mentors grew up on the track, his father was a trainer. He said for a while Italians where tried for racing but their bones where to weak 1 race and their legs would break.

My dad and granddad would walk until a jackrabbit jumped up and turn greyhound loose. They would get a sack of rabbits and take to the orphanage in Oklahoma back in the depression. It still seems mind boggling they would have orphanages all over the United States because of the Depression. The National Greyhound Association was called The National Coursing Association and all greyhounds for racing were registered there. They held a coursing meet twice a year. They bought rabbits and brought them to Kansas. They had a big field in the back and had corn and other stuff and then after a few days they opened a lane and drove the rabbits through the lane and it opened into the coursing field. They would drive the rabbits through the field and at the end were holes to get back into the cornfield. They did this daily until the rabbits would just run the whole thing without being driven and go back to the corn. Then they would have the coursing meet. Two greyhounds slipped from slipping colors. They got points for each turn, which dog stayed without going wide. Going wide in the turns you lose points. First one to the rabbit got points. Sometimes the rabbit got through the hole and which dog was in front would get points or the kill. The National Coursing Association had to change name because one year in the 1970s Geraldo Rivera came and filmed for his TV show and turned it into a show of how horrible it was, killing rabbits and all, so the name was changed and coursing was stopped. They used coursing to train for the race track. Good coursers usually turned out to be very good on the race track. Everything changed back then, fox hunting in England and even the Queen was fussed out for feathers in her hat. Back then it was upsetting, but now coursing and the whole thing seems horrible to me too. I have rabbits to feed and take care of now instead of greyhounds and like some kind of karma. LOL. Coursing pictures upset me now, but I used to love to collect old pictures from Ireland and places of horses and greyhounds in the field. The new coursing for pets and things is all fine with rags and other breeds, but a whippet is not nothing like a greyhound and could never take such physical pounding and they are not the same in no way. Greyhounds actually were not designed to run more than a quarter of a mile and a 3/16 of a mile they could all run easily and they were kind of forced to start running more and more 5/16ths of a mile and hard on them, but because of the betting and what people liked, the track owners wanted 5/16th, 3/8 and even got longer. Dogs running a quarter of a mile very rarely got sore, but a 5/16 and they were extremely sore and hard on kidneys and if not recovered before they raced again, they would sprain ankles and break legs. When my dad and his dad had greyhounds in 1925, the first race track ever built was in Oklahoma and they were there and like in Ireland and places they only had a few dogs and took excellent care of them, but racing became big money and kennel owners were forced to run more and more dogs, up to 70 when DH and I quit. There was a story of a dog worth hundreds of thousands bought in Ireland and brought to the USA. He would not eat when he got here. He was raised by an Irishman and lived in his house and now was in a kennel with a lot of dogs and they had to hire an Irishman to talk to him and take care of him. He almost died, but started eating and he raced and was very famous. I do not remember his name. He was black. I always felt so sorry for that dog. So there is your greyhound history story LOL

 

[Nyboy]

My mother loved betting on the dogs, she would go to the track in Plainfield conn.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

My mother loved betting on the dogs, she would go to the track in Plainfield conn.

I used to love to bet too.

 

[RUNuts]

Only counted 3 beaks. Hoping #4 was hiding well. Also see blue egg at front.

Cherry tomatoes are fruiting. Cabbages are bolting. Sunflowers at 4 feet tall. Peas are still 8". Not growing fast.

Cilantro making but basil not appearing. I'm concerned about the basil even though the cilantro is tasty.

 

[RUNuts]

And they have fledged! Pictures from yesterday and today.

 

[RUNuts]

I left the last egg. Something came and got it today. Strange? Cleaning nest tomorrow to see if anyone comes back.

Had our first salad from the garden. Lettuce, collards, radishes, cilantro, nasturtium flowers, mustard flowers and green onions. The weather is warm and I'm afraid the lettuce is not long for eating. Not a large salad, but a salad. I'm happy!

Butternut has a 3" long fruit. Cucumbers are 1/2" long. Half a dozen bunches of cherry tomatoes. And one zucchini out of 6 is making. The others have failed. Last year, it took a month before they turned around. We had some nice soft rain last night. Everything got a good drink.