Introducing Cracus

I have been thinking about getting a second dog for a while.  I thought about what are involved in having another dog - space in the car, additional cost in food, living area, additional shedding and bathing of the dog, training, and vet bills, etc. Even though I would love to have another dog that's similar to Kelsey's size, I decided it would be easier to get a small dog. I stopped by Berkeley Animal Services and was immediately drawn to this super cute young labradoodle, who was adopted immediately a week ago but was returned due to his constantly playful nature. I could see that would be a problem for me as well but he was super cute. I almost wanted to get him out of impulse. The animal control officer gave me a book, Love Has No Age Limit, to read over and take everything into consideration before getting that second dog. It is a wonderful little book, which I highly recommend to anyone who is thinking of adopting a shelter or rescue dog. I have never even considered getting a dog from a breeder. All of my dogs were pre-owned.

Now with 2 dog houses

I ended up finding this little white dog at Animal Refuge Response in San Pablo. They think he's a poodle mix and is about 9 months old. The little guy looked so eager to get out of the shelter and is so sad when someone walks away. He would just then curl up in his little bed and wait for the next person to come by. I ended up taking him home on the same day. Little did I know he could turn into a little crazy monster.  He jumps on people and Kelsey and would try to bite my hands with his little sharp teeth. He also makes this crazy wild animal noise and runs super fast. He reminded me of Gremlins with his pink lips, nose, floppy ears, and somewhat unpredictable temperament.

Cracus vs. Gremlin

I wasn't sure what to call the little dog, but I kept calling him crazy little circus dog. I thought about calling him Gremlin or Mogwai (from Gremlin). At the end, I figured Cracus would be perfect. It sounds like a real name but it's basically Crazy + Circus = Cracus. He probably looks pretty normal and cute in the photos above. Take a look at the way he plays with Kelsey in the video below. Kelsey tried to ignore Cracus for a couple of weeks, but I guess she finally decided that she had to try to wear down some of his energy.

New Fruit Vines for New Home

With my new garden, naturally I have to plant something new. Since my gardening time is now extremely limited, I decided that I needed to just get a small plant instead of trying to grow something from cuttings. I stopped by one of my favorite nurseries in the area, East Bay Nursery, to check out their fruit trees. Initially I was very interested in a persimmon tree specifically of Jiro variety, the flat round kind not the pointy kind.  Persimmon trees are quite expensive, so I started looking at apricot, avocado, pineapple grava (feijoa), etc.

I know with our cool weather in the East Bay, growing avocado and pineapple grava would be tricky. I went back to East Bay Nursery a few days later to take a second look. To my surprise, they have kiwi vines, which I completely missed during my first visit. I searched online for golden kiwi vines, but the only vendors selling them are in New Zealand, and they can't ship them to the States. Having been deeply in love with New Zealand, the decision was for me. I knew that in order for kiwis to fruit, there have to be a male and a female vines growing close to each other.

East Bay Nursery has both male and female vines. They also have one last pot which has both male and female vines in the same pot growing next to each other. I grabbed that pot and took it home. I have been keeping it in my kitchen for now. After reading more about growing kiwis in the Bay Area, I am considering the possibility of growing it inside. Alternatively, I could transplant it in the yard in the spring.

My kiwi vines