Cracus' First Off Leash Walk

The weather cleared up briefly today for a change. It was the perfect chance to take the dogs somewhere so they could take a nice long walk. I have taken Cracus to Point Isabel a few times already but always kept him on a leash. I guess having a couple Alaskan Malamutes as my first dogs, I am always unsure whether a dog would just take off. Not that they were bad dogs, but Malamutes are very independent and tend to go on their own adventures. Niki and Okami escaped and went on a few trips of their own although they always managed to come home.

By now I know Cracus is a lap dog. How did people ever create lap dogs? He just wants to sit on my lap all the time while I am at the desk or watching movies. He follows me everywhere when I am home. I was pretty sure if I let Cracus off leash, he wouldn't just run away to be on his own. Well, it turned out that he was more well behaved while we were out. He followed me closely and ran up to me whenever I called his name. He wanted to play with other dogs regardless of their size. Having Kelsey as his big sister, he's fearless of large dogs. He didn't run into any mud puddle or jump into the bay.  He didn't bark at any person or dog and didn't act crazy at all.  People thought he was cute.

Turkey Tails

Wild Turkeys of El Cerrito are back

The wild turkeys of El Cerrito started showing up under the BART track on Masonic in between Marin and Darthmouth every morning for the past week. I have been seeing them every day on my way to work. Today I had my camera in hand to take a snapshot as I drove by.  I really wanted to get out of the car and get some better photos; unfortunately, like most of people, I am always running late in the morning. The photo says 8:35, but it was actually 7:35 a.m. and I have to be at the school no later than 7:55 a.m. to open the doors to let the kids in. As I drove by, all the gobblers were showing off their tail fans to the hens. As you can see in the photo above, the hens are the ones on the right without tail fans. I always wonder where the turkeys hang out for the rest of the year since I usually only see them around end of October to December. How I wish I could put a tracker or a small camera on one of the turkeys.  What do they do all day and where do they go? These are the questions I wonder.

It's been raining on and off for the entire week. Today I noticed the wine barrel planter in my backyard is full of turkey tail mushrooms!  Turkey tail is the common name of rametes versicolor for obvious reason. It's a common mushroom found throughout the world. It also contains medicinal components. It is believe that it may be useful against cancer. Turkey tail exact can be purchased online or one can just grind turkey tail into powder and make tea with it.

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

Big Dog Xing

During the past week, Sand Village Farm has moved to a new location in El Cerrito.  I have officially become a first time homeowner!  Somehow I just can't believe this has finally happened and is happening. For the entire week I have been moving my things over, sorting, packing, and unpacking. It's scary how much stuff one person has. Most of the things I accumulated in the last ten years were given to me. It was hard to turn down free stuff! I moved in on Saturday, October 11th. Today as I walked past by the shopping center, one of the merchants were giving away pumpkins! I carried one home with me. See, more free stuff. At least the pumpkin is compostable if I don't eat it.

Dusty, Kelsey, and I are all getting used to the new place. The backyard has a sprinkler system. I thought it was not set until this morning. It turned out that it is scheduled to water on Saturday morning. I had put Dusty on the grass earlier this morning, and he and his food got all wet!  Kelsey seems unsure of the new place. She has not barked at any of the neighbors yet, which means she has not yet claimed this place as her place.

One of my new neighbors is a 4th grade girl who loves animals. Her family has a black cat named Junior, who thinks he owns the block. He has visited me the very first time I came to this house during its open house. The girl was excited to learn that I have a dog and a rabbit. She came over to play with Kelsey a little and wanted to go for a walk with Kelsey and me during the week.