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You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Dog Blogging / Open Thread: Browsing Boxer, Hidden Tree Frog

Open Thread: Browsing Boxer, Hidden Tree Frog

by | 114 Comments

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My dog Patsy Marie thinks that being a largish critter with predominately dark coloring and white accent fur makes her an honorary panda. So she eats bamboo leaves sometimes:

patsy_browsing

Speaking of bamboo, did you know you can use the sheaths that litter the ground around bamboo clumps to start a BBQ chimney for accelerant-free grilling? It works like a charm, much better than newspaper! I understand you can also make paper products from them.

Please feel free to discuss whatever.

Reader Interactions

114Comments

  1. 1.

    BGinCHI

    Bamboo: More useful than the House GOP.

    ETA: to be precise, the stuff that falls off bamboo and is just moldering on the ground disintegrating: more useful than the House GOP.

  2. 2.

    Linda Featheringill

    I enjoy the idea of a double name for a dog. And why not? She’s just as southern as the rest of the pack. She should have a middle name.

    BTW, Betty, with your hubby’s advice on starting peppers in mind, I went internet shopping and found some nice stuff for bottom watering, etc. I now suspect that I drowned my poor peppers. If I promise to do better in the future, maybe they’ll grow for me next year.

  3. 3.

    HelloRochester

    Ms Cracker- I love bamboo. I am growing a big stand of it in my back yard (Phyllostachys vivax because zone 6). I have a cautionary tale, however: I got a big bundle of culms from someone’s arrow bamboo and was using them out in the garden. There were still culm sheaths on them and they made contact with my upper arms when jamming them into the ground for bean poles. Minutes later, I had blistered skin that looked very much like poison ivy and stung very much like fire ants. The sheaths have little glassy hairs on them that will tear up soft skin (upper arm) while doing nothing to your hands.

  7. 7.

    Emma

    Totally OT but it is an open thread: Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have just released a full transcript of testimony from a key witness in the investigation of IRS targeting of conservatives — and it appears to confirm that the initial targeting did originate with a low-level employee in the Cincinnati office.http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/06/18/breaking-full-house-committee-transcripts-shed-new-light-on-genesis-of-irs-targeting/

  11. 11.

    JPL

    If you have the type of bamboo that spreads, it is impossible to control..
    My garden is saturated because we have been having torrential rain on and off since last Thursday. For all the green thumbs on the blog, will it recover?

  12. 12.

    Flying Squirrel Girl

    @indycat32: My cousin has a terrier named Bodhi Earl. Her husband is of the belief that everything should have the middle name Earl.

  14. 14.

    MikeJ

    @BGinCHI:

    ETA: to be precise, the stuff that falls off bamboo and is just moldering on the ground disintegrating: more useful than the House GOP.

    The study still needs to be done. Have you actually tried lighting republicans on fire to start coals? Wear breathing apparatus for the noxious fumes.

  16. 16.

    Betty Cracker

    @Linda Featheringill: Aw, that sucks! I know hubby has had great success with the Solo cup bottom-watering method of pepper seed starting. Once they get a couple of sets of leaves on them, he moves them to a container. Hope yours recover!

    @HelloRochester: Mercy! We have several types of bamboo, but none have that awful effect, as far as I know.

    @indycat32: Patsy Marie has a surname too — same as ours.

  19. 19.

    Jebediah

    Repeating something I dropped into an earlier thread:
    Silver Hearts is my friend’s kickstarter project aimed at aiding canine senior citizens. I know there are one or two around these parts who are fond of dogs – if you are one of them, please have a look.

  23. 23.

    gogol's wife

    @JPL:

    How do you get rid of bamboo? Now that Connecticut is in the tropical zone, it’s encroaching on our backyard.

  24. 24.

    raven

    @JPL: I’m going to be having some storms in an hour when I start drinking this gallon of stuff!

    And, yes, crazy downpours and then sun.

  28. 28.

    kindness

    We need a thread that Elijah Cummings released the full IRS interview from Issa’s Committee and it shows Issa as a lying sack of shit.

    GOS has it. Even LGF has it. No one else yet.

  29. 29.

    raven

    @BGinCHI: The combination of our halted renovation project and torrential rains have our yard looking like the Mekong Delta.

  30. 30.

    Roger Moore

    @Emma:
    It’s totally unfair! If the Democrats are going to keep releasing original emails and complete transcripts, how are the Republicans supposed to lie through their teeth about what everyone said?

  32. 32.

    Mnemosyne

    Our late cat Tashi decided at one point that she was a panda, because she starting eating the bamboo plant that G kept in the kitchen.

    Other than that, I got nothin’. I’ve been doing actual work at work today, believe it or not.

  34. 34.

    JPL

    @gogol’s wife: There is a youtube put out by roundup but it is wrong… If it in a neighbor’s yard.. you have to keep on top of it or dig a three foot trench and fill it with concrete. The best way is a back hoe but that was not possible for me. After research this is what I did, I used the most expensive round up on the market and cut each stalk til it was about six inches high and poured in a few tablespoons. You have to cut each one and pour within ten seconds or the darn stuff heals. The youtube video doesn’t tell you that. The reason that I didn’t want to cut the stalks too low, was so I could repeat the process. The only organic solution is to cut the stalks about a foot off the ground and when they grow a foot, repeat the process. This could take months and I didn’t have a commercial weed eater with a metal blade that would cut through the stuff. When it dies, you can knock off the chutes. I dug up the roots though…

  35. 35.

    Betty Cracker

    @raven: You’re in Jawja, correct? We’re having our typical summer afternoon storms here in West Central FL, but nothing too severe. Last summer we had a monsoon spell that brought an aquatic turtle to my backyard. Jay-zus.

  40. 40.

    Mnemosyne

    Namewise, technically we call Keaton by his middle name, because his proper name is Buster Keaton Soprano-Macgillicuddy (hyphenated last name changed to protect, well, me.)

    Charlotte’s full name is Charlotte Charles, the Lonely Tourist.

    Annie is just Annie, though we suspect there was originally a “Li’l Orphan” in front of it.

  43. 43.

    TaMara (BHF)

    @Emma:

    and it appears to confirm that the initial targeting did originate with a low-level employee in the Cincinnati office

    Also served to confirm Issa is an ass.

  47. 47.

    jeffreyw

    @raven: We used to make impromptu mortars out of expended LAWS tubes. WP with handle would just fit in one. Bury the end with a partial block of TNT, pull the pin and slide the grenade down the tube, launch with a Claymore clacker. Cool airbursts!

  52. 52.

    gogol's wife

    @JPL:

    Oh God. Most of it is not on our property. I assume that just mowing is going to keep it from taking over the lawn?

  56. 56.

    Patty K

    You said to feel free to discuss whatever, so here goes. Why in the debate about whether to allow an exception for the product of rape do we never hear anything about the possibility that the child of a rapist may inherit criminal tendencies? “A long-term study of nearly 15,000 adopted children in Denmark strongly suggests that a predisposition to chronic criminal behavior may be inherited …” That’s from 1982 and as I understand it, the jury is still out on this Q right? It’s certainly no reason to make sure that the rapist’s child gets born.

    You write about the most seemingly trivial things and yet somehow make it a must-read. I hope you are pursuing your gifts as a writer elsewhere.

  57. 57.

    raven

    @jeffreyw: I may have some of your photo’s of that!

    nah, just some dudes setting claymores and foolin around with flare chutes.

  58. 58.

    LanceThruster

    My 25 y.o. cat Keba is in surgery now (tumor under the skin on the stomach). They are afraid she might bleed out under the scalpel (because of her anemia). Spent too much money for a cat this old but I’ll still be devastated if I don’t get her back for a little bit longer. Feeling incredibly lonely and alone at this moment.

  63. 63.

    gogol's wife

    @LanceThruster:

    I know you don’t want to hear this, but 25 years is really a great life span for a cat. Not to say it makes it any easier for you, but you really must have cared for her exceptionally well.

  64. 64.

    Yatsuno

    @Patty K: I suggest you contact the blog owner and request a refund of your blog subscription fee. Use all caps, he lives for thay.

  67. 67.

    gogol's wife

    @JPL:

    Okay. My friend from Moscow who was here last summer just loved it and kept photographing it, but it makes me very nervous. It’s a kind of rain forest just beyond our property line, so we can no longer see the pond down below. But my husband thinks it’s good for privacy (he just doesn’t want to hear about any large eradication projects, which I guess would involve negotiation with the neighbors, not to mention money). Our tree service also didn’t want to have anything to do with it. “It’s a grass, not a tree.”

  70. 70.

    MomSense

    @gogol’s wife:

    I’m in Maine and dealing with bamboo!!! Ok I am killing myself cutting it down, digging it out and it keeps coming back. One of the “old timers” up heah told me that the only way to get rid of it is to pour gasoline on it. And since I refuse to have my own, personal oil spill I am going to just accept my fate and continue to do battle with the stuff.

  71. 71.

    raven

    @gogol’s wife: That’s a 3ft deep trench with the homemade bridge over it. The raised beds have crushed brick paths but the brick has washed down the hill.

  74. 74.

    JPL

    @MomSense: haha.. The most expensive roundup is the safest way. The stuff is awful.
    It cost me hundreds of dollars to do it myself.

  77. 77.

    raven

    @MomSense: Yea, we met with them and we feel we got the best possible resolution. They have agreed, after denying any fault, that they are going to move the sewer at their expense. They have been doing a good bit of surveying and we are hopeful that the job will take 6 months. That said, it is going to destroy a significant part of the garden and yard and we probably will have to dig up Raven’s monument and move the little fella.

  78. 78.

    JPL

    @kindness: It really doesn’t matter if we have a thread or not. It’s not on the NYTimes front page. It’s not on nbc.com front page. The story will fade away and come back in 2014 by the repubs. No one will correct it.

  79. 79.

    Schlemizel

    @LanceThruster:

    Best of luck to both of you. I would have given anything to have 25 years with my kitty but it wouldn’t make the lose less painful. Lets hope today is not that day.

  83. 83.

    JPL

    @raven: Fox won’t have him on. I’ll listen to network news tonight and give an update but I’m not optimistic.

  85. 85.

    JPL

    @raven: It’s on the front page so that’s good. Wish it would link to an article rather than Sargent’s blog.
    Personally hope that I’m wrong. If the Sunday shows mention it, I’ll offer a mea culpa.

  88. 88.

    JPL

    @raven: As far as your photo, I’ll add that misery loves company. Actually mine still looks okay, since the mess of tangled trees and leaves are still sorta green.

  99. 99.

    MomSense

    @raven:

    The delay, the garden destruction, and the moving Raven stink–but I am impressed that the town will pay for the relocation. You must have done very well in your negotiations with them. We had some issues with the town water line causing a mini flood in our house last year and it was an incredibly frustrating and expensive experience.

    Can you move some of your plants and things so they won’t be lost in the mess?

  100. 100.

    raven

    @MomSense: Yea, when we get a plan we’ll work on it. As far as the city the sewer line was badly mis-marked on their maps, not even close. Not only does it run right behind our house but it runs UNDER the house 2 doors down. They didn’t admit culpability but they signed off on both a historic preservation and building permit. The line is 100 years old and most surely leaks into the stream at the bottom of the property.

  102. 102.

    gelfling545

    @Betty Cracker: My dog has a middle initial but I’m not sure what it stands for (and yes, I named her). I think mostly it stands for damn.
    Snarla D. Dogg. Often said, as trip over her, Snarla! Damn Dog(g)!

  106. 106.

    LanceThruster

    Thanks to all. Sorry I have no time at the moment to respond/thank you individually. She came out of surgery OK, and they’ll keep her one more night to monitor her, but I should be albe to pick up Keba tomorrow. Your well wishes truly meant a lot and I thank you all again.

  107. 107.

    MomSense

    @gelfling545:

    Ha! My lab’s name is Rangeley P. Dog–P stands for Puppy.

    A little known fact about Rangeley P. Dog is that he has starred in many feature films like From Labrador with Love, Kennel Royale, You Only Bark Twice, and Octopuppy.

  112. 112.

    MomSense

    @raven:

    Aah, that explains it. A lot of inconvenience for you but sounds like this will be very beneficial for the local ecosystem.

  113. 113.

    LanceThruster

    @gogol’s wife:

    I feel quite accomplished that she’s made 25 years (though she did all the work). I’ve lost three other cats in the last 3 years (old age and cancer) that were each incredibly precious in their own way and a rescue Dalmatian 5-7? years ago (the last dog that I’ve had adopt me). Keba’s my little Energizer Bunny and I’ve had her before and beyond any of the others. She wasn’t ever thrilled with the new additions, but always knew she was the queen bee and had the master bedroom with me to herself. In her later years, I call her my ‘hamster kitty” because her routine is “the bed, the bowl, and the box” like she was in a Habi-Trail (that’s the life I wish I was living ;-)

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