COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL February 11, 2015
A
Mulch is your
friend
Oregon Dog has a Canadian
green card!
“My dog, Bella, and I live in a twelfth-floor
apartment. Our neighbors’ dog, Angel, told Bel-
la the good news about appearing in your Oregon
newspaper column,” said Helle. “Bella excitedly
wagged her tail in appreciation because she was
born in Oregon, even though I adopted her in
Vancouver, Canada!
Three years ago, my friend, who volunteers
for a dog rescue group, drove to Oregon and
brought nine Dachshunds up from a kill shelter.
I helped her bathe them and for fun we named
one Bella because it rhymes with my Scandina-
vian name, Helle.”
“I was saved from a cruel and evil breeder I
call Cruella d’ Evil,” said Bella, “and taken to a
shelter. Then I was driven to a new life in a new
country. I was scared but after a warm bath, a
nice lady, Helle, adopted me.
I had Puppy-Post-Elevated-Traumatic Stress
(P-PETS) from my previous existence and the
loss of all my puppies. I am glad that Helle is
my loving Mummy and this is my forever home.
At Cruella d’ Evil’s smelly house I never got to
go outside. At Mummy’s home she showed me
that the world is big, pretty - and wet! Mummy
makes me wear a bright-red raincoat because
it rains 130 inches a year in Vancouver! I don’t
like the rain or the coat!”
“Bella hates rain and her cute-hooded rain
coat,” said Helle. “Once outside, after she goes
potty, she indicates that she is ready to return
home by walking BACKWARDS in front of
me!
Her rescue vet ‘thought’ that 3-4 year old Bel-
la was spayed. My vet also ‘thought’ she was
spayed. The next day, at our first dog obedience
class, the only male dog kept sniffing Bella. Oh!
Oh! My ‘spayed dog’ was diving head first into
a two-week heat cycle. Lovely. Dogs have a
‘mild’ period, which was an eye opener as my
carpets and furniture are white. Bella and I
quickly learned about doggy diapers. After her
heat, she was ‘officially’ spayed.
Bella must have the teeth of a Pit Bull because
she is a marathon squeaky-toy destroyer. I have
spent a fortune on dog toys that last two minutes
in her ‘care’. She tears them up, de-stuffing them
in one go. Because Bella is part Terrier, I call
her ‘Bella The TEAR-ier’! Three months ago,
I bought a small, sturdy human-baby squeaky-
Photo by Mary Ellen “Angel Scribe”
At first glance there does not seem to
be a similarity between Helle’s dog,
Bella, and Santa’s famous reindeer, but
they both have a noteworthy story!
rabbit toy that is thankfully still with us. A dog
chew stick lasts other dogs three days, but Bella
‘kills’ it in five minutes and a lamb bone is gone
in under an hour.
Her ‘bad dog’ behavior is so well known that
her Shitzu friend, Dish, guards her toys and
won’t let Bella near them. On puppy-play dates,
Dish is so worried that she grabs each toy in her
mouth from her toy box, jumps onto the sofa be-
side us and lines them up on the top so Bella
can’t reach them.
Bella sleeps in a little dog bed on my bed, but
with her P-PETS she has nightmares from her
previous life, so I often wake up with her cud-
dled in the crook of my arm.”
“Last year at 4:30 a.m. we had a fire in our
20-story building,” said Bella. “Sreaming fire
alarms woke us up! Mummy quickly attached
my leash, with its pink-flashing-LED lights, to
my collar. It was black and smokey in our hall-
way. The EXIT door, 10 feet from our apartment,
was too hot to open. We had to walk 70 feet past
it, through the dark, toxic air, to the other EXIT
door to escape. I felt like Rudolph the Red Nose
Reindeer leading people down the stairs!
In the lobby, I was glad to see my friend, An-
gel, but she looked different! The dangerous
smoke had turned her snow-white fur dark gray!
The soot was so bad that her parents could not
wash it out! She had to go to the dog groomer
for a special $60 bath, where she won a treat and
a colorful bandana.”
“I am grateful for Bella’s ‘presents’ in my
life,” added Helle. “She came at a good time, be-
cause shortly thereafter I was diagnosed with a
health problem. She is a wonderful emotionally
grounding friend and I love her to bits.”
Belle thoughtfully adds, “Because I was born
in the United States and I hold a Canadian dog-
license, I must have doggy-duo-citizenship!”
TIPS
“When Bella arrived,” said Helle, “she had a
bad case of car sickness. I found a helpful ho-
meopathic remedy and took her on two minute
car rides to help her adjust from her P-PETS.
I also bought a pet-booster seat for my Honda
Civic surmising that its low bucket seats that
prevented her from seeing out the windows, ag-
gravated the car sickness. Now she hops into
her little car seat and enjoys her rides gazing out
the windows.
I recently learned about a Bach flower rem-
edy, Star of Bethlehem, for pet relief from the
emotional symptoms from ‘fears of abandon-
ment and starvation’. It apparently ‘restores
mental, emotional, and physical calmness after
shock following: accidents, traumatic events,
grief, cruelty and starvation.’ The only thing not
mentioned in the book, ‘Bach Flower Remedies
for Animals’ is Bella’s name because it is made
for her!”
Share your pet tips and tales.
angelscribe@msn.com
“LIKE” Pet Tips ‘n’ Tales
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Adopt Loving Pets
www.PetFinder.com
Humane Society for Neuter/Spay Assistance
Program. (541) 942-2789
Kimwood Corporation recognizes $ PUUBHF ( SPWF
outstanding employees
4 FOUJOFM
C
ottage Grove-based Kim-
wood corporation wishes
to recognize James Fraiseur,
Jessy Wolfe and Mick Sebastian
for being selected as outstand-
ing Kimwood Employees dur-
ing 2014. Each calendar quarter
Kimwood employees select a
working peer for their outstand-
ing effort expended in the pre-
ceding quarter.
Fraiseur is a long-term em-
ployee, having worked at Kim-
wood for 31 years following
in his dad’s footsteps (Andy
Fraiseur). Currently James is a
journeyman lead machinist who
was nominated by his peers dur-
ing the first and third quarters of
2014.
Wolfe is new to Kimwood
having been hired in early 2014
as Kimwood’s Office and Com-
pliance Administrator. Compli-
ance duties are far reaching and
instrumental in keeping Kim-
wood employees, visitors and
customers safe from work-place
and environmental hazards plus
assuring that Kimwood com-
plies with the many regulatory
filings and inspections.
Sebastian is also a long-term
employee working in his 15th
year at Kimwood. He is current-
ly the Fabrication and Machine
Shop Supervisor overseeing all
aspects of these departments.
For each recognition the em-
ployee selected was awarded a
$250 gift certificate.
Our Community Newspaper
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Tips for stopping weeds,
conserving water
By Sustainable Cottage Grove
For the Sentinel
M
ulch is one of the most valuable allies
of the edible landscaper or gardener.
Mulch suppresses weeds, conserves soil mois-
ture (and reduces water bills), improves soil
fertility, and reduces the effects of very cold
and very hot temperatures on soil and plants.
Strictly speaking, mulch is any material
laid down atop soil. Permanent mulches such
as plastic have occasional uses, but natural
mulches provide many more benefits to most
edible landscapes.
A wide variety of materials can be used as
mulch: grass clippings, leaves, straw, kitchen
scraps, cut or pulled plant materials, sawdust,
bark or wood chips, cardboard, newspaper,
and gravel. Mulch choices depend on what is
available, budgetary constraints, the goals of
the mulch, and appearance. Bark mulch and
pea gravel look sharp, but can be expensive;
kitchen scraps and cut or pulled plants are
free, but won’t look as manicured.
Whatever the mulch, consider its source.
Use straw instead of hay to reduce weed seeds,
dispose of troublesome weeds off-site, avoid
materials from plants that were diseased, and
avoid grass clippings or leaves that were treat-
ed with chemical pesticides.
Animal manures and other composts can be
used as mulch, but they also act as fertilizers,
introducing nitrogen and/or other nutrients
that may or may not be wanted or needed.
Mulch can be applied in rings around indi-
vidual plants, or as a sheet over a large area
(with plants “poking through”). The thickness
of mulch depends on the material, commonly
ranging from 3-4 inches for denser materials
like gravel and bark mulch to 8-12 inches for
fluffier materials that will compact over time,
such as leaves or grass clippings.
When should mulch be applied? Sheet
mulches like bark and gravel are semi-perma-
nent. Many guidelines call for mulch rings to
be constructed in the spring, so that the ground
is kept warmer in the beginning of the growing
season, and so that sunny summer heat doesn’t
dry out the soil. A year-round or “permanent”
mulch provides these same benefits, and also
nourishes the soil without interruption and
protects root systems from freezing tempera-
tures in the winter. Before the fall rains start,
pull mulch several inches away from the base
of tree trunks to avoid rotting the bark. If an
extended freeze is coming, pile the mulch a
foot thick around the trunk, and then pull it
back when temperatures rise again.
Extend the life of mulch by watering be-
neath it during the summer, whether with a
drip system or manually with a hose. Watering
from above by sprinkling will cause the mulch
to decompose more quickly, and, depending
on the thickness of the mulch, may not wet
the root system of the plant effectively. If the
mulch tends to bind together in an imperme-
able mat, break it up occasionally to ensure
that air and water can pass through.
Contact us with questions or ideas at Sus-
tainableCottageGrove@gmail.com.
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541-912-0934
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