dogs and coffee grounds

Because I'm a keen gardener, I was thrilled yesterday to find a cafe that allowed me to take home a big bag of coffee grounds after I ate there. I intended to put them around my blueberries, azaleas and camellias. I've read that they're really good for the soil in general, but that it can also be good to put them through a composting process first.

But...

I put the bag on the back patio and soon afterwards Penny got up from her snoozing mat in the house and went out to investigate the nice smell.

Hmmm... This might need a bit of investigating...
I decided to look on the Net for info about dogs and coffee grounds.

And it looks like it would not be a good idea to lay them on the garden beds out the back where Penny can wander at will. I'll have to mix them into the compost pile, or the wormeries (three of them) or put some in the Bokashi bins (five of them), before adding them to my soil.

Here's a site with info about dogs and coffee grounds. And this is what PetPoisonHelpline says:

Pets are more sensitive to the effects of caffeine than people are. While 1-2 laps of coffee, tea or soda will not contain enough caffeine to cause poisoning in most pets, the ingestion of moderate amounts of coffee grounds, tea bags or 1-2 diet pills can easily cause death in small dogs or cats.

I'll use the grounds neat on the camellias and azaleas, because Penny doesn't have free access to the front yard.

a dog sees the changeover from cricket to footy

Penny and I strolled down to the Yarra River at Warringal today, for her usual swim...

...a beautiful walk in the cool of a summer evening.

Then we headed back, towards the sports oval, and found a scene of exciting change. It's time for the footy season!

Go Hawks!

It was amusing to see the cricketers were sticking to their guns - or wickets - and continued to practise bowling and batting in the cricket nets, ignoring the hordes of footballers running around beside them.

Three cricketers - but dozens of footballers, from lots of different clubs. I think the footy is going to win the battle for space. Seeing the news cameras were there in force, I guess it was some special introduction to the start of the 2015 football season.

dogs and chocolate

I thought this article about the dangers of chocolate was helpful and informative.

I've blogged previously about chocolate, because I'll have to admit this substance plays a big part in the diet of our household, despite any resolutions to the contrary.

I recall I was horrified to learn that even a little bit of cocoa would harm Penny. Some of her humans - me included - wouldn't think the day was complete without two cups of strong, dark Dutch cocoa. So the jar stays high up in a cupboard when not in use, with the lid tightly screwed on.