Thursday, December 25, 2014

We celebrated our first Christmas here at Sans Souci and it was good. I had phone calls from those nearest and dearest to me which made it very special. Last night there was snow on the ground but by the time I woke this morning, it was gone.

Christmas Eve day I visited Port Sanilac (as you can see, it's a very busy town) and went to the Canada geese filled harbor, which is still virtually ice free -

Clicking enlarges photos!

Christine sent some perfect yellow place mats for the dining table which complement Jon's "Yellow" piece; Kippa, Vinlands Urthur - daughter of Korpur and Kata, even sent me a black dog-butt hanger which is now installed in my bath-womb and has a red Christmas ribon hanging on the tail. I simply refuse to believe that Kippa will be ten years old next summer!

 

(The red-ribboned dog-butt hanger is on the right.)

I just noticed that one of my Clivia seedlings is going to flower for the first time this winter. You know me well and know that I'll post photos when it does. The orange crocus shaped flowers have a wonderful odor. I've heard that one of the secrets to get them to flower is that you must NOT repot them; they like crowded roots. Also, they say, you have to cut back on the watering for several weeks. I really don't know if the watering thing is true though.

This seedling plant may be more than 15 years old. It takes them a long time to mature, like humans, but they also live a very long time. I read that the seeds are actually nourished by the parent plant for more than a year before they are ready to be potted. In other words, the seeds remain attached to the parent and get nourishment from the mother plant and even begin to grow roots and leaves before they separate. Sounds like what mammals do, eh? That's what happened to my parent plants and their offspring.

Totty has become very affectionate lately which in the past has been an early indicator of pregnancy. I'm hoping for a large litter. I'm not sure what dad's genes are. I know for sure that he carries a hidden recessive gene, the b-gene, for chocolate-brown. I do not know if he carries a hidden recessive gene for black & tan, the at-gene. Time will tell. (Icelandic Sheepdog people call our black & tan dogs "tricolors" because they also always have some white on them so they are technically black, tan, and white.)

 

Totty's mother is Kria (above) and she is a black, tan, and white (tricolor) Icelandic Sheepdog. She has some light tan on her legs and two "tan eyebrow spots". Some tricolors like Kria have light tan, other tricolors have dark red-tan colors. There are many shades of tan in between the dark red-tan and the champagne tan.

Totty is also a tricolor, a chocolate-brown tricolor, and fortunately, like her litter-sister Pila, has inherited her mother's wonderful tail. (Chocolate-brown, tan, and white dogs have two b-genes which turns black fur to chocolate-brown instead. The tan stays tan!)

Totty and Rosalind

Pila