Wisdom is the subject of ancients and philosophers provoking us to images of lofty discussions and scholars. The Mishna (a second century Jewish document) has a discussion about wisdom:

"Ben (the son of) Zoma said, who is wise? He who learns from all people, as it is said: 'From all those who taught me I gained understanding' (Psalms 119:99)."

Wisdom without understanding is futile. So you might be asking yourself, "what does all of this have to do with gardening?" Everything! For instance, I did not realize until I was a grandmother myself the seeds that had been planted by one of my 'adopted' grandmothers.

I recall one spring afternoon in Southern California about ten of our neighborhood children were enjoying the outdoors. In those days we had time to play after school; if the sun was out, so were we!

When we wanted a snack we did not go indoors to get one, instead we climbed a tree grabbed a apple, orange, lemon, or avocado, and sat there in the tree and ate it. On a day like that that I met a lady who would change my life forever.

Four of us (who were older) had climbed on top of a two story building via a decorative wrought iron rail (it is a good thing they were made of real wrought iron back then). You might be wondering what had enticed us to climb on top of that roof? We saw huge avocados over the Hansen's roof. I am not exaggerating when I say that these avocados were at least 6 inches long and 8 inches in diameter. The seed inside was almost as large as our fist. We not only climbed up on top of that roof, we carried knifes, spoons, lemons and salad dressing with us. We were ready for our feast! We were not thinking of the danger we were putting ourselves in as we reached out on those flimsy limbs with all of our parents at work. Fortunately, nothing terrible happened to us. After harvesting the avocados, we then began cutting them and eating them sitting there on the roof. Suddenly the lady who owned the tree drove up and stared at us. My compainions paniced and scurried down the decorative wrought iron, swinging onto the the porch and vanishing. I, however, froze part of the way down the decorative wrought iron piece. I realized I was trouble. I couldn't move and did not know how long I could hang on. Tears began to well up in my eyes and it was then that I felt hands on my calfs and heard a soothing voice coaxing me to climb down. Those strong hands and gentle voice comforted me as I climbed down from that precarious perch. When I got safely down, I looked up to see the lady who owned the avocado tree holding out a hankie to me so I could wipe my eyes. She bent down to my level and asked me "Do you think it is right take the avocados without permission?" I tearfully replied "no." She said, "Good! Let's go get some lemonade!"

We walked hand in hand to her back yard, picked some lemons from her tree and made lemonade together. Afterward, we set a table in her yard and went to look for the other children so that we could invite them to share cookies and lemonade.

This incident was one of the most memorable of my life. This wonderful woman became my adopted grandmother and taught me how to garden. We grew all kinds of vegetables that summer. We harvested and cooked them right there in her backyard and invited the other neighborhood children to join us as we ate them.

It was not until I was much older and the mother of two small children, that I realized the garden that this woman had planted was in my heart. She not only taught me how to work in a physical garden and love it, but she also planted in my soul values that grew and flourished there. She was not only a gardener of a physical garden, but a gardener of the souls of our villiage.

Ilana Bradford

Our adult daughter obtained a cute miniature pincher last fall, however, we never considered the outcome of that event. We had become grandparents of "Tyson The Puppy". (Is there a title for this role other than grandparents?) We have had friends in the past who make jokes about having a 'grand-puppy' but we never thought that it could happen to us. Well, it did!

We spent the last four days puppy sitting, which if you have not ever done it can make baby sitting a 2 year old child a piece of cake. I have owned a day care and have 13 grandchildren who did not require as much attention and energy as watching Tyson.

The first night was at Tyson's house and he managed to keep me up all night. No matter what I did to try to comfort him he wined and searched for his Mommy. I tried the crate (which according to trainers is suppose to be his safe place) he incessantly cried, barked and scratched and eventually won when I released him from his crate. I then tried to encourage him to laid down with my grandson and then my granddaughter which started an entirely different game for puppy to play. It was up up up and down down down the stairs he ran for hours and hours and hours. Well, Mom's away puppy will play .....So went the first day.

Day two of puppy-sitting involved driving Tyson to our home which was a two hour trip. Surprisingly this went extremely well. He is good little traveler and scored big in this area. However from the time we arrived at our condo, he once again controlled every moment.

I must point our that he has visited our place with our daughter on more than one occasion, so it was not as if he had not been there before.

The first thing we did after our arrival was take Tyson for a walk.
Therefore, we were surprised when he would go to the front door every ten to fifteen minutes to jumping at the door, scratching at the door and whining to go outside. So, we took him out again, thinking he must need to relieve himself. This went on until bed time.

Bedtime was the same scenario as the previous night at his house (without the stairs) he traveled from bed to bed all night long, and even learned how to open the doors to the bedrooms.

When put in the crate once again he scratched, barked, whined, and chewed on the crate.

Was day Three any better? Check back tomorrow to find out!

Day Three of Adventures With Tyson the Grandpuppy!

Day Three was truly a test of patience for us. Once again Tyson went to the door jumping, scratching and whining about ever fifteen minutes. The children took turns taking him for walks and were becoming extremely annoyed with him. Especially because in between those walks he defecated on the floor of the dining room and then went pee on the floor next to my bed.
When night fell, Tyson began his running from bedroom to bedroom again we tried the crate with no success. Cute little Tyson was not looking so cute to us anymore. We could hardly wait until day five to give him back to our daughter. Even our grandchildren wanted to give him back.

Day Four we decided to head back down to Tyson's home in order to protect our floors. Once again he was a fabulous traveler! When we arrived at his house we immediately took him to his yard so he could relieve himself. He leapt and frolicked like a gazelle up and down, up and down, around the yard and we remembered why we loved him so.

After unloading the car and settling in, I sat down on the couch and Tyson for the first time (since this adventure) curled up next to me and went to sleep. We had to go shopping so we put him in his crate, and he went right back to sleep. None of the scratching, digging or whining that we had experience the last three days.
After our arrival back home we let Tyson out of his crate and opened the door for him to go outside. He would not go! Tyson once again climbed back up on the couch and went to sleep.

When it was time for us to go to bed I opened the door for him to go relieve himself, and he would not budge. I picked him up and took him outside, and he immediately ran back inside and upstairs into the bed with our granddaughter.

Exhausted from the last three days with Tyson, and his nighttime antics, I crawled into bed and fell into a deep sleep. All of a sudden I felt something cold and wet on my calf. It was Tyson! He had managed to get under the covers and was curling up next to my leg. Because I was so tired I just let him stay there. He slept there the rest of the night, I however, slept lightly because I am not use to having a dog sleeping with me and I didn't want to wake him or crush him.

Upon arising, it was Day Five and Tyson's mom would be back home to care for him by nightfall. We were delighted!

I decided to write about this incident so the next time we are asked to puppy sit, or dog sit, we will remember this event. I also sent our daughter a eBook that I found on another squidoo lens so we possible can master some techniques to make another visit more pleasant.

It is just like raising children, one needs to commitment and be consistent so Tyson will be thought of as the cute little guy that he truly is.

For help with your puppy and a free eBook visit: http://drdogsbehaviorsolutions.com/ I did!