On March 1st my email/calendar reminder app reminded me that the hummingbirds migrate in March and April and it’s time to get that hummingbird feeder out of the cupboard, filled with sugary water and into the outdoors before I miss them like I did last year. So, despite the fresh snow on the hills and the frosty overnight temperatures (I wonder how cold it has to get before water saturated with sugar freezes?) I put out the feeder.
No sign of any hungry hummingbirds yet.
I haven’t been able to write about or even really talk about this before but the thoughts are struggling to get out and I have to express them somehow. So here goes.
Andy is sick. He’s got a tumor in his nasal passages and it’s not something he will recover from. He has been a sneezer for a year or so, more frequently since last spring, often one or two really good sneezes upon getting up in the morning or after a nap. We never thought much of it, blithely ignoring the early warning signs that now in hindsight, seem blindingly obvious. I even shrugged off the occasional drops of blood…
He had a major nose bleed in August and our vet told us that it was most likely caused by a slow-growing tumor. Treatment options were few, very expensive and offered only faint hope. We opted for Metacam, a medication to help manage the symptoms and keep him comfortable.
And so we have adapted to living with a sick dog who is slowly getting sicker. We keep tissues on hand throughout the house. Any sound he makes at night wakes us up. I`m more diligent about keeping his bedding clean and cosy. Carter, much larger and somewhat rambunctious, is restrained from rough play. In December Andy had another major bleed and looked quite unwell. We took him back to our vet and decided on a x-ray to try to confirm the diagnosis. I was still habouring hopes of a foreign body such as a blade of grass stuck up his nose. Unfortunately the tumor showed up clearly in the x-ray.
Late last week he was no longer able to keep food down. Over the course of a few days we eliminated everything from his diet except for water and tiny amounts of his kibble fed every hour or two. On Monday he had significant nose bleed and then vomited up a large amount of blood. Tuesday morning, back to the vet. Not sure if it`s blood from the tumor, a stomach ulcer from the Metacam, or some other infection. Now we`re administering an anti-nausea liquid three times a day (vet said it tastes like chalk and Andy probably wouldn`t like it but he`s hungry enough to willingly gobble down anything we offer him) and continuing with the tiny frequent meals. Our household accomodations now include washable sheets laid over strategic areas of carpet in the bedroom and a horse blanket over the area rug in the foyer where he likes to sleep during the day.
Today he seems a little more alert and less sick looking. I know it`s temporary. While we might get through this particular crisis there will likely be worse as the tumor grows. In the meantime we try to keep him as comfortable and happy as possible.
My Sedum was heavily browsed by deer earlier this year but it’s managed to recover well enough to put on a pretty show this fall. On sunny days the blossums attract many insects – all sorts of honey bees, bumble bees, wasps and flies. I had no idea there were so many unique types of bees! I am going to try to take more pictures as long as the weather holds but here’s one from today. It was very sunny and to get a decent exposure I was shading the plant with my body at the same time as I leaned in close and fiddled the focus. Maybe I’ll get the tripod out tomorrow.
Slug
I photographed this slug sliming it’s way up one of the windows on our house. Most people find slugs disgusting and do cruel anti-slug things like stomping on them, pouring salt on them or enticing them into half-full cans of beer to drown. Maybe drowning in beer is not quite so bad a way to die…
Anyway, I wondered about this slug. Where is it going? Why is it going there? Over the course of a few days we found several slugs sliming their slow way up the sides of our house. Maybe it’s a preparation for winter. Do they hibernate in places above ground and wake up next spring?
Well.
I’ve been here a year and it’s performance review/pay raise time. Low self-esteem has never been one of my issues so of course I expected a significant raise and a hearty pat on the back (Exceeding in all categories, fantastic job!)
Hello, reality check !
First, one of the managers informed me that I had been mystery shopped a few days ago and the marks were not exactly stellar. Then my supervisor handed me a “valued employee”, aka meeting expectations, on my review. Arrgh, I’m just one of the masses! And I got a xx-cent per hour raise. Gee whiz, I’ll try not to spend that all in one place!
Oh well, I did make several customers happy today.
Got moved…actually this is the second place I’ve moved all my old VOX postings to tonight. Don’t ask why, it’s a long and boring story involving the usual computer mishaps. Anyway, things seem to have been copied here ok.
I promise to post more from now on. With pictures.
I was very conscientious about only buying plants that were supposedly unattractive to deer. Things like daisies, cone flower, daffodils. But when I got bulbs last fall I bought a Lily bulb too because I really liked the picture on the package. I thought maybe the deer wouldn’t notice it in between all the other “deer resistant” greenery and flowers. I planned to spray the lily with Plantskydd just before it bloomed on the hypothesis that while they might miss seeing the leaves they would probably spot the huge orange blossoms.
Here’s the lily as it appeared in mid-June, the stem over two feet tall and crowned with seven or eight flower buds. I loved the look of it then and anticipated taking fabulous photos of huge orange flowers.
I dragged my feet on the stinky Plantskydd spraying just a little too long and the deer got there first. A third of the leaves are chomped off and there is only one bud left. Oh well, maybe next year..
