Original Country Girl

If you were wondering why things were quiet again, this is why…I have had a bunch of craziness here lately, and here is just one story to illustrate what’s been happening…

My SD and I were shopping. Suddenly from behind me I hear a small girl (maybe 10?) telling her mom “Mom, that lady has a dog in the store! Dogs aren’t allowed in the store!” The mother kind of ignored the kid for a minute, then the kids says again “MOM, it’s not allowed!” The mother said “That dog is wearing a coat, that means she’s helping that lady.”

Hey all, just an update on the OCP. He came through his surgery fine, though he was extremely freaked out when I was finally able to pick him up from the vet. I was able to get him home and settled, and he was out like a light for the entire first night. Now, a couple of days post-surgery he’s hopping around like nothing ever happened. Unfortunately something DID happen, and I can’t seem to convince him that he needs to settle his little heiny down! I’m not sure how many stitches he actually has, but the wound itself is pretty large, maybe 3.5 inches-ish?

Not a very good pic, but it’s the best I could get. So for the first two days, the OCP was on a kibble strike and would eat nothing but people food. Which was ok, I was happy to oblige, since I am a sucker for a poor sick doggie and I thought his teeth might be a little sore from his dental work they did while he was under. (Just a good cleaning) So for two days, in order to get his meds into him, I fed him plates of people food. On the third day he decided that he could eat kibble again and probably was not, in fact, going to die. Whew!

Here he is (above) moping a bit post-surgery. You can see he still has his green and gold (Go Packers!) IV wrap on his front leg, and he’s wearing a teeshirt to keep him from bothering his surgical wound. He’s also very, very sleepy. LOL

So, he’s doing well and I just have to keep him quiet and less active than normal for the next ten days or so. Wish me luck on that!

Whew, a day to relax just a bit. Kind of, at least.

Tomorrow is a big day for us, it’s surgery day for the OCP. About two years ago we found a lump on his chest/stomach. The vet checked it out and proclaimed it safe, merely a fat lump. At that point they felt that surgery was not worthwhile because of the risks of anesthesia. But, as is common with these fatty tumors, it kept growing. At this point it’s large enough that it needs to be removed. Because of its location it gets in the way of the OCP laying in certain positions as well. So tomorrow morning he goes in for a lumpectomy. I’m a worrier when it comes to my dogs, so of course I’m a little tense today. I’m sure that he’ll be just fine, but I am sure to earn a few grey hairs. You can see the tumor in the photo below, and the lovely sleeping position the OCP favors. Comfy, right?

The weather has definitely turned cooler. It’s been in the 60s during the day usually, and in the 30s at night. I don’t think we’re going to get the prettiest fall colors this year. Due to our weird weather and the harsh drought we experienced this year the trees are kind of looking like they are just going to go from green to brown, skipping all the lovely colors in between. It was a tough year for growing anything around here (and in many places in the US) this year. I really only had modest success myself. I did well with cucumbers, but not much else.

On another note, the OCPs little sister learned herself a lesson the other day. Because we live in the country, we get mice, especially this time of year. Because I have pets I refuse to use poison or snap traps. (The OCP proved that having snap traps around isn’t a good idea.) So, I use glue traps. They work well to catch the rodents and they aren’t harmful to the dogs…though they might beg to differ with that statement. So, standing in the garage, looking in the toolbox for a hammer, I was paying no attention at all to my pup. Suddenly I felt a jerk on the leash and heard frantic scrambling noises. I turned to see what could possibly be happening, and couldn’t help but laugh. She was spinning in frantic circles on three legs, with not one, but TWO glue traps attached to one of her back feet. While she spun and skidded around the garage desperately trying to escape this thing “attacking” her foot, I laughed my behind off. After a moment she realized I was not alarmed, and in fact, I was pretty happy. Since I wasn’t alarmed, she decided she probably wasn’t in any great danger. She put her head down and crept up to me, and kind of sheepishly looked at me as if to say “Um, mom…I may have done something I wasn’t supposed to do. Can you help?” She sort of held the foot out towards me, and I pulled the glue traps off with very little effort. (I trim her feet fur to help keep her feet dry, and also I wax her paws with Mushers Secret.) She was SO relieved to have the traps gone. Haha, now she knows exactly what glue traps are, and gives them a wide, respectful berth.

Hey folks, I’ve been super busy here lately but I wanted to post a quick note to let you know that we’ve officially closed on our new land purchase, YAY! Buying something is always so much work! Those of you who’ve purchased homes or land in the past know what I mean, between inspections, perk tests, surveys and title work it’s exhausting. But we’ve closed and that part is done at least.
I also just wanted to remind you all that today is the last day to use the “lite” code to get $10 of an EcoZoom Versa or Dura lite.

Check out this story from homestead.org:

http://www.homestead.org/NeilShelton/ThrowingintheTowel/FastandCheap.htm

“Have you ever thought about just throwing in the towel to modern society with all its stresses and frustrations? Have you wondered, perhaps while sitting in a traffic jam, or contemplating the inequity of the pay scale at your job, if you couldn’t get by better by just telling them all where to get off and taking complete control of your life?

I’d like to tell you about someone who did just that, and, incidentally, about how easy she makes it all look…”