Random Thoughts

Here's a shout out to all the Marchants, who recently lost Grandma Wanberg.  She was a fantastic lady.

My puppy's ear is broken!  She got a [hematoma, seroma, or blister-thingey--not sure what it's really called] that apparently is the result of a blood vessel breaking in between the flaps of skin that make up the ear.  The price to fix it?  Anywhere from $300-$1000.  SE said we could just buy a new dog for that price.  (What can I say? He has a dark sense of humor at times.)  If we ignore it, then the poor dog would have rotting flesh and could lose her ear.  Anyway, on the vet's advice, we decided to go with the drain-and-bandage procedure for $100, which may or may not work.  On Sunday when we checked it, it had filled up again so SE used a hypodermic needle to re-drain it and then bandaged it again.  I cried because it was hard to see my pup in pain and frightened. I hope this works, because otherwise, we are looking at the spendy option. 

In the meantime, our dog walks around with her head cocked to one side because of the weight of the bandage.  She also tries to shake it off or scratch it off with her paw, but she is quickly learning that we will tell her to "leave it" and make her stop. In fact, since we re-bandaged it on Sunday, she has been much better about leaving it alone.  Hopefully on Wednesday when I remove the bandages, all will be well and we can all just leave it alone.

Easter is coming, and I'm looking forward to spending time with family coming from out of town. The problem? Both my family and SE's family are coming from out of town, so I have to figure out how to split my time without offending either.  YIKES!  Looks like I will be pretty busy this weekend.  (SE will be out on the trail, and the kids are spending Easter with their mom this year.)

Old Dog, New Tricks

Many of  you know that we have cute German Shephard who is just so darn lovable.  We got her around three years ago when she was six or seven years old.  At the time, she was not socialized to other dogs and it caused some pretty big problems for us. SE has done a great job working with her and she is ever so much better--for him.  I've had problems a couple of times while I've been the one in charge of the dog.   The last and most traumatic was over a year ago when my dog attacked a neighbor's Welsh Corgi--I mean geez, that's not even a fair fight.  (Or maybe the Welsh Corgi attacked my dog, I don't know who called out whom.)  Anyway, I didn't get bitten trying to break up the fight, but my coat did, and I still have the holes to prove it.

Ever since then, I've been traumatized that my dog will attack someone else's dog on my watch.  It's to the point where I walk my dog late at night.  If I see someone else walking their dog, or another dog roaming free, I pretty much turn around and go somewhere else.  In essence, where SE has proactively worked with the dog, my solution to the problem has been to avoid the problem, to wit, it's not a problem if we never ever meet any other dogs.

I've asked SE to help me get over this fear because it isn't healthy for me and it isn't healthy for the dog, either.  Last night we went walking with the dog.  I was pretty complacent that it was late enough we didn't have to be worried about other dogs being out so I wasn't paying super close attention when all of a sudden, I feel a jerk on the leash and my dog lunges, pulling me after her.  I shrieked (sorry for doing that at bedtime, neighbors) and yanked back, sure I was about to witness my next traumatizing dog fight.  Just miliseconds after that, two ducks flew up and away from the dog's reach.  No dog fight here, and no duck dinner, either.

SE just laughed, but I, on the other hand, was suffering from PTSD (can that occur just seconds after the event, or is that TSD?)  Anyway, I start crying.  SE just laughs harder, and I can see the humor in the experience, so I was laughing on the inside.   

So, I'm thinking now that our old dog has learned new tricks, but her dog-mama, on the other hand, has a ways to go (frustrated sigh.)

Garden of Eatin'

We officially began working in the garden last night.  It looks like we already have a stellar crop of weeds-SIGH!  But we ignored the weeds in favor of using the last few bits of daylight to prune the fruit trees.  Here's what the garden looks like  right now:

The garden master said he is taking bribes for which rows we want this year. I said I would take anything but the strawberries, which are hidden among the weeds at the far left in the picture.  I didn't pay him anything, so I imagine strawberries will be on my list. :)  Should I have also mentioned the asparagus and herb garden, which are also weed-ridden?  (Those are the only perennials in the garden right now, so they don't get plowed under, hence the weeds.)

My brother, who also blogs about the garden.  With a plot this big, it has to be a family affair. It's great to have all the help, and it makes it a lot more fun.  The mutual gripe-fests are also fun.

Being a gardener is extremely hard work and it is time consuming, but it is also very rewarding and I am looking forward to another great year and a large harvest.

Talent Show

I was reading my brother-in-law’s blog (which you can find here, along with some of his great music) and down at the bottom, he encourages everyone to get involved in a choir, perform in community theater, to write a song, or to learn a musical instrument. I love that he encourages us to do that, but I also get a little frustrated, because I don’t feel like I have any performable talents. I love to listen to music, but I’m pretty sure no one wants to see me on a stage, listening to my iPod. I have no background in the theater, unless being silly in general counts. It seems to me as if I am missing a few of the basic steps.



But it did get me thinking. What talents do I have that need dusting off? It seems to me that I have been so busy with my focus on other aspects of my life, I certainly have talents that could use some attention. One of my loves is photography. Since we’ve entered the digital era, this has become so mainstream I hardly even know if it’s considered a talent anymore. And I certainly have hundreds of lousy shots to prove that I’m nothing special. The thing I really appreciate about photography is learning to see. It’s not about who is going see my pictures, although I really love to show a picture that turned out really well. I notice that when I have my camera in hand, I am thinking about what would make a good picture. I take the time to notice things that other people normally wouldn’t see, like yesterday when I noticed the bees buzzing busily about the blossoms. (I really appreciated this moment because we’ve been experiencing a good deal of snow lately and it’s nice to see that spring is being stubborn about springing.) I took several shots with my new point and shoot and was frustrated because it was so hard to catch the bees in my frames. When I got too looking at my pictures, though, I realized that, if I really looked, I could see bees in most of my shots. What a miracle that is! Clearly I had slowed down, but I hadn’t slowed down enough. Slowing down—now THAT is a talent that needs dusting off.