Expect the Unexpected

It will happen when you least expect it.

Or you will find it when you are not looking for it.   Either way, I was out walking the dog the other day and saw….

I guess because it has not been a bad winter and therefore I am not craving any little sign of Spring that I was not even looking.   I moved further down the bed and the bleeding heart is starting to grow also.

Monday,  while the kids had the day off, #2 daughter and I worked in the garden raking up the last little bit that didn’t get done last year.  We also cut down all of last year’s flower stalks, tansy, asters and chocolate mint.  We did find some semblance of life from the chocolate mint growing along the boards laid down for a pathway into the greenhouse, but you can’t kill mint.  Outside the garden we cut down monarda and apple mint, both of which also showed signs of some growth. 

I moved some straw aside and found the rhubarb starting.  I tucked it back in until it is ready to come out on its own.   Thoughts of fresh produce fill my head and I start planning where things will be located this year.  Then....

This morning I awoke to 3-4 inches of snow and no school for the kids.  The weather man had been reporting rain with a possible ½ inch of some slushy stuff in the higher elevations.  Oh well it is the first snow day they used and it is the end of February.  And I can always find things for them to do around here!!

On the home front I have neither been spinning or knitting or crocheting much.  I am slowly finishing off the ripple afghan.  And it will have to wait a while longer because I think a snowball fight is in order for today.

It's a dogs life

If all the beasts were gone, men would die from a great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to the man.  All things are connected.  Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth.  ~Chief Seattle of the Suquamish Tribe, letter to President Franklin Pierce

As I mentioned in the last post we were waiting to find out if my dogs tumor that was removed on 1/27 was cancerous.  It turns out it was a lick granuloma which is a “skin disorder in dogs resulting from an urge to lick the lower portion of the leg”.  He never licked until he tore a toe nail in December and the vet said it would heal on its own.  Well Cooper started licking it all the time.  When the nail re-grew he started licking further up his leg and I thought it was a hot spot so was treating it as such until the lump formed.

So after several trips back to the vet because he ripped off bandages, chewed the “do not chew” bandage that supposedly tastes bad ….They put him on puppy Prozac . 

When he was able to bite off the zapping strip they put on top of the bandage, then ripped out 2 staples and then ripped out all the staples and he still continued to destroy cones and go back to licking the wound they put him on tranquilizers. 

The vet had planned to take out the staples on the 9^th  and it would have been done and over with, but since they were unable to pull the skin back  together after he ripped out the staples  and it swelled up we have to let it heal from the inside out and he will have a scar.  On the upside he has lost 7 pounds.

Myself, I should be on his Prozac, since every time I left the house or was busy he got into trouble.  I got to the point that I had to see him at all times as I don’t do blood and gaping wounds well.  I closed off all bedrooms, baths and stairways, leaving him only the kitchen, dining room and living room to roam.  As it is a very open space he tries to hide his head in a corner and lick through the cone.  He is making me as crazy as he is!

We have been back to the vet six times.  I think I bought him a new car.  They refer to Cooper as Meathead now.  We went through an inflatable collar and we are on our fifth cone.  This last one we picked up at Pet Smart and it lashes to his collar, the ones from the vet didn’t do that.  So far he has been unable to get this one off but not from lack of trying.  The others were a more brittle plastic and he would ram into the doorways, tables, chairs etc in an attempt to destroy it. We would try to fix them with duct tape but that only limited his vision more leading to more walks into walls and furniture. When he finally is able to go without the cone I will have to fix all the damage he has done to the moldings and paint on the walls.  I am more upset that he is self mutilating than the damage to the house.  We borrowed a shock collar to try to get him to stop.  We just picked it up last night so we will see how this will work.

Between runs to the vet, I have been canning.  I would like to turn off a freezer so I started pulling out last year’s fruit.  I have made two batches of strawberry/rhubarb and a batch of apple/rhubarb jam. 

I have also been crocheting and knitting.  February gave me several more knit squares from the one group I belong to.  I have one left to do from this round.  I also started a ripple afghan to use up open skeins of yarn.  It is single crochet so will be extra warm and take a while to finish!

Little Nephew has taken a liking to it and mentioned several times that the one my mom made him is too small now.  Of course he wants everything I make…years from now you will see this kid on Hoarders for sure! 

#1, Sir T and Baby O came for a three day weekend.  At 9 months he is 30 inches and 21 pounds, a long lean drooling machine.  And he is into everything making it abundantly clear that my house is not childproof!

And #1 son and A have set a wedding date.  So all in all I have been busy and since seed starting is right around the corner it looks like it will stay that way!   

Happy Groundhogs Day

If the sun shines on Groundhog Day;

Half the fuel and half the hay.

Living in Pennsylvania, Groundhog Day is a huge deal.  And as you know by now Punxsutawney Phil has predicted six more weeks of winter.  And if this winter continues to be like this…..

BRING ON SIX MORE WEEKS!  The kids are even excited for more winter because they have not used a single snow day.  As it stands now, barring no use of snow days, they will get an extended Easter vacation and every Friday off in May.  A whole month of four day school week!  Hell I would have loved that as a kid too.

So what has been happening….

my little puppy (all 163# of him ) had a tumor on his leg so he was left at the vets Thursday night.  Having never been alone he was very stressed out.  Friday morning found him in surgery which went great.  I took him back in for them to check on it on Monday and he has to return on 2/9 for stitch removal and we will find out the pathology results.  

While he was in surgery I was taking #2 son to the Doctor.  He had a sinus infection and an ear infection.  

Sunday we went to see #1 daughter, Sir T and Baby O.  I did not have a sniffle before I left but while there my nose was like a broken faucet.  We left early and my sickness continues.  The sinus part has now lowered it sites on my throat and chest. Yippee!!!  But I can finally breathe through my nose again so I am not complaining!

#2 son turned 16 on Tuesday.  He is my baby and it is so hard to believe he is 200 pounds and over 6 foot.  We are holding off the cake and ice cream until this weekend when #1 & Sir T are here to attend. #2 daughter will be doing the cake decorating as she has been learning how in foods class.

While being sick I haven’t had the urge to knit or spin.  I have been reading though.and organizing seeds. Groundhog day is usually the day I have the seed orders in by.  This year I went through my saved seeds and older packages and I didn’t place an order.  My local feed store offers seeds from most of the catalogues I get including the heirlooms.  So I am saving on shipping and using the stash.