Thursday, March 19, 2020

Happy first day of spring!

And it really felt like it here, with sun and temps in the 60s. Good thing, too, as smoke woke me up in the wee morning hours. I got up and opened the damper, and by this morning the fire had burned out (and the house smelled better). We'll give the wood-burner a good cleaning (again) so we can utilize it next week when it is supposed to be cooler and wet.

Today I went to work and then to the grocery store. I was pleasantly surprised to see a 'normal' number of people acting in 'normal' ways, and filled my cart with nicely priced oranges, apples, cabbage, onions, asparagus, garbanzo beans, and a few other things. I would have gotten a bag of russet potatoes if there had been any, but they were gone, along with brown rice, rolled oats, and whole wheat flour. No worries here, though; I have enough of the latter two to get by and can work around being out of the first two.

A 'service day' (technically a half-day) was on today's schedule for Brian's high school, so students had to give their parents two hours of work at home. I directed Brian to weed the garden – his least favorite chore (so LOTS of balking, arguing, and otherwise trying to get out of it), but more necessary now than ever. He didn't get very far, but did clear around the volunteer parsley and up to the kale. I need to do better at utilizing those and the beet greens (from the beets I never got harvested last fall 🙄); yay for free food!

Here is Poppy with her new splint, courtesy of her vet visit yesterday:
She also got puppy shot #2, which had her feeling puny – for about six hours. Then she was up and tearing around when we were all ready to wind down – ha! I think we should have named her The Unsinkable Molly Brown – it would have fit her, but for the color. Anyway, the x-ray showed Poppy's leg is healing, but definitely still needs the splint. One of the three broken bones is demineralizing instead of mending, usually a temporary set-back. As long as the other two bones are looking good in four more weeks, she'll get switched to a support bandage instead of a splint, as using the leg more will actually help the third bone heal. We'll have to monitor her activity level because of the laxity in her carpus and general atrophy, but the vet said not being willing to use the leg is more common at first than over-using it. (Maybe that's a common problem among other breeds, but I suspect over-use would be the danger for a Decker puppy!) She weighed 14.7 pounds, up six pounds from four and a half weeks ago; growing like a weed she is.

Hand out the cigars; Blake is a papa again! This morning the Babydoll Southdown owner who leased him for breeding last fall called this morning. She found a ewe with a water bag protruding at 4:00 a.m., and at 8:00 she still wasn't pushing or showing any sign of progress. Rick told her she'd better scrub up and go in; something was wrong. While at work she texted me: "FYI; I wasn't able to find lambs in her womb but was able to load her into our trailer and take her to a vet in Dallas for emergency help. I was sure we would find a dead lamb or two. Turns out he pulled out two ram lambs. They both sure looked dead initially but both survived! The vet was really surprised and so am I!"

That's it for today from . . .

8 comments:

Retired Knitter said...

Thinking about Poppy after the cast comes off reminded me of my first grand dog, Meathead, an English Bull Dog. He had to have surgery on a rear leg. The day after surgery my son and I went to pick Meaty up from the vet. Before going in, we noticed a few dogs being led out of the back door - to pee. They all have had surgery and some had surgery on a leg. They were walking on 3 legs holding the surgical leg up. Then Meaty limped out walking painfully on 4 legs but walking. It hurt us to watch but he made it out and back.

When we went into the office to get Meaty the vet told us - he wanted all his surgical patients to walk on 4 legs but dog often will avoid using the surgical leg for longer than necessary. But poor Meaty, he was never designed by nature to use only 3 legs - he was force to use all four - being a bull dog. He will heal faster than the others.

Poppy was designed by nature to run!!! on all four!!! - only because she can't sit still for long - and will probably have no patience for hopping around on 3 legs. I suspect she will do just fine.

Mama Pea said...

Do you fear the little tornado Poppy will be once her toes are completely healed and she no longer is hobbled by the cast? Oh, my.

Keep Brian working on the garden. Those darn weeds will only get bigger and stronger. I know not many other gardeners agree, but I've always found it much easier to get down on my hands and knees and pull the weeds out by their nasty little roots than trying to use a hoe.

wisps of words said...

My latest post....

Gentle hugs,
Stay safe,
🌱 🌷 🌱

Goatldi said...

Tell that boy to put on some clothes. He is making me cold! 31 here as I post. Got to split more wood.

Nice Lambs and big. Must have been playing hide and seek.

Jeanne said...

That's great about those beautiful lambs!

It sounds like Poppy will do well, though I was sad to learn of the demineralization of the one bone. Praying that all will go well.

I hope you can keep Brian working in the garden. I used to have to do that for my parents. My sisters had to milk cows (by hand) I was thankful to escape that!

Have a great day!

Michelle said...

Yes, Elaine, I suspect Poppy will USE that atrophied little twig of a leg, and that's a good thing, though painful to watch as it was for you guys with Meatball. Bulldogs have "a leg in each corner" – and need all four!

Mama Pea, no, I really can't imagine Poppy being more of a tornado than she already is. And I totally agree about pulling weeds; besides, I HATE hoeing. Getting Brian to do more may be beyond my ability; yesterday I had the leverage of grades – "you don't do the chore I assigned you for your 'community service' and I won't email your teacher that you did your requirement." I never would have DREAMED of defying my parents, but my son has no such reservations. 😞

I'll check it out, Wisps!

YOU tell him, Goatldi; maybe he'd listen to you!

I used to have to weed for my folks, too, Jeanne – plus a lot of other tasks! Never milking, though; we didn't have any dairy animals.

Kristin said...

Oh Poppy! I'm glad she's doing okay and has a good prognosis. The weather here has been pretty fickle--warm one day, cold and rainy the next, back to warm and rainy. Such is winter-into-spring I suppose. And good news about the lambs! I'm glad that all worked out. I love sheep and dream of having sheep. One day! Take good care. xoxo

Michelle said...

Kristin, we've swung from warm and sunny to cool and wet overnight. I hope you can get sheep one day; I certainly enjoy mine!