Eva’s Friends

[Evadig]

What did I do from Wednesday till now? Oh, yes.

Thursday, I woke up late, and got to work later still. I didn't go down into the basement until two pm. Then I packed and sorted feverishly until evening. I organized the storage room for the fifth and last time. Then my dad came home and I went to bed.

Friday, my mom and I went out driving around the Maryland countryside. We had a nice time, except my other lower wisdom tooth decided to push through that morning, so my teeth hurt. That area is still very sore and inflamed. I wonder if it will come all the way through?

Saturday I spent nearly all day writing a story. It's a dumb story, I think, but it's something. I haven't written for awhile.

Today I played organ for both masses. There was a baptism at the second one. Of course no one told me about it beforehand, so I had to sight read the music . Thank goodness I'm pretty good at sight reading, and I already knew how to sing the tune.

And that is all for tonight .

Hope Eva is doing better for her sake and yours! It's so hard to see one of our pets suffering and to worry about them.

She has good days and bad days. Today was okay. I've accepted the fact she will never get better - just treasure each day I have with her.

Last night was tough because one of my Sapphire Splashes didn't come in when it was time to coop for the night. I searched for hours, until it got too dark. This morning, the dogs insisted on going out in the wee hours. And, at 3:52 a.m., I spotted a safe-but-silly hen, running back and forth in front of the garage.

Why she was out and about when she should have been hiding from potential predators is beyond me. Also, she is one of the off-color splashes; not a single blue-gray feather on her. Alice is stark, solid white -- easy for me to see in the dark. But, she's lucky she wasn't spotted by one of the many, many critters that would like to eat a bright, white hen.

It took two tries to capture her but I popped her back into her coop, apparently completely unharmed. I, on the other hand, had been terribly stressed, sad and not able to get much sleep.

Consequently, she spent today "grounded," left in the coop and run while her sisters went out to play.

Chickens really are "bird-brains" sometimes, aren't they?! How was she even able to see in the dark? I'm glad you got her back in safely, and hopefully were able to catch up on some sleep.

Today there was a naturalist at the new riverside nature center who was going to present a program on bats. It was free, and I had to go to town anyway to pick up Goo's ashes (I've buried all the other cats, but he was has been my constant companion for 15 years). The program was great, and although I've always been intrigued by bats, I learned that they are even cooler than I thought.

I think bats are interesting too. My grandma always used to tell this story of my great, great grandfather:

One day, a bat got into the house. Everyone was frantically waving towels to get this bat out, but they lost sight of it. Someone looks over to see the bat sitting on the head of my great-great grandfather, who was still sitting peacefully in his chair. He calmly picked up the bat and put it outside. We always laughed way too hard at this story .

It's hard to choose my favorite German food. But at Aldi today I snagged some of its German Week pumpernickel bread. Always delicious! Of course, I'm also a big fan of sauerkraut and learned to make my own at an ISU Extension class.

A few years ago, I bought a package of 12 pumpernickel rolls and left them on the kitchen island while I went outside for just a few minutes. When I came in, the rolls were gone -- bag and all. Turns out one of the dogs I had then, a Great Pyrenees, also loved a good, dark rye. Pearl had grabbed the bag off the island and ate Every Single Roll.

Pumpernickel is delicious. But I always confuse it with rye bread.
Pearl's story made me laugh. Did she get sick off the rolls?

Has your family decided on where to move? Is Pennsylvania still in the running?

We still don't know where we're going, but Pennsylvania looks the most likely as of now.

Evadig:

Jane in midflight

Finnigan and those handsome whiskers!

Charity is growing in a white tail...

Antietam Battlefield

 

[Evadig]

This will hold the record of being my shortest post ever! All I did from Sunday till now is sleep, eat, waste time on BYC, organize books, and list said books on ebay. An exciting life, no?

Sunset

Geese in the pond

The Virtues

Barbara

 

[Callender Girl]

A short post is okay. Sometimes, I only write a line or two in my journal. My goal is to write every day -- sometimes, it's a few pages, sometimes, it's a few lines. I just feel it's important to write Something so I stay in the habit.

BTW, Barbara is a lovely bird!

My "excitement," if you can call it that, is FINALLY getting a text from my hay supplier. We've been missing each other for more than a week, and I broke down yesterday morning and bought a single hay bale in town --at nearly twice what he charges. I wasn't home for much over an hour when I heard from him.

I'm always grateful when he's there to help load the bales. I have to unload it by myself when I get home, and that's plenty of exercise for me!

Today, the electric company is going to replace two poles on my property which, ideally, will reduce the number of times I lose power during storms. It's been a problem for years, and I'm always told they're going to fix it -- later. However, the temperature is expected to hit 90 degrees and the planned outage is supposed to take 6 hours.

I'm fully charging my phone and three battery-operated fans. I bought bagged ice so I can move fridge stuff into the old camping cooler. Most sources say fridge food should be tossed if the power is out for more than 4 hours, and I don't want to lose all of it. The cooler seems a bit scary, but I know we used it for days at a time when we camped and never had an issue.

And, I have a chest freezer in the basement that's 3/4 full which, if not opened, should keep everything frozen.

Fingers crossed for luck, they will finish early!!

 

[Callender Girl]

Good news: The power was only off for three hours (so I could have left everything in the fridge and freezer, but better safe than sorry) and it only got up to 84, not 90. All went exceedingly well!

I used the time without electricity to read Sy Montgomery's "Of Time and Turtles," which focuses on groups and folks who rescue and rehab turtles, of course. I've also read her books "The Soul of an Octopus" and "What the Chicken Knows." She really delves into the personalities and behaviors of the critters she writes about.

 

[Evadig]

Bad news out of the way first...Eva's no better. Thursday night she couldn't stand up, though she could walk again within an hour. The next morning, could not get up without assistance and seemed confused. I took her to town (more on that later) and it took her thirty seconds to register that there was a dog in front of her - she usually goes crazy when she sees a dog. Only then did she bark, half-heartedly.

She also had a small seizure that day and her heat cycle began. I know that her seizures are correlated to her heat (thought the vets refuse to even contemplate the idea), but this other weakness/confusion is something else. As of now, the confusion's mostly gone, but she's reluctant to stand up, has difficulty jumping using the stairs, whimpers sometimes while walking, and yelps when you pick her up in the front (obviously also supporting the back).

I list all this just in case someone has an idea what's going on here and can provide any advice. She still enjoys going out and taking short walks, and still loves riding in the car. As long as I can get at least a tail wag from the word "car", she's not in dire need of the vet!

So then, we went to town - all the way to the city, in fact, because I finally got an appointment for an asthma test. This was a basic test but the doctor said that I do not have asthma, and I do not need to take the more advanced test. So far, so good. I am going to call my recruiter this week to see if the Coast Guard will still require the advanced test. It will be wonderful if they don't, because then I can put that money toward Eva.

The work on the deck came to an abrupt standstill as miscalculations were made and several hours of work were for naught. We ended up having to tear down the entire deck, so you can't walk outside the new laundry room door. The house looks kind of funny without said deck. It will be a busy week...
Please say a prayer all the measurements are right this time and it all goes well, it's just the four of us putting this deck up and mom, my sister, and myself have never done such a thing before. Thank you in advance .

Good news: The power was only off for three hours (so I could have left everything in the fridge and freezer, but better safe than sorry) and it only got up to 84, not 90. All went exceedingly well!

I used the time without electricity to read Sy Montgomery's "Of Time and Turtles," which focuses on groups and folks who rescue and rehab turtles, of course. I've also read her books "The Soul of an Octopus" and "What the Chicken Knows." She really delves into the personalities and behaviors of the critters she writes about.

I'm glad everything went well!
And I can't believe it was supposed to get up to 90; here it's been only 75 at most, and we are quite south of you!
Does the Of Times and Turtles list any rescues? My little sis picked up a baby painted turtle from the yard and has been keeping it in a fish tank...well, it's getting too big and it needs to go, but I don't know of anyone who will take it because of the situation (it's not really a rescue, and it's not really a domestic turtle).

Photography, most of it is self-explanatory so I didn't label it .

Burnside Bridge, Antietam Battlefield

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Bad news out of the way first...Eva's no better. Thursday night she couldn't stand up, though she could walk again within an hour. The next morning, could not get up without assistance and seemed confused. I took her to town (more on that later) and it took her thirty seconds to register that there was a dog in front of her - she usually goes crazy when she sees a dog. Only then did she bark, half-heartedly.

She also had a small seizure that day and her heat cycle began. I know that her seizures are correlated to her heat (thought the vets refuse to even contemplate the idea), but this other weakness/confusion is something else. As of now, the confusion's mostly gone, but she's reluctant to stand up, has difficulty jumping using the stairs, whimpers sometimes while walking, and yelps when you pick her up in the front (obviously also supporting the back).

I list all this just in case someone has an idea what's going on here and can provide any advice. She still enjoys going out and taking short walks, and still loves riding in the car. As long as I can get at least a tail wag from the word "car", she's not in dire need of the vet!

So then, we went to town - all the way to the city, in fact, because I finally got an appointment for an asthma test. This was a basic test but the doctor said that I do not have asthma, and I do not need to take the more advanced test. So far, so good. I am going to call my recruiter this week to see if the Coast Guard will still require the advanced test. It will be wonderful if they don't, because then I can put that money toward Eva.

The work on the deck came to an abrupt standstill as miscalculations were made and several hours of work were for naught. We ended up having to tear down the entire deck, so you can't walk outside the new laundry room door. The house looks kind of funny without said deck. It will be a busy week...
Please say a prayer all the measurements are right this time and it all goes well, it's just the four of us putting this deck up and mom, my sister, and myself have never done such a thing before. Thank you in advance .

I'm glad everything went well!
And I can't believe it was supposed to get up to 90; here it's been only 75 at most, and we are quite south of you!
Does the Of Times and Turtles list any rescues? My little sis picked up a baby painted turtle from the yard and has been keeping it in a fish tank...well, it's getting too big and it needs to go, but I don't know of anyone who will take it because of the situation (it's not really a rescue, and it's not really a domestic turtle).

Photography, most of it is self-explanatory so I didn't label it .

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Burnside Bridge, Antietam Battlefield
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Thinking of you, Eva! I hope you feel better soon.

 

[Callender Girl]

Sounds like lots of drama in your life! I hope poor Eva is doing better; she seems like a pretty gritty little girl.

And, best wishes with the deck build. When the insurance company inspector showed up last week, I escorted him around the property, making sure he didn't walk on the deck (several spongy boards need to be replaced) or walk around the north side of the garage (where the gable-end siding never got put up). Hopefully, I guided him away from anything that would be an issue for my insurer.

Good news for you on the asthma test!

There's a Help the Turtles page in Montgomery's book. Here are a few of the listings, including Turtle Rescue League and Turtle Survival Alliance, as well as the Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. All have websites; I hope one of them can help with your sister's turtle. From what I've read in the book, it's okay that the turtle is neither a rescue nor a domestic; these groups just want to save turtles.

I was just in the basement and noticed Ozzie, the larger orange cat, was playing with something. I thought it was the catnip mouse toy I gave them this weekend. Then, Calypso took it away from him, and I realized it was no toy. Although I didn't want to keep those three former strays, I have to admit that No Mice have gotten upstairs since they moved in last year.