Independence Day 2013

AKA the Fourth of July.

As usual, tractors

Had a fun Independence Day. Went to the parade, hung around in the park with my adopted family, Uncle Butch's, went to Mrs J's (Uncle B's widow) for a BBQ. I made 2 flavors of jello because my stove was sitting across the other side of the room because my vinyl floor was finally being installed! (more on that in the next post.) And later drove my truck over to the other side of town to watch the fireworks. I tried my camera on them. Most of the photos were duds but a few turned out nice. I've provided a few parade photos, too.

First ever beach float.

There are always old cars

My best photo

Maybe next year I'll have better photos. It's a challenge.

My Car runs Great, but really, it's Dead Jim

I loved my 1999 Ford Taurus SE. Served me well for many years (bought it used about 2004), took many fun trips, the last major ones in September to Massachusetts (the trip I never did finish posting about) and then the Leelanau Peninsula here in MI in October. Little did I know I was driving about in a death trap.

At the end of March this year my fuel pump failed while driving home from Alpena. Had it towed to the nearest garage we've used before. Was told the filler neck had broken allowing crud into the tank, then into the pump which destroyed it. So $804 later it ran great again, was even told it ought to work great for me for another 2 years. Then I tried to fill the tank with gasoline. I discovered the  pump handle and filler nozzle wouldn't make a good seal, so the pump kept shutting off. I had to squeeze the handle just barely to trickle a few gallons in over a long period of time. Then when I parked it in the garage the smell of gas was so horrible it permeated the house.

So back it went to the same garage, 3 weeks after getting it fixed. There I was, with a 'good for another 2 years' vehicle with some sort of leak and was told the gas tank had to be replaced, and probably leaked from dropping it 3 weeks earlier to replace the fuel pump which sits on top. BUT, he wouldn't recommend doing it because the frame holding the engine was rotted from rust and the engine could fall out any time. Just roll right on out of the car

Hal was the one to receive this information over the phone. When he asked why they didn't tell us this 3 weeks earlier before they did the work, the reply was along the lines of "that was only 3 weeks ago?" and "we didn't notice".

Uh huh.

We are a bit put out by these comments to say the least. Had no choice but to call the insurance company who sent out an adjuster and a week later we were told it's not covered. We figured that but it was worth a shot.

Two days ago we drove it home, slowly and left it at Uncle Butch's house since we didn't want to risk driving it down our lumpy driveway. So there it sits while we try to figure out what to do with it now. In the meantime Hal has acquired a 1997 Dodge Ram 1500 from his dad's business. Been sitting at the farm unused for at least a year. He fixed the non-existent brakes and then took it into a different shop to repair the very sloppy, (to the point of not knowing if we can avoid the ditch), steering to the tune of $450. (That included a used tire to replace the undersized one it was sporting.)

Yesterday I noticed a leak. Hal determined the transmission fluid was leaking, it had practically none left. That probably explains the lousy gear shifting the last couple of times we drove it. I have my fingers crossed it's just a leaky pan gasket and filter. Hopefully, by the end of this week the truck will be operational.

Uncle Butch Died

On the night as my last post. Shocked the hell out of everyone. I saw him around 8 pm that night and less than 4 hours later he was gone. Heart attack. Totally unexpected though he'd had heart attacks previously. I think everyone was just numb for the first few days. He was my dogs' best buddy, the goodie man. It seemed Luna and Ziggy, and especially Rocket would rather be there than here at home because you never knew when goodies would magically appear. I considered Uncle Butch a good friend, he and his wife pretty much adopted me into their family. Some part of me still can't believe he won't be laying on his couch when I walk in the door and ask me "Have you come to see my dogs?" as Luna and Ziggy greeted my arrival to bring them home.

He was only 72.

This really sucks.

Is Spring Finally Here?

Hard to say. We keep getting sleet or snow, Inch and a half 2 days ago which finally changed to rain and then melted yesterday though it stayed where old snow still existed. It's slowly creeping back into the low 40s for daytime highs but I swear this is the coldest spring I can remember. It's cloudy and breezy right now and perhaps 35. The forecast is showing 50 for Saturday, I'll believe it when I feel it. Tomorrow they say more snow showers. Not a sign of my crocuses yet, usually I have daffodils popping up by now.

Luna and Ziggy are still getting along well though one night she refuse to come home from Uncle Butch's house so I let her sleep there. Ziggy doesn't protest sleeping in his crate most of the time, but I have to go to sleep by midnight because he is invariably up by 7 am, 7:24 at the latest. He's still not quite house broken. Mostly he pees outside, but I don't know that he realizes he can only pee outside. Accidents are fewer now but I still can't trust him and as he still wants to chew everything in sight, I can't let him out of my sight. There are a couple new holes in the skirt on the sofa, who knows what I haven't discovered.

But he is adorable, check out this photo! He was probably 10 weeks old here, he's closer to 12 now.

 And here's a photo of Luna to show she is not forgotten.

I suppose I ought to let the chickens, guineas and ducks outside now, feed them and walk my pups.

TTFN

Visitors in the House!

Yes, my Christmas time guests are back again. Lyra and her mom boyfriend. (We'll call them K and M.) They got in Sunday afternoon after leaving Massachusetts pulling a U-Haul trailer stuffed with my mom's living room furniture.

(I forgot to finish this the other day so I'll write something quickly.)

In the few days they've been here Lyra, Luna, K and I have done a lot of walking in the woods. K and I have gone shopping, once for food and once for gifts.

It's Christmas Eve now and in an hour we'll be heading over to Uncle Butch's for a party. I made sweet and sour meatballs.

During this week Hal and M have been hunting and finally late this afternoon one has gotten a deer. They'll show up to the party later after they've hung it in the pole barn.

That's it for now, I am tired, and have to change clothes.

Merry Christmas.

Bought a BIG TV and a few Other Things

At least it's big for me. A 42" LG high definition television. Looks nice, I've seen other LG's in person but not this one. Bought it from Amazon. It's supposed to be here by the end of the week. Bought it for $300 off list price. I was planning to stand outside a store on Black Friday hoping to get something similar, but Amazon has been having some pretty good pre-Black Friday sales. Can't wait for it to get here, our current TV is only a couple years old, and isn't a bad little TV, but it's only 24" and is not high def so can't take advantage of the HD signal we're getting from DirecTV. We'll have to pull the old stand out of the loft to set it on but that's no problem though a little awkward to maneuver down the stairs. The current stand will look very nice at Hal's hunting camp with the little 24" one.

Tonight I'm heading to his camp with a dinner of venison heart, a strawberry cake and a salad. Opening day of rifle season is tomorrow so I'll be out there with my dad's gun looking for dinner. Hal has already given a couple deer away to some of our less fortunate neighbors. They really appreciate it.

Luna will spend tonight and tomorrow at Uncle Butch's with her Uncle Yogi, Tank and whichever other doggie friends happen to drop by. Uncle Butch's granddaughter will feed and left my birds out of their coops in the morning so I don't have to rush back.

Did a little shopping last week, too. Bought Hal a new fleece hoodie. He liked it so much I went back the next day and got him another.

Eleven days till Thanksgiving. Many of Hal's clan will be up here for dinner at the farm, then holiday shopping on Black Friday. I'm looking forward to it. Plus I no longer have to get up at 5 am to wait outside Walmart in hopes of snagging a TV on the cheap.

Rocket: August 21, 1997 to September 10, 2010

He's gone. Friday morning I got a call from Uncle Butch's wife, Rocket couldn't get up, he had an "accident" and was crying because he couldn't get up to go outside in time. I got there  in under 10 minutes, I called Hal, we carried him outside on his bed, I helped him up so he could pee. His rear legs kept collapsing, but he managed. We helped him back to his bed then carried him to the car. I called the vet's office while we were on the road. He rode quietly in the back seat, he seemed comfortable now that he had peed. We got there just after 9:30 am. The doctor was amazed that he wasn't jaundiced, that he had gotten into the wading pool the day before. I had spent that afternoon outside with him, it had been a nice day. He seemed to enjoy laying in the sun and sniffing the air.

They brought a gurney out to my car. We lifted the bed onto it, and wheeled him into a room. I signed a form and paid the bill. Then the doctor did it. I held Rocket's head in my hand and then he was gone. It was fast, it seemed too fast. He swallowed. His eyebrow twitched, his nose whiskers quivered. We wrapped him in a blanket and wheeled him back out through the side door and they bundled him into my back seat. We were driving home by 9:55 am.

Hal dug a grave by the lilac bushes near the pond. Uncle Butch and his wife came over, they brought Luna with them. It was all done by noon.

Rocket performing the biscuit dance at Uncle Butch's house.

So Rocket is gone and it seems very unreal. I expect him to appear around the corner and perform his biscuit dance. I'd so love to see it again.

It Must be the Water?

So the last couple of days I haven't seen Rocket drink any water. As far as I could tell the only liquid he was getting was what he was getting whenever I used a 3 ml syringe to give him honey, broth or water. He hasn't really eaten anything since Saturday.

This afternoon while he was sleeping in the driveway Uncle Butch and Mrs Butch came over in their golf cart to see him. After mentioning the water problem, UB decided he was going to set up his water dish near him. So he put out a couple of blocks to raise the level to Rocket height and I got his water dish. Immediately Rocket stood up, walked over and did what I've seen him do the last couple days, smell the water, look around, smell the water, stick out his tongue and taste it and then walk away toward the trailer.

Rocket loves being at Uncle Butch's

We figured he was going to his usual spot to eat grass or lay down where he could be alone as he has always been a loner. I followed him around the trailer expecting to see him go back around the other side but, no Rocket. Mrs Butch got up and we start looking around, then I see his butt disappearing down the power line trail. I keep following, Mrs Butch following further behind and then I hear UB start up the cart to follow.

I see Rocket climb down into his favorite swamp pool/mud hole, lay in it and drink a little swamp water. Then he climbs out, stands in the trail a moment then starts up the hill toward UB's house. The 3 of us follow along strung out in a line, every so often Rocket pauses, looks back to make sure we're still there, and keeps going. We end up at Uncle Butch's house, Rocket walks up the ramp and we let him in where he proceeds to the dog dishes in their kitchen and drinks a lot of water. Then he walks away, let's Yogi have a drink, then drinks some more.

Then he lays on their kitchen floor and decides to take a nap.

I guess he likes their water better.

So I brought his bed over so he can spend the night. I'll take his pill over at 11. I hope he sleeps well.

Happy 13th Birthday Rocket!!

My little man is still with us and made it to his 13th birthday. I got him to walk home from Uncle Butch's yesterday and he spent the day in various spots in the yard or inside the garage. For a while I sat in my lounge chair reading with him. He actually tried to get into his old mud hole/pool on the walk home but it was empty of water since we've had little rain. I don't see a dog  that does something like that is ready to give up.

Today I took him and Luna for a ride to the vet, not so they could be seen by him but so I could pick up the metronidazole I had left there the day of the surgery. Earlier I managed to force a couple tablespoons of ground dog food down his throat and he swallowed it. He hadn't eaten in 2 days so I had to do something to give these pills a chance to work. He had his pills at 10 am then at 2 and 6 I fed him a little more.

He seemed to enjoy the ride, he always did like a nice car ride even if we didn't actually go anywhere in particular. When we got home he wanted to snooze in the back seat so I let him, eventually he got back out and we hung out together, him snoozing or sniffing the air while I read a book in between the rain showers.

I also took a few photos and I think he still is looking pretty good. So Happy Birthday RocketMan. I sure wish you could be around for more. 

The Roller Coaster Continues

Rocket is still with us this evening. It's not been easy. For the most part he doesn't want to eat. I've run through all kinds of foods; cheese, raw chicken necks, hearts and gizzards. All kinds of canned dog food, brown rice, hot dogs, venison sausage, canned mackerel, scrambled egg, cooked chicken, boiled and raw hamburger, ramen and oatmeal. Most of this he isn't interested in, he's completely given up on goodies of any kind. A few days ago he chowed down on 13 chicken hearts after a little canned food. Next day it was 7 hearts and 2 gizzards. Then a chicken neck and a few gizzard pieces. Yesterday all I could get into him was one chicken/pork hot dog. Today I had to force feed most of a chicken neck. I became very despondent today as he eats less and less. I know the outcome is inevitable but he's still alert, still seems interested in watching things around him.

Last night he decided it was time to walk to Uncle Butch's so I followed him and when he got there he performed his biscuit dance for everyone, though, unfortunately, he didn't actually want to eat and biscuits. (I suspect he wouldn't have eaten some if he thought they still tasted good.) I brought his bed over and he spent the night, not on his bed, but in Uncle Butch's room in front of the door. He spent all day there too and apparently, will be spending tonight there as well. I visited several times today and will be walking over at 11 to give him his antibiotics. A little good news is that he did eat a little food tonight, some brand name deli sliced roast beef and turkey. Perhaps a couple ounces. Not enough but better than nothing. it's been almost a week since the surgery. One week of the month the vet gave him. I don't think he has a month, but we're all trying to make his remaining time happy enough.

I Was Beginning to Wonder...

..if I was going to get logged in. I tried both my user names and none of the passwords were working so I reset it for one of them. This one, obviously, don't know about the other one yet, have to see if I can remember how to get into that email account first.

We finally got some much needed rain last night after 2 days of 80 degree weather. Only in the mid 60s today and cloudy. After dinner I planted some more snow peas  and spinach. Earlier today I finally got a couple trenches dug and planted 28 pieces of Yukon Gold. Hopefully, they'll grow though the pieces became black and fuzzy from the unexpected humidty overnight after I cut them and left them out to dry.

Today the washing machine pump died while I had a large load of clothes washing. Had to drain the tub with a hose twice (we partially refilled after the clothes were removed) and remove the pump. Its innards are frozen solid. Hal found a generic replacement on line this afternoon after much searching on line and on the machine itself for the model number. It's an old Whirpool Imperial Seventy, at least 24 years old. My parents gave it and its drying mate to us for a wedding present way back in '86. They've worked well for us that whole time. I'd hate to have to buy a new one, they don't last as long. Hal already repaired the dryer a couple years ago.

Had to take that load of wet, somewhat dirty laundry over to Uncle Butch's to finish the rinse cycles. The clothes are all hanging up drying now on the rack in the garage. The part is supposed to arrive by next Wednesday. I've got lots more clothes to wash, too. This is what I get for letting the laundry build up. If I'd washed a load a couple days ago, we'd have ordered the part already and it would have been here before I ran out of clean clothes. I think we will survive.

Yard Work

The other day I dug 5 holes along the fence in the front yard for the forsythias I am picked up Saturday from the county conservation district people. I think they'll look really nice down there in a few years. I also planted a few flowering bulbs and an aster my sister gave me from her garden. Still have a bunch of what I think are alium to plant. I also have a forsythia as well from her, I planted another on the west side of the house. This time it's surrounded by large rocks and wire mesh to keep the guineas and chickens from destroying it with dust baths. The hollyhocks near the chimney are no more but there are plenty of dusting holes.

Hal turned my old vegetable garden over with the spade shovel, now I just have to dig out the weeds and smooth it out. As usual I am planting snow peas and beans and perhaps a tomato or two though I've been planting them in deck pots. Won't matter where I plant them if we have another lousy wet, cool summer. Right now it's been very dry. Early warmth in the 70s had the morels popping early and the leaves unfurling on the trees 2-3 weeks early. Hopefully, there won't be any severe freezes though the temperature last night did drop to 30 and it's supposed to go a little lower tonight. Not even 50 degrees yet today, and breezy.

My old veggie garden will be 4 feet shorter as the old fence was moved last year to raise young chickens. I've got 25 feet of plastic 42 inch tall snow fence that I am going touse with a piece of 12 foot chain link that Hal supported between two cedar posts. It will give me a roughly 12 by 8 foot enclosure. Should be enough to keep out the rabbits and the deer don't tend to bother me, must be the dogs.

Speaking of morels I managed to find enough for one small dinner of them, sauteed in butter, salt and pepper with some wild leeks also known as ramps around here. Uncle Butch's son showed Hal where to find them. Hal took me there yesterday and dug up a few more, he wants to plant some here. I looked for morels since it's supposed to be a good are found them. In an hour I found 2, a tiny yellow one and a 2 inch black one. We really need some rain up here. The predicted rain for Saturday stayed just south, so all we got was the clouds and gloom.

Uncle Butch is Better

I'm a little late, but UB came home from the hospital last Monday. He's feeling better, looks better and is less tired. He still needs at least 2 more stents, apparently they can't do them all at once, something about the dye in the blood to make the veins visible in X-ray can kill you.

He goes back in about 2 more weeks to get another. One of them needs to be placed in his shoulder. All this time we thought his lack of arm movement and pain was stroke related. Weird. Medical science can do cool things now though.

Uncle Butch is in the Hospital

My dog sitter, neighbor, friend has been in the hospital the last few days, having some mild heart attacks and a little pneumonia. Found out tonight he's got a 90% blockage in at least one artery and some sort of leak in the heart. I got my information 3rd hand so I don't know what kind of leak they're talking about. I do know they want to insert a stent into the artery and are going to send him across state to Munson Hospital in/near Traverse City. I think that's where he had his quintuple bypass almost 10 years ago. I sure hope everything goes well.

In the meantime I am going over to their house several times a day to take care of Yogi and Tank. They don't know what's going on, only that mom and dad aren't home. It's a waiting game now.

Kayaked Today - I'm Exhausted

For the first time since last summer and Uncle Butch's stroke. Besides myself and Uncle Butch his 2 daughters were there and a granddaughter. Also 6 children. One daughter has a health issue and could not help in getting her dad into and out of the kayak. Things went pretty well for a while then suddenly Uncle Butch went off kilter and into the water he went. Of course, he did this in a mucky bottom deeper section and since he refused to wear his PFD standing him back up in the current and corralling his boat and paddle while keeping ourselves from falling out or losing our paddles was an experiment in managed chaos. His daughter_in_law also tried to help but she was holding her 20 month old baby.

During all this one of the younger boys in his own kayak started crying because he was suddenly alone and floating downstream. We finally convinced his mom to leave us and go "save" him. (Incidentally, all the kids wore their PFDs).

In the end, some tubers came over and helped out by picking up his kayak and his daughter's to empty the water out and re-float them. (Her kayak had filled up when she jumped out to rescue him.)

Other than that little incident the trip itself was nice. The day was hot, blue sky, big clouds, very pretty. We were supposed to leave for the river at 10, didn't get on the road till 11:21, and didn't get to the water's edge till 1:21. We didn't get off the water till 5:30 and not back to the house till a little after 7 pm. Longest kayaking day I've ever had for what is normally a 2.5 hour water trip.

It's possibly the only time I'll be able to get on the water this year though, so I'll try to remember the good parts.

A Little Snow Storm

Winter is back. A snow storm snuck up on us yesterday. There was nary a flake falling from the sky at 11 am but afterward it snowed steadily till after midnight. There's at least 10 inches of fluffy snow out there, I measured it, plus drifting. I shoveled the deck once last night and again today, exhausting work. Then I shoveled a path to the coop and inside the chicken run. Those little beasties hate getting snow on their feet. When I opened the pop door this morning they fell all over each other to keep from getting any snow on them. The sun came out a little today which was nice, too.

I took Rocket and Luna to the vet Thursday for their heartworm tests and got some medicine for a yeast infection in Luna's ear. I have to treat her for 10 days, already she isn't scratching or shaking her head as much. Currently, she is sleeping while Rocket is at Uncle Butch's. He may be staying there for supper as I am too tired to go get him, walking through all that snow is hard. I should have worn my snow shoes this morning on our walk. Left to his own devices he won't come back by himself till 9 pm but I know he's happy there.

Time Flies...

...when you're raising a puppy!

I hadn't realized it's been a month since my last post but the little dickens, now named Lyra (that's a constellation) has been quite a handful. Some of her antics include peeing on Luna's bed daily, following Luna and Rocket to Uncle Butch's house so that I have to fetch her back, and chewing up everything in sight. Perhaps next month I'll list some of the interesting items she's tasted.

But before I forget, here's a couple recent photos of her.

The wrestling photo is of her, Luna, and her great uncle Yogi. She really likes the big dogs but they would rather not be bothered with her. Luna is finally playing with her which makes Lyra extremely happy. I don't think Luna will have a problem when the puppy goes home with my mom and sister though.

Sounds like she's awake again, I have to go!

My Sister's New Puppy

She's also my mom's. One of 8 poor little labradors owned by a sad excuse for a human being. I shan't go into more because it's a small town and you never know who reads these things, one of the reasons I don't use real names. Suffice to say, I paid his blood price and got what I think is the best of the bunch, at least as far as a temperament that would be great for my sister and mom. She's only 5 weeks old, but as I was in danger of losing her, my brother and I rescued her before something bad could happen.

She is settling in wonderfully though Rocket ignores her and Luna is afraid of her. If the puppy approaches her from behind Luna runs. Luna will now approach the puppy from the front but she would rather be elsewhere, at Uncle Butch's in fact, where she and Rocket both ran to before 8 am this morning.

How can any dog be afraid of this? The top photo was taken today, the one below, a week ago. I suppose Luna will get used to her, I hope so since she will be here till my sister and mom pick her up at Christmas time. It will be hard to give her up then but Luna and Rocket come first in my family.

I sure wouldn't mind adopting one of her siblings though.

A Little Surprise and More Photos

I was taking my neighbor up to the hospital to visit her husband Uncle Butch today and ended up bringing him home. This is his second homecoming, he came home last Friday for less than 48 hours, had to be rushed back with a bad kidney infection. Hopefully, he's on the mend at last, though he still needs that operation on one of his carotid arteries to clean out the plaque. We've got to wait two weeks before they can do that and hope he stays healthy till then. It will be a somewhat nervous wait for everyone.

I was looking through a few of my recent photos tonight and found another nice autumn foliage shot with a tiny little Rocket in the background. The dogs never stay still for the perfect shot, but it's still a nice picture.

Here's a shot of those same trees and their neighbors from the opposite side of the clearing. That's it for colorful tree photos, cedar swamps aren't known to have many trees other than cedars.

And for amusement, here's a picture of one of my Muscovy females who may have decided to move to Canada. As of today she is still residing in Michigan.

And in case anyone wanted to see a closeup of my chickens, here are a few golden laced Wyandottes (the blacker ones) and my buckeyes. They are about 10 weeks old in this photo.

This concludes another impromptu slide show of swamp life. I could throw in a really cool photo (I think) of Rocket and Luna but I'll save it for another day.

Uncle Butch is Better

According to the doctors, his multiple strokes were the same one taking its time "finishing up". I've seen Uncle Butch twice since the last one happened about 10 days ago and he is doing much better. His leg is moving with help from the therapists and he's now able to make a fist. His speech is improving too. Yesterday I drove his wife to the hospital and we and a bunch of his sisters, a niece and grandniece took him for a spin around the hospital in his wheelchair.

Today his dog Yogi is getting to go up for an outside visit with him. I may bring Rocket up next week depending on the weather. He says he misses him, too.