August Recap

Hello friends!

How was your August? Mine was eventful for sure.

Where to start? Well, there was a mega wildfire, which, unfortunately, is not that out of the ordinary for August, but what made this particularly unnerving is that it burned within 6 miles of my home. We were under some evacuation warnings for a bit. Luckily not the worst ones, but needless to say I didn’t sleep for a few days. It’s very humbling to realize how unprepared you are, how hard it is to work out what to save, and the harsh realization that the person who is most likely going to fight the hardest for your house is you. But luckily it didn’t get that far. Many prayers of safety and thanksgiving were uttered. God willing it never gets that close again.

We had the funniest little storm come through the other day. It was a little overcast, and suddenly the winds picked up and blew like crazy, just absolutely wailed. Kicked up a ton of dust and debris and knocked some branches out of my trees (a couple were pretty scary sized, I should maybe call an arborist). Then it thundered and crashed lightning for a few minutes, then stopped suddenly just the same. Finally it hailed pea sized hail for about three minutes, rained for ten, and then the sun came back out. It honestly felt like the weather had a small tantrum and then pulled itself back together. 

I relate.

Anyways. 

Because of the crazy fluctuations in weather, Nellie’s annual swelling of the leg happened again, and happened intensely enough that I opted to call the vet. I was so full of pride because Miss Nellie was such a good girl. Just wonderful. It was really nice, because this Vet hadn’t seen Nellie in a while (they rotate, it’s nice because the animals get more exposure to different personalities and don’t associate bad things with one person as easily) and he was impressed with her better manners. He made it clear he was pretty surprised Nellie and I both survived her training and I think I earned some points. He’s an old school, quiet cowboy type, so that’s saying something. 

I’ve always said that humans have a set number of words they can use each day. Some of us have lots of words, I can talk and talk and talk all day and never run up my limit. Cowboys, ranchers, farmers, they have less words, so if they use them on you, you better listen. Last time this vet was out, he said he thought Nellie and I might end up killing each other. This time, his words were complimentary. 

Anyways, she’s on some anti-inflammatories for a while whilst we ride this out. This happens every year, we don’t entirely know why, but I have my theories, and it seems like it’s always okay, so I’m just trusting it is.

Joe had a rough few days too. See, he was furiously messing with his ear and just seemed off. I assumed it was an ear infection, even though he didn’t really have the symptoms, but he’s prone to them. 

Nope, turns out he got something jammed in his ear. How? Good question, not a dang clue. He’s fine, no harm done, but he had to have a procedure because he’s so wiggly they were worried about doing damage if he wasn’t sedated.

The frustrating part for Joe then became that, since he was sedated, we decided it was a good time to take care of a couple benign lumps he had. Just in case they had plans to be not so benign, we thought we’d just get ahead of it. Turns out they were a little harder to deal with than planned and my sweet baby came home with quite a few stitches. 

He’s good, as this is being posted I’m probably sitting in the waiting room with him waiting for the stitch removal appointment. At the time of writing, he’s happy, bouncy, a little itchy, and very tired of not being allowed to zoom through the sprinklers. Just a couple more days, Big Dog!

He’s been enjoying the privileges that come from “recovering”. He’s had his pick of the comfy spots on the furniture, all his pills in cheese, lots of cuddles and hugs and snuggles, gotten to go everywhere with us in the car, and I bought him a little snuffle pad I can fill with treats and such so he had some non-zoomie enrichment. He’s eaten so much peanut butter at this point he’s probably part legume. 

Also, because his favorite nap spot during the week is my bed, during the day we’ve been rigging up some temporary stairs so he doesn’t have to jump with his stitches. Did someone say spoiled?

Otherwise things have been fairly chill. I did something to my shoulder and neck and haven’t been able to turn my head for about a week, so I’ve been taking it exceptionally easy when I can. I think it’s just a pulled muscle, but you can’t exactly stay off your neck so, I don’t really know how to solve it. Anyone got any advice? I miss nodding and looking to my side.

Anyways, things are fairly situation normal here in the farm, that is, vaguely controlled chaos. I hope you guys are having a great late summer and I’ll talk to you soon!

Until we chat again my friends!