More Flintville 'Ketchup'. -And a few questions too.

Good Saturday Afternoon Everyone!

I am hoping you are all enjoying this beautiful weather?  At least it is beautiful here, though a bit warm for my tastes as you can tell by the pic... 

My own comfort zone being somewhere around 72.5° to about 76°; (with a nice breeze). 

It has been over 250 days since we have been so warm!

Any warmer- or with any ugly humidity, and I just can't breathe well. This is not from my emphysema, although I am sure that exacerbates the choking feeling- but I have always been like that; even as a small child.

Baling hay was absolutely the most hideous chore I can recall. 
Blowing the chopped hay and/or straw to the haymow was a very close second. 

I did all that all with no mask either. Ignorance was bliss when I was 12. hehehe

Question ...
As I was trolling around the internet the other day I found a few things that puzzle me still.

Why would my blog be referenced and linked in "opencongress.org"? Please click here.

I also 'found' it linked here, which redirects to here (CLICK)
There is also a 'flintville' on this blog, http://infinityrealm.wordpress.com/flintville/ which is written by a kid. I cannot access that part of his blog myself, but just found them all to be very strange.

But alright- I have digressed- how about I get back to Flintville here?  hehehe 
While Casey was out here last week, she cut Punks toenails. 

*I hate that job almost as much as Punk does, (probably even more). 

Punk was, at one time, just fine with having this done to her. Then I made a 'bad' and brought her to Petco for her bath- (Trimming the toenails is included in the price).
When I went back to pick her up, she was walking sort of gingerly. I noticed that her nails were very short.  There were also the telltale styptic pencil 'leave marks' on almost every single one of her toes! I was even more than horrified to think of what this pup had gone through- (She was only about a year and a half old). 

Not that I can blame her, but she now takes it most personally when she has to have her toenails cut.

No kidding, after her trimming, she lays like this for a few days; (especially if I leave the trimmer out where she can see it).   hehehe 

She has been sick- and being that she still has pain, she is still being treated for her ears- (that last dose of antibiotics really threw her system out of whack).  

And STINK!- OMG, those ears are stinky- too smelly by morning if I dare miss a night treatment. PEEEE-You!

Yes, she also gets plain old yogurt- and lots of it, every day. 

Doc Spires once told me that a quarter cup would do her well enough. I begged to differ; and so, she gets about a cup. (Aw heck, it can't hurt).

Come outside with me for a bit?

Aren't they lovely?! 

They always look to be so delicate; but thus far, all of my flowering plants have withstood much wind! 

Then the Orange Blossom- 



... or a white lilac perhaps? 

Who knows?

Oh, we SO need "E-Smell" for some of these pictures! 

On the east side of the house, and Randy's favorite bush to trim---
The double "Snowball Bush"

 ... Still thinking about that "E~Smell".


My lilacs are not yet quite open- 

I shouldn't say "my".   Rather the dark purple, my favorite, came from Mom, (via Ginny Ryan)- and the lighter lavender ones out by my old garden I stole from Kelli and Tim before they built the duplex. hehehe


Y'all remember this pic?

This is what they look like now...



hehehe

 ... A few weeks ago, Punk, Sput, and I were walking around when Punk spied my one and only 'tiger tulip' stand . One had opened to show off it's most beautiful colors...  

Before I could stop her she ran to it, and pulled the blooms right off! (What a sassy dog)!
At hearing my sharp intake of air, she opened her mouth- The petals fell out one by one as she just stood there with her jaw open looking at me.
Nothing I could have done then, so no hard feelings- (Just my shock)! hehehe

Over on the front lawn I have some more of the variegated columbine- A bird, or a mouse, or even Mother Nature, has dropped them in the grass by the front porch, and alongside some of my hostas...

Around to the back again- Randy has finally trimmed my half~dead plum tree.

Looking quite nice if I do say so myself.

Down at its base you can see a pretty bunch of baby trees taking root (and thriving too)- 

These have been growing since late 2010, and I am not yet sure if they are plum, or pear. The leaves of both so closely resemble the other-

Either will be fine by me. 


Speaking of the pear tree- (Was too...)-

I will either have to board it close, or chain it up, this year...

It seems to split a bit more every year- And once the new pears are on it I don't think it will be solid enough to support them without giving in to their weight.

What you cannot see from this angle is the baby pear tree that has taken root right next to it. It is about 4' tall now- about 4 years old.

So when the old one finally goes to the great nursery in the great beyond, a new pear tree should be ready to take its place!

Question # 2 now-
I have never heard of a fruit tree blooming twice in one year, have you?

Because my D'Anjou pear did just that this year! 

The 1st time was just after that hot spell we had in March- (about a week afterward).  Those blossoms were so sparse- few, and far between, I was saddened, thinking what a measly year it would be for my pears. 

Then it blossomed again, (showing off many many BIG and PLENTIFUL blossoms)!!! 

I couldn't believe my eyes! My mouth waters even as I write!



What does Sputnik do while we are all out walking?

Usually he will keep up, but there is a whole new batch of rabbits in the windbreak this year; and he lives most days just to keep an eye on the branch encampments we have built for them. 

I have 3 BIG piles of old wood, branches and sticks and some leaves too; (taken as we prune the trees). 

The 'wabbits' think we put that there just for them.  We do!

Mostly though, Sputty keeps his distance because he does not wish to tangle with Mama Rabbit! hehehe



After wandering- (I try to get a decent amount of walking in each day), I do still mow the lawns. 




I always leave the tailgate of the Buick open while I mow, using it to hold the phone and to have a place to rest my weary buns and back when I have to take a break..  The open tailgate seems to be Punk's personal invitation to recline in the front seat. Too funny she is!
And yes, Sputty had been right there with her as I drove up on the mower, stretched out on the dashboard; but he left before I could take the picture. 


Those of us that live in Wisconsin had to vote on the 8th- A primary election for governor. (Know that IMHO, our Scott Walker is an ass).

I made a special effort to vote early in the afternoon so I would miss the rush hours at the poll. In our little community- (⅓ of Suamico), I was already voter # 1119. I don't think I have ever seen such a high number on my slip. So that was very good to see!

Anyway, I vote about 3 or 4 miles up on County M- 

As luck would have it, "M" was under construction...

Before I tried to drive all the way there, I pulled over to ask one of the road crew if I could even get to Calavera Springs. 

He said 'yes, but take 'er slow, and with caution'.
I opted just to take the old Swamp Road, and then cut back to "M". (A longer route by a mile or two, but it would keep my car a bit cleaner). 

Finally getting to the park, there is a big old sign on the gate. "Voting has moved to Town Hall."
Grrrrrr............. 

I am not sure if this move is permanent, or if it was only like this because "M" was gettig a facelift. 

I hope it is permanent- Easier to get to; especially in November when an early season snowstorm could make getting to the park almost impossible.

I'd better close for now- Am going to go scrounge up some lunch- my tummy is angry now and is letting me know it too! (Better late than never). 

I hope everyone has a "wunnaful" weekend!


XOXO
Me

Lumps are not good.

Good Morning All;

Warning! This story may be a bit too descriptive for a few of you.

If so, too bad.    Just kidding- Hey, just look at the pics then.  hehehe  

A long week last, for the Punk-

On Tuesday I had felt a spot of hard fur on her side- Like she had gotten into some syrup or jello- 

But saw nothing out of the ordinary, even as I brushed her!

She has had a lump on her back for a while- Doc said it was nothing to worry over, so I never gave it a thought.

Besides, the hard sticky 'evidence' was ½-way down her rib-cage, and nowhere even close to the almond sized lump in the middle of her back..

On Wednesday, she was twisting around, flopping even- 

My first thought was "she's showing off" (Not that she does that a lot).  hehehe   

As she did it again, and recalling the stick, (among other 'mishaps' she has had), my next thought was "What next?" 

I can see in these shots that her almond 'lump' was getting bigger and bigger...

And her smile was getting rarer and rarer.

So tired she seemed-

But she has been getting a workout too as the weather has been so much nicer.  

I just thought my [sort of] fat dog was pooped out...



Nice to sleep alone-

But sometimes you just want to have a friend nearby...

These twists, jerks and 'sighs' continued...

Good grief, was she epileptic? 
Or did she just keep reacting to me saying something to her with a smile on my face about her strange calisthenics?

By Thursday, her jerking around alerted me as I finally realized that the lump on her back had opened up...

I used a warm wet washcloth to clean it up the best I could, and it began to open up even more!

That warm washcloth drew out some pretty funky crap, and her fur came right off!

1.  Blood. 

2.  Water-Ooze? (Not like pus though, real runny).

3.  And little bitty white circles.  They didn't seem to move of their own accord, or I would have been forced to barf.

4.  I trimmed the hair from around it; then used the Hexaseptic Flush Plus I have for her.

I repeated this every few hours throughout the night-  

I even called Casey about 10:30- (Hey, she's the one with the veterinary background- much more than I have).

I called Dr. Spires early Friday morning.

 hehehe   
She was not at all thrilled when I asked her if she wanted to go see Doc Spires.  

Just one more shot- I should have noticed that swelling...

As he thought, it is a sebaceous cyst. Rare for them to open up too.
He shaved it better- finding two more little cysts near to it...



I should have put a nickel up there so you could see how big it is. 

(About the same size as that nickel)...

The little pinhead size white balls were fat! hehehehehehe

And it is still a bit swollen, but looking better after 4 days on the antibiotics; and I am to continue using the Hexa stuff a few times each day-

She didn't even beg for the chicken from the mini-casserole I'd made yesterday.

Still catching up on that sleep. (Damned antibiotics). hehehe

With our weird weather last month- (In the 80's mid-March), then back to below freezing again for the past few weeks- (at night), my tree blossoms have been as weird as the weather...

Only half of my flowering crab has blossomed out. 

Blossoms are on the north side, and the south sides. But NONE on the East or the West?

My daffodils are turning up pretty- and I have had a few vasefuls in the house already!


This is the little patch out in the west lawn.

More behind the house and out by where my garden... was.

Miss Polly called yesterday afternoon, and even got to speak to Casey!

Casey with a Wink, and the Sput!
* Polly and Rich are dealing with his ALS diagnosis as well as can be expected.

I cannot imagine what they must be going through, even after speaking to Polly

Those are not shoes I would care to walk in.

My heart, my love, goes out to both of them.

As soon as Casey leaves the chair, Sputty immediately decides it is time for his bath.




"Bathus-Interruptus!"

My own bath will be postponed a while today, as I have to get outside and mow again. 

Last week, I did not even do the west lawn- and barely even finished behind the house by the clothesline.

Oh UGH.

Hope all is well in your little corner of the world!
Love to all.

XOXO,

Me!

PS
As I write, I am also thinking some very good and positive thoughts- burning sage, and saying prayers for my friend Jerri...
Some of you may know her as "CubbieFan"

Jerri is at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, this morning, receiving results of yet another 'opinion' as to whether she will lose her leg. Her knee has been infected for 3+ months now- 

This destruction, because of the RECLAST POISON she had received.

Like me, she did not do her homework ahead of time; and like me also, she is paying an awful price for drugs that do not work.

Please, won't you keep her in your hearts today, and do the click (on her name), to leave her a message in her guestbook on here?

Peanut Butter 'Pupsicles' -and Blight

  Tomato with Late Blight.

"This is from the same disease that caused the Irish potato famine of the mid-19th century.
There is no cure, and if a tomato or potato plant shows so much as a sign of late blight, the plant is a goner. It kills quickly; affected tomato plants will abruptly collapse.
The Green Bay area has received more than 17 inches of rain since June 1, about 9 inches more than normal. The humid conditions are ideal for late blight spores, which then travel on the wind or through other methods.
(Photo and words from here. CLICK).


Good Morning All.
Another hot and sticky day here, and I don't like it one bit.

Storms already, the sky a beautiful red when I woke- Even without the radar images to know the rains were coming...
"Red sky at night, sailor's delight- red sky at morning, sailors take warning"
It is usually true too!

So is "rain before 7, clear by 11"-
Ugh. See, that means sunshine. On an already too hot and too humid day. Highs to be near 90, the heat index much higher than that.
Afternoon skies may bring more strong storms. The forecast changing a bit from yesterdays- Today they say the storms will be more north perhaps, and  more of the "hit or miss" variety.
I already have a new dune on my basement steps- (I did not get any clear caulk yet).

If the storms hold off, Cousin Buttercup will be coming late this afternoon, on her way back to Colorado and to her teaching job- She will stay overnight, having spent her summer in Sault Ste Marie, MI
I will make some stew for dinner.

Did a bit of shopping last night as the sun went down. Gee, could have bought some caulk then. Duh!

Punk is feeling much better so there is no way to leave her home. hehehe

While at the vets, she received an injection to counteract her nausea- When he was done with his exam, he also sent us on our way with 2 prescriptions. One for nausea and one for a possible tummy infection.
(Metronidazole, 500 mg- 2/day; and Metoclopramide, 10 mg also 2/day)...
Her appetite is still lacking, no more inert alarm that makes her demand to be fed at 5AM and 5PM. But she does eat- I have kept her on a softer diet for now, and she has also eaten some of her 'Taste of the Wild' food- Just not as much.

No more 'real' bones for her.
She does get her red rubber kong bone.
I put peanut butter inside of it, and pack in a butter and crunchy peanut butter sandwich too. Then I freeze it good and hard! She absolutely LOVES her peanut butter Popsicle! Promptly plopping it in my lap when it needs a refill too. hehehe






"Leave me alone!"



Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Two days ago I had the 5 o'clock news on. The weatherman was saying how much rain Suamico was getting...
WHAT?!?

Though a bit cloudy here, there was no rain-


Looking eastward toward Suamico-

We didn't get a single drop out of this little storm that had come straight south from the Lakeside, over the Bay of Green Bay.
Suamico was also 10 degrees lower than we were at that point... Lucky dogs!

The humidity does make for some pretty pictures- early morning and at dusk too.




I took this foggy one shortly before sunrise yesterday.

Casey will find out next week how her iron is- or how well she took in those 6 infusions from May and June.

She is still battling fierce migraines, almost on a daily level- sometimes several in one day. I think this is some reaction to those infusions...






She came out a few days ago with friend Marsha from game. I had been cutting lawns for 2 days straight and had neglected anything on the inside of my house. Oh well.
As I finished up the mowing, Miss Marsha even found a shell hanger from my rummage sale.



The picture doesn't show it all- It is over 4' in length-


Unlike the tomatoes, the rains have been good for the cored fruit here...



There are a million apples- Some even now already on the ground.
Will have to see how many- Either they go to Sue and Glenn for their deer, or I will make some fresh applesauce. (I know Casey will be voting for the applesauce). hehehe
It will all depend on how many are on the ground.

I'd better close for now.
I hope you are all safe and sound (and cool too).

Love to all.

XOXO
Me

Bat. Moth. Sick Dog.

  Sleepy Punk...

Good Morning-

After my recent bat experience, CLICK, I took to looking my own bat up.
I found this picture, although the bat in my home had black, not light brown connecting the wings, this is the closest I can find anywhere.





The one I had was almost entirely pitch black- except for around his face, and eyes, where he looked more like a raccoon instead of a bat! hehehe

The wingspan below is also not accurate-  As I held this one (in those now infamous wiener tongs), it moved it's wing- That wing came halfway up my forearm!




Given that I did not check the underside to see if it was nursing, I have no idea if this bat was trying to get home to its twins.
~ Nor do I much care, as long as it is out of my house!



I also did not check to see if it was clean... hehehe
But I do know I didn't smell any soap either!




The following morning, Punk thought maybe she would get even more treats if she kept the house secure.



hehehe
This was a moth for Pete's sake.
I hit it with the swatter, and she ate it!
Yes, she got one little treat- Just to wash the moth taste out of her mouth!


So that is all the news here-
I am sure that there is NO correlation to the bat, but since I could be wrong, I will be calling Doc Spires- as my little Miss Punk has been sick since Friday.
I believe this is my fault- I had bought a bone for her- smoked pork hip- as another treat for knocking down, and not killing this wonderful <--- sarcasm there) bat.
Methinks she has a bone splinter somewhere in her digestive tract.
She has vomited every morning, and is off her feed- lethargic and sad.
To think that I 'treated' her to this is so sickening... Not sure what to do either.
Thank God for veterinarians.

Hope everyone had a 'wunnaful' weekend!
My love to all-  Time for me to make that phone call-

XOXO
Me

One Injured in Neighborhood Clash-

Victim Left With Gaping Head Wound
 Flintville, WI-

A noisy daytime brawl ended when one victim sustained a deep puncture wound to the head.
What began as a quiet and orderly gathering ended quickly when the victim was found to be bleeding profusely from a large laceration to the right temple area.

The injury is not thought to be life threatening.










Down to bone...


It is not known exactly how the accident occurred as neither party involved will speak to authorities.





What is known is that the victim does not like her leg bitten either


Leggo my Leg. -Oh!




I'm telling whether you like it or not!



The victim remains in good condition.
She is being treated at home.



Measures must be taken so the young lady will not be injured further.



Never a dull moment.
*sigh*

XOXO
Me

For more on this accident prone dog, click here.

Infusion # 5, (and a Little Ketch~Up too)-

Another shot of my sad little abandoned garden...


Good Morning All;
A couple of long days here... And will try to catch you up a little.

Casey had her 5th infusion on Tuesday- We were there for over 4 hours again. (The infusion itself taking a little less than 2).  Another impossibly hard time trying to find a vein that wouldn't roll, collapse, or infiltrate though.
Such is the case for many people that have been chronically ill.
Her next infusion is 2 weeks away. (That's a little bit of a break anyway).

While she will probably undergo 6 weeks of infusions at least 3 times a year, her next one will hopefully be the last for a few months.  This will depend greatly on her blood tests after that one.

Last weeks infusion went a little better.
So well in fact, that during treatment Casey had sent me off to Mickey Dee's to get her a bit of breakfast.




A sausage, egg, and cheese McMuffin and a couple hash browns for her!


Sorry to say she didn't feel the same this week...



This is the 1st of 8 bad pokes.
They even seriously considered using her feet or legs veins, but couldn't find any decent veins there either.

Over to Casey's place afterward- I stayed with her until Greg got home.

Punk has been very sore herself...
Her shoulder bothers her very much some days; and she has been limping again for the past three days.




Casey warmed up a rice pack for Punk, and held it in place for a while.
Poor kids, eh?

I have the Meloxicam tablets to give Punk for this pain, but can only give them to her once a day.
Dr. Spires wants to do another liver panel on Punk before he would give her more of the other meds for her shoulder/back. (I forgot what that one is called, Pea knows- starts with an "R" though).

I did go to pick up some natural meds for the little pup though- They seem to help almost as well.


While I was at Casey's she showed me a FunYun she'd found in her package.




   hehehe   Looks like a chili pepper!


At home, Punk either lays or sits a lot.



That pudgy tail of hers looks painful, doesn't it? Clearly it is not. hehehe


Nor is Sputnik's tail painful as he watched everything too-


  
Sput the "Spinx" (It isn't right if I put the 'h' in there).  hehehe

Guess he was watching my camera at that point!
He had been keeping an eye on CocoBean-



She had chased him into the garage, and was very proud of herself!


Mr. Miller didn't care one way or the other-



... as long as he could find a shady part of the lawn!


Kelli's new home is going up by leaps and bounds. They even have 'rooms' now, and some trusses too!



 
Obviously, this makes her very happy!  hehehe
She had been relating funny stories about the building process and her horses getting their teeth cleaned.
We laughed for over an hour!

It was at that point the Greg and Casey arrived...
Having Kelli retell those stories was priceless!


 
Greg says hi!

So far, I have Windows 7 on my desktop, but it needs a new modem too.
Am only waiting on that to be able to be back up and running with that one.


Next he will have to check out this laptop of mine.
Adding those 4,000+ pictures has slowed this one down horrendously. hehehe 
(Yes, I will remove them as soon as I see all of them on my desktop computer). 

Had a nasty barfy migraine yesterday-
Casey drove out here- What would I do without her? She takes good care of me, even when she feels awful herself.

I'd better close for now. I have done enough "ketch-up" for one morning.
Will go into town after my shower and stay with Casey a while. She is hanging in there though! What a trooper she is!

Hope all is well in your little corner of the universe.
Have a wunnaful rest of the week! 
My love to all!

XOXO
Me