Fridays are Golden

Men would come for miles around to go quail hunting with my father and his English Setter, Peerless Dan. My father could hunt an entire field with Dan using hand signals and the occasional whistle. Dan never missed a covey and Dan never broke a point. Well, almost never. You see, Dan's only bad habit was that he would point if he found a turtle. No amount of training could correct this. Eventually my father learned that if there were no quail, then there was a turtle somewhere. My father accepted this flaw in his dog and loved him dearly.

The other day my husband called me out to the driveway. There was a box turtle just beginning to cross near the garage. My first thoughts were of my father and Dan. And I wondered what our girls would do if they encountered a turtle.

Here is the turtle, idly walking onto the driveway.

When the girls came out, Lucy immediately noticed the turtle and ran right up to investigate. As usual, Ellie stayed cautiously behind. Note the position of Lucy's tail. A straight up tail in a Golden means she is excited and tense and ready for the unexpected.

As soon as she decides the turtle represents no threat, Lucy's tail drops and she checks out the strange creature.

Ellie comes over to investigate.

The girls take a close look at the turtle.

A REALLY close look at the turtle.

The girls did not paw at the turtle nor try to turn it over. They were content to sniff it from all angles. When Ellie started to nudge it with her nose, I decided that was enough and sent the girls inside.

The turtle quickly emerged and started across the driveway once more. I decided to help the turtle cross and placed it near the edge of the woods. I hope the turtle will decide to live in our woods. What a treat.

The past weeks have brought pain and grief to many people, including some of my favorite bloggers. So this week I ask that all of us in the blogsphere lift up our thoughts and send healing energy to our friends in distress.

Have a safe and wonderful weekend as we celebrate our freedom!

The Other Side of the Tree

Thank you for your comments on my last post. The reason for the post was to remind all of us just how tenuous our grip on life can be. I was extraordinarily healthy, had NONE of the predisposing factors for gastric ulcer, and NONE of the warning signs and symptoms before that day. My case was certainly atypical, but it happened nonetheless. Fortunately I have no long-term effects, and it's as if it never happened. I must admit that I did worry a bit that I never saw the "light" and no one encouraged me to come over or go back. But I didn't see goblins either so I suppose if I wasn't at the gate of Heaven, at least I wasn't at the gate of Hell either.

Now, on with the blog:

Our Pileated Woodpeckers started bringing their fledgling near the feeder and I cannot tell you how many hours I spent trying to get a good photograph. It just was not to be. The lighting was terrible and the birds in constant movement.



Here the baby waits for a feeding.

And here is the baby getting fed. And of course, it's like so many other great birds. It's on the other side of the tree.

Each and every feeding that I observed was on the back side of the tree, almost as if the woodpeckers had it planned. So I do apologize that I was not able to give you a good look. I doubt that the Pileateds will have another nesting this year. But there's always next year.

A Very Special Day

Today is my birthday and it is a REALLY special one. Oh, not because it's one of those "landmark" birthdays. No, it's because I spent my birthday last year in the ICU and almost didn't survive to see another birthday.

I didn't feel well on my birthday last year. As the day wore on, I began to feel worse and worse. I just wanted to crawl under the covers and lie there. My physician husband insisted on taking me to the hospital despite my insistence that I would be all right if he would just let me lie there and leave me alone.

I remember arriving at the hospital emergency department. I remember my husband trying to explain to the incompetent hospitalist that I had classic signs and symptoms of a significant GI bleed and that I needed immediate care. I remember the hospitalist being rather patronizing to my husband as if he had lost all credibility and medical expertise when he retired two years earlier. I remember my husband's refusal to allow the hospitalist to send me for a full body scan and his insistence that I needed to be in ICU RIGHT NOW because I was going into shock.

My recall of the next 24 hours is sketchy at best. The long and short of the story is that I had a very large bleeding gastric ulcer. After I was transported to ICU, the ulcer eroded into a blood vessel and I had a severe acute bleed and went into deep shock from the massive blood loss. I do not recall seeing the amazing gastroenterologist who saved my life by performing an endoscopy right there in the ICU (certainly not under the best of circumstances) and finding the bleeder. I do remember distant voices periodically. One physician said, "Start pumping the blood and up the dopamine. We're losing her!" I was not able to speak, but I do remember thinking that I should reassure everyone that I was going to be fine. While I was unconscious for most of this time, I did awaken periodically. One nurse later told me I had asked why I was in Trendelenburg so she laughed and told everyone, "this one's a nurse for sure." [Trendelenburg is the "shock" position in which the head of the bed is lowered and the foot of the bed is elevated to provide more circulation to the head.]

I spent six days in ICU. An endoscopy 24 hours after the bleed showed the bleeding to have originated from a large gastric ulcer. A biopsy proved the lesion was not malignant. From there all things progressed better than anyone could have expected. I came home a week after my birthday and quickly regained strength.

Two people saved my life a year ago today. One was the skilled gastroenterologist who was able to find and zap the bleeder. The other was my husband. Without losing his cool, without using profanity, and in the face of a hospitalist who treated him like an old war horse my dear husband served as my advocate. It was at his insistence that I was not taken for a CAT scan but rather straight up to ICU. In short, it was his persistence that saved my life.

Major contributors to saving my life were the selfless people who regularly take their time to give a precious part of themselves...their blood.

So today we celebrated my birthday. We went to a nearby town and did some shopping. We had lunch, then met with a wonderful sculptor and commissioned a metal piece for our mantle. And every now and then, all day long, one of us would say "this time last year" never bothering to finish. We both just smiled at each other and enjoyed the day.



Like this startled little Pileated Woodpecker fledgling, sometimes you just have to hang in there.




So for this birthday, and for all the days of this year I am truly blessed.

Fridays are Golden

Our first dog, an English Springer Spaniel, was the best dog in the world. I knew there would never again be such a dog. We had her for 13 wonderful years. Our next dog was a really wonderful dog and I loved her dearly. But I knew I had already loved the world's best dog and that doesn't come around twice in one lifetime. I believed that and accepted it. Until...along came Ellie.

Ellie's birthday was last Monday. She was born June 21, 2003. We were so excited because there were three females in her litter. The breeder was keeping one for himself and there was only one other person ahead of us on "pick list" so we would definitely get a puppy from this litter. We got a frantic call from the breeder a few weeks after the puppies were born. It seems that one of the little females had somehow crawled under the freezer and sustained a cut on her head. They were able to stop the bleeding and took her to the veterinarian who said she had no permanent damage but that she would always have a black scar. The breeder said this was likely the puppy to be left when it came our turn to pick and that if we wanted to pass then he would move us to the top of the list for the next litter.

Both of us had arranged time off work so one of us would be home for the first six weeks. We had no interest in perfection and told the breeder that we would still want to take this puppy if she was the one remaining. He gave us a discount although we would have taken the puppy anyway.

In August we drove to pick up our puppy whom we named Dichi Sirius Eleanor Rose. Dichi is the name of the kennel and must always be the first name. Sirius is the Dog Star and her mother was named Star. Eleanor Rose was a tribute to one of my favorite women, Eleanor Roosevelt.

Here is little Ellie at the breeder's just before we started home.

Here are her six brothers saying goodbye. One key to an excellent breeder is that all puppies from a litter are so much alike. Go here to check out the kennel.

Finally, we're home and she is an exhausted little bundle.

She grabbed a leaf the instant I took the photograph.

Here she is at six months of age. She just loved soft stuffed animals and the little yellow duck was her favorite. She carried it with her everywhere. What a joy she was...so mellow and loving. And she breezed through obedience training, quick to learn and quick to respond. I already knew that I had been wrong. Sometimes you really do get the most wonderful dog in the world again.

At seven months she is looking so grown-up. Of course, her father was well on his way to his AKC Championship points when he was that age.

Now, at seven years of age, our Ellie continues to give me endless joy. She is so tolerant of the bratty little princess we brought home when Ellie was two. In short, she is the best dog in the world.

Have a wonderful weekend. Keep in mind that there are so many people who could use a little support from you. Give of yourself as much and as often as you can.

Stay safe and happy and share your joy with others.

Should'a got a Mac

I gave serious thought about switching to Mac when I bought my last laptop. I've had so much trouble with my PC today that I'm sure I made a mistake. Of course, the problems are all different and inconsistent. (The Geeks call it a hiccup.) When a Web page can't be loaded, my PC asks if I want to send a report. I click that I do want to send a report and suddenly the Web page in question appears. You figure.

I thought my worst nightmare was when I had the very first version of Windows XP. Not only was it totally vulnerable, Microsoft would send out security alerts which of course encouraged every hacker around to try to break into the lapsed security. My computer got infected several times while I was going Online to get the required patch. Bill Gates never told me I was beta testing his new version.

So I shouldn't get so frustrated when my computer decides to goof off for a little while. I run my protection frequently and don't do stupid things but by golly, why can't it just work smoothly ALL the time? Is that too much to ask?

Enough whining. Ironically, a friend sent me this today:






And I saw this one on Punditkitchen.

How appropriate.

A Bit Confused

Our backyard birds give me joy in all seasons. I love the visitors we get during spring and fall migrations, but I love our year-round birds more. I love seeing the brightening yellow of the goldfinches. I love watching the courtship displays and the feeding of the fledglings.

This little cardinal is amazed that the parents stopped providing meals. A bit confused, the little one also seems a bit forlorn.

That's life, kiddo. You don't get a free ride and best to learn that now.

Fridays are Golden

We got another yard bird. This one is quite tall, another made from recycled metal parts. I never ever indicated that we had good taste. But we feel comfortable enough with ourselves that we don't care what art critics might say. We buy art because we like it and it doesn't matter much what others think about it.


When we brought the piece out, the girls checked it over. They no longer get terribly excited when we buy a new work of art but they feel compelled to check it out nonetheless. As always, Lucy walks right up and starts her inspection while Ellie lingers behind, observing.



Ellie comes around and decides to check it out. By comparing the size of the dog with the size of the bird, you can appreciate that it is a rather large sculpture.

She sniffs the bird's posterior as if she were greeting another dog.

I made them pose with the bird when it was in place. They look like pouty little children because they do not like to be told exactly where to sit. It spoils the fun of being off leash in the yard.

So I took a shot of the big bird by herself. She blends into the foliage and makes me smile.

The sizzling heat in the south seems to be moderating only slightly. It's hot even here in the mountains. We are having August weather here in mid-June. At least it's beginning to cool down a bit at night, making for wonderful mornings.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone. Live the words of the famous bumper sticker, and

DON'T POSTPONE JOY.