Thursday’s Tidbits

Look ma no cavities!  Our Dentist visit was a success…cross something off the list. Nice to have that visit behind us before the snow flies.  Far Guy visited the bakery for some flat bread and a date filled cookie for Chance, most times Chance rides along but it was too warm. Chance knows the way to the bakery and which case his cookie is in.  You should see his nose go into overdrive as soon as we go inside.

We saw this deer down in a swamp along the way.

Pretty little tick hauler.

For now the ticks have slowed way down, it gets too hot for them, they will resurface when it gets cooler.

I found several Sunflower Fields…I am always on the lookout for them, they have just begun to bloom.

We are wood carving every afternoon.  We had so many wood chips on the patio it looked like a beaver lived here.  Far Guy got out the leaf blower and blew them away.

It is still warmish and humid here…highs in the high 80’s but it is supposed to cool off to the 70’s starting today!

I cleaned off my desk so I could give it a good dusting and piece by piece part by part I put stuff away where it really goes.  Far Guy said it was strange to see the top of the desk.  Of course it was all my stuff…our stuff doesn’t count…his stuff is always put away properly!

The skeeters are still bad, but we had a dragonfly hatch that has helped a tiny bit. When I was little I didn’t know what they were called so I just called them helicopters.

The one bat we have should be a fat little thing. Far Guy sees him/her flying through the yard just at dusk. I haven’t seen the bat yet but I used to love watching them fly out at night when we lived at the resort.

Pea Party

There was a gathering…a party in the peas. 

We sat on the country road and watched.  Chance hung his head out the window and sniffed the air…I think they were too far away for him to see.

AT first we thought there were just five.

There were six deer in that party. Six tick factories.

I am still struggling with the Lymes.  I am on my second round of antibiotics. I got too tired and too achy and sore to continue fighting it by myself.  I spoke with a good friend who is a nurse and my Doctor; they agreed that a second thirty day round of Doxycycline was appropriate.  I will be fine.  In a week or two I should feel like a new person.  In the meantime I will just keep plugging away:)

Feeling Icky

The cold temperatures in the museum finally caught up with me and I have a terrible sore throat (felt like I had razor blades in my throat) cold, cough, headache and feel like I have been through the wringer several times.   Far Guy caught it from Miss Paige and then he shared with me..I thought I might escape..no such luck..I got the fever on Saturday at work.  It must be a virus because I am on antibiotics already and have been for some time.

Three weeks ago I was diagnosed with Lyme Disease, apparently undiagnosed for some time.  I am feeling a whole lot better  since I started the medication (Doxycycline) for treatment.  I will most likely need 60 days of medications perhaps more.  I take the medication twice a day..and it must be taken with food..or you suffer the worst nausea ever ( think seasickness).  I am thankful that the medication has taken some of the horrid aches and pains away.  My Doc says it will be a long recovery and is watching me closely.  She says that going back through my records that I must have had it for at least 18 months..my complaints of feeling tired and achy were put off to “old age” by my last Doctor who is no longer in the area.  My new Doctor ran about every blood test available and found the Lymes and a Vitamin D deficiency.

Such is life when you live in Minnesota.  No, I do not remember when I got a tick..we have ticks..they are all over in the woods.  If you get a tick you pull it off and life goes on.  Far Guy had Lymes a year ago..his Doctor treated him with antibiotics right away.  My brother had one of the fancier tick diseases anaplasmosis or ehrlichiosis…and he recovered.

I am sure I will recover also..it will just take time.

The ice is finally off area lakes and the farmers are in the fields:)

Sit a Spell

Wiggle your toes..feel the grass beneath your feet.

Go ahead..toss off those shoes.

Wiggle your toes in the warm sand.  Grab your book, sit awhile and read in the sunshine.

Smell the flowers, there is a breeze coming off the lake..

Ah soon it will be summer again.  The snow will melt..the flowers will bloom..the bees, ticks and the snakes will be back.

Bees, snakes and ticks those are the things I hate about summer…oh and skeeters..but without much moisture skeeters are no problem.

I am allergic to bees.  My parents were recalling that story the other night.  They thought I was going to die after I opened the hives and was covered with bees when I was three or four years old.  The bees swarmed and covered me, I was screaming..I made those bees so mad that they followed me into the house.

My parents were counting the stingers as they pulled them out of my skin and then lost track..I was a mess.  A few days later all my joints stiffened up.. I couldn’t bend any of my joints.  They took me to the Doctor and the Doctors gave me something that must have worked because I survived.

So I don’t like bees so much..but they sure like me.  I used to be very afraid of them..if one would land on me I would go all girly and scream and run away…and get stung.  My baby brother never got stung..if one would land on me he would say “ Hold real still and they won’t sting you!”  I held as still as I could whilst sobbing..and still got stung. 

I am not so afraid of bees anymore.  I can take photographs of them..it was a major accomplishment for me. I keep EpiPens readily available.

I tolerate the ticks..I don’t like them..I don’t like that they carry Lyme's disease and other tick diseases that we have to worry about with Chance.

Snakes..I am very afraid of them..pee your pants..run screaming meamy away afraid. I am certain it is a fear that I will never get over..but as long as we have snow covering the ground I can relax..until spring:(

Chance and the Ticks

Chance did a great job posing for me amongst the daisies.

I even managed to catch him before he went for a dip in his pool.  It is a good thing I like the smell of a wet dog. 

Last week Chance was not feeling like himself.  He struggled to get up the stairs one morning, he would be stiff and limpy when I came home from work..he would hobble over to greet me and his normal finicky eating was really finicky..cooked vegetables seemed to be the only thing that would entice him to eat.

Far Guy and I discussed it, we both figured that he had some kind of Tick Disease.  We called the Vet and she agreed so we picked up 30 days of antibiotics..this time he is on Amoxicillin.

This week he is much better..he was much better after being on the antibiotics for a few days.  He takes his big old horse pill covered in peanut butter every morning and night.

The ticks usually calm down some in July, August and September.  We bought some special spray to spray at the edge of the woods that will kill ticks.  Far Guy checks Chance many times a day for ticks, and he has Frontline and even an extra dose of Frontline Spray if we notice that he has picked up a few more ticks than normal.  I do not know what else we can do.

I am thankful that there is an antibiotic treatment for the tick diseases. I am thankful that Chance takes the medication like a trooper and I am thankful that Chance is getting better:)

Sunrise on Monday

Chance and I woke up before the sun on Monday morning.  My baby brother in Oregon wanted to see some sunrise photos.  I usually enjoy the sunrise from indoors..or at least from the front door, with one eye open and one eye closed..and yawning!   I am so not a morning person.  In order to see a sunrise here you have to get into the car and drive out of the woods.

First we drove down the highway a half a mile. The clouds were layers of golden pink colors.

Then we turned around to go the other way..and we spooked a bunch of deer..Chance thought he was a big shot scaring them as they ran all over like a bunch of wild ants.

We looked for a good sunrise spot.  This one is over south of the cemetery.  Then we went and lollygagged around over at the Dead Beaver area..where the water is really high because of all the rain..
Back out on the prairie and it is finally a sunrise.
These are some wild Asters that are showing off next to some  underbrush that is turning colors.

We are having a warm spell, the itty bitty tiny Deer Ticks are out again..Chance had six of them today..all crawling on his white fur. When we get a hard frost they will be gone..I cannot wait.  It was cool this morning....but my Jammies kept me pretty warm, and Chance was good company.  When we came home I saw a flash of white tails in my nephews drive..I quickly rolled down my window..a bunch of deer were trapped between his dog Bailey..who wears a collar for an invisible fence and Chance who was dangling out his window barking so hard that he was making me giggle and making the car move..so none of those photos are decent enough to share.  So the big news of the day is there are way too many deer in here again, I figured as much.

I hope you enjoyed the sunrise trip..I won’t be doing it on a regular basis..unless of course I just stay up all night until sunrise and then go to bed:)

Early Spring Happenings

Snow: It is almost gone, the huge drifts are always the last to go and we still have a couple in the yard. We really need a rain to clean things up..everything is brown..sure, various shades o' brown..but still brown.

Chance enjoying one of the last of the snowbanks.

Bluebirds: They are here, building a nest, they first showed up on Monday April 13. I sat out for an hour one day trying to get a photo, no luck..it didn't help that Chance wanted to play ball, instead of watching for birds. As soon as I got up and played ball, the Bluebirds were behind me chirping away.
Loons: None heard yet, a neighbor said he heard one.. so any day now.

A couple of Swans.

A Red Winged Blackbird

Canadian Friends!

Deer Ticks: They are here. The little tiny itty bitty size of a pin head ticks. Chance had one crawling on him yesterday April 15. We capture them on pieces of scotch tape, then we fold the tape over on itself and then cut the tick in half with a knife or a scissors. Duct tape works really well too..you can line them up and then smother them. You can also get out a magnifying glass and watch their little legs go a hundred miles an hour trying to escape the tape. We use Frontline on Chance, I stopped by the Vet's Office and they said "Yup the Deer ticks woke up on Monday..and Frontline business was booming." They have a new Office gal..I am not sure that she will work out either..she might be a few sandwiches short of a picnic.

Chance perfectly framed, gathering ticks :)

Monday Morning Happenings

The Reporter was here this morning. She was a very pleasant young thing..well younger than me. She seemed to be a very kind and compassionate person. So we will see what she writes, and yes I will link to it, if and when it is published. Far Guy did great! He was organized and had even taken the time to write up some of his thoughts. I printed out some information for her. So she is armed with information. And no I did not need to bring out my hatchet, just in case you were wondering.

I have decided that I might have been snitching way too much of Far Guys coffee in the mornings..I seem to get really wound up and tend to blast off a tad. I have not been a coffee drinker for some time since it was raising my blood pressure and my cholesterol. So it is back to the cup of warm water for me. His coffee always smells so good..that's it... I will just smell it and not drink it!

If we had a pumpkin there would have been frost on it this morning. We have had only two light frost previously. I thought about getting dressed and taking some photographs...then I thought twice and just let out the dog.

Chance is invigorated by the cooler temperatures.. today will be a sad day for him as his pool will be emptied of all it's water. Soon enough he will have snow to roll around in. If we get rain..he will just splash around in the mud puddles. I remember when he was a little pup .. his first encounter with a mud puddle..he looked at it..saw his reflection..backed up..looked again..took his paw and tentatively hit the surface of the puddle..he was a goner then..mud puddles would keep him occupied for hours! He has a pool because I prefer for him to play in cleaner water!

Hopefully with the colder weather we will have seen the last of the Deer Ticks..when it snows I know they are gone for sure. Tiny little speck like buggers..gone til spring. There are some advantages to snow..not many..but ticks and snakes just happen to be two creatures I won't miss:)