Beau May 5th, 2010
In between all the outside projects, I’m trying to catch up a little inside as well. Sometimes it seems there are so many priorities, or “would-like-to-do” things, that it’s hard to remember the things we really need to do. Or maybe we conveniently place them at the back of the list somewhere. Anway, I realize it’s easy to put up pretty pictures on the blog, even though that is one of my goals: To share the beauty of where we live, along with my periodic ramblings.
I must say that I really appreciate comments and visits from readers, and it helps me to remember that other people enjoy and appreciate nature and many other things about life just as I do.
But in between all the pretty pictures, there is real life going on here too… including a messy house and kitchen, a garage and barn that needs organized and tons of weeds in various places that we just haven’t got to yet. But am I going to focus on those things here? Heck no! I’m only going to show the good stuff! :)
There’s only so much time and energy each day, and everyone stays busy. This week after cleaning, trimming and everyday stuff, it’s been all chicken-coop building and cutting grass. I’ve been out on the tractor past 8:30 pm a couple days just to keep up. I guess it all depends upon what we want to do really, and how we choose to spend our time.
I am just not someone who can sit on the couch for hours and watch television. There are so many other incredible things to do. I have to admit it frustrates me when the boy’s first thought when he has time is to go watch cartoons for example. I suppose a lot of kids are like that (and I watched cartoons as a kid too.)
Ah, but I’ve always got better ideas for things he can do (what parent doesn’t?!) and love to see him outside helping out or just goofing around exploring. Television is a huge magnet for passive activity… and I think it just turns off the brain. I enjoy watching a few shows too, but even then I could be spending my time more effectively elsewhere (like organizing or writing a little more).
Once the boy gets outside though he finds tons of fun things to do, like climbing trees! And the hat is really good for holding peanuts. I need to give him a break this week however, or no, that’s not right… well yes, but what I really mean to say is that he broke his toe last week… Somehow playing or running around the house he stubbed his pinky toe. It looked like a little bruise at first, and then his foot was even more bruised behind the joint. Ouch- he could hardly walk on it for a few days.
Better safe than sorry, so I took him to the doctor and the orthopedic specialist confirmed he broke the big bone in the little toe… not just any break mind you. It was a spiral break through the bone into the joint. Yikes. Now how does that happen?!
So he doesn’t have gym class at school for three weeks and I’ll take him back to the doc to make sure it’s healing okay. Which is fine right now because school is basically finished in about three weeks. The good news is that kids usually heal up very nicely from such things. So now I find myself saying, “Stop running on your foot!” to make sure he doesn’t hurt it again.
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The boy’s foot is not the only foot that’s causing a little pain and frustration this week. A strange time for foot maladies… My left foot has been really sore too, and old ankle injury that just seems to linger. So I’ve come to really appreciate our feet this week, and how much we need them. Well, the whole body really. Is there anything quite like gardening, landscaping or building something to show you the parts of your body you forgot about for a while?
“I just put my feet in the air and move them around.”
– Fred Astaire
The other foot I’ve been keeping a good deal busier with is the one on the labrador retriever. We haven’t been training, exploring or doing anything particularly fun to bother him. Rather I’ve been sitting on the floor wrapping bandages trying to keep him from making a “hot spot” worse on his leg.
Have you ever seen one of those? Basically the dog licks its foot or tail or something so much that it creates a raw, red, and often bloody patch an inch or two in size. Sometimes it’s because of allergies, or anxiety or even insect bites. Sometimes it’s just what the dog does. There’s a good two inch hot spot under this bandage, and you can see a couple of tenative spots where he licks at the edge of the bandage.
The problem is that it just doesn’t heal on its own because the dog just keeps licking, and then develops a habit for doing it and eventually it can become infected or really hurt the animal. So how do you keep a labrador from chewing and licking? You don’t. At least that’s what I found out. You have to divert his attention, keep the area protected, try to keep him occupied with other chew toys and generally just watch him as much as possible.
So we find ways to compromise and keep his foot wrapped up while the hot spot heals. I’ve used every bandage, ointment, powder and bitter “anti-lick” lotion there is… or it seems like it. I’ve finally got it somewhat under control and healed to a tough outer skin after nearly two weeks. Not only have I kept it bandaged, but I’ve used my socks to slip up his leg and the cover that with masking tape!
Of course the dog being a dog needs to go outside… which means the bandages get wet and often muddy. Or he sneaks down to the pond when I’m not looking and goes for a swim. The nerve!
But of course that means his bandage needs changed again. And again. And again. Ugh! And if I slip up just once and don’t wrap it properly… he gets to it and it becomes bloody and the process starts all over again.
But I’m nearly as stubborn as he is sometimes, and we go back to square one. I have found that if you can get the bloody raw part to heal just enough with a good layer of outer skin, then medicated powder works really well to help the dog not feel itchy or whatever in that area.
Yes, many of you probably know the other possible solution is the dreaded Cone of Shame. Did you see the movie Up? It was very cute, and Up took home two Academy Awards, for Best Animated Feature Film and Original Score. This is Dug from the movie…
Dug says, “I do not like the cone of shame.”
Photo copyright Pixar
People use the cone to keep the dog from reaching places on its body that it will lick or bite. I haven’t tried the cone-thingy yet, mostly because we don’t want a 100 pound labrador running around the house with a huge cone on his head smashing into everything! He would roll and fight with that thing, so I’ve just tried to help his leg heal with bandages. The real verdict will come in a couple days when I gradually lessen the bandages. We’ll see in a week or two. And as always, if you have any good ideas or “home remedy” techniques, I’d love to hear them.
I’ve said it before, but I love that quote that says, “Life is what happens while we’re busy making other plans.” I try not to let the beauty of each day get too far away… and while making plans and carrying them out, I think we do need to time to appreciate our lives even when we don’t get everything finished that we would like. Or when we stub our toe. Somehow everything in spring seems to happen all at once. Enjoy the day!
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PS: If you haven’t read it yet, Jessica Watson has rounded the southern cape of Tasmania and is making her way north to Sydney for her non-stop, solo ’round the world homecoming in about 10 days. She ran into some awful storms over the past week, but finally came through them and it looks like she will arrive in Sydney on Saturday, May 15.
