Monday again!

I think I need to talk to the dogs about Mondays. The rest of the family is off downhill skiing in Vermont so I have all animals & all chores. Kate's Aussie Tia gets me up at 3:18 am (gotta love those digital clocks!) Yes, I am glad she got me up as that is less hassle than a mess but on the other hand.... finally got everyone to lie down again and then up at 6 am. Oh, and the nutty ducks (almost said quacky :)) are back to laying eggs. Got two this morning - not a great season to hatch ducklings!

I admit it, I was resisting heading down to the barn as it was cold and windy. Then the fax machine goes off and spits out the results of Tia's tracheal wash culture from 10 days ago. Positive results so I need to head in to pick up antibiotics. I thought I could skip the clinic today as it is Hokey's "off week" for chemo. No such luck! And suddenly it is blizzarding, so I need to head in soon before we get 8 inches of lake effect snow. I was often the only car on the road but we made it safely there and back plus got all the chores done.

We are lucky in the Northeast in that we learn to drive in snow early on. The many areas that got unexpected snow this Xmas had tons of cars off the road, accidents, etc simply due to lack of experience.

Tia's culture showed both Pasteurella and Staph. This may be secondary to the possible lungworms or a primary infection. With the large number of eosinophils, I have to stick with a primary parasite though and the weather was certainly prime for lungworms this year (an intermediate host can be slugs or snails and we had plenty of beautiful golden ones around). Still, we will treat the bacteria too and now she is getting febendazole and antibiotics. Not single complaint from her though as it means some extra treats!

Hokey continues to do well so far. Periodically I panic thinking his submandibular lymph nodes are up a bit but later checks show them to be fine. All 6 dogs are now used to me checking so I have comparisons :))

It is a sad time for a writing organization I am involved with. There is tremendous upheaval centered around one or two people who have shown less than stellar ethics. Right now the organization is in a free fall. Until/unless those people are removed or leave I am not sure the organization can recover. Very sad.

Off to the barn with Hokey in his striking blue coat!
Deb E

Boy, I got nervous when I heard Deb talking about the clinic this am. I was quite sure this was a "Chemo Free Monday". I am very glad it was just to pick up meds for Tia. I did NOT offer to go with her, though perhaps I should have since it was whiteout conditions. Deb has a decent nose for a human but she would not be able to scent her way home.

More glorious snow! I don't have to shovel - manure or snow - so I LOVE snow! We still don't have big drifts but that may happen overnight. I do have enough snow so I can run with my mouth open scooping up lots of the white stuff. Do NOT do that with yellow snow!
Enjoy the day - NO injections!!!
Hokey