This is not my best of Miss Red-tailed, but it shows why I have been finding a slew of feathers in the grass around the fence. She's molting up a storm, with a kind of fluffiness to her.
Last night, I was coming home late from a board meeting for RAPTOR, and one of our frogs was lounging on the sidewalk. This is the closest I have been able to get all season. Frogs are just so cute.
I cleaned out our entertainment center today, because it's a mass of flat surface that collects all sorts of weird paraphernalia. This is my treasured pottery: On the left is a bowl brought back from Michigan by my in-laws. The pottery on the right is from North Carolina, a wedding present from my cousin Sue. The crystal in the front is a science experiment Isabelle and I did a long time ago. We got a rock from our garden and sat it in some solution and it grew crystals.
Oooh...one of my favorite things: A wedding present from Jim's cousin, Phyllis. There's a great store around here called "A Show of Hands" which sells local artist's work. This is a solid glass paperweight with glittery sand blown into it. When I sit it in front of a light, it throws a beam for a foot or more.
I haven't been birding for long, so my collection of bird "sit-abouts" is small. The big white thing in the back is something Shannon found in her rafters left by a previous owner. It looks like an ostrich egg, but it doesn't feel like one. (She also found animal pelts...the guy was weird)
The photo on the left is my favorite of Mom and Dad.
A clean mantel is a joy forever...at least until one of the girls throws a ball and breaks something.
I had taken a "before" photo of the entertainment center, but it didn't save for some reason. Just imagine this filled with toys and books and cables and so on.
When is this dog ever going to learn how to RELAX?
Poor Nellie: She has yearly allergy issues, every August-October. We show up at the vet like clockwork, the same time every year for steroid injections and pills and antihistamine. We took her 2 weeks ago because it was just starting, thinking we would nip it in the bud before it got worse. But the same thing happens every year...she scratches and rubs her face until her eyes are bald, like above. And today, as I was wiping her eyes, I noticed that they were bleeding and draining pus. So she got more high power steroids and eye drops and more pills. She also chewed her leg raw and there's a bald spot near the top of her head.
She gets better after the first frost.
Something else I noticed about Nellie today...she has always had a white chin, I guess from her checkered pedigree. But today I saw just how gray her upper lip is getting. She's going to be 6 on November 13, still not "old", but her fur is showing that she's not a puppy, either.
7 comments:
Poor Nellie, her eyes do look itchy. It's hard to believe that she, Kira and Roxy will all be 6 this Fall!
I know! All of our babies are growing up.
I don't even want to think about Isabelle turning FIVE.
So all that cleaning and dusting kept you from blogging yesterday, huh! Sorry, had to chime in with your FIL.
I have a little collection of feathers in aheart-shaped box my DH made for me - no hawk or owl feathers though.
Do you know what Nellie is allergic to? My Buddy is suddenly very itchy and chewing on his feet (was the same last summer).
My FIL is off his meds.
We don't know what Nellie is reacting to. If we did, I would be tearing it out of the yard with my bare hands.
One of our vets tried a few years ago to put Nellie on one of those super expensive vet diet foods, thinking that maybe it was food-related. Well, she only itches in the late summer and fall, so the pricey diet went out the window. I do avoid the cheap stuff and she's on Pedigree right now and it makes her so soft!
We just have to make her as comfortable as possible and ride out the rest of the season.
Poor you and poor puppy! This is a tough time of year for a lot of us. Ragweed is the culprit here in my area for us humans - I don't know about the dogs - after Labor Day weekend it starts dying here - yay!
Love looking at all of your stuff!
And love the frog and the hawk!
I don't normally diagnose illnesses over the internet (I usually do it while dancing around a cauldron chanting)
However, Nellie's problem appears to be due to mange or allergies to feathers from moldy,...er, molting Red-tailed hawks. Just so we can rule out the latter, I'll be over as soon as I renew my hunting license and buy an AK-47 on the internet.
Aw, poor Nellie. My best friends dog Pavlov has the same issues.
Age sneaks up on you doesn't it! My daughter should be no where near 10 yrs old - didn't I just graduate from high school??? LOL.
You have put me to shame with your cleaning - I have no choice today since we will have company this weekend.........
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