Diesel and Dolly are three years old today! Since we’re on a diet, they didn’t get a birthday cake this year. But they did get a couple of toys they really seemed to like.
Especially the orange one.
It was very popular.
Happy birthday, Diesel and Dolly!
You are both three whole years of total furry awesomeness.
We’ve had a whole lot of healing going on around here. Diesel had some surgery, and we had a turkey hen attacked by a predator. I’m going to warn you that the last couple of pictures of the turkey hen may be a little graphic. I’ll give you another warning before they appear so you can click off this post if you want.
As you may remember, Diesel has had hip and knee issues for a good long while. Actually, probably since he was born. Certainly since he came here at six weeks of age.
We’ve known for a good long while that Diesel has hip dysplasia. And we also knew he had knee issues. What we didn’t know is that he has Medial Pateller Luxation (MPL). Which is a great long word that means his knee cap doesn’t fit inside the grove it’s supposed to sit inside. It would slide out to the inside, and Bernie and I would have to manipulate the knee cap and put it back in place so he could walk on that leg. He has MPL in both knees, but the right knee was especially bothersome.
He’s been having this issue for a while, but a couple of months ago it became very painful for him, especially in his right knee. And he got to the point where he was limping badly, and couldn’t even walk down to the mailbox.
We took him to his vet to see Dr. Vick, at Seven Bends Vet Clinic. Diesel and Dolly love Dr. Vick. She took some x-rays, and quickly informed us that he needed to see a specialist. She recommended the Veterinary Surgical Center. And we met with Dr. Anke Langenbach and were very impressed.
Diesel basically needs to have both knees reconstructed, and the first one was done on November the 7th.
We picked him up on November the 8th.
He had an e-collar on his neck, to keep him from licking the incision. He really hated the e-collar, but he sure seemed happy to be going home.
And he seemed very happy to get on his own bed when he got home.
This is a picture of his incision. Please forgive the spots on his bed. The icepack I put on his leg sprung a leak.
Diesel really dislike that e-collar, so to keep him from licking we had a slumber party in the living room each night for a week.
Some nights Dolly slept in the bed with Bernie, but most nights Diesel, Dolly, and I slept in the living room.
And who doesn’t like a nice slumber party?
Diesel has his stitches out now and he’s really doing quite well.
Dr. Langenbach is quite impressed with is progress. In a couple of months he will get his left knee operated on.
Bernie says he’ll be the Six Million Dollar Dog.
***************Graphic pictures follow********************
When I went to put up the turkeys this evening I noticed that Sarah, the turkey hen, had a horrible injury.
We have about 1.5 acres of our property enclosed in fencing, and the turkeys don’t go outside of it.
Apparently something got inside the fencing today and attacked sweet little Sarah. We have been sick about it. Because we were home. And we heard nothing.
But when I went to tuck the turkeys in, I found Sarah with a lot of skin ripped away from her side.
And feathers missing around a puncture wound on the top of her wing.
There wasn’t enough skin to sew back together, so we cleaned it up and applied some Blue Kote. The wound is too raw and too wet to hold much else.
We are so shocked that this occurred with us both at home. We heard and saw nothing unusual today.
We’ve seen so many predators this fall. It may have been a fox. Or perhaps a dog. Or who knows what?
But the thought that something like that happened while we were here and didn’t notice it is very upsetting.
We hope she’ll make it. She’s in a cage and we’ll doctor her each day.
For all my friends with poultry in this area, be on the look out. The predators are thick this year.
At the end of a long day on the homestead, all I need to do is look down at my feet as I rest in my chair……
and watch how Diesel licks Dolly’s face….
and chews Dolly’s ears…..
and how much she enjoys it……
and I know…..
I just know……
that this is what it’s all about…..
Working hard.
Playing hard.
Loving life.
And loving each other.
Sometimes we just need a little reminder.
My parents were here visiting us last week. We had a wonderful time, and it was unbelievably difficult to watch them leave yesterday. *sigh* But, rather than focus on how much I miss them, I’m going to show you something my father and Bernie did for me last week. They built this for me:
An outside sink! How incredibly cool is that??? It’s attached to the back of my garden shed so I can work in the shade, and it’s hooked up to my rain barrel. Now I can work with my potted plants in comfort and I have a place to clean up the garden veggies before bringing them in the house. I can’t tell you how much I love that little sink. And the coolest part of all is that they used leftover lumber and an old sink that was laying in the cabin shed. Bernie and I started painting it yesterday, and I’ll put up pictures of how it looks once we are finished.
Bernie had hooked my rain barrel to a small pump a couple of weeks ago so that we could attach a garden hose and pump water up hill to my garden and greenhouse. Here’s the little pump:
It’s inside my garden shed, under the work bench Bernie built for me. He attached a piece of garden hose to the drain valve at the bottom of the rain barrel, ran the hose through a small hole in the garden shed, and attached the other end of it to the pump. He installed a spigot outside my garden shed so that I can hook up a garden hose and the pump will pump the water through it.
Daddy and Bernie added another spigot above the sink. It splits off of the pump and they ran it through the wall to my sink:
I am tickled beyond words with the results. Thank you, Bernie and Daddy! Bernie is now excited to add two or three more rain barrels around the property. He’s keeping his eyes open for small pumps that go on sale.
My parents brought their small dachshund, Oliver, with them for the visit. Oliver is a cutie. He’s a couple of months older than Diesel and Dolly, but he’s MUCH smaller. Oliver has attitude, and he didn’t let his size hold him back. When he wanted something, he went for it.
Those puppies played and played while Oliver was here.
And they chewed up lots of sticks.
And, when Oliver left, Diesel pouted a little.
We had a great time visiting with my parents and Oliver. The week went by entirely too fast. I’m extremely blessed to have such wonderful parents.
I love you mom and dad.
Bee Free,
Penny
Diesel and Dolly are home. Bernie and I are over joyed. The cats are pouting. We are back to normal on the homestead.
When we went to pick the pups up this morning, the receptionist went on and on about how adorable Diesel and Dolly are. She said that when Dolly was in the recovery room and they brought Diesel in, he was still out and Dolly could barely move. Not only did Dolly wag her tail, but within a few minutes she tried to stand up and couldn’t. So she belly crawled over to Diesel and laid her head on him and went to sleep. The receptionist said the vet assistant called them all in to see it and they took pictures. They said they have never seen two sweeter puppies or two puppies that were so in love with each other. Naturally, we agree. And we whisked those puppies out of there so fast it left their heads spinning at that vet’s office.
The only thing they told us was to watch the incisions for infection, and to keep Diesel and Dolly calm. I’m not even going to comment on how ridiculous the whole “keep them calm” thing is.
When we got the pups home, they ate like they had never seen food before and then they took a nice long nap. When they woke up, they told me it was time to get the mail. I hesitated, but I knew if they missed their evening mail run, they would be impossible to live with. So we walked down to get the mail, and other than keeping them from getting in the creeks, I let them romp and play as usual. When we got home, Bernie grabbed his camera and said “Let’s walk around the yard a bit.” The puppies were all about that.
I took the egg basket out with the intent of collecting eggs and cleaning the chicken coop. Dolly had other ideas. She became completely obsessed with the egg basket.
I finally gave it to her.
She even posed for a picture.
And then, in complete disregard of the vet’s advice, Diesel and Dolly started running, jumping, chasing, and in general, NOT remaining calm.
They are not supposed to be doing this.
They are not supposed to be doing this either.
And they are definitely not supposed to be doing this.
After playing for a good long while, Diesel took a break to watch the chickens.
They’re inside resting now. And they are smiling while they sleep. It’s good to have these puppies home. It just didn’t feel right without them.
Oh, and here’s a picture of a raised bed and the green house.
That’s horseradish in the tire. Our potatoes, radishes, lettuce and spinach are growing like crazy. This week we’ll get the tomatoes, peppers, melons, etc. in. Lucky we didn’t do that this past weekend, when we had planned. It was 28 degrees this morning! But it’s looking like the week will warm up nicely.
Things are back to normal on the homestead. Well, as normal as it gets around here, anyway.
Bee Free,
Penny
Thanks to all who have commented on the blog, emailed, and called about Diesel and Dolly. We talked to the vet this afternoon and both came through their surgeries just fine. They spayed Dolly first, and she was just waking up as Diesel was being brought into the recovery room after being neutered. The vet said Dolly couldn’t even lift her head, but when her eyes saw Diesel her tail started wagging. I don’t need to tell you I started crying when I heard that. We’re thankful they are fine, and now we just can’t wait to get them back home.
As we dropped them off this morning, I asked if they would be weighed right away. The receptionist said “Well, we do weigh them before surgery. But if you’d like them to be weighed while you’re here, we can do that.” So we took the pups back to the scale.
Dolly weighed in at 41.5 pounds. Diesel weighed in at 48.5 pounds! That boy has been working hard at getting bigger, and it’s paid off. He never did like that whole “runt” label thing.
They’re not quite six months old yet, and they are really big. But I have to say, every ounce of it is nothing but sweetness. Well, maybe a few ounces of ornery, but mostly it’s sweetness. Between Dolly’s heart melting marble eyes and Diesel’s breath taking smiles, well, it’s pretty easy to over look the moments of orneriness.
And they know it. Boy oh boy, do they ever know it.
Bee Free,
Penny
Tomorrow we will drop Diesel and Dolly off at the vet’s office at 8:30AM. They are getting “fixed”. And we are just dreading it. We’re not dreading the “fixed” part of it. We’re big advocates of spaying/neutering pets. We’re dreading the part where Diesel and Dolly have to stay over night at the vet’s office.
That’s 24 hours without Dolly crawling up in our laps – even though Dolly is WAY to big to be a lap dog.
It’s 24 hours without seeing Diesel smile at us – and Diesel has the best smile ever.
24 hours without watching these puppies run with wreckless abandon.
24 hours without puppy kisses.
24 hours without our sweet Diesel and Dolly.
It seems like a lifetime.
We miss them already.
I’m sure Diesel and Dolly will be just fine.
I’m not so sure about Bernie and me.
24 hours can seem like a lifetime.
Bee Free,
Penny
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