More Random Bits and Pieces
When one of my former co-workers moved away for a year, she asked me to take care of her betta fish. Betta, as she was named, was already over 2 years old, which is pretty old for a betta. I understand they can live 3-4 years, but Kate and I have never had one reach 4. Betta was beyond the venerable stage when she passed away yesterday, at well over 3 yrs. Kate was her primary caretaker, and a fish has never had better care. I'm sure that's why Betta lived as long as she did.
Gabrielle, the hen, has lost her mobility. Something happened to make her unable to walk, so we (mostly Kate) have had to move her in and out of the hen house. She was being routinely molested by Roy, who was picking her feathers off in the process, so we've moved her into a separate pen for the day. It's right next to the main hen pen, so she can watch the other hens without getting picked on. She stays on one of the nests in the hen house at night. Bless her heart, she and Xena are still very attached to each other. Xena has been spending more time outside the hen house to be with Gabrielle than she has in the past year. I did not expect Gabrielle to survive very long in this manner, especially with temperature soaring into the 100s during the day, but she's been carrying on like this for two weeks, going on three. She still has a healthy appetite, and I've learned that appetite is a very good indicator of a will to live. When an animal stops eating, the end is near.
When Betta stopped eating, we knew her end was near.
My dad has lost his appetite, and he isn't eating much. And I'm very worried about him.
In better news, we've had fun watching the baby birds in the yard this year. We think the baby downies may have fledged rather than die the day of the tornado because we have some awkward youngsters using the feeders. Young birds lack the grace of adults for a while, and they do unexpected things like land on branches that won't support their weight. We've been watching young titmice and nuthatches in addition to our downies.
The weather has been hotter and drier than usual for June. The grass in the yard is already turning brown, and we're having to water something almost every day. Earlier this spring I told Kate we'd keep watering the things that we planted this fall and spring, but anything that's been in the ground for over a year is not going to be babied. But, when the Russian sage and every xeric plant in the garden started to die, I had to back off that plan. I mean, the desert plants are dying... how bad is that? The prickly pear cactus and the well-established trees are the only things in the yard that don't seem to be suffering. It's going to be a long, miserable July and August.
The hip continues to improve, but I'm not sleeping very well. As soon as I went back to work, I started waking up at 5am, and most of the time I don't get back to sleep. I'm perplexed by this. The only thing I can think of as a potential cause is that I stopped taking any pain meds at night. I'm completely off the pain meds (except for very bad days, which haven't been numerous), which I think is a good thing, but the lack of good sleep is causing me to feel like crap again during the week. Very frustrating. My PACs have returned again in the afternoons, as well, and I don't care what the literature says about them being completely benign, they make me feel very tired and breathless. So I haven't been taking my evening dog walks, like I should.
Gabrielle, the hen, has lost her mobility. Something happened to make her unable to walk, so we (mostly Kate) have had to move her in and out of the hen house. She was being routinely molested by Roy, who was picking her feathers off in the process, so we've moved her into a separate pen for the day. It's right next to the main hen pen, so she can watch the other hens without getting picked on. She stays on one of the nests in the hen house at night. Bless her heart, she and Xena are still very attached to each other. Xena has been spending more time outside the hen house to be with Gabrielle than she has in the past year. I did not expect Gabrielle to survive very long in this manner, especially with temperature soaring into the 100s during the day, but she's been carrying on like this for two weeks, going on three. She still has a healthy appetite, and I've learned that appetite is a very good indicator of a will to live. When an animal stops eating, the end is near.
When Betta stopped eating, we knew her end was near.
My dad has lost his appetite, and he isn't eating much. And I'm very worried about him.
In better news, we've had fun watching the baby birds in the yard this year. We think the baby downies may have fledged rather than die the day of the tornado because we have some awkward youngsters using the feeders. Young birds lack the grace of adults for a while, and they do unexpected things like land on branches that won't support their weight. We've been watching young titmice and nuthatches in addition to our downies.
The weather has been hotter and drier than usual for June. The grass in the yard is already turning brown, and we're having to water something almost every day. Earlier this spring I told Kate we'd keep watering the things that we planted this fall and spring, but anything that's been in the ground for over a year is not going to be babied. But, when the Russian sage and every xeric plant in the garden started to die, I had to back off that plan. I mean, the desert plants are dying... how bad is that? The prickly pear cactus and the well-established trees are the only things in the yard that don't seem to be suffering. It's going to be a long, miserable July and August.
The hip continues to improve, but I'm not sleeping very well. As soon as I went back to work, I started waking up at 5am, and most of the time I don't get back to sleep. I'm perplexed by this. The only thing I can think of as a potential cause is that I stopped taking any pain meds at night. I'm completely off the pain meds (except for very bad days, which haven't been numerous), which I think is a good thing, but the lack of good sleep is causing me to feel like crap again during the week. Very frustrating. My PACs have returned again in the afternoons, as well, and I don't care what the literature says about them being completely benign, they make me feel very tired and breathless. So I haven't been taking my evening dog walks, like I should.