Finally! Plants!

I finally got to make my trip to the garden center yesterday. I'd been wanting to get my plants since early May, but it seemed like every time I had the time and opportunity, the weather turned foul - cold and rainy.

I got impatiens, violas, petunias, calibrachoa (one of my favorite annuals now, for hanging baskets - they just mass and spill over the side and look really cool), and a trailing vine I liked for the 'window boxes' I plan to put on the fence. I also picked up some perennials: a hosta, a Japanese painted fern, and a lily I really liked just because it was pretty.

The first cleared bed, the one with the azaleas, had filled itself up with grass and weeds, making for a pretty labor-intensive hour or so clearing that before I could plant anything.


I put the violas in that bed, with a few impatiens.


It certainly looks like nothing right now, especially in this picture, but I have hope for it. If I take good care of those plants, in about a month they should completely fill that space, just masses of blooming flowers. That's the plan anyway.

I planted impatiens along the driveway at my old house one year, and they were this size when I planted them, but by mid-summer they had grown to about 2' tall and were spilling out into the driveway, just massive waves of flowers all along the drive. I think that was the year I had installed a soaker hose in that bed, so they got watered thoroughly and frequently. Other years, when I tried just watering with the hose, they didn't do nearly as well.

This bed will have a soaker hose and part of my rainwater collection system eventually, but until it does, I'll just have to make sure I keep them well watered, and fed - I'm fertilizing this year, too, with a Miracle-Gro all purpose fertilizer. And I know this soil's excellent. When we moved here, there was what was basically a big well-aged compost heap in the back yard. I don't think the family had meant it to be one, but they had apparently been piling all the leaves from the yard in the back corner for several years, and they'd all decomposed into this rich, black soil that was amazing. Last year when I first cleared out this bed, I hauled several wheelbarrows of it's old depleted soil out to the compost heap and dumped it, and replaced it with good soil from the compost heap. (I couldn't just add the good stuff to the existing because the soil level was already higher than the surrounding concrete sidewalk, and I needed to lower the soil level a little bit).

So between the excellent soil, the good location, and lots of water and appropriate fertilizer, these should do really well.

The rest of the impatiens are for along the fence-line, but I can't plant those till I get the fence done and put up.

I bought some snapdragons just because I think they're pretty, but I haven't figured out where to plant them yet.

So that's what I got done Saturday. I'm still painting on the fence (dying to get that done, but it's time consuming), and I still have to clear the other area of garden out here, under the spare room window - then I can plant the fern, hosta, and anything else I pick up for that area this year. Oh - I ordered some plants, too, I almost forgot.

Spring Hill Nursery was having a big sale, so I got some yellow daylilies, an astilbe, and some blazing star - because they were all really cheap. Blazing star is an Ohio native, so that goes well with my 'wildlife habitat' plan - they recommend you plant native plants as much as possible. I haven't had terribly good luck ordering plants, though I don't blame the nursery, but myself. I think they require a little more effort in the beginning, as they usually arrive dormant. I remember I got a fern from them one year that looked basically like a dead stick. I planted it, and persisted in watering it, even though it felt stupid to be watering a dead stick ... but the following year I did, in fact, have a fern (albeit a small one).

I'm kind of impatient, at least until I already have some things established so I feel like I have some kind of garden in existence. That's why I bought a fern and hosta yesterday from the garden center instead of ordering from Spring Hill, though it was more expensive - wanted something already out and and growing to inspire me. Later I may not mind ordering some plants (especially ones I can't find locally), but I wanted to have something going on this year.

So, lots going on. And speaking of that, time to get back to work - it's a beautiful, beautiful day (sunny and high 80s today!). I have fence to paint, hanging baskets to plant, another flower bed to clear, and oh - some mundane chores as well (grocery shopping, blah).

The Drawing Bug Bites Again

I recently got re-interested in doing some more art. Well, ish. I was on vacation last week, and spent some time drawing. I decided I wanted to attempt some interesting textures, so I set up a little still life of a teddy bear, a crystal ball, and a wicker basket with yarn. (I work best from photos, doesn't limit me to sitting in one place while I work).



Although it turned out that when I started on it, I realized I had no idea how to replicate the matted fur of a 30-something teddy bear. So instead I just drew it as I thought a bear could look. Kind of cheating, but ... I wasn't planning on this being a 6-month work of art project, just a little practice piece.



I spent so much time on the head and face that I'd gotten lazy with the body, and it's considerably sloppier. And, by the time I'd gotten this much done I'd run out of patience for either finishing the bear, or starting the basket and yarn. But I may go back to it, or I may not. Who knows. I am pleased with what I got done, though ... it's not as good as I'd like, but I'm not disappointed, and got to experiment with a little texture work, so it was fun.

I'm planning to attempt some colored pencil work in the near future. I was going to try this one in colored pencil (hence the scribbles next to the picture), but I'm too unfamiliar with it, and my attempts earlier in the week were pretty lame, so I felt the need to do something which would actually turn out decent, for a little sense of accomplishment.

I really enjoy this, and regret that I don't do more of it. I'm trying to work it back into my 'free time.' I had hoped to take an interesting picture or two at War Practice, to use for a drawing, but I didn't get out and about enough with my camera to do it. I'll try again at the next event.

War Practice

I finally got to camp at War Practice again. This has been the first time in 4 or 5 years, because the weather is traditionally hideous at this event - cold, frost, sometimes even a hint of snow late at night. This year only hit about half the traditional bad - there was some pretty incessant rain Friday night and Saturday afternoon, which resulted in the flooding of our tent, and two of the only three outfits I took with me getting soaked. The worst mistake I made (and I should have known better) was only taking one pair of shoes, which meant when my boots got soaked Saturday afternoon, that was all I had to wear the rest of the weekend. Ugh.

But, it wasn't cold, so that made all the difference. I got a little chilled Saturday night because my feet were wet, but I hung out by a blazing fire and warmed them back up, and all was well.

Saturday Beorn held an open blacksmithing class in camp. Here's a couple pictures, the first of Beorn, the second of Robin, doing some smithing. Smithying? Whatever.





I also hung out up at the battlefield for a little while (which is where I got caught in the downpour), but got these pictures before I slogged my way back to camp. (Robin armoring up, and a group shot) Unfortunately I didn't get to stay for the battles proper, as I was tired of being drenched.




But all in all it was a great success - I had fun, it was relaxing, the weather wasn't totally horrid, I got to hang out with friends I only get to see a couple times a year ... we played some good music Friday night, as well. Now I'm jazzed, looking forward to the next one - hopefully Northern Oaken, where this time I'm planning to attempt taking Tyler to his second event.

It's That Time Of Year Again

The first SCA event of the year is rapidly approaching, and it brings to mind my abandonment of my A&S50 Challenge projects. Well, I haven't really abandoned them yet, but I haven't kept up with them anywhere near like I hoped I would. Sigh.

But every summer when event season rolls around, I start getting in SCA-mode again, and have started thinking about these things. I don't think it's too late yet, though if I don't get a little more motivated I will never be able to finish them all (though I might get to do a lot, and learn a lot in the process).

Hmm, what to start on next. Since pewter-casting is almost done (I only have one project left to do), I could work on that next, and finish one A&S category.

Or I could try something new ... it's the appopriate time of year to plant herbs for my herbal project, but I don't have any herbal beds ready this year. I could grow them in containers, though.

Soapmaking is always an option, as is anything musical, the Sea Chameleon favors, candlemaking and period lighting, and map-making. Those are some ideas to start me off with this year.

Well, I'll probably spend some time thinking about this in the next few days, and picking a project to start researching.

Meanwhile, I'm hopeful of being able to attend War Practice this year, for the first year in many. I had stopped going for awhile because I was sick of it always being miserably cold (I don't do cold and rainy well at all), and in more recent years because I didn't have a dogsitter.

This year (yay!) I have a trusted dog sitter, so I'm planning to go, if the weather cooperates. I had hoped, with the early spring and then the downturn in the weather, the timing would work out that it would be nice again by the event, so I'm still keeping my fingers crossed, though it's a little too soon to tell.

It Was A Dark And Stormy Night - And Tyler Was Pissed.

Wow, last night was kind of interesting. I'm a weather fiend, so whenever bad weather threatens, I'll be glued to the NOAA website monitoring things.

All day yesterday they were calling for the potential for strong thunderstorms in our area throughout the evening, even a 'higher than usual' probability of tornadoes.

All evening long I watched tornado watches and warnings pop up all around us, even at one point a warning in a section of our own county, about 15 miles north of us. But here, all it was doing was being a bit breezy, was incredibly warm (it had gotten warmer as the day went on, till by 9:30 at night it was downright balmy), and there was an amazing light show going on to the north. The flashes of lightning were almost constant, like the grand finale at a 4th of July fireworks show. Yet it hadn't yet rained a drop, and I hadn't yet heard one rumble of thunder. Eerie.

Well, it eventually got to us sometime after 10:00. For only about 10 minutes we had some crazy intense lightning and thunder, a couple of them sounding like the wrath of the gods smiting something just around the corner. There were two enormous flashes and explosions of thunder very close by.

Tyler had gone to bed sometime earlier (on a pillow in blanket on the floor in our bedroom), and I'd left him to it because he'd had a rough couple days and I figured he could use the rest. After those two huge bangs and flashes, I shortly heard him walking around in the kitchen, so I went to get him. I knew he's never really liked storms, though he's usually only been mildly upset by them.

I picked him up and took him downstairs where we were hanging out watching TV, and noticed that he was shaking violently. I mean, uncontrollably, almost like he was having a seizure. Man, did I feel bad for him! Of course, I hadn't expected those two loud lightning strikes, as it had been doing little before that, but I felt bad anyway - he'd apparently been in our bedroom, asleep, and was woken up by that monstrous noise, it must have scared the hell out of him.

I sat down on the couch with him beside me, but he was still shaking so violently I ended up pulling him onto my lap and cradling him like a baby. I had Greg cover us up with a blanket, and just held on to him like that for probably 45 minutes. It took about 15 minutes for him to finally stop shaking, then he fell sound asleep. It was really adorable, because he's never done anything like that before - he likes to be near me, curled up next to me, but he's never crawled right up in my face and gone to sleep like that.

This morning he feels much better. He actually woke up with a tail wag, something I haven't seen from him for a few days. He looks bright-eyed and perky. He hasn't had enough of the new food to help yet, so I assume it was the doggie aspirin helping with the pain.

And as for the storms, we escaped with nothing more than a little rain (though it's ungodly cold today!). But despite feeling like I need a parka, I am going plant shopping today. Maybe I can't plant them till next week, and maybe I'll have to put them in the garage (since there's actually a chance of, I can't believe I'm saying this, snow flurries tonight), but I will at least go shopping for them today. Maybe as a bonus no one else will want to be out shopping in this winter-esque weather, and I'll have the place mostly to myself.

The ups and downs of elder-dog care.

Note: this is entirely about caring for my beloved, aging Poo. If you find such medical discussions tedious, feel free to skip this one ... there's no surprise interesting stuff at the end. It's rather technical.

It was time for his annual bloodwork again. I took him in last Saturday, and they called me with the results on Wednesday (they had a little snafu so I didn't get them right away). I didn't see a vet this time when they drew the blood, because my favorite Dr. Nokes wasn't available, so it was just a 'tech appointment' for a blood draw.

Ergo, it wasn't Dr. Nokes who called me with the test results, but just a random clinic doctor who happened to be there when they came in. I'd never met with her before. She seemed nice enough, and told me Tyler's blood tests were "excellent." Her exact word. She said she saw nothing there to be concerned about. I was relieved, and didn't ask for specifics.

I said I'd come in in a few days to pick up the refill of his thyroid medicine and my copy of the test results.

So I did that today, but found some mildly disturbing things on the test results.

For one thing, his chloride was a little high. I don't know what that even means, or what might cause it. But I don't like anything being out of the reference range - or at least, I like to know why.

Then two white blood cell counts were off - neutrophils were low, and lymphocytes were high. Not excessively, either one, but out of the reference range.

I tried to look up online why any of that might be, but only found vague things. Elevated lymphocytes can be due to anything from an infection or inflammation to leukemia. (we're not even going to bother to entertain that thought, because if that happened, there'd be nothing to be done about it anyway). But everything I read indicated that usually they are both either low or high. I couldn't find any reason one would be low and the other high.

One last thing - there was a 'comment' from the lab that said Tyler's red blood cell count indicated he was 'normocytic' - I had to look that one up, which ended up meaning anemic. It's a kind of anemia where his red blood cell counts look normal, falls within the reference range - but actually there's a too-low volume of red blood cells overall.

So, why did this vet tell me his results were 'excellent'?

A couple thoughts. None of the numbers were exorbitantly out of the reference range. And I do know that different labs even use different reference ranges. So this (ironically) isn't a hard and fast science, apparently. For example, for the lymphocytes, which is referenced in percentages, the reference range was 12 - 30%, and Tyler's was 35%. But something I read online gave a lymphocyte reference range of, like, 8 - 35%. In which case, his would have been (borderline) normal.

So that may be why the doctor didn't seem too concerned about the number. Though it was a significant increase, as last November's test result was only 19%. And I'm still not sure why she didn't mention his anemia, which seems important.

Now, to backtrack, for a short bit of time now - I'd say approximately a week, as sometime just before or after his blood work, this started - Tyler's been acting like he doesn't feel well. It's hard to pinpoint only because it started very subtlely, and he's a very low-key dog anyway. (If he were human, he'd be British). Ever since he began 'getting up there' in age, when something very subtle begins to bother him, I'm never sure whether it's just a normal effect of aging, or something that needs addressed. And he always seems to be so subtle about these things!

He's been kind of mopey and lethargic, looking just depressed and sad, seeming to favor his back legs a bit, and having a harder than usual time with stairs. He stopped jumping up on anything (he used to like to sleep on the kids' futon, which is pretty low to the ground). But at first it, again, seemed fairly mild, and I just decided to wait and watch, and see how he faired.

Just in the last couple days he seemed to get worse, being even more mopey and lethargic than usual, and starting to yelp in pain when he moved certain ways or when I tried to pick him up.

I would have liked to discuss the test results with Dr. Nokes and addressed those other issues at the same time, but he's not going to be back at the clinic until some time next week, and I didn't want to wait that long since Tyler seems to be feeling worse. I wanted to do something sooner (but do not even remotely trust the rest of the vets at this place).

So I did some research and some thinking, and here's what I came up with.

The mopey, lethargic lack of energy could well be caused by the mild anemia. The mild anemia could well be caused (unfortunately, and I'm mad at myself) by Tyler's diet. When I changed his diet last year to help with his kidney issue, I stopped using the Missing Link Plus supplement I'd been using for years. It has a lot of ingredients in it, and though they're all natural and very good things under normal circumstances, I was unsure whether any of them might have an effect on the kidney function ... and since I was working hard to help them, I didn't want to take any chances on giving him anything that might counteract that. So I stopped using it, but I didn't replace it with anything else. But that was Tyler's source of iron, B vitamins, and many other things that he probably needed. Since his home-cooked diet became more limited on the 'kidney plan,' he probably wasn't getting a full array of everything he needed. And I -stupidly (which is why I'm mad at myself) had not switched over to a multi-vitamin-and-mineral supplement on his new food plan.

I knew I should. I even bought one. But I was so worried about giving him anything that might counteract my kidney-fixing, that I only gave it to him sporadically, not on a regular basis.

So ... that could possibly be the cause of the anemia.

I'm solving that (if that is in fact the problem) ... but more on that in a minute.

The Missing Link also contained glucosamine, which is good for joint health and support, so when he lost that supplement last summer, he also lost that support. I figured if he had a problem, I'd just add a glucosamine / condroitin supplement to his diet, but he never seemed to have a problem, and I forgot about it - till now.

I have no idea about the chloride. The only thing I read about that is that it's an electrolyte, and tied with sodium and potassium (both of which were normal for Tyler), and can be effected by water consumption. I'm wondering if that could also be an effect of his misbalanced diet (with no vitamin supplement) but I do have to wait and ask Dr. Nokes about that one.

So ... I stopped at the pet store and the local health food store on my way home, and stocked up.

First, I found doggy aspirin, something I'd never seen before. I'd wished for the past couple days that I had something to give him to quickly alleviate the pain (the supplements alone would take longer to work) but was unsure if it was okay to give dogs people aspirin, and forgot to ask the vet. So I snagged some of that. I gave him some when I first got home, and I do have to say within an hour he definitely felt better - he's moving around more, voluntarily, and doesn't look quite so 'sad' (or in pain).

I also bought a bag of commerical, but holistic, all natural dog food. I have reverted to healthy 'commercial' food before a couple of times, and it can have it's benefits. During the winter of 2008-2009, Tyler was looking thin and bony, and I switched him to such a food for a few months, and he bulked up and had a lot more energy. But I switched him back to home-cooked when his test results showed the first signs of kidney problems. (the food didn't cause it, and I know that for a fact, but the reason for that is long and complicated, so I'll spare you the details).

So I bought some of that type of food again to try for awhile. He also lost 3 lbs. sometime in the last couple months (another potential side effect of anemia), so I'm pretty sure that this food will help him get back to his normal, healthy weight of about 20 to 21 lbs. Plus, it is laden with vitamins, minerals, and all-natural healthful things, which I hope to help him with his anemia problem.

It also has glucosamine, which should begin to help with the hip problems. But as a bonus, I also bought a glucosamine and condroitin supplement too. I am unsure whether it's possible to give too much, so I thought I might only give him a half-dose of the supplement, at least until I talk to Dr. Nokes. But worst case scenario, I can use the supplement when I put him back on his home-cooked diet - because after awhile, I will.

So ... back on a commercial, holistic healthy food to help him gain weight, have more energy, increase his iron and B vitamins and hopefully fix his anemia, glucosamine and condroitin to help his joint problems ... and hopefully he'll be back on track. And like I said, already this evening, just with the doggy aspirin, he's about 65% better. So being in so much pain might have been a huge part of the problem.

And, I'll wait to talk to Dr. Nokes about the chloride, neutrophils and lymphocytes ... and maybe have him tested again in a few months to see if a diet change effected any of that. Though it also occurred to me that since inflammation can cause an increase in lymphocytes, and apparently Tyler's arthritis had ramped up and he probably had swelling in his hip joints, that might account for the slight increase in lymphocytes. Not entirely sure about that one, though.

But ... his kidney numbers were FANTASTIC! Both well back into the normal range. So, that part of my scheme over the last year worked, anyway.

I mentioned that using healthy commercial food had helped in the past, but that I planned to put him back on home-cooked later - and one may wonder why I would do that, if the store-bought stuff always helps fix problems. Well, there are a couple reasons. I still believe that a whole-food, 'real-food' diet is best for him. Even the healthy store-bought brands are still processed and no longer fresh food.

The tricky part about the home-cooked diet is making sure Tyler's getting everything he needs - vitamins, minerals, etc. And as I mentioned, since the different types of food going into his diet had become limited last year to help the kidneys, he probably wasn't getting everything he really needed - not enough to cause any fast, noticeable problems, but just enough of a deficiency to creep up on him over time.

I use the healthy commercial food as a 'quick-fix' - it is complete and contains everything he needs, so it will quickly bring him back to balance, rather than me juggling a bunch of supplements and hoping I get the right mix.

But once he's back in balance, I like to go back to the home-cooked diet, and each time I try to then adjust which supplements he's getting, to maintain the balance I just restored. So, for example, this time I'll make sure he's getting enough iron and B vitamins to keep him from getting anemic again, and I'll either start using the Missing Link again, for both vitamin and mineral content, and joint support, or I'll add a glucosamine/condroitin supplement.

It's always a big balancing act by this point ... fix one thing, something else goes awry. Like juggling jellyfish. In the dark. Blindfolded.

But, one day at a time ... and this evening, at least, is good.

Love The Garden!!

I don't have any pictures tonight, but I wanted to rave about the garden. It's coming along swimingly. My azaleas are blooming like mad. I'm putting up the PPF (Proverbial Picket Fence) - got the posts primered, next step is to primer the fence, then paint both. It's taking longer than I hoped because the weather hasn't been cooperating. We had a bunch of cold, damp days last week that precluded any real painting, and this weekend is supposed to be cold and rainy again. But it'll get there, eventually.

And I can tell already that it's going to be awesome!!

I'm planning to head out to the garden center this weekend to pick up some actual new plants. I'm also excited about this, because I'm way ahead of schedule compared to how I used to do things - wait till about June to go look for plants. Starting earlier is going to (a) help me find a better selection, and (b) give them more time to get established this year, meaning they'll be doing much better by mid-summer.

I've also located the rain barrels I want, locally, so I hope to pick up two of those this weekend. I'm going to need (or at least, be able to make use of) more than that, but they're not cheap, so I have to do this part in stages.

I'm psyched!! Just wish the weather would be a little more cooperative ... it's like we're having spring a month late. But it's moving along, and that's the important part.