Excuse #1: Abbie. How could such a cute, little sweetie-pie be an excuse for anything, you ask? Ah, well. After three postponements (one due to her age...too young; one due to a change in vets; and one per our own vet's advice), we finally got the go-ahead during Monday's puppy appointment with Dr. K (for her parvo and bordetella boosters) for Abbie to be spayed. Her surgery took place yesterday...in Winston-Salem...and we had to check her in at "their" vet's on S. Stratford Road (23 miles away) between 7:30 and 8:30. Yawn. Why didn't we just have Dr. K perform the surgery? Well, the contract we signed when we adopted Abbie from Forsyth Animal Control Shelter in February states quite clearly that we use "their" vet. They changed vets between Abbie's first and second postponements, which actually turned out to be a good thing, since I really liked the folks at Forsyth Veterinary Hospital...probably because they seemed to really care about Abbie, who was TERRIFIED when we took her in. We were told they would call us with a surgery update (which they did at 11:00), and that we could pick her up between 3:00 and 4:00 in the afternoon. Bottom line: she's fine...moving a little slowly, as you would expect. And we put over 100 miles on Mr. T's car in the there-and-back-and-there-and-back process. Bottom-bottom line? She is now officially and forevermore OURS! A bona fido member of The Drool Gang!!
 |
| Dogs lining up to get in the garden: Duche$$, Elmo, and Abbie |
Excuse #2: Making hay. You know that saying: make hay while the sun shines, right? Well, I decided we needed to GET some 'hay' while the sun was (finally) shining...and before Mr. T traded this co. car in for the next one (probably on Monday). They loaded us up with 8 bales of wheat straw at Tri-County Garden Center, and I used my small wheelbarrow to move them from the driveway to the staging area (a holding place in our back yard, for stuff that will eventually need to be moved into the Way Back), one bale at a time. Of course, when I put that first bale on the wheelbarrow, wouldn't you know that the tire was flat? So, Mr. T joined in the fun by firing up the air compressor, filling the tire with air, and then whooshing out the excess straw in his car with blasts of air.
Isn't Mr. T recovering from knee surgery...and on crutches...you ask? Yep! He sure is. He has really been a great patient this week: keeping that left knee elevated and iced; using the crutches almost every time he walks, even in the house; and not trying to drive here-there-and-yon...but I think he was getting a bit house-bound, if you know what I mean. So, he has eagerly been a passenger wherever I've driven his car in the past couple of days, and if he can get involved in one of my "projects," he's all-hands-on-deck...if not "all-feet..."
While at Tri-County, I also got some Sugar Baby watermelon replacement transplants (my seeds germinated, but the baby plants succumbed to the cutworms) and some seeds for lima beans and pink-eye purple hull peas. Which leads me to...
Excuse #3: The gardens. I cannot seem to stay out of them! Even when it's raining...which it has been doing A LOT lately...I find myself wandering around, looking at all the green and growing things, taking scores of pictures to document colors and growth rates. Amazing what a few days of rain and warm temps will do! The roses went from bare bushes to first flush of blooms to first petal drop almost overnight. The summer/warm season plantings are jumping out of the ground, and it will soon be time to begin removing cool season crops like broccoli and beets. But first, our lettuces and spinach were so lush and plentiful that I cut a tubtrug-full on Thursday, washed and spun it, and we delivered it to Open Door Ministries/Father's Table soup kitchen in High Point. Yes, I do love SEEING the stuff growing in the gardens...but I love SHARING the stuff even more.
 |
| Way Back Gardens in Mid-May From Raised Beds looking toward Rose Garden |
Excuse #4: Housework. Ugh. You may quote me on this. I hate housework...and it shows. But, while we were one dog down (with Abbie at the vet for the day), I thought it would be prime time to get some much-needed cleaning done. This 12-year old house has a central vac (fantastic!), which makes the pounds of dog hair history in no time flat...but the ancient, clunky floor wand and furniture tools combined with the heavy hose mean it doesn't get used nearly as much as if Mrs. Clean lived here. After yesterday's suck-a-lux-a-thon, the house just feels better...even if this illusion of clean is short-lived. The Drool Gang does still live here, after all.
Anyway, Abbie's home and recuperating. Mr. T is mending well. And, we head into this Memorial Day Holiday with happy hearts, a garden-grown salad for our cook-out, and a fresh, clean house.
And, although the sentiment comes a day late, I wish the same for you!
No comments:
Post a Comment