Who Are Your Garden Helpers Part Two

Then, Isis opted for nap, instead.

The dogs are hilarious. They do know how to crash when it's hot. Poor Bug ripped out a toenail on Saturday night and we spent 5 hours at the ER on Sunday morning. I was pretty livid that they made us wait for 2 hours before they even triaged him. There was no bed in the waiting room and it was cold linoleum. Between that and the pain, he wasn't about to lie down.

He would have liked to crash in the yard while I was working last night, but his foot hurt like a sun-of-a-gun (they took the nail bed off). So he just sort of slept in the yard with his head up, panting. I gave him the maximum pain meds to get him through the night and today I think he's better. $400 later . . .

I wish I was home working in the yard today. Sharon, do you know how much I was also going to EWA to plant tomatoes?

PNW..great pic's. Those dogs really look tuckered out! Ahh..the life of a dog!
Kwanjin...Cute kitties. Ahh..the life of cats!

Kathy so sorry to hear about Bug. Poor thing and poor mommy who has to pay the bill!
You should send him down to recoop with redchick as she hurt her toe this weekend also.

Here is big Mama sitting on a rock this morning. She was not happy about being made to leave the fall area.(her favorite spot. ) I had to rip out the forget me nots as the roots were growing down into the filters. Hope she can find another good hiding spot.

Thanks so much, Bea. I'll let Bug know that you sent your sympathies. He was feeling pretty crummy, which says a lot for such a stoic dog.

I think it was Willowwind (Patricia) who dropped the log (stone?) on her foot. Did Redchic hurt herself, too? It sounds like maybe we should all stay away from the heavy machinery for awhile.

I get such a kick from your toad-critters. It's amazing to me how comfortable they are having you around in their pond. I wonder if your pictures would generate comments in the wildlife forum. It'd be interesting to know more about them - what their wild behaviors are and whether they differ from their behaviors in your yard!!

Kathy

getting old and too much on my mind. Yes it was willowwind with the hurt toe. As far as I know Redchick is Ok. Don't want to start any rumors!

Another frog from today. I haven't named this one yet. He is about 4" long.

Another one !?!?!?! Frogs indicate good fortune (or maybe they bring it). Yours seems to be the most popular pool in the neighborhood. Very cool.

Kathy I hope you are correct about good fortune! Always can use that! Yes it is a popular place for the frogs to hang out. I wish there was more to get these slugs everywhere! Good eats I hear!

Here is the same frog later this morning back up at the falls area wondering where all the for get me nots went. They loved play hide and seek up there. Pond guy is coming later to pull the filters out for a cleaning. Would do it my self if I could lift them. They are very heavy when wet and full of muck! Frogs will not like the disturbance, but may appreciate clean,clear water when all is finished.

This message was edited May 18, 2009 11:25 AM

Mom, Nice to see the pics of our guard dogs in their "finest" form! Your koi pic is great, as are the ones of our toad!

Kwanjin, very cute kitties....I think Isis has the right idea! I would have loved to lay in the grass and nap this weekend too if there wasn't so much screaming to be done.

Kathy, I am SO sorry to hear about Bug! Poor kid! I am sure that the experience was almost as traumatic for Mom as it was for him...at least he got pain pills! Hopefully he recovers quickly. It is amazing how fast dogs heal, so I will cross my fingers for both of you that he is happily back on all four paws quickly.

Bea, Great frog pics as usual! Doesn't look like Big Momma is too terribly upset about having renovations done to her pond. Kind of looks like she is smiling in fact...

Thanks, Julie, on Bug's behalf. My trauma was in the waiting room (and with the guilt of not having taken him in earlier). I got the bleeding stopped and figured I'd check it out on Sunday, but he cried and really wouldn't let me touch it, so I couldn't see what was going on. The nail actually looked fine - I thought there was a deep cut. I trimmed everyone's toenails shorter last night to make myself feel better. My brother and SIL bought me a pedipaws - what a waste of money. The battery power isn't enough to keep the tool rotating when it hits the nail. The attachment at top on a regular Dremel tool might be okay, but clippers work for me just fine.

Bugs dressing (as hip as it is) can come off tonight and stay off, so I think he'll be glad about that. And he gets his own pill-in-peanut butter for awhile along with Magic and Nick, so it can't be too bad.

Oh, I like my pedipaws. It works well for me. Plus my mother's big toes had a thick build-up on them and I used the pedipaws to get them back down to normal size.^_^

It is pouring down rain now.

I got the dremel version, but haven't tried it on the cats yet.

Is our rain supposed to come from that direction? Or is it swirling around again? Have to find a weather map. The forecast is for rain after midnight, it smells like it.

Maybe my new C batteries weren't new? Or maybe it's good for smaller dog nails. I really could not have done Magic's nails with it. I definitely can't imagine the cats sitting still for it. Some of my cats will let me use the toenail clipper, but I have 1 minutes and then times up!!

Patricia, what a great idea to use it for toenails. That makes so much sense.

Okay, Bug's feeling much better tonight. I'll take his boot off after he's gone out tonight for the last time. It is pretty snappy looking, as it should be for $40!! Much better looking than the temporary sock I put on him on Saturday night.

Poor baby, hope it doesn't hurt tomorrow.

Thank you, Sally. I'll tell him you said so when I tuck him in tonight. :-)

All I can say is...Owwwww!!! Isis twisted her back leg one night falling off the back of the couch. She walked with a limp for a week, even on meds. Can't imagine the pain involved loosing a nail. Give Bug scritches and a hug from me.

Kathy, Bug looks like he is recovering quickly! I can imagine he will be content to have his boot off though! Most dogs don't like having something on their feet (image of my MIL trying to put snow boots on her chiuahuah (sp?) when she lived in Spokane pops into my mind...never seen a dog try to have all four feet off of the floor at the same time before!). Give him a hug for me too... You would be amazed how easily it is for me to pull up a visual image of the pic you posted of him smiling! It just stuck in my head as one of the cutest dogfaces I have ever seen!

Kwanjin, thank you! It looks better than I thought it would and I guess there's some chance it will regrow.

Yes, Julie, you're right. He didn't like the wrap I put on him on Saturday. But the boot from Sunday was much better. I think, in part because there was nothing loose. He wasn't terribly excited last night when I cut it off. I did get a few bedtime smiles and a couple licks on the face, so his pain must be better.

I had to remind the vet that he might smile at her. Kinda scary if you don't know him.

What a funny image of the Chihuahua. The are so small and agile. I love the description of a dog trying to get all four feet off the ground at one time. Hah!!

Kathy

That's a pretty picture of Bug. And the sock goes well with the garden. Love that yellow glowing in the background. Glad he is doing better.

Thank you, Patricia. As I was cutting the sock off last night, all I could think about was how much it had cost and if I could find a way to save it to re-use. It was basically cotton padding wraped with cotton gauze and then "over-wrapped" with vetwrap in a lovely green with pawprints on it. I couldn't really find anything to warrant that cost . . . .

He is a handsome dog, and such a sweetheart. There was a small dog at the vet and even though he was in pain, he just had to go over there and greet her. He loves small dogs - and most especially the girls!!

To bad he can't meet my girls. It does tend to stick in ones craw when forced to pay so much pennies worth of bandages.

Just have to remember you're paying for all the training and equipment they've had and keep getting to keep our furbies well.^_^ Glad he's better.

Handsome, sweet, and a ladies man too! What more can you ask?

I want to know why the vetwrap always comes in such cool colors, and all we people get is white. I broke my wrist several years ago, and had to wrap it to keep from re-injuring it at work when I got my cast off. I work with dirty cars and dirty car parts, so the white was just disgusting after ten minutes. Went to petco and tuned myself up with several different colors of equine wrap, and was able to match my wrap to my outfit each day. Much better!

One of my neighbors had a choice of colors recently. So they have it now at least. Car parts and white, I can just picture it. Yuk!!

Patricia, I was thinking as I typed that that he'd LOVE your girls. He even makes goofy faces at dogs who are scared of him to see if it won't make him less scary. What a guy.

I hear you on the vet wrap. It used to be that I could get a bunch of vet wrap at dog shows for cheap. I keep it everywhere in the house and use it for all sorts of things. Human wrap is much more boring and a lot more expensive.

I know I'm paying for their expertise when I go to visit (and that is the only thing that didn't make me explode). But, really, when you pay $100 just to walk in the door and $200 for anesthesia and clipping off a nail, you'd think they could give you the wrap for free . . . I swear that the prices for vet care are going up just because they can.

I'm going to have to start shopping around.

That's the way I feel about prices. Just because they can! It could at least slow down and not jump 50% everytime you turn around.

If you asked me whether I thought our standard of living had improved over what it was when I was a child, I think I would have to say "No". Food and housing and health care relative to incomes was lower. It's great that the price of computers and kindles has come down, but it seems that has happened at the expense of an increase in price on our staples.

What's wrong with that picture? I've decided that I owe it to future generations to be a more competitive shopper and to send a message that I won't pay more for convenience. Of course, I'll still have my Chai Tea at Starbucks in the morning . . . I have to draw the line somewhere. LOL

Well I must say it has improved since my childhood. We still had outhouses and no TV. If you made $10,000 you were well to do. My dad was a sailor in WWII and then worked in the Bremerton Navy Yard until he retired and we had it pretty well on a small farm. I remember back in the '70's when Nixon put a price freeze on everything. And that wasn't near as bad as it is now. Think it is time to write to our dear congress people and senators. Maybe they don't have enough to do. LOL

Kathy Bug is a very nice looking dog. My dog smiles too. I 'm glad he's better, that had to have hurt!

Thank you, Linda!!

"See Mom, I brushed!"

Kathy.. I love that picture of Bug! What a cutie! Glad he is feeling better.

My two are all cuddled up tonight as the temps have dropped and their smaller blankie is the wash. They are very tired from eating, napping and munching on an occasional cookie or two, taking several potty breaks and lapping up water today. Poor things they are just exhausted! They say goodnight to Bug and all the other nice folks & animals on this thread.

Bug might want to look at their picture as they are girls and you mentioned he likes girls! They each turned 56 years old ( in dog years) this past March. Does he like older women or thos sweet young pups? Finally I am not the oldest girl in the house!

Awwwwww!

I love vet wrap and crazy glue as home vet options.......

Although I did once accidentally crazy glue my lip to the leg of a horse almost at her hoof.......seriously, that was a problem.


Ginger

ROFLOL!!!

Kathy, That's the picture! Love it!!!


Ginger, I've missed you! If your stories are true, I think that you would be truly dangerous to hang out with! Sounds like it would never be boring though!

That's exactly the right caption, Sally!! I think I'll tell him to "show me how he brushed" now when it looks like he's going to smile.

Bea, your babies look so cute all wrapped up. Bug would love them. I think he likes the challenge of dogs that aren't sure about him. The young rambunctious ones can be worrisome if they are grabbing his tail, the older ones that just growl a little bit are his favorites because he's sure he can charm them.

Ginger, what a great story. I'm guessing that nobody got a picture . . .

Kathy..I don't think my dogs could reach Bugs tail so that should not be a problem. . They are only about 6-7 inches tall. They would have to get a running start and jump their best to even possibly reach it. Bugs has such long legs and appears to be very tall. I think they would make better squeeky toys for him!

Ginger.. That would be something to see . Like kids that lick the metal poles when it is freezing and get their tongues stuck! LOL!

Bug's tail stretched out actually would touch the floor. He has that big, S-shaped Borzoi tail that is so beautiful.

I rescued a Chihuahua puppy once (from the grocery store over 4th of July; he and his sister were covered in fleas and they were giving them away. I felt like I had to do something. Washed him, gave him some honey to get his blood sugar up, named him Hercules, and, by providence, soon after found him a great home - he lives better now than I do). Once Hercules got his strength back and was feeling better, he would grab Bug's tail and swing around on it. He was a little fiend - Bug was so patient with him.

He's got a big heart!!

Katie..

That is exactly the situation Trixie was in when we found her 9 years ago. We thought she was a brown dog and she was a moving mass of fleas.

Here she is now!

Ginger