Not So Much

           There’s not so much for me to talk about this week, not so many pictures to show you. That can be a good thing and a welcome relief from the pressure of my self-imposed writing deadline, which, in and of itself, is normally manageable. However, my church tends to plan things for the weekends when the working people aren’t working, and I always try to make something for these events. If it happens once in a while, I don’t stress about it. But we’ve been doing a video series on Sunday nights, so that’s every Sunday I need to stop writing, whether I’m done or not, and cook or bake something.

          “Peg, do you really have to make something?” you ask.

          I suppose I don’t have to, but I’ve been doing it for so long that some people would be disappointed if I didn’t bring something. Besides, I like to do it.

          It’s when two events happen on the same weekend that it really puts a hinky in my writing schedule and such is the case this weekend. Hence, that’s why it’s a good thing this week that I don’t have much jibber-jabber.

          “Besides your Sunday night video, what else is going on?” you ask.

          Tonight, Saturday night, is the talent show at church. People can showcase their talents or even show off their hobbies or crafting abilities.

          “Are you going to show your stuff?” you wanna know.

          Nope. Not this year. Last year I talked about my devotion to you, writing a weekly letter for so many years, stained glass work, tin flower making, wire and bead work, book box making, painting porch signs, and photography. Wow. That’s a lot, I know. So, the only things I’ve really added to my extensive repertoire this year is fairy houses and watercolors, and I haven’t got any of them to show.

          Speaking of watercolors...

          I wanted to share something with you last week, but didn’t.

“Why didn’t you?” you wanna know.

I had a lot of ground to cover last time and was worried my letter blog would already be too long without the added information. So, since this week is much less busy, let’s go back and talk about it.

Do you remember me showing you two practice pieces I did from photos? I was going to show you the photo reference along with my interpretation.

          Here’s the hayfield. I’m not happy with the clouds but it was a flip-the-page-and-move-on type of thing for me. I didn’t try to fix them.

          Here’s the fence. 

          “It doesn’t look much like the picture,” you say.

          I know, right! That’s what Mike said!

          “Your fence is a lot shorter.”

          “I wanted to get the tree in,” I told him.

          “You don’t have as many pickets in your fence and they’re farther apart.”

          Yeah, there’s that too, and one of the reasons I wasn’t going to show it. But I wanted to tell you something else about this one.

          “What’s that?” you ask.

          This is the first time I used a masking fluid. It’s a rubber latex liquid you put on your paper to preserve white areas so you don’t have to worry about painting around them. I wanted my pickets to stay whiteish so I took this opportunity to try the drawing gum.

          I tore my paper when I rubbed it off. I don’t know if my paper wasn’t as dry as it should’ve been or if there was some other issue. At this point you can throw your masterpiece away, paint over the area, or embrace the mistake. The paper under the torn area is different, so it holds the paint different. The area of the fence you can barely tell I tore the paper but you can really see it on the tree trunk. That’s the embrace part. If I hadn’t’ve told you, you’d just think it was a flaw in the bark itself and was meant to be there.

          Hmmm. “Thirsty?” I asked Tiger.

          It’s a good thing the paints are non-toxic.

          My new-found love of watercolors has me questioning myself.

          I went through a phase lasting a few months where I was trying to educate myself on watercolor techniques and all I ended up doing was making myself depressed because it made me painfully aware of how little I really knew about painting.

          “Stop watching videos and just paint,” was the sage advice from oldest and much-adored sister.

          That’s when I picked up my brush and finished the watercolor of Scout.

          Susan was pleased and sent me a picture of it framed. What a difference framing makes!

          I’m glad she likes it. I did the best I could. Besides my practice pieces, and a couple of greeting cards, it’s only the third watercolor piece I’ve done. I hold on to the hope I’ll get better.

          “Even though the early works aren’t as good, they’re the ones that’ll be worth more money,” Miss Rosie said.

          “Yeah! Like I’ll ever be famous!” I snorted. And being famous is not even a goal of mine. I just want to make pretty things.

          Mike and I watched a movie last night set around characters in a prestigious art school in Paris. Talk about pretty things — the paintings they showed were beautiful!

          I’ll never paint anything as beautiful as those, I thought.

          I still wonder if getting an education would make me better. I’ve been watching videos again. Things like color theory and values makes my head spin! I don’t think I’ll ever understand it. So! And that’s a great big SO! I’ve decided I’m just going to paint. That’s what Grandma Moses did, right? I’ll paint what I see and hope it pleases.

          I’ve been asked to paint the train depot in Dushore for my sister. Now that I’m starting to layer the color on, I’m getting excited about it and I want you to get excited with me, too. It’s actually looking like what it’s supposed to be! That’s a good thing.

          There’s a chance I can still mess it up. If I do, we’ll call this one practice like I did with my first attempt to paint Scout, and I’ll tell you all about my mistake.

          Something else that took my time this week was finishing the book box. I actually forgot to take a picture of it after I’d sprayed its protective coat on top but it looks pretty much like this except the colors are a little brighter.

          “Peg! How could you forget?!” you wanna know.

          I know, right!

          Here’s what happened. I sprayed it, then went to exercise class. When I got home, we got around to go deliver it and in all the rush, it slipped my mind.

          “How did he like it?” you wanna know.

          He loves it. He couldn’t take his eyes off it. “My wife is just gonna love this,” he said with a grin on his face. He stood up, pulled his wallet from his back pocket, pulled out a couple of bills and handed them to me.

          “Close enough,” he said.

          It was more than I’d asked for.

          While I’m on the subject of crafts, I found two dies for my Sizzix at the thrift store. I asked if they’d sell them separate from the machine because I already had a machine and they said yes. Now I have one that will make tag shapes and one for circles.

          >>>*<<<

          It’s October and the leaves are changing color and falling from the trees.

          I tried to capture a picture of the leaves floating through the air but they’re hard to see. 

          Speaking of hard to see...

          Do you know how hard it is to find and clean up dog poo in the yard when it’s full of fallen leaves. It all looks like poo!

          Mike and I were in Dushore and took a minute to visit Momma, Pop, and brother Mike.

          This is the fruit or drupe of the Dogwood tree.

          And that’s it, my loves. That’s it for the photos this week. I told you there weren’t many. But I do have one more story for you. My morning peeps already know about this because I kept them informed as the drama unfolded.

Raini woke us up before five Wednesday morning, crying.

“Peg, what’s wrong with Raini?” Mike got up first.

I was instantly awake. “I don’t know.”

I turned on the light and called, “Raini, come here.” I thought maybe she’d hurt her leg jumping off the bed but I watched as she came to me. She wasn’t limping so it wasn’t her leg but she did have her tail tucked. She jumped up on the bed. I checked her over but couldn’t find any visible injuries, although she did cry when I ran my hand down her rump. I stayed away from that area and just stroked her fur and cooed soothing words to her. Raini curled into a ball beside me, shivering and shaking. Has something happened to her hips? Should we take her to the emergency vet? I wondered. I knew there was no going back to sleep so we got up. I lifted her off the bed. She didn’t ask for me to throw her ball like she does EVERY morning before I even get to the bathroom. Raini did follow me into the kitchen and spent the morning just lying under my desk. She didn't even have it in her to chase Tiger when he came in, like she usually does. I didn’t know if I needed to be concerned or if it would pass. I asked my morning peeps for their help.

“Wait a day and see how she is tomorrow.”

“It’s better to err on the side of caution. Take her to the vet.”

Mike had a doctor appointment that morning and I stayed in the car and tried to call the vet. Yes, tried.

“If this is an emergency, press one,” the recording said. “If you’re calling to refill a prescription, press two. If you’re calling for an appointment or any other reason, press three. To hear the menu again...”

I stopped listening and pressed one. The phone rang, and rang, and, rang, and rang, and I let it ring at least ten times. No one answered.

Maybe they’ll answer the other line, I thought and called back. This time I selected option three. “Please leave your name, phone number, the name of your pet, and someone will call you back within two hours, unless it’s after three, then we’ll call you in the morning.” It was another recording.

I tried the emergency line a couple of more times with no answer before I joined Mike. I need to be his health care advocate since he doesn’t always hear or remember what the doctor tells him.

          There’s always a wait between the time the they take your vitals until the doctor comes in. I snuck out and tried the number again. It was busy.

          After Mike’s visit, which, he’s fine, I went outside to call again while he checked out and set up his next appointment. This time I got through.

          “I don’t have anything today,” the gal said. “If you call in the morning, I can see if I can get you in.”

“I tried this morning but you didn’t answer the phone.”

“I was on the line with another emergency call,” she explained.

I’m thinking they keep a spot or two in the day for emergency calls and they’d already filled that day’s spot.

“Raini’s in pain and you can’t see her?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t have any spots left. I can let you know if we have a cancelation or you can call back in the morning.”

           “But she’s hurting today,” I reiterated.

          “I’m sorry. I can give you the numbers for other emergency vet clinics,” she said and started to list clinics that were hours away. I took this time to collect my cool. I was so frustrated and it was so tempting to unload on her. “Do you want one of them?”

“No. I’ll call in the morning,” I said more calmly than I felt.

Raini seemed better when we got home. She got up and came to the door, but didn’t jump up — like she usually does, and she didn’t try to body block me — also like she usually does. I thought she was better, even if she did mostly just lay around all afternoon.

Toward late afternoon, Mike said, “Why don’t you call and make the appointment for tomorrow?”

Yeah! I think. Grab the spot before someone else does.

          “Can you get Raini in tomorrow,” I asked.

          “You’ll have to call in the morning,” she said.

          “What’s going to change between tonight and tomorrow?” I wanted to know.

          “Someone could cancel.”

          “You mean you can only see her if someone cancels?”

          “That’s right.”

          WHAT GOOD IS IT TO HAVE AN EMERGENCY NUMBER IF YOU CAN’T SEE MY DOG IN AN EMERGENCY! I screamed in my head. Outwardly I said, “Thank you,” and hung up.

          “Call another vet,” Mike said.

          The other vet in Wysox was out of the office until Monday. I Google vets in Tunkhannock and called one.

          “We can see her tomorrow,” Karen said.

          I had to give her the price of the visit up front because I was a new customer, but I was happy to do that.

          That evening, when it was recliner time, Raini got up from her bed in the kennel and cried. She took a step out of the kennel and cried. She took one more step, cried, and sat down. I didn’t think she’d go one step farther. I took her bowl of treats in to the living room and turned back just in time to see her creep back to her bed in the kennel. I had to coax her out and in trying to help, touched her rump. She cried. I lifted her mostly by her front half and carried her to the recliner. Raini ate her treats but not as enthusiastically as she usually does. I scratched her back as she lay beside me and a couple of times she tried to roll over and cried. At bedtime, several hours later, I put the footrest part way down for her and she got down without a whimper. She almost pranced her way to the door, went out through the flap, and didn't cry. She brought her ball in and dropped it at my feet.

“No. Let’s go to bed.”

The only thing that was different was I’d given her a low dose aspirin around four. It seemed to help so I gave her another one before bed thinking it would keep the pain at bay.

The next morning, she was acting like her old self. She even ate breakfast, which she hadn’t done the day before. I just don't understand what happened. We still kept the vet appointment.

The new vet is awesome. Just the fact that they got me in the next day seemed like a small miracle to me. Raini has anaplasmosis, a tick-born disease. She doesn't have lyme and they think the sudden onset and cessation of pain is likely caused by that. She'll be on doxycycline for a month. He checked her spine and joints and didn't find anything wrong. She was due for rabies and lepto. They gave her those shots as well as the lyme vaccine. She’ll go back in three weeks and we’re switching all our critters over. They’re more expensive than the old vet but they have four vets, instead of one, and usually get you in within a day or two of your call, not three months later. So, I'll pay it.

“How’s Raini today,” you wanna know.

She hasn’t had any more episodes of pain and seems fine. 

Let’s call this one done!