IVDD

 

          Bondi has IVDD.

          “What’s that?” I know you wanna know.

          IVDD is Intervertebral Disc Disease.

          We knew something was going on about a week before we took her to the vet and in hindsight, we should’ve taken her sooner, but we didn’t know.

          IVDD is common in long back dogs. It’s a spine problem where the cushioning discs between a dog’s vertebrae get damaged and press on the spinal cord. This can cause pain, trouble walking, or, in severe cases, paralysis. It’s most common in long‑backed breeds like dachshunds, but any dog can develop it.

          Bondi would squeak sometimes when you touched her just right. And by squeak I mean a yip of pain. I did plan to take her to the vet but it was the weekend. Sunday, Bondi went outside, to the very back of the yard, and laid in the grass. And there she stayed. All by herself. It wasn’t normal. Monday morning, when I could call the vet, Bondi’s left rear foot was knuckling under. Luckily, the vet could see us in the early afternoon. By that time she was dragging the whole leg.

           I knew it was something with her spine. It had to be. “What do you want to do?” I asked my handsome mountain man.

          “What do you mean?”

          “If she has to have surgery it’s between six and ten thousand dollars. You wanna do that or have her put down?”

          It’s a cruel world where you have to choose between those two options.

          “I don’t wanna spend that much money,” Mike said.

          I hear him. He doesn’t want to spend that amount of money and he doesn’t want to have her put down. An untenable situation.

          “It’s not just the surgery, which we’ll probably have to go to Cornell for that, but it’s also the recovery time and follow up visits.”

          I’ve been to Cornell University Hospital for Animals with my beautiful Jody. She had to take her German Short Hair there for treatment and it took hours to get there!

          “How long does it take to get there,” I wondered, and opened a website called Distance Between Cities.

          “There are 55 miles from Wyalusing to Ithaca,” it says. “We could not find a driving route between the two locations.”

          Basically, you can’t get there from here.

          I asked Copilot. “Most people can make the drive in a little over 2 hours,” and gave me driving directions.

          “It’s a lot of back roads,” Jody said when I asked her. “I can make it in... probably an hour and half.”

          “We might have to decide before we see the vet,” I told Mike. If we weren’t going for the surgery, Dr. Lori would want to do the euthanasia sooner rather than later. She doesn’t like to do them but she also doesn’t like to see an animal suffer. She’s a good vet.

          “We’ll have to put her down,” Mike said with sadness in his eyes and his voice. “How do you feel about it?”

          “Same.”

          Dr. Lori examined Bondi and believes she’ll recover with medicine, time, and therapy. She’s seen lots of these cases. We’re both relieved.

          Bondi hasn’t seemed to mind being in her kennel for most of the day.

          “Why don’t we put her on the table to make it easier for you to get her in and out,” Mike said.

          What a great idea! It has made it easier for me, and probably more comfortable for Bondi, too. I can support her back as I pick her up and she can see a lot more.

          Something else Dr. Lori recommended was laser therapy. “It can help reduce pain and inflammation, help her muscles relax, speed up recovery, and be more comfortable during crate rest,” she said.

We can’t afford surgery but we would do what we could. We wanted to give her the best chance at recovery so we agreed to six sessions.

“We’ll do twice a week for the first two weeks, then once a week after that,” she said.

We tried to leave Bondi in the kennel during the night but she is so unhappy. You know what that means, don’cha? It means I don’t get any sleep.

I asked Dr. Lori specifically about Bondi sleeping with us. “As long as she doesn’t jump off the bed.”

The only way we can assure that is to restrain her. I secured a leash to the bed and the other end to Bondi. She can get under the covers but isn’t able to reach our feet, like she’s used to, but even then, after a while, she’d get too warm, creep to the top and sleep between our pillows for the rest of the night anyway. Now she has to stay at the top of the bed, but at least she’s with us and happy.

The first night she was restless and couldn’t settle very well. After a couple of nights, she adjusted to being tied and is doing better.

 

Knapp Weed is blooming.

So is Chicory.

Rough-fruited Cinquefoil.

          Yellow Loosestrife.

          Antlers are blooming, too!

          This guy was in our yard.

          So was this one.

          And this guy was in our yard. You may notice he’s got a couple of hitchhikers.

          “They look like leeches,” you say.

          Yes, they do, and they are. Turtles are used to dealing with pond leeches and won’t be any worse for wear when they jump off — not that I think leeches jump (at least I hope they don’t! That would be scary.)

          We were on the golf cart, cruising our back roads when I got some of those photos. Here’s a few more from that ride-about.

          Wonder what he’s making.

          One of the reasons I wanted to go on this ride was to check the road-kill deer. When the skull is picked clean, I intend to bring it home. One of these days I’ll paint my collection of skulls, some I’ve had for years!

          You can’t get in a hurry about this stuff, don’cha know.

Sitting on the dead deer was a Baltimore Checkerspot.

          Who knew?

          “Knew what?” you ask.

          Butterflies feed on sap, rotting fruit, poop, minerals from the soil, and dead animals!

          Speaking poop...

          I was picking it up from the dog run when this humbee came to check it out. It’s the first Hummingbird Moth I’ve seen this year — and he was interested in poop!

          But back to skulls...

          Here’s two sitting on the back of a truck! I’m jelly!

          A Great Blue Heron.

          “What is that?” I wondered aloud, spotting something white with turquoise edges.

          Mike backed the cart up, I got off and kicked it. Can you guess what it is? 

          Mike is a good husband. He was thinking of me when he offered to make a section of the dog run fence open up so he could bring the zero-turn mower in and mow the dog run for me.

          “I can mow it,” I told him last year.

          This year, I’m happy to let him do it. It takes him ten minutes — maybe. It takes me about half an hour to mow it.

          “You can trim it up with the push mower,” Mike said.

          You know he loves me to do this for me because he doesn’t like to mow around stuff, and I have stuff!

          He does such a good job that I didn’t feel the need to get the push mower out — until after the third time he mowed it.

          “When you get the mower out, will you  get that little section outside the dog run that I can’t get with my mower?” he casually asked.

          Since he does my mowing for me, I decided to get the mower out and mow that little section for him.

          I had to laugh, when I went to get the mower. There’s a vine I let grow on the mower corral and it’s decided to claim my mower, since I wasn’t using it.

      

          “What is it?” you wanna know.

          I thought it might be Burr Cucumber but I haven’t seen any burr cucumbers on it. AI says it’s wild grape, but I don’t think it is.

          Going across the Rainbow Bridge into Wyalusing I noticed wires obstructing my view of the Susquehanna. It appears the supports holding the wires got tired of holding the tree up, too!

          “What have you been painting this week?”

          I’m so glad you asked!

          One of our friends became the grandmother of a baby with developmental disabilities.

          I think that’s the kindest, most respectful way to say it, but feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.

          I made her a card but rather than transfer the image I printed it on a 5x7 piece of watercolor paper. My watercolors interacted with the printer ink and it came out awful.

          I scrapped that idea and printed it instead.

          And man! Was printing a bi-fold card a challenge!

          I fooled with it for more than an hour before I figured out what I was doing wrong.

          “Didn’t you ask Copilot, your AI buddy?” you ask.

          As a matter of fact, I did. And even though it was giving me the correct procedure to print a bi-fold card, I was adding an extra step that was messing it up.

          “What were you doing?” I know you wanna know in case you’re ever faced with the same problem.

          Instead of just selecting the size in the layout window, I was also selecting landscape. That was the wrong thing to do. There isn’t any need to select landscape and if you do, you get this.

          I laugh a little and shake my head. I’ve had this problem since before Halloween last year.

          At any rate, I’m glad I finally figured out the error of my ways and I truly hope the card brings her comfort. People hear things in their own way, especially when their hearts are tender. But I wrote this with love and the hope of easing a burden.

 

          My handsome brother-in-law sent me a picture of Bentley framed. A good frame can make all the difference in the world, don’cha think?

          Speaking of my paintings...

          The gals at the vet office have been encouraging me to make a poster and hang it on the board there.

          “A lot of people would get them,” one of the gals said.

          Here’s the thing. I don’t want a job. I’ve been staying fairly busy already with the commissions I’ve had.

          “If you don’t want a lot just price it high,” someone told me.

          I was still hesitant about doing it. Then I thought I’d price it for I’m willing to do it for, then tack on extra bucks and donate that to the local shelters and rescues. If I get too many commissions, I’ll raise the price.

          Ruger went to his home this week. I took him to the hospital where Lori and her daughter work. Lori got teary-eyed when she saw it. She commissioned it for her daughter and her daughter couldn’t stop thanking me. They thought I’d captured Ruger well.

          Later in the day Lori sent me a text. “She absolutely loves it! She has shown it to everyone!”

          I know I told you I was tired of my sketchbook...

Guess what I did this week.

Don’t laugh. 

          When I took the girls out before bed I saw we had an orange moon! I took 29 photos, all the while changing my settings, trying to get a decent shot. This is the best.

          Let’s call this one done!

Done!