The heat has arrived! Nim tolerated an early morning trip for plants, shopping at Costco and swimming lessons. Then we scooted home so I could garden for study breaks.
By the way, check out the Big Lots chair purchase in the background. :) I don't know why I waited so long to get a lounge chair.
Unfortunately this plant shop was another quick buy without a lot of planning. Just the way life is right now. I tried to go for things I had grown with some success, items I keep killing but am not ready to give up on yet, or tried entirely new items such as artichoke!
I tried a pumpkin again (why are they so hard to grow?) and in my haste I didn't realize until I got home that the plant I bought is for like the 100lb variety. All I have to say is that if I actually grow a 100lb pumpkin that will be right up there with my cherished sunflower last year.
The garden baskets are filling out nicely.
After his early morning shopping and swimming Nim was pooped!
I hope everyone had a reflective and restful Memorial Day.
The weekend could have continued forever as far as I am concerned. It was nice to just not think about work. Saturday and Sunday were more intense days because I was in my final cramming days for my scheduled FAR test (next CPA exam). Then, late Sunday night I realized that nothing was going to make this happen, and I moved the test into July. (June is a blackout month...blackout months are basically added to make an already painful process even more inconvenient.)
I am generally OK with my decision. I knew forcing this exam into May was too soon considering I hadn't studied all tax season, but I SO wanted another exam done. I had maybe a minor flash of failure, but that was nothing compared to all the stress I was working myself up over an exam I couldn't be ready for in time.
I was up late Sunday night cleaning the house to cope with my decision. Then Monday morning I woke up ready to restructure the study plan and perhaps more importantly...start a quilt.
My goal was something scrappy, small, easy to only do a little sewing on and then leave for days if I had to. Something with quick satisfaction that I can work on between study session and work. Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville delivered! I am working on Stitch a "Star- Struck" Quilt. It is scrappy and cutting fabric all Monday made me happy.
I love when I am cutting up my own scraps how sometimes a fabric will fondly remind me of the larger quilt it came from. Some "scraps" were taken from my start on this year's New Year's Mystery quilt. I could tell that one was never going to get finished.
I even got about 45 minutes of initial block sewing. It is going to be perfect. The piles are easy to keep to one side, and I should be able to work on it and leave it without completely messing myself up.
Leela, as usual, was happy I was quilting too. Probably disappointed that nothing is on the floor yet, but she stayed close by in case.
I wanted to share this Alaska Walrus Cam. Talk about fabulous background ocean noise and just a really interesting education on such an unusual animal (also you will catch other coastal wildlife on the edges). I watched one walrus yesterday that started on the shore and slowly rolled over and over and over until he was in the water and then he kept rolling.
Walrus are another species that is taking a huge hit from the vanishing ice sheets. This USGS article on the Walrus dry land "haul out" I think is worth reading to better understand the issues faced with the warming Arctic.
In my own back yard I have a little baby bunny doing her thing. Unfortunately she did not slowly roll over and over and over back into the bushes, but she did let me get close, under the misguided animal notion that if they can't quite see you, you don't exist. I just want to touch her ears.
Basically I have been putting baskets together in-between studying stints and work. I am so frustrated right now with all the work in the yard I am not doing.
I have decided to deem "yard work" that yet another motivation to finish these exams because right now I need all the motivation I can get.
Nim did a lot of sleeping under the table yesterday. We were hot and sunny. And then suddenly around 3pm the thunder rolled in with dark clouds and a little after 4pm I had rain! The entire week has been like this for me. Real extremes in weather.
I planted the "deer planter" outside my door. Actually, this is a different planter because the one I normally use broke apart in my hands as I lifted it. I really am hoping the deer leave my Pansies alone. They are a new flower for me this year.
This is Nim as I am running around like crazy in the yard and gathering all my gear up and the thunder is rolling in. I believe his bubble is "Finally. I can go nap in the house."
I have a few Snap Dragons left that I will plant later. They are "rescues" from the office. The entire flat was wilting, but they are doing much better now. This photo is from their ride home. The night I got them, I had to continue from work to dog class so I put them on the hood of the car at dog class and heavily watered them so they could drain for about an hour rather than bake in the car. Hopefully I can keep them alive.
Have a great Memorial Day weekend! I need to get out to the store and see if the Veterans are out with their Poppies. I always really look forward to that program so I hope I can find them.
I was extremely lucky to be working from home on Tuesday. Extremely. This afforded me some flexibility to get the puppy out on his day. It was time to test walk the foot anyway.
You know, for as much as I talk about the sun...and I am a sun lover, there is something about the spring/fall hikes that probably have more of the emotional trigger for me. It is the smell.
We got our walk in between the rain storms and as you can tell it was still warm. It was wonderful. It just makes me want to hit the trail and not come back for days. Since that is not an option in my life right now, I really really soak in the time I get.
Nim's foot held up well and he was happy.
After his hike, he got a birthday bath. He was thrilled. :)
THEN he got his birthday bacon cheeseburger. The eyes say it all.
It was a good day and gave me the much needed strength for work.
Out of no where we went cold again. My friend and I both had our stoves going at night. The cats begrudgingly even cuddled.
Yes, this post will have photos of snakes. :) But first, a bit about sun!
The last two weekends have been gorgeous weather. Everyone has been soaking it up.
The first weekend in May was sunny, but still a bit cold. Still, in desperation I set up an outside elaborate reading station. I like my picnic bench set up, but sometimes my back needs a break.
Nim loved this. He could lay right next to me under the umbrella. The umbrella is heavy and was balanced in a garbage can full of weeding. It kept falling over and it was a pain in the rear. I need a better system.
This photo is from May 3rd so Nim's foot was still wrapped. He is doing much better this weekend.
This weekend was sunny and MUCH warmer. I have been waiting for my snakes to come out and on Saturday I got to see two of them. As you can see from the blur, this one was particularly uncooperative.
The one in the bush is my favorite. He is actually below my bedroom window. I couldn't figure out what Emile was looking out the window and chattering about, but finally I spotted him. I had no idea they would come off the ground like that and settle in bushes.
For whatever reason I had it in my mind that today was going to be super hot and sunny. It wasn't. But it didn't rain either.
Thursday was a LONG day for me and by the time I stopped working around 10:30 at night I realized my dog had a limp. :| I couldn't see really anything wrong, so we went to bed and I figured I would deal with it in the morning.
This morning Nim had a fat little foot. A friend of mine, well versed in Nim's issues, suggested maybe some sort of allergy. So I hoped for a bee sting and started the benedryl. The problem is my vet is way over booked right now so I was trying to avoid an ER trip or forcing my way into their schedule. I still talked to them around 8am to talk options and tell them what I was seeing.
Around 1:30 I did a second dose of benedryl and soaked the foot. I was bargaining - deep down I knew this wasn't getting any better.
Soaking the foot was possibly the best thing I had ever done to Nim in
Emile's mind. He could hardly stand it. He kept circling and reaching in
to tap at the water.
After the soak, I gave up and called the vet back to try and squeeze in. The foot hadn't gone down and if anything I had a raised lump.
We had to lance the darn thing and wrap it. Since he has had 6 benedryl today he is quite tired. I can't imagine the foot feels great either, but at least it is not broken or sprained (dobermans are notorious for injuring toes).
I am hoping it will look better soon. It is hard to say what is wrong, but we are thinking some foreign body got stuck up in the webbing.
Come on sun! I have some plants that need planting...
