Week's End Report
Iko is getting along famously with Tank. They act like long lost brothers! It's so heartwarming to see them play, especially when Tank brings that giant head down to Iko's level so the little guy can jump on him.
Tank gave me a scare though. Ever since his teeth cleaning, he's been vomiting bile. Not everyday, but enough to put me on alert. Dogs vomit bile all the time and it's nothing to be concerned about in most cases. But the other day he spit up blood and then he threw up his food. Not good.
Off to the vet we go. Doc thinks it's related to the antibiotics he was on. Some dogs don't tolerate them well and it may have created an ulcer. My poor baby!
He's on meds to calm his tummy and seal any tears in his stomach. I am feeding him much smaller meals more often. That seems to help.
***
We only got two-thirds of the compost bins up before Greg had to leave. I'll post pictures when they're finished.
We decided to recreate the bins we have at Ranch South and built three 4x8 bins. It sounds large and it is for the average gardener, but it's proved useful for us in the past. Three bins allows us to have compost in different stages of readiness. Hopefully by next year, we'll have one ready for use, one cooking, and one in the early stages of composting.
***
Spiders: The creature I'd love to hate. In one week alone, I have gotten bitten by spiders FOUR times.
The last bite was particularly painful and I got that when Iko wandered into some bramble that was too close to the street for my comfort. I dove in after him before he reached the barbed wire fence and came back with a puppy and a full frontal attack from the spider community.
You would think the Council of Spiderdom would grant me safe passage through their realm considering I go out of my way not to kill them. They are beneficial creatures and I let them do their work unimpeded. But this last bite-a-thon left me a little cross.
The wounds are pretty painful.
***
Marianne Arkins has been keeping us posted on the vole situation at her place. Considering how dasterdly they are, I'm glad I've been vole-free. (knocks on wood) The only annoying pest I can complain about are the grasshoppers. They haven't been voracious like the locust swarm in The Good Earth (great movie and book!), but they are a nuisance.
I'm hoping my future chickens will help with the hopper hoopla. I know my neighbor's free ranging guinea hens help themselves to the hoppers whenever they wander over.
Copyright © 2009 Maria Zannini -- http://mariazannini.blogspot.com/.
Tank gave me a scare though. Ever since his teeth cleaning, he's been vomiting bile. Not everyday, but enough to put me on alert. Dogs vomit bile all the time and it's nothing to be concerned about in most cases. But the other day he spit up blood and then he threw up his food. Not good.
Off to the vet we go. Doc thinks it's related to the antibiotics he was on. Some dogs don't tolerate them well and it may have created an ulcer. My poor baby!
He's on meds to calm his tummy and seal any tears in his stomach. I am feeding him much smaller meals more often. That seems to help.
***
We only got two-thirds of the compost bins up before Greg had to leave. I'll post pictures when they're finished.
We decided to recreate the bins we have at Ranch South and built three 4x8 bins. It sounds large and it is for the average gardener, but it's proved useful for us in the past. Three bins allows us to have compost in different stages of readiness. Hopefully by next year, we'll have one ready for use, one cooking, and one in the early stages of composting.
***
Spiders: The creature I'd love to hate. In one week alone, I have gotten bitten by spiders FOUR times.
The last bite was particularly painful and I got that when Iko wandered into some bramble that was too close to the street for my comfort. I dove in after him before he reached the barbed wire fence and came back with a puppy and a full frontal attack from the spider community.
You would think the Council of Spiderdom would grant me safe passage through their realm considering I go out of my way not to kill them. They are beneficial creatures and I let them do their work unimpeded. But this last bite-a-thon left me a little cross.
The wounds are pretty painful.
***
Marianne Arkins has been keeping us posted on the vole situation at her place. Considering how dasterdly they are, I'm glad I've been vole-free. (knocks on wood) The only annoying pest I can complain about are the grasshoppers. They haven't been voracious like the locust swarm in The Good Earth (great movie and book!), but they are a nuisance.
I'm hoping my future chickens will help with the hopper hoopla. I know my neighbor's free ranging guinea hens help themselves to the hoppers whenever they wander over.
Copyright © 2009 Maria Zannini -- http://mariazannini.blogspot.com/.
Comments
And, yep, when we lived in Calif., chickens were BY FAR the best controller of grasshoppers we found. We used to let our chickens live in the garden (it was fenced in completely to keep the deer out) and never had any problems.
Good luck!
BTW, I tried to write you the other day. Don't know if my email reached you. If you can shoot me an email I'll resend my email through it. Thanks!
And wishing Tank all the best, hopefully the smaller meals etc will sort his tummy out.
*hugs* for the spider bites, Maria
It took less than two days for Iko to respond to his name. I thought that was fast.
I'm crossing my fingers for Tank. So far no more vomiting.
I've never been bitten by a spider. I hope it stays that way because I've heard they're painful!
So far, so good. No more episodes since we started the meds.
Ref: spiders
I don't recommend the bites. LOL
--especially where you live! The brown recluse was the most poisonous spider (that I know of) that ever bit me, and the experience was pretty painful.