Yesterday took all! I awoke at about 0500 to my phone going off. It was my daughter. She wanted me to go get Reese and take her to the vet. She had been hurt by a feral pig in their yard! Luckily, Kathleen caught that rascally Border Terrier before the pig got away and Reese chased her down into the gully by Kathleen's house. Reese might not have survived that! Kathleen had loaned her car to my sister and was walking to work every day. Of course I jumped into the car FAST and picked up Reese and tried to console Kathleen.
Who needs vets?!!! Not really, I totally don't mean that, BUT, I stitched up people for many years, why couldn't I stitch up Reese? Kathleen, when she was young, had a cat who had developed a cancer. I took big lumps off of her and extended her life for a couple of years. So, why not try?! With the help of my son's girlfriend, who happened to be around, I injected Reese with lidocaine, shaved off the hair around the wounds, cleaned the areas and sewed her up. She didn't like it, but with lidocaine, she didn't fight me. The lidocaine was the hardest part.
The entire rest of the day, my shoulder muscles were in a knot, but that has mostly gone away now. Above are the before and after pictures. She limped for a bit of the day, but fairly soon, she was walking as if nothing had happened! I wasn't about to throw a ball for her, but I'm pretty sure she would have run after it and jumped for it AND caught it! She has even forgiven me for hurting her with the lidocaine. That's a Border Terrier for you!
Feral pigs are rampant here. They walk around town during the night, and are in the fields surrounding the houses pretty much all the time. They are lethal to dogs. Too bad they aren't lethal to mongoose!
Kathleen, as one would think, was beside herself all day long. I tried to tell her that Reese was doing well, but I don't think that she believed me until I took Reese to her after work and she saw the girl who acted as if NOTHING like what had happened had happened. Could one of US have done that? I doubt it. Anyway, Kathleen turned happy after seeing her best friend doing so well.
Now you want to know, why there isn't a fence keeping the pigs out. There is a pile of posts growing in the yard and all the other stuff needed for said fence. I am thinking that it will be up very soon, but life in the islands is awfully nice and sometimes it takes a long time for things to get done as the surf might be up or a poker game or one must go fishing for dinner, etc. It is also fairly hard to find anyone who will work, but our worker is on the ball and getting it all ready. Soon Reese will be able to go outside and not have to be on a lead.
The babies are doing well. Yesterday, four of the six had weighed over a pound and two more were close behind. They are a week old today and in six days will have their eyes open. I, so far, know of two people who are coming to stay here and pick up their babies close to the beginning of May. I am hoping to keep one of the boys myself. It is always fun to see how they grow. I LOVE puppies. When they are able to run around in the grass, we will spend most of our days outside in the side yard under an avocado tree and I will watch them learn to climb, jump, balance, investigate, wrestle with the others and do all kinds of puppy things. It is exciting just thinking about it.
I discovered some black bamboo in my yard yesterday, all in pieces. My tenant had brought them in after I had planted a row of them alone the front to, hopefully, keep some of the noise of the road out of the yard. He wants to see if he can bonzai bamboo. Interesting.
Kathleen had her first vaccination for COVID-19 yesterday. She works in a medical office. They won't vaccinate anyone younger than 75 in this state, at least not yet, so I have not had my vaccination. I'm more than glad that COVID-19 doesn't get dogs, at least not MOST dogs.
Didn't you just want to have me babble on and on. You don't ever have to read the entire thing, you know! I guess I'd better stop this and go hang another orchid in the lychee tree and make sure the two youngster girls are not getting into trouble. I have them in the back/side yard, away from Reese. They are too rambunctious and could tear open her wounds. Reese will not be back with them for quite a while. She'll just have to put up with me!
I hear babies calling. Better go see who can't find mom because they got themselves wrapped up in a blanket or some such. Believe it or not, it is cold here, for Hawaii and puppies can't control their temps.
Goodbye for the day, The Curmudgeon
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