Carnage In The Tomato Patch!

We have critters! We have seen a rabbit in the garden, but some little Baggins is eating tomatoes more than a foot off the ground, so we think the culprit is a squirrel. We have a lot of 'maters coming on, so we are OK, but we hope the rest of the family doesn't show up.

 In other garden news, our Rattlesnake beans are done for. They have what appears to be a mosaic virus, and they all died over a few days, in spite of rain and watering.  Aphids, leafhoppers, and stinkbugs all have piercing/sucking mouthparts, so it could be any or all of those pests. 

Susan's Tater Patch

 Susan keeps telling me that nobody is going to watch fifteen minutes of digging potatoes, and I keep telling her that it isn't like paint drying... I don't expect a whole lot of views, but I think you will enjoy seeing the taters come out of the ground. It's like Christmas, or an Easter egg hunt to us.

Forty-Seven Is Bacon!

 Special Day, July 13!

Susan's Staples Are Out!

 She has been cleared to drive again, just two weeks after the revision surgery on the right hip. Here is the quick rundown of her hip surgeries. The left hip was replaced on May 2, and she went home the next day, had her staples out at two weeks, and had an easy recovery, going to physical therapy twice a week. June 15 was the date of her right hip replacement, and again, she went home the next day. It did not feel as good as the left hip did after surgery. It just seemed off a bit to her, but there were no problems she could point to. On June 26 the right hip dislocated. She dropped and had terrible pain. We got her to an emergency room, and after some extremely painful manipulations they got her hip back in the socket, but she could not move her leg, and the pain was unbearable. She was transported back to Sara Bush Lincoln hospital at Mattoon where she was operated on Monday, June 27. The liner (cup, or socket) placed in her pelvis had rotated, and that caused the ball to pop loose. The surgical team removed the liner, reamed the pocket in her pelvis a bit larger, and replaced the liner, using a screw to insure that it would not move. Recovery has been slower this time, with more pain than the first time, but she is doing well. 

Susan does not like to look at the X-rays, but they are sure worth looking at. The first one is the dislocated hip, the next one is after the ball was manipulated back in place, and you can see that the liner is rotated out of place. The third picture is the repaired hip, with the screw visible. If I ever have this type of surgery, I will ask for a screw to anchor it!

Junior, July 7, 2022

 Junior came to us in December 2015. He had been abandoned by his family, and was in an animal shelter in Peoria, and was ten years old. He was a sweet, good natured dog, and he was a perfect gentleman as a house dog. When he needed out, he would go to the door and tell you telepathically that he needed out. We rarely heard his voice. We found that if he had the chance, he would run. He even tried a getaway after he went blind. That is not unusual for  a Schipperke. Junior had become deaf and blind, and I carried him in and out for a long time, but he still enjoyed being around the other dogs and he had a healthy appetite. A couple of strokes crippled him in the last week, and we could tell he was hurting, so we made the final trip to the vet with him. The video was shot the first day he was with us.

Right Back On The Street

 This is small town Fairfield, Iowa, home invasion, assault on the homeowner to rob him accomplices still at large, and he is bonded out to rob again. How is the homeowner going to be safe? Will this perp show up for his court appearance? Why should he? He's a free man now, and he can hop over to Illinois and continue to live a life of crime. Click the mug shot for the news story on KCII.