The daily grind

If you ask Mike, we are vile torturers.   He still does not particularly care to eat, although he has started at least investigating the food situation in the morning.   This morning he actually ate one bite of food before he decided he was done.  So, the assisted feeding continues.   I have graduated from subcutaneous fluids to adminstering water by mouth.   I still have to squirt it in there with a needle-less syringe.   

While we feed him, he still curses every bite, and has gotten much better at spitting it out.   Sometimes he can spit a piece of food two feet, which is pretty good considering how we have him rigged up for the process.

Since he tends to let food just dribble off the end of his tongue when he manages to evade the spoon, we have taken to “dressing” him for the feeding sessions with a bib.   Here he is, all ready for his dinner last night. 

 

You can see how happy he is to be getting sustenance.  

Today he went outside and had a good dust bath, and sunned for a while.   Aside from the fact that he is not eating on his own, he is in good shape.  His coat is good, he has been washing.   His kidneys are functioning splendidly, and his intestinal system is okay too.   all we need is some appetite. 

I took some time to take care of myself this weekend.   Saturday Ivisited my friend’s pretty labyrinth and wound up getting a massage from her.   That was really great.   Then I came home and after dinner, Jim and I went to Cliff and Nancy’s place to have sauna.  It was a small crowd this time.   Lots of people are out of state, having gone to Arizona for the Tucson Gem and Mineral show followed by kayaking in Baja.   There were also a lot of absentees due to the flu as well.   But it was a very relaxing evening.

The very next morning, I went out to Jeri’s and we floated the short float from their place down to William’s Ford.  What a perfect day for a float!   The temperature was in the low 70s.   The wind was a little gusty, but nothing really bad.   The river is up, cooking along pretty good with the recent rains.    It is not full bank by any means, but the logs that are obstructions during low water were down deep where we could just float over them.

It was not the sort of water you want to dump in, being swift and strong.   There are plenty of snags down below the surface to grab and drown you should you get into trouble.  We didn’t come across any.   I didn’t bother to take my camera, knowing that the current would be so swift there wouldn’t be time to get pictures.    I was right.

We did see a green heron fishing.   There was a great blue heron leading us down a long pool, several kingfishers.  We saw robins, chickadees, cardinals, a pileated wood pecker, a pair of red bellied wood peckers, lots of ducks.   The best bird sighting was a red tailed hawk who was playing in the thermals and calling for a mate.   We also saw turtles, tiny frogs on the gravel bar and heard spring peepers calling in several ponds as we floated by.

Jim has been pruning the vineyard this week, getting ready for the spring bud break.   After the pruning, he cleaned up all the canes.  He’ll be running the weed torch tomorrow along the rock mulch.   Hopefully he can burn back the bermuda grass.   Whie he was working on cleaning up the canes today, I spent a few pleasant hours cleaning out the front garden beds, greeting the daffodils and primroses, which have begun to sprout in earnest.

In order for everything to continue feeling completely surreal, after the wonderful weekend weather complete with floating, Monday it turned colder than the dickens and snowed a couple of inches.   It was supposed to dump a bunch of snow on us last night, but we got a dusting of about half an inch.  Meanwhile, people ten miles up the road were experiencing six to eight inches.    Tonight I hear thunder.  

Yesterday afternoon, right before sunset, a huge flock of birds arrived from the south on their spring migration.   There had to be at least 3000 birds in the flock.   Honestly, I felt very sorry for them all.   They had been flying through intermittent snow storms, when they arrived here the was about an inch of snow on the ground.   The flock was mixed:   grackles, brewer’s blackbirds, and redwinged blackbirds.   The grackles were in better shape, being larger birds.  They immediately began turning over the mulch in my garden, throwing leaves around, looking for something to eat.   The smaller birds foraged desultorily, but mostly they just squatted down, resting.   You could see how tired they were.  Shortly after they arrived, they headed over to the cedar woods by the lake to roost for the night.  

Since the weather has been so weird, I have had a lot of people cancelling or rescheduling their massages.   I love massage as a way of earning a living, but it can be so unpredictable as far as income goes.   At least when I don’t have clients, I am not paying rent on an office that is being underutilized.   Still, sometimes I wish the money was more steady.   Then I think of the sacrifices I would have to make to have that happen , and I guess maybe I like it this way after all.  

I try to view my life from the point of view of abundance.    My mantra is, “There is always more than enough money.”  For the most part, that is true.

And in a week and a half, we will be off on our wonderful vacation.   I focus on the fact that I have the freedom and the wherewithal to take a month to go on a cruise across the Atlantic followed by a short tour through southern Spain.   I try not to think about the fact that while I am gone, I am not making one bit of money.    My clients will be here when I get back, and the trip is 95% paid for already.  

Life is good.   If only Mike would decide that he can eat on his own.