Fall Slides into Winter

Oh that lovely slanting light! I do not feel too bad that Raven makes us take so many walks!

Nor that her elder sisters insist on coming along for these 2nd and 3rd walks as well. It's great to see them enjoying all of the life of a youngster!

Well, except for fetching! That will remain the province of only the shepherd mix!

Here is the real sign of winter to come: First Fire

And having to put on LED vests, although for now it's only for the evening walk. Mornings are still light.

Look! This icky muck pond is frozen!

And so are these puddles on the trail! I have traded my waterproof boots for studded shoes!

And most of the leaves are on the ground.

The light is still golden though.

And it is time to put on winter tires. I always had this bit of 2x8 in my car with my tire kit so I could put my jack on it rather than have it sink into snow or soft ground. After a while, it would split, I'd say some Bad Words, and I'd go to the lumberyard and buy a new one.

After I met DL, he made this laminate one for me. It's 5 layers with the grain in alternating directions and will never split. I about melt every time I use it. DL does not buy me roses or fancy wine. But he quietly makes things like this, or replaces my expired bear spray, or trims thorny rose vines back from the trails that only I use. It's a kind of caring that is deeper and more thoughtful than any of the more stereotypical symbols of romance.

Happy Gorgeous Fall!

Oh what a health scare we have had! One should never be too congratulatory about the awesome shape that one's dogs are as they advance in age. It's a known Chinese superstition never to brag about your own health. Miss Thistle at 13 was doing awesome, but we do have to remember that there is always the possibity that the cancer that was visible in her spleen could manifest elsewhere, and also that chronic Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) can lead to other problems later in life, even when it is under control (as it has been for the past three years). Well, it seems she had another very bad flareup last week, so bad that I even prepared to say goodbye. She had horrible watery poopsplosions, she could not keep food down. We took her to the urgent care vet on duty, and her bloodwork came back with no red flags. The markers for IBD weren't elevated. They also did an ultrasound to make sure that there was no blockage. She had actually been due for an ultrasound to follow up on the cancer thing, and yup, no tumors, so yay? But why was she doing so poorly then? Anyway, she was put on IV fluids with anti-emitics, as well as gut motility drugs, and kept overnight. The next morning, they called and said she had eaten some food, so if she kept it down that afternoon, we could bring her home. She did, and we did. From there, she has been kept on this suite of drugs:

And gradually recovering her strength, as she continued to eat and keep it down. At first she would only eat salmon and rice:

But after a few days, I was able to blend some of her regular kibble in. The vet also gave us some canned foods to try, but she was back on kibble before we bothered. Look! Shiny bowl!

And her turds have been solid, and she's comfy again:

And her seesters hang out with her:

And she wants to take her spot with the other sous-chefs again:

Mmmmm bok choy stemz!!

Yeeeeesh bok choy stemz!!

We love bok choy stemz!!

Look! I, too, fit on this couch!

Mornings lately have been beautiful!

Until today, I kept Miss Thiss to shorter walks, and then we continued on without her. It's very weird. She is our leader, and we feel rudderless without her. :( But the other girls need more exercise:

Gorgeous morning light:

Today, Fall's beauty seems to have exploded:

Raven sometimes pesters me for an afternoon walk, and lately the other two girls have been joining as well. Today, Queen Thistle also wanted to come, so she must be feeling quite a bit better!

Happy gorgeous fall!

Embark Results

I never thought I'd care much about my dogs' breeds, and I still don't, but I was really curious about Raven, the village mutt. So I so did an Embark test, and here is what it came back as:

I am only surprised that she has no Alaskan husky, but the rest matches her appearance and personality! There is also this good news:

She's a really great mutt! :)

And a cuddly one, too. I was pretty impressed with the Embark profile. It also pinged her color (said she was very likely to be black and almost certain to be solid colored), her size (said she was between 45-55 pounds, which pretty much nailed it), her coat type (they said not long and not short, which is exactly correct), and that she had rear dew claws! Amazing. Anyway, here is a squeezy photo. We went to visit DL at his lab, and a colleague who is also a Sirius volunteer was there and snapped this. Sweet girl!

Summer passes to Fall...

The weather has finally cooled down. Enough to introduce Raven to Ester Dome!

And our morning runs have been more pleasant, too.

And so, too, have our walks been on the neighborhood trails.

Because Raven was a village stray and had not lived a super clean life, I decided to avail ourselves of our free grooming, as donated by Pretty Pawz Grooming, a sponsor of Sirius who donates a first free grooming and bath to all Sirius rescue dogs. I wanted to do it because we had Raven scheduled to be spayed, and I wanted her to be clean before then. But also wanted it to be at least a week before her spay, so her skin microbiome could recover before being sliced open.

During her spay, we also had her rear dew claws removed. Rear dew claws are not common among dogs who are not livestock guardians (although they are a breed standard for Great Pyrenees), but that isn't the reason I wanted them removed. They were not fully attached, and they were flopping around, so I wanted them removed so they didn't get torn while hiking, or while running through punchy spring snow. Raven also has front dew claws, which is totally normal, but sled dog breeders often remove front dew claws just so they are more amenable to wearing booties. They do it when they are a few days old, when the procedure is trival. Removing them as adults is quite a bit more invasive. Raven's front dew claws are well-attached, and in fact she can control them like vestigial thumbs! So I did not want them removed. It would have been very painful, and pointless besides! Anyway, here is the bath photo they sent. Poor Raven did not know what was happening.

They put bows on them! How humiliating! But Raven knows and trusts Sam, the groomer (and another Sirius volunteer).

Who's that pretty girl? Raven! Raven is that pretty girl!

Just wanted to share this photo of four new Sirius resident working dogs. Sibes from working lines. Daddy is a Sirius dog, mama lives in British Columbia. Lookie these hooligans!

Raven is very comfy with us, don't you think? I sure hope she is comfy with us.

Mmmmm BELLPEPPER! Queen Thistle lovesloveloves BELLPEPPERZ!

And Princess Cricket also loves BELLPEPPERZ!

And Duchess Raven also loves BELLPEPPERZ!

Another summer-winding-down activity: Harvesting all of the rhubarb:

I put most of it into the freezer for pies and crisps, but made a double batch of this tasty cake (obviously also great with blueberries, but you can sub any fruit or rrhubarb).

The recipe calls for a 10-inch skillet, so for my second one I divide it among a 6-inch and an 8-inch. A 3-4-5 ratio of the squares!

See, high school trig is not just for engineers. It's also for bakers!

Look how nicely my girls all get along! They eatz together!

And ridez in a car together!

And walk with their frenz together (the black and white Sibe is Lucky! Another Sirius rescue.)

The pretty skies that come in between rain storms!

"Excuzee, may wee have some cantylopze, pleez?"

Miss Thistle gets cantylope!

And Miss Cricket gets cantylope!

And Miss Raven gets cantylope!

And last night was Miss Raven's last night in her doughnut! Her incisions have all healed well. Yaaaay!