Medical Adventures

And why are we looking at x-rays? And whose interior is this? Just guess... Poor Lil' Robin started looking green on Wednesday evening and then spent the night throwing up. Needless to say, Bob and I got very little sleep what with cleaning up doggie barf and pulling on pants and running outside. Just as we'd drowse off, Robin would need to go out again. Thursday she seemed okay early on. She ate her meals- not with much enthusiasm, but she ate. And pooped. (That's always important!) We went on our walk and she was alert and inquisitive; but when we returned home, she curled up in a small ball and slept most of the day. Friday morning, Robin just looked so under the weather that I skipped out of work and took her to the doctor. Robin had no temperature and she didn't seem in pain when her stomach was pressed, but her vet suggested x-rays. We all began to suspect she had eaten something that was lodged in her interior... like that damned new rawhide chew bone that I had given her on Wednesday and that was mysteriously devoured and gone almost immediately. Sure enough, the vet thinks a darkish circular area is probably that stupid piece of rawhide!*
So while Robin is still eating (small, simple meals of rice and organic low salt chicken broth and a bit of chicken) she doesn't seem to be eliminating much. I keep hoping that she'll just puke up that rawhide fragment or her stomach acids will break it down. She's running around, albeit not as actively as is usual for her and isn't really uncomfortable but it can't feel good.
Another view:

 So we're left, during a holiday weekend no less, with the fact that if she doesn't eat or can't poop that they may have to go in, do surgery and physically remove the obstruction. I've always heard these nightmare stories of dogs that swallow bones or corncobs or rocks that have to be surgically removed. Our good friends Don and Elizabeth (who visited this weekend with their dog Romeo) told us a funny but dreadful story of a dog that ate a billiard ball. They thought the dog was a goner because the vet assured them that it would never pass through their dog and they weren't prepared to pay the several thousand dollars the surgery would require.(!!?!?!?!!) But a few nights after this death sentence, their dog threw up the ball... in the middle of a dinner party and without the colored coating. (Apparently the dog's stomach acid had removed the finish on the ball!) So we can keep our fingers crossed!


*The dilemma is what exactly to give to a dog like Robin who loves to chew. She's a serious chewer! She doesn't like Nylabones, she consumes Kongs so fast that it's like an Olympic contest and most other treats just don't hold her attention or hold up under her powerful mastication. I used to give Robin hard sticks (thinking "all natural") but several friends warned  me about them with horror stories of how the get stuck in dog's guts. The irony! The vet recommended antlers and marrow bones so we'll try those.

Ketchup

No, despite the title, this is not a posting about tomato based condiments. I meant the title as a catchy alternative to... catching up. Very funny, right? A busy time of year, hence my sloppy blogging habits.
I have been preoccupied with gardening and trying to balance the intense purchasing/planting/starting seeds. As I have previously reported, I initiated a couple of new beds (one for shrubs and one for asters) and also developed a fixation with different types and colors of lilacs. And to boot, I have rekindled a neglected interest in starting seeds of plants not readily available in nurseries (or way to expensive to buy the quantity I long for...)There's always something new in the horticultural world if you're a plant geek!
And studio time... I have two new major pieces going which I will post soon. One has a labor-intensive edge that I had to fabricate and took what seemed like forever but it looks great. The other piece is elaborate and simply requiring amazing amounts of sewing, through thick, shiny white vinyl. And in the midst of trying to get a grasp on studio time, I had to run into New Haven to pick up four pieces from a show that is closing. (I got a good mention in a newspaper review. Yay!)
And then, of course, there was Bob's birthday (which date he shares with the Buddha.) Bob made out like a bandit, getting all kinds of novel and nifty things including new striped shirts, a nesting set of French serving dishes and a smart phone. The phone is proving smarter than us, so it may take a while to unlock all of it's apps and marvels; that's where the plastic pretend phone pictured above comes in handy...

And then we have had to eat. Have you ever been blocked as to what to have for dinner? It's as if you've eaten everything at least five times and there's nothing left to try. And then the food that still exists untried is inedible because it contains hideous amounts of salt, high fructose corn syrup, GMO ingredients or is full of stuff that unpronounceable. (Never a good sign!) But leave it to Bob to explore the enlightened world of creative plate coverage. Just look at what could have been a banal beige meal! He rendered it lovely and delicious... fish sticks with onion rings and braised Brussel sprouts.
I am also on the verge on constructing that mosaic wall I've been threatening to build (I guess I am not the only one with a wall obsession). I think I have a sufficient quantity of busted and shattered dishes plates and platters to commence. I don't want to begin it and change my mind about decoration or pattern; it wouldn't be the easiest thing to amend! The wall will have to wait- much like the terrace project- until the frenzy of Spring has abated.

So I'm Nuts

I am providing another picture of the silvery-toned front border because I spent the last two days digging, dividing, moving and installing another border. See? I told you I was nuts! I guess I'm of the mind that you can't have too many gardens...

And I always wanted an aster border. I love asters: they've got to be one of my all time top ten flowers (The other big one on my list is Delphinium. Also tulips. And I do like lilacs! The list goes on.) Last fall, if anyone can remember that far back, in a saner, safer world before The Orange Menace ascended to the throne... oops! I thought I'd avoid politics but I guess that nigh -on impossible. Where was I... Ah yes. Last fall I conceived of the idea of a border devoted almost entirely to asters. I searched high and low and found a few nice selections but a few interesting varieties eluded me. It seems few garden centers offer a wide range of asters and there many to be had. I sense that by fall, many gardeners are on to Chrysanthemums and cabbages and don't think about planting asters. And I know by a couple that bought, they don't always enjoy living in perennial pots all summer. I got two Aster Novi-belgii "Marie Ballard" that looked so awful that the woman at the nursery sold me them for half price. But they came up brilliantly this spring! (As an aside, the nomenclature has chnaged. Confusingly, what had previously been called Aster Novi-angliae and Aster Novi-belgii are now known as Symphyotrichum Novi-angliae and Symphyotrichum Novi-belgii. The horticultural powers that be seem to get antsy and rename things every once in a while. Whatever!)

This spring I resorted to ordering "Bressingham White", "September Ruby" and "Crimson Brocade". The first two arrived looking just swell; they were so well packaged and nice strapping plants; hats off to that supplier. The "Crimson Brocade", reputedly the reddest of the fall blooming asters came looking awfully sad: bare root and wimpy. I sure hope they revive.

Anyway, I dug and ripped roots out and yanked Virginia Creeper vines and broke sod. We should have a pretty spectacular aster border this late summer/early fall. I crammed a mess of asters in there including "Harrington's Pink" (which I've had for ages),  Aromatic Aster "October Skies", Calico asters, Aster Laevis and a few asters that produced their own cross-breeds in our garden. 

But here's a nice tulip photo that Bob took to provide color as those asters aren't going to bloom until autumn. They're being protected  from Robin's marauding hooves by one of Bob's peony rings:

Shrub Border Part II

And to reinforce just how much work (and fun!) I experience when creating a new border, here's a partial pile of the rocks I unearthed! Single-handedly wrenched from this stony, unforgiving New England soil. (Stirring images of doughty pioneer women...And I did get just a touch of poison ivy.)

Here's the pile of brambles I chopped, yanked, pulled and sawed down. I think I really needed to see my hard work documented...
And while I was busy hauling and planting and watering, all this other stuff was erupting:
                                                                            

Tulips! That transformed from yellow to orange and were simply super. (Sorry my picture placement is all wonky. As usual- because of that blasted Mercury retrograde or a virus, our computer is behaving oddly. Actually, I think it's still something to do with that upgrade to Windows 10...)

That's not the greatest picture but it looks really super in person... less empty space!  Robin is skulking away in the back ground; she probably stole something from me, like a perennial pot or a glove. Very sneaky! Tonight while I was planting the pansies a friend gave us (thank you Bob!), Robin stole my watering bottle, three (empty) annual packs and tried to wrestle the hose to the ground as if it were a giant Anaconda- she's very helpful!
Additionally, the sand cherry is blooming like never before and the Magnolia is still in bloom. It's really been a pretty spring. I am just beginning to feel a bit swamped (Jeremy Swamped that is) because I need to get started planting seeds and there are already weeds. No rest for the wicked!