The robins have built their nest this year on the light right outside the kitchen door. This is not the most-used door in the house, that would be the garage door, but it's close. There is a lot less traffic at this door than at the dog door, where they built last year. Here's a close-up.

 

 

I'm looking forward to watching them bring up their babies. Mrs. Robin started sitting on the nest yesterday so I'm thinking that we'll have babies by the time we return from our trip to Murano.

 

We have fiddleheads! Not the eating kind, though.

And our beautiful cherry tree. The hummingbird was visiting it yesterday. I love spring.

I keep a camera in the living room, ready to snap pictures of cool birds or animals that I see. I finally unloaded them onto my computer and I'm seeing that this batch goes back a long way, into February. Here's a lone cardinal in the icy trees:

And a little red squirrel on the dog ramp:

 

Today I took this one of a rose-breasted grosbeak at the window feeder. He is not all that bright. He kept landing on the top of the feeder and trying to eat the seeds through the roof. He got a little upset, either at his reflection or maybe it was his frustration at not getting to the seeds. His wife comes to this feeder and she goes to the proper place, so maybe she can teach him.

On the Java front, things are going pretty well. I bring her to various appointments three times a week, so my life is kind of consumed with that. She's walking pretty well and she's definitely back to her feisty self.

Java again!

 

Yesterday was Java's PT day. She wore her green dress to keep her warm and protect her back from the sun. She looked so cute that Dr. Silver brought her back to the neurology department to show her techs how adorable Java is. I took a movie of her on the treadmill, which she hated. But I think it really helped.

Last week was a hard week, but we got through it. Java is not too happy being confined to her spot in the living room. She also is having bladder issues, because she has an infection and as a consequence is peeing a lot. As a result, I'm doing a lot of laundry. I bought a half-dozen beach towels that we are using for her bedding, as they are washed easily and are comfortable for her to lie on.

Java had a triple whammy yesterday: acupuncture, a neurology re-check and physical therapy. Acupuncture went great. Java was very relaxed. We then went to Woburn for her re-check and PT. The great news is that Java is moving her leg. Some of her reflexes are still there, while one is not. Her pee still stinks so I think we'll be doing another round of antibiotics soon. Java had fun in PT. She was manipulated and allowed to walk around the room. I think she did more walking there than during the last week combined. Then they put her in the water treadmill, which she hated. She won't even walk in a puddle if she can avoid it, so it was her worst nightmare come true. But she got through it, did it, and lived. She'll be going once a week for the next few weeks.

Java is home! It was hard being without her all weekend, but I'm glad she was at the hospital and able to rest and heal. Dr. Silver looked at her again on Monday and decided that a second surgery was not required at this time. Neurologically, her leg is the same as before the operation, kind of useless. However, she is out of pain, which is the most important thing.

She is home but is not all that happy because she is on strict crate rest. She usually sleeps in her crate when we go to bed or when we leave the house, so she's used to it. The problem arises when we are home when she's in her crate. She gets very upset and fusses and refuses to relax. So we have her barricaded on her blanket in one of her favorite spots, which seems to be working much better. In the picture, you can see her under a pink blanket, behind the chair cushions.

The picture is a screen shot taken from the camera we have set up. It's such a cool thing. We set up our laptop, which has a camera built in, with a program called iCam. iCam also has apps you can install on your iphone or android phone and it allows you to monitor what your camera is pointed at when you're away from home. So we were able to watch Java sleeping in her crate last night and this morning when I went out to get my hair cut.

We were concerned over whether Java was not settling down in her crate because she was anxious or because she was uncomfortable. We are pretty confident that it was anxiety and not pain causing her to be so agitated. It's good that she's able to settle down in her crate and out.

We went to see Java last night. She was off the IV meds and still fairly comfortable. We're holding to the plan of keeping her there over the weekend and her being re-evaluated on Monday. I miss my girl.

I feel pretty guilty about leaving her there, but we feel it's best for Java to stay there where she can get pain meds if she needs them, and stay quiet so she'll heal. The vet agrees that it's best. They don't even want her walking around to pee; they express her bladder right where she is and then just clean it up.

Dr. Silver called and the short version is that we're taking a "wait and see" approach. She consulted with her colleague and he felt that she needed to give Java more time. So the plan is to keep Java at the hospital until Monday (unless she starts feeling better at which time we'll take her home) and she will be re-evaluated then.

We went to see Java last night and she acted as if she were in pain, just like she did yesterday morning. In between yesterday morning and evening, she slept and rested quietly. So Dr. Silver thinks that she may not have operated on the correct disc and depending on how Java is this morning, Dr. Silver may do another surgery. We just want our little girl out of pain. It's so heartbreaking. We're anxiously awaiting a call this morning.

Java update

So Java came home on Monday. We were shocked to find that her left leg was almost completely paralyzed. The worst thing was the pain, though. When she moved around, she'd still snork and we could tell that she was still really uncomfortable. Dr. Silver said she wanted Java to come back on Tuesday for a more thorough exam.

I was happy to bring Java back, because I'm not very good at witnessing her pain. I hate it and tend to withdraw. I guess I'm not a very strong person in that way. I remember one time when I spent the night with Sarah and brand new baby Elizabeth, who ended up crying all night. It killed me. Not because the crying annoyed me, but because it killed me that she was crying and there was nothing I could do to alleviate whatever was bothering her. I hate that helplessness and that's how I feel with Java in pain.

Anyway, I brought Java to Woburn yesterday to see Dr. Silver. We have been managing the back pain medically for two years now and it was the worst it has ever been. Dr. Silver asked what we were thinking. I told her that if she thought it was feasible and there was a chance of success that we were thinking surgery. Of course I had been thinking surgery since 2009, but Dr. Silver always advised against it as the risks outweighed the benefits at that point. Now, Dr. Silver said the benefits would probably outweigh the risks. So we agreed on an MRI and then if that showed surgery would be required then she'd go ahead and do it.

The MRI showed that the left-bulging disc was worse than it was in September and it was what was causing the paralysis in her left leg. So she operated. There was a lot of old, crusty, hardened stuff because it was an old bulging disc. She took out what she could and got some fibrousy stuff out. She said it was a wait and see thing now as to if it was enough.

Her tech called this morning and said that Java had a good night. She was up and walking around, but there was still weakness and some pain, so she's on an IV and is receiving painkillers. They are going to keep her very quiet and lying down today. We will visit her this evening.

I hate the time change, even if it's only one hour. It kicks my butt every spring. The good news is that the snow is melting; we can see the cover of the well cap again. I haven't seen it since January. That means there's only about 1 foot of snow left to go.

Java spent the weekend at the emergency vet's, for pain. She woke up feeling ouchie and making her pain noise a lot on Saturday. Then Saturday night when Robert got home, he ended up taking her to Woburn because she was panting in pain and couldn't get comfortable. She couldn't even stand. It kills me.  So she's coming home today; she's much more comfortable now. The bad news is that she'll be back on the prednisone and peeing in the house again. I'll just have to break out the diapers and the onesies again. Glad I didn't throw them away.

I cannot believe the horror and the devastation in Japan. I cannot imagine having my whole world that I know erased or wiped away. It's just terrible. There are no words to describe it enough.

Here we are at Sarah's


house with Martha and Katie.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Another test from my new iPhone.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sorry. Just one last test.

Test

Trying to do better

I looked at the sidebar of this blog and saw that I only posted one time in February. I'm going to try to do better than that this month.

This squirrel and his brothers and sisters as well as his red cousins have become the bane of my existence, and Bobby's existence lately. He runs from window to window to check for them and then when he sees one, he makes all kinds of noises in his frustrated desire to rip one apart. The squirrels are all over my feeders, all day, every day. I took this picture from my picture window. He's raiding the suet. The bears will be out soon, so the feeders will be coming down in a few weeks anyway.

Bead-making machine

I have been a bead-making machine. I'm really glad that this is one resolution I've been keeping, and enjoying keeping.

These are my beads from yesterday. The one on the right is for Nebraska Boston Terrier Rescue to raffle off. I might make another because the bone is off-center and there's a little speck near the dog's ear that shouldn't be there.

Not too much is new around here, except for the enormous amount of snow we've gotten. We had to have our roofs shoveled off because I was afraid it would collapse. My brain knew that it probably would not, but I was still anxious about it. So we had it done. We woke up to a couple more inches on the trees this morning. It was so pretty that I took a few pictures.

See that birdbath in the last picture? That is about 2 1/2 feet tall. I think we got 8 more inches of snow last night. The only good thing about it is that the sun is out and the sky is blue and the trees look sugar-coated.

I promise I'll stop posting screenshots. I seem to be having fun doing that lately. I just wanted to show the temperature. Minus 8! (-22C)! Feels like minus 24! (-31C)! That is just insane.  Conversions are provided for my international readers.

Java and I have to go out to acupuncture. Thankfully her appointment is at noon so it should be up over zero by that time. This winter is very cold and has been very snowy but I don't feel the seasonal hibernation kind of feelings I usually have. Maybe it's my vitamin D level or my blood sugars, but I feel good even though it's snowy, cold and dark.

On Saturday we saw The King's Speech. It was very good. We are lucky that there is a theater about 1/2 hour away that shows the more obscure films that don't make it to the mainstream cinemas. We've seen some interesting films there. The owner is a huge movie buff and also owns a drive-in in the next town over; I think it's the last one in the state. The theater is on the top floor of the town hall and they show old movies for free on Sunday afternoon. It's pretty cool. http://www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com/

I finished the little Boston Terrier Valentine beads I'm making for a Valentine's card swap on the Woofboard. I'm going to make them into keychains and also provide a zipper pull clip. I have both because I had to go to two different stores to get the split rings, if you can believe it. I bought the zipper pulls at the first store just in case I couldn't find the split rings at the second store, but I did.  Here's a picture of the beads. They aren't cleaned yet in this picture, but you get the idea.

Just another plug for http://phoebeallens.com/ the hummingbird camera. I can't stop watching it. She's so cute and the babies are so ugly.

Brrr. That is all.

 

This is what my back yard looks like. I am beginning to think that winter will never end, even though it kind of just started. We've had three major snowstorms in 10 days and there is about two feet of snow on the ground, with more to come on Wednesday. 

 

The dog yard is buried and the snow blower has broken down but seems to be easily fixable. 

 

The birds do love that we put out food for them. They are very active when it snows and when it's so cold.

 We are supposed to experience very cold conditions in the next few days, with highs of only 10 degrees F. and lows in the negative 10's F. I am not looking forward to this.

In the meantime, I'm dreaming of spring and my water garden and watching this little hummingbird raise her chicks on this webcam:  http://phoebeallens.com/ 

My mom bought me a new camera and I'm pretty sure I love it! I took this picture of the dogs at night with no flash and I think it came out great.

We had a fun weekend at Woodstock. I love hanging around with my family. They are fun and funny.

Robert and I worked on my bead room and have gotten it to be manageable. Most of the beads are put away in their cubbies and I even restrung a necklace for someone while sitting at my clean table. I still have one cabinet I want to empty the drawers and organize the contents of, but that can wait. I also want to put a semi-comfy chair in the corner for a place to bead and relax.

Pretty soon we are going on our annual visit to Vermont. This is my favorite time of the year. Family, fun, knitting by the fire and relaxation. I'm really looking forward to this. Here are some pictures from our visit last year.

Crock Pot Oatmeal

 4 cups water

1 cup steel-cut oats

1/2 cup half-and-half

I have a cute $15 3-quart crock pot from Target. I bought it because I also have a $175 6.5-quart All-Clad Slow Cooker. While I love the All-Clad, it's just very large for small meal preparation. Since having the new gadget I've been keeping my ear out for things I can cook in it. In the past few days, both my mother and my sister mentioned crock pot oatmeal. I was intrigued. I bought the ingredients, found a recipe online and started the crock pot on "Low" as the recipe called for just before I went to bed. 

I woke up at around 1:30 am and found that I could smell the oatmeal cooking. There was a strong smell of warm half-and-half pervading the bedroom. I knew this wasn't a good sign, but made the choice not to get up and stir, turn it down or otherwise tend to the oatmeal. After all, this is why I was making it overnight instead of in the morning. That decision was a mistake. When I got up in the morning, I checked the oatmeal and found that the middle was runny and raw and the outside was browned in a solid ring and stuck to the walls of the crock pot. Blech. Robert was game to try it anyway so he doctored it up with raisins and brown sugar and took a taste. He declared it to taste something like wallpaper paste and so we chunked it. I ended up making soft-boiled eggs.

So I tried again. I knew the recipe was right; I felt that the fault lied with the temperature of the crock pot. So yesterday I tried again. This time during the day so I could be awake to watch it. I prepared another recipe's worth and this time set the crock pot on "warm". I wasn't sure it would get hot enough to cook but it did. It was great; we re-heated it this morning in the microwave.

So my advice is use the "warm" setting and not the "low" setting to make crock pot oatmeal.