Friday, August 25, 2017

Siri's Hair

Got the dogs from the kennel yesterday afternoon. They both had baths while they were there. I think Siri's hair has grown back, finally.

 


 

Apocalypse

Brea and Siri were the guests of Animal Care Associates in Charleston this week, while Mary T. and I went to Tennessee to see the solar eclipse. I've tried taking pictures of the moon and stars before, so I already knew that I'm no astrophotographer. So I concentrated more on enjoying the experience than on trying to take pictures.

We were at a city park in Goodlettesville, Tennessee, a few miles northeast of Nashville. The traffic and crowds there weren't bad, the weather was good, and we met people from all over the country.  It was my first total solar eclipse.




 
Totality was around 1:30 pm local time. The temperature was in the 90s when it started and cooled off noticeably at the eclipse progressed.  We could see one star at the darkest point. People weren't really making a lot of noise but the park became very quiet as darkness fell. It was an amazing experience.
 


 
I know I said I wasn't going to try to photograph the eclipse, but I couldn't resist trying. These were taken with a point-and-shoot camera.  There were a lot of people there with expensive, professional looking cameras and telescopes.  We had our cardboard viewers and officially sanctioned eclipse binoculars.
 
 
I can understand now why some people travel all over the earth to experience this kind of thing.
 
After the sun reappeared we drove to South Pittsburg, Tennessee, to the Lodge Factory Store. Lodge is the last of the old time makers of cast iron cookware.  We spent a lot of money there. I could have bought it all online but that wouldn't be any fun. I wish they had tours of the foundry.
 
 
Then we drove to Senoia, Georgia, where the TV show The Walking Dead is filmed.
 
We went to the Waking Dead coffee shop, where we signed up for a walking tour of the town with a woman who has worked as a walker/zombie on the show. Some areas were closed off, including one large area where they were filming, so we walked around that and saw places that are featured in previous episodes.
 
This corner looked different during the zombie apocalypse.


 


 
 
 
 
 
Props used in the show, at the Walking Dead museum


Four of my favorite people, all of them still alive at this time. With this show you never know...

At Nic and Norman's, a restaurant owned by one of the actors and creators of the show. Good food!




That's enough for now. Mary is the big Walking Dead fan; I'm several seasons behind watching it, but I still had a really good time. 
 
 



Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Neighborhood Deer

I was returning from buying dog food and giving Siri a bath at Belly Scrubs this afternoon and saw these three deer eating pears in a yard near my house.

 
 
 
The deer around here are so used to people that I had to whistle to get them to turn around and face me. I opened the rear window so Siri could see them, and so I could see how she reacted, but she just stood and looked out the opposite (closed) window.
 





Sunday, July 23, 2017

Update on Siri

I've been neglecting this blog lately, posting more on Instagram because it's easier. I'm lazy that way.  Anyway, there have been numerous inquiries about Siri from people who don't have Instagram accounts, and to them I apologize.

Siri is doing well.  We do a lot of walking, always have, but I haven't turned her loose on the ball field with Brea the way I thought I would by now because of the heat.  It has been hot all summer, in the nineties for the past several days, and very humid, and not much cooler at night.  So that will have to wait.


About three and a half weeks postop, after she got her sutures out.

Siri's hair took a long time to start growing back. For awhile I was afraid it wasn't going to come back in.  In the past three or four weeks her hair started growing back with a vengeance.  She's shedding a lot and I'm finding hair everywhere in the house.  At least she doesn't look so odd any more.


 
These were taken today - neither dog is much for posing.
 
I took her to the monthly vaccination clinic today, and she weighed 101 lbs, down from about 113 lbs. before her surgery.  The doctor that did her surgery said he wanted to see her at about 90 lbs.  For a short time she may have been there but it didn't last long.  At that weight she acted hungry all the time and she looked pitiful - I guess it just isn't her natural weight, so I went back to feeding her like I was before. She seems satisfied with the amount and doesn't beg or act hungry.

For what it's worth, Brea weighs about 55 lbs., ten pounds more than when I first got her.  I feed both of them Fromm's Large Breed Adult dog food.  It was recommended by someone whose judgement I trust with these things.  I also give them raw beef and chicken quarters when I think to pick some up and when the price is good.  Brea loves raw beef liver and chicken liver and chicken hearts, but Siri won't touch them. 

Just so no one feels left out, here are a couple of pictures with Kitty:



On our walk this afternoon, Siri tried to jump up on Shelley Moore Capito, one of our United States Senators, who lives in this area and happened to be walking by our house.  No doubt Siri has an opinion about the Republicans' health care plan, since she has always been uninsured.  Actually, it happened because of a bottleneck that occurred when too many people, cars, and dogs arrived at the same location at the same time.

For anyone who's curious, my Instagram account is at mathieu883.

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Siri's Back

We were referred to an orthopedic surgeon who informed me yesterday that Siri had suffered a CCL rupture in both legs (ACL in humans). It's possible that the injury to the left leg occurred after our visit to the first doctor. I left her with the people at Cross Lanes Veterinary Hospital yesterday morning, and she had the corrective surgery in the afternoon. I picked her up a couple hours ago, about 4:30 this afternoon.

Poor Siri!
The procedure that Dr. McNeel did is called TTA, tibial tuberosity advancement. Siri has new hardware and sutures in both legs. No running or playing on the ball field for at least the next several weeks, at least until the end of summer. Just nice, easy walks.

 
This is Siri's x-ray from Animal Care Associates, her primary care practice.  You can see on the left - which is actually her right leg - the patella, the kneecap - is displaced, not where it's supposed to be. That was the injury that brought us to the doctor in the first place and which got us the referral to the orthopedic surgeon. She also has some right hip dysplasia.

Both doctors told us that susceptibility to these kinds of injuries is often genetic, and not related to any activity or overexertion.

Both doctors also said that Siri needs to lose weight. That surprised me. Siri weighs about 112 pounds, or at least she did before these injuries, and she doesn't look overweight to me. She's never been very food motivated the way Brea is, and she's always been very active. Anyway, Dr. McNeel wants to see her at about 85 pounds by the end of summer. I'm having trouble picturing her at that weight but I think we can do it.

That's all for now. Time for Siri's pain medication.

Friday, February 24, 2017

Poor Siri!

Siri has a torn ACL and has to have surgery to repair it. Figuring out what was wrong took awhile because she got her rabies vaccination and some others on January 26. As expected, she was a little sore in both hips and was limping and moving kind of slowly for a few days. I took her back to the vet when it seemed to be taking longer than expected to ease up, and he wanted to give her a little more time before doing something more aggressive, since he couldn't find any bumps or lumps or obvious painful areas.

One side seemed to get better, but the right leg seemed to be worse, so I took her back to the doctor today, and he sedated her and took some x rays. He and two other doctors in the practice all agreed on what the pictures were showing.


 
She's moving pretty slowly and laying around a lot - it's obvious she doesn't feel well. I left a message with the Cross Lanes Veterinary Hospital, where they have a guy who was recommended for orthopedic surgery. I hope we can get this taken care of soon.


Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Happy New Year!


The sounds of fireworks and gunshots at midnight made both dogs nervous and unhappy.