Gone to the Dogs

Fall is still in it's glory around here. This is a distant picture of the wildlife preserve that I get to walk in Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. The other days are open to hunters so if you want to walk back there those days-be my guest!! But I am not taking my chances. This amazing place is adjacent to the property my DSIL & BIL own so it is a constant source of beauty, seen every day out their big dining room windows. This last week they re-cut some more trails thru the meadow section making the forested area more accessible. Now I can walk thru open meadow, shady forest and down to a crystal clear creek. Each and every walk affords me something new to wonder over. Yesterday I was wandering down this shady path and looked up to see this display of bracket fungi hanging on a tree above my reach. These puppies were huge!!

I am fortunate to get to share my walks with a wonderful dog by the name of Daisy. Daisy Duke I call her. And now I get to call her "My Dog"!! I had seriously told my DSIL/BIL that I would take Daisy off their hands at any opportunity. She is perfect for me. Medium sized, used to spending her days outside, fairly well behaved, smart as all get out and loves to walk!! And I believe if she needed to she would defend me with her life but still gentle and loving if she feels no threat. After making this comment several times I was surprised to have DBIL say I could have her. Thinking it was a joke, I said "no-really". And he came back and said-REALLY!! You have more time for her and she is lonely. So as soon as we get a house and make sure there is a safe outdoor place for her she will come to live with us. So now you get to see some pics of my new pup. The first few are how I usually get to see her-in motion!! And then finally after a very long walk-a few of her somewhat still. And for those of you who are very observant, Daisies eyes are 2 different sizes. But the vets say it is completely normal for her and it is made a bit more obvious by the difference in her eye spots. The larger eye is completely surrounded by a big black eye spot and the smaller eye has no eye spot at all.

On to my other baby with eye issues. Ever since our kitty Jack showed up 5 years ago he had an eye that was way to large. No one could give us a reason, and it seemed to stay stable until just recently when it became obvious that it was increasing in size even more and causing constant irritation. It was also endangering the vision in his other eye so it had to come out. What a struggle for me to accept this and decide to put him thru it. But after a few weeks for Jack to adjust to his new surroundings I made a vet appointment and got a second opinion. Of course it was the same so we trusted them to do the surgery. Jack made it thru and is now back at home. He looks pretty awful at this point. He had to be shaved and have some whiskers clipped. Then of course there is swelling and big ole stitches. The collar he has to wear is too large cause he has a big thick neck. We got brave last night and took it off, trimmed it and put it back on so now he can better get to his food and water. He is still on pain meds but we may quit that today since he seems comfortable and calm. The stitches come out in another week and once the fur grows back in I think he will look beautiful. Beautiful to me and that is all that matters.