Present from the Dog

or dogs?

But first - the laundry room lizard reading about physics.


If you are of a weak constitution, you may want to skip rest of this post and take a look at these instead.






I'm not sure where it came from but Honey or some other dog/dogs Wednesday night brought me this:


I'm pretty sure a neighbor had been butchering this little guy and left the head and spine, carelessly, where dogs could get to it. From the tip of the nose to the hip bone he's maybe 5 feet long.



The head is about 14-16" long. I tossed him into the woods Thursday by Sunday it had been pulled across the yard and the skin on the head was gone. I'm sparing y'all that sight. The ribs are gone now, too.



He must have had some kind of rack because it was hatched off.



Luckily it's barely gotten above freezing this past 5 week so he's not rotting terribly fast and the there aren't many flies. Hopefully Dad will find him and toss him in the brush today, otherwise I'll have to go out when I get home and do it in the dark.

Honey's Present

Yesterday Honey brought me a present. I won't post any pictures of it here in deference to any weak stomached readers I may have because, you see, she presented me with 2/3 of a rabbit. I think she was quite proud of herself. I doubt she killed it. I think she and some other dog (who probably didn't kill it either) had a tug-of-war over the body and both got to take some home - which would account for why there was no head or fore-legs on the furry lump left at my door. Nettie and I buried the remains in the yard and Dad covered it with some concrete cylinders while we went to the park. This makes me rethink my assumption that the dove was a present from a cat (it did seem awful large for any of them to drag home), I assumed the dog would have chewed any yummy dead thing up before leaving it by the door to come in but oboviously not necessarily. Nettie was quite the trooper. She shrieked when she first saw it, was skittish when I went out to do something with it, and carried it (on the shovel) into the yard and was saying "ooo, get a picture of that" in the end.

Here's a little photo essay of the burial of the rabbit:

Honey, Mighty Huntress

Or if you prefer, pictures from our trip to the park:

Saturday at the Park

PSA 2.3

Make sure your '90-seconds in the microwave' rice package doesn't have a hole in it. Particularly before you tear it open to vent.


Now I'm trying to figure out if it had a hole when I bought it or if something in my cabinet ate a hole through the plastic. And trying to not be grossed out by what could (and would) eat a hole through the packaging.

Random bits from the weekend

A few thoughts for today, before I head off to Virginia for 3 days (that's total - driving there, being there, driving back - fun!) (the pics @ 8 may not be safe for the weak stomached):

1. I find this way too amusing.

2. I knew it! Deer knew when it was hunting season and not. I don't have photographic proof, but Friday heading home, in a field near my house there was a HERD of deer grazing. I see far fewer deer crossing the road during rifle season than at the any other time of the year.

3. I watched a show on Discovery or TLC a couple months ago about "Purity Balls". I found the whole idea a little creepy. Some of the goals are ok (like waiting for sex and making sure girls know they are loved and valued so they don't jump into the arms of the first guy who'll have them) but the execution is a bit creepy. But, for some unknown reason, the other day I started thinking about the eldest daughter of the preacher and her up coming (at time of shooting) wedding. She says that she and her fiancé had not even held hands because they didn't want the "physical" stuff to get in the way of really getting to know one another. Their first kiss would be right after her father said "You may kiss the bride." Again, I'm all for not letting physical intimacies get in the way of actually getting to know a person but...First off, holding hands isn't exactly a distracting or very intimate form of touching. Secondly, it seems to me that this policy would lead to a very awkward wedding night. If you haven't engaged in any of the normal social/dating touching (holding hands, walking arm in arm, hugging, or maybe even a stolen kiss or two) then how are you going to be comfortable doing much more than that all of a sudden? To go from not holding hands to sex in one day is a big leap no matter how much you love someone. (not that you have to have sex on your wedding night) The whole thing seemed to me like they'd taken some idealized Victorian model and gone a step further towards total sexual repression.

4. What the hell is up with the little sister? Not mine, but that's all I can say without giving away spoilers. And with Sarah away I can't ask her about it. Really I just want to know how long I'm going to have to wait until that question gets resolved. Please, Joss, don't make it all season.

5. Is present tense appropriate when speaking of a first time viewing of a show that went off the air years ago? Should I have said "Please don't let Joss have made it all season"?

6. I hate that I have to have caffeine. About half the time, all I have is my large mug of tea in the morning and yet if I don't have anything caffeinated Saturday or Sunday morning I have a horrible headache Sunday afternoon. Like yesterday. Three ibuprofen and a Coke finally cleared it up.

7. I think I bought lace weight yarn to make socks with. I will now attempt worsted weight socks and probably make a lacy something else. Size 1 needles are tiny.

8. Somewhat related to #2, yum venison:

Thank God, not my

...gynecological horrors. (Those with weak constitutions and men may wish to read about the daily exploits of an adolescent polar bear.)

My mother has a prolapsed uterus. It's been getting worse since my youngest brother was born (4 years before me). For a long time it just sat a little low and pushed on her bladder, making for frequent stops on family trips. In the last couple of years it has fallen even further, occasionally making it difficult for her to urinate. In the last year, it has started to try and fall out. (I warned you it would be unpleasant.) Having one's uterus attempt to exit one's vagina on it's own is bad enough but the non-surgical solution to this is even worse (IMveryHO, I am not a doctor...).

The obvious solution, especially at my mother's age is to have a hysterectomy, but Mom tries to avoid surgery so she decided to try the non-surgical solution. The doctor, initially, made it sound not too bad. "We insert a pessary and it holds everything in place, sometimes they fall out." The pessary is a doughnut shaped device that is folded up to fit up the vagina and through the cervix. It then unfolds and is suppose to keep whats inside from fallin out. Assuming everything works, it is removed a month later to make sure nothing it isn't causeing any problems in there. Assuming that ckecks out, the doctor inserts another one, which has to be removed every TWO MONTHS forever or until one gives up and has a hyterectomy. The really fun thing is that the doctor has no way of knowing exactly where the pessary is when he goes to remove it, so it's a bit of a fishing expedition to find it and it's difficult fold it up again. All in all the best case secenario sounds pretty unpleasant. I can't think why anyone would choose this treatment except to allow for future pregnacies, to which I suggest adoption. (It is possible that the whole thing is not as unpleasant for everyone as it was for Mom, I certainly hope it isn't.)

My mother was not a best case; it fell or was pushed out. I can not imagine how unpleasant that must have been. The nurse said there was the possibilty of trying a larger size, Mom was not interested. Yesterday, when she saw the doctor, he didn't suggest it anyway. Unfortunately, she can't have a 'normal' hysterectomy (vaginal or laparotomy). She's going to have to have major abdominal surgery (I know, kind of redundant) to remove the offending organ and have some reconstructive work done. This means a much longer recovery time both from the physical assult and from the full anathesia (which is liable to screw her up for months).

Yet another reason I'm glad not old.

Quickies (icky picture at bottom)

Two quick things (second one contains a graphic picture, you have been warned):


1) My life has, in the last few weeks, become a soap opera. Not one of those racy Mexican ones where everyone is having sex all the time, either; no, my life could almost be the lifetime original movie of the week.


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Don't scroll if you aren't prepared for grossness!




2) Why you should know what poison ivy, oak, and sumac look like:
This is my nephew -








This is my nephew on poison oak or sumac -


I warned you. Nasty, isn't it?