Adventures In Pet Sitting

Remember Emma and Gracie, my first official pet sitting clients?

They are just the cutest things, aren't they?

I got the chance to pet sit for these two again over Memorial Day weekend, making me one of the happiest people in NC that weekend. I love these girls. They are adorable, lovable...frustrating. :)

OK, the frustrating part: Emma gave me my first job-related injury on Sunday morning. It was a great morning really. Emma ran around outside more than anything, while Gracie sat with me in the living room. We rough-housed a bit (she loves to growl back and forth with you). The weather wasn't too bad, so I left the back door open so Emma could come and go as she liked. She mostly stayed out.

Time to leave and I got Gracie in her crate with no problem. No sign of Emma. I walked around the house to find her in the yard "playing" with a chipmunk. (Little critter was beyond playing by that time.) I tried to get it away from her, and she was having none of it. She managed to drop it, and I got my hand under her collar to pull her away. She was barking and yelping, I was fussing...I'm sure the neighbors thought I was killing the poor girl. She wanted that chipmunk bad.

At one point during all this, she twisted and went under my arm trying to make her way to where the chipmunk lay in the grass. When she twisted around, my fingers got caught up in her collar and got yanked good and hard. I managed to keep myself from saying the words that came immediately to mind as I extracted my finger from the collar. Wow...that hurt like heck.

My mind finally kicked in and I went back into the house and got Emma's leash. She saw that in my hand and came running, chipmunk firmly in mouth. I hooked her up, managed to get her to drop the chipmunk and led her to her crate. All this time, my finger was throbbing like crazy.

I guess the finger was just bruised pretty good. Got one of those little finger braces and have been wearing it. I could barely bend the finger for a bit, but now I can make a fist without much pain in that finger. I still wear the brace at night since it seems I manage to bang it around in my sleep.

Funny thing is, it was my middle finger. Perfect.

I still love these dogs.

What's Going On

I have been so buy lately with the garden, yard work, getting the business going and doctor appointments for the hubby, I just have not been able to find the time to sit and write or work on my blogs.

First off, Chris (the hubs) has been sick off and on for several months now, and he finally decided to start really "bugging" the doctor about it. (You know how men are when it comes to going to the doctor.) After a small abnormality in an EKG, he was sent for more tests on his heart which thankfully came out negative. He was also sent for an ultrasound of the gall bladder as well as a HIDA scan, another gall bladder test. We were actually kind of hoping something would show up there as it would explain a lot and would probably be pretty easy to take care of. But, those tests also came out negative. So, it's back to the doctor tomorrow to see what's next. (Keep good thoughts for us.)

Second, the garden.....OH MY GOODNESS!! This gardening thing is driving me nuts this year. I finally got it all in, but it's not looking too good. Now, I haven't had to go out and water it but once since it's rained a bit every day around here, so I guess that's pretty good. But, the tomatoes and peppers aren't looking too good. I'm hoping it's just taking them a bit of time to really take hold. The baby limas haven't come up yet and neither have the carrots. The icicle radishes are holding on, so maybe I'll at least have some of those. The potatoes and onions aren't poking through, but they haven't been in long enough really. The cabbages? Well, I think I will be holding their funeral pretty soon. **sign**

Every thing else is the usual. The yard has grown up a lot, but I'm slowing getting it tamed. The pet sitting is slow moving, but I am still hopeful. I've had a few initial consultations, which are free, and have clients who are going to be taking vacations during the summer and will need me then. (If you surf over to my pet sitting blog at www.tccrittersitters.com, you can see a pet adoption success story I'm pretty happy about.)

Well, I remember hearing about an old Chinese curse that says "may you live in interesting times." Interesting? I think that may be an understatement.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms who read my blog.

Earthworms and Cats and Ticks...Oh My...

OK, first off I have to apologize for not having any new photos for today's post. Both batteries to my digital camera are dead, and organized person that I am, I can't seem to find the charger. It's around here some where.......


So, between rain showers, I finally got a bit of my garden in today. Not all of it mind you, but a good bit of it. It's actually a trial and error type of thing. I have a feeling some of my plants will be moved before all is said and done. I may have planted them too close together. But, at least they are in the ground.

The soil here isn't the best, but a while back, when I dug out my little garden spot, I tossed a couple bags of Miracle Grow Organic Garden Soil on top. I am trying to grow my veggies with no chemicals, which is why I chose the organic mix. As I was digging and planting, I did come across some wiggly little earthworms, which is a good thing. Maybe there's hope after all.

Muffin followed me out into the yard, as usual. I'm a pretty realistic person. I know there is no way I'm going to be able to keep her, or any of the other little monsters....I mean felines...completely out of my garden. But, about five minutes after I got my icicle radish sprouts planted, she was playing around, tossing a dirt clump in the air, and she dug one of my radish babies up. So, I told her to get out of my garden (she just laughed at that one) and replanted the sprout. Cats!!!

Then, there is the tick problem. I have a feeling it's going to be a bad year for ticks. I walked back into the house and immediately pulled one off my pants leg. Of course, any time I work in my garden, I will head right for the shower and scrub like crazy. I am so paranoid about ticks. Any time I find one on my person, it's all I can do not to run screaming hysterically around the house. And for good reason, too. Let me explain....

When I was a kid of about 5 or 6 I reckon, Dad decided to take me camping on one of our weekend visits. So, late into the evening of our first day on this little trip, I suddenly started screaming and holding the side of my head. Dad had no idea what was wrong, just that I was going nuts basically. The youngest of my brothers, Dennis, was along with us on this trip, and Dad figured he had done something. (Dennis was picking on me a lot apparently.)

Dad started getting onto Dennis for picking on me, and in the mean time, I kept on screaming. Deciding something else entirely was going on, he piled us into the car and and off we went to the ER. Upon close examination, the doctor found that a tick had gotten into my ear and was sitting right on top of my eardrum. (There was no pain as it hadn't bitten me, but the screaming was set off by the crawling of the thing I'm sure.) **shiver**

The doctor was worried about getting the tick out as quickly as possible so it wouldn't bite into my eardrum of course, but he didn't want to try and get it out with any type of long instrument as I might not be able to sit still and a worse injury could ensue. I guess the solution was obvious. While nurses, my dad and the hospital janitor probably, held me down, he shined a light into my ear and let the tick crawl....SLOWLY....up on its own. Yeah, there was more screaming involved. But, it did work.

Now, I know that was a long story, but can't you see why I am so nuts when it comes to ticks. My heart feels like it's going to beat out of my chest when I find one of those things on me. And if it's actually attached, I'm just plain gone. I can't even remove it...have to get Chris to get it. (The things he puts up with.)

I have a feeling this gardening thing is going to be interesting......