I love this time of year! Last year about this time, I purchased a new Iris and I’m so excited that it is doing so well. It’s grown twice as large and is just heavenly! Everything is growing so well in my gardens this spring, even the hosta plant has come back. This poor thing got whizzed on by the dogs several time a couple years ago and didn’t grow back at all last year. I thought it was a gonner. But, this year it has come up! I’ve been working on training the dogs to “not go” in my gardens, I hope they don’t have some kind of weird attraction to this particular plant.
Our veggie garden is just about ready for planting. Grandpa has disced it up a few times, so all Jeff needs to do is rototill it once and we’ll be ready to plant! The tomato & green pepper plants I started in early April are all ready to go!
Our smallest piglet, Runt, came down with a case of pneumonia a couple weeks ago. Hoping she’d come out of it on her own, we watched her closely for about two days. When it was clear she was only getting sicker, Jeff called a large animal vet that we had used in the past. He found out this vet no longer treats large animals (even though Runt is about half the size of Luke & Sampson) and referred us to another vet about 60 miles away. After a “tele-conference” with this office, they offered to come take a look at our little pig, but the cost for the house call would be $200. We only had about $40 dollars invested in Runt by that time so we were extremely reluctant to put that kind of cash into her, considering she’s not a pet. She’s livestock.
Although our pigs are “just” livestock, we want them to be comfortable and happy during their stay at Red Rooster Acres. But by this time, Runt was not eating and rarely got up to get water. She broke my heart every time I checked on her. Jeff called the farm where we purchased her and they gave us another number for the vet they use, who is also about 60 miles away. After describing her symptoms, the vet agreed she had pneumonia and suggested we get a packet of penicillin shots from our local TSC to administer to her.
The first day, since she was feverish and having trouble breathing, Jeff was able to pick her up easily while his buddy, Carl, gave her the shot behind her right ear. How lucky we are to live in an age that has antibiotics! By the next day, little Runt was up running around eating voraciously and sucking down water by the gallons. We were all so relieved. The second evening Jeff had a much, much harder time catching her and keeping her still while Carl administered the shot, but they managed.
Now Runt is back to normal and growing like a… well, pig!
Summer is back with a vengence. Not the kind of vengence from not being able to get to sleep because of the heat. The kind where the frogs, birds, and insects are so LOUD you can’t get to sleep. In fact, they are so loud we couldn’t even hear traffic on the freeway that’s about a mile away. As Jeff and I ran through our bedtime routine, he drug me out to the garage and asked, “Does it seem louder out here than normal?” I shrugged him off. It’s loud every summer.
But, as I lay staring up at the dark ceiling of our bedroom, I understand what he meant. Our nocturnal Earthmates are having the party of their lives. Frogs call to one another, crying out to their mates across the banks of the pond, splashing into the cool water, paddling to find the special green partner who’s calling back to him. Eventually, I doze off into dreamland, forgetting the frogs. I am now running for my life from a gun”wo”man in a eerie parking garage. (I know– I watch too much TV.) My dream-powered legs bound up and down steep stairs, leaping further than any grasshopper. I know I’ve made it to safety because I hear the faceless woman scream like a retched banshee, high and pissed off.
My eyes pop open. I realize I was dreaming and relax. Suddenly, I hear the same retched screech from the dream! My muscles tighten involuntarily. “What the?” I think. The sound stops and is met by another grasshopper call, not quite the same pitch, but just as unnerving. I admit to myself: this summer IS worse than any other. Time to get the air conditioner in the window.
