Still cold and dark
Jan. 20th, 2009 07:48 pmThe sheepie got at least a temporary reprieve. Vet says it's probably one of three things, old age, injury, or Paralaphostrongylus tenius. He could find no evidence of injury, and the third choice is a parasite infection commonly called "brain worms" (ewww) that comes from deer. A typical parasitic worm, it has a two host life cycle that involves deer droppings, and slugs (ewww again.) Since none of our sheep have been on open pasture where deer pass through for over five years, I rule that one out. So old age and arthritis it is, and Shaun gets a series of three cortisone shots to see if it will get him back on his feet. He's also dehydrated a bit, so we're mixing molasses into his water to get him to drink more. He doesn't seem to be in pain much, and the vet agrees, so we didn't have him put down right now. We'll give him a week or so and see if he responds to treatment. If he has to be sent off to sheep heaven, what to do with the remains when the ground is frozen like iron becomes a major issue.
I did not watch the inauguration, though I did hear the oaths administered (complete with fluffs by both parties in Obama's case.) In spite of the raves from many quarters, I was disappointed in his speech, which ran far too long without saying nearly enough. The only good point, I thought, was when he said that Americans as a whole have been avoiding making hard choices that must be made. We can't have our cake and eat it too, in other words. This has been blatantly obvious to me for many years, but politicians and voters from both sides of the aisle continue to think they can do that.
Our library's 100th anniversary display of books is out in the case now, and I still find it interesting. We have the top ten best selling adult novels from 1909, reacquired from used booksellers in 1909 editions or as close as we could get. These were surprisingly inexpensive, in fact. All ten, including shipping, added up to about $50. We also have a set of nine modern reprints of children's books that were popular in 1909, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Wind in the Willows, The Call of the Wild, and Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz.
I did not watch the inauguration, though I did hear the oaths administered (complete with fluffs by both parties in Obama's case.) In spite of the raves from many quarters, I was disappointed in his speech, which ran far too long without saying nearly enough. The only good point, I thought, was when he said that Americans as a whole have been avoiding making hard choices that must be made. We can't have our cake and eat it too, in other words. This has been blatantly obvious to me for many years, but politicians and voters from both sides of the aisle continue to think they can do that.
Our library's 100th anniversary display of books is out in the case now, and I still find it interesting. We have the top ten best selling adult novels from 1909, reacquired from used booksellers in 1909 editions or as close as we could get. These were surprisingly inexpensive, in fact. All ten, including shipping, added up to about $50. We also have a set of nine modern reprints of children's books that were popular in 1909, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Wind in the Willows, The Call of the Wild, and Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz.