Where have I been???

Week before last it was hot, humid and miserable (dog days are here) outside so I pretty much stayed inside....ugh! Flies are still horrible for the boys, even going out to take the dogs to the bathroom is bad, the B52's dive bomb you. I swear I can see no earthly reason for them to be alive, bastards!!!

Now on to last week, still miserable outside and Friday I mowed for almost 2 hours then picked beans to can. I also pulled the bean plants and picked off what was left of the beans so that took a lot longer. My back was killing me when I got finished, came in the house and fell on the floor trying to get the muscles to relax. Then had to cook supper so I was beat, decided to work on the beans on Saturday.

Spent all morning snapping and cleaning the beans then the rest of the day canning. All that work for 18 quarts of beans....I am starting to think that buying them in the store is sounding better and better! That evening a friend of hubby's came and mowed the hay. Husband was going to be had another inner ear infection or something that was making his balance so that he could hardly walk let along get on the tractor.

Sunday I picked tomatoes to can, not too many to pick, for some reason the tomatoes aren't doing so good this year. Only had one canner full so it didn't take too long.

Monday husband decides he is going to tedd the hay, still dizzy but sometimes husbands are very stubborn and do things they shouldn't. He had to stop several times because of the dizziness but did get it finished. We did stuff outside all day; when I was finished cleaning the barn and feeding I started for the house, got all the dogs gathered up to go in. I headed for the shower and noticed that Petey was acting funny and had something on his face. I wiped it off, got in the shower and didn't think any more about it. When I got out I noticed he had something on his face again. On closer inspection it was a brownish liquid that seemed to be leaking out of a spot where his whiskers are and he had what looked like a scrape by his nostril. Hum, his face is swollen too and it kept swelling....either a bee sting or what I thought more likely a snake bite.

Called the vet she said it was probably a bee sting to give Benadryl and the swelling should start to go down in about an hour. Nope, still swelling......

Poor Petey he was really hurting but never made a sound. By this time it's almost 9 p.m. I called the vet again and she said to bring him in first thing in the morning. Now I can see what looks like at least one fang mark on his nose, more Benadryl and a Prednisone too.

Early on Tuesday morning off we go to the vet. Petey had to stay so they could give him IV's of fluid and some antibiotics. He did NOT want to go with them when they tried to get him to the back room, he was saying, no, no, I wanna go home!!!  On the way home, I forgot to mention this, we stopped at a stable to feed, water and turn out two horses, a pony and two donkeys. Me and another gal were helping care for them for a week. The owners of the horses were on vacation and the stable manager had to go out of town on an emergency. Me and my neighbor were taking turns going over there doing the chores.

We get back home rake the hay and wait for an hour or so check it and decide to bale the first field. Husband is feeling a little better so out to the field we go. As he bales I am picking up bales and stacking them for pick up, I go get the truck and trailer to start picking up the hay bales. We only got 33 bales but when it's hot and humid it feels like a hundred. After many breaks and lots of water we got it in the barn. By this time it's 2:30 he has a doctors appointment at 4:00 so we can't get the second field baled. Head for the house and get cleaned up to leave. Just before we are ready to leave our mailman, who is a friend, stops by and says he will come back in about an hour and bale the field if we want! Oh, yes please! We figure we will be back home about 5:30, we have to pick up Petey from the vet afterward.

Things are going pretty good, the doctor says that all he can do is keep taking the medicine for dizziness and it should be gone soon? We hope....but that's another story. Pick up Petey, boy, is he glad to see us and can't wait to get in the car!!! His face is still swollen but now we have antibiotics, Benadryl and Prednisone to take for a week.

Heading home, fast....when we get here neighbors are here helping the mailman, all hay is baled and loaded onto truck and trailer. We change our clothes and help get it into the barn!  Thank goodness for good friends!! Hay is done for this year, I am SO glad....even if it does grow really good and we could get a third cutting......NO WAY!!!

Petey is doing great, the swelling is gone but you can see where the bite makes are. He is back to his old self and liking to take his meds because he gets extra canned dog food to take his pills. Hope he remembers where he got bit and doesn't go there again. We have lived here for 13 years and have never seen a copperhead so where he found this one???? There are water snakes, black snakes, milk snakes, garter snakes, black racers and many more I imagine but have never seen a copperhead. After reading info on the net about copperheads and poisonous snakes in Ohio I found that there are also two kinds of rattle snakes here too!!! YIKES! Timber rattlers and a smaller one that I can't think of the name at the moment, oh, great more bittey things to look out for! :-(

Petey three days ago with some fluid in his neck and chest. All gone now!

Petey jumping for a potato chip, he caught it and it's in the corner of his mouth, yep he is feeling so much better.

I am hoping that in the weeks that follow, I don't have to do that much work again!!! Took me three days to recover but I'll make it. I am looking forward to fall and some riding, lots of riding in new territories, new to me anyway. Why is the word territories in bold, well that's another story to be told in a few days, stay tuned!!! :-)