web analytics

What it is to live in the country

I hope this adorable tiny pig goes some way to atone for the horrible thing I showed you yesterday. Yes, thank you, it’s tolerably recovered today.

The little cat (name still undetermined) had his very first vet appointment today. He’d never had his shots or, as far as we know, seen a dog or even been out of doors, except briefly when he was taken from his mama at eight weeks.

There’s a sort of partition in the waiting room, perhaps to help separate unruly animals. We heard someone come in, followed by a baa.

No, not the pig. The pig didn’t baa. This lady had an orphaned lamb, similarly button-cute. After our appointment, she returned with the pig. Which didn’t make any noises at all, that I recall. The lady runs an animal rescue.

The little one was shot up with all kinds of stuff, and given a worming pill and a flea treatment. I’m afraid it was too much for him. He’s been curled in a miserable ball on the floor ever since and I feel awful about it.

Hey, did you hear the one about the lady in Seattle who wanted to get tested for Coronavirus? She had all the symptoms and worked as a physical therapist, often with older patients, so she thought she ought to get herself checked out. I mean, right? Long story short…you can’t. Unless you meet specific criteria (outside the country in the last two weeks or in contact with an infected person) OR you get sick enough to be hospitalized, no screening for you. What the hell has happened to/at the CDC?

March 3, 2020 — 8:26 pm
Comments: 4

I’ll tell you everything I know…

That dark line, dear reader, is a splinter. It came off one of our interior doors, which are quite rough and rustic. It is too fragile to be pulled out with my most delicate tweezers (pictured). It just breaks off nearer and nearer the quick.

Uncle B spoke to my doctor’s office, who advised we either hit the local walk-in clinic (NO), the emergency room (NONONONO) or call first thing in the morning for an emergency appointment (eh, maybe).

My mother lived with a hackberry thorn in her heel for thirty years (one day in the bath it just popped out). I can live with this. I mean, it hurts, but it’s not awful. On the other hand, if it got infected, would anybody pay attention in the middle of a pandemic? It would be just like me to die of sepsis during a plague.

Please tell me stories: stories of foreign objects stuck in your body for decades to no ill effect. Or, alternatively, horror stories of grisly nail removals and fingers gone septic.

Update: I got it. I took Pups’ advice and soaked it in warm salt water until it pruned, used the clippers to cut a V in the nail so I could get a good grip, used my best tweezers and alley oop! There’s a teeny fragment way in the bottom of the wound. I hope my body can deal with that. It hurts ever so much more now that it’s out 🙁

March 2, 2020 — 5:40 pm
Comments: 12