210421 Blind Dog Vaccine
Apr. 21
I put up the "Blind Dog" sign yesterday and already the name "Blind Dog Hill" is beginning to sound familiar in my mind. Fig is skinny as a rail now and his hair is falling out - mostly his long coat, his short, darker coat is so soft, but I feel his ribs under it. He continues to play but not so long, and likes to go outside; as long as he is with me he is content to walk, or lie on the grass and listen to the meadow sounds. The other day he growled when he heard a handful of robins fighting over a nest by the henhouse.
He loves to drink from the pond and the stream. Male-pattern dog baldness. How grey he is.
Below, passed out like a toddler among his toys.
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This month marks the first anniversary of my mother-in-law's death. Her birthday was this month as well. Cameron would have been 95. It seems an age, not a year, since she died. Being in the grip of the pandemic has changed the flow of time so much. I wanted to write a bit about her, as she was an extraordinary woman, larger than life, though petite in stature. But I'll save that for another time; I am feeling low-energy today. It is grey and threatens snow and the pandemic news is bad, in Canada and abroad. K and I received our first vaccine on Monday (the 19th) and though I felt very well yesterday, I wonder if my energy ebb this morning is related to that. I have lit a fire to warm us up; it seems coldest when the temperature is hovering around 0 degrees, because it is damp. It makes my arthritis act up. Tending the fire ((I am tempted to say "nursing") has become a habit; we seem to be aware of it in the back of our minds, and one of us puts another log on, or the screen for a while to regulate the temperature in the chimney.
It is a day to stay in pajamas and let the hours pass. No pressure to get anything done, and fortunately not much that needs doing. If I can summon the energy I will make baked beans since we are right out of cooked beans. I made Brazilian black beans this week - they were amazing - but it was only a pound of beans so they are finished already. Baked beans or any beans recipe is a series of short preparation stages which can be spread out over the day, so they are less of a strain on energy levels. Baked beans are also such a comfort food, plain, warm and homey.
A creature has moved into the wall of K's room and at 3:30 this morning he heard another in the mud room, so we were up hunting mice in the middle of the night! We saw one in the mud room - it scurried back and forth seeking a place to hide before we lost sight of it and had to abandon the hunt. We have had them in the house all winter but as they have kept quiet and out of our food supplies, we have not bothered to pursue them. Now, however, they are making baby-nests and keeping K awake at night. I do not want to trap or harm them but mice can harbour disease that can impact human health so we may have to address the situation. They do get into Fig's food dish on the floor and I have found little stashes of dog crunchies in unused dresser drawers and other hiding places. The dresser is unused because the drawers stick. I mean to take some sandpaper to the runners and then wax them with bar soap or beeswax, but it is a long way down my to-do list.
We drove to Cowansville, about an hour away, for our vaccine. We arrived in time for our appointment and were put in line together for our first time-slot. The line moved ahead steadily and we were kept together through the registration process and then the vaccination. We were done and in the post-vaccine waiting area by the time our appointment times were past. It was an efficient system; everyone was kind and helpful, very thorough and professional. We were given our appointment for a second jab in August. We received the pfizer vaccine: we were not told beforehand which we would get, and although we would not have refused any one, we were happy to get this one.
Sitting in the waiting-for-reaction area.
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The snow has begun to fall: large wet flakes coming straight down in the still air. I have made some tea and the beans have finished soaking. I will put them to boil and have my tea by the fire. K is out for a walk but he will be back soon. He often walks up the camp road and then down through the second meadow; I expect I'll see him step out from the ridge woods before long.
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