Lake Odessa February 2022

Andy and I had a fun outing today with four of the dogs to Lake Odessa, which is still frozen but will likely no longer be safe for walking within a few days. The temperature today rose to almost 50 degrees fahrenheit, the first day in nearly a week above freezing. The sun was shining so we charged the battery for the good camera, then shortly after lunch we left with Skadi, Celine, Prins, and Lenka. Dove is in season so she stayed home with Bridget.

We all enjoyed the solitude and time spent outdoors. We are all tired and will sleep soundly tonight. January was a challenging month. Our cat Steve broke his foot eight days ago, and we are still not sure how it happened. Andy was on his way home from a fishing trip and I was outside doing evening chores. We have a security camera in the house that caught the moment it happened, but sound only as the camera was pointed outside. I came in the house after closing the chicken coop and rounding the geese into their indoor night pen. Steve dragged himself over to me screaming, and I saw his right hind leg bent at a wrong angle. I called Andy, who was half an hour home, and told him that I would call the emergency vet and get Steve on their list. I got Steve into a carrier and handed him off to Andy. X-rays confirmed the break, and Steve received a splint. Orthopedic surgery is possible if the bones don't heal, but it's risky and doesn't have a high success rate. We settled into a schedule of pain medication and antibiotics for Steve, and take him every 3-4 days to our local vet to have the splint changed under sedation. So far, so good. Steve greatly enjoys the TNC dog show crate that I converted to his hospital crate, though he took some time to get used to the e-collar to keep him from removing the splint.