The Crack of Dawn

doesn't get seen much by hubby and myself due to his work schedule.  This morning however was the exception due to the tapping of dog claws and whining.  Even Tigger the cat joined in by climbing into bed and irritating me.  If Tigger could have spoken, it probably would have been something like this, "Hey serving human, wake up and take this dog outside.  She has horrible farts, and will explode soon."

The warning was heeded.

On the second walk, because two bags were insufficient to collect the deposits, some early morning pictures were taken - enjoy.

Morning glories really take the morning thing seriously and are usually closed by mid morning.  Late father-in-law's camera works ok, but doesn't get the colors quite right.  The flowers should be much more blue!  Any suggestions on a new camera to replace the old Sony Mavica, which is having issues.  I shouldn't complain too much, it has been working hard since 2002, and deserves to be retired.

Back to the reason for the walk.  I'm guessing Ember has been catching up on licking things since Thursday, when her stitches were removed.  All that licking sometimes causes tummy troubles, hence the "splod-ey" dog.  If she continues to have trouble, the vet will be called.

Here is a montage of her valiant attempts at finding a comfortable position while wearing the cone of shame.  And yes, we were laughing at her, poor thing.

This recuperating is hard work.  Time for another nap.

The Garden is Partying Hard

And it is just getting started.

The most recent round of cucumbers weren't even photographed;

the shopping bag full was just picked, washed, and given away asap.  There are only so many hours in a day and the apples are ripening at the same time.  Dad regraded his back yard this spring, which postponed the cucumber planting by about three weeks, causing a rather unwanted peak season overlap - oops.  Usually the cucumbers are trailing off once the apples start ripening.  To date sixteen five gallon pails of apples have been picked, and the tree is maybe 2/3 empty.  Looks like I'll be busy making cider, sauce, pies, etc.  So far the tomatoes haven't hit peak production, but it is only a matter of time.  Thankfully, this Sunday is the last day of the food pantry drive at church when they take fresh produce.

That's a lot of apples to wash.  These two pictures only show 25 gallons.  So far 80 have been picked!

To top it all off, mom managed to hurt her toe last week at assisted living, probably because they have lost her shower shoes.  As a result, I have been visiting her on a daily basis to make sure her bandage gets changed and that her toe is healing properly.  The shoes may be somewhere in the building, but another pair of Crocs have been ordered just in case the first pair never turns up.  The assisted living place switched to clear trash bags a while back, probably because residents were throwing away things that they shouldn't have.  If I had to guess, one of the residents probably clepto'd the shoes from the shower room and then hid them in a trash can, then the trash went out.  Bye bye shoes.

The Cone

of shame is back.

Although it is unlikely that it will survive two weeks of Ember slamming it into door frames.
There was finally an opening in our schedule to get Ember "fixed".
Although, if she could respond, she would say that she has been "broken - evil humans, etc."

"So mom, now that this cone is on my face, how can I scratch my itchy chin?  Guess you have something more to do, scratch my chin please.  Or better yet, take off the cone!"

For the first two days Tigger the cat gave her a very wide berth.
Ember probably tried to give Tigger the standard dog greeting of bottom sniffing, but accidentally whacked the cat in the bottom with the cone.  Tigger was not amused.

When in Doubt, Take Cash Along

This is a fairly local issue for anyone living in Wisconsin.  I checked with my bank, and they assured me the problem lies squarely on Fleet Farm's shoulders.  Lately the Fleet Farm store chain has been having difficulties with their debit card processing.  I know there is money in my account, but it still comes as a shock and embarrassment when the card is declined.  I can only guess at the possible causes which could include the following:

Someone in their IT department has dropped the ball by not keeping updates up to date?

Someone unplugged their internet connection for debit processing at head office?

Their internet provider is having problems or hates them?

The company that processes their debit purchases doesn't like that they sell firearms and is snidely refusing to process all debit purchases?

I honestly don't know what is causing the problem, but the end result is the same.  If you need to buy things at Fleet Farm, take cash.  The young checkout clerks could use the practice counting anyhow.