Kathie's Birds: Blossom

Showing posts with label Blossom. Show all posts

Friday, February 6, 2015

Notes from My Nest: Healing

It’s a mostly sunny but cold day here on Mere Point. I awoke to temps of -10F but now it has warmed up to 13 degrees!

There was frost on the windowpanes when I first got up, but now that the sun is shining it has started to melt. The bird activity has been up and down all day with a flock of 30 redpolls stopping by briefly as well as a Red-breasted Nuthatch. I am seeing the Red-breasted more this winter, though it rarely comes down to the feeder. Today it did, however, and I was so glad to see it!

We have had storm after storm, after snow storm here. With every storm the snow gets deeper and it gets harder to reach the feeders and refill them. I have figured out that I can open the front window and lean out to get and refill my finch feeder so I added another smaller feeder next to it.

During this last storm on Wednesday the birds just gobbled up anything they could find! My Hermit Thrush is still hanging around as well. I usually see it a few times a day.

We had family here for Super Bowl Sunday and my daughter cut my hair for me again. I had her cut it in an A-line and stack it in the back which makes it much easier for me to take care of with only one good arm. While I can move my left arm around, the worst thing I could do would be to lift it over my head!

My arm is slowly healing. I can walk around the house without my sling on but I must still wear it to bed or when I go out in public or for a walk. No walking now with all this deep snow, though I did help Gus fill the feeders on Wednesday evening before the next storm!

We trudged through snow up to our knees and thighs, but it was only a short distance. You can still see our footprints, even after this latest snowfall! If it gets much deeper we will not be able to fill those feeders at all! I start physical therapy next week and hope that I can get my arm back to as good as new or better!

I had my six week post-op checkup on Tuesday and I am happy to report that all is well! I can now do dishes and laundry and vacuum the floors again! Unless there is a problem, I do not have to see the doc again until next year! However, I still will not be able to shovel snow or help move furniture! No more carrying microwaves up a flight of stairs for my mother either. While I hate the restrictions and I feared the surgery, I will now tell you that I am glad I did it. I feel so much better and I realized that my fear and denial let me suffer for far too long.

Bird feeder in snow 2-5-15

Speaking of my mother, many of you know that she has battled breast cancer in the past and is battling it once again. I have not been able to go down to Connecticut to help her this time around due to my own medical limitations. I I just talked to mom last night and she had her second round of chemo yesterday. She told me she lost all of her hair last Friday. It all fell out at once. Still, as usual, she is in good spirits and keeping her faith and her chin up. She has two more rounds of chemo to go and as they are 3 weeks apart, there is a chance I may be able to go down and be with her for the next one. We will see.

For now, it’s all about healing. I know I complain and feel frustrated by having to stay inside, but I think I finally got it through my head that I have a serious injury and I just need to heal. So, I decided that is my job; to Heal.

And that is not the only healing going on. Gus and I are both still healing from the loss of our little dog, Blossom, after 14 years of our lives together. I am doing better than Gus. It has hit him very hard, but we are both working through it. It was good to have our kids here this past weekend. We all laughed and cried together and then we made pizza! I love my family!

More birds and birding to come!

Mere Point Boat Launch 2-4-15

Both Mere Point Bay and Maquoit Bay are both currently frozen solid.

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Remembering Blossom

Blossom 5-22-2014

It was a sad weekend around here. Our little dog of 14 years died of congestive heart failure. We adopted her when we lived in Utah. She was born in early February of 2001.

Blossom was part Japanese Chin and part Toy American Eskimo.

It’s the Japanese Chin you see in her though.

She was suppose to be my dog, and as a pup, I carried her everywhere.

But she quickly decided Gus was the man for her!

When he went to work, she would wait for him at the door or the window.

Blossom always loved her walks with her man.

Gus and Blossom on the Bluff Road Trail in Syracuse, UT circa 2006.

Gus had to fish her out of a green slime covered canal that ran alongside this trail once when Blossom jumped in chasing grasshoppers! The sides of the canal were too steep for her to gain her footing and pull herself out. We never let her off leash after that!

Gus, Mom and Blossom in Syracuse, UT circa 2006

Gus and Blossom at Beus Pond in Ogden 12-31-2006

Gus and Blossom in Andover, MA 6-4-2011

When Gus wasn’t home, I combined Birding and dog walking.

This is at Sacred Heart Park, In Andover, MA where we lived for 2 years.

Blossom loved that park.

We took her with us everywhere.

Christmas in Colorado to visit my daughter in 2008.

Visiting friends in Alabama in 2010

Blossom crossed this country several times as we moved from west to east and back again. She flew in a plane twice, and rode in the car as we drove across country three different times.

Blossom 2-3-2014 Why walk when you can ride?

This is Blossom a year ago today riding on the luggage cart in the hotel we stayed at in Little Rock, AR. Little did we know then that this would be her last move. We almost lost her in August of 2009 when she was attacked by a much larger dog in Arizona and almost killed! Grabbed her by the rump and would not let go. Gus had to fight the bigger dog off.

Battle Wounds 8-24-2008

Blossom on the patio in Corona de Tucson 8-24-2008

We babied her and took her for treatments at the vets.

Soon she was walking the stone wall in the backyard again.

We called it her railroad track!

Like all dogs, she loved to sniff.

I can only guess at what that little pug nose of hers told her!

Blossom loved to ride in the car with us and if Gus and I were riding together he would be driving and Blossom would sit on my lap and stare at his with utter adoration! As she got older we could not leave her home alone for as long as we used to, so in October when I drove to Connecticut to visit my mom, I brought her with me. This is her in the back of my car on October 14, 2014.