Tortuga Thursday
In 2012, on the plains of Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and
began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with
nothing in the bank but love.
Oh yeah, one of those weeks.
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| Frank and helpers. |
Harvesting continues in spite of the rain. We finally had a dry day yesterday followed by another today. Makes it much less messy and the mud is drying so the garlic is cleaned easier. BUT with the moisture and the hot weather, all varieties are ready to harvest. Trouble is, we can only move so fast. We recruited three young neighbors for help. As of
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| Loosen the soil. |
today, Inchellium (only softneck we planted), Porcelain Music, and Purple Italian are harvested and curing. We barely got into the Red Chesnok today. Unless we can recruit some more help or we pick up speed (both unlikely), we have six more days of harvesting.
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| Rusty taking it easy. |
In the midst of harvest, Rusty had an emergency operation to remove his spleen. If we hadn't gotten him to the vet when we did, he would've bled out within the hour. Good news is he's recovering nicely from the operation. Bad news is the lab on the spleen came back as cancer, the most aggressive kind. They didn't see any other tumors or indications when they had him open, but chances are pretty high that it could already have spread. We're going with the low chance of survival. Christie and Frank did research on cancer in dogs and came up with a diet to ward off the evil condition. Rusty is loving his new diet:
Mealtime
Fatty chicken thighs with skin, chopped
Chicken bouillon from boiling the thighs
High fat hamburger
Broccoli, spinach, and zuchinni
Olive Oil
Tumeric
Snack
Yogurt and blueberries
We're doing our best to keep him around a couple of more years at least. He'll be twelve in October. And as long as he feels good, he'll share this life with us.
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| Me, stringing garlic. |
When we got in the car to leave the vet, it wouldn't start. Our mechanic was shut down early for the 4th of July, so the car sat all weekend at the clinic. We had to have a new starter. Gosh, I hate car problems. But we're lucky to have found a great mechanic with reasonable prices.
Wow, didn't mean to rain down nothing but bad news. But it was one of those weeks. This time next week, the garlic should just about all be out of the ground, and we can take a couple of days off to catch our breath before we start cleaning and trimming it. That'll be good! And
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| Sadi loves mud puddles. |
as you can see, at least one of us in the family enjoys what the rain has done to our street.
So sorry to hear about Rusty. Sending wishes for his continued comfort and pleasure in life. And hoping you get the garlic in!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Ashantay. All will be well.
DeleteHey Brenda, Sh$$ happens and all you can do is try to find the silver lining and it seems you have. Sharing it helps the rest of us know that we're not the only ones having difficulties. I hope Rusty continues to feel a little better. I know he's going to enjoy that diet. Keep smiling. XO
ReplyDeleteThanks, Carolyn. Good to hear from you. Part of my reason for this Thursday blog is exactly that.
DeleteAww. I hope your doggie is OK. That's tough. Thanks for the recipe though. I'll keep it in my files for someday when our dog is old and needs a healthier diet. And know about the rain. Lots of it here, too in southeast Wyoming. We're ahead three inches for the year and we usually only get eleven inches total. (Most of our moisture comes in snow.)
ReplyDeleteToo bad you can't send some of that moisture to California, Mary!
DeleteOh dang, hugs to you and prayers for Rusty. We lost our black Lab to a sudden cancer, hemangiosarcoma, and I still miss her. Hope the treatments bring good results. Xo
ReplyDeleteSorry about your dog, Tanya. Dang old cancer!
DeleteLove the whole garlic adventure. I imagine your drying barn smells so good! Neat that you have a resource of neighbors to help...makes me smile, happy about communities coming together in times of need (even though you probably paid the kids :-)
ReplyDeleteAh, yes, Rolynn, do have to pay but we need them!
DeleteFascinating post, Brenda. I know all about the seemingly eternal rain, living in the UK (where we're currently having a rare heat wave.) So sorry to hear about Rusty, but so glad you got him to the vet in time, even though the long term prognosis isn't that good. I lost my beloved 'rescue' to a brain tumour last year, but although he'd gone blind, he seemed to enjoy every moment of his life with us right up to the last day or too, when we knew it was time to say goodbye.I wish I'd had your recipe though, I think he'd have loved it. I hope Rusty will continue to do OK and the end, when it comes will be peaceful.
ReplyDeleteWe're hoping for the best. If the cancer has spread and he begins to suffer, we'll have to let him go. Sorry you lost your pet, Hywela. They are special in our lives.
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