Summer Solstice

If I was going to affiliate with any religion, I'd probably be a pagan.  They have the best holidays, and Summer Solstice is the best of the best.  It's hot and miserable here right now, but still there is something special about the long days that stretch well into the evenings.  Wednesday evening I drove up to the community garden to water my plants shortly before dark.  The setting sun was a huge red disk hanging low in the sky, but I was driving and couldn't get the ideal shot.  I hadn't been up to the garden since my trip to D.C., but it looked good.  The tomato plants are growing and looked strong.  The ground cloth was doing its job on the weeds.  There are others with plants beginning to set fruit already, but mine won't be as far behind as it seems in another couple of weeks. 

The container garden at home is looking good too.  Gigi took a stroll through it today, as did Vince.  I started with larger plants than usual, both because I was late and because that was mostly what was available.  The pots are all doing well.  If there is any plus side to this god awful humidity, it's the fact that things don't dry out so much, even in the heat.

Gigi hadn't been eating well the last couple days, probably because of this biotin supplement that I've been putting on her food.  So yesterday I gave her some soft food and she ate it all.  The unfortunate result of that is that today I've been washing all the dog beds from the bedroom and still need to mop the floors.  When Zachary has diarrhea, he uses the washable rug in the bathroom, very considerate.  Trooper usually uses the closet.  Gigi didn't know where to go, or how to wake us, so we had unhappy surprises all over the bedroom this morning, the biggest pile, or pool, right near my side of the bed.  The room needed cleaning, they all do, but this isn't a nice way to get it done. 

Gigi needed a bath and so did Zachary.  I have never had a dog stand as still as Gigi did for a cold water bath on a hot day.  Her short coat is incredibly easy to wash, and her height makes it easy on my back.  Zachary needed a bath to wash out old coat and also to clean up his ears.  Clay got the worst of the dog fight the other night but Zach has a couple puncture wounds in his big ears.  He's been carrying his head at a tilt with his ears pointed in odd directions to make sure we know that he's hurting.  He's been getting antibiotics and pain meds, just like Clay, but I hadn't yet really cleaned up the wounds until today.  They aren't much to see, but ears are very sensitive so I'm sure he's hurting.  Now they are clean and I'll continue the antibiotics and he should be fine. 

Thank you for the all the expressions of concern about Clay.  I feel bad about it and wish it had been me instead.  Mostly I should never have let it happen.  But that all falls in the category of things I can't do anything about.  We see the doctor tomorrow morning to see what needs to be done. 

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