Tuesday, July 18, 2006, 21:05
What? Not Again, Charlie
Charlie is not feeling very well today. I knew it right away when I let him out of his kennel this morning. He wasn't moving very fast, and he didn't look terribly enthusiastic about life in general.
When I gave him his breakfast, at first, he didn't want it. Later on, though, he ate -- except that he laid down to eat.
I have never seen our Springer Spaniel lay down to eat.
When I went to the barn, Charlie would not come down the hill, but instead, laid in the shade by the side of the house with Pixie.
Usually Charlie comes down to the barn and snoops around the horse pastures and makes sure that everything is all right.
By the time I finished watering the horses and taking the "old" water in the horse buckets down to the garden, Charlie was still lying by the house. I tried to coax him into coming down the hill, but he wouldn't come.
So, I went in the house and got a leash.
Charlie came down the hill with me on his leash, but when we got as far as the garden, he sat down in the shade and wouldn't come any farther. I finally got him moving again, but when we reached the edge of the hayfield, that was it. He sat down, and he was NOT going to get up again.
It was at that point I decided I'd better call the vet.
As it turned out the vet was in surgery, but early this afternoon he called me back.
The vet is wondering if the doxycycline we've been giving Charlie for the Lyme disease is bothering his stomach. Apparently doxycycline is quite well known for bothering a dog's stomach. The vet thinks that's maybe why Charlie laid down to eat, because his stomach hurts.
By the time I got off the phone with the vet, there was shade up the dirt road again, so I figured I'd see if Charlie would go for a walk. He got up and followed me out the driveway, walked a few steps, then sat down in the shade by the side of the road.
I called. I coaxed. I patted my leg.
I even got a dog biscuit out of my pocket.
Charlie refused to come.
When I walked back into the driveway, he trotted in ahead of me and went down the sidehill.
"Do you want to go in your kennel?" I said.
Charlie trotted around the corner of the house and stood with his nose in the corner of the basement door.
Yes, indeed, Charlie wanted to go inside.
The vet says we should take Charlie off the doxycycline. If that's what is bothering him, Charlie will be feeling a little better by tomorrow morning and quite a bit better in a few days, he said. It's been almost three weeks on the doxycycline, which is the amount of time they normally treat for Lyme disease.
So -- we shall see.
Still Hot and Dry - It is still hot -- 95 degrees this afternoon. The dewpoint is lower and the humidity is lower, but it's still hot.
I checked back in my weather records to see how much rain we've gotten since April 1. Turns out we have gotten a total of 6 inches.
Then I looked farther back in the records. The rain totals for other years from April 1 until July 18 were a lot more than 6 inches.
2005 -- 10.3 inches
2004 -- 13.4 inches
2003 -- 20.4 inches
2002 -- 11.5 inches
2001 -- 22.5 inches
2000 -- 13.6
It was dry last year, too, but even at that, we got almost 4.5 inches more of rain from April 1 to July 18 than we've gotten this year.
And to think -- the young lady who wrote a newspaper article for the Dunn County News about the drought says the hot, dry, sunny weather is bad for farmers but good for everyone else.
I've got news for her. When the weather is this hot and dry, it's bad for everyone. Where does she think groundwater comes from? And what does she think happens when wells start running dry?
During a dry spell a few years ago, the church well went dry, our neighbor's well went dry and another neighbor's well started to go dry. But that wasn't as severe a drought as this is. That's why I am re-using my washing machine water, starting out with the least soiled clothes, then washing the medium-dirty and finishing up with the very dirty. Just like my mother used to do with her wringer washer.
LeAnn R. Ralph
Monday, July 17, 2006, 19:28
Liar, Liar -- Pants on Fire
I have decided that professors in weather forecasting school must spend a fair amount of time teaching their students to phrase weather events in the most positive manner possible -- even if it means telling a little white lie.
For example -- this morning I distinctly remember hearing the weather forecaster say that today, the wind would turn to the north/northwest (which it has) and that it would feel MUCH COOLER than yesterday.
Personally, I am unable to understand how 100 degrees in the shade with a northwest wind can feel cooler than 95 degrees in the shade with a southwest wind.
It was 95 degrees in the shade yesterday.
It was 100 degrees in the shade here at 12:30 p.m. today.
As far as I'm concerned -- 100 degrees is 100 degrees -- and 100 degrees is HOT.
By the time I had taken Charlie for another little walk around noon (a half mile; quarter mile each way) before putting him in his kennel in the cool basement, I could barely put one foot in front of the other. Charlie could barely put one foot in front of the other, either, and so we walked along slowly side by side. And this was in spite of having shade to walk in for two-thirds of the way.
The other thing is that the weather forecaster said the dewpoint would be MUCH LOWER. The dewpoint last night was in the mid-70s range. It is supposed to be in the mid-60s range tonight.
I am most comfortable when the dewpoint is in the 40s range. So if anyone asked me, I would have to tell that person there's not much difference between a dewpoint of 60 and a dewpoint of 70. I certainly would not describe a dewpoint in the 60s as "much cooler."
And of course, it is still dry. Tinder dry. A few dark clouds yesterday looked slightly promising, but the clouds fizzled out and blew away, and today we are back to bright, hot sunshine with lots of wind to help dry it out even more.
Our sweetcorn is burning up, even though I've been watering it. Our tomatoes are burning up, even though I've been watering them. (The volunteer tomatoes still look the best, though.) Our spinach is burned up completely. We never even got one salad out of it. The volunteer gladiolus have got flower stalks, but the stalks are completely drooped over, so I don't hold out much hope for any flowers. (I've been watering them, too.)
Burning bans have been issued around here. I don't know who would be stupid enough to burn something (a pile of brush or whatever) when it is this hot and dry and windy, but I guess you never know. The reporter on television said the burning bans would not removed until we have gotten three days of rain in a row.
We most likely will not get three days of rain in a row until this fall -- if then.
Maybe I ought to stop listening to the weather forecast. That way, I won't have any expectations, and I will just have to take what comes. . .which is what I have to do anyway!
LeAnn R. Ralph