Ho ho ho

Santa's bringing snow!

The latest on Tux

The old girl was doing a lot of licking at the nether region so off to the vet we went. After getting an elevated blood calcium reading I was advised to be on the lookout for anything unusual. Turns out she has quite a urinary tract infection which we are now treating with antibiotics. She had an issue with an anal gland that got expressed, too. We're hoping that was the cause of the calcium being off. This girl certainly hides her discomfort well as there were no signs of a UTI other than the licking.

While paying for her visit I got a call confirming my knee surgery on February 22. Glad I got the earlier date so there is less time for worry.

A new place to pot

My new studio is just about done. The door needs a sweep, and when the taping mud dries I will paint and begin to move in.

Here is the new wall on the garage side. Just calling out for shelves to fill with useless junk.

And two shots of inside. It's a little narrow at about 10 feet wide, but quite long. I'll work with it to make space for all my essentials. The stall mats in the shed need washing before I bring them in for the floor, but it's a little too cold to do that now. These big windows will need shades or the summer sun will bake me out. I hope to be working with clay again within a week or two.

Day length begins to increase after today!

Missing Summer

Gray days and rain are back. It's a good time to do clay work but my shops are a mess. Construction on the garage wall begins this Tuesday and should be completed Wednesday. Hurray! I guess the wall will need some paint then I can move in and get to work. Here is the mess that will be my new studio space.

A few pieces I liked from the last firing...

The boys ask to go out to the temporary pen every morning. I have to keep shifting it around. The grasses and weeds they like to dine on are growing very slowly now. They work well with Hattie on walk-arounds so I'm hoping we can move into neighbors' fields soon.

Her highness patiently waiting for the action to begin...

Tux is out with Bob for the morning so no picture. Results from latest bloodwork came in Friday. Cocci titer is back to 1:8 which is where she was before the temporary stop in medication. Our local vet is taking over from the AZ vet and uses a different compounding pharmacy so we're getting Fluconazole in tablet form that is much cheaper than the capsules she's been getting. The rest of her bloodwork was excellent except for slightly elevated calcium - which is very concerning. It could mean the fungus is doing something to Tux's bones, it could be a cancer, or it might just be that Tux was slightly dehydrated when the blood was drawn. Of course, it means worry for us to keep a watchful eye for increased lameness or anything else unusual and another round of bloodwork in a few months. Hoping for the best.

This...

Gray sky. There is nothing to be said about it. 

Decorating

This is the extent of holiday decorating for us. I haven't felt like doing even this much for years. The Vit D therapy has given me a good boost in strength and energy, not that this requires much of either. But the way I had been feeling was that any movement took tremendous effort so I was pretty selective in where my energies were spent. Anyway, hooray for feeling better. I made these stockings so many years ago I can't remember when. Almost forty years I think. It's amazing that they are in such good condition. Jason used to play with the soldier Santa holds in his hand. 

Surprise! The porcelain paper clay flowers didn't melt or deform in the glaze firing, and the underglaze colors turned out well. Now I can start doing more expressive work with some confidence that all won't necessarily be lost. 

We are remodeling the garage to move my studio inside, having a wall built to close off what has been my glazing bay. I've been sharing the area with the John Deere and other gardening equipment - which means I can't keep the dirt out and have to maneuver around all the equipment to work. Then there is the disgusting collection of flies, wasps, spiders and other insects that live and die on the window sills and who-knows-where-else in both studio areas that give me the creeps to work around. So all the gardening stuff will be moved to the shed and my wheel and stuff in the shed will come in to the garage to the enclosed bay. I will post pictures when construction begins.

Who says sheep are dumb?

Today we put the boys in a temporary pen out front where there are more greens. They've pretty much eaten everything in their pasture down to the ground. It gives Hattie a chance to move them and everyone is happy.

I didn't want them to eat too much so went to get them after three hours. Bob asked to see if Hattie could control them walking down the driveway to the road, a test to see if walking around the road to a neighbor's pasture is possible. We detoured down the drive and all went well. Bob was impressed and the boys enjoyed the chance to expand their horizons before heading back to the pasture.

Later I could see from the kitchen window they weren't happy being back. They stood at the gate looking forlornly towards those greener lands.

Then I realized something was wrong. One of the boys was on the wrong side of the gate - but I had left them all inside! By the time I hobbled outside (my arthritic knees prevent a run or even a fast paced walk) all the boys were out and heading towards the nearest Shore Pine with hopes of stripping it to shreds. 

Hattie shines at times like this, as she has no problem running. Off she went to gather the boys to me and save my tree. What would I do without this dog? 

The sheep were either very lucky or watched me wrap the chain around the fence post and figured out how to unhook it. I had to find a more secure way to latch it and am thinking I'd better find a way to secure the other gate which is even easier to open than this one. Well, I can't blame them for wanting to get out where there is so much to eat. Tomorrow they can spend the entire day in the front pen and happily gorge on fresh greens.