Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Quiet Thankfulness


The thunder is rolling in and Miss HoneyLuna is tucked up nicely in bed in the Panther Room, her knee elevated and getting iced for thirty minutes every hour.

(May- I should have bought that cute little chicken timer yesterday. Dang.)

The surgery went fine. It was a fairly long wait, of course, but that's to be expected. I brought Larry McMurtry's new book, Rhino Ranch and I'm liking it. Mr. McMurtry, when he's on his game, dazzles and delights me. And then he'll turn around and crank out a book that leaves me completely baffled at how such a good writer can do THAT. Rhino Ranch is the last book in the series that started with The Last Picture Show, and then went on to Texasville, Duane's Depressed (one of my all-time favorite books by anyone and I don't know exactly why but it is) and When The Light Goes (which sucked the big weinie but please don't tell Mr. McMurtry I said so). I adore and admire him and I think he wrote us the great American novel in Lonesome Dove.

Anyway, like I said, it all went fine and it turned out I knew one of the OR nurses from way, way back in the day and it was good to see her. And Mr. Moon came and waited for awhile after the surgery so I could go out and get some sushi from Publix and eat it in the car.

HoneyLuna's so sweet. I mean, damn. She woke up giggling and is smiling now, as you can see.

They had told her that her knee might hurt her but she can't hurt it and that's reassuring. She borrowed some crutches but they don't come up anywhere near her armpits and she's already hobbling around without them but not much. She's mostly sleeping with the dogs and the TV on which is a pretty cozy thing to do, especially now that it's raining.
And it is. It's coming down.

I noticed this morning that my little hen, Miss Penny, had been pecked in the back of the head. It upset me and when we got home this afternoon I went out to check on her and it looked sort of worse- like bloody and maybe pecked to the brain although I didn't exactly get out a flashlight and explore.
I freaked. Then I came in and mixed up some healing glop- antibiotic ointment with a lot of golden seal powder in it. At the very least, the golden seal tastes nasty and I don't think Suzie (and I feel surely that Suzie or her evil minion, Mabel have been the perps) will want to go back for seconds if she gets some in her beak. I put Miss Penny back in the nursery coop but that was terrible. She freaked, being isolated, and the hens tried to peck at her through the screen so I separated off the breezeway again, big chicks on one side, babies on the other.
They all have shelter and food so that's okay.
I hope Miss Penny doesn't die.
I called Kathleen because she's my chicken guru and she said I'd done all the right things. We agreed that we have the big brains and it's hard to try and understand the little brain creatures sometimes. We don't think like they do. And I'm not mad at Suzie or Mabel- they're doing exactly what they're supposed to be doing. And Miss Penny, who is always the first one out of the shoot when I come out with treats and eager to eat out of my hand, needs to be put in her place. In the pecking order. Which makes me sad but not angry.

I wonder if Kathleen's big brain theory has anything to do with not being able to understand the crazies who think that if we get a better health care system in place it'll bring down our nation.

Oh. I guess that's rude because it implies that those are the LITTLE brain people.

How ugly of me to say something like that.

Oh motherfucking well, as Ms. Bastard might say.

And it's hard to be angry right now anyway, what with HoneyLuna's surgery over and her being all cozy asleep with a tummy full of quesadillas that she wanted as her post-op meal. That girl was hungry! And she wanted quesadillas with cheese and tomatoes and avocados and that's what she got. Tonight I'm cooking another one of her favorites- salmon with spinach and edamame beans. Mr. Moon doesn't really like to eat any fish he didn't catch but sometimes ya just gotta eat some salmon, right? And I grew the edamames so that counts, don't you think?

Thank-you all for the good wishes sent my baby's way. I'm sure it helped.

She's fine, she's happy and that means that all is well and all is as it should be, once again.

Except for Miss Penny and we'll just have to see how that goes.

Bless her little chicken heart and her pretty little face and her fine little spirit. She's not really my baby but she sort of is. And I'd hate to see her go.

23 comments:

  1. Good to see that smiling face.

    I hope Miss Penny recovers.

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  2. She's the prettiest post-op patient I've ever seen.

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  3. Oh, Good! Even in a strange position and doped up on good stuff, you daughter is stunning. You can tell her a lesbian said so:)

    Could you please stop calling it health care? It's closer to death apathy and you know it.

    I love edamame.

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  4. Hooray for HoneyLuna and good luck with Miss Penny.

    It must be going well if she was hungry and eating quesadillas. That's just ridiculous after surgery.

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  5. Aw, glad your daughter is doing OK.

    Poor chicken!

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  6. Hope both of your girls are back to prime health in no time!

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  7. Wow. She IS smiley and giggly. I thought it was just the meds. I'm glad it went well.

    I understand the need for quesadillas. I insisted on BBQ after my last out-patient surgery. It was SO. GOOD.

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  8. for a very brief spell I co owned a pheasant farm. We had almost everything ready for them by the time they arrived, but not enough separation conditions. In the night shortly after we acquired 10,000 pheasants, we heard an awful racket in the night. In our scanty nightclothes we went out expecting to find fox or something like that, instead we saw a full scale frenzy in progress....something I never want to witness again in my life. Not a pheasant left in the end. We packed a car and left quietly in the night- we were of course ruined as well.

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  9. Good news -- and I positively snorted when you described the little brain/big brain stuff -- especially when it comes to politics!

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  10. Steph- Isn't she darling?

    May- Um. Well. There was you, darling girl. Don't make me cry. I mean it.
    Love you.

    Ms. Windy- Okay. I'll quit calling it health care. I read HoneyLuna what you said about her and she giggled. Me too.

    Mwa- She's still a child. And she was HUNGRY!

    Nicol- I'll do an update on Miss Penny tomorrow, I'm sure. Thank-you, sweetie.

    Rachel- Me too!

    Ms. Trouble- Barbeque allows us to know we are alive and that life is good.

    Mr. Berry- Oh. My. God. That is the saddest story about birds I've ever heard. But I can totally see that happening. Bless y'all's heart.

    Elizabeth- Are you saying you have no more manners than I do? Shame on you!

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  11. I think I'd volunteer for surgery for a chance to have some of your cooking and watch old movies all day with you! =) And hang out with the chickens, of course. Hope Miss Penny is hanging in there.

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  12. I hope Ms Penny will fare as well as Ms Honey Luna.

    We will bring Harley's card over tomorrow.

    Give that girl a hug.
    pf

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  13. So glad Honeyluna is doing so well and having great care! Best wishes for Miss Penny.

    Goodness, Charlie, that was traumatic and awful! A big bless your heart on that one!

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  14. Glad the knee surgery went well! I hope the healing goes as well.

    Aww, poor miss penny! I hope her healing goes well too.

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  15. It's good that everyone is OK at your house, but gosh, I don't even like it when my cats fight and they don't try to peck each other to death.

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  16. SJ- Oh. I don't think it's worth it.

    Ms. Fleur- See you when you get here.

    Joy- Thanks!

    Lora- Me too.

    dsmacron- Cats can tear each other up pretty badly though. I hate it when that happens.

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  17. Thanks for the nod, darling Ms. Moon. That shit made me laugh.

    Please give Ms. HoneyLuna a BIG hug for me.

    I'm pretty sure that George W. Bush is a little-brained person. I think we're safe to say that.

    It also made me laugh that Suzie and Mabel are attack chickens. With names like those, it just seems so hysterical. I had an aunt named Mabel. She was as nice as pie.

    BIG LOVE,

    SB

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  18. I hope HoneyLuna's recovery and pain go as well through out as they have for the first few hours. Surgery of any kind is never easy.

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  19. Windy Days,
    Death apathy was great. Hats off for that one.

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  20. I'm just catching up, glad to hear the surgery went well.

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  21. my dear...your baby and my babies all had edamame for dinner. though i didn't grow our beans.

    peace to your whole clan.

    xo

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  22. Ms. Bastard- My Mabel might be nice baked into a pie. A chicken pot pie. I have Miss HL your hug.

    Marsha- Day two has been a little tougher.

    DTG- I think you're caught up by now.

    Ginger- Thank-you, sweetie.

    Adrienne- My edamames were small but yummy. I'm sure yours were good too.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.