Tag: grass

Up & Up & Up

An American bittern stands with its next stretched out against a backdrop of green grasses at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge in Washington

Bitterns can look like a football with a head attached so it always amazed me when they’d stand and stretch their necks up, and up, and up. Useful for seeing over tall grasses and also as a defensive pose, I saw them do it multiple times when bald eagles soared high overhead, although the subterfuge worked best when the grasses were brown instead of green. I was never quite sure how they distinguished the distant eagles from other birds of prey but I did a quick check of the skies if a bittern I had been watching suddenly struck a thin vertical pose.

Coping Strategy

A close-up view of our dog Ellie's face as she relaxes with her mouth open in the backyard

Ellie did really well during her recovery, but she did develop a coping mechanism — if I gave her a command she didn’t want to follow, she’d turn her head slightly to the side as if to say, “I’m not being willfully disobedient, it’s just that I can’t hear you, what with my head turned like this and all.” It was such a subtle gesture I didn’t catch on at first, but after a while it became unmistakable. I suppose I should be insulted at my dog’s estimate of my intelligence but it was so cute it just made me laugh. She’d always obey if my tone indicated she needed to, so I let it slide.

Oh Baby Hedgehog! How I’ve Longed For This Moment!

Our dog Ellie stares at her toy baby hedgehog that she tossed at my feet as we play in the grass in our backyard in Portland, Oregon

One nice thing about how well Ellie is healing is that she can now join me in the backyard like before, minus the running and jumping. That even means the return of baby hedgehog to outside time as long as she doesn’t get too rambunctious. She had tossed it to me here, wanting to play like in days of old, but we’re not ready for that yet. I’ve adapted baby hedgehog play since she first got her surgery, matching it to her allowed activity level. We started off with a game where she didn’t need to move anything but her head, to now where she can be more mobile but doesn’t need to run and jump.

The Patient Patient

Our dog Ellie relaxing in the backyard in February 2010

I took Ellie back to the surgeon on Thursday to get her sutures out and they were really pleased with her progress. She’s feeling much better and ready to get back to hedgehogging, but unfortunately for her she still has another six weeks of taking it easy before she goes back for x-rays to see if the bones have healed. We’ll keep her on a light dose of sedatives for a bit, just enough to take her edge off, as she’s more than ready to run and jump and do all the things she shouldn’t yet. But by and large, our girl remains as sweet as ever and has been more patient with her recovery than I expected.

The Life & Death of a Hedgehog

Our dog Ellie lies beside her baby hedgehog dog toy in the backyard in February 2010
Don’t be fooled baby hedgehog, that’s no log you lie beside! Look at those sharp teeth! Chop chop!
Our dog Ellie lies on her back and prepares to grab her baby hedgehog dog toy while playing in the backyard in February 2010
Oh no! I can’t watch! Run, baby hedgehog, run!
Our dog Ellie lies on her back and holds her baby hedgehog in her mouth with the aid of her front paws while playing in the backyard in February 2010
Oh the hedgehogganity!

These pictures are from earlier in the year, Ellie remains on strict bed rest although her recovery is going well. She’s finished with the ice pack treatments, which she didn’t like but accepted well enough.

She remains on medication, after several unsuccessful attempts with other foods, we’ve settled on hotdogs as the preferred delivery mechanism. We tried various cheeses but she kept breaking apart the cheese and spitting out the pills. It’s a pretty impressive skill really and Ellie proved a quick study. The hotdogs, however, are so eagerly accepted that Templeton remains the undisputed master of pill befuddlery.

Grounded

Our dog Ellie lying down in the backyard in February 2010

Ellie’s leg woes continue. She’s had a bit of a limp so I took her to the vet today and she thinks it might be a torn ligament. Ellie is getting anti-inflammatory pills for a couple of days and then she will probably have to go back in to see what comes next. She’s isolated to the basement now with no activity, not even a walk, and certainly no hedgehogging.

Poor girl.