Lessons in January

It's mid January and still here. The ducklings are growing their first real feathers and swiming like, well like ducks, and the chickens are starting to produce more eggs much to my wife's delight. A stack of pea's has germinated on the window sill, twisting towards the light while the Sun filters through the broken tree trunks left over from Katrina. It has been a very productive weekend. From getting my hardwood floors installed to the mulch piles turned and the trash burned (left over boxes from my floors). Didn't discover the meaning of life but did get four green colored chicken eggs started in the incubator. I'm trying out my egg turner for the first time too.

Discovered a festering pair of sores on the bottom half of my dogs throat while giving her a bath yesterday. For weeks I thought she had rolled in something dead, like some rats she's been known to chase down, but instead she had these weeping necrotic sores caused by the electric dog collar. Not really sure why she would develop them now, after years of wearing one without incident, but maybe her advancing years has lowered her immunity and allowed an opportunistic infection to set in. A good lesson to the apocalyptically minded, like us, that infection can quickly do you in. It also revealed what was missing from my medical pantry, an unbelievable item - AAA ointment or neosporin. I had equipment to intubate or suture someone but didn't have something so mundane as neosporin. That quickly was remedied with a quick trip to Walgreens and the purchase of 4 bottles. It just goes to show you that the best prepared medical personnel can missed something so common and so important. I could kick myself. Plus it revealed how important it was to organize my medical supplies rather than dig through a 2' deep box that my wife had put together. We are still renovating this home of ours and things are discombobulated.

Outside tonight the air grows crisp and cool after a brisk cold front swept through last night. I can hear the town's revelers and drunks firing off fireworks leftover from New Years and shouting at the night sky - THE SAINTS WON! They are finally going to the Superbowl, and it reminded me of the Gladiator scene where Maximus kills the Emperor, the Roman drunken hordes screaming and throwing confetti, while the Roman Empire crumbles at the border. The border is definitely crumbling my friends.