Reminders of recovery

I'm super busy this week with working on a powerpoint for work, conference calls, and working on a big project for October, so though I have posts I really want to write, they are going to have to wait until the end of the weekend.

In the meantime, here are some cool photos I took recently that reminded me of recovery:

I happened to see these yesterday afternoon on my three-quarter eaten curly parsley plant for Clover. I originally thought they were some kind of worm, but from a quick google image search, I learned they were Black Swallowtail caterpillars. As we all know with caterpillars, they eventually metamorphose into beautiful butterflies.

I think recovery can be looked at like the life cycle of a butterfly. ( ) is my interpretation of ED recovery. Butterflies start with an egg (idea of recovery forms) In the larva stage, they are caterpillars where they eat to grow (re-feeding/weight gain) The third stage is the Chrysalis or pupa stage. This is when the caterpillar has reached its full weight/length and forms a pupa (cocoon structure) It may look like nothing is going on, but amazing transformations are taking place inside. Tissues, limbs, and organs are becoming developed for the butterfly (ED processing, change of thoughts, ideas, and actions) In the fourth and final stage, beautiful adult butterflies emerge. The butterflies shed their cocoon substance and have soft, folded wings which they must learn to fly with in order to survive and mate. (testing the waters of recovery, may be a slow process, learn to apply knowledge we have learned)

In this last stage, we learn, rediscover, and break free from the ED. We emerge more aware, more understanding, and in a healthier state of body and mind. Just like the life cycle of a butterfly continues on and on, sometimes our recovery is too. It may take more than one life cycle of a butterfly for us to finally turn into that butterfly of recovery.

Recovery is also like a tunnel. It is long and can be windy. We may feel like we are stuck in one particular spot forever, but in reality, there is always an end, an opening, a light at the end of the tunnel. At times, it is only that light that reminds us of the goal, keeps us in perspective when all feels lost or we are frustrated. Therefore, if we continue through the tunnel, we can eventually find our way out.

Note--*Caterpillar pictures were taken at night! I was quite impressed with myself!

Some signs of spring and other random photos

Here are some random spring photos from the last week or so.

Pear tree blossoms in my yard.

Pear tree in daylight.

Pear tree right after tonight's thunderstorm

This is me on the deck overlooking "the pit."
The previous owners had an above ground pool
which I requested be taken out. They took it out
but it left this gigantic hole and about a 3ft drop.
I have not decided what to do yet, but I am thinking
of making a big sand pit for the dogs.

Ladybug on a cup

A bruise I received while moving a stack of drywall walls in my shed. The dogs alerted me that something was there. Behind those walls was a large oppossum! Luckily, the dogs did not see it. I have realized that bloggers have seen various parts of my body--this bruise, my eye, and my hair.

This is my new riding lawn mower. My dad insisted I have one since my yard is so big. ED part of me said "well, I have a push mower and damn, that is a good workout." I used the new mower yesterday, and it is really quite nice-kind of relaxing. I find it ironic, because it is RED.

This is a gross, nasty "outside" only tennis ball. I had to put it up in a tree since Tovah was not keeping in on the side that had already been mowed.

This is another tennis ball and a Santa she found from the previous owners' kid. She loves to squeak the heck out of this toy. Now, I just wish I could find the collar she lost after she decided to roll in something pungent.

Happy Easter!

From my household to yours, Hank, Tovah, Daphne, and myself all wish you a safe and Happy Easter!

I admit, I bought these headbands several weeks ago just for this occasion. I would have interchanged the ears, but they were a bit antsy.

Repost: If you could never fail

I'm reposting this about the question what would you do if you knew you could not fail because I thought it was cool to find a photo that asked this exact question. Plus, it is a great question to ask yourself every now and then.




photo courtesy of Nothing is Impossible
Check out the blog. It has some really nice photos and captions. It reminds me of postsecret but with more inspirational/nostalgic stuff.

Photos from Minnesota Trip 1

Along the way, I took some photos of where we were, what we did, and what I ate.


We stayed across the street from this cheese shop in Wisconsin. If you do not know, WI is known as "America's Dairyland" and is well known for cheese. Many call them "cheeseheads" affectionately. ;-) It really is too bad I do not like much cheese, as this would have been a great taste sampler. Here is my story of my cheese aversion if you have not read it yet.


In Minnesota, however, I did eat this wonderful veggie pizza from Pizza Luce. They use Rinotta as a substitute for cheese which is made from nuts. This place really catered to vegetarians and vegans, including gluten-free items, "mock duck, chicken, and sausage," and plenty of vegetables.


While in MN, how could you not stop by Mall of America, the largest mall in the US. It is quite huge with four levels, 400 stores, a large movie theater, and an amusement park in the center. The stores are mostly chain type, so nothing real specialized. I wasn't that impressed to be honest.

On the fourth floor, the Bodies Exhibit was there. It truly was pretty amazing to see the inner parts of an entire body from head to toe. I had forgotten until looking up the website that there has been a huge amount of controversy about the "ethics" of how these bodies were produced and are shown. Wikipedia does a nice job of outlining the controversy of the various body exhibits around the world. I somehow feel slightly guilty now as I am all about obtaining and preserving cadavers in appropriate ways, as well as giving consent.

Lastly, here are a few pictures of Baxter post-surgery. As you can see there are two incisions. The small one is where they had to take part of the zygomatic arch out in order to get to the tumor better. The large incision is where they had to cut to remove the tumor. It is like a flap, and luckily, they did not have to take out bone. Therefore, they were able to reclose the flap, otherwise, it would have been open. He still has some swelling on the left side but it does seem to be slightly better. His sight in his right eye is not there yet, therefore, he keeps doing left turns. His hearing is also not there completely. All of these symptoms should be transient, so I'm hoping within a week or two, they will have dissolved. The point at the back of his head is simply from loss of muscle. I'm presuming that and the more prominence of his spine are old age-related, at least that is my hope.

I keep saying with his head shaved, he looks more "Boxerish." My dad just says, "he looks like he has had brain surgery." I'll post other pictures as he is healing. The next two weeks are crucial in making sure he gets rest, is not very active, gets all his meds, etc. Then, his sutures will be taken out, and he will get his first dose of vaccine.

Oh yeah, and poor Baxter, had several other shaved spots on his body from the IVs and heart monitoring, etc. It will probably take a good 3-6 months or more for his fur to all grow back. Maybe he'll let me put more sweaters on him? :grin:

Photos of the week

Here are some photos I've taken recently.

This is a cool dragonfly that happened to fly in and stay overnight one day.



A view from when it was flying.

My almost perfect picture of my dogs. Ahh, how cool, gray skies does wonders for these types of photos. I should also add that I had absolutely no rewards with me for this photo shoot. It still took several to capture this one, but not bad. They are learning how much Momma loves to shoot all of them together.

This is Tovah and Luna, a recent boarder. Luna, a "snorkie," belongs to my former professor. She is very small, probably like 6-8 pounds if that. These two are buddies, and Luna puts up with Tovah's barking and play gestures! I have really cute video footage on my blackberry of them playing. I just really liked this photos for the expression.

My latest crave. I'm now over the plum thing and have moved onto grapes. A week or so ago, I bought a package of green, red, and black, as well as some cute champagne grapes which turned out a lot harder to eat than expected. The mix below is grapes, bananas, blueberries, honey almonds, and french vanilla yogurt. YUM!

Some of you may remember that pretty cracked bowl way back in March. Well, I finally replaced it with this beautiful handmade, turquoise bowl my mom found at the Tamarack, a cool store/restaurant in West Virginia.

A recent disaster which I came home to. Well, not really, but stuffing everywhere. And nope, it was not the littlest one, Tovah, but rather Hank, my Aussie X, the second in command. For whatever reason, he decided he needed t destuff his dog pillow. I guess no more sweet dreams for him. :grin:


This is a wasp nest. It's pretty and all, but it's definitely not something I like seeing under the ledge of the roof!

Variety of photos from the week

More posts to be written soon, but here are some random photos and videos from the past few weeks. Right now, I'm having an insect fetish, so I keep taking close up pictures.

I think this is a great green bush cricket Video of how loud it was

Not sure what kind of bug this is












Grasshopper

Baxter's sutures









Yellow Watermelon



Elvis

Cute video of Bischon Elvis and Tovah playing. Note at the end, when Tovah is running towards the camera, barking, it is because she sees me from the window.

If Hollywood existed in just a pair of sunglasses

Well, procrastinator me has gotten most of the stuff done for my trip on Monday. Just have to pack and tie up loose ends. I finished all the dogs' stuff which is a boat load of belongings with four dogs--food, supplements, separate beds, treats, and toys. Seriously, it's like they are moving in. I'm going to have to take them two by two since my car will not fit all four, however, I'm apparently getting a bigger car very soon that will be able to hold all four on trips. Yeah!

So anyway, I'll have my computer with me. Hopefully, I can find an easy wireless connection and can do a few posts. But if not, I'll be back in a week. And if you follow me on twitter, I'll be twittering away when I can.

Since it is officially now summer, I wanted to leave everyone with some fun photos. I took these a few days ago with an old pair of doggie sunglasses I had kept.

Even though we can't bring Hollywood to the dogs (or even to us, not that we would necessarily want to anyway), the dogs can pretend they are all Hollywood-esque and stars! Of course, they are already stars in my book anyhow!


Daphne is feeling the groove in these shades.


Tovah is chillin' here. The crooked shades add some character.


I think Hank is pretending to be Stevie Wonder. Now, he just needs to add the head circling.


Baxter knows he can get all the ladies with these sunglasses. He even provides a close-up.


Baxter says it is tiring being a star.


Note--*Dogs are never tortured during any of these photo sessions, though they can appear that way at times.
*I apologize for being so negligent on blog reading/commenting/posting. Hopefully, I'll keep up better when I get back and have some more interesting posts.

A milestone of a birthday!

Happy Birthday Baxter!

Today, Baxter turns 10. I cannot believe how swiftly time has gone by. Other than the ever so present white on his muzzle, ears and the increase of stray whitish strands on his legs, he has aged well. In human years, Baxter is probably somewhere between 62-66 years old, depending on which formula you are using.

Although it is hard to admit he is getting up there, it is the inevitable truth. I know I talk a lot about my dogs, but they truly have been such constants in my life with Baxter being my first actual dog I raised on my own. I could not have asked for a better dog. He really has seen the worst and best of times in my life, and I don't know what I would have done without him. So Baxter, know that mommy loves you and thanks you from the bottom of her heart at all you have taught her thus far!

As a gift from his grandmom (my mother), he received a Nina Ottoson toy. Well, I admit I've been wanting these for the dogs for a long time, but I knew he would find it enjoyable. Here are a few photos of him playing with the dog tornado. Essentially, he has to learn to spin the bones to reveal the treats.










Once he has that, then you can make it more challenging by adding little bones over the treat slots, so the dog must learn to remove the bone to get the treats. As you can tell, Baxter quickly caught on to this and found it enjoyable.


Full set of photos here

Random sightings

I have a few blog posts in mind but am a bit tired and have to work tomorrow. So instead, I'm offering a few sightings.

From today:

-A practically bare Wal-Mart at 6 PM on Sunday

-At Wal-Mart, overheard a grandmother say, "you're not fat." The kid, a girl about age 8 or 9 said adamantly, "yes, I am." Then, she said something about her belly, but I didn't catch that.

-Found butterfly wings on the ground

-Saw four vultures sitting on a fence while two others promptly ate a pungent, dead animal

-Found a toad in the house. Tovah promptly alerted me it was there.


On Mother's Day, I made snickerdoodles, this is how they turned out


Several weeks ago, I kept seeing this garter snake at work. I have a post about that later


Last week, I found this box turtle by the side of the road and moved it to a safer place


I also found another dead bird as well. At least this one was an adult


See, what everyone misses by not living in the country. :grin:

EDIT:

For the record, the vultures are still there today, eating away.

Another photo of the bird. This was how I actually found it.