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There is always more to learn about orchids. C. walkeriana is one of only two species of Cattleya that grows it's flower spikes from an independent growth coming from the base of a mature rhizome, not from the top of the pseudobulb. A new pseudobulb or a flower spike will start off looking exactly the same. Until either a leaf or buds grows out the top it's hard to tell which one it's going to be.
This is the text from the discharge:
Maggie is a 7 year old labrador retriever who was referred for evaluation of lethargy, coughing ,labored breathing due to diffuse invasive nodules throughout all of her lung lobes . She has crackles and abnormal lung sounds on both sides of her chest. We performed a fine needle aspiration of a nodule that was identifiable and localizeable with ultrasound. The tissue samples have been submitted to the laboratory for confirmation of invasive lung cancer. Other considerations include diffuse granulomatous disease (an inflammatory disease that should have shown slowly progressive signs of coughing and laboring to breathe and lymphoma, a cancer that is occasionally nodular. The initial impression from the aspiration sample is that the disease is of a soft tissue cancer that may have spread to the lungs from a bone or abdominal site.
The only therapy available for Maggie would be chemotherapy but it is not the ideal therapy to treat extensive and advanced disease. We would need to perform a staging examination if you were to consider this therapy. This would include abdominal ultrasound and blood work. You may be forced to consider euthanasia if she does not rally and resume eating .
We are sorry for the bad news but there is always a kernel of good news in all bad news. In this case she has not suffered with her disease for many months as so many dogs afflicted with cancer do.
I'm just quickly uploading this outtake as a goodwill gesture to show that I'm not dead and my 365 project has been continuing, though I haven't uploaded for over a week.
This shot was from a bunch taken for my university project, which by mid-january, I should happily be able to upload on here without having any paranoid fears about people stealing my work.
Remodeled Bathroom.
The first phase of updating our 1865 limestone farmhouse is now finished: a new kitchen, bathroom, library and screened porch along with some other improvements. Getting ready to move on to other areas of the house as we work to maintain this as a weekend getaway and family retreat for years to come.
The funeral went well on Monday. I'd even go so far as to say it was 'enjoyable'. It really was - seeing everything come together as you'd hoped, and seeing old friends and family too.
I got to meet my new great nephew - the delightfully cute Noah, aged just six months old. A new life. It's a cliche, I know, but babies at a funeral really ARE a comfort. I fell in love with him a little right there and then.
The canon who did the service was very good, and the music we chose to play worked perfectly, too. Happenstance had it that it was the same canon who did my dad's funeral ceremony four years ago: I'd never felt that that service did my dad justice - it left me feeling a bit hollow that we were all in such a state of shock we weren't able to string enough memories together to do my dad proud on the day he was buried. That was something that had haunted me a bit. So to have the same chap do my mum's funeral, and this time for it to go incredibly well with plenty of good celebratory stuff being said about both her and my dad was kind of a 'putting right' of that past mistake as well. We did them both proud.
It was the most glorious sunny spring day. Clear blue sky, cold air but warm afternoon sun on our backs. I could hear what at first I thought were skylarks singing somewhere off in the distance, but I think it was actually robins. Anyway, they sounded great as we stood there under the sun.
Signs. Ah yes, signs! Both natural and electric.
When we went to see my mum's body laying in the chapel of rest (not a great experience, I've gotta say) my brother asked her to show him a sign that there was some kind of afterlife, a sign that she could hear him and that was now okay and with dad.
I didn't know this until I pointed out that it looked like all the wind turbines in the distance that we were driving towards were standing stock still in silhouette, as though they were standing motionless out of respect for us on our difficult afternoon. That was when he pointed out he'd asked for some sign from mum, and we both remembered the turbines rotating as usual when we drove past them on the way there... My brother had never seen them standing still before. They looked so sombre, aware almost.
I said "okay, I'll have that then! ... and now I'm trying to dampen down my thought that it was probably just a little man underground throwing an 'off' switch ".
A few minutes later we came over the brow of a hill. Two red kites were soaring above us, riding the thermals from the valley. They drifted overhead - a pair of them - slow and majestic, circling, as we passed beneath them in the car. Ah, okay then. So here's my sign. Take that, doubting Thomas. Cheers mum.
Another pair circled above us as we drove over on the morning of the funeral as well. Low that time, looking very large.
: )
The other thing's been niggly electrics. My hot water tank at home has bust, and the ignition unit on my central heating boiler has broken down now, too. So it's been a bit chilly round here. Happily the boiier engineer has left me a fan heater to use today while we wait for a replacement part. Fixed on friday, hopefully.
The funeral director pointed out to us on the drive back that these odd things tend to come in threes. The third thing? The car which was supposed to drive me and my brother home from the funeral after we left the grave side went and broke down as well. The immobiliser wouldn't switch off. They'd never known that happen before. So there we were sitting in this car for five minutes, watching the guys completely befuddled as they tinkered with it. We ended up being driven home in the hearse.
It was a good day, and a powerful one, and I'm very glad that it is done. A significant weight feels like it's been lifted off.
I didn't really believe in an afterlife before, more a transference of energies into this great big web of life in which we all play a part. But things that have happened in the past week have made me change my mind. To be expected of course, as you get older and experience loss and need to try and make sense of it. However, it's now very much a comfort to me to think that there's the possibility of at least a 'knowing' afterwards, when you die.
Mum wanted my brother and I to be happy. She died knowing that I was. That makes me happy in itself. : )
Baby is eating well and made his/her way to the rails. But this sweet little one needs all the prayers we have. Please pray and send good thoughts for Samson & Gabrielle, too. Gretchen of AEF gave the updates, the second one notes that baby is healthy right now.
AEF UPDATE: gretchen_AEF#1945
Today at 9:49 AM AEF cam staff diligently monitors and inspects the adults and eaglets through the season. On February 20th, our volunteer staff noticed the appearance of two lesions on NE24, after consultation with our veterinary staff, we believe the eaglet is showing symptoms of a potential Avipoxvirus (also known as Avian pox) infection.
Avian Pox is common in warm, humid areas, and can be traced to seasonal mosquito increases.
Avian Pox can range from mild to severe. In mild to moderate cases, it can cause permanent scarring, with more severe cases, fatalities can occur.
The Northeast Florida (NEFL) Nest is a wild nest and infections such as Avian Pox can naturally take place. American Eagle Foundation policy, crafted in conjunction with USFWS guidelines, prohibits interference in a wild nest unless the situation can be directly linked to a man-made threat. As always, we hope for the best with all of our eagle cam families, but we must advise viewer discretion.
To learn more about avian pox, visit the links provided below.
www.northeastwildlife.org/disease/avian-pox
www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-350-79136_79608_85016-26362...
wildlifedisease.unbc.ca/avian_pox.htm 4 8 9
And then Gretchen's next UPDATE: gretchen_AEF#1945 Today at 9:50 AM GOOD NEWS: NE24 is thriving, eating like a champ, healthy ps, casted 2 pellets so far, active and chatty, and the pin feathers are poking thru! 🙏
Vanaf maandag 10 oktober tot vrijdag 28 oktober 2022 wordt in opdracht van het Agentschap Wegen & Verkeer de Knokkestraat ter hoogte van het Maurice Lippensplein afgesloten omwille van aanpassingswerkzaamheden aan de bestaande fiets- en voetgangersoversteek. Deze werken hebben tot doel om de fietsers en voetgangers vlotter en veiliger te laten oversteken op de Knokkestraat. De herinrichting zorgt ook voor een betere circulatie van het autoverkeer omdat auto's die op het rondpunt richting Heist willen rijden niet langer hoeven te wachten terwijl voetgangers en fietsers de Knokkestraat oversteken. Het fiets- en voetpad zal een ander traject volgen in de nieuwe aanleg. Om dit mogelijk te maken worden er 2 bomen gerooid en zullen er een 5-tal nieuwe bomen worden teruggeplaatst. Het oude voet- en fietspad worden onthard (+/- 270 m²) en ingezaaid met gras en aangeplant met nieuwe bomen.
Verkeersmaatregelen
- Het doorgaand verkeer wordt in de beide rijrichtingen omgeleid via Duinenwater.- Voor de fietsers is er een plaatselijke omleiding voorzien.- Voetgangers zullen slechts beperkte hinder ondervinden van de werkzaamheden.
Caleb's lake at night. I feel like the picture turned out a bit funky with the partially healed bits, and one big ol' scar.... So I may have to update with a healed picture. We did tons of little details and highlights, sculpted out the trees a bit, and touched up this gnarly scarred area in the clouds that with trial and error, we figured was a freak accident between over-ointmenting and over-working maybe.... At first we thought it was a purple reaction, but the next session he got a tiny bit of the same in a green spot. So we decided he should semi-dry heal it, and it's been smooth sailing since...