Snowshine Sun, Dog Soreness, and Raven Disgust

The last Monday of the old year has been a memorable one, for sure. First, it has finally stopped snowing here, and we are almost finished digging out (as a municipality). One side of our street has been plowed, and we expect the other side to be done sometime before spring. Our own walkways and driveways have been cleared and re-cleared over the course of the last four days or so. I am pretty sure the entire neighborhood is about tired of shoveling, snow blowing, vehicle pushing, etc. As a bonus, today, the sun came out for the first time in about forever.

Secondly, Ripken had another operation to remove some tumors from his torso. He had a similar operation last year at this time. None of the tumors were on his head, but he had one right on his sternum, so he is having a hard time finding a comfortable position to lay in. He is looking pretty miserable, six hours after his operation, but, after he keeps some food down and has a baby aspirin, he should be feeling better.

In an irrelevant vein, compared to the dog's recovery, I suffered the frustration and helpless disgust that is watching your NFL team basically outplay their rivals AGAIN, yet still lose due to boneheaded penalties and a lack of execution. Most likely, the Ravens will beat the Raiders on Sunday and make the playoffs, but, if they keep playing like they have (and nothing indicates that they won't), a loss wouldn't surprise me, but a deep run in the playoffs would.

Finally, we made a pretty tasty potato soup for lunch today, and we still have about ten pounds of gifted potatoes to get through!

Update Four: Cuttin' Heads

Friday of last week, Ripken Ozark had some elective surgery. He's had some benign bumps on his body for some time, but recently, the size of one and the appearance of a cyst on puppy dog's head led the vet to surmise that some removal would be a good idea. He was pretty groggy on Friday, after four incisions, over twenty stitches, and some powerful anesthesia. But, being the good dog that he is, he has needed only a few reminders not to lick or scratch, and he takes his antibiotics (much smaller this time than the horse pills he had the last time he had stitches) like a champ (with a little cheese persuasion).

He spent his first day by himself today, and it appears that he is well on his way to recovery. His stitches come out in about eleven more days.

Wish the pup a speedy recovery!