Suddenly, in the space of just a few days, it has turned into a beautiful early summer.
Maya and I have just come back from a long walk. The woods are thick with bluebells and flowering wild garlic. Ferns are unrolling in the shade. All the trees have new, light-green leaves that let the sunlight speckle through.
In a field, we saw hares playing. One of them ran up to within ten feet of us before turning tail and racing off.
This kind of weather makes me happy.
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As those of you who read Steph's journal (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) stephanieburgis) know, we took Maya into see an orthopaedic specialist yesterday to have her shoulder properly looked at. We had to leave her there for the day so she could be put under, have her X-rays done, some sample fluids taken from her shoulder and her joint 'manipulated'. Needless to say, we found the whole thing enormously stressful and worrying.
Luckily, she came through the general anaesthetic just fine, although she's got an enormous shaved patch on her shoulder and smaller patches on her leg and neck. She's also, I think, a bit uncomfortable following the whole procedure.
Unfortunately, we didn't get to the see the vet when we picked Maya up, because he had to go home sick, and so we collected Maya from a nurse who didn't know much about the whole thing. The vet has prescribed Maya some very strong painkillers for the joint, and I've got to say, I'm not really happy with this. Maya is only about 4 years old. If she's to be on painkillers for the rest of her life, I think this would be a really bad thing. All drugs have side-effects, and I certainly wouldn't want to spend the rest of my life popping that kind of pills. I'm also not convinced that Maya was actually in pain from her shoulder. Certainly she had some moments of discomfort, particularly after she'd run around a lot, but nothing that seemed to impact her quality of life or her liveliness. It just doesn't seem that she was in need of really strong painkillers for it.
We're booked in to see the vet again in a couple of weeks, and we've decided, reluctantly, to put her on the painkillers until then. But unless they has some miraculous results before then, I just can't see us agreeing to keep her on them. It might be that we have to put her on painkillers later in life, but not now.
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Down in the valley this morning, where the wild garlic is just sprouting (too early), Maya met a beautiful golden-haired dog. I'm not sure what breed he was. He looked a bit like a border collie in shape, but his fur was a uniform light-gold, like a lighter version of a retriever. Whatever he was, he and Maya hit it off immediately. They played in circles, dancing around each other, and doing gentle chasing. Maya loves other dogs, but she's a little bit nervous. Whether that's because her bad shoulder makes it a bit hard for her to manoeuvre or simply because she doesn't meet enough other dogs off-leash, I don't know, but when she does meet one she can play with, she's in heaven. Even after she and the other dog had to go their other ways (reluctantly), she raced around me in circles, full of exuberance. It's wonderful to see her so happy.
This evening, we were watching a nature documentary about white wolves in the north of Canada. When they started howling, I don't think I've ever seen Maya look so curious. She tilted her head backwards and forwards, trying to work out what they were saying. In the end, I'm not sure she was completely keen on their message--either that or she knew they were summoning each other back together--, because she headed up onto the couch to join her own pack and cuddled there for the rest of the evening.
Sometimes I think I spend too much time doing other things--chores, surfing, day-to-day stuff--and don't pay enough attention to Maya. Today reminded me why I should give her more time.
A gratuitous photo of Maya:
'Dragons of Mars' progress:
February 20th target:
They've escaped from the baddies, but they still need to (accidentally) destroy the steampunk-y machine. Still not sure how they're going to manage that.
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Last night, and a bit this morning, we had snow. This is not that unusual for most of you, but it's the first snow we've had in Leeds this winter, which is a little pathetic. It didn't last long, and it wasn't deep (to say the least) but Steph managed to get out there with Maya before it melted and took a few photos. Here's Maya wondering why the flowers have come out while there's still snow:
In a fit of boredom last night, we watched an episode of the British SF show 'Primeval'. Dear Heaven! It really was bad. So, if you were in a shopping mall, at night, just the four of you, and it was infested with velociraptors, would you:
a) make sure you were all armed, stick together, and keep an eye out, or,
b) leave two people unarmed, send the unarmed members to wander around alone, leave the unconscious person lying alone on the floor at the other end of the mall, and lay down your weapons out of reach?
Or perhaps you'd send in some trained soldiers, rather than an inept bunch of morons, led by a professor.
Here's a comic strip including velociraptors:
In fact, the show was kind of fun, in a totally moronic way. It was made by people who have obviously seen Buffy and Torchwood, but hadn't actually realised what made those shows work. To enjoy it, you have to be able to completely turn off your natural reaction to characters who act stupidly to allow action and plot to happen, or you have to enjoy shouting at the screen. We went for the latter. We may watch it again, but only if we're in the right mood.
'Dragons of Mars' progress:
February 20th target:
Tomorrow, I have to figure out how they're going to escape from the baddies, sabotage the machine and accidentally destroy the house. Watch this space.
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