Well, another delayed posting but I have a good reason – Gert’s been keeping me quite busy post-surgery. Surgery didn’t go exactly as planned – the cataract was so bad that she hemorrhaged while the operation was being performed. The doctor told me it would be 20-25 minutes and 60 minutes later, I was really getting concerned. The nurse at the counter continued to assure me that she was fine so I went back to my book, still uneasy. Well, she was ‘fine’ but not quite ‘dandy.’ I went to the recovery room where she was all bandaged up and cracking jokes with the nurses so I felt better, although she reported that the doctor, during the operation (where she was awake), said ‘Uh oh – we have a problem…’ Maybe not the best bedside manner ever. Anyway, she’s had quite a bit of pain during recovery, prompting 2 additional visits to the doctor to check the healing. She’s healing as expected at least. Aftercare includes drops every 4 hours which she was not the least bit interested in learning how to do herself. So, my days are based around 4 hour windows – at least it forces me to plan activities while I’m usually much more of a free-spirited girl.

John was instrumental in moral support during the first week of aftercare. He stayed right here by our sides, making runs to stores, dealing with dogs, making dinner, etc while I focused on Mom. She’s feeling much better now and has another follow up visit today to the doctor. I’m hoping he can take the stitches out soon as they’re creating daily discomfort still. But, I think we’re past the worse of it. Hopefully.

I find it interesting that we Burdoo women tend to lose our sense of humors when we’re ill. It’s the first thing to go and the first thing to come back. Returning humor means we’re on the mend. The other night, after I had chided Mom for quite loud burping and no ‘excuse me,’ (well, we weren’t born in barns….) she was in the kitchen where she let a loud one rip. I was in the livingroom and just decided to let it go. She tottled into the livingroom a short while later, sat down with a loud sigh and said ‘I have a question – if someone burps and no one hears it, does the someone still have to say ‘excuse me? Is it like a tree that falls in the forest and no one hears.’ After laughing, I replied that I’d heard it, loud and clear. She looks at me and says ‘Oh….. . Excuse me.’ Needless to say, we rolled.

Worked on a new oatmeal cookie recipe which John deemed ‘cookie store worthy.’ Mom liked them too, but I could tell that the original oatmeal/raisins were still the favorite. Eh, it’s good to mix it up once in a while. We’ll see how Sophia ranks them as I froze some for her. She’s a fan of almost anything baked.

John and I are mixing up a batch of wine which should be done around the holidays – problem is we set it up in the corner of the living room to ferment and the entire living room now smells like a winery. Not bad at happy hour, not so good during early morning coffee...

Our Christmas mice have returned…sigh. Mom saw one run across the kitchen floor 2 nights ago with 3 dogs in close pursuit. Of course, not one of the dogs let out a bark to alert me that anything special was going on. Nice. They bark like crazy at ‘intruders’ walking on ‘their road’ but a real threat in the house? Nah, they’ll just deal with it themselves – Not.

Anyway, upon close inspection, it looked like it was just one mouse (I’m pretty good at judging numbers…usually) and, this mouse must have liked alcohol as it had nibbled on a bunch of my wine corks. Interesting. Never had an alcoholic mouse before. So, I set traps.

Got up this morning and slowly opened the drawers to check the ‘take.’ Had 2 unfortunate suspects which I ceremoniously dumped in the trash outdoors. Opened the last drawer (where the corks were stored) and found myself peering eye to eye with Mickey, in the (living) flesh. And, he wasn’t the least bit perturbed by the drawer opening as he kept nibbling away at the peanut butter on the trap. He was tiny, a baby. I slowly closed the drawer, feeling pretty badly about the expected demise of said baby.

Sat in the living room waiting a while before re-checking. I opened the drawer and found him, still alive, but his little paw was caught in the trap. Oh good grief. Ugh. This wasn’t good. Not good at all, especially for me, the ultimate animal lover. I was torturing a mouse....

I quickly considered the options – death by drowning (couldn’t), death by trash (just really couldn’t allow it to starve to death, in pain, in the trash can), death by broken neck (since, in a past life, I’d killed quite a few lab mice, I know how to do this but have put those skills behind me..) a trip to the vet (a ridiculous option, even to me). So, apologizing profusely, I threw a kitchen towel over the entrapped beast and took the entire bundle outside to the far side of the driveway where I pried the trap open and let him go.

Now, Mom and I live on 1.68 acres. You’d think, with all that land around, he’d take off for wide open spaces. After all, in all of those Disney specials, the mice are dancing in fields, moonlight shining on their furry heads. But, Nooooo…this was no Disney mouse. He ran quickly, listing heavily left, right over my foot (leaving a small trail of blood…ugh), straight back to the safety of his nice warm house. This mouse probably had never been outside, dancing on two feet in the moonlight. And, I couldn’t catch up to him so, now, I have a handicapped mouse in the basement somewhere. I doubt that his crushed paw will stop him from re-entering the cork drawer so, tonight, I shall put out a small dish of wine for him…..poor thing, he deserves that much.

Ah well…..as long as he stays out of the good Bourbon, I suppose that’s ok for a bit. I do plan on having a sit-down talk with the dogs today though. They evidently don’t understand the rules…If Barley was here, he at least would have howled, but he's 'on vacation' with John's folks up in West Virginia. Figures. The one time I need his loud voice, and he's away....