Porcupine quills and thunderstorms

I suppose it was just a matter of time before Tess introduced herself to a porcupine. The other day I saw the unmistakable trail of a porcupine across the dirt road and hoped it was dragging its tail away from my house. It may have been, but last night after I heard Tess make a queer noise, sort of a bark/yelp down at the end of the driveway. I went to find her and saw her from about 25 feet with white things sticking out of her nose and chin. Could be nothing else. She was unperturbed but I didn't have the same reaction. It was Thursday night, the vet's were closed. No choice but to remove them myself. Surprisingly, she allowed me to do it. First you have to cut the ends off of the quills, which are filled with air. They won't come out unless you do that. They have small barbs at the ends so you have to yank them quickly out. Sometimes you have to use pliers to get them out. Everything fell into place so nicely (including the quills, pun intended)--I could find the needlenose pliers, Tess let me lock her head between my knees not only to cut the ends off of the quills but also to yank them out. There weren't many, maybe a dozen or so, thankfully. I only drew blood once, the one that was in her shiny chocolate nose, and she yelped when I yanked on that one. The others were in her velvety muzzle, lower lip and chin. Chances was fascinated but kept her distance from the whole operation. Jackson snored. Tess and I were very proud of ourselves. Did she learn a lesson about porcupines? Doubtful. Will the others go through the same thing? Probable. I don't think either of the other dogs will let me do what she did.

I woke in the early morning to the sound of thunder and rain, a favorite sound in the woods. We Rogers tend to be very romantic about rain storms at Silver Lake. I got stranded in my car at Ken's yesterday in a downpour. It was pouring when I pulled into his driveway, and there he was, stuck in his woodshed, waving to me. We stayed in our respective shelters until the rain let up a bit, then went into the house for our visit.

I've been doing the work of my two clerks for the past 3 days. It's work I used to do myself, for 10 years. I got tired of doing it when it was my job and I don't much like doing it now. Besides, doing the work of 3 people is very tiring and not much fun. I'd rather just do my job, which I enjoy and which keeps me too busy. They'll both be back on Monday and will be critical of how I did their work, will gleefully point out my errors, will sigh at my stupidity.

Ken and I had a nice dinner with Ann Hord Coste, a neighbor of the Rogers camp. The Hords and the Rogers have been friends for probably 70 years. Ann is the oldest of the three children in that family--she's about 62 now. Their camp is the prototype for what a camp on Silver Lake should look like. They have a caretaker, and he rakes the woods around the buildings. I've always thought that was ridiculous, but my friends Bill, Fred and Ken do the same thing. Anyway, we had dinner with Ann and it was nice. She, being a caterer is a good cook. She also drinks a lot. Alcohol abuse runs rampant on the north shore of that lake. We had lots of rum for cocktails (Ken said "Hmmm, that's different." He drinks Southern Comfort and whiskey exclusively) with wine at dinner. You really have to put your drinking boots on to socialize in my circle of friends. We're going back there for dinner on Saturday night, so we can watch the Belmont Stakes with her. She's here alone and likes to have company. Ken said she stopped by his house at least 3 times yesterday.

Our power was out for about 4 hours yesterday. It was out when I got to Ken's, which meant he had to have his SoCo with just ice, which didn't really appeal to him but he faced it well. He usually has it with hot water. yuck. When I got home I did a crossword puzzle in total silence. The pump for the fish bowl was off and I'd forgotten how silent my house is without that noise. Very peaceful.

Biggest event of the week happened on Wednesday, when I took the day off so I could mow my lawn. I borrowed Lin's self-propelled, 6 horsepower mower. I love that machine. It took me 2 1/2 hours with that machine to mow the entire lawn, which means it would have taken twice as long with mine. The grass was nearly to my knees in spots. It was awful but now looks wonderful. When I finished Jackson went right to the middle and rolled and rolled and rolled. What a sweet boy, showing his appreciation. Now I have to make my garden look like a garden. After mowing along the stone wall I discovered the lilies I planted in Henry's memory last year are thriving. My 20-year old tea rose is not thriving, however. The central bush is pretty much dead and only the runners are surviving. They're doing well but are growing out into the lawn and I don't think you can transplant them until they're a few years older. So it looks like hell right now and the rose I love to smell is gone. Time marches on. I brought it with me from Rhode Island in 1984, it grew next to my house there.

And now I have the day to do my own work. There's a bit of interlibrary loan clerical work left to do but that won't take long and then I can get back to cataloging the opera DVD's and CD's that await me. In German and Italian, but fortunately the liner notes are in English. Hooray for English.