Young Visitor

This morning I found a fledgling robin on top of my shelves in the garage.  He was making quite a fuss and complaining loudly about my presence in the garage.  After a while, he managed to fly out the open door.  Crazy kid.  Get off my lawn!

Bad news is getting me down this morning.  My little shadow, Sam, seems to have liver disease.  His check-up two weeks ago showed his liver enzymes were in the 700s.  Normal is under 120 and last year his liver enzymes were 48.  The doctor took him off of one of his medicines and ordered a re-test in two weeks.  Yesterday, his liver enzymes had gone up to 1100.

The doctor says it could be chronic active hepatitis, a liver tumor, or gallbladder disease.  They'll need to run further tests to find out.  None of those is good news for a 13-year-old dog.

Still, he's acting fine -- to the doctor's surprise -- and he doesn't seem to be suffering at all.  He should be throwing up, refusing to eat, and lethargic.  We seem to have caught it early and maybe something can be done to help him.  I'm trying to be hopeful.  :)  See, he doesn't look sick.  I just took these pictures a few minutes ago.

Sam investigating the back yard.

Sam is ready to come inside.

Sam is vigilant for squirrels.

Maryland Sheep & Wool 2013

I haven't been into blogging very much recently, but I did want to note that my friend Lynne and I had a great little holiday going to the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival last weekend.

We drove up on Thursday and poked around Baltimore on Friday.  We saw Edgar Allan Poe's grave (Jeff claims kinship with Poe) and ate Maryland's Best Crab Cakes.

Edgar Allan Poe's Grave

Little gifts left at the gravesite -- two airline ticket receipts, one from Alaska and one from Arizona

The place for excellent crab cakes

We took a water taxi to Fells Point and looked around there for a while.  There was a museum that told about the area's history as a deep water port.

And I had a Guiness at an Irish pub there.

After a little shopping, we called it a night and drove back to Columbia where we were staying.

We had beautiful weather for the festival and, even though I had been twice before, both Lynne and I were overwhelmed by the magnitude of the event.  It was total sensory overload!  Here's some of it:

 We had a glorious two days of shopping and ogling and laughing and eating and being in the company of people who understand our obsession with wool.   In two days, I'm still not sure we saw it all.  I know I missed some of the handiwork displays.

On the way home, we stopped in Milton, WV to see the Blenko factory and watch the artisans blow glass.

 As we left the Blenko Visitors Centre, we saw these adorable Muscovy duck chicks and their mom.

 Thanks, Lynne, for a wonderful trip.  I had a great time and brought back another layer of stash for my basement.  :)