This and That

So, I've decided to split today's post into two or maybe even three posts because there is so much that needs to be posted.  That could be because I've been busy and am several days behind in my posting.  So this first post is a mish mash of things that I wanted to post.

First, my darling little girl, who got into really big trouble last night.  We all went to the local mexican place for dinner and we left her home.  We always lock her in my bedroom when we go because the one time I didn't, she left the house (through the cat door) and a neighbor found her heading for the highway.  Well, the girls and I had been snacking on raisins the other night while watching tv and since our program ended pretty late, the box of raisins got left in my room.  Casey hates being left home alone and sometimes she gets into things when we do it.  Raisins are not a good thing for a dog to get into.  We didn't know if she ate any (she did) or how many (not many) so the first thing we did was induce vomiting and the second thing was to haul her to the all night emergency vet clinic.  They did a baseline blood test, made her vomit again, gave her fluids and gave her something to make the vomiting stop.  This afternoon, we had to go back for a second blood test to determine if there is anything that looks like the beginning of renal failure.  There isn't yet, but they don't know how long it takes or how many raisins are dangerous or even what it is in raisins that causes the problems.

That was the most expensive box of raisins ever!  And she darn well better be ok.

Now for some pretty flowers.  It's been so hot and so dry here that we are losing even more of our landscaping.  We've lost almost all the rhododendrons out front and about half the azaleas.  I discovered today that we've lost more than half the azaleas in the backyard - including all the ones above the top of the waterfall.  We lost most of the pieris in the backyard a few years back but we had two beautiful ones that we managed to keep alive but they are really struggling now.  I'm just so tired of no rain . . . we do have a couple of flowers blooming tho and they are pretty.

And last, but not least . . . two of my pretty cool marginals . . . the pandan which is an asian food plant (wish I knew a recipe to try it in) and variegated and green costus which I'm hoping will bloom eventually.