This makes 3 cats in 3 months; seven within the past 12 months. It is getting old.
Yesterday I took our old and very beat up cat Ratty (whom we've only had with us 18 months) to the vet because he's been listless and very thin and I couldn't get him to eat. I truly expected that it would be thyroid or kidney or something treatable. Instead, the vet said it was end-stage feline AIDS, his blood count was down so low the vet said it was amazing he was still alive, and he recommended euthanasia. As he said, 'You could put a lot of money, time, effort, and heart into this and it's a losing battle...he's got 1 maybe 2 weeks left." So there you go. I feel terrible. Just terrible. I keep thinking I should have just brought him home instead. I trust my vet; I know he would never have recommended this if he didnt truly believe it was the only way to go. Still...
I think it's all just been too much lately. I don't have time to get over one shock before another comes. Granted, Ratty was a very old and very sick cat and I knew he did not have a long happy life ahead of him, but I never expected it to be NOW.
***
Well, the best thing for me is to work. So this morning I got the 2 clumps of iris lifted out of the Front Bed. Then I laid out where I want my "dry stream" to run thru the Front Bed, down to the little retaining wall. I scraped out a shallow path for it, then laid in a band of chicken wire more to just mark it and get the curves right than for anything else. Weighted it down with a few big pebbles. I think it's going to look pretty good. I would love to get gray pebbles for this, but I'm afraid all I'm going to find is golden/sand color. So will have to make do...
I replanted some of the iris in the Front Bed; once those 2 clumps were divided, I ended up with a big amount of iris. I think some will go into the Top Border (that hot dry site seems ideal for iris; they thrive up there), and I think the remainder will go into the North Shrub border/Rose Border where I widened and extended it.
I've been debating where to move the purple New England Asters that are growing at the very top of the Storybook Garden. They are just not doing well there...they really like moist, almost swampy ground and it's just too exposed and dry there. I finally decided that I'll lift them and move them to the Long Border along the wooden fence. They'll have the conditions they like, that spot needs some fall color, and the fence will be good support for these tall asters.
My order of iris finally arrived: one each of Devil's Riot (a gift for a friend), Lights Camera Action, Blueberry "something or other", Devil Baby (temporarily in the Top Border, but destined for the Scary Garden), and Deliciously Different (this is a beige/orange/white fluffly flower that R picked out to mark Tucker's grave).
I got these from Schreiner's and despite being in transit for a week in these hot temps, they look good.
***
We had torrential rains a few days ago, but no end to this truly awful heat and humidity. I am really getting anxious to do a lot of fall "moving and shaking" in the garden, but I hesitate to lift most plants in these conditions. I know I should do some concrete work and excavation around the place, but Ugh, it's just terrible to work outside, even in the early morning. It's cool, but so thick with humidity I break a sweat just walking down to the garden shed!
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| Ratty by glengarry23 | Sep 4, 2015 7:27 PM | 0 |
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