Olive and I went for her routine vet appointment last
Thursday. While Olive is generally healthy, a blood test showed that her
thyroid is not producing as it should. The vet prescribed Levothyroxine, a
supplement. My brother-in-law, a pharmacist, informed me that it is essentially
the same thing that doctors prescribe for humans with a similar condition. It’s
fairly common for dogs.
The medication is in the form of small blue pills that I
give Olive a half pill in the morning with breakfast and a half pill in the evening with her
supper. In the past whenever I was given pills for Olive, I would wrap them in
meat to make sure she took them. I was glad to see that she has been eating this pill up with her food, so I don’t have to wrap it up in roast beef to get her to
take it. She will likely be on these pills for the rest of her life (if I understand
correctly), so it saves me some cost and trips to the deli. While I have to pay
out of pocket for the pills, they are not nearly as expensive as I had feared.
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With Olive healthy, I managed to book an appointment for my
first Covid-19 vaccination shot at a mass vaccination temporary facility in a
nearby town. By coincidence my friend Julie had booked a appointment the same
day at the same facility at nearly the same time. We met up at my house and
drove in together. We were given no pushback for riding in together; in fact,
one attendant told us that they prefer people to car pool. We never even had to
get out of the car; the nurse injected both of us through car windows. We
then had to park and wait the mandated 15 minutes, after which an attendant
removed a magnetic marker from my car and waved us on to the exit.
This was the Pfizer vaccine, so I will have to return for a
second shot. Julie and I coordinated over the phone to book shot #2 at the same
facility at the same time. So, we will be back on March 22, then my
understanding is that three weeks later, on April 12, I will be fully
vaccinated.
Of course, I understand that I will not necessarily be virus-free. The
vaccine works by teaching my system to fight Covid-19. I still might get the
disease, though it will be a mild case. I could also conceivably pass the virus onto
someone else so that I will still have to follow the commonsense procedures
such as wearing a mask, frequent hand washing, and social distancing. Still, I
will be able to, say, shop at the mall if I need to without fearing for my
life. This fall I will be able to attend and enjoy the country fairs (if they
take place). Sadly, I don’t expect contra dances or other activities that would
lend themselves to spreading the virus to start up again anytime soon. Travel
will likely be on hold for some time to come.
I had a bit of a sore arm the next morning, but no adverse reactions or complications.
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Needing to get away for a day, I took Olive to Candlewick
for a day with her dog friends and took a ride with a friend out to the Ashokan
center in the Catskills for the annual hot chocolate festival. The entire event
was outdoors, everyone was wearing masks and maintaining reasonable distance,
so I felt reasonably safe from the virus. We started with a nature walk led by
a staff member who seemed very knowledgeable about the history of the center as
well as the plant and wildlife. Six flavors of chocolate were offered—coffee,
banana, spice, raspberry, coconut, and peppermint. Lunch was included, which
consisted of an egg sandwich, a cup of chili, and a cookie or brownie for
dessert. There was a nice hill for sledding (which a number of kids were
enjoying) and live music over a speaker system performed by Jay Ungar and Molly
Mason. It was a nice getaway for a day.
There was also a demonstration of ice sculpture, as seen in
the photo.
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| Dragon Ice Sculpture |
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A few bits of dog humor I collected over the past month.
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| What kind of chocolate shop doesn't have chocolate covered tennis balls? Happy Valentine's Day. |
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| A refrigerator magnet that someone gave us for the Holiday. |
