POOR BERNIE

Up and out for the start of a busy Friday.  After chores and breakfast I took a walk around the farm to check out the progress of our fruits and berries.
We have just a few pears scattered around this one tree, the other 2 trees have none at all. Guess the late freeze got them.

The apples are the same as the pears with a misshapen few scattered about the trees.

The plum trees surprisingly have more fruit on them that we had originally thought they would have.

Our berry crops escaped any damage from the late cold and look like we will have an abundance of Blackberries, Blueberries and grapes this year.

I even found a surprise as I surveyed the chicken lot for any misplaced eggs this evening . Peeking through the fence were these wild Black Raspberries that are soooo good.  What a nice surprise !!

Some other wild berries that are coming along are these Elaegnus berries.

And the Fox Grapes are loaded this year.

The Beauty Berries are also starting to bloom so they will provide bird food for this winter.

The Persimmon tree is loaded this year so much that quite a few are dropping to the ground.

Whew ,  I worked up a sweat just walking around taking pics so its time to head inside and really go to work.  I baked 12 caramel, 4 chocolate, 2 pound cakes , 2 applesauce and 1 blackberry wine cake before stopping for a late lunch.
As I finished eating and was starting to look through the daily newspaper I noticed the clock on the dining wall and put the paper down !!!
Loaded Dolly and Bernie up and headed for their vet appointments at 2:45. They seem to have  a sixth sense about where we are going every time I load them up for a vet appointment. Such sad faces !!~!~!

Dolly needs her rabies shot and I am taking Bernie into to see the main vet as the other older man vet that he saw last time didn't offer any diagnosis about his cough ,just prescribed pills and the pills are working less and less.
I took my little back pack carrier and put Dolly in it so I could carry Bernie and my purse.  Everyone at the office wanted to know where I got the little carrier as Dolly was calm as a cucumber sitting in it while we waited.
The diagnosis for Bernie wasn't as bad  as I had expected but worse than I had hoped for.  His heart is enlarged and pressing on his trachea causing the coughing spells.  She took me back and showed me the difference in the x-rays they took in January and the ones she took today. I could see a significant increase in the size of his heart . She said a normal heart reaches 3 ribs his reaches 4.  I don't know why the old vet in January didn't see it but at least we now know what is causing the cough.  She said there is a new medicine that is out that is been very good at decreasing the heart size in these older little dogs. It is called Vetmedin.  She also gave him a shot to stop his coughing and gave me some pills to give him for a week that should take care of the cough for good.
The shot made him very groggy like she said it would do but he did not cough at all the entire evening.
I am aggravated more at myself for not taking him back to the other vet sooner but also at the thought that the older vet did not see any of this when I was there almost 6 months ago, grrrrrrr.  Poor Bernie !!
I just pray that this new medicine works as well for him as it has some other dogs in his condition, downside, he will have to stay on it the rest of his life and it isn't cheap.
The sky clouded up and the rain began falling around 6pm. We got about  1/10th inches before it stopped for the evening.
All the while the rain was falling the sun found an opening in the clouds to shine through.  The raindrops sparkled as they clung to the power lines..

And like so many other days this season so far a gorgeous rainbow illuminated the sky.

I spent the evening icing cakes and getting ready for market tomorrow.
I didn't realize how much I had to get done and it was almost 1am before I finally got into bed, whew !!!
Thankful for the relief Bernie had this evening and thankful for all the blessings of the day, even the ones that become hidden in the business of days like today.
Good Night and God Bless.