August is the Sunday of Summer

As a kid I hated Sundays because the next day was Monday (and there were no cartoons on Sunday morning). It’s bad when you start worrying about Sunday on Saturday or even Friday, which is what I am doing now. It’s July 18th and I am thinking about August because September comes after August. This reminds me of stressing about Christmas when Halloween decorations start to appear. One year I considered buying Christmas presents December 26th but I decided to hold off until the 24th. All this is to say that I love summer, mountains, wildflowers, lakes, birds, granite, Lodge pole pines, Jeffery pines (they smell like candy), Red firs, Mountain ash, Quaking aspen, Marmots, and I don’t like it when summer threatens to end, which it does before it begins. The day after the longest day of the year is the beginning of the (quick) march toward the shortest day of the year. And the dumb-head in me thinks about how June 22nd is a slightly shorter day than June 21st. But optimistically I think about how December 22nd is slightly longer than the 21st. That is when I start thinking about and looking forward to summer. Once I told my dad that I whished I could go to sleep in September and wake up in June. He yelled at me not to wish to miss any of my life. “But what about the school parts?” I thought.

White Crab Spider

Here's another crab spider. This one did not land on me but it did look like it wanted to beat me up.

Crab Spider

This is the spider that landed - with a thunk - on my shoulder.

Sad

If I had more hair, this is what I would look like today. I took Taffy, the beautiful dog, to the vet. She has a tumor on her right leg that makes her limp and hurts. The options are not good. One is to amputate. The vet says it might give her a few more months. The other is to keep her on painkillers and then decide when here discomfort outweighs her happiness and then put her to sleep.
It is a strange position to be in. If money were no object I would amputate. But money is an object - a scarce one. It seems a little sick to let money be part of this kind of decision.

Limb Amputation

Anesthesia (Inhalant) $51.98
Additional Anesthesia $19.00
Surgical Monitoring and Recovery $13.00
Hospitalization per day $49.50
Major Surgical Pack $38.85
Surgery $600-$800
IV Catheter Open $48.00
Injections per Day Open
Intravenous Fluids/Administration X1 $135.00
Prescriptions Open
E-collar $19.00
Buprenex inj x2 $90.90
Cefazolin inj x 2 $90.90

Total - $1165.33 – $1365.33

Plus $338.00 to check for more cancer before surgery.