horseshoe crab bonk-o-rama May 18 2015

On occasion, I would see horseshoe crabs at our shore-lines from Hampton beach all the way down to  Rhode Island. In the 1960's, I remember seeing hundreds of horseshoe crabs at the Rowley landing (boat launch).
My husband reported to me there were sighting of horseshoe crabs converging at Great Bay in New Hampshire.
The Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve is quite a large area dipping inland of the New Hampshire coast. We sought out first in our quest to find horseshoe crabs in Stratham, NH (Sandy point). It's a nice place to take easy hikes and bird watch. We walked around the shore line but no horseshoe crabs.
 The next place we ventured to was Turtle Quarry. This spot is located deep in the woods through unpaved roads in Newmarket. We wore hooded sweatshirts, long pants and hats but it was no match for the ridiculous swarms of horseflies and mosquitoes. We got lost in the woods  but lucky for us, we found our way back to the car unscathed. This place looked like a scene from the Blair witch project.
We found other more "civilized paths" in Newmarket to view the ocean but none close enough to walk on the actual shoreline.
The next spot we went to was Adams point in Durham next to UNH's research lab. You absolutely have to wear long pants here. The walkways are one big a poison ivy 'farm". I've never seen so much poison ivy and sumac in one area in my entire life.
We found our way to the shoreline and alas! And there they were! The shore was teeming with horseshoe crabs in various stages of coupling. The horseshoes that were amiss in the action were quite mobile trying their best to kick one male off the female to gain position.It was easy to spot the females because they were larger. The males were like little jockeys. It was a horseshoe crab bonk-o-rama.
It was interesting that the horseshoe crabs picked this particular area to mate. Whereas a few hundred feet away around the bend, I didn't see any. Perhaps it is the mineral content of the mud here that is best for them and their babies.
Anyways, it was fun looking for them.

Button's dilemma part 3

I feel a little more optimist.
 I've been separating Button from the other birds at dinner time so that she is not disturbed while she eats. I've been giving her carrots, dandelion greens, zucchini and cooked rice, veggie pasta with cooked greens and her pellets. She has been eating it with gusto. Her appetite is back.
She has her pain management medication, metacam, twice a day and I do think this has helped her. She flew across the room without crashing. She hasn't done that in over a month.
In addition, I've been taking her (and Scizzorpoop) out in a small cage for outside morning sunshine (vitamin D)She even took a bath by herself!
I weighed her yesterday and she gained 5 grams (She is now 103grams)
She looks scroggie looking but so far with this extra attention paid to her "whole health" she seems to be doing OK. I know myself when I am feeling lousy that good plain greens, sunshine, a nice bath and (for me, migraine meds) makes a world of difference.
One day at a time.

Button's dilemma part 2

I took Button back to the vet after her second visit this year 2 weeks ago.
 Her condition had deteriorated significantly. Her preening gland is huge. Just the slightest touch causes it to bleed. The same situation goes for the spot on her head. The skin pulled away from the "tumor" leaving a gaping hole.
Her weight on April 27 was 117grams. Her weight two weeks later on May 11 was 97 grams. That is a 20 gram weight loss in a short period of time. The vet was concerned and not very hopeful in her prognosis. If she had an infection the baytril would have made her gland smaller- not bigger.
It appears that she has cancer.
To operate on her, if indeed you could remove the offending tumors, she would most likely bleed out, even with the best of care. Her skin is like paper. The fact that she lost so much weight and she isn't flying indicates possible internal shit.
She is mostly alert and has a good appetite. I now feed her away from the other birds with rice, veggies and her pellets, with a sprig of millet for dessert. She is on metacam for pain management. I took her outside in the morning for vitamen D sunshine.
 I am doing the best for her comfort. I couldn't bear having her pass away alone on a operating table. At least this way she is having managed care surrounded by her friends.

Button's dilemma

Button is my first lutino cockatiel. She was hatched on May 16 2002. She will be 13 years old. This is not especially old for a cockatiel. I've read they can live to 25 to even 30 years of age. Fancy variety breeds such as lutinos do not live as long.
Through the years Button has had a bunch of different health issues. I do think it is because she is a lutino (albino). She's a feather picker and tends to get yeast infections. The latest health problem is I noticed she wasn't able to fly. I thought perhaps she banged into something and injured her wings. I took her to the vet, she had x-rays and a dose of metacam (pain reliever) But the problem still existed. Then, I noticed a nod on her head like a wart. I took her back to vet and the vet found that in addition, that  her uropygial gland was huge and missing it's wick feather (This is the preening gland which is important to keep the feathers oiled and cleaned)
As instructed, I gave her antibiotics fora possible  infection, put warm compresses on her head to hopefully open up the little cyst on her head but for some reason the hot water from the cloth caused the skin to pull apart and she would bleed. I can not figure out why this would happen-no scrubbing or anything else would make this happen. Just the light pressure caused the area to bleed and pull apart. The same thing happened with the preening gland. I would gently press it as instructed because it might have been clogged with wax but instead it would bleed and the feather base would bleed too. The gland got bigger instead of smaller.
This was most distressing. And alarming.
I read in my bird vet books that it is not uncommon for 'older birds of especially of the variety strain" of cockatiels to develop cancer.-especially on the uropygial gland.This makes me nervous.
If it is just a major "clog" in the duct she will need an operation -which is very risky for birds.
Either way I am worried.
She has been quiet and sleeping alot.
Tomorrow she has a vet appointment. One can only hope...

home improvement avalanche part 2

I'm just about finished with what I planned to do for indoor home improvements for right now. I am just waiting on a pair of roman curtain blinds I ordered through JCPenny for the bedroom in which I will install.
The kitchen needs a major over hall but funds are limited right now. Even if I "Mac and Myer" it and do 99% of the work myself it will still be costly so I will wait on that for now.And, with every project you think you are only going to spend X amount of money and it ALWAYS turns out to be XXX amount of money. Always.
In the meantime, I decided that the front of the house outside needed some cleaning up. Most of the landscape stones have disappeared and the bushes looked like Phyllis Diller's hair (see above)
 The rose "bushes" were dried up sticks. Weeds over took the walk way. All of this is low cost fix-ups. It's mostly manual labor.
I bought eighteen 50 pound bags of stones. I had to make two trips to Home depot because of the weight of the stones in my car. That's a lot of stone you would think but it just about covered the walk way. It took me two days to trim those "Phyllis" bushes. My forearms were killing me. I feel like Popeye! Not to mention dragging those bags of stones. Ugh.. I'm still hurting.
Instead of spraying the weeds with store bought weed killer-which I was opposed to doing because of the birds and critters that visit my yard I used a home-made concoction. My mother used to use mixes like this.
1 gallon of vinegar, 16oz of epson salt and 1/4 cup of (blue) dawn in a spray bottle
I sprayed the weeds twice and it works! All of the weeds kicked the bucket. My mother used to spray her veggies in her garden with just soapy water to keep the aphids away.
It doesn't look like "home beautiful" but at least it looks cleaner. Sadly most of my border bushes died because of the harsh winter.
I have my little garden plot all churned up and cleaned up patiently waiting for the warm weather to plant my herb garden.
I am so glad it is finally MAY!