One day, many years ago–okay, maybe not that many, but some–I thought the ancestors said to me, “tend.” Which seemed a weird thing to get whispered in your ear and also, perhaps, a wise thing. Everything does need some looking after.
In that spirit the Butcher and I moved the rose to a spot where it should be happier. I planted astilbe where the rose was unhappy. I fed all the roses and cut out some privet. And then I was sore. So sore. Honestly, no wonder babies cry. All those muscles doing new things for the first time. Possibly they would be happier if we rubbed them all down with Bengay at the end of the day. I wrote a thing. I sent an email making sure I’d gotten a part of Project X right. I finished a book I needed to read to write the thing I just mentioned. I did some stuff to get the sunny end of the garden ready for spring. I picked out which plants I’m going to let flounder there again. Ha, no, this will be the year something grows there. I swear! And I vasolined the dog. Which is odd.
And the Butcher ate all the cookies. Which makes me sad.
You Vasolined the dog?
It’s a long stupid story going back years, but basically, in the winter, she gets incredibly dry, red, itchy skin. And then she scratches or bites all her fur off. Well, not all, but a lot. At first, we were told it was fleas–even though we’ve had her for 13 years and recognize when she has fleas. Then we were told it was an allergy. But nothing really gave her an relief. Then it might be a bacterial or fungal infection, so rub this shit on her and use this special shampoo. But it didn’t help. So, finally, I said, “fuck it. Let’s just treat the symptom.” And so, every evening, I take out a jar of Vasoline and rub it into her dry skin. She seems to like the belly rubs and it has helped tremendously. She’s still scratching some, but the days when she would just stand in the yard incessantly scratching instead of going to the bathroom appear to be over.