Cross Your Fingers for Finn, Please!

We'd appreciate your prayers, good wishes, positive vibes, and all for our poor, sweet, dumb boy. Finn, that is. He's been off his feed for the past four days or so, and lacking his usual demonic energy, and we've been worrying about him Given his appetite for rocks, grass, tissues, etc., we figured he might have a bit of a tummy ache, and since he still was eating his food, if over the course of hours instead of seconds, and was still pretty energetic in the mornings, that he would be okay. But last night (Friday night, wouldn't you know) I decided he'd been looking peaky too long, and this morning, when he wouldn't so much as touch his breakfast, Ed agreed it was time to see the vet.

Thankfully they were able to get us in at eleven, because as it turns out, he has a fever, and the x-rays show... things are not looking good in there. Food, from at least yesterday, is going nowhere fast in his stomach, and there's a  large thing -- I'm thinking sock, but, given Finny's creative tastes, it might be just about anything -- blocking the end of his stomach. And the vet explained that something is badly swollen up (aside from the stomach) which shouldn't be. And the fever makes her worry about necrosis. Anyway, the upshot is that Ed and Katie are on their way, with Finn, to the specialists in Winston, where, hopefully, they'll be able to remove the thing endoscopically (and if we're Really lucky, they'll be able to do it without CAT (or MRI?) scans). If that doesn't work they'll slice him open and take it out. But, as our vet explained, even that part is better at the fancy hospital because they'll have someone there to monitor him overnight. If he needs to be operated on. Which I hope to goodness he Doesn't. Poor sweet idiot. And, when he's been cleaned out, and taken his antibiotics, the vet says we need to get him a basket muzzle and make him wear it this time (we did get him one before, but he kept pulling it off and trying to eat it, so I sent it back). She says he should have outgrown this tendency to eat everything by the time he's three or four, but in the meantime...!

Sigh.

So, anyway, positive thoughts, please, for Finn's recovery!

Katie is taking my place on the Winston trip because we are up to host coffee hour at church tomorrow. The way I do it, that means a full day of cooking. Chicken salad sandwiches (two chickens, cooked, one last night and one, very overcooked, cooked this morning in the pressure cooker), oatmeal raspberry bars, lemon bars, pumpkin bars, banana/sweet potato bread, chips,and grapes. The chips and grapes are ready to go, but the rest of it still needs doing. And I may be doing the set up and clean up on my own tomorrow, if Ed needs to drive in to Winston to pick up our boy, but, thankfully, we now have two cars to that's doable!

Other news. Travis has finished his first week of classes for his senior year at the community college. So far pretty okay, I think! He's taking English, math, music appreciation, and American government. He's driving himself, so, aside from constantly reminding him to check his syllabuses, paying for books, and repeating "have you done all your homework?" I'm pretty much out of the picture. Katie starts ninth grade at the high school in Elkin (we were so pleased that the county was willing to release her so that she could go to the "city" school, which we've heard good things about) on the 29th. She's nervous but also, I think, a little excited. They offer fencing and swimming, both of which at least interest her, and she's pleased with her "block" schedule. Honors English, math, P.E., and marketing. Next semester she'll take honors history, earth science, Microsoft Word, and math. At least it should mean fewer books to lug around, and fewer subjects to remember assignments for, which should be helpful!

And some pictures of Finny and Olivia being cute, taken since my last post!

We did manage a last minute trip to Hungry Mother State Park before Travis started classes!

And a visit to the ice cream place afterwards!

And this is for Daddy! This is my pressure cooker -- the Instant Pot -- with a chicken inside. The chicken turns out marvelously tender and juicy (though rather less juicy if you end up spending hours at the vet's and your chicken spends a whole lot of extra time in the pot. But it is Still pretty darned good, which is quite a bit different from the way things would have been if I'd left it an hour too long in the oven!), but the skeleton does lose it's structural firmness.

 And here is Finny with his pot collection. He shreds them and tosses them, but I've never seen him eat them. I guess I'll know soon enough.

Did I mention that they get along beautifully now?