Wren wouldn’t stop licking her forearm where she got the IV during her dental, so last night I had to wrap it. It was quite the struggle, involving a medicated wipe, ointment, gauze, vet wrap, and me briefly holding a dog jerky treat between my teeth. She resisted, walked afterward like she had a thorn in her paw, kept trying to lick off the wrap. Once I got her in bed for the night she settled down.

In the mornings if she gets up before me I don’t even open my eyes, just pat the bed, and she jumps up and rolls onto my hand or curls up in the crook of my arm. This morning I patted the bed with the back of my hand, and she did something she’s never done before. I felt her little paw settle softly in my palm. She lifted it and set it down again like a feather. Moving only my fingers I felt the bandage down around her ankle and gently slipped it over her foot. She flung herself down and curled up on top of my hand.

Today she got ointment and the Donut of Protection, and it was much easier. Neither sore nor donut kept her from her job at the pond.

For lunch today, fresh bread and homemade tomato soup from the freezer. I’m grateful for a tip I got decades ago that avocado is the perfect garnish for tomato soup.

I’m grateful that I’m still meeting old trees for the first time sometimes when I walk in the woods. I noticed this piñon from a distance the other day and assumed these were branches broken down over winter. Today we went to investigate and discovered that they’re growing down like a full skirt, having bent when young in deep snow and kept growing that direction. Bent, not broken; resilient.