Taking Grandma for a Spin

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Zipperhead and the Copperhead

Got to the Ranch on Tuesday and let the dog loose. He was too laid back, no figure-eights around the yard, no popping me in the jewels and jumping about, and his ears were down. So I stopped him and checked him out. At his Adam's apple area, if a dog had an Adam's apple, it looked like he had swallowed a small honey-dew melon. Couldn't find any marks but all signs pointed to a snake bite. The guru shows up and we flip him on his back and really check him over. He's got fever to burn. Amazing.

We dig on the Google electronic encyclopedia and there's no question, snake bite. Rattlers haven't been seen here at the Ranch, There are Cottonmouths down at the creek, but it was likely a Copperhead up here on the ridge. So' it's off the see The Medicine Man. Zip gets the demoralizing thermometer in the you know where. Some anti-histamines, a big old steroid shot and a 'scrip for Cephalexin. He was pretty quiet all the rest of Tuesday.

Today on the Fourth, his swelling is almost gone, he has an appetite and is playing a bit, and his ears are again on radar patrol. He dodged a bullet. I don't know how many lives a blue-heeler has, but this little goober has at least two, and thank goodness for that.

Happy and Safe Fourth of July all!