Horse Fly

Being Saturday morning, Doughboy is home. We woke to a drizzle of much needed rain and set out to complete our errands. First on the list was a veterinarian visit for our Scottie, Dianora (a/k/a Dee). She has been undergoing a treatment of antibiotics to control an increased elevation in her liver enzymes (for reasons unknown). We discovered this when she was taken to the vet for teeth cleaning. As is routine, blood was drawn and tested for any anomalies. Unfortunately Dee didn't get her teeth cleaned as a result of the blood tests. More so, the two-week regimen of antibiotics didn't work and her enzymes are even higher than before we began treatment. Additional blood tests have ruled out Cushing's disease, a common canine malady. Xrays taken last week didn't reveal any tumors, but they are not always conclusive. Dee's appointment today was an ultrasound with Dr. Susie. She is not a fulltime vet; she practices on as needed basis for ultrasounds and treatment of cancer patients. That in itself sounds foreboding. Today's ultrasound results were encouraging. No tumors were detected, but clearly Dee's gall bladder is not functioning as it should. She is on another set of antibiotics that are target specific to her gall bladder (you don't even want to know the charge for today's visit) . We will have her blood retested in two weeks to see if the new antibiotics prove successful. What wouldn't we do for our pets? For us, our canine children are our family. They mean everything to us and we want them to have full, happy, and healthy lives. All in all, there have been no evident changes in Dee's behavior as a result of her medical problems. With the trauma of going to the vet behind her, she is napping contentedly in a spot by my feet. She is such a sweet girl.

So, what does this rambling have to do with horse flies? Absolutely nothing! However, I did take some interesting photos during our walk around the pond at Madison Park yesterday. As usual, I went to Chick Fil-A to grab a salad on my way back to work. In the parking lot was a horse trailer with the cutest face curiously poking out. Obviously he/she was patiently waiting for its owner to return. For some unexplainable reason, I thought of horse flies. Click on the photo below to view a slide show of photos taken at the pond. The butterflies were abundant. Enjoy!

P.S. Yes, the two birds sitting in the tree are vultures. I wish I could have gotten a closer shot, but they were clear across the pond. Ewwww!

P.S.S. NOTE: All photos shown in the slideshow for this post were taken with a 300mm zoom lens. A macro wouldn't have allowed me to get close enough to the subjects. I used Photoshop to crop a few images to bring the subject even closer. It's fun to experiment with various lenses. I am trying to perfect the quality of my photos so that I rely less on PS and more on the original SOOC shot. I use my macro and 300mm zoom 90% of the time (refer to the list of photographic equipment shown of the left side of our blog for detailed lens information).