Sunday, April 30, 2006

good news, bad news

Well, Katie is nearly nine years old, and I don't have any decent photos of her pointing. So I decided Friday to take her and the black dog out for a walk on Friday in the hopes of getting a picture or two of her pointing a woodcock. We were able to accomplish that mission, and here are a couple of those pics. Can you spot the woodcock in the photos?

The good news was that we were also able to get the big dorky black dog to do a "sit, stay" during this whole process. Who knows, maybe I will someday train him to be my grouse retrieving backup dog for grouse hunts.

Bad news. Moments after these pics were taken she pulled up lame, and the preliminary diagnosis from our vet yesterday is that she's likely torn her ACL. Anyway, here we go . . . . I'm going to try and get her into the surgeon's office Monday for anesthesia and a more precise diagnosis. I'll probably also be calling Al Stewart in Michigan to enquire about that litter of pups Safari Jim told me about.


Anyway, keep your fingers crossed.

4 comments:

Jim Tantillo said...

thanks Mike, 10:30 tomorrow morning the surgeon will be taking a closer look. wish us luck.

Jim Tantillo said...

update 2:00 pm, Katie is under the knife to repair her knee. Expensive stuff....

Anonymous said...

good luck w/ the surgery. The need for kids shoes is exaggerated, especially in the summer, and with all this global warming... Ever think about homeschooling for their college education?
Good thing is Katie will have all summer to recuperate, and with the vet bills, you can't afford NOT to go hunting as much as possible this fall. Definitely time for another pup, regardless of whether or not Katie is on injured/reserve. Same w/ me, but instead I'll have to put it off another year or so.
Jim, can YOU see a bird in any of those photos? Is there an eye in focus? I like to use such pics in ppt presentations, showing the cryptic nature of the nature.

Jim Tantillo said...

thanks PW. re: the bird in the pic, in the bottom photo the bird flushed literally from under Katie's nose and in fact hit Katie in the face with its wing before flying away low and away from where I was standing. Had I been quicker on advancing my film I'd have had another great shot. But for the life of me I cannot find the bird in the pic, nor did I see the bird on the ground first before taking the pic. Next time I'll try to do that to make sure the bird's in focus. But I'm pretty sure the bird is there somewhere near the two logs, but maybe not in focus.