All natural

Ok, there is a new blog format, so give me some time..let's see how this goes.

Nature has been odd lately.  But before the mayhem, we were doing normal things.

We visited with a local Girl Scout troop for an event, my three pretty much slept the whole time.  Occasionally Cali would get up for some loving.

But they slept more than most..

 Henry was running around playing with his many girlfriends..this particular time it was Macy

 This photo made me laugh..Petey was obviously enjoying the sunshine..

 and I finally got a new lens that allowed me to capture some hummingbirds!  I am very excited.  It took me a while, but I got a few good ones!  Amazing what a lens will do!

 The male likes to chirp at me..I guess he thinks I am some weird human with a black projection sticking out of their head at all times.

 then it was Jason's birthday so we decided to plan a day at the wineries with friends.  That week we had the infamous 5.8 earthquake where the epicenter was about 30 miles from my house.  it actually was right where we spend a lot of time cooper Vineyard.
We figured that was the end of the natural disasters and continued to plan our weekend.  Needless to say, Hurricane Irene had different ideas.  We decided to continue our trip west hoping we would get home after the main event or before it. 
we hit Delfosse Vineyard

 Lovingston and Flying Fox.  I actually liked all three quite well. The weather wasn't too bad in charlottesville.  We then hit dinner at Ten sushi (with Bob, Rob, Megan, Kristen and Gyeong).  Great food!!!
Monkfish liver. ;-)

While eating, our neighbor, Scott, called ot let us know our power had gone out and he was unable to get in to the house (we use the garage as the main entrance) to feed/let the dogs out.  We had been gone the majority of the day, so we knew it would be a mess when we got home.  We didnt' factor in the lack of electricity.  
We get home after driving through the hurricane to find quite a bit of destruction.  it could have been worse, for sure.  The dogs were OK, just hungry and had to pee. But it was pitch dark, windy and rainy!  The next morning, we surveyed the damage.
the large tree in the back yard, that you see quite often in the background of the running photos had been split in the middle.  Hopefully, it will survive after a little surgery.

 But the worst was our main tree in the front yard.  This didn't hit the house luckily but it was still sad that we lost this tree. 

 Of course, no one in the neighborhood had power..so a nice neighbor walked over to dismantle the trees.

 We just cut the middle trunk so hopefully the rest will fill in.

After all the cutting, we had quite the mess to contend with in the front and back yard

 But again, no one had power so suddenly many men appeared with gloves to help.  I have a feeling the wives were starting the honey do list, so they escaped to 'be neighborly'. 

 Jason and Scott took off walking around the neighborhood to see if anyone else needed help.  Without computers, neither of them knew what to do.  I took the time to photo my hummingbirds who were happy to have their feeder back after the hurricane!

 After the earthquake, hurricane, 48 hours without power..we were done with natural disasters.  but of course, henry had other ideas.  He has had surgery before to remove hemangiomas..basically blood tumors.  He always wakes up poorly from anesthesia so we try hard not to put him through it.  A few days after the hurricane, one of his hemangiomas started bleeding profusely and after 24 hours straight of soaking through everything I put on it, i went to the vet.  They immediately put him in to surgery to prevent anemia.  They went ahead and removed another one on his butt that was about to pop too.  He woke up OK, but then went in to shock with a temperature of 106.  We assume it was malignant hyperthermia, which is genetic and most likely has been what has happened to him every other time.  the vet called us to come immediately. When we arrived, he was hooked up to an iced IV, and packed completely in ice. he was in complete shock. it was not a pretty sight.  But after about 20 minutes, his temp came down.  He still wasn't 'with it' but we were able to get him home.  After about 24 hours, he had recovered completely. It was touch and go, but he seems to be better now.  He is now left with a few more incisions.  So far they are healing well.

 But a good natural thing...we are a member of a local produce delivery program that brings local/organic produce to use every week.  After a few weeks of getting a bunch of cucumbers..Jason decided to make pickles.  They are great!!!!

So nature has definitely been crazy lately. i would like the earth to stop moving (multiple aftershocks have rocked us since the original one).