Ginger

I thought instead of posting about my Fourth of July weekend in chronological order, I'd do it topically. I am a big fan of chronological order. So this'll be a stretch.

Here is Ginger as she normally looks. We took these first two pictures in March when we visited during spring break. She is my parents' dog, half great dane. She is gentle, but her biggness can get people hurt. As Dad told me this weekend, big dogs don't know they're big, and small dogs don't know they're small. Funny! Their new dog, MaryAnn (spelling??) doesn't know she is like 10 time smaller than Ginger, so they play together, and get along fine. Ginger can put MaryAnn's whole head in her mouth, and she lets this little puppy bite at her ears and jowls. MaryAnn was found at Dad's shop, and the vet says she might be part Border Collie (the best kind of dog ever, and may Brownie, the best dog ever, rest in peace).

On Sunday night after Sabrina's party, Kirk's family was leaving, and they were saying goodbyes in the front yard. Ginger was making a big fuss in the back yard. We thought she was just barking at them. Dad checked on her anyway and she was at the back of the yard, with her head in some brush. Danger! He heard her yelp and start crying like she doesn't usually do. He got her to come back, and she had been bit by a snake. On the mouth!

When Dad got her to come in, we were all worried. Ginger was sitting with her eyes half closed, and she was beginning to swell. Her face was swollen, and her neck, and her tongue. After a while, she was drooling blood. Boohoo! Mom administered some Benadryl. Fortunately, she had been given and anti-venom shot before. I didn't know there was such a thing. But this is the third snake bite in her three years of life! Mom and Dad live out of town, on about two acres, but they have a empty (except for cows and a gas well) field behind them.

So we grown-ups were looking after Ginger and worried she might not make it through the night. But by morning, she was wanting to eat, and her activity level was back to good. I took this picture of her the next afternoon. look at that neck! I think Dad said she might have gotten bitten more than once. He thought it wasn't a big snake judging from the fang marks. Oh yes, he saw the marks on her gums. Bad place to get bit! Maybe a copperhead he thought? One of her bites before was from a Rattlesnake.

By the day I left, she looked much more normal. She needs to be less brave about snakes!