Bike Rides, Birthdays, Beautiful Weather . . . and a little tale not for squeamish 6/8/2012

Hello, hello, hello!  What a fantastic week THIS turned out to be!  Ted and I got in a great bike ride, I turned another year older, the weather’s been astounding, I turned another year older, and today the Mackinac Island Lilac Festival began – so the coming week should be even MORE fantastic!  Whew . . . . breathe, Brenda, breathe!

Mostly photos tonight, with captions to tell the story EXCEPT for a little “Tale of a Vet Visit” at the very end of this post that you should only read if you’re not easily grossed out!

I’m going to be jumping all over the island for this one – we covered a lot of ground this week.  So awaaaay we go . . . . .

Our late-blooming lilacs at Surrey Ridge are just getting started. They should be in full bloom in another day or two and will be perfect the entire 10-day time-span of the Lilac Festival . . . all you need to do is “climb that hill” to see them!

We’ve been here almost four weeks now (how can that be!), and I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Island so busy this early. I’m sure the great weather is contributing to that, as are those Pure Michigan ads – some featuring Mackinac Island.

I know I’ve mentioned Martha’s Sweet Shop before, but I’ve never posted a photo of the owner of Martha’s. Meet Loretta Spata, talking to Ted here about how they remove ALL the calories from those melt-in-your mouth brownies we are addicted to. Oh my gosh . . . pop them in the microwave for 20 seconds and throw a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream on top. Your taste buds will think they have died and gone to Heaven!  P.S.  That thing about the calories being removed . . . . just kidding.

Yep!  There they are – brownies with nuts, covered by chocolate icing that is simply the best you’ve even tasted.  Trust me.

My friend Frankie’s Hershey, making friends with a little boy downtown in front of the post office. This kid would laugh, and Hershey would lick. Laugh, lick, laugh, lick. They drew a crowd, and everyone got their giggles for the day (doesn’t take much to entertain us here on Mackinac).

Jill with my godhorse, Teddie. I try to stop by and see him at least every other day. What a sweetheart he is!

Here’s Mary on Teddie, meeting Michelle Stuck’s Fresian Geysbert for the first time. This was Mary’s first ride on Teddie since she brought him to the Island.

Had to show you the new roof on the Summer Residence of Michigan’s governor. The new shingles almost look like copper when the sun’s hitting them just right. Beautiful, beautiful home.

Pretty chairs in a shady area in the yard of Park Place Suites, downtown on Market Street.

An example of the kind of weather we’ve had this week.

We never know what we might see when we look out our front doors.

Dozens and dozens of strollers are stored while parents and children take the Carriage Tour rides through the Island.

One more pic of my boy Teddie – sorry, can’t help it.

My FAVORITE Teddie!

Grand Hotel greenhouse.

British Landing. The Mackinac Bridge . . . . and a flower – a purple flower.

British Landing.  The Mackinac Bridge, with rain.  An Iris – a purple Iris (please tell me that’s an Iris).

Pots near the Grand Hotel greenhouse . . . .

. . . . and more pots under the trees.

We don’t usually see a taxi when we ride around the Island. Our favorite driver, Ron, had just taken three girls who wanted to go swimming out to the 3-Mile marker and dropped them off. We rode by them a few minutes later – one was sunning on the beach, and the other two had waded out to a dry outcropping of rocks to sun.

Those rain clouds we saw in the distance at British Landing were moving east with us.

Small Point Inn – just east of Mission Point Resort.

My birthday was very special . . . lots of Happy Birthday wishes from my blog readers (thank you so much), the arrival of Buz and Patty and four-legged Bailey (condo neighbors from Oklahoma – here for a month this year), . . .

. . . on the same ferry, friends Bonnie and Don (he’s somewhere in that crowd) arrived for a two-week stay on the Island (can’t wait to spend time with them) . . .

. . . flowers from Jason, Blair and Blake . . .

. . . and dinner with Ted, Patty, and Buz at the Harbor View Restaurant at the Chippewa, followed by a little game of Trivia on the back deck.  The sun was just going down here at about 9:35.

What a week!  So much fun, and as I said, this next one is going to be really full of great activities during Lilac Festival.  In addition, two more condo owners will arrive this weekend, so we will almost have every resident on board – which very rarely happens.  We figured up yesterday that between the eight condos, there are now eight dogs!  When we first moved in, we were the ONLY owners with dogs.  My, how things have changed!

Ok . . . . as I warned earlier, you might want to stop reading right here, unless you are not easily grossed out.  But I had to tell this story because it is SUCH a Mackinac Island story – I just don’t see this happening anywhere else.

Tale of a Vet Visit

About two weeks ago, Ted saw what shall be called intestinal parasites (I.P.’s for short) in Maddie’ poop.   He called for me to come look at it/them, so I could verify.  I was totally sure Ted could tell I.P.’s from say, fuzz off the latest unstuffed animal toy she destroyed.  But I looked anyway.  What I saw was long and white and flat (hey, I warned you this was gross).

“Please call Doc Al, and tell him Maddie has I.P.’s,” Ted said.

Phone call to Doc Al:  “Hi Brenda!” (the I.D. came up on this I.P. call).

“Hi Doc! How are you, etc. etc. etc.  Maddie has I.P.’s, and we need some meds.”

“What kind of I.P.’s?” Doc Al asked curiously.

“Oh, they’re long and white and flat.”

“Hmmmm . . . that sounds like a round I.P.”

“No, they’re flat.”  I said.

“Well, sometimes they appear flat, but they’re really round.”

“Hmmm,” I said.

“Are you sure they don’t look like little grains of rice?” Doc asked.

“I’m positive,” I stated positively.

“Well, it’s kind of unusual for an older dog to have round I.P.’s, but I’ll get you some meds for them,” Doc said.

And he did.

This past Wednesday, Ted came in the condo and said, “Maddie has I.P.’s again.”

“What!” I said alarmingly.  “We just had her treated for those!”

“Well, this time I’ve got a sample.  It’s in the black doggie poop bag on the back porch.  Would you call Doc Al and see when he can take a look – you take a look too, and see what you think.”

I looked, and there it was again – long and white and flat.

Phone call to Doc Al:  “Hi, Brenda,” Doc Al answered the call.

“Hi, Doc Al, how are you, etc. etc. etc.  Maddie has I.P.’s again.  This time we have a sample, but it’s the same thing – long, white, flat.”

“That’s just really unusual.  I’m coming up to the big barns in about 15 minutes.  Could you meet me there with the sample?”

As I was calling Doc Al, Ted was making a big production out of leaving the house to go to “work out”.  Over my conversation with Doc, I heard him say, “See you in a little while – have fun!”

Which is Ted’s way of not dealing with I.P.’s.  He goes off to work on his A.B.’s and P.E.C’s.

And so it was that 15 minutes later, I met Doc Al on the corner of Cadotte and Huron at the big horse barns.  We got off our bikes, and I collected the black doggie poop bag out of my basket and started for the vet office door.

“Oh, we can just do this out here,” Doc Al says.

All righty then. 

Doc Al and I spent the next ten minutes crouched down on the ground at that corner – not more than two feet from walkers, runners, tourist carriages, and horse riders – going through the contents of the black doggie poop bag with a stick Doc picked up off the road.

“See, there it is,” I said, peering into the bag like it was the most fascinating thing I’d seen in many a year. “Long, white and flat.”

“Brenda, that is a blade of grass,” said Doc Al.  “Was that what you were describing to me the last time also?”

“Well, yes,” I said.

“From the looks of this, Maddie certainly has a very interesting diet,” Al said, stirring the stick a little more.  “But that is a blade of grass . . . THIS is an I.P. – a tape I.P., to be more specific.”  And he pointed to a tiny, white little thing that looked suspiciously like a grain of rice.

“Hmmm,” I said.

So Doc Al gave me a couple of pills for the tape I.P. and sent me on my way with this sweet advice:  “Brenda . . . please . . . next time, how about collecting the sample in a Zip-lock bag we can SEE through without opening it.”

“Why yes, I will certainly do that,” I said.  “I have no idea WHY Ted didn’t think of it himself!”

Good Lord have mercy.