On the mend...

Did you know that if you want to drill through the bottom of a ceramic pot you should use a diamond bit?  And did you know that if you use a diamond bit it is best to do so with water running across what you are drilling?  And, if you drill using a diamond bit, did you know that it is best to start with the bit at an angle and then rotate it flush as you push down so that the bit can bite into the ceramic?  I didn't.  At least, I didn't know all that until I did quite a bit of Googling and You-Tube watching.  Still, it took months and months of loin girding before I tried.

It is cold again.  Colder weather still is on slate for the next few days, with the overnight lows in the 30s.  I had some cucumber plants in a pot that did not have drainage.  I think, maybe, that is why the rosemary bush died in the solarium this winter.  I think the soil never dried out or something.  I actually did not know the pots (I have two) did not have drainage until the deluge of water we've been having.  The cucumber pot filled up and began to look like a rice paddy.  I figured the plants wouldn't make it through this cold snap so water-logged.  So, I finally girded my loins enough to try the bit.

I was soooooooo happy that it worked!  Four times over!

I personally think drilling with a diamond bit is a two person job.  However, I am only one person!  So, I put the pot upside down on the grass, so as to minimize the vibrations of the drilling, put a foot on either side to hold it in place, used my left hand to hold the hose sprayer, and drilled with my right hand.  A miracle, really, that I didn't drill some part of me.

You know how with most things going with your first choice is best (as in standardized testing)?  Well, this time, I think my second choice was best.  When I flipped the pot, I found this grove about a half inch inside the bottom rim.  I thought it might be best to drill there, so I swapped sizes of the bit (my kit came with four sizes of bits) at the very last moment.  As in ... there I was, drill running and poised over the pot when I set down the drill and hose and swapped bits.

I am mightily pleased with myself.  I learned a new skill!  And I have a lovely, large old pot to try and grow some cucumbers.  My thought is that the vines can twine along the chain link fence once they are long enough ... if they survive living in a paddy and then being zapped by cold weather.

I think, if I am a good grower, I should cover up the raised bed and that pot.  That means I need to dig out some linens to do so.  Gosh, it's 41 degrees right now!  I think I need to go out and bring in the Wandering Jew hanging baskets.  Oh, my, what wild, wild weather!

Amos, my beloved and beleaguered puppy dog, is doing better.  I wept with joy when I realized his fever had broken in the early hours of the morning.  He's still a bit warm, but he is no longer radiating such high heat that I am beside myself with worry.  Four doses in on his 7-day course of antibiotics and on his last day of benedryl.

His tail looks better, but still much more awful than his most beautiful scab on the hot spot.  Technically, his tail is a hot spot, too.   Every once in a while, Amos will whip his head around and make a beeline to his tail.  Like something is shocking him.  It's been that way since the beginning.  But he is getting better at obeying at me when I holler at him to "STOP!"  Poor Pupper (Electrican Man's nickname for Amos).

This is another thing I am working on being over.  I was soooooooo worried when Amos' fever persisted.  His gums were sticky and drying, which is a sign of dehydration.  Since he is a dog, I couldn't just keep handing glasses of water for him to drink.  Nor could I explain why I was worried.  My, am I ever so grateful he's on the mend.

Truly grateful.