Library Notes
March 15th, 2003
By Pansy Hundley, Librarian.
I’ve had music – Christmas music – again at 2:00 AM. Remember all the loud, clapping thunder with the bright, continuous lightning accompanying it, that we had the other night? Mr. Penguin, sitting over in the corner, right on cue, cleared his throat, pursed his lips and burst forth in song. Well---not exactly like that. But the music did begin. That lightning would flash and the music would softly begin. This time I did not have to jump out of bed and go looking. I knew instantly what it was. So, I said "You just sing on Mr. Penguin" and he did. It wasn’t "Jingle Bells" this time, but some other Christmas song that I did not identify.
The rocket scientist has not called me yet, to tell me why lightning does that to my battery operated penguin.
I remember that I forgot to tell you about my dog’s fat ear that I mentioned once before.
I’ve never seen a dog with an ear like this one. It just swelled up on the inside, you know, the floppy part. It looked as though it could burst, it was so tight.
A friend of mine said she had cats whose ears would do that sometimes and they had ear mites. So off to the feed store Suzie and I went , to buy ear mite medicine. We cleaned Cassidy’s ear and put drops in both ears. I fully expected the ear would look smaller by the next week. Don’t know why I fully expected, but it did not do so.
So, the next step was to go see Dr. Lane. Cassidy lay in the floor board nicely and did not get my car dirty. I do not like to haul dogs in my car, in case you wondered. She also is not accustomed to walking around on a leash. But did great.
Doc said if she’d had ear mites, there was no sign of them. He told me that was blood in that swollen ear. She had shaken her head and burst a small blood vessel. Said he’d had two other dogs and a cat with the same ears during the past week. Sounded like an epidemic of big ears. Doc also said it could be drained, but would fill up again. We went home with an antibiotic, ear drops and a bottle of ear-washing stuff.
I camouflaged pills in meat scraps for about a week, dropped ear drops as directed, after cleansing the ears. I practically felt like a veterinarian by then.
Doc Lane said about two weeks for the swelling to go down. The ear must not have heard. Weeks passed and Cassidy still had the disease of fat ear. Just about the time that I had decided she would spend the rest of her life with a fat ear, it started to go down. She may have set a new record, however, in this ear thing.
But. I’ll tell you, I’m going to be careful how I shake my head now! Sure would be hard to get an ear ring on, wouldn’t it, with an ear like that?
Now that I’ve enlightened you about this calamity, let’s look at a book. How about a new one by Scott Turow, just hot off the presses? "Reversible Errors" is the name that you will look for.
"Rommy "Squirrel" Gandolph is a Yellow Man, an inmate on death row for a 1991 triple murder in Kindle County. His slow progress toward certain execution is nearing completion when Arthur Raven, a corporate lawyer who is Rommy’s reluctant court appointed representative, receives word that another inmate may have new evidence that will exonerate Gandolph.
Arthur’s opponent in the case is Muriel Wynn, Kindle County’ formidable chief deputy prosecuting attorney, who is considering a run for her boss’s job. Muriel and Larry Starczck, the original detective on the case, don’t want to see Rommy escape a fate they long ago determined he deserved, for a host of reasons. Further complicating the situation is the fact that Gillian Sullivan, the judge who originally found Rommy guilty, is only recently out of prison herself having served time for taking bribes."
Now, that sounds like a nice, mixed-up, complicated mess, doesn’t it? You’ll just have to see about it, I guess.