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Here's to drinking like a fish

In Vetrospect
Jack Thornton

There was a series of Sprint commercials on television regarding garbled communications over cellular telephones. One of the funnier ads pictures a survivor in the midst of domestic wreckage talking to another man who asks, "Why would I say there's a tomato coming?"
I recently experienced my own incident of telephone fuzz.
A client called and said that his dog had ingested two packages of De-Con. Should he be worried?
I repeated over the phone, "two packages of De-Con?"
"Yes," came the reply.
"How long ago?" I asked.
"Early this morning."
I had treated several cases of poisoning from this rodenticide. If not carefully placed, dogs can find it and devour it. It was by now midafternoon, too late to pump the dog's stomach or give it inactivated charcoal via a stomach tube to prevent the poison being absorbed from the gut.
Since warfarin (De-Con) kills its victims over a period of days or even weeks by inhibiting the blood-clotting mechanism and since my schedule was full with afternoon appointments, I suggested that he bring in his dog the next day to be administered with vitamin K, a specific antidote for De-Con.
The next morning my client showed up with his dog and announced that some of the ingested material was beginning to be "passed."
Puzzled, because the poison that is targeted for rodents usually comes in a powder or light granular form, I inquired as to how he was sure the dog was passing De-Con.
"Pecans!" he stated with undisguised irritation.
"He ate two packages of pecans."
Boy, did I feel nuts.

Fish story
It's hard to write a fish story in veterinary practice unless, of course, you are trying to beef up the numbers when selling your practice.
Although there was no aquatic animal medicine when I was in vet school, I did take a fish disease course at Texas A&M in 1972 during graduate school.
I learned basically from this course that fish medicine is "herd (i.e., school) management." Laboratory data acquired from sick and dead individuals provide a diagnosis so therapies can be directed toward those that are still alive.
"A sick fish is a dead fish" was a mantra our professor frequently quoted.
A few years later when a woman called me about a sick goldfish, I chose to counsel her over the phone, believing there was little I could do to help. Because the sick fish showed terminal signs such as swimming in circles on its side, I told her we had a dying patient.
Since she did not want to see her pet suffer, she inquired as to how she might humanely dispatch the sick goldfish. Considering various alternatives, she decided that the Old Toilet Flush seemed the most practical.
However, because she envisioned a frightening spiral down into the sewer, she decided first to numb her pet's senses. She got out the vodka, poured a half-glass and placed the already drunk-acting piscine into the booze.
To her horror, the fish began to swim frantically about as if in great distress. With a dip net she quickly scooped her sick pet from the vodka back into its bowl and called me in sobbing hysteria to ask what to do next.
Since the woman was blazing new trails beyond my experience, I suggested that she try to calm down, relax and see if the alcohol would kill the fish.
I did not hear back from her that night -- and, I might add, without disappointment. But two days later, I got the startling news that her goldfish was alive, feeding and swimming normally.
Jane was grateful for my advice even though the entire therapeutic regime had been her own inspiration.
The whole fishy incident has forced me to ask some basic questions:
_ Can a little booze sometimes set your head straight?
_ Is there perhaps a place in veterinary medicine for alcohol therapy?
_ Is death by flush an acceptable (com)mode of piscine euthanasia?
Maybe in the final analysis, recovery involves basic choices. For our little patient it was simply a matter of sink or swim.
Dr. Jack Thornton is a semiretired veterinarian. Reach him in care of editor@sequimgazette.com.



     

       

          


Red, ripe and oooh, so good
Kitchen Korner

Marian Platt

It's strawberry time. And summer has arrived. We never eat strawberries until our U-pick farms here open and then we pick and pick and pick. 
They are wonderful on their own - try placing hulled and halved strawberries in a large bowl; add sugar and dry red wine and stir gently. Cover; chill three-six hours, then ladle into wine glasses and serve with a biscotti.
Orange liqueur adds a sophisticated touch to a very easy to make fresh strawberry sauce. Drizzle it over frosty scoops of vanilla frozen yogurt. 
To make, hull 2 cups strawberries, then whirl in a blender or food processor until smooth. Add about 
1 tablespoon sugar and 2 tablespoons orange-flavored liqueur to taste.  
Another good strawberry syrup - combine 1 quart strawberries, sliced, with 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup orange juice and 
1 teaspoon grated orange rind in pan and let stand 30 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. 
My salad greens are ready to be picked in my garden and mixed with strawberries make a most refreshing salad - in a salad bowl combine 2 cups fresh arugula or baby spinach, 3/4 cup quartered strawberries, 1/4 cup slivered almonds, 
1/4 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese and 2 tablespoons chopped red onion. In a small bowl, whisk 2 tablespoons olive oil, 
1 tablespoon orange juice concentrate, 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, 11/2 teaspoons grated orange peel and 1/8 teaspoon ginger.
Pour over salad; toss gently to coat and serve immediately to two.
And who can resist a 
FRESH STRAWBERRY PIE WITH ALMOND CRUST
11/2 cups crushed shortbread cookies
1/4 cup finely chopped slivered 
almonds
1/3 cup butter, melted

FILLING
6 cups strawberries, hulled
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Stir together crust ingredients; press on bottom and up sides of 9-inch pie pan. Bake in preheated 350-degree oven 8 minutes. Cool completely.
Mash 1 cup strawberries; add water to equal 1 1/3 cups. In a pan, combine sugar and cornstarch; stir in mashed strawberry mixture. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and comes to a full boil (15-20 minutes). Boil 
1 minute; remove from heat. Stir in salt and almond extract; cool 10 minutes.
Fill cooled crust with remaining strawberries; pour cooked strawberry mixture over strawberries. Refrigerate until mixture is thickened, at least 3 hours. Garnish with sweetened whipped cream and serve.








               





















     

     

           

         		        
         
           
         
         
             

       

          


Sofa Cinema
Rebecca Redshaw

The movies selected for review are the choice of the reviewer Suggestions for DVD titles are welcome. Enjoy the movies.

Mark your calendars! 
Rebecca Redshaw's "SOFA CINEMA: An Easy Guide to DVDs Volume 1" will be published this fall. Read all her DVD reviews compiled into one book. 

The movies selected for review are the choice of the reviewer. Suggestions for DVD titles are welcome. Enjoy the movies.

NEW RELEASE
"Revolutionary Road," rated R

Remember the 1950s? Somewhere between the lighthearted fantasies of the TV show "Happy Days" and the perpetual anger and angst of "Revolutionary Road" lies the reality of that decade.
Directed by usually reliable Sam Mendes, this period piece features April and Frank Wheeler (Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, respectively) as a young couple moving to suburbia. 
Frank commutes into the city to a boring job in a cubicle. April is a homemaker with two youngsters to tend to and a 
house to keep neat as a pin. 
The concept of living a "cloned" life like everyone else in the neighborhood becomes too much to bear and the couple decide to follow their dream and chuck it all, move to 
Paris and start fresh.  
Of course, everyone at the office has an opinion on the Wheelers' move, as do their neighbors and their friendly real estate agent (Kathy Bates). Frank, at 30, feels the need to bed a young steno in the office pool and then April becomes pregnant and then ... and then ... and then ... something always is going wrong in their perfect suburban life.
The problem with "Revolutionary Road" is, well, there are too many problems and after awhile you want the two-hour saga to be over because it feels like you've sat through a lifetime of misery and all you really want to do is escape with a rerun of "Happy Days."  

HIDDEN GEM 
"Seducing Doctor Lewis," unrated; sub-titled

Imagine a small island village where the fishing industry (which offered the residents their main source of income) has all but disappeared. A businessman is looking for a location to build his new factory, and the town's mayor, supported by the unemployed workers, is desperate to have the factory built in the town. 
The one requirement? The village must have a resident physician. When young Dr. Christopher Lewis reluctantly comes to St. Marie-La-Mauderne, it is to fulfill a 30-day community service sentence for an illegal drug infraction. 
The island's leader and self-appointed mayor Germain is a gruff but charming old salt who manipulates every scenario (with the exception of the truth) in order to entice the 
handsome young doctor into staying. 
Tapping Lewis' phone calls to his girlfriend in Montreal, creating a bogus cricket match and attaching a frozen fish to 
the unsuspecting novice's line are just a few of the ways the village gets behind the colossal ruse to convince the doctor to stay.
Lots of interesting characters and contrived scenarios make "Seducing Doctor Lewis" a fun way to spend an evening.

CLASSIC/FIRST WORK
"Body Heat," rated R

Summer days are hot in Florida, and steamy, but they can't hold a candle to the Florida nights. "Body Heat," released in 1981, was Lawrence Kasdan's first directorial feature and laid the groundwork for his reputation as a good storyteller. (Features that followed included "The Big Chill," "Silverado" and "The Accidental Tourist" to name a few.)
Attorney Ned Racine (William Hurt) initially is smitten and soon obsessed by Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner). Walker is an unhappily married lady whose husband is rarely on the scene, and in short order the heat on the screen is generated by the couple and not by the humidity.
The chemistry between Hurt and Turner is intense, and Kasdan keeps the viewer guessing as to who, what, when, where and why until the end credits roll. Strong support is offered from veteran actors Ted Danson, Richard Crenna and Mickey Rourke and a musical score by John Barry (plus a heavy dose of wind chimes) sets the mood for this sexually steamy thriller.    

Rebecca Redshaw can be reached at r2redshaw@hotmail.com.



     

       

          


Pruning produces plummy results
Valley Gardens
Beverly Hoffman

"It's something I would never have thought of," said my friend, talking about some pruning her son did in their yard, "but I like it." 
My friend's son used a thinning cut called skirting, limbing up, or crown raising. My friend is right that most people don't consider this particular cut.
So what exactly is skirting? Cass Turnbull, in "Guide to Pruning," discusses this simple and effective pruning cut. It is simply to remove the lowest branches of a tree so that it looks less bulky and heavy. The cut should be about 1/4 inch above where the original bud began. Be careful that you don't cut into the trunk and that you don't leave a nub. 
Turnbull quotes Dr. Alex Shigo, the renowned research scientist known as the Isaac Newton of arboriculture, who says, "Trunk wood is much different from branch wood." The trunk houses the tree's vascular system. Both water and sugar, by means of pipe-like tissues, move up and down through the trunk by zylem, in the center of the tree, and phloem, right under the bark of the tree. 
Understanding how close the phloem are to the bark helps us realize why a cut too far into the trunk can damage a tree permanently because it compromises the tree's vascular system.  Likewise, cutting into a trunk with a weed whacker or a lawn mower can kill a tree over time.
Skirting, then, removes lower limbs. Remember that trees should look like trees, so don't limb-up more than one-third the tree's visible height. 
I recently skirted our azara tree because it was looking bulky and because it was cutting too much light from the Easter lilies growing beneath it. 
In an hour's time, the tree looked totally different. The shape of the trunk was visible and its structure was both delicate and textured. The tree looked more handsome, just as a man does when his beard and mustache are well-trimmed. 
I used a Felco folding handsaw I purchased at a local nursery, which was much more useful than pruners because of the thick branch diameters.
I'm soon going to tackle a few Japanese maples whose branches are dragging on the ground. Look around your garden and see which trees could use limbing up.
While you have the handsaw in hand, look to see if the tree might use some thinning in its branches, which will allow more sunlight and air circulation into the middle of the tree. 
Be careful not to overthin. Just remove those branches that cross one another, rub up next to another branch, jut out in the wrong direction or are dead. 
By simply removing these branches, you probably will have pruned properly. Overthinning places too much weight at the ends of other branches. The tree should look full and healthy rather than anorexic. 
Some trees, such as ornamental cherries, plums and crab apples, have branches that seem messy. They resent too much pruning and show that by producing lots of water sprouts. 
Turnbull says, "If the water sprouts are repeatedly removed every year thereafter, the tree's branches will rapidly age, crack and eventually die." 
One good reason to thin a tree is to open a view. Many of us are privy to spectacular panoramas except that there is a tree to block our view.  
The most short-sighted treatment is to top it. What will result is that a dense mass of branches and shoots will replace each cut trunk, ultimately creating a denser top than before. Such a top will catch the wind and will increase the risk of the tree falling in a storm. 
Also, many topped trees develop root rot, weak branch attachments and rotten or hollow trunks. Sometimes it takes years for this to happen, so we mistakenly think we've made a good decision when we are actually damaging the tree. 
Property owners have been sued because topped trees have resulted in falling limbs that have injured property or people.
A much kinder solution to open a view is called windowing. Simply thin the branches that will open the view.  Artistically, that implies that you should balance the tree on the other side by windowing another section further down or up higher. 

Beverly Hoffman can be reached at columnists@sequimgazette.com.

Make the kindest cuts
1)  When buying a plant, check the size it will become and add a bit more height because plants grow so well in the Pacific Northwest.
2) If you take out the dead wood and dead leaves, you've accomplished about 80 percent of pruning needed.
3) Prune from the bottom up, not from the top down. Remove branches falling and rubbing against one another.
4) Cutting into the tree trunk, damaging the phloem, can be far worse than pruning a tree in the wrong season.





     

       

          





     

     

         		
         
           
         
         
              

       

          


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