Little did I know on Monday that I
would have a chance to drive by the sargent’s cherries again on Wednesday. I took Jack
to the vet for a vaccination – there seems to be at least one of those due
every spring – and to have him examined because he has been limping his front
leg for a few days. (You can find my post on our visit of last year here.)
The cherry blossoms were even more
abundant than two days earlier. This time I was there within office hours and I
wasn’t the only one admiring the trees. A gentleman entering the building on
business commented on the blooming that it was so marvellous you might think
you were in Japan. Indeed, if you crop the photos nicely, you might imagine you were thousands of miles away, not in a village in Finland.
As for the patient, he was
vaccinated, worm-protected and thoroughly examined. It seems the limp is nothing serious, probably
just arthritis we might want to start treating with a joint support supplement
product.
Had the reason been the viper (Vipera berus) (kyykäärme) we found dead
in our garden the other day the leg would have been all swollen. It looks like
Jack the predator may have cleared off a life-threatening enemy from his
territory without any particular harm to himself despite the fact that the
intruder was a poisonous snake, the only one living this far north. The limp may be a simple coincidence.
If the fatal bruises
in the middle of the dead snake were Jack’s doing he certainly didn’t get any
bites himself. He has been enjoying life as heartily as ever. Above you can see him sunbathing on the cover of a sewage basin, one of his favourite spots when it is not too warm, and below playing under our patio deck. I never knew he could fit in there but one day he just squeezed himself under the deck. He must have caught an inviting smell of some sort coming from there.
Oh Jack, why can’t you leave the
dangerous ones alone? (More on Jack here.)
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