October 13, 2004

October 13, 2004

Rondeau Provincial Park

DAY 118

 

Much of today was spent taking care of Toby. He's very old. His time is running out. We have a tough decision facing us not too far into the future. He had four seizures today ; two this morning, one this afternoon, and one this evening. After each one, his mobility was impaired for an hour or two. He couldn't walk without his hind end falling over. He couldn't lower his head to the water bowl without falling over. He was dizzy and disoriented. For lengthy periods today each of us took turns just holding him, and assisting him to eat and drink. I am hopeful that these problems are simply a reaction to the deworming medication we administered yesterday. It became apparent a week or so ago that Toby had roundworms, and so we had to buy and administer deworming medication to both Toby and Teddy. We administered it in quantities appropriate to their weights, but at Toby's age, maybe that was too much for his systems. Maybe he's just suffering a bit of deworming medication overdose / poisoning. I certainly hope so, in which case he should be better in a day or two.

I continued work on my fibreglass repair. Considering the two false starts / aborted first applications, it's looking not so bad. Eventually, it should come out looking acceptable. I think today's second application of fibreglass cloth, and resin with hardener, should be enough. Tomorrow I hope to be able to begin sanding.

Although quite cool today, the sun was shining brightly, and since the forest colours are astounding right now, it inspired us to get out for a few short walks around the campground, carrying Toby in our arms to give him a chance to get some fresh air and sunshine. Without Toby, we hiked over to the beach on Lake Erie. Big wind, and big surf today. Rondeau Provincial Park is located on a narrow peninsula, with Rondeau Bay on one side, and Lake Erie on the other.

I read a book, with Toby cuddled beside me. I napped, with Toby cuddled beside me. I was inspired by Toby’s problems, and our upcoming long drive to Missouri, to just take it easy today. We watched a bit of TV. We haven’t watched TV much since we started travelling. I was surprised, when watching the news, how out of touch with current events we’ve become. I should buy a newspaper more often.

DSK