October 10 to 13, 2009

October 10, 2009

Happy 55th Birthday to me

Well, after 5½ years of retirement, I have finally reached early retirement age. HA HA HA !

The day didn’t start out very well. Our exterior water hose lines were frozen. DARN ! I hadn’t expected such cold temperatures this early in the year and hadn’t been watching the weather forecast. Last night the temperature dipped well below freezing. And the same is forecast for the next two nights. By mid-morning the hoses had thawed and I discovered that the expensive four way hose connector on our outdoor water spigot had frozen and cracked. DARN ! Last year we had an inexpensive plastic four way connector which froze and cracked, so this spring I bought an expensive metal one. HMPH !

After Joanne left for work this morning I discovered her home made birthday card and some treats for me on the dinette table. How sweet … thank you very much, my dear. She makes a home made card for me every … oh, I don’t know … 10 or 15 years … HA HA HA … and I cherish them.

Sully’s constipation problem persists. He has defecated only twice in the 9 days we’ve had him. We’re frustrated and worried. We’ll be taking him to the veterinarian on Tuesday. I’ve been administering a liquid laxative to him by syringe daily, but to no avail apparently. And he’s eating extremely little. Cause and effect, I guess ! However, he seems quite healthy. The constipation and lack of eating don’t seem to be affecting him much. He has inherited Teddy’s heater blankie, and is quite enamoured with sleeping on it, stubbornly refusing to budge an inch when Bo tries to share it with him. He just lies on the blanket, twitching his tail, and glaring at Bo, but refusing to relinquish his warm spot.

This evening Joanne took me out for my birthday dinner to The Branding Iron Steak House, a local upscale restaurant owned by a German family, and specializing in schnitzels. Earlier this summer we took care of a neighbour’s kitten for about a week. In appreciation they gave us a gift certificate for The Branding Iron, which paid for tonight’s dinner. Joanne had even pre-arranged with the restaurant for a piece of birthday cheesecake with a candle on it to be brought to me after dinner. Joanne and the waitress sang Happy Birthday to me. When they were finished, the table of diners beside us sang it to me again. Thank you, Joanne, for a lovely and memorable birthday.

October 11, 2009

Another unseasonably cold day. But sunny, at least. I don’t really mind cold, as long as I have sunshine. This morning was our regularly scheduled bi-weekly K9 Agility & Pack Walk session. Because Betty was busy preparing turkeys for this afternoon’s communal Thanksgiving dinner at Riverside RV Park Resort, Bo’s regular agility and pack walk buddy Spencer did not attend. So Bo and I did agility and went for a walk by ourselves. No sooner had we finished than a neighbour’s visiting son-in-law and two granddaughters with their little black Toy Poodle Sparky showed up late for the agility and pack walk session. Sparky’s first time ! So Bo and I went outside again and did agility and a pack walk with Sparky. Whew … that Sparky sure is a bundle of nervous energy. Next to Sparky, Bo seems mellow. HA HA HA … well, not really ! Sparky is young and a bit unruly, so a pack walk was a good calming and socializing exercise for him. During agility Sparky became a bit agitated, and “attacked” Bo, snarling and snapping in his face. Bo just stared at him. “What’s your problem, you little pipsqueak ?” HA HA HA ! I’m glad to see that Bo doesn’t retaliate against such a little dog. Good dog, Bo !

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at our RV park’s clubhouse, known in our park as “The Lodge”. Betty cooked three turkeys, and everybody brought appropriate side dishes and / or desserts. It was well attended, and was a wonderful meal. After dinner some us stayed to socialize, although there were a lot of “eat and run” attendees, a malady afflicting some RV parks that we find difficult to understand.

October 12, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving & Happy 35th Anniversary to us !

This morning Joanne went off to work and I went to the clubhouse for our park’s regular Monday morning coffee get together. We thought that today would be Joanne’s last day of work, but it’s not. She works for a family that owns two fruit stands, one in Keremeos, and one in Cawston. They will close the Keremeos fruit stand within the next couple of days, but have asked Joanne to work another week or so at the Cawston location. The park’s Monday morning coffee get together morphed into a Thanksgiving luncheon with all of yesterday’s leftovers. And there was plenty ! On the way back to the trailer after lunch I found a small snake in the middle of the road. The snakes are migrating to our rock wall to hibernate for the winter, and like to stop on the road to get warmed up on the asphalt. But, of course, many of them spend too long “sunbathing” on the warm road and get squished. I “herded” the little snake off the road. Sounds easier than it actually was. Snakes are not inclined to travel in a straight line.

Joanne and I spent a quiet evening at home, cuddled up on the couch with Bo and Sully, finishing the bottle of Tickled Pink wine that we opened at Thanksgiving dinner yesterday.

October 13, 2009

We spent a long day of running errands in Penticton. With Sully ! And he was wonderful !

On the one hour drive from home to Penticton this morning, he was calm and relaxed, spending most of the trip sitting on Joanne’s lap, watching the scenery go by with interest and curiosity. First stop was Lindsey Veterinary Hospital, for Sully’s free health check, a part of every adoption from the BC SPCA. Sully was a bit worried about being at the veterinarian’s. Perhaps he feared that we were abandoning him to an animal shelter … again ! But he tolerated a thorough examination without complaint. His health is good. There were no surprises. He’s as healthy as can be expected for an old animal. His constipation / infrequent defecation is simply a result of his low food consumption. And his lack of eating is likely partly stress related, and partly related to periodontal disease. Not unusual for an animal of his advanced age, he needs a dental cleaning. The Penticton veterinarian’s estimate for a dental cleaning, including blood work and anaesthetic, was well over $600. Well … that’s a lot of money ! I think Sully will have to wait for a couple of months. I think the cost of the same work at the veterinarian we use in Yuma, Arizona is likely to be less than half of that. The veterinarian also recommended a course of antibiotic therapy to possibly reduce gum inflammation, and infection, if any. Well, good idea, but … again I think we’ll wait just awhile. Perhaps a couple of weeks. We’re still experimenting with different brands of cat foods, and I would like to have him settled on one particular food before we experiment with antibiotics. Once he is settled on one food, and more adapted to living with us, perhaps it won’t seem necessary.

For the rest of the day, as we ran errands around Penticton, Sully remained calm and relaxed in the truck, snoozing whenever we left him in the truck while we were shopping. Of course it helped that we had previously Teddy’s and now Sully’s 12 volt heater blankie plugged in and on the back seat of the truck. Good boy, Sully, well done ! What a great traveller, especially for a 13 year old cat who probably has had little travelling experience !

DSK