Sunday ; Today was sunny and mild.
Immediately after an early lunch we departed for Princeton, about an hour west on Highway 3, to attend the Upper Similkameen Indian Band's 2013 Spirit Festival PowWow at Princeton Secondary School. A few years ago we attended a Lower Similkameen Indian Band PowWow. This was our first USIB PowWow. The Upper Similkameen Indian Band is a small band based in Hedley. They operate the Mascot Gold Mine Tours. We enjoyed the PowWow. We always enjoy attending PowWows.
There was enough daylight left upon our return late in the afternoon that I was able to get some work accomplished on building our shed before having a late supper and watching the finale of Celebrity Apprentice.
Monday ; Another sunny, mild day.
I slept late. I've been doing a lot of that lately. I still have a bronchial infection. I'm still coughing. And now I'm using a steroid inhaler at bedtime. I wonder if that contributes to the difficulty I'm having getting up in the morning ?
I spent most of the day working on building / assembling the storage shed. When I needed a break from that, I worked on removing, cleaning, and re-oiling the truck's air filter, an annual task. The truck's reusable air filter was filthier this spring than in previous years. And more difficult to reinstall than in previous years. Lots of expansion and contraction, wear and tear, parts not fitting together so well any more. Building the shed is somewhat like a giant jigsaw puzzle, but ... slow and methodical will get it done.
Three day long weekend ... no activity on our lot 89 long weekend reduced selling price ! < sigh >
Tuesday ; Cold ! Raining all day ! Snoozed all afternoon with Sully ! Accomplished nothing today !
Wednesday ; Today was cold and cloudy with intermittent light rain interrupting our outdoor work.
We had our front yard slope "rocked" today. We hired a local contractor to bring two dump truck loads full of rocks, then dump and position them on our slope using a large piece of excavation equipment. We're very pleased with the results ! Joanne is going to buy and plant some desert type perennials on the slope ; plants like sage and lavender.
I continued working on building / assembling a storage shed. At the end of a day of working in the cold ... I ached all over ! And ... I don't see much progress ! Today was a long day of assembling door components and skylights, but ... the project still looks the same as it has for two days now ; shed walls without doors or a roof.
Late in the evening Joanne convinced me to go with her to soak in the hot tub. First time in the hot tub for me since we returned home almost four weeks ago. AHHHHH ! She had a good idea, going to soak in the hot tub !
Thursday ; < YAWN > A long, tiring day of running errands in Penticton.
Friday ; Partially sunny today, mild, a few drops of rain. We got a lot accomplished today on building the shed, spending much of the day working on it. We also got a bit accomplished on landscaping our newly rocked front yard slope. One of our neighbours had three bunches of ornamental grasses in her flower gardens. She wanted them removed and offered them to us. Today we dug them out of her gardens, and transplanted them onto our rocked slope. It's the beginnings of xeriscape landscaping Joanne has planned for the slope. It’s a good looking start !
Saturday ; This morning we headed out to the annual "yard sale" at Sagewood Mobile Home Park near Olalla. Bought two items for a total expenditure of a buck and a half. Returned home and resumed work on building / assembling our storage shed kit. After lunch we went into Keremeos to attend the first annual Keremeos Art Fair. Yup ... artists have a tendency to take themselves and their art WAAAAAY too seriously, no matter who / what / where they are. Returned home and spent the rest of the day continuing work on the shed. I estimate that we're about 90% done.
And yes, yes ... Sully's recovery continues exceptionally well.
DSK
Sunday ; While he still has not used the litter box for a few days Sully actually seemed to be doing a teensy bit better today. His march towards death seems to have slowed. Or maybe stopped ? Or maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part ? Today he was a teensy bit active, walking around the house a bit. His abscessed tooth infection seems to be defeated by the strong antibiotic. No more swelling, no more fever, no more pain, very little drainage out of the horrible looking wound on his cheek. Perhaps his constipation and lethargy are more a function of the very strong antibiotic than impending death ?
Today was partially sunny, very warm, and a bit humid again. After Joanne's four days of advance voting station work, it was nice to have her around today to help with the medical care of Sully ; force feeding food, force feeding water, administering antibiotic, administering blood pressure medication, washing the wound on his cheek, and applying a hot compress to the cheek to keep the abscess wound draining, most of those repeated every four hours. Today Sully actually ate a little bit on his own. He was "healthy" enough to respond when his favourite treats were offered to him.
We began the arduous task of washing the road grime off the trailer after the long drive from Yuma to Keremeos. Lots of bugs on the front of the trailer ! And the sunny, hot weather of the last two weeks has baked them on nicely ! This afternoon we scrubbed the front of the trailer. The front is the most difficult part of washing the trailer, so ... that's now done !
Joanne made scallop chowder tonight with scallops we bought in Bahia Kino, Mexico. Pretty good chowder ! Pretty good way to use up some of the scallops ... which neither of us particularly like. We watched the three hours of the season finale of Survivor. Nice new TV !
Monday ; WELL ! ! ! WHAT THE **** ! ! !
I have just received an e-mail ( late in the evening ) advising me that the truck camper that
I recently purchased in Phoenix ... to be delivered to our RV park in Yuma ... has just been significantly damaged in a traffic accident ! I don't know whether to accept that at face value, or ... has the seller simply received a better offer than mine. I've requested photos of the damaged camper. Let's see what happens. In any case ... no truck camper for us at this time !
Sully has improved a bit. Looks like he's not going to die this week ! We took him to the veterinarian for a follow up check today. The abscess wound on his cheek is finished draining, the dead tissue has sloughed off, the raw flesh underneath looks clean and healthy. It will take a long time for that open wound to close and heal. Sully is more alert and active today. He's eating and drinking on his own. Not much, but ... on his own ! He's urinating. BUT ... he's VERY constipated ! The veterinarian conducted a ... < ahem > ... DRE ( digital rectal exam ) which stimulated Sully to expel a rock hard little turd right there on the examining table ... again ! HA HA HA ! Sully shows his contempt for the vet ... again. We left the vet's office with a laxative and a subcutaneous rehydration syringe kit. < sigh >
This morning I went to see my doctor to review the results of my recent blood tests and chest x-rays. < sigh > Nothing conclusive there ! He ordered more blood tests to determine if I am suffering from Valley Fever / coccidiodomycosis or a more "garden variety" bronchial infection. While we wait another couple of weeks for those results, he gave me a steroidal bronchial inhaler to use. Wish me luck !
Tuesday ; B.C. Election Day ! Fourteen hours of work ! Long, tough day ! Had an angry voter throw his Where To Vote card in my face when I pissed him off. Yeah ... **** you too, pal !
Wednesday ; WOO-HOO ! ! ! Sully is a lot better ! ! ! He ain't gonna die today ! Must be a C & W song in there somewhere ! HA HA HA !
The antibiotic did its job. The abscess is gone. The big, ugly hole in his cheek is closing and healing.
The force fed "recovery" food did its job. Sully has gained a pound in the last week.
The force fed water did its job. But more obviously, and importantly, the subcutaneous injection of fluids did the most good. He's plumped up like a Foster Farms chicken. His kidneys have resumed working. He's peeing ! Although he really hates when I stick a big needle into the scruff of his neck and inject a huge amount ( 50 ml. / 1.75 oz. ) of saline fluid into him twice a day.
The laxative did its job ! WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO ! ! ! His intestines have resumed working. Sully passed a rock hard turd followed by diarrhea. And then began to look and behave "normal".
Close call, Sully. Very close call. Glad to have you back !
< sigh > This morning I worked on cancelling the truck camper deal. I have had no response from the seller to my request to see pictures of the camper after the alleged traffic accident. So ... I can only conclude that there was no traffic accident. He simply got a better offer from someone nearby him. Fair enough ! But ... I lack respect for his lying. It's been my experience in life ... and especially around here at Riverside RV Park Resort ... that lack of ethics and lack of truth go hand in hand.
I was able to stop payment on the cheque that I sent the seller. And I contacted the summer manager of Kofa Ko-op and requested that he return the bank draft that I sent there as full payment upon delivery. My bank won't return those funds to my account until the bank draft is returned to them.
Thursday ; Today was cool and cloudy with a few drops of rain. The forecast is for more of the same for the next week and a half.
Sully seems quite healthy today. He's active, eating on his own, and drinking on his own. He's urinating a lot and defecating a little. He asked to go outside this afternoon, so ... I went outside with him for a few minutes. We have discontinued force feeding him, force watering him, and administering antibiotics. We have reduced his subcutaneous fluid injections by half. His cheek is healing nicely. Don't know yet what we're going to do about the underlying tooth problem.
We went into Keremeos and I bought some pressure treated plywood for the shed base. Joanne did some fresh produce shopping. I need to get started on the shed building project soon. Joanne is working on painstakingly de-weeding our yard. I replaced a burnt out fog light bulb on the truck. I made and mounted some revised price signage for lot 89, our RV lot. We are reducing our price ... for the long weekend only. Wish us luck !
Friday ; Mostly cloudy, mild, intermittent rain.
Joanne went to Penticton this morning by herself to run errands. She didn't return home until supper time. I spent the day working on the shed base floor. My work was interrupted by rain. By the end of the day I had managed to get the pressure treated plywood cut and screwed down onto the frame base which I built last fall just before we left for the winter. The wood cutting was mostly done by my next door neighbour, I was the "assistant". He has the tools and the skills. I have neither.
Ready to start work on building the shed !
Saturday ; Thirty dollars ? ! ? Bank of America charged me thirty dollars to stop payment on a cheque ? ! ? I have had no further response from the truck camper seller. Obviously, there was no "traffic accident" involving the camper. He simply sold it for more money to someone local. Too bad he lacks the integrity to admit that. But ... integrity is in short supply these days, isn't it ? !
I started working on building a shed today. It's a kit, so it's more assembling than building. Once again, rain interrupted my work frequently. I didn't accomplish much more than opening the shed kit's four very large boxes and removing all the components, looking for the floor pieces, which were in three of the four boxes !
To everyone who expressed concern for Sully this week, thank you for your concern. Sully is doing great ! All systems are working fine. He's eating, he's drinking, he's urinating, he's defecating, he has regained some weight, his cheek is healing well, his tooth seems to be causing no pain. We'll figure out next week whether he's going to have surgery to remove the tooth or go on "pulsed" antibiotics for the rest of his life ... antibiotics for perhaps a week per month.
DSK
Sunday ; Happy 12th Birthday to Joanne's niece Amelia
Sunny and hot ! Early summer ?
This morning Joanne packed a picnic lunch and we set off to visit the South Okanagan Rehabilitation Centre for Owls ... SORCO ... in Gallagher Lake. We drove "the big loop" ; Riverside RV Park Resort to Keremeos to Kaleden to Okanagan Falls to Gallagher Lake to Oliver to Osoyoos to Keremeos to Riverside RV Park Resort.
At Olalla we stopped to have a discussion with a contractor that we are hiring to do some landscaping excavation work on our yard. We had our picnic lunch at an abandoned B.C. Provincial Park Campground near Gallagher Lake before visiting the South Okanagan Rehabilitation Centre for Owls. SORCO had an "open house" today to show off their facilities and work. Not exactly what I had expected / envisioned, but very interesting.
"The big loop" is sure a beautiful drive in the spring !
Monday ; Sunny and very warm.
This morning when we awoke Sully had a puffy cheek. The tooth that has been giving him some problem for a few weeks now must have abscessed. Poor Sully. I made an appointment to see a veterinarian in Penticton on Wednesday morning. I mixed an appropriate strength mixture of antibiotic and administered a dose to him.
We headed off for a day of errands in Penticton. Priority was going to the bank and arranging for payment for the truck camper. Got served by a young man who ... < ahem > ... lacked experience. The branch manager had to intervene. I hate having my time wasted ! And I hate ineptitude !
When we returned home late in the afternoon ... UH-OH ! ! ! Sully's face was extremely swollen on one side. And he obviously had a fever and sore face / head. OH ... poor baby Sully ! I phoned the vet and wrangled an "emergency squeeze in" appointment for tomorrow morning. < sigh > Which means I will miss the chest x-ray and blood test appointment I have for tomorrow morning. We applied a hot compress to the side of his face and that seemed to ease his discomfort and reduce the swelling a bit.
Joanne went off to a meeting of election officials in town. I prepared supper. After she returned home and we finished supper, I put a hot compress on Sully's cheek again. He seemed to like it. The swelling came down a bit. His face and ears weren't as hot, so the fever reduced. As I type this late in the evening he is lying on the couch snoozing on a quilt. I will have to decide early in the morning which appointment to cancel, his or mine. If he seems okay first thing in the morning, maybe I'll cancel his emergency appointment and wait for the original Wednesday morning appointment.
Tuesday ; Joanne's 12th anniversary as cancer survivor
Sunny and hot ! Way too hot to do the job that I did this afternoon. Should have managed my time smarter !
I got up early this morning. Had to make a decision whether to cancel Sully's emergency veterinarian appointment and go to previously scheduled "regular" veterinarian appointment tomorrow, or cancel and reschedule my chest x-ray and blood test appointments. The swelling on the side of Sully's face was down a bit. And the fever was down. Decided to make Sully wait another day, and go to my appointments.
While I was in town at South Similkameen Health Centre, Joanne continued the application of a hot compress to Sully's cheek every hour or so, and ... the abscess ruptured. That's a good thing, actually. Now pus and blood are oozing slowly out of a raw, ulcerated looking wound on his cheek. My expectation is that tomorrow morning the veterinarian will simply cut the cheek open slightly and insert a wick to drain the abscess, and put Sully on a strong antibiotic regimen for a week or so. At that time the problem tooth will have to be dealt with. And Sully is too old to tolerate general anaesthetic. Don't know what will happen, but there is a definite possibility that Sully is in the last week or two of life. I really have my mind and heart set on him living another year and a half, but ... ! ! !
This afternoon I relocated a neighbour's satellite dish. In direct sunlight during the hottest part of the afternoon. DUH ! This evening when I opened the lid of the barbecue ... hey ... a wasp inside. HEY ... A WASP NEST INSIDE ! ! ! How the hell did it build a nest that quickly. Didn't we just use the barbecue a couple of days ago ? We used the barbecue to cook part of supper, dodging an angry wasp every time we went outside to the barbecue. After the barbecue cooled down, the wasp seemed to have left, and I removed the charred nest.
Late in the evening as Joanne wrote an e-mail to her sister, I put Sully on the bed, in between our pillows where he likes to be. And I put my forehead against his. And I cried.
Wednesday ; Sunny and very warm again. Today was a day with its fair share of ups and downs.
Sully and I both slept very little last night. I tossed and turned for many hours. And every time
I looked at Sully, he was awake and looking back at me. Joanne and I were up very early this morning for her first of four days of election advance polling station work. I drove her into Keremeos for her 7 AM start time !
I returned home to shower, then took Sully to Penticton to see a veterinarian that we've never seen before. He and I got off to a rough start, but things improved between us as the examination and consultation progressed. He examined Sully. He drew blood for tests. Sully dropped a turd on his examining table. You go, boy ! HA HA HA ! I left with a new and more appropriate antibiotic, and a near liquid canned food that I can syringe feed to Sully. He has eaten very little over the last couple of weeks and I was absolutely stunned to discover that he's lost 2½
pounds.
I expected the veterinarian to lance the abscess, insert a drain wick, and let it drain for a week or so before addressing the underlying tooth problem. Not so ! His opinion is that there's no sense in draining the abscess and leaving the tooth. Until the tooth is gone, the abscess and infection will persist. So ... Sully is scheduled for surgery tomorrow morning. I'm sceptical of his ability to survive anaesthesia. His dental surgery may turn out to be just extremely expensive euthanasia. But ... the only other alternative to surgery to remove the tooth is ... euthanasia !
I returned home and syringe fed Sully some of the near liquid food. He seemed really happy to be able to get some food inside him. And following the veterinarian’s advice, I applied firmer pressure than I previously had been when applying a hot compress and ... BOOM ! The abscess ruptured ! And spewed and spewed and spewed pus and blood. Which is a good thing ! And it seemed to give relief to Sully. He is no longer grotesquely bloated on one side of his face. But the ruptured abscess sure is an ugly looking raw wound on his face.
Late this afternoon I went over to a neighbour’s to relocate her Wi-Fi transceiver / antenna.
I expected the job to take about an hour. And after about an hour I was finished relocating the
Wi-Fi transceiver / antenna., and installing a new, longer Ethernet cable. And she was unable to connect to the Internet ! I buggered around for about another two hours trying to identify what I did that prevents connection to the Internet. And I failed ! < sigh > So much for being a helpful neighbour. If I knew what I did wrong, obviously I would correct it. But I have no idea what‘s wrong. I had to abandon the problem to go pick up Joanne in town at the end of her very long day at 8:30 PM.
< sigh > I returned home with a very tired Joanne. I cooked a very late supper. I suppose that tomorrow I’ll have to advise the neighbour to contact her Internet service provider to send a service technician out to resolve whatever the problem is ... < sigh >.
Thursday ; Sunny and hot ! Another day of ups and downs.
We left home this morning at 7 AM, Sully with us. I dropped off Joanne at Victory Hall in Keremeos to begin her second of four 13½
hour days as an election official. I continued on to Penticton with Sully, arriving about half an hour before Sully was due at the veterinarian's for his dental surgery. I used the time well, getting half an hour of online work done at Safeway, using their free Wi-Fi. When I arrived at the vet's office, he wanted to talk to me.
The results of Sully's blood tests indicated that he is not currently healthy enough to tolerate surgery. Today's surgery was postponed for a week. His white cell count was high because of the infection in the abscess. His red cell count was low because of age and illness. His kidneys are weak because of age and illness. He has not been eating and drinking. I have a week to get him healthy ; strong antibiotic to defeat the infection, liquefied food to force feed him by syringe, water to be forced by syringe. He needs nourishment. He needs hydration. He needs his kidneys to be stronger to be able to survive general anaesthesia.
I left the veterinarian feeling optimistic. By tonight, however, that had changed to pessimism. Perhaps this is the veterinarian’s way of steering me to conclude that Sully’s time is almost over ? Today I force fed him, force watered him, forced antibiotics into him, and applied hot compresses under pressure to drain the abscess in his cheek ... four times ! It’s so very hard to intentionally hurt an animal that I love so much !
I picked up Joanne at 8:30 and filled her in on our drive back home to Riverside RV Park Resort.
I made a very late supper again. She thinks Sully’s time is almost over and we should just concentrate on making his remaining short time as filled with “quality of life” as possible.
Friday ; Another sunny, hot day.
I don't know whether Sully is coming or going ! On the one hand, there is some improvement. The dead tissue of the abscess on his cheek has completely ruptured open, as the veterinarian advised me it would do. No more pus and blood are draining out. The "pocket" beneath seems to contain no more infection. His cheeks / face are "symmetrical" again. He is alert and slightly active. He dislikes being force fed food and water, and resists, a healthy sign. On the other hand ... he is neither urinating nor defecating despite being force fed food and water. I fear his kidneys and intestines are shutting down.
Well ... congratulations, Daniel ... and welcome to the twenty-first century. Today I finished preparing our income tax returns ... on the computer, using tax preparation software. First time ! Then ... HA ! ... I filed the returns electronically ! The entire process was much less painful than preparing our tax returns with paper and pencil.
Our neighbour had a service technician over today to diagnose and repair whatever problem prevented connection to the Internet after I relocated her Wi-Fi transceiver / antenna and installed a new, longer Ethernet cable two days ago. HMPH ! ! ! Defective fifty buck cable !
Saturday ; Mostly sunny, very warm, a bit humid.
Sully is not doing well. What I mean is ... he's dying. My mind and my heart are at odds. I continue to force feed and force water him. He is not urinating nor defecating. He's very lethargic, not getting out of bed today until 5:30 PM. However ... at the moment ... 7:30 PM ... he's sprawled across the sofa grooming himself, looking comfortable. Joanne wants us to simply focus on providing him physical comfort and love as he slowly dies. I battle tears as I type that, not the first time today I've had that battle.
Today was Joanne's last of four very long days of work at the upcoming B.C. election's advance voting station. I mounted our new TV on the living room wall of the park model. That's the TV we bought in Yuma, Arizona late on the evening of American Thanksgiving last November. I spent much of the afternoon lying on our bed, giving comfort and love to Sully as I studied my election official manuals in preparation for my work on election day next Tuesday.
DSK
Sunday ; Today was cool and very windy again. Welcome back to Keremeos !
Yesterday, in desperation, I gave Sully half a laxative tablet. Overnight ... it worked. WOO-HOO ! Sully lives to shit another day ! Or more accurately ... Sully shits to live another day. HA HA HA ! Poor Sully. I think he's entering the "end of life" phase.
We spent another day working on "return home" chores. Including ... remounting the satellite dish on the edge of the roof of the house. Yesterday's very strong winds made some of the mounting bracket's screws start to pull out of the wood fascia of the eaves. A bit more wind and our satellite dish would have ended up in Kansas !
For supper tonight I cooked Corvina fillets, bought fresh in Escuinapa, Mexico three months ago and driven some 7500 km. / 4700 miles or so to here. Still very good ! I tried something new tonight, using crushed tortilla chips as "breading". Very good !
Monday ; WHAT THE ***** ? ! ? This morning as we were preparing to leave for a day of running errands in Penticton ... it began to snow ! Big, wet flakes of snow ! We had a long, tiring, cold day of running errands in Penticton. It snowed. It rained. It was sunny for awhile. SHEESH ! The price of diesel is high ! The new grocery store in Penticton is great !
Tuesday ; Sunny but cold !
This evening I did some compilation of statistics regarding our winter travel season. Lowest diesel price in U.S. ( cheaper in Mexico ) was $3.659 the day after Christmas in Yuma, Arizona. The highest diesel price was the second fill up after leaving home, $4.369 on November 3 at Flying J in Pasco, Washington, the worst Flying J we've ever been to, and we've been to many !
Drove over 15,000 km. / about 9600 miles this winter.
Wednesday ; Sunny and mild. Income taxes due yesterday. Should start working on them soon. HA HA HA !
Thursday ; Sunny and mild again.
Early this morning Joanne left for Osoyoos, to attend her election training course. When she returned mid-afternoon, she laid down on the bed and fell asleep .... for about four hours ! She is not adept at napping.
In the evening ... while she was still "napping" ... I went into town ( Keremeos ) to attend the "all candidates" meeting. Yeah ... I learned what I needed to ! ! !
Friday ; Sunny and warm. Quite nice !
Well ... after the exchange of many e-mails over the last four days ... I have bought us a truck camper ... in Phoenix, Arizona !
I have made purchases over the Internet before. But always new products, never used, and certainly never anything "big ticket" like this ! But ... I suppose this sort of thing will become more and more common in this day and age.
I found this truck camper listed on CraigsList. "Stumbled across" more than "found". And when
I stumbled across it, the listing had been posted just an hour or so before. The owner and I have had an ongoing dialogue by exchanging many e-mails ... and photos ... over the last four days, and ... today a deal was made !
He will deliver the truck camper to our RV park in Yuma, and it will be waiting there for us when we arrive next November ! How exciting ! ! ! And ... < whispering > ... the Guasave accident insurance claim payout "excess" will pay for it ! Somewhat compensates me for spending much of the month of March up on the trailer roof doing accident repairs in the brutal desert sun.
After a trip to Winnipeg and back this summer / fall, and then down to Yuma next November, Harvey the fifth wheel trailer will "retire" to become a "stationary residence" on our lot in Yuma. We will travel back and forth between Arizona and BC with this truck camper, and will use it to explore more of BC, and northern Canada during the summers.
And another thing I stumbled across on the Internet this week. The last "brick and stick" house we owned, just outside Ottawa, Ontario, is for sale. WOW ... nice house ! ! ! I would like to buy it. HA HA HA !
DSK
