WHUT HAPPENED!

[Texjbird]

Where did everybody go?

Queenie wants to know and rat dog and Jolene 
and Joanne or whatever her 
name is.

TJB. Q. RD.

[Abnorm]

WE'RE HERE JOLENE !

Where the Hell are You ?......

QUEENIE....Go fetch the BB gun........the Wolves are at the door

[Texjbird]

I'm now sharing a twin bed with Queenie all 12 lb of her and her 9 lb brother Ratt Dawg.  The only problem with this is that they like to take their share of the bed out of The Middle.  By the time I'm ready to stretch out I have to be real careful that one of them doesn't go overboard.  Having spent most of her life sharing a bed with me Queenie has learned that she is safest between me and the wall.  Ratt Dawg on the other hand seems to think my main function is to be a bridge for him from one side to the other.

A good friend of mine, .Deb and I are rumored to be having a yard sale the first part of November.   The problem with that is we seem to be having trouble getting our defecation in order. 

I'm having some back problems.  It only hurts when I bend over and lift something then it gets worse until I can't stand it and take pain medication.  My primary care physician after three different visits where I explained to his staff that there is something seriously going on with my back I would like to have another round of mri's and was ignored over approximately an 8-month period so I just called my insurance company and said now what do I do because I'm not getting adequate medical care for my primary physician and told them what I needed.  Within 2 days I had a referral to a top neurosurgeon in Dothan Alabama.   I was finally able to get scheduled for 2 MRIs one of them with contrast.    The problem with those were that they did not cover the area of my back where they found the tumor wrapped around the nerve and bundle about 4 years ago.  So I get to go back to the hospital and have those redone.   I also had X-rays done where I basically it seemed like I swinging from the equipment to get my spine to bend this way and that way. Other than the pain involved in this the only thing I could think of were scenes in  a Clint Eastwood movie where Clyde the orangutan is swinging from the chandelier and if I remember correctly there was also one of Clint Eastwood swinging from a chandelier too, in a "NO TELL MOTEL".

My Safari now has still for the second year no heat and no air conditioning on not one but two heating and AC systems.  The driver's window is the only one that operates correctly.  Then it took a light hit in the rear and a construction zone.  By the time I got through cussing to myself got out and got back there the passenger and the driver of the small car that hit my van the driver already had his insurance papers out and the other guys acting stupid or maybe it wasn't an act. He's asking what happened?  So I explained to him and not in my sweet little Grandma voice " I stopped...… you didn't.....what the hell do you think happened  .   So now the rear bumper on the Safari has a slight tilt to it I'm going to take it to a mechanic I know basically I think they're just going to be able to apply a little heat to a couple of metal pieces and tap them back down it wasn't going to be worth the aggravation trying to get anything done with my insurance company and the last time my son was involved in an accident he was able to repair his motorcycle himself.  The driver was driving her mother's car which she wasn't on the insurance she hit him the only reason she didn't run completely over him is he had his first motorcycle when he was 14 years old and he at that time was in his I think early forties.  Anyway that his scooter was on my insurance and he's the second driver on my vehicles and the law enforcement in Enterprise Alabama would not charge her with hit and run because she stopped.   Granted it was only after he picked his self up checked his scooter out saw it would run chased her down the road and a forced her into a parking lot at a automotive repair place.  Two guys and a pickup that were right behind him when the accident happened followed him down there to be a witness if he needed it and they told him that they really was expecting to see him what was left of him and his scooter come out from under the back of her car and were surprised when it didn't happen.  He wasn't injured neither of the insurance companies would step up to the plate so he was just able to purchase what he needed a bit at a time and get everything going again.  I really think though well I know the only reason I carry insurance is so I don't get a ticket if I am ever involved in an accident I have been involved in a couple then they were not my fault but it seems like whatever would pay it would be uninsured motorists so my company wouldn't pay or that only pay so much so I just give up ever collecting anything.   I carry the a-liner on the Safari policy that I have with a Geico. I've had my vehicles insured with them for around  30 something years. 

Queenie and I have been here at a friend's house for close to a year now since they were sent home from hospital rehab with the only option being somebody could be in the house because they needed 24-hour assistance otherwise they would have been in a nursing home which means that when they pass away the state will confiscate their property and sell it to pay for the rehab bill.  Our families go way back so at the beginning Queenie and I were back and forth a lot and finally it just got to be too much for me to pack up all her crap all my crap and get it over here and stay for a few weeks or whatever and go back when there was nobody else to be here.   It's been a hard decision to make but I am going to get back in the a-liner and hopefully be able to travel with the Safari if I can get a back door to open. Also the heat or theyair conditioning in one end or the other of it to work.

Well it's time for Queenie and her brother to go strip down the hospital bed in the den, sweeping mop the floor take out the trash and start the laundry.  Seems like I missed breakfast while I reckon I'll have some lunch, at some point anyway.

Y'all haven't heard too much from me for various reasons including sometimes I'm so tired I've actually laid my head down at the kitchen table and woke up 2 hours later and I don't even have a damn pillow for the table. And the system keeps signing me out and I forget the various ways that kamalu and I have spelled Queenie to get back on there.  This most recent time I was bound and determined I could do all those sideways upside down backward letters and numbers and reset it myself but I lied to myself.  What can I say.... I'm not perfect, close but not quite. 

I still intend to live in or out of the eyeliner....... damn son of a B I THOUGHT I'D SHOT AND PUT THAT GOOGLE ASSISTANT OUT OF MY MISERY...... BULLET MUST HAVE RICOCHETED OFF THE WALL I HAD HER STANDING UP AGAINST...... IDK.     THE SAFARI IS RATED TO TOW IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY 5500 LB.   I HAVE A GOOD SPOT AND A NICE RV PARK EVEN THOUGH THEY KEEP JACKING UP THE MONTHLY RATES I FEEL SAFE WITH IT SITTING THERE.  THE PART MANAGER IS REALLY REALLY NICE SHE'S EVEN WATERED SOME OF MY PLANTS THAT I MOVED FROM THE APARTMENT AND SHE ADDED SOME MORE LAWN ART BECAUSE SHE KNOWS I LIKE THINGS LIKE THAT OUT IN THE YARD SO I NOW HAVE A LIGHTHOUSE THAT NEEDS A NEW LITTLE LED THING ON THERE AND IT'LL LIGHT UP AND THEN THERE'S SOME OLD FASHIONED CERAMIC LITTLE SHEPHERDESS AND I DON'T KNOW A LITTLE BOY WITH A BUCKET THAT I'M GOING TO PAINT.

I'VE DECIDED MY FIRST TRIPS WITH THE SAFARI I WILL HAVE A LUGGAGE CARRIER ON THE BACK SO THAT I HAVE ENOUGH ROOM FOR WHAT I NEED TO USE ON THE INSIDE OF THE VAN WHERE I DON'T HAVE TO GET OUT IF THE WEATHER'S BAD.   I STILL HAVEN'T CRANKED UP MY GENERATOR THAT I BOUGHT BEFORE I MOVED OUT OF THE APARTMENT OR MAYBE I MOVED GOT IT AFTER I MOVED OUT ANYWAY IT'S STILL IN THE BOX.   SANTAN SOLAR STILL HAS THE LIGHTWEIGHT 100 WATT PANELS FOR $100. They are new, their brand and weigh less than 15 pounds a piece.

Well now my early warning systems are going off so I'll have to go see what that's all about.

Stern wake it seems like Fiona's eyes are getting on the mend and I'm glad to see that.  I thought it was funny the first time I heard about pet insurance.   I don't even have co-pays for procedures that I have done for my self and so far and also my meds are all covered.  THE last time I had Queenie to the vet's office it was $80 to get out of there.  Of course $40 of that was to get the anti-itch and flea and tick chewables that I buy for both her and Ratt Dawg.

[rvpopeye]

Good to finally hear from you.
Old vehicles have payments just like new ones ,,,,I have two.

The campground sounds nice !

[sternwake]

Stern wake it seems like Fiona's eyes are getting on the mend and I'm glad to see that. 

Thanks!..
Fiona is awesome, but,  she gave me another great scare yesterday, late afternoon.

I was trying to earn my parking spot, replacing an alternator in the landlord's 'spare' vehicle, and not able to attend Fiona's need to play ball, hard and heavy, when the sun is low in the sky, when the ball must be thrown, numerous times.

I was forearm deep in the vehicle, cursing, as one is supposed to in such a task, when the ball was bounced expertly in between my feet, followed by an obnoxious bark.  While she weighs ~53 lbs, her bark is 2x as loud as the 140Lb Mastiff up the street, and she can concentrate the bark, and direct it perfectly, so that it reverberates around one' s skull, making it obvious, that one does not need a second example of her precise skill in order to comply. 

She is also an expert at looking cute after such a bark, the grin, the tail wagging, the obvious impending joy for all parties involved, when the ball is successfully retrieved deposited at feet, or in hand.


WOOF!!!!!  Master of brevity, but what she really said was:
"That was an 8, throw the ball, or get a 9, you want the nine?
 No?, throw the ball!"

I extract my arms from the vehicle,  throw the ball, deep, go back to the vehicle, and see her go into that ball search mode. The front two paws move normally, but the back two go into this energy conserving skipping mode where they seem to barely touch the ground, her tail wagging, nose to the ground, search pattern mode.

  She loves it when she has to search for the ball. It took a weird bounce I guess, and When I next looked over, she stopped 15 yards away, lay down and put a paw to her eye.

I dropped the tools, immediately went over and she was in obvious discomfort, her eye twitching and half closed.  I was wearing my headlamp still, and my glasses, and could see, as well as one could see, and could not see any scratch on her cornea, nor any debris under outer eye lids.  I said OK!, and she jumped up and went and laid under the van, and allowed me to finish installing the alternator, in peace.

 2 hours later, her eye seemed fine, I fed her, and we walked down to a friend's house, usually an AirBNB, but He's in country and said the house is mine while he's elsewhere, in country. I take a steamy shower, then play some ball with Fiona in the grassy yard.
Is that a cat!!!  Head shaking fury, snort grunt bark growl snarl, with tail bouncing off her back as she patrols the perimeter of the fenced yard. Eventually she decides its Ok, and the ball is placed in my hand.

The ball must bounce.  
She really wants to catch it on a bounce.  It takes a few throws to sort out where and how hard I throw the ball so that she can accellerate, and then  catch it on the bounce, preferable with all 4 paws not in contact with the earth when she catches it. 
When I get the tempo and distance sorted, grunt, snort, happy dog, Again, again, again
 Happy dog mode.

As nice as the house is, it's not home, and we walk back up towards casa Dodge.

Half way back,  her tail goes down, and her head goes down, and she kind of looks like she is going to puke.

She had eaten a grounded passion fruit in that yard this time last year, and was tummy sore for 2+ weeks, puking regularly, not eating/pooping right, I did not think she was that dumb to eat another, but that was my first suspicion.

I said 'lemme see!", and she instantly rolls on her back.  I check her footies, and her chin, and lower belly.  it looks like she's got some tree sap near her pooter, so I take her to my showerbag and wash her rump.

post bath, like every dog she goes apeshit, but goes into wheel barrow mode, rubbing her face on my welcome matt.

NoOOOOOOO!
My dirty ugly welcome mat.

Nooo!, get inside!!.  She complies instantly. 
Jumps onto drivers seat then up onto her perch on top of armrests on passenger seat, and she brings a wet paw to her eye. i stop her, and her inner eyelid is bright red, and she is in serious obvious discomfort, and then cant even open her eye, but keeps trying to rub it, which I prevent.

I still have some Gentamicin, and some erthroymicin from her last corneal scratch episode, which I bust out, and get a few drops in her eye, and hold her paws so she cant rub it for a few minutes.

I still have Autologic eye drops, frozen, from the corneal scratch/ulcer episode 2 months ago, and some chewable pain pills, and some trazadone.  She gets half of each pill and in half an hour is in snore mode.

She does not want to go for her late night walk, and she refuses to open her left eye, it looks absolutely horrible when I pry it open and get some more erthromycin into it 2 hours later. I'm freaking out, and  I myself, take one of her trazadone, and give her another half traz pill and rub her belly until she is snoring again.

I know my new, overpriced,  5 minute drive Animal Hospital opens at 7:30Am and I can likely get a same day Appt if I call then.  Shes wide awake at 5AM, and she can open her eye, but it is red and the inner eye lid eems stuck half way.
  
1/2 pill of trazadone in peanut butter, more erthromycin gel in eye.
She wanted to lay the cold floor on her back,  and I rubbed her belly until she was snoring.

 At 7AM maybe a bit better, and she wanted to keep sleeping, and so Did I,  and so we did. 

At 10AM the inner eyelid was half closed still, but pink, instead of bright red.

~2 hours later it looked much much better, and she was trying to insist it was fine by attempting to stick her head deep into bushes on our initial walk, to sniff, see which dogs had the temerity to pee in her territory.

I let the second half trazadone wear off completely, and  by late afternoon, the ball was rolled expertly ion between my feet.
Woof!!
     

[rvpopeye]

Nice save ! Woof.

[Cammalu]

Man Stern. That was a close call. Hope it’s all healed or healing well. Poor doggy

[GotSmart]

Fiona might need some doggles. 

A pair of goggles designed for dogs and cats. But she might just eat them. 

[Cammalu]

I have dog ski goggles for Sam because of all the dust and crud in Quartzsite. I’m not saying she likes them but I like that her eyes aren’t all cruddy after a ride.

Not sure which I bought but here are some examples

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=dog+snow+goggles&adgrpid=58942965554&gclid=CjwKCAjwzNOaBhAcEiwAD7Tb6BHrfWmvpB0pfhmWiB6sqwUsgm4TZXXVG8pmzg4fFK8IALwlfymn-BoCUf0QAvD_BwE&hvadid=580817637537&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=9014739&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=13583319894612955145&hvtargid=kwd-336040302449&hydadcr=14532_13388757&tag=hydsma-20&ref=pd_sl_3qkgmu052v_e

[Cammalu]

These are the ones I have for Sam. They fit well