Back home

I had planned to stay out at least 2 nights, but at 10:30 this morning there were already 4 RVs in an arc around my campsite. The guy across from me was friendly as well as considerate, and maybe the others would have been as well, except one a couple of sites over ran the generator for quite a while. Like voices, most sounds carry further in a campground setting. I couldn't see paying another $30 when it wasn't what I wanted or where I wanted to be.

When I brought everything into the house Lady began acting strangely - couldn't move her legs well and couldn't walk or stand up straight. She kept pacing and panting, down the hallway and into the back bedroom, then back to the living room to start all over again. I took her for a walk and noticed she had blood in her stool, which I realized I've seen before but refused to believe that's what it is. Something was definitely different with her, and I left with her to go to a local vet thinking this would be it. When the realization hit me I really wasn't prepared for it at all, although I don't think Lady would have cared one way or another.

The vet seemed thorough in her exam of Lady and the questions she asked me, and I decided to try a moderate dose of narcotic for the pain, plus a med that is for intestinal problems. I think that is the stuff she had to take in 2009 when we were at Lassen. At least this gives me time to prepare for the end, and when the time comes I can deal with it. I truly believe Lady is trying to let me know it's ok, but I just don't want to give up on her, realizing we are no doubt two of a kind, two old ladies with infirmities, one definitely less prone to grumbling about them.

If you can, picture me trying to get 1-1/2 pills of one kind, and one of the other, into an uncooperative dog. I'm out of turkey lunch meat and the vet said I should administer it in a dose of peanut butter. Maybe some dogs like peanut butter, but this one turns her head away and absolutely refuses it. When I ended up doing was to smear pb on a piece of freeze dried beef treat, stick the pills onto it, and cover it with more pb. She still turns away from it, but eventually she can't resist the beef treat and has taken both pills that way for this evening. I'll run out and buy her more turkey meat since that's a sure thing, except for when she swallows the meat and spits out the pill! How in the world does that dog do it, and in her decrepit years at that. I bet nursing home attendants go through similar situations.

Enough about our troubles. Now I want to get things cleaned up and packed away for our next trip which I hope will be soon. I should give Eldorado NF another shot or two, but will go further afield if need be. I think after Labor Day will be much better from my point of view.

I have a very strange acting dog right now, and think I made a mistake bringing her home. I don't want to go through all the weeping again.