Thursday November 12th & Friday November 13th, 2009

I am writing this on Friday cause we got home way too late yesterday to write (3am) and it’s now 10:31pm our time Friday night and I just got home from the vet! I’m going to be going all over the place on this one, so please bare with me I need to get this out. When we were leaving today to take Gracie to the vet and pick up Big Dog’s ashes we found a note on our gate written in Spanish. Because we didn’t know what it meant we took it with us for Dr. Paco to translate for us. We picked up Big Dog in his wooden box and Dr. Paco looked at Gracie. Because of all the ticks Big Dog had and then Gracie had she was suffering from a type of condition that dogs get once they have had a lot of ticks, her temp was 104 so he gave her a couple of shots and some pills for 27 days and pills also for Jake and Maggie just for preventive maintenance. After we were done we asked him to translate the note we got and it said that one of our cats were attacked by 6 dogs at 3am. We raced home, the only cat we saw today was shadow so it was either sunshine or Tigger, to see what was going on and sure enough Shadow was in the house and Sunshine came running when I called for Sunshine and Tigger. Ross and I frantically went up and down the street trying to find the person who wrote the note and to see if they had taken him to the vet. Our neighbors across Rio Lerma she speaks a bit of English and she showed me where the family was that wrote the note, they are our next door neighbors to the west of us one house. Our neighbor from across the street translated for me (she speaks a little English) letting us know she put Tigger up next to our house and he either jumped up or she gave him a push (we will never know) and he should be inside. We ran into the house calling for him and Ross found him under the bed. Our vet in PV had requested us call him when we find him so we called him and he suggested Tigger need x-rays or ultrasound and told us of a vet 1 km down from us that has the equipment we need and he was open. So we took off with Tigger in towels with a huge hole in his lower stomach. To make a very long story shorter, the vet found that there was no internal damage and gave him a local and slowly he made sure everything was ok before he stitched him up. We called Mary Carmen to come help us with translation, cause of course the vet only speaks only a little English and I needed to know what the vet was saying. She came and stayed with me the whole time and helped so much, if you are reading this Mary Carmen, thank you from Ross and I and especially Tigger. The vet had one hell of a time getting an IV in but after trying 3 paws he went back to the first one and finally got a good line in and gave in some antibiotics, vitamins and pain medications. His temp when we got to the vet was 40.6 and he would not allow us to take him home until the temp went down, which was when we got the IV into him with all his medication. I have to take him back tomorrow at 1ish to make sure everything is ok and the stitches are holding.

OK back to Thursday, thank you I feel better now venting! We had to get up at 11am cause Lily came at 11:30 to clean the house. I explained to her what was expected of her so we are doing much better now. While she did my bathroom and bedroom Ross and I had coffee then I cleaned our two tables outside (now it’s not the rainy season it is dusty!) and I had Lily clean the tiles so we were already to welcome Karen and Grant into the house. I drove Lily to the bus stop on the 200 then went to get my nails done with a new girl that is almost across the street from the office. I thought actually it was across the street, the sign said open but of course it was locked but I saw a table with polish and stuff on it so I thought it was hers. After waiting (I was of course 10 minutes early) until 3:10 I called Cheryl (because she had been there before) to make sure I was in the right spot, of course I wasn’t she was a few doors down and she said that other place has never opened. She is great, really good English and as I was leaving she informed me she is going to do funky things with my nails the next time I come. I left (I was late collecting Karen and Grant from the Oxxo I told them to have the taxi take them to) went to start the car……………….and nothing! Crap. I opened the hood wiggled the negative post of the battery and I heard noises from the dash, so I dropped the hood, got back into the car went to start it and ………. Nothing!. So I opened the hood again, wiggled the negative post and heard a noise and I told the car it better start now as I have to pick up Karen and Grant. I dropped the hood got into the car and it fired up. I guess it really works when you talk to your car. I raced up Cardenas and I saw Grant with his thumb out at the Oxxo. I picked them up and took them to the house. We showed them around had a bit of wine/beer and left for Guayabitos for his gig. We got through the 200 before the sun went down, it’s a beautiful drive, and drove to the restaurant that overlooks the bay and we had some drinks. We got to Crazy Nelly’s and had a great time, Nelly was a cheerleader at one time and pulled out her pom poms and had a grand ole time with them. Doing cheers, rubbing Ralph’s head with them, he had fun I can tell you! Once the gig was done we drove Karen and Grant back to their hotel and we got home around 3am, way too late, too early???

We slept until almost 1pm we got up and had some great coffee and we left to see the vet to pick up Big Dog and get him to look at Gracie around 3:30 (he closes until 4 for siesta), I got a map from MapQuest, wrong wrong wrong! I’ll have to try google, after stopping where MapQuest told us he was, we asked at an Oxxo and they said it was about 7 blocks north, go figure! We got back into the car, found his office and after about 5 minutes they gave us big dog in a wooden box. Now I need to tell you something that the dog whisper told us. According to Big Dog, he did not want to be buried, he wanted to be cremated to he would be close to us when we move and he wanted to be put in a plain box! And he was! I told you about Gracie, so between big dog, Gracie and tigger we put out almost 6000 pesos today. Big dog and Gracie was 5000 pesos and Tigger as 945 pesos (I was very impressed with the vet we had with Tigger because I think we brought him in at 6 something and he wouldn’t let me leave until Tigger’s temp went down and he could get some electrolytes in him and also get him to take some type of food. We tried wet food and he wasn’t interested but the vet brought out some other stuff out of a tube and he loved it! So I bought it.

In the meantime, Philo had phoned Ross this afternoon asking him to play tonight because Carlos couldn’t so we ended up Ross going to Philo’s from the vet, after bringing me my purse, because I didn’t even think of bringing it to the vet. Darling Mary Carmen stayed with me the entire time making sure that what the vet was telling me I understood and she called Dick her husband to come pick us up. We got home and Tigger went under the bed (his safe place) and I’ll have to take him back to the vet tomorrow at 1 for him to check him out to make sure everything is ok. I will go back to this vet, he was soooooo caring and he also told me he had 2 dogs and 5 cats, so he really cares. Most Mexicans don’t!

I am now drinking some well deserved wine, it’s now 11:30 and Ross is still not home (that’s ok) I am watching HGTV with Gracie and Jake around me, and I’m sure Shadow and Sunshine are with Tigger making him feel good! I’m gonna go to bed now, wait for Ross to come home to cuddle, we both need that!

Ross and Kim in Paradise (healing)