Sunday, January 03, 2016

Road Trip With Cats

Yesterday, I took a road trip, with cats, to the affordable clinic.

What prompted the sudden trip was a cat up in the Portland area, however, who badly needed an eye removal.

An eye bulging out from bacteria growth within, is a terribly painful condition.    She needed it removed and just by luck I guess, the affordable clinic had a cancellation yesterday.  So I went with one cat from here, and picked up River along the way.

I was going to take Button, but she's a wild thing and I was unsuccessful catching her in time.  I have five back up cats in mind.  Sam was one of them.  And he was so easy to get contained I took Sam.

Sam, just before I took him into the clinic.
River, the Felines First Rescue kitty with bulging left eye.

Fortunately, I got to bed very early the night before.  That wasn't an easy thing to do.   I'd ordered another bunk bed frame with a couple of amazon gift cards I got for Christmas, plus a little extra.  They're not expensive.   It's like the one in the other bedroom, only full on full.   They are metal and lightweight, so easy to move to clean underneath.  I knew I wanted rid of "the monster", the wooden home made frame that I have to crawl under to clean, since it is too heavy to move.

It was supposed to come next week, but it came Thursday.   I walked outside and the FedEx van was backed up my driveway.  Startled me.

Over a week earlier than scheduled delivery.  Awesome!

So Friday, I began taking that old wood one apart, piece by piece.  It was yucky and so are those two old mattresses.   Was hard on me and my older body.  Pain was involved.  I smashed my thumb,  knocked my head, crunched my shin, got dinged up all over in the process of taking that apart, carrying all the wood out, moving the mattresses to the garage, temporarily, then putting together the metal frame.  That part was easy, by comparison.

Projects done under cat supervision can take a bit longer.  They must inspect everything.   Miss Daisy had to climb the mattresses, once removed from the old bunk, sit atop one, as it leaned against a wall, and survey her world for some time from that perspective, for example.

But I got it done, got everything out, the new one put together and up, and all was well, by Friday night.  Sort of.  My finger joints are swollen and sore.  I'm bruised.  My neck, shoulder and back are not fun today.

I hit the sack by 8:00 p.m. Friday and slept through two alarms, both within two feet of my head, that went off at 3:30 a.m.  I was late off, but made it to the meet up off highway 26, just west of Portland, to pick up River, less than half hour late.

I dropped off the cats, once in Astoria and headed off to the beach.  The weather was sunny but cold and the vicious wind made the cold far worse.  I was dressed for it.  I got out at Ft. Stevens State park, at the Peter Iredale shipwreck beach.

Sand fooled me.  It had blown over a flooded section of parking lot that had then frozen.   I stepped onto it, thinking I was walking on sand, and broke through the ice beneath into several inches of water, soaking my feet in ice water.  Wool socks though helped.  I barely felt the cold.

There were few people on the beach, but one family, with kids, were wading in the surf!  Not for long.

There's not much of the Peter Iredale shipwreck.  It is vanishing fast.




The surf was wild with high wind blowing at the wave tops




Again, to my angst, cars were running up and down the beach.   Cars are for the road, not the beach.    Dodging cars on the beach is not my idea of fun.  Do these people have no legs, I wonder.

I went to a parking lot then and slept and read.   I was still very tired and after reading for half hour, drifted off to sleep.  I had plenty of blankets to stay warm.  The freezing wind rocked my car back and forth.  Nonetheless, a jogger was out running, with a gopro strapped to his chest (of course) and loudly cleared both nostrils onto the asphalt nearby.  I wondered to myself if his gopro caught that action.

I was home by 6:00, after again meeting Felines First to give them back River, and to bed early again.  Sam had one tooth pulled, his rabies updated, ears cleaned, nails trimmed and a droncit injection.  He got a senior discount on the bill, which came to $114, which is why I love that clinic!

My gas was covered by Felines First, so I was happy to help with transport.

The vet also took the time to explain what she'd done with River's remaining eye, after removing the left.  The right eye has a slight bulge beginning too, but she thinks River still has some vision in it.  The vet had just been to a conference on eye care.  This is one awesome vet, very kind and loves to learn more.  She was talking to someone (me) who also loves to learn.   She had sewn the conjunctiva to part of the eye, in attempts to save it, and sent home eye drops too, for Felines First to give twice daily.

Good luck, River.  Nice to meet you.

This is what greeted us here this morning.

It's a dusting of snow, that then froze.

10 comments:

  1. I enjoyed your pictures of the beach. Certainly more than if I had been there myself. Sounds too cold for me with that wind blowing.

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    1. Was very cold. A quick walk was enjoyable but I was only out about 20 minutes. Further than that, would be someone wanting to prove something I guess and I had nothing to prove, I guess. Not yesterday.

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  2. Anonymous1:12 PM

    The spray on top of the waves makes it clear how windy it was. Cars on beaches here in some states are not allowed. There are living things crushed every time a car drives on a beach. It will be nice if River keeps some sight.

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  3. Good luck indeed to River. How nice to find a vet who is happy to learn. And care.
    Loved those beach images and agree with you wholeheartedly about people who drive on them. Wrong, wrong and wrong.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is no need for beach driving. Plenty of places for cars. Do not belong on a beach. That's just lazy people.

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  4. Your sea photo so different than what I see every day... same ocean... but several thousand miles south. Your kitties are SO fortunate to have you!

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    Replies
    1. It is strange to think that you are far away but looking at the same ocean, the same moon....etc.

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  5. Lovely photos! I want to see the ocean again something awful. And how wonderful to find such a caring and informative vet. We are blessed with our local clinic.

    On another note, in Ohio there is a senior discount card for people called the Golden Buckeye and I teased my partner that I wish there was a "Golden Kitty" card. He'll be interested to learn that there *is* a senior discount for animals somewhere. ~grin~ Best wishes to River and all!

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    Replies
    1. I get senior discounts now, but I always forget to ask, unless with my older friend who has received them for a decade. It's hard to think of myself as "old" or "senior". It was a delightful surprise to see Sam got the discount. It's hard for me to think of him as a senior too. How time flies. Thinking about it this morning, I got in something of a panic. I've never been even to Bend, Oregon, just over the mountains, or so many places, in Oregon. I've got to see some of these places soon, before I get older, but more importantly before my car gets any older. Its closing in on 300,000 miles now and I'm not sure how much longer it will keep on keeping on. Maybe forever though, who knows.

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