Flying down the highway

Leaving Denver we passed through the Eisenhower Tunnel, it is the highest vehicular tunnel in the U.S. and 1.6 miles long. Today we arrived in Santa Rosalia after four day’s journey from Denver. We had some long days of driving and are both pretty tired, but we have to organize ourselves to pack up for our vacation starting tomorrow—one night in La Paz, three in Cabo Pulmo (best diving in Mexico they say); and three nights in Todos Santos where we hope to latch up with Ray of Ray’s Hacienda de la Cubana in Mulege (who is spending his summer in there).

Our trip through the U.S. landed us in St. George, Utah, our first night at a Holiday Inn after 9 hours of driving; second night with Junior Birdman at his house in San Diego; last night in the amazing Catavina that oasis out in the middle of the Cirios Biosphere. In St. George we had an amazing full moon at sunrise (we were already on the road by then.) We drove through Las Vegas and were vastly entertained by amusing billboards (simple minds, simple pleasures.) In San Diego we bought a lemon tree, oregano, rosemary and thyme plants. We also brought some olives trees along that I ordered online in Denver. Fortunately they all made it through agricultural inspection in Guerrero Negro, we were concerned we might have to surrender them. All they wanted to know was if we had fruit, which Esperando pretended did not mean the unripe lemons growing on our little tree. We brought two kayaks down; we didn’t realize at the time how easy that would make crossing the various military checkpoints where we were flagged through as tourists, something Mexico is hungry for right now.

The cats seem relatively glad to see me so far. Winnie has been following me around, Frida creeps by hoping I won’t notice her yet. She is REALLY fat. I opened the dresser drawer to pet Carmen who still hides there by day. She moved to another drawer and I found her when I was putting away laundry.

Casa Abeja is looking good. We have a mission for our vacation. We will have to look for a new sink for the bathroom as one of them had a tool dropped in it and broke. I still have dinner to get through, I am so tired all I want to do is go to sleep now at 3:30 pm. We are leaving the mess of boxes full of stuff we hauled down here in the living room for a week while we go away.

How to improve your dog

Last night was the Big Doggie Massage night (my sister-in-law tells me I might be turning into a dog whisperer!) My neighbor recommended Inner Puppy Canine Massage to me for Sweet Pickle the other night at the wine party. She and her sister took their dogs to a class given by Mary Brickner, a Certified Canine Massage Practitioner, where they learned how to massage their dogs using massage and acupressure techniques. I started thinking that might help his hip dysplasia. When I called Mary the other day to come to my home for a consultation, she arranged her plans to fit with my tight schedule for heading back down to Baja.

I was so tired yesterday, after monitoring my Mother the previous night after her fall and now soused on pain medication that I barely got any sleep. Yesterday morning I called the orthpod suggested by the hospital emergency room for followup. When they couldn't see her until two days later, I was able to get an appointment with my great shoulder guy, Dr. Raj Bazaz. Fortunately the bone break was straightforward and all she needs is casting (although he did realign her wrist a bit manually which was incredibly painful and accomplished in about 15 seconds). They will have to finally cast her in Taos as she needs to wait a week for the swelling to go down. Dr. Bazaz put a beautiful padded splint applied with his great banter and charm. She stopped complaining about pain almost immediately. I brought Mother home then went off to do my mammagram revisited; turns out everything thing was fine with my breasts. While we were doing the doctor, Hermana drove up from Taos so she would be ready to gather up Mom and all her new clothes for a road trip. Yesterday the two of us split helping her walk (her cane hand is casted now), take pills, change clothes and get around--and of course arguing with her the whole time as the pain medicine makes her forgetful and incredibly loopy. It was so nice that there were two of us, it was so much easier. But by the time evening rolled around I didn’t see how I keep awake until my 7:30 appointment with Mary which was to last for 60-90 minutes.

When Mary arrived she brought me a passle of literature on dog food, a diagram of dog acupunture points, and other cool stuff which we went over for about 20 minutes. She had a fairly detailed questionnaire to ask about Sweet Pickle as well. Then she brought out the treats which Dash liked; and the little bag of massage oils, all of which Sweet Pickle pointedly rejected in about 2 seconds flat per fragrance. He reacted to them just as he had to Mike’s toy train one Christmas (we had to put it up and haven’t used it since.) So we didn’t do massage oil, but she spent about 40 minutes massaging him, showed Hermana and me the pressure points on the dog, how to massage using two fingers and what kind of hand movements to use. Every time she would hit a release point he would lick his lips. He seemed an unwillingly victim trying to escape at times, although at other times his eyes would express contentment with the procedure. The time really sped by and I forgot how tired I was. She was of the opinion that Sweet Pickle’s bad hips can be controlled with a better diet, massage and exercise. I hope this is true as it would be a good thing. As she left, she asked me to let her know if I noticed any different behavior from him the following day.

Sure enough the change in Sweet Pickle was almost immediate, when I went upstairs for my nightly bath he fell asleep beside the bathtub instead of guarding me like he normally does. (I think he thinks I’m going to drown in there). When I got out of the tub instead of racing down the hall in his usual style he sat up and looked at me, then rolled back over on the floor and went back to sleep. He slept much better during the night and was quite a bit calmer this morning than he usually is; Hermana thought so too.

Now I am washing clothing and floors. Tonight I drop off the modem and TV box, pick up Esperando at the airport, make a pit stop at Home Depot on the way home, then we take off for Baja in the morning just like the Beverly Hillbillies. Sweet Pickle will be playing the role of Jed Clampett played by Buddie Ebsen. (I think the resemblance is striking!)

Catastrophe

My 101 year old Mother fell in my house at 5 am this morning and broke her wrist. I was still in bed upstairs when I heard this small thump, and the dog got up and looked at me like, ‘well, aren’t you going to do anything?’ So I got up to see what went thump and there she was sitting on the floor in the hall by the bathroom. It was not an auspicious beginning to the day. I could not lift her up, nor could she get herself up. ‘I think I’ve broken my arm’ she said. Following Hermana’s advice before she left for vacation on what to do if Mother fell, I called 911. I did not realize that they would keep me on the phone talking for what seemed like an eternity. When it sunk in they might show up while I was still running around in my nightgown, I raced upstairs to change, then 911 transferred me over to the paramedics as I was still getting dressed. I raced back downstairs, got my Mother’s hearing aids and dentures into her so she would look presentable, threw the dog outside, then did as the emergency crew asked and unlocked the front door and turned the front porch light on.

In no time five burly young firemen in full gear were walking into the house, grilling my Mother about her condition and seeking medical information such as current medications and drug allergies which was all esconced in her wallet— which had magically disappeared from her purse or any other obvious location. Then the paramedics showed up, she was put on a gurney and hauled away while I was still looking for the missing wallet. I asked one of the firemen if they would admit her to the hospital without her Medicare card and he said no problem, don’t worry, take your time, she isn’t going anywhere. That was a whole new thought to me, so I emailed Hermana as to what had just happened, and she responded promptly that they were heading home and she would call at noon. I ate a piece of bread and a peach, took a quick shower, finally found her wallet buried in an empty drawer under some tissue paper, grabbed up all of her drugs, and shot off to the hospital. By the time I got there, I estimate 30 minutes later, she had been x-Rayed and was propped up in a bed waiting for the doctor and wondering where I was. My cell phone rang, it was my neighbor—my other neighbor called her to report the paramedics at our house and they were all concerned about us. (Apparently they let you talk on your cell phone in the hospital now, that is a change from the last time I was there.)

They gave my Mother some pain medication, after about an hour splinted her arm and soon we were on our way back home. The dog followed her into the bedroom and went over to tenderly touch her with his nose. I called my College Friend who had left a message for me about getting together this weekend. She came over to bring me some books and sat with my Mother so I could run off and get her pain medication prescription filled. Tomorrow my neighbor is coming to stay while I do the re-imaging thing on my boobs. My other neighbor called this evening and said she and her entire family had prayed for me at mass this morning since they didn’t know who in the household had been carted away in the ambulance. Actually as I look at it Someone HAS been holding His hand over my head all day long. It could have been so much worse and we have had help all day long as we needed it.