On the other side of the fence

Those of you that know my dogs, know that they run non-stop. Take a look at these videos and look at how still my dogs are.

Their tails should be at 90 degrees, but to be honest, they've been out for hours, I think they are just tired of holding them up.

The chickens are doing well, but still no eggs.

Should be any day now. This is only about 1/2 the flock, as it was starting to rain and the others were inside.

My Neighborhood

So, I've been asked a number of time lately what it's like where I live. I'm guessing because people want to know just how bad things really are, or aren't.

So, using the little Canon A480 camera that Raytheon gave me a couple of weeks ago just for being here, I went out on my way to lunch today and took a series of four pictures from the center of my "complex" in each of the four directions. Keep im mind that I made no effort to take good pictures, as this camera has no viewfinder, only the LCD on the back, and that I wear polarized lenses for sunglasses, so can't really see any display. You get what you get!

So, in this first picture, you can see our bunkers in the middle, with the 12' T-walls lining our living spaces, which are low-qua;ity industrial trailers that have been modified to have three rooms, in my case, for six people to live. Not the tall pole in the distance which is out emergency PA system, and the porta-john way back by the road.

Now, in this picture, you should notice that dull, flat, and generally barren topology of our central corridor, the "alley" or service road that splits our housing area in half. I live on the "wrong" side of the track, though it does put me pretty close to the medical clinic. But, it does mean I'm about as far away from everything else as I can be.

Now this area is where all the services are set up, such as the showers, toilets, and generators. Our utilities are underground for the most part, which in our trailers only means you can't see the wires, as we only have electricity to our trailers.

Then, based on all the press you've heard about shoddy workmanship on the electrical systems over here, there must be some truth to it because we are forever having electrical inspections and work done to our rooms. That should strike everyone as being odd since wiring the in most US houses have to be about 25-50 years old before they need any sort of work, and these aren't even 6 years old yet and are being redone multiple times a year, and people continue to be electrocuted.

We have three outlets in our room, so Fred and I each have one, and the refrigerator takes the third one. Oh, there is another specially wired for our air conditioner, which just happens to blow its cold air over my bed, making multiple blankets a requirement, year round. We have a single window, which has been covered over with plywood, more or less. I'm thinking more to keep explosions from shattering glass all over us, but serving a secondary purpose of keeping the room dark during the day, for those that have to sleep during the day.

Now, in this last picture, you again see the bunkers, but these are covered in sandbags, shich helps dampen the shrapnel. In the distance you can see our water tanks, which are filled with big tanker trucks, and all our water is pumped from these. In a time where the temperatures are around 120 degrees F, that means that all our water is that temperature too. Needless to say, you can get scaulded if you're not paying attention.

Cool water is what you get out of your refrigerator -- it exists no place else. Thank goodness my friend Bert gave me his refrigerator when he left. (I'm too cheap to spend $200 to buy one of these you can buy anywheres in the US for $150.) Free is good. I continue to scrounge stuff to make the place better, such as all of the plastic shelving I've fished out of the recycle bins.

So, my roommate and share a 12x13 room, we each have a wall-locker, a twin bed, and a night-stand. Anything else you have to get on your own, and nothing is cheap, other than the pirated movies the Iraqis sell all over the place. The nearest toilet and shower for us is about 200 meters away, the nearest bunker about half that, and the entire place is covered in smooth round river rock... Did I mention I hate river rock? Makes walking in sand seem easy...

Throw all this together, and I commute only about a mile to the office, on foot. A quarter mile to the shower and back, a mile to work, another half mile to get lunch and dinner, followed by another mile back to my room. Then add that I walk 3 miles each morning, plus all the additional night trips to the bathroom, and you can see that I have learned how to walk!

Erika's trip to VA/DC

So my niece Erika was here for the last couple of weeks. She worked at a local barn, and we did some sight seeing.

-----------------------------------------She did come in the same day Ripley got sick, so we missed out on some things while trying to care for Ripley.

However ... she really liked Ollie. I tried to shove him into her bag this morning.

Cousins on Coasters

Spenser and Erika went to Kings Dominion. There are no amusement parks near Seattle.

Ripster's Rebound

Ripley had surgery on Friday and he is doing amazingly well.

His neuter did not keep him down for long, and he was running around the next day. He had a cyst removed from his head, and that itches - but he seems to feel really well.

It's 30 days of antibiotics, and hopefully no long term effects. As a side note we did find out that there is no sign of cancer, and that we may treat a gall bladder issue early.

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts ... he is my baby, and I'm so thankful to have him home.

Spenser's trip of a lifetime.

Spenser returned home from his backpacking trip in Europe.
He is safe and sound, and full of stories. Some of which his mother approves, some of which she doesn't! :-)

He had a good time, learned alot about himself, other people, and what the world thinks of Americans (and why).

Ripley's Recovery

Ripley is feeling much better.

He has gotten a couple of good nights of sleep, a few more days of antibiotics, and eating like a horse.
He is due for a check of his heart and breathing on Thursday to get a clear for anesthesia for Friday's surgery.

He's still having obvious problems with his prostate, but he is feeling better - and I'm very happy he is home.

Thank you for all of your warm thoughts.

Ripley's Emergency

Ripley is very ill.

When I came home on Thursday he did not come to greet me.

He was very lethargic and in obvious pain. He kept trying to go to the bathroom, and had some diarrhea.

I nursed him for a large portion of the night, but after a few hours of him having a racing heart, and a tough time breathing - I took him to a state of the art ER.

They rolled him in on a gurney and a doctor quickly came out to tell me that he was in serious trouble... she asked. "Are you here for end of life care, or do you want us to try and save him"?

I then realized... this is not just something he ate.

They took X-rays and explained to me that he was having heart problems... and had something going on in his abdomen. He would need a cardiologist, and an internal medicine doctor.

The cardiologist was able to stabilize him after a few hours, and he explained to me that his heart is enlarged, but it is enlarged as it would be for an athlete (we all know Ripley is an athlete). He said he does have some leakage... but that he compensates well for it, that his heart looked good for an 8 year old pointer. He thought that whatever was going on with his abdomen was causing his arrhythmia.

So... we waited.

After an extensive ultrasound they discovered that his prostate was grossly enlarged, and he had a serious infection in it that had spread throughout his abdomen. He was in trouble.

He would need a few days of critical care before he was "out of the woods".

It's Sunday afternoon, and I am happy to report that I've just returned home with him. He is still quite sick, and will need around the clock care - but he is home.

He will need to have immediate surgery when his heart is stable (maybe Friday), and then another week or two of recovery.

He will need to be neutered immediately, and then it will take a few months for his prostate to shrink.

They say he has probably been in pain for weeks, and uncomfortable for months. Dogs just don't know how to tell you... they just go until they can't go anymore.

The cost? Thousands... and we aren't done yet.

Round the clock critical care is expensive. While if someone would have said "You are looking at 6K to fix this" ... I'm not sure of my response. But when you are not sure what you are dealing with - it's hard to say. What I will say is that I believe he got state of the art care, and that I got what I paid for.

Here is where he was.

http://www.criticalcareattlc.com/index.php