Wow, another week has passed and I haven't been posting. Shame on me!

Right now we are at Gulf Waters RV resort in Port Aransas, Texas. We are here for a bit of a break and to get Paulie to his VA appointment of Tuesday. Of course, we are here just as Hurricane Gustav is roaring towards land...they just don't know where he's headed yet.

We did a quick tour of Rockport Texas today. Nice little town, not a whole lot to see or do.
We had dinner last night at a local hangout called Doc's. Paulie had fried shrimp and I had the seafood platter....crab cake (oh my! it was wonderful...) shrimp and talapia. I was in heaven...crab cakes are a real fav of mine. The shrimp were also delish, but I was stuffed and didn't get a chance to sample the talapia. Oh well...leftovers are good!

I will take some photos of the RV resorts and the landscape tomorrow. I was busy all evening getting my new article up at Bella. I had no problem writing...it's getting the thing uploaded with the correct html coding I have a problem with. Argh. It took me almost an hour to get a pix of the book I was reviewing up on the site! I've lost whatever memory of creating html for my other web sites long ago!

Well, off to bed...it's after midnight and I should'a turned into a pumpkin long ago!

hugs

dee

I have created a monster...

Of course, it's my fault. Monday night, Mack started barfing...again. He barfed all night. By Tuesday morning, he was dehydrated and listless. Round two of this in the 6 weeks we have had him...I fussed over him most of the morning and he just slept, not eating, not drinking. Deja vu all over again! Finally, Paulie said lets go to the vet, so off we go to the puppy doc. A stool sample is taken, his temp was 101...now I have no idea what a dog's temperature at normal is, so I certainly didn't have a clue what an elevated temp was! Tight lipped Tech said nothing of course. Doc comes in looks at Mack...feels his tummy, checks his eyes, etc. Gives Mack a shot of anti-nausea stuff. Fecal test comes back negative for bacteria. Doc says he thinks puppy ate something outside that upset his tummy. If it can't run away from Mack, he will try to eat it yanno. Except what's in his food dish...finicky little pest. I wouldn't doubt that he ate ants or licked up some bird doodoo. Stinker. OK, that little trip cost $60.

Wednesday...armed with a fresh bottle of Pedialite and a dropper full of anti-barf meds, the Prince and I are ready to tackle whatever the day offered. Again, Mack refused all food and water...so we force the Pedialite and meds into him. Mack is a nasty little shit when he is pissed off, I might add. Those cute little teeth have sharp edges that can draw blood, if you know what I mean! And growl...geesh....got my attention! Later that evening, almost 11 p.m., he did eat some steak...yes, there, I said it....steak. We had steak for dinner, and I, overprotective mom to this little beast, becomes terrified that my lil' muffin will not make it thru the night...feed him tiny bits of steak. He's now got me right where he wants me. I don't realize this at the time...I just want him to eat and drink!

Thursday...still a holdout, Mack starts to become listless...and just wants to sleep. Grrrr. Force feeding him more Pedialite I offer him steak. No deal. I offer him the Lamb and Rice stuff we use for training treats. No deal. I offer him chicken breast. Again, his little nose is up in the air and he refuses. The Prince scrambles him an egg. He will eat little tiny bits, but only off my fingers. OK. More meds and Pedialite are in this little stinkers future. We needed to get the rig to McAllen for service, so we pack up the little stinker and hook up the car...of we go. He continues to sleep, very listless, but I know he is not dehydrated since I keep shooting him down the throat with Pedialite which he really hates. After dropping off the rig, the Prince took me to Barnes and Noble so I could browse the books and magazines and have my fav Cafe Americano with SF vanilla. While I was in the book store, the Prince treated himself to a Ben and Jerry's Ice cream cone which he shared with the bowser. Guess the sugar in the ice cream woke up the taste buds. After a nice walk near the new convention center, they came back to pick me up. From the bookstore, we visited a local palm tree nursery...we lost our Queen palm in the hurricane and I wanted to get a studier variety for the same spot. The one I want is called a Canary Island Palm. You can see a picture here...
http://www.paradisepalmco.com/product/Canary+Island+Date+Palm

Ok, after the guy told us he'd bring some palms in next week, we went to find a restaurant we had heard about in LeJoya. Supposedly, it is in a residential area with a lake and the dining terrace is out on the water. We found it and went in. I couldn't leave the baby in the car, so we sat out on the deck/terrace. The barmaid spotted Mack and it was love at first sight! She said no problem to him staying in his "puppy purse"...then she brings him a slice of chicken breast lunch meat, which he proceeded to devour in record time! What a stinker! Here I am telling the girl that my poor puppy is sick and won't eat anything then eats this fake pressed chicken...I had offered him chicken breast at home! Grrrrr. We had a great dinner...I had a huge grilled salmon steak on a bed of fresh spinach. All I wanted was the salmon, so I brought home the spinach salad for grandpa. The Prince had a quesidilla and a margarita...I was good and had a diet coke.

So, how have I created a monster you may ask? Well, this morning...Mack was listless and sleepy even after a trip and walk outside. I tried the leftover chicken roll from the restaurant which he turned his nose up to! Grrrr again! So, instead of going thru the whole gambit of leftovers, I get a piece of baked ham and dice it up nice and small. This he ate with relish...but ONLY from my fingers. I tell the Prince and he says...I have ruined the dog. He will now only eat people food and only if I hand feed him. Part of me is angry and thinks I will do anything I can to get the little stinker to eat! Now if this scenario was someone else's problem...I prolly say, put the puppy food down and if he doesn't eat, he doesn't eat right? He'll eat when he's hungry right? Well, since he is only a whopping two pounds, this is more difficult than it seems. He gets that limp, listless sleepy stuff which is a sign of dehydration and hypoglycemia. What's a puppy mom supposed to do? I know the trainer at class tomorrow is gonna tell me I blew it...as the Prince already told me. *Sigh*. Never had this problem with other dogs we've had...they were all chow hounds to the max. This little booger exhibits anti-normal doggie instincts...figured I get a finicky little stinker that drives me nuts. Altho he is the cutest lil' puppy on the planet...he is also too smart for his won good! Has me figured out...hold out til he gets something
new and exciting!

And I have no one but myself to blame.

hugs
dennise

You are all probably wondering what has become of us since we arrived in Texas. Well, my battle with a weeks long Meniere's attack continues. I am not sure if this is the last hurrah for the bad ear or evil bodes ill for my good ear. The heat has been unbearable...for me anyways. All the permanent residents complain but go about their business.

The week we arrived, which was just after the hurricane, Uncle Ben was hospitalized for heart irregularities...both he and grandpa were probably doing what they shouldn't be doing...like climbing on roofs and picking up debris. Anyway, the heart doc said Uncle Ben needed surgery...stints. Then they said he needed open heart surgery and valves replaced. Ben has a history of heart problems especially with the aorta area and he was almost not allowed to have his knee replaced last year. Well, surgery was set for Wednesday July 30th. He was scheduled for 6 am. His oldest daughter Maryann arrived on Tuesday, and visited with her dad that night and then again Wednesday morning after Ben's surgery was delayed due to an emergency. After 8 hours of trying to save him, the doctors let him go. His heart was just not repairable. Each patch or sewn area would spring additional leaks...the doctor said around 200 leaks. He and the other doc had finished the surgery within two hours, but spent 6 hours repairing the leaks. They could not stop them. We are all very sad that Ben is gone. He was such a part of our lives down here, and Paul has so many memories of his childhood of Ben taking him fishing and camping. He will be sadly missed. Of course, his daughter were devastated, and his special lady friend Bev is heartbroken. Bev went to St. Louis with Maryann for the funeral. We had his memorial in the park on Wednesday. It was very nice and even tho there are few full time residents here right now, over 70 people attended. Ben was a Pearl Harbor survivor, a working man who adored his wife and daughters. Ben's wife Cecelia was Paul's aunt, sister to his late mom, Katherine.

I have a few pix to post. As I said early on, this has not been a very good time here in Weslaco for us. I am frustrated with my relapse, but think that perhaps the stress of the situation with grandpa and the hurricane and then Ben's death affected me more than I had thought.

Here is what the front of the rig looked like after we hit miles and miles of some icky sticky moths that were swarming after the hurricane along the gulf coast.

Mack's favorite traveling position....

We were getting ready to move out and he was terrified of the diesel noise...poor little guy...

Finally Mack gets used to grandpa's house....

Some skinny puppy gets a bath...but then he is dry and fluffy again!

There's peace in the kingdom...at least for the moment...

When Mack rests...Pepe and Snickers get a break...the little guy terrorizes them constantly. Hmmm, both getting payback in the scheme I life I figure!

More later.

Dennise