Izzy update...

Not good news.  The lump in her throat is cancer.  No one in this area can do the surgery, IF the surgery is possible and has any chance of extending her life.  I've studied up on it, and I have concerns about what the treatment would do to her.

We are heading west and will get additional information with an animal surgical specialist.  There were a lot of tears when we got this news, because it also came at a time when Izzy was refusing to eat.  She has always been a good eater, and anxious to rub on my legs at feeding time.  Rotating through a lot of food options, she will now take a bite here and there.  If she won't eat, there is no hope, and right now we are hopeful that we will have some quality time left.

Izzy is our third cat over a 35 year time span.  All three have been very different personalities.  Smoke was spunky; Molly was wise and communicative; and Izzy is the sweetest little feline ever.

This has come on pretty fast, and it is taking a toll on her.  She is still sweet, but the expected lethargy means a lot of cat naps.  But, when she is awake, she is her sweet self.

She is losing weight.  We have some high-calorie food from the vet to try to keep her weight and strength up.

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We Hit The Road (01/21/18)...

What normally takes several days, we did in 24 hours: load up the coach and shut down the house.  With the flurry of activity, Izzy knew something was up.  With all the visits she has had to her doctor in the past couple weeks, she was not her usual excited self when we brought her out of the house and into the coach.

When she could see that we weren't stopping at the vet office that is only about a mile from our house, she relaxed.  She is content in the motorhome.  Most of the time when we travel, she goes into her "house", now her "princess palace" that is on the bed in the back of the motorhome.  She gets to go where she wants in the motorhome - today, she came up front to sit with us.  She sat on Joan's lap for a while, then decided to head for the dash...

She used to ride up there once in a while in the truck when she was younger.  It was nice to see that she just wanted to be where we are.  She settled in for a nap...

She stayed up there when we stopped for the Border Patrol check point as we headed up Expressway 77.  She glanced over her shoulder as one of the agents walked a dog around the coach... they waved us on.

We stopped at the rest area a few miles up the road so she could have some lunch.  Then, onward.  Our 2/2/2 Rule is out the window when we are just trying to make miles.  We didn't get out until around 11:30 and wanted to stop for the day before dark.  One stop for Izzy's lunch and one more to fuel up just before we rolled into the RV park... we made a reservation along the way, so we could get a long site, and not have to unhook the CR-V and cargo trailer.

It was sunny when we left the Tropical Tip, but turned to mostly overcast when we turned north.  Getting close to San Antonio, the terrain and climate changes...

 

Trees with no leaves; grass that is mostly brown.  Not the green and flowers we're used to.

We rolled into the RV park just before they closed at 5:00.  I needed to set up all the utilities so we can finish sanitizing the fresh water system.  Izzy was watching out the door when I came back inside.  She hasn't been out on her leash for a couple weeks... I asked her, "Do you want to go for a walk outside?" - she meowed her happy sound, and her little face beamed.

With the tumor in her throat, we have been going without her harness.  I loosened the harness, knowing she wouldn't try to pull out of it, and put it on her - she couldn't wait to go outside!

We didn't walk far, but she enjoyed looking at the birds and smelling all the good smells on the coach and car.  This is as close to normal as things have been since we started the path to track down her health issues.  She is a very happy girl.

We stayed out until I could tell she was getting tuckered out.  Back inside for some more chow and a rest in the cab part of the coach...

Truth be told, we are all ready for taking it easy this evening.  And ready to celebrate the little victories (like eating) and some normalcy.

Quiet...

I'm not sure who all reads this.  Some days there are a couple hundred views; other days there are a several thousand.  I don't get info about who the readers are, but I know what countries and what kind of computer or tablet/phone they're using.

One thing I am sure of: Izzy has a following here.  Easy to understand, because she is very photogenic (I'm biased) and absolutely the sweetest kitty I have ever seen (no bias, just the fact).

Also, I do try to keep things upbeat.

If it seems that the blog has been a bit quiet or generic lately, it is probably because our sweet kitty has been having some health issues.  I'm not going into more detail here (I appreciate you not asking), just to say that we have been to the vet 3 times in the last two weeks, and we are doing all we can for her.  Yesterday was a pretty tough day, but today she is doing better.  We are waiting for a better diagnosis with samples that the vet has sent out.  We trust our vet, and she has let us know that if surgery is necessary (likely) and possible, that it is a procedure that will require a specialized vet surgeon.

For 10 years, I have made regular posts to this blog, so understand if I am a bit quiet for the near term.  In the meantime, good thoughts for sweet little Izzy are appreciated.

Thanks.

 

Like the parking lot of the mall around Christmas...

The predicted cold front blew in around 7:00 this morning - it went from a bit of breeze and 60º to north winds at 30 gusting above 40 in just a few moments.  The temp was down to 44º and dropping.  The light drizzle is now blowing sideways.  It is fugly out there.

We met friends Mike and MJ for breakfast at our favorite: Manuel's; good food and lively conversation.  We were wearing winter jackets and gloves.  Joan wanted to stop at the store before going home - I dropped her at the door, with a plan to do a slow circle of the parking lot.  I was amazed that the parking lot was packed - people "stalking" parking spots.  Oh, there were spots available out a ways, but no one wanted to make that walk in this weather.

Joan said it was like people up north stocking up before a blizzard in the store.  She was in and out pretty quick.

Don't get me wrong, the weather is very unpleasant right now.  BUT, it isn't going to be blizzard conditions here.  The forecast for tonight here on the coast is for a low of 37º - colder than typical by any standards, but not cause for alarm.  Tomorrow's high is supposed to be 45º... school has been cancelled in some nearby communities for tomorrow.  Yes, really.

We are comfortably warm in the house with the heat going, including the electric fireplace.  Could be worse: we could be up north, up to our asses in snow.  Don't miss that one bit.

Tucked away...

Not on a schedule, since we have the boat out of the water.  The next norther is supposed to blow in overnight, with tomorrow being cold (relative), windy, and rainy.  A couple people have said to me, "It's a boat - what do you care if it gets rained on?"

When putting it in storage for a while, I'd like it to be clean.  We ran into rain coming back from San Antonio last month with the motorhome, and it had to go in there grubby.  I spent most of yesterday afternoon getting that boat clean - I'd like it to stay that way for a while.

The storage unit is big enough to hold the motorhome and the boat, as long we get the boat in there at a diagonal.  So, there is a bit of "a dance" - the motorhome comes out, the boat goes in, shut-down stuff done with the boat, put the boat at the proper angle, put the motorhome back in.  Snug, but it all fits.

Motorhome out...

Boat in...

I disconnected the battery, put the helm cover and the full boat cover on...

We pushed the boat to the back of the storage unit, and swung it so it is as close to sideways as it will go, then put the coach back in....

A look at the front of the coach and the boat...

Now, we really have no schedule.  It was a pleasant weather day today, in the low 70s while we shopped and had lunch in the city.  That will change as the front comes in overnight... the high tomorrow will be 60º, but that will be early in the morning; the temperature will be dropping throughout the day, with an overnight low tomorrow night in the upper 30s.  Yep, that is cold for here.  After a couple chilly days, back into the 70s for the weekend.

Good boating weather for the weekend?  Yeah...

;-)

Throwing in the towel...

We don't give up easy.  But, the situation with the dredging has made it frustrating to try to get our boat out.  The only exit we have is a canal two over from ours that has a low bridge... we can fit under that bridge at low tide, but that means you have to also come back in on a low tide.  We talked about going out yesterday, but low tide was early in the day, and it was a bit too chilly for that early of a departure.  Pretty much, the stars have to all align to get: a low tide happening at a time of the day you want to go out, knowing that it will be a short outing so you can get back in before the tide is too high for the boat to fit under that low bridge.

Looking at the tide charts and the hourly weather reports, I said to Joan, "Let's just pull the boat out today - we can stage the trailer in the Welcome Center parking lot, get out of here while the tide is low enough for us to get under that bridge, stay out as long as we want, then go to the ramp, pull the boat, and call it a winter boating season.  We're going to head out sometime in the next couple weeks, and I don't want to get caught with having to pull the boat when the weather isn't cooperative."

She was with me.  It was a lovely day - cool, crisp, not too much wind, and plenty of sunshine.

Heading out our canal...

Getting ready to slide under that bridge...

I was just looking to enjoy some boat time - no destination, no plan.  We turned left, and were surprised at the commercial traffic in the turning basin...

That tug pushing the barges above didn't turn like we anticipated; we moved closer to our island to give him plenty of room and see what he was up to... looks like he was going to raft up to another tug with barges already there.  This big tug was coming in the Port Isabel Channel...

Looking back into the turning basin...

Of course, we always hope to see dolphins, but want to pull the boat at the warmest part of the day since I will be cleaning it in our driveway.  As luck would have it, our first view of dolphins today...

We came across 4 small groups, just two or three moving together, as we cruised down the ship channel.

These two came close to the boat, but were moving steadily east...

None of the groups were playful today, but we were delighted to get to see them one more time.

Knowing that we'd be pulling and cleaning the boat, we only took our pocket camera along - a new challenge for Joan.  We were out there long enough for Joan to put on a jacket.  It made it to the upper 60s, but the water temp is now cooler than that.

One last shot of two dolphins in the sparkly water before heading for the ramp...

Another look at the unusually busy turning basin docks...

We made a plan for retrieving the boat: we'll tie off at the dock at the ramp, Joan will walk up to get the vehicle and trailer. she'll back it in, and I'll drive the boat up onto the trailer.  Coming in to the ramp area...

No one else is there, and the gate is locked.  We have the combination for that lock, so all is good.  As Joan was unlocking the gates, two women pulled up with a boat to launch.  OK, new plan: I'll back off from the ramp dock, let them get launched, when they pull their trailer out, Joan will back ours in, and I'll drive it up on the trailer.

That plan almost worked - if you look close, you will see that the boat in the photo above has their prop out of the water.  She started the engine - couldn't understand why the boat wouldn't back off the trailer.  I hollered to tell her to "Put the motor down!"  She gave it more throttle; yes, with the prop still out of the water.  She tried to put the motor down, but it wouldn't go.  "Turn it off, raise it a bit, and release the the motor rest!"  She was close, she did all of that except turning off the motor.  All told, she ran that thing for about 2 minutes without water getting to the motor... hopefully, she didn't fry the impeller.  I was looking for a pee stream as she went by, but she was hauling ass.  I said to her, "You don't have to hurry - this is a no wake area!"

Once she was clear, I headed back towards the ramp as Joan was backing the trailer down.  I drove the boat up, she hooked the bow strap, I hopped off the boat and pulled us up the ramp.  Back to our house to start the clean-up.

It had only been about 3 weeks since we put the boat back in.  During that time, this was only the 4th time we were able to get out; two of those times were on either side of Christmas Day when the dredge operation was shut down.  I used the power-washer, but the hulls were pretty clean.  We took all the "soft goods" off the boat, I flushed the motor, disconnected the fuel line, and ran the remaining fuel out of the motor.  I washed the sides of the boat with soapy water and rinsed it all down - it is looking good.  I siphoned the remaining fuel out of the boat tank and put it in the Honda.

Tomorrow, we'll put it away in our storage unit.

The weather weasels are predicting a chance of rain Tuesday through Thursday, so this is (hopefully) good timing.  I'll miss having the boat at the dock.  The dredge operation should be done (no guarantees of that, since it was supposed to be done 10 months ago) by the time we get back from Arizona.

Izzy and I aren't sure...

Change.  Something about old dogs and new tricks.  Or, middle age cats and any kind of tricks.  Both of us are hesitant about change.

Joan has been a whirling dervish, a true cleaning force.  While I made some music this morning, she steam cleaned our tile floors.  When I came out from a very relaxing soak in the jacuzzi tub, Joan said, "Izzy isn't sure about this..."

"This" turned out to be: she re-arranged the furniture in the living room.  Justifiable, since she had moved all the furniture to steam clean.  I said, "I'm with Izzy."  Spoken like a true old dog.  An old dog who was told to give it a chance.

Izzy gets a pass with her confused look... "She moved my couch.  I look out the window from that couch.  This ain't right."  For those not sure, that was Izzy talking.

I said, "Yes, Ma'am."

Gonna get me a divining rod...

We are pretty much surrounded by water.  Salt water.  I need to find me some fresh water.

Living on an island, we are at the "end of the line" for any type of public utility: electricity, water, sewage, cable TV, internet.  Oh, there are certainly upsides to life here: like normally great access with a boat (when the dredge operation doesn't have you trapped).  It is pretty quiet most of the time.  The homeowners association fees take care of yard work.

On the other side of that equation, you have to expect "break-downs" with all those utilities, from time to time.

There is another front coming in this evening; it will drop our daytime high of 75º to 60º tomorrow.  Not much precip, but the predictions were were gusty winds.  As the winds started to build late this morning, I went out to put the full cover on the boat.  That is a bit of a chore, involving body convolutions and some crawling on hands and knees.  When finished, I was a bit of a sweatball.  That is a technical term that combines perspiring and smelling like sweaty testicles.

Safe to day, I was ready for a shower.  And, back to the info above about the occasional breakdown of services... no water.  Generally, if there is maintenance being done, the resort lets us know via an automated phone message or an e-mail.  Not today.  Joan managed to get about a quart of water out of the faucet before it just became a drip.  No shower or soak in the tub at this time.

I called our maintenance folks to see when we could expect water again... "It is supposed to take a couple hours - it's been out an hour - so, maybe a couple more hours."  That's how things get done around here.

In order to go out and about,  I, at least, had to wash my hair and sponge bathe.  In that quart or so of water than Joan managed to capture before the water went away.  Yep, that was real refreshing.  I think the whole "unshaven" look is pretty in.  Just don't stand too close.

We went out for lunch, ran some errands, and back home at 3:30... and, we have water again.  Really, I won't take that for granted.  For at least another day or two.

Late this afternoon, it is absolutely beautiful out: 75º, sunny, low humidity, and the wind that started building this morning has eased off.  You know what else I won't take for granted?  Yes, you're right: getting out on the boat any ol' time I want.  It would have been a perfect afternoon for that, but the tide is too high for us to get under that low bridge and the dredge is still blocking the exit canal.

But, we've got water!