5C's Que Pasa

A few days ago, this past Monday, we took the girls into our Mexican vet to have their anal glands dealt with.  Colin and I decided that we would  also have Carmeh’s blood work done as well as a stool sample.  In the back of our minds we were hoping that she might just have an infection that could be dealt with by taking antibiotics.

On the road between Estrella Del Mar and the highway we noticed this pollution.

We have noticed it from time to time as we walk the beach.  The pollution is coming form the thermo electric plant in Mazatlan.

The plant was to switch from burning oil to natural gas and should have been running on gas effective last December.  Click here for an article re the pipeline.  Mazatlan is sometimes covered in soot balls.  Way back in 2009 and likely even earlier people were complaining and trying to bring about change.

We can only hope that the change to natural gas will happen very very soon.

The vet wanted to muzzle Carmeh to take the blood. This one was obviously too large. So much stress for poor Carmeh.

At home we often hold her for the blood taking but not here, they shut the door so we could not see but we found a tiny window to watch what was happening.  Sadly they shaved her paw to get to the vein.  Poor baby.

Yet another lovely sunset last Monday.

…complete with a Princess cruise ship.

Caeli only has 3 toys that she plays with and her favorite is this  plastic garden sprinkler.

We received the blood work results early Tuesday.  I had to translate them into English before sending them to our vet back in Canada.  A few hours later I spoke with Dr. Susan and of course she confirmed what I already knew.  Carmeh has chronic pancreatitis and her liver is not in very good shape. There is not much we can do to help her liver that won’t adversely affect her pancreas.  The pills I had brought in last  week, the Denosyl, that she won’t take is about all that might help her.  We have totally pulverized that 1/2 pill and I am giving her 2 -3 pinches mixed in her food each meal which is about the maximum that I can sneak in before she refuses to eat.  So a daily dose takes 3 -4 days to get into her system.  I guess that is better than nothing.  I suspect that all the years of medications for her back issues have contributed to the liver issues.  So we are making a few changes to her diet.

First off we have switched the rice to sweet potatoes which she loves. We are also adding 1/8 teaspoon of pulverized egg shell to her supper meal.

The boiled then mashed sweet potatoes along with the powdered Denosyl.

The real hard part is the 125mg of Metronidazole that I need to force down her throat twice per day for 10 days.  Our vet hopes that this will help heal the pancreas.  The pill is 5 times the size of the Pepcid that I am still giving her twice per day.  However the Metronidazole smells and tastes bitter.  The first time I gave it to her I could see the panic in her eyes as she tried to swallow.  I now give her two low fat treats afterwards and give her lots of praise and cuddles.  Only 9 more doses to go :((

The good news is that she appears to be enjoying her food and that she no longer has gut gurgles and does not appear to be in pain.

She also had a great day on the beach and almost ran like the wind.

Caeli has been so very tolerant with all the attention that Carmeh is getting and just sits back and observes.  I owe her tons of extra love and cuddles.  Many hours of each day revolve around Carmeh’s needs and food issues but when we see her run on the beach it is worth every moment.

Not a great photo but you get the idea. Love to see her paws in the air and her ears flapping.

Now off to force yet another pill down her throat and then an hour later later yet another pill.  We are seeing an improvement in the past 10 -14 days.  Carmeh may fool us all and be here for a few more years to come 😀

Last Sunday, January 29th, was one of, if not the most spectacular sunset I have ever seen.  These photos are posted in the order that they were taken. Just to be clear these are as the camera took the shots, no photoshop was done.

The sun has moved quickly these last weeks and the sun is now setting behind El Faro.

Once again, special thanks to Mother Nature for the outstanding show.

I actually have no idea who they were but it certainly proves that life in never boring on the beach.

Da plane, da plane!  Suddenly it appeared.

A beer in their bellies and they were off.

Once never knows who or what will appear on the Isla.

They were turning to go around Chivos Island and the headed towards Mazatlan.

Adios and safe travels.

I have not documented all of our time together, here are just a few highlights.

Last Thursday was my hair day at Tippy Toes. Remember last December when I got locked in the bathroom? Well I certainly do.

I love the new lock they put on. No one will ever be locked in that bathroom again.

Suzanne came to meet me as did Colin. It was fun introducing Suzanne to Deborah.

Suzanne has written one book about her earlier travels around the world, it is called Alone, but Never Lonely. Deborah is the author of several novels with her latest being Return to the Little Coffee Shop of Kabul. 

As we sauntered down the street along Olas Altas I spied this cute VW Beetle.

It parked where it wanted to, across the sidewalk.  Great advertising, a mouse logo offering pest control on the door of a bug!

These chairs were gently rocking in the wind as we passed.

They are situated in the lobby of the famous Belmar Hotel.  If you have a moment take a look at the link to the hotel.  John Wayne lived on the 5th floor, other visitors included Gregory Peck, Lucille Ball & Desi Arnez not to mention Rock Hudson and others. So much interesting history associated with this 1920’s edifice.

It is definitely worth a quick visit if you are in the area.

The sun was close to setting.

So we meandered over to the the Fish Market for yet another meal of our favorite shrimp fettuccine.  Be very careful if you order it, it is addicting.

We wanted Suzanne to enjoy a full sunset.

I think that we succeeded.

Our final meal together.

The very next afternoon, last Friday, we waived adieu to a special friend.

Adios Suzanne, safe travels. Who knows when and where we shall meet again.  She was heading over to the Baja Ferry, situated just about her left shoulder.  It was a great week.

Suzanne was sitting on this very Baja Ferry waiting for it to sail.

It was yet another glorious sunset that evening, this shot taken from my garden.

Just across the shipping channel Suzanne took this fabulous shot.  Location and perspective are everything.  Thanks for allowing me to use your stunning sunset shot.

Adios mi amiga 🙁

This will be the 4th Annual Bloggers Convention that I have organized on the Isla.

The first was held on December 29th, 2013.  The details of the first conference can be found here.

The second was held on December 24th, 2014.  Details of that event can be found here.

The third conference was held on December 26th, 2015.  Click here for the details of that event including who the bloggers were.

There is a slight technicality to this convention.  I call it the fourth one but it was held on January 24, 2017.  In fact we didn’t have one in 2016 but I, as the organizer, will call it the 4th annual blogger conference.  After all what difference does a month make?  The dates of the actual event are dictated by the arrival of the participants to the Isla.

The fourth annual event commenced just this past Tuesday at 4:30PM on January 24th.

We were only three this year but we were also at the first ever blogger convention.  Suzanne, myself and Maria.

Suzanne writes the blog Take to The Highway found here.  Maria writes The Canexican, found here.  She hasn’t written for while but when she writes she tells a wonderful story.

We started with champagne and appetizers then moved on to wine and more wine and eventually to dinner.

In between there was a good deal of chatter, much of it blog related.

I need to input here that the three of us has attended the symphony last Sunday.  We were all captivated by the performance of The Four Seasons.

So as were were sipping our champagne we suddenly realized that we were hearing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.  Maria commented that it was our own personal multimedia concert.  A fellow was playing the music on the beach ( DVD /  cassette ?? )  as a fisherman was walking out to the ocean with his nets.  That is Suzanne on the right, she headed down to the beach to speak to the fellow with the music.  You will have to wait and read her version of how it all transpired.  I suggest that you pull up her blog and put yourself on the list to receive her posts as they are written. Suzanne is often a few weeks behind in posting but it is always worth the wait to read what she writes.

Colin came out to serenade us as we continued to discuss this and that.  It was a perfect evening, as it was warm and there were no bugs.

I was sad to see the sunset on this very special evening.

Next we had a lovely dinner ( in my opinion ) made by me but somehow I missed getting a photo.

…so ended yet another International Bloggers Convention.

Hopefully we will see more of you bloggers next season.  I know that there might be some new folks heading here for the first time such as  Peter.  There are also a few other bloggers who might be lured to attend such as Nancy who lives in Mazatlan full time, or Carol who lives in Mazatlan several months of the year. as well as Kathy. Plus I never know who just might show up, such as Doug and Nancy or so very many of you, it all depends on who is in the area at the same time.  It has been a fun 4 years and I hope to be able to do another blogger conference next year. Hopefully some of you bloggers will attend to make it possible.