5C's Que Pasa

First off I just want to let you know that we are having more good days than bad days with Carmeh this past week, but she still has issues.  The last 24 hours she will eat or won’t eat her chicken, not sure what to make of it.  Our vet back in Kelowna suggested that if I did one thing for her that it would be to get Carmeh on an antioxidant as it would helpful because of the oxidative damage ongoing to the pancreas.  So I arranged to order some Denosyl and had it shipped to Texas where our neighbors daughter was flying here for mini vacation.  We got the meds last Tuesday but Carmeh refuses to take it.  It is a chewable tablet and she won’t even try to eat it.   She has refused it crushed in her food ( it is supposed to be given on an empty stomach but I was desperate ), in fact she did not eat that meal at all.  Yesterday was chicken cooking day and I did a much better job thanks to all of your suggestions.  I once again crushed the Denosyl and added a few tablespoons of chicken broth and she walked away.  She loves chicken broth but with no additives.  The pill is the size of a nickle and there is no way I can get that down her throat.  It sure would be easy if I could wrap it in cheese or peanut butter but that is a not possible because of the fat content and her pancreatitis.  Besides she is still only on chicken and rice and still is having episodes of diarrhea.  Oh yes, I also tried crushing it, adding water and giving it to her via syringe but that is an awful lot of water to force on her and I gave up.  She has enough issues without my adding to them.  So we are still taking it one day at a time.  The good news is that she does not to appear to be in pain.

Our friend Suzanne has been here all week and we did manage to have some great times.  A week ago today we went to Miguels for dinner but I forgot my camera.  Last Sunday Colin and I had tickets for the symphony and I was able to get a ticket for Suzanne just two rows behind us.

The first piece was Canon de Pachelbel, one of my personal favorites. The orchestra performed it flawlessly. I only wish that they had played it a second time.

The fellow at the end of our row spent the majority of the time checking messages and texting. Why did he even bother to attend the concert?

The Four Seasons by Vivaldi was on the program after intermission. Maestro Gordon Campbell tried something new for this performance, a multimedia background.

The images on the screen followed the ebb and flow of the music.  However I felt that they took away from the music not to mention the outstanding performance of concertmaster Olena Bogaychuk.  The violin came alive under her talented hands. It was enough to close my eyes and listen to the dance of the notes.  I have never before attended a performance at the Angela Peralta Theatre that received such an exceptional standing ovation.

Prior to the concert I was at the box office getting extra tickets to a future symphony for guests who will be here at that time.  Two people ahead of me in line were an elderly gentleman and his wife who were trying to get tickets for Sunday’s performance.  He only had US dollars and was being refused tickets. They only took pesos.  He was obviously crushed.  I completed my transaction and came out to find Suzanne and Colin and begun to relay the story of the older gentleman and his ticket problems.  As I spoke I looked up and saw him approach person after person trying to exchange USD for pesos.  Suzanne immediately offered to help him out and happily did the exchange for him.

As we left the theater I spotted the couple ahead of us.  Suzanne didn’t want to disturb them but I wanted to know if he enjoyed the performance as much as I had.  They had, even more so, as he was a violinist and the concert meant so very much to them.  They were here on vacation from Colorado and had just heard about the concert a day or so earlier.  We chatted for a few moments before we all went on our way.  Talk about a warm fuzzy feeling.

Colin went back to the Isla to feed the girls while Suzanne and I meandered for a bit.  Thanks to Suzanne I didn’t miss the stained glass at the top.  I’m too short to look so far up normally.

I wonder what stories this place could tell?

We had a delightful afternoon enjoying a few margaritas, a very tasty shrimp fettuccine and each others company.

A bit of a stroll afterwards including checking out the La Carpa Olivera de Mazatlan, a public saltwater swimming pool.

We got back to the Isla in time for sunset.

A very pleasant Sunday indeed.

I almost forget to post this.  Remind me if I forget February.

The cover page for our 2017 calendar, taken last fall at home in Kelowna.

Calendar girls for January 2017, taken last winter.

Thank you all so very very much for your input in helping me create better food for Carmeh that will stimulate her appetite and help rebuild her strength. I will take every suggestion under advisement and do my best to implement them all.

This appears to be her new favorite spot next to our fast growing papaya tree.

She had more energy on our beach walk yesterday morning.  She is not running like the wind but she walked on her own and that is a huge improvement since last Sunday.

Carmeh is no longer in the lead and is now letting Caeli be the alpha dog. I think in part it is because she can’t hear very much these days.

Carmeh did get up to a wee trot for a few feet.

Suzanne, a good friend, has come to town for a visit. We got our first evening together off to great start with a strong margarita.

El Velero in hosting jazz evenings every Friday from 4 – 7 PM. The group is really good.

Carmeh looks so regal, well at least I think so.

This was a quick post as our internet is down yet again.

The last few days have been most unsettled.  Carmeh was very ill Sunday morning and we seriously thought that it was the end ( details best not described on the blog ).  However we got some chicken breasts which I boiled, then cooled and fed it to her with rice.  She ate like she was starving.  So Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were just okay.  For some unknown reason Carmeh began about 7 or less days ago to have an aversion to going on the beach.  We would walk her out like always but she would head back home or ask us to pick her up.  Today she hid in the corner of the yard rather than go to the beach.  She did come in her buggy but when we put her on the ground she just walked a few steps or did not walk at all and wanted back up into the buggy.  Just a week ago she was running free and happy on the beach.  We call it running like the wind.

Suddenly that is gone.  Here back at the RV she appears to have little energy.  She plays with her toys for mere moments when last week she played for hours.  Since we stopped the canned food and put her on the chicken/rice food she is eating happily and there are no longer any gut issues nor pain.  However her energy levels have gone way down.  What to do?

I did spend close to an hour on the phone the other day with our vet and now have some antioxidants arriving via a visitor to a fellow RVer on Tuesday.  That took hours of coordination.

Carmeh sitting in the garden a few days ago.

The sunset Tuesday was sensational.

So much color….

We are back to the regular January temps  ( cool ) which we have not seen for at least 4 years. Carmeh is well covered.  Down to 61F at night.  I am wearing a jacket on the beach during our morning walks.

Caeli came to hang out with her sister as she has been doing off and on these past few days.

Yesterday morning Colin headed into Mazatlan for an appointment and Carmeh hung out under his papaya tree which appears to be growing like a weed.

Colin stopped in at the mercado and brought back enough chicken for me to boil up and package for 8 full days of meals.  My entire kitchen was full of chicken.

However I need your input on how to prepare the chicken.  I do boil it because of the restricted fat content of her diet.  We don’t eat meat so this is very foreign to us.  Today I found the chicken very difficult to pull apart, it was rather dry.  Maybe this is Mexican chicken.  She gets 1.4 ounces of chicken per meal but it seems to take forever to pull apart into small bites for her.  Am I boiling it too long?  Yesterday I kept pulling it out of the water as I cooked it and cutting it open with a knife but there was still red showing in the middle.  I might have cooked the entire batch for close to 20 minutes.  I thought that I had cut the raw pieces of chicken breast into small enough pieces to cook quickly but perhaps not.  I truly would appreciate some detailed input.  I have also been using basmati rice which might not be the best as she is not eating it.  It is all I have but I can get regular rice here on the Isla, I hope.  Also she is supposed do get 2/3 cup of chicken per day which we have converted to 4.2 ounces per day.  As per the vet 2/3 cup should be 5.3 ounces per our calculations but we cut it down to 4.2 ounces as it seemed to be too much.  Are we wrong and giving her the incorrect conversion and thus giving too much or too little chicken which is now her only source of protein?

This is the time of year that the sunsets are outstanding.

The sky was on fire last night as was the ocean.

Thanks Colin for this panoramic shot of last nights sunset.  Our sky is on fire.

So we were  doing our normal beach walk the other day about sunset when we ran across our friend Julie who helps manage Casa Flor.

It appears that she has acquired a new puppy.  Ayla is a 2 month old pure bred beagle.

Carmeh & Caeli were not at all interested in the puppy.  It was windy as you can see by the girls ears.

Ayla so wanted to play but not our girls.

The body language says  it all.  Ayla does look cute with her butt up in the air.

Carmeh is telling us that she is done!

As we continued to walk Ayla started to follow us but Julie called her back ( in French ) and Ayla actually listened and followed her instead of us.  Great start to the pups training.