5C's Que Pasa

Despite being worn out from lack of sleep Sunday turned out to be a nice day.  Jannose had invited us in for a pancake breakfast. First thing she said ‘you sure look tired’ 😯  Turns out she never even heard the thunderstorm that kept us awake most of the night.

Missed taking photos of the food as it was being ingested rather quickly. Jannose makes everything from scratch, from her salad dressings to her pancakes and the strawberry jam to put on top of them and more.  She is a fabulous cook.  From left to right, myself, Colin, Jannose, her mom Diane and Colin.  It did get confusing calling out to Colin.  They usually both answered.

After breakfast, rather than go for a walk,  we sat out on the deck and absorbed the heat of the sun.  Carmeh is sitting in the chair with me while Caeli roamed the huge lawn.  Caeli would have been happy to stay and never leave.  My Colin was slowly getting the RV ready to leave.

We took our time but were ready to drive out shortly after 11:30AM.  Between the two Colins some creative maneuvering was done and we were able to hook up while still on their driveway.  Sad to say adios to good friends but we hope to see them at our pace in Kelowna in September.

We had a whopping 48Km/30 miles to drive to our next stop.

Rainbow Valley Campground is right in the heart of the city of Edmonton, Alberta.  It only has 40 electric sites and most are surrounded by trees.  However it is only 15AMP with no water nor dump at your site.  We did fill with water at the other Colin’s place and dumped at the one sani station here as we came in.  The charge though is a whopping $34.00 per night plus tax and they don’t serve dinner or breakfast 🙄   We could have stayed on the acreage in Stony Plain but this is more convenient for what is planned for the next few days.

Once we set up we took the girls for a walk.  There is a lovely nature trail right next to the park.

It overlooks Whitemud Creek and is used by many hikers and joggers. No bikes allowed.

Caeli walked ahead most eagerly and Carmeh’s nose was sniffing from the stroller.

The sun was shining and we were happy campers.
It was warm enough to change into one of my sundresses and just sit out with a book. The clouds came in after an  hour but those 60 minutes to me were precious.

Everyday we do see an improvement in Carmeh.  She is much steadier on all four legs.  One of her back legs is worse than the other but time will tell if it will recover or not.  She is able to do her outside business much easier now and that is so important to us.  However with feeling better comes her desire to keep on going.  Yesterday afternoon she managed to get herself standing upright in the pen.  Not good.  So now just leaving her in the pen alone might become a problem.  She has been on pain meds three times a day for a week now and I feel I should start to wean her from them.

Our site here in Rainbow Valley.

The day could not have had a better start.  It was rather cool with a brisk wind but we decided to go for a walk anyway.  Colin & Jannose live on 5 acres in a subdivision consisting of other acreages in a variety of sizes.  Lots of space between properties and many choices of walks.

Jannose asked if we wanted to do the large loop or the smaller one. I said the smaller one. Thank goodness as in my mind it was the large loop!  Surprisingly Caeli kept up and of course Carmeh enjoyed the ride.

As there was next to no traffic we let Caeli walk off leash.  As we got closer to to the RV Caeli ran ( walked a bit faster ) and turned into the correct driveway. How did she know where we lived as she had never been off
the property since we arrived?  Dogs are way smarter then we think.

A quick late breakfast and we were off.  First we were headed to a highly recommended chiropractor for myself.  This fellow is known for his ability to dig deep and discover the cause or the root of the problem rather than just treat your problematic symptoms.  The first appointment is an hour long and he really did delve into details of the anatomy and physiology.  I have seen dozens of chiropractors over the years and this fellow truly impressed me.  He was detailed and made sure that you understood what he was saying and the how and why of the problem.  He clearly explained the various ( in my case, 3 areas ) problems areas, what likely caused the problem and what the symptoms were.  He then demonstrated how his treatment would correct the problem.  In my case he had me hold my hand behind my back and push in a certain area on my L6 and while I did that he did an exercise which I could not do before I had placed my finger in that spot.  Rather amazing.  The treatment was non painful and in my case involved the use of an activator   The chiropractor explained what I would feel that day and how and why the treatment would work.  I did feel what he said and I will see him again Tuesday and Wednesday morning.  So what happens down the road when I get back home?  He has already written out what he has done in detail and another chiropractor should be able to do the same treatment should I require it.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  So far I feel great.

We were originally going to leave the girls in the RV while we went into town but with Carmeh’s situation we took them with us.  Colin built a fort for them in the back of the car where they were immobilized.  They traveled well all day with us.

Next stop was my Dad’s bank where I had over an hour’s worth of business to attend to.  Colin and the girls stayed out in the car.  It was good to get it all done.  Finally it was time to head back out to the acreage in Stony Plain.  Never enough time.  I dealt with a few urgent emails and did a quick post.  Then it was onto the next happy hour.  Jannose’s Mom had come to spend the night.  I have known her for over 35 years and had not seen her in at least 20 so it was great to catch up.  Diane winters in her 5th wheel in Yuma.  Jannose made us yet another great dinner.  I have to say that having her prepare 2 spectacular dinners for us was fabulous and helped take some of the pressure off.

Carmeh is doing better.  She can stand for longer periods before swaying over.  She is now standing to eat.  Because she has more energy and less pain she wants to do more.  We are constantly saying no.  One of us has to watch her every second as she doesn’t understand she is disabled.  Our mission is to keep her quiet long enough for her to heal and hopefully have a normal life in the months to come.  If she does not stay quiet, she could rupture a disc and would be permanently paralyzed.

A momma robin nesting at the front of our friends home.

About 1:30AM this morning a huge and very loud lightening and thunder show commenced and went on for a few hours.  As some of you know Carmeh goes out of her mind with the noise and usually hides behind the toilet, either in the RV or the house.  By 2AM we had put her Thunder Shirt on but she was fighting us and would not settle down.  She even half got out of the shirt twice.  She was wild with anxiety. I finally gave her a second pain pill  in the hopes that she would be sedated.  No go.  She fought us for yet another hour and just wanted to run around. There was nothing we could do to calm her or to comfort her.  Finally after 3AM Colin put her in the pen with blankets over the top to create a fort.  We needed to get a bit of sleep.  About 7AM we discovered that she had been trying to get out of the pen and had shredded part of the blankets.  Did she further hurt her back, we don’t know.  I do know that we were exhausted this morning having only had a few hours sleep.  She seemed fine and was still able to move around to do her bathroom business.  Now that was an exhausting day and night and one I hope to never repeat.

A coaster on our friend’s coffee table.

This is how we have been keeping the girls penned but when we went to put the slides in Friday  morning we had to move the pen as the slide came in.   There is no room for the pen on the floor with the slide in and we had to move this pen as it is on the slide.  I turned my back for 20 seconds and Carmeh jumped off the sofa onto the floor.

She is so stubborn and independent and in general strong willed.  She tries to jump up from her bed when penned to the sofa, she wants to jump up to the dash and so on.  She needs constant supervision.  She is improving slightly, she can stand for a few moments before starting to fall over.  We finally got on the road about 30 minutes late on Friday morning.  Right now as I write this Saturday afternoon she doesn’t seem any worse from her jump off the RV sofa.  We have since figured out how to pen her on the sofa when we put the slides in next.

A gloomy day for our drive through the Rockies but stunning nonetheless.

I can’t believe we saw a bear . We think it was a grizzly.  It was brown ( hard to tell in the photo ) and had a huge head.

Look at that winter coat being shed.

The elk were magnificent.

Very young bighorn sheep.

They were scampering across the road. We stopped in a way that no one could pass us in order to protect them. Such a delight to see. The girls barked at them. Nice to have something stimulate Carmeh.

There were 4 of these guys side by side way up the steep mountain but the other 3 had their bums facing me.  I think this is the first time I have seen so much wildlife in one day in the Jasper area.

Caeli jumped up to the dash from Colin’s lap, where she stays while we travel for a better view.

Soon she was on my lap and I had a handful.  Carmeh in the plaid dog bed has her head on my hand and Caeli has her head on my arm.

Our destination in Stony Plain. Our friends driveway, slightly uphill and curved. Somehow Colin got us in. I had my doubts but he is an amazing guy.

Colin and Jannose have real wood floors so we had to be careful of dog toe nails and scratches. The girls are getting used to their large pen.

After a lengthy happy hour where I did finally relax we were treated to a fabulous dinner.

…and some nice vino tinto but us girls stayed with the vino blanco.

A great end to the day 😀  More to share with you tomorrow.  It’s happy hour 😛

We  left 90 minutes later than we planned.  Things take longer with a Carmeh in distress.  I did let her sit on the dash as she usually does while we hooked the car up and got started.  She so wanted to jump down to her bed that she travels in or onto my lap.  It was a challenge to try and figure out her next move and keep her restrained.  Finally she settled down and went to sleep.

We are the first lake and here is the second lake, Wood Lake and then the last large one, Kalamalka Lake in the background.

Our first view of the Rockies.

Then we hit a few rain showers.  We were tired and it seemed to take forever to get to Valemount.  At one point I went to move her to a better position and she almost bit me.  She was in pain and it was time for her meds.  Poor thing.  The road was very curvy and it took six hours to get to our RV Park. The drive seemed to take forever.  Thank goodness we were staying in one.  Overall it made everything much easier.  I have so much I want to share such as memories re the last time we did this journey.  It was for a surprise 80th birthday I was doing for my Dad.  However we are both exhausted and I need to do dishes, shower, etc.

First thing was to pee Carmeh. Colin follows behind to steady her.  It took a very very long time for her to go. That was one of our big worries.  Fortunately we have Caeli to go first and to create a scent.

Next, before setting up was a walk which Caeli really enjoyed. That made us sad as we knew how much Carmeh would have enjoyed all the sniffs.  But she seemed happy enough to be in the stroller.

We are surrounded by snow capped peaks.

Finally back inside for a bit of a set up. Carmeh is on the dash which she loves but penned in.  Her floor pen is ready which she hates as she can’t see out.

Caeli prefers to be the sofa. Of course we brought her ramp.

The RV has gone to the dogs.  We have no set routine and just have to go with the flow. Things are piled everywhere.  Everything revolves around Carmeh.  Two minutes later she was on the floor and then after dinner up on the sofa with Caeli.  At that time I had to use the pen to block the sofa.  We finally had dinner about 9:30PM.  No time to even have any vino.

Just before bedtime a storm blew in.  First dust, then wind and rain.  Time to do the final pees, etc. before bed.  Caeli did both but just as Carmeh was finally ready another RV pulled in next to us which threw her off.  Then the thunder started and that was it.  You might remember how she hates it and wants to hide.  We didn’t want to put her Thunder Shirt on in case it would hurt her back.  Colin sat with her while I sang and made noise to distract her.  Didn’t work 🙁   We finally put her in her pen on the floor and built a fort of blankets around her.  No sooner had we finished, the storm passed.  Now we have to put towels on the floor at the door re the rain and muck and muddy steps 😥

So here I sit working on the new laptop which has been a huge challenge. But I am managing.

It has become quickly apparent that I need to add at least an extra hour to my timing to get going in the morning.

Our plan for tomorrow.  About 455Km/284miles.

Wish us luck…..OMG….11PM….must dash….adios!

Thank you all for your comments and support re Cameh’s back issues.  We are just taking it one day at a time and actually often one hour at a time.  Yesterday we put her on the sofa in the RV and penned her in and she relaxed and fell into a deep sleep.  I was able to keep icing her as I put things away.  I can see that we will have a huge challenge on this trip as one of us needs to be watching her constantly.  Once we are stopped and can put the slide out we can set up the pen and she will be contained with no chance of crawling or falling.

A very special thank you to Lynne who came up with a brilliant suggestion. http://www.handicappedpetscanada.com/walkin-wheels-mini/  This wheelchair cart is so flexible and can be used for rehabilitation.  Our vet wants us to wait a while till we see how much Carmeh recovers plus the stress of the cart would be too much right now.  We also want her to stay as quiet as possible.

Caeli is such a good sister hanging around outside the pen. She certainly senses that something has changed.

The weather here doesn’t look too good for photography so Colin is leaving with no guilt for all his waiting clients.

This is the proposed 16 day trip with the last stop being a 3 night stay in Banff and then back home. We shall see how things are going with Carmeh before traveling further than Edmonton. Each white dot is an overnight or several night stop.

Today we are traveling about 485km/310 miles.

We can only hope that the geese don’t take over our lawn while we are away.