I know it’s been a spell since I updated my blog, but I’ve been busy on a couple of fronts.
First, we got pretty slow a couple of weeks ago and I think I was driving poor Bob crazy with my cabin fever. He eagerly suggested I go visit my daughter and three granddaughters who live in Teague, Texas. After all, we had not seen them since mid December. Lily is now almost 18 months old and Katelyn (5 1/2 years) had another ear infection and was very sick and wanting her Nana. Who could say no to that?
Also, my little fawn colored Chihuahua, Capt. Jack, developed epilepsy and was having seizures more frequently. We called the vet in a nearby town, but they just don’t seem to have time for our little pets. They have a lot of country to cover regarding ranch animals. I decided to take Jack to his regular vet in Mexia, Texas.
After a seizure Jack was shaking a lot, so I wrapped him up tightly in a receiving blanket and put him on the couch. He calmed down and fell asleep. (This was before we got him on meds)
Bobbi, Kate, & Lily with me at the Subway inside the Walmart store in Mexia.
While in Teague, Katelyn made a visit to the ER at 4:30 am Saturday night with severe ear pain and fever. The following Tuesday Bobbi (my daughter) took her to her ENT (ear, nose & throat doc) in Waco and he scheduled her for tubes in her ears (this makes the third time) for the follow Monday. She failed her hearing test. They said she had the hearing of a 90-year-old person.
Katelyn--we call her our little Pixie because she reminds us of Tinkerbell spreading pixie dust all over, wherever she goes 🙂
I know when I was there if you were not looking at her she could not tell you were talking and she had Sponge Bob blaring on the TV. She has gotten quite good at lip reading and her big sister, Corynn, is teaching her sign language. Thankfully, they do expect her hearing will return to normal after she gets her tubes in.
Space saving 48-can collapsible cooler for hauling perishables home during the extreme summer heat. Folds up flat for easy storage.
While I was back home, I found this cooler that is perfect for the RV in the upcoming summer season. As we all know, Texas is hot and down here in south Texas it is about as bad as it gets. Right now, with our remote location, getting to Cotulla is over an hour and a quarter drive. I go to Super S in Cotulla for many things, but meat is not one of them. To get good meat (not the pastured kind I would like to get but better than Super S has available) I must travel to the Pearsall HEB, which is another good jaunt away. So, while I was back home I stocked up on meats at the HEB store in Mexia. I put them in the deep freezer at Bobbi’s house and packed it all in this wonderful cooler bag for the trip home. To my surprise, not one thing came close to defrosting on the 7.5 hour trip home.
I even stopped at the DQ in Cotulla and picked up a blizzard for Bob and one for me to enjoy when I got back to the ranch. The blizzards were perfectly frozen when I arrived at the rig. Wow… this will be very handy this summer!
As for Jack, the vet put him on Primidone and that night he had a grand mal seizure. It was heartbreaking to see this happen to my little fellow. The next day I requested the Vet put him on Phenobarbital and he did. I’m happy to say Jack is not having any more seizures. He’s a bit sleepier than he used to be, but no seizures!
Sunrise over the workover rig at Well #2. They are getting the production string, tank battery, gas separators, and driers all installed.
Last Monday, while I was gone, Bob called me and said our gate was getting very busy so I better get back. Tuesday morning Jack & I headed back to the ranch. We are now back on two shifts and steadily busy. They are installing the finishing pipeline touches and the permanent tank battery, driers & separators.
Moving the living quarters from Well #2 to Well #1. They move these mobile homes around like they were mere travel trailers. Sometimes it's a tight fit but they make it with ease!
Two mobile homes were brought in to house the workers and we have a company man on the premisis again. Today they moved the mobile homes from Well #2 to Well #1. And yes, the caliche dust was thick around here today.
We just found out from the company man that our 3-month long “3-day” job will probably end by next Friday. They’ll likely be all done by Wednesday and begin moving stuff out and cleaning up. So Friday will most likely be our release date. I can truly say we are ready.
Being back near civilization last week was so nice. Shopping, restaurants, vets… it was nice. And to actually be able to go out and buy things I wanted instead of mail order was a treat indeed!
We will take some time off and we will come back. I truly have appreciated the ACE Hardware store in Cotulla. They graciously allow us gate guards to have our mail order packages delivered to their store free of charge. They even call us to let us know our packages are there. I don’t know what I would have done without this service. We use online ordering to get a big majority of things we eat and use and we do so regularly.
Are there other places that let gate guards to do this? If so, please send me the information and I’ll list it all on a new page in this blog so all gate guards will know where they can have packages sent to via UPS or FedEx.
New update: Now that our twin gate neighbors are gone and activity at night is light, the coyotes are back and howling. I forgot just how much they unnerve me! Thankfully we have not seen any snakes. Although we did buy snake guards to wear. If we see snakes, we will put on the snake guards… count on it!
If anyone has a pet with epilepsy, I’d love to hear how you deal with it. What medications do you think work best? Is your pet on more than one medication? Are they living seizure free or close to it? This is all new to me and I want to give Jack the best quality of life possible. He’s only 4 1/2 years old and he should have many good years ahead. Thanks for your input!
Keep cool 🙂
Till next time,
Vicky
Full-Time RVing... Our Journey Into Full-Timing, Workamping And More 
Really enjoyed this post Vicky. So sorry about your gran daughter’s hearing problem. It is so hard to see our young ones suffer.
Where did you get that cooler? Probably on line. Right?
J & J Supply in Freer, TX will accept UPS and FED EX shipments for you at no charge and they even call to let you know it’s there. They are at 308 East Riley, Freer, TX 78357. Phone 361-394-5711.
Hey Bob… glad you enjoyed the post! You still in Freer? I thought they were releasing you from there?
I got the cooler at Walmart. I know it says Cabela’s on it, it’s the only picture I could find. It’s the same cooler and made by Coleman. Only cost $24.99 at Walmart. Thanks for the info on J & J Supply. I’ll add that info to the page I’m creating.
Vicky
Our 18 year old Chihuahua, Venus got to where she had grand mal seizures. Our vet said it wasn’t altogether uncommon for the breed as they age. He put her on phenobarbital. She has been seizure free for about a year now.
I’m so glad to hear Phenobarbital is helping your little Chihuahua. You are luck your little dog is living so long. Chihuahuas are the longest living dogs. I’ve been doing some research and seizures are fairly common to dogs, unfortunately. I hope my Jack does well on the PB as your dog has done. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Vicky
Our dog, Tara, started having epileptic seizures when she was 18 month old. She is now 9. We give her a combination of phenobarbital and potassium bromide (which increases the effectiveness of the phenobarbital). This controls her seizures but has not completely stopped them and she still has one or two a month. We have learned to accept them as just being part of Tara. The most difficult part is that she paces for about 30 minutes after she has one and we find she does best if we let her outside. A little tricky on a Nova Scotia winter night 🙂
Hi Anne,
Thanks for your reply to my post. I know we may have to add an additional medication down the road, but for right now, the PB alone seems to be working. Jack’s personality has changed a bit. He used to be almost like a cat, not needy or wanting to be held all the time and very laid back. Now he wants to be held all the time and is shorter on patience. He doesn’t snap at us or anything, but he barks at me for soemthing and I don’t know what he wants. He never used to bark. He seems to be more hyper. I wonder if this is all part of this whole thing?
So far though, no seizures. We’ll keep our fingers crossed! 🙂
What kind of dog is Tara?
Vicky
Tara is a black lab. More info here http://theaccidentalrvers.blogspot.ca/p/meet-family.html
I think epilepsy does change a dog a bit. Tara is a very kind and lovable dog who never barks but she became very needy after the seizures started. Does not like to be alone and follows Arch everywhere. Sometimes she seems to know when she is going to have a seizure and comes to get us. Most times she doesn’t .
Hi Anne,
It’s somewhat reassuring to know that dogs do change somewhat when they start having seizures. Jack is much more needy and jumpy/restless.
Vicky
Hi Vicky!
Sure hope the tubes clear things up for Katelyn.
I’m so sorry to hear about Jack. Gosh, that’s scary. Sure hope the meds help.
Debbie
Thank you Debbie. Katelyn gets her tubes in (again) early Monday morning. Jack is doing very well so far with his meds.
Vicky
where did you get the snake guards??? I’d sure be interested in getting some
Hi Bobbie,
Here is where we bought our snake guards. http://www.outdoorcountry.com/
Have you seen any snakes yet? We have not and that’s just fine with us!
Vicky
No, we didn’t see any snakes during our time gate guarding. We left the gate last week and are “on vacation” in Port Aransas…our reward for gate guarding for two months. We are heading to Colorado for our summer gig supervising six national forest campgrounds, but we’ll be back to Whitsett in November.
Thanks for the snake guard info; I’ll check it out.