Well lil G and I hopped in the truck on Sunday and drove 400 miles East to Orofino, Idaho for a few days of fun in the country with our friends Asya and KC. It was G's first long road trip and my first time on that stretch of highway in 6 years. Our trip went smoothly- and it was a beautiful drive. I was surprised at how the first 6 hours of the drive have been permanently etched into my memory having driven it for the six years I lived in Pullman- Snowqualmie Pass, Cle Elum, Ellensburg, Vantage, Royal City, Othello, Washtucna, Dusty, Colfax, Pullman. Then we went down the grade to Lewiston and got onto 12 E which follows the the Clearwater River to Orofino. Asya met us in town with pizza and we followed her home- up the Greer Grade which is 30 minutes of switchbacks to her little slice of heaven on top.
On our first day Asya took us on a scenic drive on the Musselshell Road to Kamiah Idaho where we had delicious lunch of quiche and salad (G had chicken soup of course) and shared a huge chocolate chip cookie for dessert. We went in the little shops to get some trinkets and postcards. G made friends with a little girl named Vicky Lynn in the card shop until Vicky Lynn didn't give her back her mermaid!
The highlight of our trip was getting to spend time with Farmer Keith and his horses. Grace got to ride his pony Angel both days. We were treated with lunch by 'the farmer's wife' (as G called her) Shirley- hamburgers, home made potato salad and incredible home made raspberry pie. When we left Shirley brought us a loaf of freshly baked zucchini bread- yum!
Our second day we had a little bit of 'work' to do. Farmer Keith had a couple of barn cats that needed neutering and Asya had heard of a woman that had a crazy tom cat in her trailer that she couldn't afford to have neutered. Being an advocate for spay/neuter I happily brought along the supplies for castrating cats. Keith had trapped his adult barn cat and made his own squeeze cage- it worked perfectly for giving him his injection- then we started to prep him for surgery and realized he was cryptorchid! And I couldn't palpate his second testicle anywhere. So unfortunately that cat is only half neutered now. I needed a sterile pack and suture if I was to find and remove the hidden testicle.
Then we headed out to the trailer park to meet the crazy cat for what we thought was going to be a quick neuter- well, he had a different idea in mind. He was anesthetized without any problems and then neutered-but he started bleeding a bit from the right side-this has happened to me before with some bigger tom cats- more of an annoyance than a serious complication- I held some pressure and ice on it and then he started seizuring. At first I tried to convince myself he wasn't really seizuring, he was just having a more violent reaction to the Ketamine then most cats. But he kept doing it. Then he started to spike a fever and pant. Pretty much the worst scenario for an anesthetic complication- at a trailer park in Idaho with no other drugs or fluids available, and no access to a veterinary clinic. I had the owner watching and she was convinced he was dying. I didn't think he was dying but I couldn't drive away and leave him like that and say "Good Luck".. so we loaded him into the truck with us and took him home for the night. Luckily he stopped seizuring and by morning he was hissing, spitting and growling and ready to go back to his owner!
We saw lots of wildlife in Idaho besides the wild tom cats- we also saw skunks (which G calls "Stunks"), deer, coyote, bunny, cows, horses.. and fresh bear poop. Some other firsts- I got to ride on a 4-wheeler and shoot a gun! And I even got to ride "Woppy" the Peruvian Paso.
On our drive back home yesterday we stopped in Pullman and said hello to our old friends Bill & Cristi at "Barnacle Bills"- it was their first time meeting Grace. They looked great, and the town, for the most part, looked the same. We bought the dogs some pig ears and the cats some catnip toys. We drove by our old house and it looks like the people who live there now love it- there was a bigger deck, a new fence and a playset in the back yard. We didn't make it up to campus on this trip but we plan to pass through more often because we want to go back and visit Asya again real soon!
1 comment:
Mia gives stunks two flumbs up!
Post a Comment