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7 October 2010 by Dave Clingman
Our California Trip
Hi guys.
Sorry about the long day between email logs. I'll try to
summarize some of the highlights of the past one and a
half months in this "weekly log"! Our trip to California
was both productive and enjoyable. We drove fifteen
hours our first day and then usually about six hours a
day during our remaining seven driving days, other than
one long day again during our return.
We had three glorious days in San Diego, mostly just
relaxing and enjoying life. Andrew caught up with his
friend Matt Hall, and spent Friday night and Sunday with
San Diego GCNers (from the Gay Christian Network). We
both also spent an afternoon with my brother in nearby
Ramona. One afternoon we took a walk on the Coronado
Island "dog beach" with Mela. She enjoyed playing fetch
with a tennis ball, and "chase" with many of the other
dogs, though some of them were a bit more aggressive
than she liked.
In Coarsegold, we spent many long hours preparing and
listing items on eBay to sell that we had picked up from
my brother while visiting with him in San Diego area. We
also sold a few coins we had picked up here in Mexico,
one of which was an 8 Reales coin which went for $170.00
US, quite an impressive profit for us. We are now on the
lookout for more coins that might net us a profit. While
in the Coarsegold/Fresno area we also visited a few
website clients and friends, went to the annual Antique
Fair, and bought a trunk-full of business goods, vehicle
parts, and U.S. food goodies like Diet Monster drinks
and Cheetos!
In that part of California, the weather was clear and
quite hot, exceeding 90º (32ºC) almost every day. Here
in GDL on those same days, the high averaged around 75º
(24ºC).
We stayed two nights in Las Vegas, Nevada on our return
trip. We walked along the Strip one evening with Mela,
and many people commented how cute she is. It is rare
for a dog to be seen on the Las Vegas Strip, because the
hotels are not pet friendly. Here in Mexico, most hotels
are more lenient about allowing dogs.
Andrew and Mela walked across the Hoover Dam, despite
not being aware until the end that it is illegal to walk
a dog over the dam. He was duly impressed with the dam
and the new arching freeway bridge over the Canyon.
Now that we are back home, work and life are continuing.
Andrew has less work now than before we left, but I have
some new website work to do. The weather is wonderful
with cool mornings and warm, sunny days. We've started
turning on a small electric heater for an hour or so in
the mornings now.
My shoulder is completely healed. There is still an
occasional muscle twitch, but there is no pain and has
been no pain for several weeks now. The specialist at
IMSS that we saw two days before we left for California
was right: alternating cold and hot packs, five minutes
each, three times each, every night before bed worked
wonders in less than the three weeks he predicted it
might take. I am thrilled to be pain free in my
shoulder. That pain was rather debilitating, though it
probably doesn't seem like it should be. Thank you for
praying.
Mela has been chewing on her paws. We first noticed this
around the time we arrived back in Mexico. She chews
them until they are bloody. At first we thought it was
fleas, but the vet says that fleas can't live in her
paws since it is not warm enough for them. The vet took
scrapings from Mela's paw and ear and examined them
under a microscope in search of bacteria. She found
none, but she saw evidence that Mela had previously had
a fungal infection. The vet gave us a special
antibacterial shampoo and spray, but twice daily
cleanings and sprayings didn't remove Mela's apparent
itchiness.
Now we have Mela on a special food, and we don't allow
her to run free in the park. The vet thinks Mela is
having an allergic reaction either to her food or to the
grass. (Fortunately, the three visits to the vet and all
the special shampoos, shots, and pills have cost only
about $80 US, about the same as one visit to the vet in
California without any extras like examining scrapings
or medicines.) The vet says that it may take up to two
weeks before the itching will stop once we have removed
the allergen. We decided to remove both allergens, and
then when the itching stops, we'll allow her back onto
the grass. That way we can perhaps determine if the
grass is the problem. I rather hope the problem is the
food, because though this special food is expensive, I
prefer to have her able to run free all around the park.
Thank you for your emails, and for the visits in person
(for those we saw in California). Please continue to
keep in touch, and remember if you ever want to visit
Guadalajara we'd be glad to show you around.
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21 August 2010 Read
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