Day 72 – Sparks, Nevada

Hardly an ordinary day for me; after a short and early walk with Don, we all got into the truck and drove just a little up the street to the Desert Hills Animal Hospital.  I did my pop-up dog routine at the counter, and greeted the staff with a big smile and a wagging tail.  I knew why we were there, and had no fear of what they needed to do for me.  The Vet was a very nice guy who talked to me a lot so that I would understand what he was doing; he took a big needle and poked it into the blister on the underside of my right ear flap, and sucked all of the fluid that had built up out of there.  He was very gentle, and it didn’t hurt a bit.  He told us that a Goldie was part of his family, too, and he had great admiration for our breed.  After he put some medication on the deflated blister, he felt it advisable to fit me with an elastic head covering that held my ear flap open with some gauze over the spot where he poked me.  I didn’t much care for it, but if he thought it was needed, I wasn’t going to argue. 

After we left the Animal Hospital, Geri and Don took me for a walk down at the lake, but when I found a nice spot to roll in, they stopped me, ‘cause they didn’t want me to disturb my head covering and get anything nasty in my ear.  Wasn’t really much of a walk.  We went back the coach, and Geri started running around with the vacuum cleaner, which is really noisy.  Don didn’t much care for it either, and he went outside to clean off the front of the coach, which was covered with bug carcasses.  A while later, a car pulled up in front of the rig, and my good friend David (Craig) got out of it!  He was on his way to the Reno airport from his job in Winnemucca, and he stopped by to visit and have lunch with the folks.  I was really glad to see him, ‘cause I wanted a second opinion from a Doctor as to the need for the head covering that was really starting to bug me.  He told me that I should wear it until the blister stopped draining and there was no more stuff coming out of it.  I thought that was reasonable. 

They went to lunch at a BBQ joint not far from the RV Park, and were back fairly soon; they said the food was great, and they had so much that dinner would not be served tonight.  So much for my plates.  After Craig (David) left to catch his plane, they took a hike for the nearest money machine place, and left me to nap in some discomfort from my headdress.  Before they returned, I did an evaluation of the need for continuing to wear the thing, and decided that I could dispense with it.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t get my paws back far enough on my neck to remove it completely, but I was satisfied to get it rolled back from my head, a much more comfortable situation.  They got back a bit late, with respect to my meal time, and saw that I had made the decision that the thing was no longer necessary; their inspection of the ear verified my evaluation, and Geri got it off my neck.  Regarding their excursion, they told me that Geri had won enough money out of the machines to keep me in food for two months.  I felt pretty good about that. 

Anyway, my dinner was served a bit late, I got my usual treats, and a nice walk with Geri.  A bit of a trying day, in some respects, but I know that my health and welfare is very important to my partners in life, and I love and respect them for the care that they give me.  I’m a very lucky dog in many ways; but they’re very lucky to have me, too!  We’re on the road tomorrow, heading south to the Owens Valley.  We’ve been there before, but we haven’t spent much time in Bishop.  We hope to correct that now, and I’ll tell you about any adventures we have tomorrow!  See ya then!