Author: Rae

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And Then There Were Two

My beautiful Tabitha died today. She was 15 and had been my companion for 13 years.

When death comes naturally at the end of a good life and there is time to prepare for it, my grief at the loss is not lessened, but I have no trouble accepting this natural occurrence. I’m grieving tonight, but I’m okay. Ms. Cinnamon took good care of me.

I noticed last summer that Tabitha was beginning to feel poorly, so I took her to the vet for a full workup. Everything that could be checked for with routine tests — diabetes, thyroid, kidneys, liver, worms, etc. came back okay for a cat her age. She did have a slight bladder infection, which cleared up with a week’s worth of antibiotics.

She continued to decline in the next months, eating less and less, losing weight, and growing increasingly lethargic. I could tell her kidneys were shutting down.

When I adopted her in 2000, I was warned that because of major health issues in her kittenhood, she would not be a long-lived cat. The vet estimated that with proper care and a housebound existence, she might make it to nine or 10. She has far exceeded her life expectancy and she has had a good, rich life. She has been well cared for and cherished. I don’t believe in extreme measures. As long as she wasn’t in any pain, I was willing to let nature take its course.

She stopped eating in the last few days, but she was still happy to see me and cuddled, enjoyed sunbeams, and was able to get up and down from the bed in the back (forget the loft, she hasn’t climbed up there in weeks). I waited for her to tell me it was time.

When I got in tonight from a day out, she was just staring blankly at me and I barely got a purr out of her. She was breathing very heavily. I made a quick Google search and called a vet to ask about bringing her in.

You would think that a Saturday night would be the worst night for this decision to have to be made, but the Hillside Veterinary Clinic is open 24/7 and does not charge anything extra for after hours or weekends. The receptionist was wonderful and took me at my word that it was time to put Tabitha to sleep. She told me to bring her right in and that they would fit her in ASAP.

I had tried the shelter a couple of days ago to get information and the woman there was quite rude and said that Tabitha would have to have a full panel of tests before they would agree to put her down. Hillside did not question that I have been a good mom and was making the decision because it needed to be made.

The entire staff, including Dr. Smith who gave her the final injection, was compassionate. The cost was $75 plus $12.50 for disposal; the same price quoted by the shelter. I was allowed to be with her to the end while I would have had to surrender her to the shelter. I am so grateful that I ended up needing to make the decision late on a Saturday and had really no choice but to go to Hillside because I couldn’t imagine a better place for it to have happened.

My darling girl traveled the continent with me. We lived in five homes together and have had short stays in motels as well as my parents’ homes. In 13 years, she was only  kenneled once. In 13 years, I  lived at least six different lives and had as my only constant this raven beauty with piercing golden eyes.

From the first moment she laid eyes on me with those windows to her precious soul, I was her person. Aggressive and shy  with others, she always loved me. We slept together most nights of the last 13 years and could communicate efficiently. She was my girl and I loved her so much. Oh, how I will miss her.

The void in the rig is palpable tonight. Neelix seems to sense my grief. I am focusing on honouring her life.

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Mercurial Weather

The day the code enforcer came, it was so hot and sticky that I finally caved and ran the AC. Then a big thunderstorm rolled in and the temperature dropped. Yesterday was chilly and damp in the rig. Today, it’s only 6C outside and it was 5C in the rig when I woke up!!!!!! BRR! At least the sun is shining!

Do I really need to go north? 🙁

Unrelated, people who mow lawns before 8AM should be forced to eat their mower clippings.

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Visit From Dallas Code Enforcement

Wow, I went almost five full years without having The Law tell me to move along!

Let me tell the story before y’all get up in arms! 😀

I saw the code enforcement vehicle pull up this afternoon. I let the driver come out and show interest in the rig to make sure he was after me before going out to speak with him.

He was very polite and said that there have been changes to some city ordinances and that my motorhome is too big to be parked in a front yard in Dallas. That said, he’s cognizant of the fact that Dallas has no RV parks and that Walmarts only allow a night’s stay. So he usually let’s these violations go if the plate is from out of state and the person is obviously not staying long.

But a neighbour called and made a complaint! I can’t believe some people! How about going up to the very accessible motorhome (windows and door open during the day) and getting some intelligence on the person’s plans?

I told him that I had planned to leave this weekend or early in the week, but that I was packed and could be out and on the road within the hour. He gasped and said, “No, no! I don’t want to ruin your weekend! Just be gone by Tuesday night.”

My concern at this point was that Ms. Cinnamon was going to get a ticket. He said that if I hadn’t come out to speak to him, she would have likely received a hefty fine that she would have then had to contest. But since I was so agreeable, he could issue me a warning and essentially leave Ms. Cinnamon out of it.

So I’m now on record with the city of Dallas!

Ms. Cinnamon will disagree, but I do feel like I have overstayed in Dallas, so it’s good to have the fire lit under me even though I really did intend to leave this weekend. The only difference now is that I have actually figured out my next move.

Going west just isn’t going to happen. I don’t have the money for it. So I’m sticking with plan A and will be going northwest slooooowly. Weather can change very dramatically in a month!

Weather reports from Wichita are making me hopeful that spring has sprung there, so I feel comfortable heading in that direction. There is a rest area about 1.5 hours north of Dallas where I can stay for 24 hours. So I will leave Dallas late Sunday afternoon and arrive at the rest area for dinner.

Same thing Monday, except I’ll head to a Walmart just shy of OK City. Same thing Tuesday, only I’ll head to a casino in Shawnee to finish up the week as I should be able to stay a few nights.

Saturday or Sunday, I’ll head to Wichita. I’ll be on the street there, so I’ll really only have two or three nights. After that, it’s a long day to a city campground in Strombsburg NE that takes donations.

From there, I’ll be facing three days of hard driving (about 500KM per day) to get to my property. If the weather continues to clear up (the 14 day forecast for southern Saskatchewan is surprisingly encouraging), I may continue to inch my way northwest. Otherwise, I will looking for a four-day window of clear weather and just do a cannonball run.

The important thing by this point will be to get across the border. It won’t matter where. I just need to get there before the customs deadline. If I have to, I’ll go straight north into Manitoba. I would rather do the U.S. route for the gas savings, but if I end up shy of the property, I can just drop anchor where I am, catch my breath, earn some income, and then start working my way west for the seminar.

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2013 RV Owners Lifestyle Seminar

Late June, I’ll be talking about my trip this winter at the RV Owners Lifestyle Seminar in Kelowna, BC. This is the third time I’ve been invited and I knew if I said no again, I’d never get another chance.

From the topics page:

The presenter will share tips on how to find free or inexpensive places to park your RV, whether it be overnight or for several weeks, by providing examples and resources from her 2012-2013 trip through several states, including Louisiana and Texas.

I’m really excited to attend the seminar as it sounds like a really fun weekend. That said, it has thrown my summer completely off kilter. This is a volunteer gig, so I’m not sure yet how I’ll finance all that time off to prepare and attend the seminar. I am thinking of looking for sponsors, although I have no idea of how to go about doing that.

The RV Owners Lifestyle Seminar is like attending RV College for a long weekend, with lots of things to learn and plenty of opportunities for socializing. If you’re thinking of being in BC this summer, maybe as you’re heading up to Alaska, you might want to squeeze this event into your calendar.