Ninety Plus Miles!

Today has been great, even though I am exhausted from walking twelve miles yesterday, tripling my daily goal of 2,000 Nike+ Fuel points.

This morning after Brandon helped Tony with the outside chores, we picked up Wilma Flintstone and then dropped off Brandon and then we headed to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, so Robert could meet us there, so he could pick up Wilma and take her to her new home, in Fredville.

We arrived at Hoegemeyers at 11:15. Robert arrived two minutes later and by 11:30, Wilma was headed to her new home, as Buttermilk was taking us back home. Tone and I talked non-stop all of the way home, about how much we both liked Robert and how lucky Wilma was.

We picked up Brandon on our way home, so he could eat lunch with us and then do some of Tony's and my latest "Honey do" chores.

When we walked inside the trailer, we immediately noticed that someone had vomited up their breakfast, in the big room and in the hallway and we quickly discovered that it was Abbie, because she threw up again, while I was making tuna fish sandwiches for us.

We watched Abbie for the next few hours and she even took a brief nap, on the bed, with Roy, Mama and me. When our sleepless nap ended, we could tell that she still didn't feel great, even though she had quit vomiting.

Around 3:15, Abbie threw up again, so I immediately called Hoegemeyers and three minutes later, Brandon and I took off in Trigger, with Abbie resting in the back seat. Tony wanted to go with us, but he couldn't because Karon was bringing over some sweet girls, from the Medina Children's Home, to walk our dogs and take them swimming.

Before we arrived at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, Abbie had thrown up two more times. When we walked inside the clinic, with Brandon carrying Abbie, the nice veterinarian on emergency calls, was working on an eight-year-old dog that had been badly porcupine-ed.

As we waited our turn to see the vet, Abbie slept on the cool tile floor, in the lobby, as we visited with a nice woman, who had met her brother at the clinic, who was getting the quills removed from his dog's face.

In less than an hour, the veterinarian listened to me about Abbie's problem and then we went into a private room, so he could examine her. He told us that Abbie was not badly dehydrated, her temperature was normal, her gums, ears and eyes looked healthy, too. Then he told us that he wanted to give her some fluids with electrolytes, under her skin and a couple of shots to cease the vomiting and that he wanted to keep her overnight for observation.

When the veterinarian returned with the bag of electrolyte fluids and hung it up, he then put an IV into Abbie's back, without her even noticing, which nearly caused me to faint, because I don't do needles. The drip then started slowly, ounce by ounce, going into Abbie's shoulder, as Brandon and I petted her and reassured her that she was going to be just fine, which made her wag her tail.

When the bag was either half full or half empty, depending on how you look at things, the sweet vet removed the IV and then slipped it into the other side of her shoulder. "She's already gained one pound," Brandon observed, before chuckling.

After Abbie had received the fluids, we adios-ed her and told her that we would see her tomorrow and for her to sleep tight. Then Brandon and I jumped into Trigger and headed back to the ranch.

Ninety-plus miles later today and well worth it, when we arrived back at the rescue ranch, around 6:35, Tony met us outside to tell us the great news that, "We had gotten three big drops of rain." So as I end this tonight, I am not going to walk with Leslie, but instead drink a glass or two of fine boxed red wine, celebrate Wilma's super adoption and that Abbie is going to be okay, and then watch Coach reruns until I laugh myself to sleep. Life is good come rain or come shine.

Y'all have a great evening!