Oct 9 - a little excitment

I went for a bike ride; Mya went to Parry Sound; we had a 911 call at 3:20 a.m. -- where do I start ?

Obviously my bike ride was a non-event. High winds made it exhausting though -- how high were the winds ? -- pardon an old balad "the answer my friend, is blowing in the wind" -- when I was heading back, i.e. when the wind was in my favour, the leaves were blowing along the ground faster than I was riding ! I was going 24 mph at the time ! At 59F according to the car thermometer which had been sitting in the sun, you'd think that I wouldn't get cold but after 4 hours on the bike I was thoroughly chilled.

Parry Sound -- Mya was worse with constantly having to pee so Sandy made an appointment for her at the vet in Parry Sound. I saw her, Stef, Lauren and Mya headed towards Parry Sound as I was riding back north. The diagnosis was a bladder infection so she came back with antibiotics and special food ... Stef came back with a lighter wallet. She's learning that pets can be more expensive than children -- especially without health insurance !!

On to the last event of the last 24 hours -- the phone rang at 3:20 a.m. -- it was Dolores Robinson in a panic because Jack was sick. I quickly got dressed and went over there calmed her down somewhat and got her to call 911. Jack was having a bout of Ménière's disease and hadn't been able to get out of bed for 24 hours. It's a disease of the inner ear that causes nausea, imbalance etc. Jack was coherent and calm -- Dolores was not calm and only partialy coherent. Part of his problem, of course, is that he is quite frail to start with and with diabetes his blood sugar was probably way out of whack and could be life threatening.

We arranged to meet the ambulance at the ESS Narrows -- the Robinson's driveway has some washouts and Dolores was worried about them making it down the driveway. Of course they could have always parked up top and wheeled the stretcher down ... and up ... but we opted to move him into the car and meet them at the Narrows. Timing was perfect, we could see their lights coming as we went into the parking lot. They come from Port Loring -- on call -- so it was 15 minutes to respond and 15 minutes to get to the Narrows. 30 minutes is not too bad considering our location !

They were going to take him directly to Parry Sound via the ambulance. Had it been an emergency the helicopter would have met us but it was not that urgent. They spent some time at the Narrows checking his blood sugar etc. and then they headed off. Dolores was not sure what to do -- but she was in no shape mentally to drive to Parry Sound in the dark nor wait in the cottage for daylight -- so she went with the ambulance. We'll hear from her later today and likely pick her up in Parry Sound.

Well, today would make three trips to Parry Sound and one trip to Sudbury this week. Although one and a quarter hours seems far, in reality that's just like a daily commute for many people. If we could plan around the emergency trips ... but then they would not be emergencies, would they ?

I'll try calling the hospital shortly and see if Dolores is in emergency and can come to the phone.

Can you believe that Jack and Dolores are supposed to start their drive to Vancouver Island on Tuesday ?? They are much too old for that sort of "commute" for the winter, but they don't have much choice since they don't have the financial wherewithal for any other arrangement. They rent/house-sit a place on Vancouver Island every winter. We keep thinking that "this has to be their final year" -- but they keep going. Jack is 79 and Dolores is in the same range. It looks like about 2,700 miles -- that's almost driving to New Smyrna Beach and back.

Today -- sunny again and warming. It's supposed to get up close to 70F this weekend so it should be beautiful. Alex is supposed to come this afternoon; Jason, Lorraine & Mike are supposed to come very late tonight; Aaron is supposed to come tomorrow afternoon -- that all adds up to Thanksgiving Turkey dinner tomorrow !

I'll get the boat and the decoys ready for Alex's arrival -- probably no more bike rides until Tuesday. My timing is bad -- it will be warm on the weekend and then cooling down again. Warm weather is not great for duck hunting but it sure makes it more pleasant out in the boat !

Enough reporting for now ... time for a belated breakfast. After I got back from the Narrows -- by then 5am, I went back to bed and got up at 7am.

Oh -- one more thing -- I turned on Jason's water pump, hot water and baseboard heaters late yesterday afternoon. At the time it was 14C inside and 15C outside ! Later on I checked things and it was still 15C inside but 9C outside. I turned up the heat a little and will check this a.m. to see how it's doing. When they arrive after midnight tonight they will not have to fuss with the electrical panel and their place will be liveable.