funnystrange.com

So, we're trying to plan a trip to Asheville. We want to stay in the yurt again, which we had done last year. Unfortunately, as you may have heard, Asheville has been slammed by storms in the past couple of months. There's been a lot of damage out there, including a tree falling on the yurt and destroying it.

Luckily they have another new yurt, which they were planning to add to the campground. So they didn't have to order a new one to replace the one that got crushed. They're putting it up right now, but they're not sure it will be done in time for us. Which is okay, because if the yurt isn't ready they're going to put us up in a cabin called the cliff house for the same cost. The cliff house is so nice that I'm kind of hoping the yurt isn't ready in time!

So, getting ready for a trip always involves certain logistics. On Wednesday I took the dogs to St. Francis to get their shots updated so they'd be kennel-ready. Last night (meaning, the day after their vet appt.) we noticed that Lina is worrying at her knee again. Sure enough, she had opened the incision again. What great timing! Back to the vet again this morning, to try and find out why the heck she keeps worrying this spot. Unfortunately, they have no idea. The vet (not Dr. Lindeke but the new doctor, Dr. Broussard) said we should just let it heal up again. If she does it a third time I should take her back to the vet college at NC State, who did the surgery.

Dr. Broussard said it's not going to look nice when it heals, and stitches wouldn't help because it's old tissue. I honestly don't care how it looks; I just want her to stop reopening it. They gave me this gel called "Yuk" (great name!) which you can put around a wound to stop the animal from licking at it. This is supposed to prevent the need for a e-collar. I hope like hell it works.

While we were there we also had to get a bordatella vaccination for both dogs. But didn't we just have their vaccinations on Wednesday? Why yes we did. But alas, bordatella isn't one of the regular vaccinations St. Francis does to all dogs. They only do it for dogs who will be boarded or professionally groomed. I didn't know that there was an extra vaccination for boarding so I didn't ask for it. I just said "give them all the shots they need to get them up to date," assuming that meant they would get all the shots they needed. Silly me!

I'm not upset with St. Francis; it wasn't their fault, just a miscommunication. It wasn't even that much extra hassle because I had to take Lina in anyway for her leg. And to their credit, to make up for the inconvenience they didn't charge me for Lina's exam, just the vaccinations. That was cool of them.

Meanwhile, we had to find a new kennel. Because the receptionist at St. Francis had raised some questions about the sanitary conditions at the kennel we had planned on using. If Lina has an open wound on her leg I certainly want her to be someplace impeccably clean. Which meant finding another kennel on a day's notice. I had hoped they could stay at St. Francis, but they're totally booked right now. (Last time they were full and we had a medical situation, they let my dogs stay in the bathroom, but this weekend even their bathroom is already full.) St. Francis recommended two kennels, the second of which -- Pets Companion in north Durham -- had space. Whew! They're more expensive, but they said they would take care of the dogs' medication. Which is a huge relief because the "yuk" gel is supposed to be applied to Lina's leg several times a day.

So, that takes care of the dogs. (Except that we might have to go back to St. Francis and get an e-collar if that "yuk" gel doesn't stop her from licking.) Next up, a trip to Triple A to get maps and find out road closings. We had planned to drive up the Blue Ridge Parkway to Blowing Rock, but we heard that large sections of the road were closed.

I have to say, that was the least helpful visit to Triple A that I've ever had. I wonder if the woman I talked to wasn't at her normal station or something. She first read off mile markers of closed sections of the parkway, but refused to give me a map on which to mark this information. Eventually she coughed up the map, but then refused to repeat the mile markers. Why, you ask? I cannot imagine.

Eventually the guy at the next desk gave me a phone number -- long distance, mind you -- which I could call to find out the road closings. I wanted very much to ask them why I had to make a toll call to get information that was their job to give me, but by that point I just wanted to get out of there. So I wrote down the number and left. There was a third guy there, who was on the phone the whole time I was there. I talked to him before we went to Houston, and he was extremely helpful. Not only did he allow me to mark the information I wanted on a map, he even did it for me! I wish I had been able to talk to that guy again.

So that's been my day so far. Now I'm taking a lunch break before getting to the work I haven't been doing all morning. I did have one good work-related thing happen this morning: a possible new bookkeeping client who was referred to me from Stoneline. Bookkeeping doesn't pay as well as web stuff, but it is regular money. Plus I have to finish up the laundry, and call that number the Triple A monkeys gave me. Logistics are so much fun.

(Speaking of malevolant monkeys, have y'all heard about George W. possibly wearing a prompter during the debate? I'm deeply skeptical -- the consequences of pulling a scam like this would be so bad, I can't imagine even Bush being that arrogant -- but I have to admit I will take evil pleasure in hearing his people deny it.)