Alabama Snow, Beaches, & Our Fur Babies

                               Saturday December 5, 2015

The first weekend after our arrival, we went with the kids and grand kids to Foley, a town just 5 miles north of us. The town was having a Christmas festival in the city park. One of the activities was making Alabama snow.

I was glad Lennox (7) had bright orange on, as there were tons of kids running every which way, and I could keep an eye on him among the crowd.

It was really dangerous being in the middle of all these kids with once a year Alabama snow. I would turn around and a little boy, who I didn't know, had an ice snow ball slinging it at my chest or my head from another direction. I had to tell one boy he couldn't be throwing them at me!

Noah and Maddie showed up and got in the action too, though Maddie fell down immediately and started to cry. These southern children have no clue what snow or ice is!

There were other activities like a giant slide. There goes Lennox, jumping off from the top of the slide.

Santa was not there when Alisha and her kids stopped for picture in the pavilion.

As I approach, Maddie points to me and says look Mom there comes Nana. (I had been over at the giant slide with Lennox).

Alisha, my oldest daughter with two of her children Madalena (5), and Noah (7).

There is a train in the middle of the park. The kids can climb and explore it any day of the year.

As Joe and I left, I took this picture view of Foley City Park and the festival going on that day.

After lunch, Joe, Mallery and I decided to go to the beach for the first time since arriving in Gulf Shore. As we approached the beach from the parking lot, Joe and I both started coughing. We couldn't figure out what was causing this as it had never happened before. Mallery seemed to be fine.

Mallery didn't seem to enjoy the beach like she had last year. She kept heading away from the ocean. Maybe what had caused us to cough, was making her uncomfortable also.

We had just got to the beach as the sun started to set.

As the sun was setting, I got a call from my daughter Alisha. Maggie her 14 year old dog, had got into Madalena's bag of candy, that Madalena had got the night before at the Christmas parade. Alisha wanted me to go with her to take Maggie to the nearest veterinary on call. Joe dropped me off, and I jumped in the back seat of Alisha's car to comfort Maggie on the long drive to the veterinary on call. Below is a video of Maggie in pain at the vets, while waiting for treatments. Maggie had to be incubated, and put under to be degassed. Her stomach was severely bloated from the ingestion of huge amounts of food
 her digestion system was not custom to! Always be careful to put candy up away from dogs or you might find yourself with a $800.00 bill like Alisha did. Maggie had to spend 2 nights at the animal hospital until she was stable enough to come home.
I warn you the video is hard to watch. I shortened the video, so you wouldn't have to listen to her pain very long. This is what she did the entire time on our drive to the animal hospital, as well as pooped on the back seat floor.

                                         

                                      ( If you can not get this video, I am sorry. When I put the blog up for
                                        preview, it shows it working. But when I published the blog, I get
                                        just a white box. Not sure if my internet connection is just not strong
                                        enough to bring it up on my end. Let me know if you get it or not).

Mallery has done exceptional well with her move to our new Nest in Gulf Shores. On the second day of our arrival, she had figured out where her kennel was in our bedroom, and where her day bed was in our living room.

All my worrying was for nothing. She seems so much happier here with the warmer weather, and enjoys going out, if nothing else to smell all the new smells in the new neighborhood. When we first arrived, I made an appointment with her regular vet to get more fluids, only to fine they had no problem giving them to me, but at $50 a bag! When we first started giving Mallery fluids in Iowa, I was charged $12 for the bag of fluids, tubing and 10 needles. In Michigan, the price went up to $18 for everything, and I thought they were high, until I came down here. I shopped around and found the best price down here is $28 for the fluid, tubing and needles. Mallery has also done exceptional well with getting her treatments. She acts like its no big deal anymore, which has made a huge difference on Joe and I, when giving it to her. I guess, through practice, I have gotten better at administering it, which has made me feel less stressed, which makes Mallery less stressed. We give Mallery fluids daily, so the bag lasts for 10 days. With the higher price it has gotten pretty costly at $28 a bag and accessories.

Here is Maggie back home after her episode of eating a bag of candy. (Luckily the bag of candy didn't have any chocolate in it). Maggie is also blind. She got glaucoma a few years back, and the treatment was the removal of her eyes, because of the pain from that eye disease. Senior dogs can be very expensive, as well as high maintence.
We found out a few days later, after our beach walk, that the Gulf was having Red Tide which occurs about every 10 years. That is why Joe and I were coughing so much as we approached the ocean. Our granddaughter Hayleah told us, when she went down to the ocean, she sneezed continuously. Reports on the local news told people who had allergies, weak immune systems, or weakness to bronchitis and pneumonia, to stay away from the ocean because of the Red Tide. Red Tide is an overgrowth of algae. Two nights after our walk on the beach, I developed the worse cold I have ever had. I had excessive coughing jags day and night, which hung on for 3 1/2 weeks. This of course didn't help my on going sleeping problems that I have been dealing with for the past 7 months.