RV Block Party Weekend, Memories of the Longest Day

At Alfred A. Loeb State Park, Brookings, OR

I have sat outside for hours each day we have been at Loeb State Park.  On Thursday I noticed that there were lots and lots of people who seemed to know each other…there were many “locals” in the park, and they stayed all weekend.  The number of children on bicycles increased three fold, and on Friday and Saturday there were few turnovers within the campground.  (It is hard to see, but Bubba is looking down the street at about seven kids and three adults…at this point, most of the kids were down at the river swimming/playing.)  I commented to Marcia Saturday evening that it was like one huge old fashion block party…people talking, laughing, kids playing, everyone having fun.  It was like stepping back in time for me…we lived on a block where kids played outside all the time, football in the street…even baseball if we could get all the parked cars moved, and basketball was always at our house.  It was a time when kids could be kids…as long as we watched for the occasional car coming around the corner, all was well.  The same here at the park…it was nice to see.  By noon today, half the park cleared out…and at 3 pm, there were still 15 sites open.  This afternoon, only two children on bikes.  Amazingly, the noise level over the weekend was very reasonable. 

   

One day I went down to Brookings to get some groceries, check on getting the motorhome oil changed later on, and I decided to get some pictures of the Ocean in the Brookings/Harbor area, including a shot of the boat harbor along the Chetco River.  As you can see, the skies were clear…as they have been nearly every day that we have been here.  In fact, we had to run the A/C three times in the eleven days we have been here…but I never felt hot outside as long as I was in the shade.

I also did another walk…returning to the Redwood Trail that I struggled with on Father’s day.  No, not to walk this trail again…I am not a masochist…I just wanted to get better pictures of the scenic bridge that is at the start of the walk.  So I walked the couple hundred of yards up to and onto the bridge. 

When I went on the walk that Sunday, I turned left away from the bridge to start my walk.  By the time I got to the bridge at the end of the hike, I was just ready to get into the car and some air conditioning.  So Friday I drove back over and got these pictures.  It really is a very scenic, quiet place.

I could not decide which picture I liked the best…so you get to see the top three.  After I got my pictures, I returned to the car and drove over to the start of the Riverview Trail.  I was determined to do this easier walk again, but at a faster pace…so I left the camera in the car, and off I headed with my bottle of water at 12:20.  Made it to where the Riverview and Redwood trails meet by 12:50.  Around 1:05 I headed back to the car, and got to the car at 1:35.  That was about 20 minutes faster than the first time.

Thursday was the 21st, the longest day of the year.  As I sat in my chair outside, I see the moon rising over the trees on the hill to the east.  It reminded me of our night in Alaska…midnight as the calendar turned from the twentieth to the twenty first….camping at the Seward Waterfront RV Park.  The nights in Alaska are long during the summer…and though it was midnight, it looked like it was just dusk, and it had looked that way for a couple of hours already.  I look out the motorhome window, I grab my camera and was out the door.

A full moon just coming over the mountains on the other side of Resurrection Bay.  As I take picture after picture, I see this small fishing boat coming from the left headed out of the bay.  I see that the boat is going to pass right over the reflection of the moon on the water, and I got this shot above.  It is my favorite shot, I even have it as the wallpaper on my computer.

Later that same day, we realize that Skruffy is one sick dog…the Vet in Seward has gone on vacation, and off to Soldotna which was 90 miles away…it took three hours.  That is where the Soldotna Animal Hospital, Dr. Meezie Hermansen in particular, saved Skruffy’s life.  It was then that we found she was diabetic.  Since her recovery, she has been fed twice a day, 12 hours apart, with an insulin shot for dessert (she actually gets it as she eats).  Skruffy is doing GREAT now. That was one long day…a day which could have turned out much differently had it not been for the Soldotna Animal Hospital.

Winnemucca Nevada – Skruffy One Year Later

Heading from Lake Jordanelle, through Salt Lake City, and on across I-80 into Nevada, there are certain sites that you just pass by.  In Wendover Nevada we passed by “Wendover Will”, who use to stand right on the state line of Nevada and Utah along the old highway…it now is about a mile to the west from the state line, still along the old highway.  Wendover Will is the "World's Largest Mechanical Cowboy", according to Guinness Book of Records, standing 63 feet tall.  We filled up at the Pilot with gas.

About 25 miles east of Wendover you pass by the “Metaphor: The Tree of Utah”, also known as the “Utah Pine Tree”, “Utah Christmas Tree”, and “That Awful Waste of Money Tree”.  All of these latter terms I have heard people call it, among some things which I cannot place in this family friendly blog post.  Back in the days of traveling with a “CB”, truckers and fellow travelers would always blast the thing.  Over the past few years (it was built in the early 1980’s) they have had to put the fence around it…but I remember the days before the fence.  Created by and paid for by Swedish artist Karl Momen, it stands 87 feet tall.  The “Tree” contains “100 tons of chrysacolla rock, 4 tons of epoxy, 160 tons of steel, 15 tons of colored cement and sand, 18,000 imported ceramic tiles, 5 tons of welding rods, 7 tons of timber for mold formers, and 20 tons of plaster.  All-in-all the structure ended up weighing 875 tons and had consumed 21,000 man hours of labor.  The project had also cost Momen over $1 million of his own funds, which was more than double what original estimates had indicated.”  (Click here for the website on the tree)

Near Wells, you can see the northern portion of the Ruby Mountains, as the Interstate runs just north of the mountain range.  Ruby Dome, which you can see from the town of Elko, is 11,387 feet tall…but I did not like the picture from Elko due to the haze.  The southern portion of the Ruby Mountains is the known for a B-17 crash back on January 2, 1943.  It took until June 24, 1943 to find the wreck, and it took a week to recover the bodies of the ten fliers, four officers and six enlisted men.  An Accident Review Board concluded that, while on instruments, the pilot had not maintained sufficient drift correction to stay within the airway, and that extreme downdrafts caused the aircraft to descend approximately 1300 feet below assigned altitude, resulting in the crash into the mountain.

I have driven the 380 mile route that we took today at least 50, perhaps 100 times.  In a car, I try to cover it “as fast as I can” from Reno to Salt Lake City.  By motorhome, it is hard to keep it at 62, my normal travel speed…but I did keep it under 65 most of the time, but hard to do on a few hills.  Also, there are a few areas where I had to shift down to second gear…the most notables are just before Elko and near Battle Mountain..and in the 95 degree heat, I turned off the A/C, but did not see any increase in my temperature gage….better safe than sorry.  We got to Winnemucca at 3:30, with a time change of an hour at Wendover, so it took us seven hours.  Hmmm…seems I have made it from Salt Lake City to Reno is seven hours before by car…but now days, who is in a hurry????

   

Last year at this time we were in Alaska.  Spent the “morning” of the longest day in Seward where, at the stroke of midnight, saw the moon come over the mountains on the other side of Resurrection Bay…if you click on the picture left, you will also see a small fishing boat along the reflection of the moon in the water near the mountains on the far side of the bay.  But we awoke the next morning with a very sick little dog.  Skruffy, whom we were watching closely over the weekend, awoke on Tuesday throwing up.  A visit to the local vet found that he had gone on vacation…and a call to the emergency number told us to go to Soldotna or Anchorage…about the same distance away.  Thank God we picked Soldotna Animal Hospital.   The top picture shows Skruffy in the arms of Marcia…the left picture with Skruffy as we traveled to Soldotna (100 miles, about three hour trip), and the picture to the right of Skruffy the next day after Dr. Meezie had started to successfully treat her.  On Tuesday when Meezie told us, “…if she makes it through the night…”, our hearts hit the floor…we had no clue she was that sick.  She turned out to be diabetic, which due to our ignorance, turned into pancreatitis, and she was very anemic.  After two nights in the Soldotna Animal Hospital, and seeing that she was having Separation Anxiety, we were able to bring her to the motorhome on Thursday. When we returned that afternoon with her, she barked at everybody and they said, “Wow, that is an entirely different dog.”  However, it was Meezie’s (click to read our post about Meezie, a GREAT Vet, Fisherman, and person) professional and loving care (with the help of the entire animal hospital) which kept our precious little girl from passing on to the other side of the Rainbow Bridge.  A week later, we took her in for the final appointment, this after a trip to Anchorage to have a ultrasound of her liver.  The tests on July 8th came back with positive results of her liver healing…and off we went.  But it was a very difficult journey for us.  On the night of the 21st (3 am in the morning of the 22nd), I awoke and started to write Skruffy’s obituary.  On the day that we got the test back that she was going to heal, I finished the obituary with a twist…and posted it.  Read “Skruffy’s Last Bark?”, but warning…you will need tissue.

So here is a picture of Skruffy I took yesterday or the day before.  A year later, our little girl is doing very well.  I posted another thank you to the Soldotna Animal Hospital on their facebook, and emailed Dr. Meezie again to say thanks….again.  She is so nice, she answered back within a couple of hours, and said, in part: 

“Glad to see Skruffy is still doing well.  She (and the rest her family) will always hold a special place in my memories of cases I was proud to be a part of.  She is a little trooper.”

Meezie…we just can’t thank you enough….and all the people you work with...

Christmas Card from Soldotna

We got our first Christmas Card today…actually we got two cards, one from Marcia’s brother Dean and wife Caryl, and the other from the Soldotna Animal Hospital, with signatures from all the staff.  WOW, did not expect that one.  Real Signatures, different color pens, impressive.  With that, I need to send one back to them, and this blog post is it, and that is Skruffy on our couch wishing the Soldotna Animal Hospital a very Merry Christmas.

When they first saw Skruffy, she looked like this.  I took this picture as I drove from Seward to Soldotna.  She was like a limp rag in Marcia’s arms.  They said that a few more hours…2, 4, 8…who knows how long, and it would have been too late.  She was diagnosed with diabetes, dehydration, anemic, and pancreatitis…and this all caused her liver to start going down hill. 

This is her the next day, better, but still very, very sick.  She was in the hospital for two nights.  On Thursday she was a bit worse for our morning visit than she was Wednesday night…I convinced Dr. Bowser (Dr. Meezie was off on Thursday) that it due to her separation anxiety.  He allowed us to take her home for the day as long as we brought her back at 4:00.  When she walked in the door at 4, they wondered if it was the same dog.  She went back home with us that night, and has been with us ever since.

We credit Dr. Meezie Hermansen with saving her life that Tuesday afternoon and into the night.  Her call to us around 8:30 that night letting us know that she was responding was like a direct answer from Heaven.  But it was more than a two week struggle to get her totally well…including a trip to Anchorage for a high quality ultrasound. 

By mid-July she was back to her normal self…and has been doing well ever since.  She is tested for her diabetes at least twice a week, sometimes more often.  She is just doing great.

 

We are so very thankful for all the staff at the Soldotna Animal Hospital.  EVERYONE was so nice, so caring, so professional in a cheerful way.

     

And our upmost appreciation to Dr. Meezie Hermansen…a Veterinarian by choice, a fisherman by birth, and a fisher-poet just for fun.

 

Headed to Fairbanks

Friday was the day to say goodbye to the Kenai Peninsula, which includes Seward, Homer, Kenai, Soldotna, and places we never made it to where we would have loved to spend some time, such as Cooper Landing (drove through it a number of times) and the Captain Cook State Recreation Area just north of Soldotna.  But the season was upon us, ready to gobble us and everything and everyone in its way…it is called, “Dip Net Season”.  This is where Alaskans are able to use nets which are dipped into the river to catch loads of Salmon to help them (Alaskans) to get through the winter.  As we were leaving, we can see the signs of RVs and many cars headed toward Soldotna and Kenai…you can see their nets in the back of trucks, through windows of SUVs.  Just getting gas and propane and water was a challenge, especially when not everyone wants to wait in line for it.

     

      

It was sure a pretty day for a drive back to Anchorage, but our hearts were a bit heavy because we really liked the Soldotna area…the people have been great, the Soldotna Animal Hospital was just the best, and we had a good stay at the   Diamond M Ranch Resort/RV Park.  The owners, the whole family, their work campers, and those who stay there for months each summer…they were all wonderful.  And the best part…we got to leave with our little Skruffy who is 80-90% herself again!

    

And when we got to Tern Lake, the Trumpeter Swan was there…but a bit far for great pictures.

 

But the great weather sure made a great picture of Tern Lake looking Southeast towards Seward.

One thing I wanted to point out is that there are many pullouts like this in all of Alaska.  Some are this size, many much smaller.  For those who are traveling in motorhomes, it makes nice places to have a meal, sit and relax, or for some, to camp all night at.  The bad thing is that most don’t have any type of cell phone, or very weak cell phone service…which you find in towns.  If the town has a Walmart, a Fred Meyer, a Cabelas…well, you can park in their parking lot all night long.  Some even have waste dump stations and allow you to fill your tanks with water.  Many of the Tesoro Gas Stations (and others) have waste stations too.  Essentially, you can park in many places as long as there are no signs telling you not to park all night.

    

    

Friday night we made it to Anchorage, and decided to park in the Cabelas Sporting Goods Store lot for the night.  It is a great place to park in Anchorage, away from the noise of the city.  We were there with about twenty other motorhomes, and a few vehicles which people were sleeping in.   Saturday we headed over to Wasilla to get the oil changed in both the motorhome and the HHR at Wasilla Lube Express, ($92 combined total, in and out in under a half hour, not bad for Alaska -- they don't do Class A's) then we hung out near a skateboard park for most of the afternoon, and moved over to Walmart for the night.  Tomorrow we will head up towards Denali, find a place where we can stop and try and catch another view of the mountain.  By Tuesday we should be in Fairbanks for a few days.

Note:  I heard a few did not read the last post titled: "Skruffy's Last Bark?" because the title indicated that she might have died...please read it, she is alive and fine and doing well.  I did initially start writing it a couple of weeks ago because I was pretty sure she was dying and it was very therapeutic for me in handling the near loss of this faithful dog.  However, the miracle of good medicine, the fine work of the "Fisherman Vet" who I called the "Fisherman of Dogs", and by the Grace of God, Skruffy is doing fine.

Skruffy’s Last Bark?

Breath in, breath out...
 
I remember that day as if it was yesterday, the day of the rescue. She brings you to me, sets you in my lap. I pet your head, your ears, your collarless neck. My hand roams down to your chest, and to your tummy...you bend and twist giving me access to the lower tummy as if I had been doing this all your life. She comes back to take you from my arms, you give that Skruffy growls of yours. “Oh my!” she exclaims. “What?” I ask. “She has proclaimed it already...in just ten short minutes...she owns you...” Owns me? I wonder...I thought I was rescuing her, not the other way around. She, Skruffy, is right...she owns me now. She owns a part of my heart that only Snoopy had seen before. My cats, no way...yes, they were loved, but the heart strings they never touched. Some people have a special place in their hearts for dogs...some for cats...many don't have it at all. But the dogs and cats know who you are, and they gladly take advantage of taking their own little leash and tie it right to that special place into your heart...as Skruffy had done to me.
 
Again I hear it...breath in, breath out...
 
Those cold, wet, thunder filled nights as you were lost out in that large lot before the rescue, hiding under trucks, took something from your heart girl...you never wanted to be alone again...you never wanted to be away from he, from me, the one you now owned. To work with me you came, out of desperation at first, but within days it became the norm. Eventually I could leave my office without you barking...for 5 minutes first, then ten...I don't think you ever made it to fifteen. But eventually your barking became a single solitary bark, followed by listening for my voice, sniffing to try and find my scent. Staff would come in and say, “It's alright Skruffy girl, he will be back real soon.” The Library would quiet down again, for 5 or 10...then that bark came back, followed by listening, followed by smelling, followed by yet another bark. And when I return the joy is indescribable...it was if I was gone for hours and hours, yet it had only been 20 to 30 minutes. Yes, my little girl, I am back...and quiet again reigned...until the next time I had to step out. Had my office had a hard floor instead of carpet, I would have heard the tap tap tap of your little feet as they move back and forth from excitement. Oh, how I love that sound.
 
There it is, I hear it again...breath in, breath out...
 
You eventually earned my trust, I'd let you go off leash from the car to inside our trailer at the RV Park...unless you saw a squirrel off in the distance, and away you ran despite my pleas. From tree to tree you would go as squirrels would be alerted and shoot up into the trees. Your short little legs would carry you fast and far, your ears flapping in the wind, your bark breaking the silence, except for the chirping of the birds. I followed as quick as I could, I call out to your deafening ears, but eventually your lungs give out, your legs grow tired.  You turn and look at me like, “Why are you breathing so hard, it was I who was running all around? But did you see them, did you?? Squirrel after squirrel, and they all ran up into the trees afraid of little me!” When the library was closed and it was only us there, I would let you go off leash from the car into the Library, or from the Library to the car...until that one Saturday evening when you saw a wedding carriage being pulled by a pair of horses, way across the huge parking lot, heading to the hotel across the street for their reception. Off you ran, barking and barking...I could only imagine how much larger each of those horses started to look as you got within 90 yards, within 70 yards, because around 50 yards you stop...you give them your three Skruffy Barks, you turn and walk triumphantly back to me...wondering why I have my hands up to my brow shaking my head back and forth as you walk, head raised high...but then you stop, look back and give another Skruffy bark. You come to me, stop short looking at me like, “Well, I doubt they will mess with Skruffy again!”
 
And again...breath in, breath out...
 
Then into our lives came two others. “Who is she, and does 'he' have to come with her?” you wondered. “Yes I have found another to share my life with, but don't worry, my dear Skruffy, you still own me. And as for 'he', he is Bubba...your new brother, but don't worry, you are still going to be the queen.” Within a year the Library becomes a retired memory, and now even more travels. Before Marcia and Bubba came into our lives, we had traveled up to Missouri to visit papa and grandma a few times, and you even went with me to Denver for some meetings that I had—remember you went to the Doggie Daycare, where I could watch you over the Internet while listening to speaker after speaker in my meeting talking about Library stuff. After Marcia and I married, there were times she needed to be in Florida while you and I still had to work at the Library. We would travel back and forth to Florida during those times. If we stopped so I could get some rest, you would watch out the window protecting our little car. Oh how I will miss those barks that awoke me so many times. But now we have a motorhome, and the real travels begin. 
 
A bit fainter now...breath in, breath out.
 
Our first trip took all four of us to many fascinating places...the large trees of Sequoia, the wonderful walls and falls of Yosemite, the tall Coastal Redwoods, the deep blues of Glacier Lake, the waves along the Oregon Coast, the aroma of the Roses in Portland, the devastation of Mount St. Helens, the elk and buffalo of Yellowstone, the Mountains of Glacier Park. We saw bears, goats, sheep, deer, elk, buffalo and antelope. Future trips over the next few years included places like Zion and Arches, the balloons of Albuquerque, the homes of Mesa Verde, the deep dark forest of Olympia, names on rock walls along the Oregon Trail, cheese and ice cream from Tillamook. Every time we stopped the motorhome, there were new smells, new places to mark, new adventures for you and Bubba. Of course, there was always your favorite place of all...the backyard of Sandy and Arnys...where the squirrels were so close you could touch them, the grass so green and luscious that you could lay in it, treats so plentiful, and so many family and friends around. You could be trusted completely now, and off leash you would run over to Papa’s and Grandma's since they moved back to California and lived next door to Sandy. Of course, I overlook that time you, off leash, you decide to take off up the hill while visiting the Redwoods...or at that large park in Oregon where you saw some squirrels off in the distance...and into the distance you ran until your little legs got tired and you walk back to me who was in chase.
 
Fainter still...breath in, breath out...a hesitation.
 
You earned your badge in later years, you became a Service Dog for Marcia, to assist with certain needs. There were always those few months where you were needed at the Condo, no brother around, you had us to yourself. Then winter would be over, and off we would travel again. You heard me calling out for a long drive north, to Alaska I say, where there would be so much space, so many things to see, clean air to breath, and so many animals. But it was there that a new frontier opened up. A sore at first, then near death which tore my heart wide open, until we found she, the fisherman of small dogs, who tries to bring you back to us so that we could enjoy more time, more travels, until that last breath, that last hesitation which does not stop, the cold taste of death. And then I will be owned no more... free from your dedication, your love, your barks, your scratches, your walks. Then it will be your time to play with Snoopy, no pain, never fearing to be alone again. 
 
A bit stronger now...breath in, breath out...
 
That fisherman, she is not only a great fisherman, but she is also a great veterinarian. She sits up with you way after hours, she instantly falls for you, just as so many others have. The right dosage of this, the right amount of liquid food to run through your veins. All the while I have put out word onto our blog, on Facebook, through text messages and phone calls (though the calls are few since it is hard for the words to come out)...PRAY for our little Skruffy Girl! A few days later, after many visits to see you, after many prayers too numerous to count, you come home with us. It is struggle, but you are calmer at home, you sleep, you start to eat, you start to recover. Then the set-back hits...it is 4^th of July weekend, but we handle it, and you get stronger yet. Finally the news today...test show you are in full recovery...the cold taste of death will need to wait for another day...many years as far as we are concerned. But the thought of losing you...the thought of being free...why does it hurt so very much? I don't want to break those chains which are connected to that part of my heart. I now have a taste, again, of what it will be like to have that part of my heart empty again, I don't like it – the ache is beyond description. How fortunate we are that we found the Soldotna Animal Hospital, found that fisherman of little dogs who goes by the name of Meezie, and how blessed we are that God has heard and answered those many prayers. My heart is filled with joy...the ache will need to wait for another day...another year...many years I hope.
 
Much stronger now...breath in, breath out...and there it goes, “BARK, BARK, BARK”, yes, the Skruffy bark is back, it is like music to our ears, it warms the heart just so... Last Bark? Nope, many more barks to come!

Skruffy Has GOOD NEWS – Kinda

Skruffy went in for what we thought was going to be her final visit to Soldotna Animal Hospital…definitely her last visit with Dr. Meezie Hermansen because she is off for the next month due to her commercial fishing gig. 

But before the news…let’s look at the past 7 days.  As you can see, the hair on her belly area is nearly gone.  Most of that is due to the ultrasound she had last week…but she has lost a lot of hair in the past three weeks, that’s for sure.  Last Wednesday (June 29th) we put her on a liver medication called Denamarin.  Gave her a pill Wednesday afternoon, Thursday morning and Friday morning (best given after 10-12 hour fast.)   Well, we noticed Thursday night that her appetite had weakened.  By Friday morning, she was refusing all food.  Marcia and I talked about it and decided to stop the Denamarin and the antibiotic because Skruffy eating was the most important thing right now.  The Vet from Anchorage called Friday evening to see how Skruffy was doing, and she concurred with stopping the medication (she is the one who suggested this medication to Dr. Meezie.)  By Saturday she would eat out of Marcia’s hand, by Sunday she progressed from hand to hand and some out of her dish.  She had totally given up on her Diabetic Hill’s Prescription foods, so I was cooking up some ground chicken, Marcia made some brown rice, and complimented it with grilled chicken breast strips and grilled pork strips (no spices, no oils, just meat).  On Sunday when we headed over to Homer, Marcia noticed that Skruffy’s color on her belly was yellow, her gums were white with some only hint of pink, and to complicate things…she had not pooped since Thursday night.  We both thought her liver was shutting down…  On Monday (4th of July) I got an infant suppository manufactured by PediaLax.  Used half of one dose, and within 15 minutes things started to flow.  It was an awful bright gold color, very runny at first, very disgusting (no pictures, sorry).  But she ate a bit better Monday night.  At 3 am I hear this bark…ask Marcia if she heard it.  As we started to fall back asleep, there is the clear bark of Skruffy again, she is at the front door.  Gotta hurry, let her out and there goes some more!  Gotta say, it was the only fireworks we saw in this area where it is too light to really do fireworks on the 4th (which was now the 5th).  By Tuesday, her poop started to look more like normal.

By bedtime Tuesday (the 5th) we start feeling like there is hope for the girl. She ate both breakfast and dinner within 30 minutes of getting her insulin shot.  She had much more energy, so much so that when I took her on one of her three walks Tuesday, she actually pulled on the leash.  She jumped up into the motorhome so quick, she went right over to my chair and tried to jump into it before I got into the motorhome (first time she had tried to make that jump in over 3 weeks.)  And as we looked over her belly last night, we both saw some pink coming back, and her gums definitely had pink and even red to them.  And her appetite was back, and I started mixing her dog food with the ground chicken before I cooked it, and added less rice to the mixture.  It looked like we might have gotten over the hump.

Skruffy dog is more alert, more active, getting her color back, barking at other dogs again, taking good walks, eating, peeing, pooping, and loving to be on either of our laps.  Yes, she still sleeps more than she use to…she does not like her glucose test, but does not mind the insulin injection.   In the past six days I had over 20 glucose readings, especially the important glucose curve reading showing how long it took for her blood sugar to hit rock bottom after an injection and start to climb again…and how far it would fall after a shot.  I emailed a pdf of the chart I had made of the glucose readings to the vets office, and also put it on my Kindle.  So off we went to see Dr. Meezie today, her last day at work (as a Vet) before she starts the job she was born to do (fishing) for the next month. 

Good news…she is no longer Anemic…her red blood cells are back to the normal level, as are most of her other readings.  Bad news, her liver enzymes are way too high…8 to 10 times higher than normal…and her white blood cells are still a little high.  Had it been just the white blood cells, Dr. Meezie would have given her a pass.  But what we don’t know is if the liver enzymes are high due to what she went through over the weekend, or is that why she went through what she did over the weekend.  Because she is eating well, holding her food down, peeing and  pooping,  having more energy, and loosing her yellow coloring, Dr. Meezie “thinks” that they are high because of her problems, and are on their way down.  So we decided to start up the antibiotic again, hold off on the Denamarin, come back Friday to see Dr. Bowser or Meezie’s month long replacement who is up from New Mexico to enjoy the cool Alaska weather and get away from the hot New Mexico weather, and run the liver test again.  “IF” the Liver enzymes are falling to more normal levels, then off we go with a dog who has a good chance to a much longer life.  “IF” they remain high…we have a dog who will be lucky to make it out of Alaska, let alone all the way back to California, and especially to Florida.  Though still worried a bit, we are confident, with all the positive readings, that the liver tests on Friday will be better. 

Tonight we finally had dinner with Chuck and Debbie.  Chuck is the twin brother of Bill who lives near us in Florida.  Due to Skruffy’s condition, we asked them if we could postpone our get together last week.  They too use Dr. Meezie, and totally understood that Skruffy was our first concern right now.  We had a great dinner and a great time, nice to meet you Chuck and Debbie…hope you make it down to Florida one of these days.  Another “small world” thing…just across from us is a family from Missouri who come up to Alaska every summer to commercial fish.  They leave their 5th wheel and two vehicles up here all year round.  My parents lived in Missouri for many years in the same town, and yes…my parents know the mother's parents, and my cousin was the 6th grade teacher of one of her sisters, and my cousin has known her dad for many years…even went to college together.  Now that’s a small world, here in Alaska, the largest State of the United States of America.  

Skruffy’s Doctor -- Born to Fish, Vet by Choice, and a Storyteller

Skruffy’s primary Veterinarian, Dr. Marie “Meezie” Hermansen, was born into a commercial fishing family.   Born in Soldotna, she was raised just 20 miles southwest from where the Animal Hospital is today.   Her family are set-net fisherman from way back…before Alaska was a state.   Her father Alfred was born in Alaska in the 1920’s, and was a proud World War II veteran, and he was a fisherman, as were at least one of his brothers, Herman.  Both Alfred and Herman were born and raised right here in the same area.  This place is the family's home, and Meezie’s entire family were raised as fisherman...it is what they are.  Meezie has openly said that she has been a fisherman since she got out of diapers.  Here is a quote from something she wrote that was published on the “The Alaska Salmon Alliance” website:

I have fished every Upper Cook Inlet salmon season of my life.  Forty-five years, minus however long I was in diapers.  I have never lived without fishing.  I have never lived without fish.

Seasons have been bountiful.  Nets sunk.  Fighting against wind and tide and regulations to get our gear in on time.  Long hours spent bent over picking sockeye after sockeye until my hands were sore, my back was sore, my being was sore — and I smiled.  It was the best kind of sore.

Seasons have been bleak.  Waterhauls and a narrative running from, “it’s still early,” to “everything is running late this year,” to “well, there’s always next year.”

Good years or bad, it has all been satisfying.  Fishing is not just something I do, it is who I am.  It is my passion.  And my identity.

Alaska State Regulations have hurt the fisherman’s way of life.  As a youngster, her family could fish just about anytime the fish were running…now they are limited to just certain days, with that calendar set in March, as if the regulator “know” in March what the fish will be doing in July and August.  Then there was the recent attempt to ban set-nets all together…until the Alaska Supreme Court declared that attempt to be unconstitutional.  Meezie expressed to us, and it shows in her poems and writings, that she fears that one day, her way of life will be taken away from her.

 
Meezie went to college in Oregon, and then Veterinarian School at Colorado State University, graduating in 1997.  She returned home to Soldotna after graduation to start the career she loves in the place she loves. She joined the Soldotna Animal Hospital staff in November 1999.  At work she is very professional, yet in a very friendly, unstuffy way.  She wears jeans, casual shirt, and (sometimes) adorns her white doctor lab coat .  About being a Vet she writes (again, from The Alaska Salmon Alliance) :

  

I strove to become a veterinarian, and it is a profession I am extremely proud of.  I love my work, yet here is the difference.  I became a veterinarian.  I was born a fisherman.  People ask what it is like, being a woman commercial fisherman.  I tell them I don’t know.  I am not trying to be cryptic; the truth is, I knew I was a fisherman before I knew I was a woman.

 

If this was not enough…Meezie is also a Poet and a Writer and a Photographer.  She is very active in the FisherPoets Gathering held each year in Astoria, Oregon.  From their website, they say that the gathering is:

A celebration of the commercial fishing industry in poetry, prose and song, the FisherPoets Gathering has attracted fisherpoets and their many fans to Astoria, Oregon the last weekend of February since 1998.

Meezie is also an author.  We bought her book, Brain Sand, and yes mom, I read it…most of it.  Me, the retired Librarian who could count the number of fiction books he has read on his hands and one foot, yet I would need another person to count the number of non-fiction books…but I probably would only need their hands to go along with my hands and feet. Does not mean I don’t read…I just don’t read very many books…I read lot’s of news sites, lots of websites, lots of blogs...just not books.  However, Meezie’s book is my kind of book…short, easy to read, deep meaning, and personal. (Click here for information on how to get a copy of her book)
 

We appreciate everything ALL of the folks at Soldotna Animal Hospital did for our Skruffy girl.  Had we lost her, or even if we do loose her still since she is not totally out of danger yet, we know in our hearts that she was in great hands, especially under the care of Dr. Marie “Meezie” Hermansen, a Vet, a writer, but most of all, a fisherman.  Frankly, we find you to be an amazing person!  Thank you so much Dr. Hermansen…err…FISHERMAN Meezie Hermansen.  We love ya…good luck with this year’s harvest…with every year’s harvest.  May your nets be full, and we hope that the politicians and regulators will allow you to live your life, that you can always be you.  And keep taking care of all those puppies and kitties and anything else that comes through the doors of the Soldotna Animal Hospital.  And most of all…thank you for that kiss that I got Saturday when I got back from the store…the first kiss that Skruffy had given me in many days.  I look forward to many many more, and we have you to thank for that.

Bubba, get out of the picture, they want “ME” to sing!

     

That’s our Skruffy this morning (Sunday) telling Dr. Meezie THANKS!

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If you want more information about Alaska set-net fisherman and how they catch their fish, click here (this is a typical set-net family).  And remember, this video was done on a clear, calm day…but it gives you an idea of the work involved. Now imagine doing this in a storm…with high winds…with the hours counting down before you have to have your nets out of the water and catch up on the shore.  Also, these are commercial fisherman…their harvest, as that of a farmer, is sold and becomes food on the table for you and I.

Also, here is a video of Dr. Meezie reading at the FisherPoet Gathering a few years ago.  There are a few others, but the sound on this one is the best I could find.