I knew I shoulda made a left toin in Albuquerque

I used to love it when Bugs Bunny poppped out of the ground, smacked his chops a few times and then drawled about making the wrong turn in Albuquerque. But apparently we made the same mistake.

We spent the weekend at Kenosee Lake visiting some friends that we met several years ago at Kino Bay. On Sunday we popped in on a cousin of mine for coffee and then moved up to Regina. We were booked in at Dyer Straits by White City but when we got there the owner met us at the end of the lane. He and I drove around the campground on his ATV and finally decided that it was just too soft for the frenchy-bus. Regina is subject to frost boils in the spring and his yard is about to erupt. For those of you who have never seen a frost boil it is hard to explain but imagine the ground turning to the consistency of really thick bread dough. The surface of the ground will be dry to the touch but when you walk on it you can feel and see it move underneath you. You can drive over it but if you take a heavy enough vehicle over it and break the surface then there is literally no bottom to the boil. We had one in the shop yard in Carrot River and the only reliable treatment for it was to put up barricades when it erupted and wait it out. I've had the bus sitting on the frame once and its not a pretty sight - I certainly don't want to ever see it again.

So we kept on coming into Regina and ended up at King's Acres which is the old Holiday Wheels campground on the east side of the city. I actually worked here many years ago when I was in high school. The shop that I worked in is not part of this property anymore but the old campground hasn't changed all that much. Despite the age of these campsites we still cut into the ground about 2 or 3 inches when we backed in. This morning we work up to a white campground - yeacchhh.

Yesterday Jorgito got pretty pink toenails. We have been dealing with some kind of skin irritation around his neck more or less ever since he moved in with us. The local vet in Nipawin (who will remain nameless) diagnosed some exotic ailment based on looking at him about 2 years ago now. Her solution was for us to feed him massive steroids. She indicated that whatever it was she had identified might recur in hot weather. Anyone who has ever suffered through pilling a cat will know how much fun that isn't and we weren't wild about giving him steroids either. Quite aside from the long term effects of the steroids they have the effect of dulling his emotions and changing his personality dramatically.

Two years ago we "treated" him until he recovered and then had no recurrences until this winter. We started out treating him with the steroids that were previously prescribed but we didn't give them for very long. While we were in Albuquerque we took him to Billie's vet who said the most likely diagnosis was a flea. That makes WAY more sense than some exotic auto-immune disease and fits with the pattern of irritation around his neck. The vet gave him a systemic treatment for fleas and we bought two more months worth of that treatment (at 4x what it would have cost to buy at Petsmart). She also recommended rubber toenails so that when he does try to scratch it won't have any effect. Fortunately she didn't have any in his size because her toenail price was similarly inflated. Yesterday I tracked down some hot pink toenails and last night we glued them on his little toes. So far they are still attached - time will tell.