Touring Charleston

St. George, South Carolina

We had to end up taking Chatty back to the vet on Friday.  He was backed up again and unable to urinate.  Long story short, he ended up at an after hours veterinarian clinic (think big bucks) and is still there.  He is going to have surgery on Tuesday (think more big bucks).   The procedure is called a perineal urethrostomy and basically Chatty will be peeing like a girl.   In case anyone is really interested I provided the link, but I warn you, it’s pretty graphic.

We are sick about putting Chatty through this, and sick about the cost.   After the money we spent last year with Squeaky (unsuccessfully) we swore we weren’t doing that again.  However, it never starts out to be so expensive.  They $500 you here and there and then you have to do something to prevent your pet from suffering.  We hope this turns out better.  At least this time, we know what is wrong and there is something that can cure/manage it.  We actually had this procedure done on another cat many years ago and it worked quite well.   Poor Chatty is in the vets with a catheter stuck up his penis, an iv in his leg and an Elizabethan collar on his head.   He looks pretty miserable.  This hospital has 24 hour care though.

So, we’re not leaving the Charleston area anytime soon.  We’re still hoping to head up to Asheville as soon as he is released and able to travel.  We’re only about 200 miles from Asheville, North Carolina, which is our ultimate goal.  It’s really hot here, but the temperatures are much cooler in the mountains of North Carolina.  They are having low 80’s in the day and 60’s at night.    sigh

We decided since  Chatty  is hospitalized and we didn’t need to hang around to care for him, we would tour Charleston.

Yesterday we toured Fort Moultrie.  It’s right across the harbor from Fort Sumter, which was where the Civil War began.   We figure Fort Moultrie entered the Civil War about 2 seconds behind Fort Sumter.  We had planned on touring Fort Sumter but it cost  $35 for the boat ride and parking, while Fort Moultrie was free with our National Parks pass. 

Fort Moultrie was amazing and well worth the time.  It had been there since 1776, and had been rebuilt many times.  We’ve seen a few forts and this one was by far the largest and most interesting.

It’s so large the pictures don’t do it justice.

This next picture is Fort Sumter, which is right across the harbor.

This morning we went into Charleston early.  It’s been so hot that we felt morning would be the best time. 

Here are the row houses in the Battery.

Many buildings have been there since the 1700’s.

Pretty architecture.

Interesting parks

Lots of shopping and bars.

We stopped at a little bakery and had breakfast.  Al was a bad boy…can’t you tell from his expression?   (he had a biscuit with and egg on it)

He’s trying to hide the evidence.     It’s okay though, he’s been eating very healthy all the rest of the time.

Once it started to get hot, we decided to end our walking tour.

I wanted to go see The Citadel while we were here and seeing a few Cadets at Wal-Mart reminded me.  It’s a prestigious military college of South Carolina.

It’s quite an amazing and large campus with 300 acres and some 3000 students.  It was started in 1843.  There was a female cadet guarding the gate.  We weren’t sure we’d be allowed to enter, but she waved us on through. 

There are a lot of buildings that look much like this one.  There are handsome young cadets all over, either in uniform or in the standard exercise gear.

 

Our internet here is free, but sporadic.  I’m not sure when this will get posted.