Decision Day

Well today is the last day of the month so we have a few decisions to make.

The first one is whether or not we will head over to Vero Beach. Our reservation starts tomorrow.  I need to discuss this with Squeaky’s doctor first.  We don’t want to jeopardize her recovery. She seems to be improving and played a little last night.  She is not sleeping with us though and is not “talking” much.  She is named Squeaky because she “talks” all the time normally.   She is eating real well, but I think a lot of that may be from the Prednisone she is taking.  From what I’ve read, frequent meals are very important to help to heal the liver.  She’s cooperating and eating just about everything in sight.  She’s on a prescription food so I have to make sure she doesn’t eat anything else.  She still isn’t quite acting like her normal self though, so I guess we’ll talk to the doctor later this morning, and then make our decision.  He may want to test the bilirubin count again.

Our second decision is about the Sea Eagle kayaks.  They have a $50 price (each) increase starting tomorrow.  Inflatable Boats 4 Less are also offering a 5% discount which ends today.  We could save almost $100 a boat if we buy today.  We had hoped to be able to try them our first, but it looks like we won’t be able to do that.  The Fast Track 385 is a fairly new model, and more expensive than the 330 or 370 models, so there aren’t as many of them around. 

We have definitely decided that the inflatable kayaks will be much more convenient for our future full timing life style.  They will free up more room in the truck for other things.  They weigh about half of what we currently have and they store in a compact little bag.  Right now, our kayaks are sitting on the ground beside the motor home.  If we happen to pass by a kayaking place, they aren’t with us.  The new ones will always be with us…just in case. 

I was going through some old pics and came across these of the spring Wisteria blooms from last year.  They usually bloom the end of March into the first part of April.  I hear things are blooming early this year because it’s been so warm.  We definitely want to be back home to see the Wisteria bloom.  The blooms are beautiful but the fragrance is wonderful as well.  Although we’re not anxious to get home, we do look forward to the spring bloom!

Squeaky is Home

We were able to pick up Squeaky on Saturday morning.  She had eaten on her own very well Saturday morning, so that was a very good sign. Her bilirubin count really hadn’t changed since the day before, but the doc decided to release her anyway.  He said there would be no further improvement from the iv fluids. 

He sent her home with 5 meds.  Two are long term the other 3 are short term.  Fortunately she lets me medicate her.  She also came with a $931 bill.  Part of that bill was for Socks, and part was prescription food…but we paid it and were happy to bring her home.  I didn’t get a chance to talk to the doc before we left, but will do so Monday.  I want to get an idea of long term prognosis.   I guess it will depend on how well the liver responds.

From what I read kitties with this disease need frequent meals.  She is eating quite well one of the prescription foods we got.  I set the alarm last night and fed her twice during the night.  I want to give her the best chance we can.

We have to call the doc on Monday and he will let us know what we need to do next, and if we will be able to go to Vero Beach as we had scheduled.  I’m a little concerned that the 150 mile trip might stress her out.  She is very happy in the motor home as long as it’s parked, but she gets upset when we move and she has to go into her carrier.  Her health is priority one.

We had a nice evening Friday night.  We had a pizza party and our old friends Rhonda and William came, as well as our new friends (and campground neighbors), Dean and Shirley.  Rhonda is interested in getting a Sea Eagle kayak, so Dean brought theirs over and blew it up for Rhonda.  Thanks Dean….way above the call of duty!  I should have taken some pics, but never even thought of it.  Bad Blogger!

Yesterday, Al noticed a leak in our sewer hose, so we decided to replace it with a Camco Rhino Flex Sewer Hose.  We’ve heard good things about  it.  What we  especially like is although the hose extends to 15 feet long, you can retract it down to 56 inches and make it rigid.  No more snaking the too long hose around to the dump valve.  The connections come already attached and you can buy additional 5 foot extension pieces that also have the fittings pre-attached.  Here is a short You Tube Video for anyone interested in a new sewer hose.

Time will tell how it works out, but we think we’ll like the fact that it can be made rigid.  The one we have now snakes around all over the place and won’t stay on the slinky sewer support.

The weather here in Florida has been beautiful with clear sunny skies and warm temps.  Unfortunately the warm temps have been getting a little bit too warm and we’ve had to start running the a/c most of the afternoon.  The evenings are still very cool, so we enjoy being able to leave the windows open over night.  It also makes for nice evenings outside under the patio.  I’m not complaining (much), but I really prefer it a little cooler so we don’t have to use the a/c.

Here We Go Again

Sweetwater Rv Resort – Zephyrhills, Florida

We were very hesitant on making camping reservations in Vero Beach, due to our record of having to cancel every reservation we have made.

Well….it looks like we were right to be concerned.  We may have to cancel them too!

On Wednesday we took our kitty Socks back to the veterinarian.  She is 19 years old, has thyroid problems and her kidneys had been failing.  We’ve had her on fluids (daily for several days) and now weekly.  The kidneys have improved but we needed to see how the thyroid was doing.  We haven’t been able to get that under control with her meds. 

I had also been watching Squeaky and I wasn’t sure she was feeling right.  She was lethargic and just not quite acting like herself.  However, with cats, they frequently change modes, so I wasn’t really sure.

We found Blake Veterinary Hospital in Dade City, Florida and we really like them. They were caring, and priced fairly reasonably.  They have a very good “library” on their website, with lots of good information.  It might be a good site to bookmark if you have pets. 

I decided to bring Squeaky with us when we took Socks.  Squeaky is 12 years old and I felt some blood work would be in order.

I was shocked when the vet looked at her and immediately said she was jaundiced.  I just hadn’t noticed.  He did an ultrasound to look at her liver and then ran some blood work.  She had lost some weight in the past year or so but it had been very gradual so I didn’t really worry.  She hasn’t seemed as peppy as she used to be, but we attributed that to her age.

It turned out that she has Cholangiohepatitis, which is basically inflammation of the liver and bile ducts.   Bacteria which live in the intestine somehow get up into the bile ducts and invade the liver.  It’s fairly common in cats as it turns out.  The doc said her condition was “grave.”  Let the tears begin!  He wanted to keep her there for 3-5 days on iv’s.  She would be getting 3 different types of antibiotics,  and steroids.  I really hate to leave my kitties at the vet because I know no one will give her the care I would.  However, this time it had to be done.  I couldn’t give her what she needed this time.

We left her there Wednesday.  On Thursday we went to visit her.  I knew she would be scared and would feel better if she saw us.  The doctor said he was “optimistic.”   I don’t know what changed his mind as he hadn’t run anymore blood work at that time.   She had on what they sometimes call an “Elizabethan Collar” because she had chewed her iv line.  She looked pretty pathetic.

They closed the clinic at noon Thursday and

someone would only come back to check on her and hand feed her.  I really don’t like her being there alone, but didn’t have any choice. 

This morning I called at 8am to check on her and was scared about what I might hear.  Thankfully he said her bilirubin levels were down by 50% and that was very good news.  He was hoping to release her tomorrow.  I’m going to go see her again (yeah, I know), but she’s our baby and we love her a lot.  I found her when she was just weeks old.  She was on the side of the road with her head stuck in a plastic bag.  She was shaking to get it off her head but her little tiny kitten shake was so slight that she would never have gotten it off.  It was so cute how she was shaking.  I grabbed her, put her in the seat beside me, went home and told Al, “look what I found”.  He was used to me bringing critters home so he wasn’t at all surprised.  It was love at first site between Squeaky and me.  She is a sweet and very loving kitty.

So, hopefully she can recover completely from this and live out a long life.  I understand there will be possible issues in the future and we’ll have to keep a close watch on her.

We’re going to wait and see what the vet says tomorrow and then make a decision on whether or not we can go on to Vero Beach.  Squeaky’s health will come first.

On another subject….

When we first got here and tried to put out our awning, we found it didn’t have tension on one side.  We thought a tension spring may have broken.  We hadn’t needed the awning until recently.  Al located some springs that he was assured were the correct ones.  We bought two (one for the left and one for the right) since we didn’t really know what we would need.  We didn’t want to take the awning apart until we had the springs as back up. 

Al and our friend Dean started working on it about 4:30 yesterday.  We had meager instructions and neither really knew what to expect.  We found our problem was not the spring, but a bolt that had broken off.  They decided to just go ahead and replace the spring anyway since we already had one.  Long story short, the piece we bought was not the right one.  It was very, very close, and they didn’t know it was the wrong one until they had worked for a few hours on it!  The then decided to just go ahead and fix the old one with a new bolt. 

Al has tons of nuts and bolts at home in Georgia, but unfortunately not the right ones here with us.  By this time it was quite dark, so they decided to make a trip to Home Depot this morning and give it up for the night.

They are working on it now.  Wish us luck!

Weeki Wachee River

Weeki Wachee,Florida

What an amazing and beautiful river!  I had forgotten just how incredible it was! 

Our plan was to drive the 60 miles to paddle the Weeki Wachee River.  It’s north of Tampa, near Spring Hill. Al and I had been on this river several times, but it had been a while.

There used to be a kayak livery service on the river near the main Weeki Wachee water park and head springs. You could either rent their kayaks or use your own.  As far as we knew, there was no other place to launch your boats near the head springs (the best part). They would pick you and your kayaks up down river at a private Christian camp. We found these same people online, but had they had moved to a different location.  We tried many, many times to reach them by phone, but all we got was their mahine advising us to leave a message stating how many boats we needed.   We didn’t need to rent their kayaks and just wanted to get a price for a pick up down river.  We just needed to verify we could still launch our own boats, and the price.  We left several messages, but never got a return call.  We were pretty aggravated, but as far as we knew, they were the only game in town.  I even tried leaving them a message on Facebook.    If you want to paddle this river  do not use Weeki Wachee Canoe and Kayak Rental.  Their customer service is non-existent!

We finally decided to just head over to the river and hope for the best.  When we got there, we found this place, but they were no longer even located on the river.  There was a locked gate around their entire lot and no signs of life.  Uh oh…. We had just drug our friends Dean and Shirley 60 miles here for nothing.

Al figured we would just go to their old location and see if we could find them there launching boats.

When we got to the location it looked pretty much the same, but there was a lady inside with a State Park uniform on.  The state of Florida now runs the livery service and canoe and kayak rental.  We told her of our frustrations with the other people and she had heard the story before.  Evidently their bad service is well known.

We knew that several years ago, the Weeki Wachee theme park (the place where the mermaids swim) was about bankrupt and the state of Florida bought them out.

It is a very nice operation now. Check out the website Weeki Wachee Springs for an interesting history of this famous Florida Attraction.  Each day 117 million gallons of water flow from the head spring into the river.  The river is crystal clear as you can see from our pictures.  It’s amazingly beautiful!  You can get info on the kayak trips on this site as well.

   It costs $5 to launch a kayak or canoe.  If you want to be picked up down river, it’s an extra $10.  The cost for a single kayak is $30 and $35 for a tandem or a canoe.  That comes with a pick up down river.  They offer onsite instruction if you’ve never paddled a kayak or canoe.  Life preservers are included with all the boats.  It’s a relatively easy 6 mile paddle downstream.  They say it’s a 2 1/2 hour leisurely paddle.  It took us longer because stopped at a beach for lunch, and I took a lot  of pictures and videos.

Shirley and Dean at our picnic beach

The first part of the river is beautiful.  There are no houses, the river is wide and pretty straight. The flow is gentle.  You mostly just have to steer.

They park had kayak carts you could use to get your boats to the river.  It’s a bit of a walk down to the river and a cart is nice…especially with those heavy tanks we have!

We initially headed up river toward the Weeki Wachee head spring.  In past visits we found a family of otters under their dock and they provided a lot of entertainment.  You cannot go into the area of the head spring like you can at Silver Springs. 

Unfortunately, we didn’t see the otters.  We didn’t get too early of a start and there were a lot of people already on the river.

We ended up launching about the same time as a few other boats and they kept getting in our way :)

My idea of paddling a river is not to see other people or boats!  Unfortunately it rarely works out that way.

We finally got away from the other group and had the river to ourselves again.  Our friends from the campground, Shirley and Dean were with us.  They are enjoying their Sea Eagle 330 kayak.

They do allow motor boats on the river, and during the summer you’ll see a bunch of them at the lower part of the river, near Rogers Park.  Those boats bring many people and they park their boats on the side of the river and spend the day.  It’s very crowded with noisy people who have probably been drinking all day.  They have rope swings into the river and you have to watch that someone won’t land on you…or worse yet, get your camera wet!  That’s the bottom part of the river and you never seem to get too much traffic on the upper part near the spring.   That’s the part of the river we prefer.  You can also launch at Rogers Park, in Springhill.  It’s about 3-4 miles from their to the gulf and 6 miles upriver to the headsprings and kayak launch where we started.

I would definitely not recommend paddling from Rogers park up river.  That part of the river is no where near as pretty.  The water is not as clear (especially in the summer when 10,000 people are swimming in it) and there are lots of houses.  I don’t care if I ever see that part of the river, but I definitely want to go back to the upper part.

If you want to save money, launch at the state park, pay the $5.00 and paddle back up when you’re done.

We didn’t see much wildlife.  Here is a turtle we saw swimming frantically to get away from me.

We only saw one alligator and it was a small one.  It was the first one that I could see underwater.  I

We rarely see gators in this river, for some reason.

We usually see manatees on this river, but were disappointed yesterday that we didn’t see any.  I think it may have been because it was low tide and pretty shallow nearer the gulf.  The tides affect this river.  You get tidal influence from the gulf on one end and on the other end, the millions of gallons of water flowing out of the spring. 

I flated by a Great Blue Heron that was right by me.  He had his wings out like he was posing.  I didn’t see him in time to get a picture but turned around.  By the time I got back he had changed positions.  We think he/she may have been sitting on a nest.

We took our time and really enjoyed the beauty of the Weeki Wachee River.

The water was so clear you could see the rocks and trees on the bottom.  Most of it was pretty shallow, but there were some deeper areas and the depth is deceiving due to the water clarity.

There were a few beach areas where you could stop and have lunch, sunbath or just stretch your legs.

We had our lunch on one little beach but had to hurry.  We had to be at Rogers park by 3pm to be picked up at their last pick up of the day.  Next time, we’ll start earlier and have a little longer and more relaxing day.

Once we started coming to the part of the river where there are houses, the river narrowed and became more winding.  It was more of a challenge to paddle even though we were going with the current.  You had to be really careful not to hit anything as the current was pushing you along.  That was a big problem for me as my eye was usually in the camera lens and not paying attention to where I was going.  I hit more than one tree, sand bar and  stump! 

A beautiful house up on the hill for sale at a reduced price of only $650k.  What a beautiful view they had.

One of the many houses.  Notice the bear?

The last couple miles was not nearly as enjoyable.  There were more motorized boats, houses and people.  It was harder to paddle, I think because the tide was coming in and working against the natural flow of the river.  Plus we were running late, and had no idea where or how far the take out place was!  Al and I had been on this river before but took out at a different place before and couldn’t exactly remember.  They didn’t give us any information and we had forgotten how tricky it can be towards then end.   You just keep going left at any forks in the river.  We had forgotten that!  I had my GPS with me which would have given us our distance and helped a lot, however I had forgotten to put fresh batteries in it!

The next time,  I think we’ll launch at the head spring for the $5 a boat and just hang around the upper part and then just paddle back up to take out.  I lower part of the river is just not as pretty.

We made it back to the park by the 3pm  deadline.  They came with a large van for the people and a trailer for the boats.  They loaded up our kayaks for us, which was very nice because we were whooped by that time!  My shoulders were sore and tight and Shirley gave me a wonderful massage and worked the knots right out!  Thanks Shirley.

We didn’t know how they were going to load Dean and Shirleys inflatable Sea Eagle on the cart.  When asked, they told them to deflate it.  They just put it under the seat  with us in the van.  I’m wondering if they would have had to paid for the kayak pick up?  Next time, we’ll ask.

I neglected to get any pictures at the pick up  or at the place we launched.  We were tired at the end and at the start, we were rushing to get into the water before the crowd got worse!

It was a wonderful, wonderful day on a gorgeous river.  If you get in the area, it’s definitely one to put on your list.  I’d forgotten just how beautiful the Weeki Wachee river is.   I believe it’s the prettiest river that I’ve ever seen.  Our other favorites are the Silver River in Ocala, Florida and the Rainbow River in Dunellen, Florida. 

Weeki Wachee River

Weeki Wachee,Florida

What an amazing and beautiful river!  I had forgotten just how incredible it was! 

Our plan was to drive the 60 miles to paddle the Weeki Wachee River.  It’s north of Tampa, near Spring Hill. Al and I had been on this river several times, but it had been a while.

There used to be a kayak livery service on the river near the main Weeki Wachee water park and head springs. You could either rent their kayaks or use your own.  As far as we knew, there was no other place to launch your boats near the head springs (the best part). They would pick you and your kayaks up down river at a private Christian camp. We found these same people online, but had they had moved to a different location.  We tried many, many times to reach them by phone, but all we got was their mahine advising us to leave a message stating how many boats we needed.   We didn’t need to rent their kayaks and just wanted to get a price for a pick up down river.  We just needed to verify we could still launch our own boats, and the price.  We left several messages, but never got a return call.  We were pretty aggravated, but as far as we knew, they were the only game in town.  I even tried leaving them a message on Facebook.    If you want to paddle this river  do not use Weeki Wachee Canoe and Kayak Rental.  Their customer service is non-existent!

We finally decided to just head over to the river and hope for the best.  When we got there, we found this place, but they were no longer even located on the river.  There was a locked gate around their entire lot and no signs of life.  Uh oh…. We had just drug our friends Dean and Shirley 60 miles here for nothing.

Al figured we would just go to their old location and see if we could find them there launching boats.

When we got to the location it looked pretty much the same, but there was a lady inside with a State Park uniform on.  The state of Florida now runs the livery service and canoe and kayak rental.  We told her of our frustrations with the other people and she had heard the story before.  Evidently their bad service is well known.

We knew that several years ago, the Weeki Wachee theme park (the place where the mermaids swim) was about bankrupt and the state of Florida bought them out.

It is a very nice operation now. Check out the website Weeki Wachee Springs for an interesting history of this famous Florida Attraction.  Each day 117 million gallons of water flow from the head spring into the river.  The river is crystal clear as you can see from our pictures.  It’s amazingly beautiful!  You can get info on the kayak trips on this site as well.

   It costs $5 to launch a kayak or canoe.  If you want to be picked up down river, it’s an extra $10.  The cost for a single kayak is $30 and $35 for a tandem or a canoe.  That comes with a pick up down river.  They offer onsite instruction if you’ve never paddled a kayak or canoe.  Life preservers are included with all the boats.  It’s a relatively easy 6 mile paddle downstream.  They say it’s a 2 1/2 hour leisurely paddle.  It took us longer because stopped at a beach for lunch, and I took a lot  of pictures and videos.

Shirley and Dean at our picnic beach

The first part of the river is beautiful.  There are no houses, the river is wide and pretty straight. The flow is gentle.  You mostly just have to steer.

They park had kayak carts you could use to get your boats to the river.  It’s a bit of a walk down to the river and a cart is nice…especially with those heavy tanks we have!

We initially headed up river toward the Weeki Wachee head spring.  In past visits we found a family of otters under their dock and they provided a lot of entertainment.  You cannot go into the area of the head spring like you can at Silver Springs. 

Unfortunately, we didn’t see the otters.  We didn’t get too early of a start and there were a lot of people already on the river.

We ended up launching about the same time as a few other boats and they kept getting in our way :)

My idea of paddling a river is not to see other people or boats!  Unfortunately it rarely works out that way.

We finally got away from the other group and had the river to ourselves again.  Our friends from the campground, Shirley and Dean were with us.  They are enjoying their Sea Eagle 330 kayak.

They do allow motor boats on the river, and during the summer you’ll see a bunch of them at the lower part of the river, near Rogers Park.  Those boats bring many people and they park their boats on the side of the river and spend the day.  It’s very crowded with noisy people who have probably been drinking all day.  They have rope swings into the river and you have to watch that someone won’t land on you…or worse yet, get your camera wet!  That’s the bottom part of the river and you never seem to get too much traffic on the upper part near the spring.   That’s the part of the river we prefer.  You can also launch at Rogers Park, in Springhill.  It’s about 3-4 miles from their to the gulf and 6 miles upriver to the headsprings and kayak launch where we started.

I would definitely not recommend paddling from Rogers park up river.  That part of the river is no where near as pretty.  The water is not as clear (especially in the summer when 10,000 people are swimming in it) and there are lots of houses.  I don’t care if I ever see that part of the river, but I definitely want to go back to the upper part.

If you want to save money, launch at the state park, pay the $5.00 and paddle back up when you’re done.

We didn’t see much wildlife.  Here is a turtle we saw swimming frantically to get away from me.

We only saw one alligator and it was a small one.  It was the first one that I could see underwater.  I

We rarely see gators in this river, for some reason.

We usually see manatees on this river, but were disappointed yesterday that we didn’t see any.  I think it may have been because it was low tide and pretty shallow nearer the gulf.  The tides affect this river.  You get tidal influence from the gulf on one end and on the other end, the millions of gallons of water flowing out of the spring. 

I flated by a Great Blue Heron that was right by me.  He had his wings out like he was posing.  I didn’t see him in time to get a picture but turned around.  By the time I got back he had changed positions.  We think he/she may have been sitting on a nest.

We took our time and really enjoyed the beauty of the Weeki Wachee River.

The water was so clear you could see the rocks and trees on the bottom.  Most of it was pretty shallow, but there were some deeper areas and the depth is deceiving due to the water clarity.

There were a few beach areas where you could stop and have lunch, sunbath or just stretch your legs.

We had our lunch on one little beach but had to hurry.  We had to be at Rogers park by 3pm to be picked up at their last pick up of the day.  Next time, we’ll start earlier and have a little longer and more relaxing day.

Once we started coming to the part of the river where there are houses, the river narrowed and became more winding.  It was more of a challenge to paddle even though we were going with the current.  You had to be really careful not to hit anything as the current was pushing you along.  That was a big problem for me as my eye was usually in the camera lens and not paying attention to where I was going.  I hit more than one tree, sand bar and  stump! 

A beautiful house up on the hill for sale at a reduced price of only $650k.  What a beautiful view they had.

One of the many houses.  Notice the bear?

The last couple miles was not nearly as enjoyable.  There were more motorized boats, houses and people.  It was harder to paddle, I think because the tide was coming in and working against the natural flow of the river.  Plus we were running late, and had no idea where or how far the take out place was!  Al and I had been on this river before but took out at a different place before and couldn’t exactly remember.  They didn’t give us any information and we had forgotten how tricky it can be towards then end.   You just keep going left at any forks in the river.  We had forgotten that!  I had my GPS with me which would have given us our distance and helped a lot, however I had forgotten to put fresh batteries in it!

The next time,  I think we’ll launch at the head spring for the $5 a boat and just hang around the upper part and then just paddle back up to take out.  I lower part of the river is just not as pretty.

We made it back to the park by the 3pm  deadline.  They came with a large van for the people and a trailer for the boats.  They loaded up our kayaks for us, which was very nice because we were whooped by that time!  My shoulders were sore and tight and Shirley gave me a wonderful massage and worked the knots right out!  Thanks Shirley.

We didn’t know how they were going to load Dean and Shirleys inflatable Sea Eagle on the cart.  When asked, they told them to deflate it.  They just put it under the seat  with us in the van.  I’m wondering if they would have had to paid for the kayak pick up?  Next time, we’ll ask.

I neglected to get any pictures at the pick up  or at the place we launched.  We were tired at the end and at the start, we were rushing to get into the water before the crowd got worse!

It was a wonderful, wonderful day on a gorgeous river.  If you get in the area, it’s definitely one to put on your list.  I’d forgotten just how beautiful the Weeki Wachee river is.   I believe it’s the prettiest river that I’ve ever seen.  Our other favorites are the Silver River in Ocala, Florida and the Rainbow River in Dunellen, Florida.