Skittlez Update

Apache Junction, AZ  High 88  Low 60

Sure is quiet around here without Todd and Michaela. It only took us about three days to finally catch up on sleep and energy. I don’t think that’s too bad. LOL

Skittlez is doing really good. Last Saturday we picked up an antihistamine from the vet and they told us that there were very few dogs who had any side effects from the medication. Well, Skitz was one of those very few. Her system just couldn’t handle it and gave her bloody diarrhea. And that was after only half of a pill. We immediately stopped the pills. Back to the vet on Tuesday after we took the kids to the airport.

The vet wanted to see a stool sample and check Skitz out. After all the checking out, we decided the next thing we would use is Temaril-P which is a combination of antihistamine and corticosteroid. This was definitely the answer for us.

We gave her 1/2 pill the first day and it started to work almost immediately. The difference in her scratching was incredible. I was concerned because it does have an antihistamine in it but she has not had any reaction to it at all. Almost all of her sores are healed and it doesn’t make her all dopey. We will continue to give her Temaril-P until about the middle of April and hopefully by then we will be out of pollen season.

We have now returned to our ordinary everyday lives.

The Last Day

Apache Junction, AZ  High 91  Low 63

Scooter was so happy to see Todd.

Skittlez was excited because there might be food.

The Desert Belle on Saguaro Lake. Dianna was on this cruise but they didn’t get close enough to holler hi.

Monday was time to fish. Michaela loves to fish and everybody was excited about getting out on the lake. Made sure everybody had lots of sun block and off they went to Saguaro Lake. I stayed home with the girls again.

They had a great boat ride but no luck with catching fish. Todd hooked a couple of fish but they escaped before making it into the boat.

One other thing we accomplished was to get Todd a Slurpee from 7-Eleven. When he was little his favorite treat was a Slurpee and there aren’t any 7-Elevens in Montana anymore.

Before we went to dinner we needed to do one more photo shoot. You really do need a picture of a Saguaro cactus before you leave Arizona. While we were taking these pictures, the park police drove by and said - “You guys aren’t from here, are you?” and then laughed.

We went to Los Gringo Locos for Mexican for their last dinner in town. I can’t believe it’s time for them to leave already. They just got here.

Tuesday morning we were up at 5:00 a.m.!!! in order to get them to the airport for a 7:00 flight.

This is what exhaustion looks like.

We kept the kids so busy they didn’t even get a chance to use the pool or hot tub. Maybe next time.

Jim and I wanted to take the rest of the day off but we had to take Skittlez back to the vet’s. I’ll make another post to tell you about how she’s doing.

More High Octane

Apache Junction, AZ   High 90  Low 63

 

Not quite such an early morning today. Kids arrived for breakfast about 8:15 and then Jim, Todd and Michaela headed out for Phoenix International Raceway over in Avondale.

Pre-race activities

I stayed home with the girls and enjoyed some peace and quiet. Put a roast into the crockpot for dinner and watched the race on TV.

This was the first time Michaela had been to a race and she was really excited. Todd had gone to a race in Las Vegas with us previously but it’s been many years.

Even though it was really hot there was enough of a breeze they weren’t too miserable. Everyone had a really great time even if Dale Jr. was out of the race early because of a blown tire and he hit the wall.

Everybody was starved and glad for air conditioning by the time they got home.

Wild and Hot

Apache Junction, AZ  High 90  Low 62

We old folks (Jim and I) were wore out and Todd and Michaela really wanted to go to the Phoenix Zoo. So we compromised. We took them to the zoo and dropped them off and promised to pick them up when they were finished.

While they were at the zoo we went to the vet’s to pick up another medication for Skittlez – the antihistamine that didn’t work. More on her later.

The kids took the most incredible pictures and it has taken me forever to choose the ones I’ve put in this blog. And I’ll warn you, there are several pictures.

We picked up the kids about 2:30 and came back to the air conditioned fifth wheel. Taught them how to play Convoy and Cribbage and then headed to Outback for dinner. It was terrible. If this had been my first visit to an Outback I sure wouldn’t go back again. The wait was an hour which is pretty typical. We all ordered steaks which is usually a good choice. However, the steaks were tough and gristly. Michaela’s garlic mashed taters had so much garlic in them that it brought tears to my eyes when I tried a bite. We didn’t say anything because they were so busy. We just ate what we could and got home about 9:00. Once again we all collapsed into bed.

High Octane!

Apache Junction, AZ  High 88  Low 61

After feeding the girls we headed back up Hwy 101 to Octane Raceway to do some kart racing.

Octane Racing offers high speed kart racing on a 1/3 mile indoor/outdoor track. The electric karts travel up to 45 miles per hour. Each race is ten minutes long and cover over three miles of racing. 

Excitement was running extremely high but we decided we needed some fuel for ourselves and stopped at a 5 & Diner for a bite to eat. Then we headed over to the track where we had reservations for a 4:20 race.

Patiently waiting – notice the wheel stools and table

We signed Jim, Todd and Michaela up for an annual driver’s license and three races. The annual license was $12.95 per person and includes free helmet rental and a t-shirt. The races are then $10 a piece. The only real requirement is that you have to have closed toe shoes in order to race.

Picking out helmets

That’s my boy.

 

Still waiting

Got everybody all settled in their cars and off they went. Things started out okay but they went downhill rapidly. Seems there was a group of about six 20-something males in the race who were very aggressive and their whole goal seemed to be to see how much they could disrupt the race by banging into each other and anybody who happened to get in their way.

When the race ended Todd and Michaela and Jim were not happy but we didn’t say anything. They called their second race almost immediately and Jim decided to sit this one out. Driving these karts is very physical and Jim really needed a break before heading out again.

The same group of males was in this race and had enjoyed some beer between the races. This race was even worse than the first one which is hard to imagine. Michaela was extremely upset after the race and Jim said that is enough. He headed up to the desk and had a nice long talk with management.

When the third race was called, the race track personnel gave everybody very strong warnings about their behavior and even stopped one guy from racing because he was so inebriated. They were told if they ran into anyone, they would be kicked out.  

This was a much more exciting and fun race for everybody. And the young men pretty much behaved themselves.

After the race I found out that management had decided that Jim and Michaela would be allowed one more race to make up for the horrible experience they had. Jim gave his race to Todd.

The fourth race was exactly how every race should have been. The drunk crew had left the building and the racers were out there to have fun and drive as hard as they could. Todd and Michaela both got out of their cars with big grins on their faces.

Todd had improved his speed by 5 seconds per lap and Michaela had cut 2 seconds off her fastest lap.

By this time we were happy but exhausted. We got to the track about 3:45 and we didn’t leave until almost 9:00. Decided to swing into Wendy’s for a quick bite and that was another disaster.

Wendy’s had turned out the outside lights so we weren’t sure they were even open. Saw lots of cars going through the drive-thru so got in line. I cannot believe how bad they messed up our order. They also couldn’t figure out for sure how much we owed them because Jim and I wanted our free Jr. Frosty’s and they tried to charge us for a small one. Then they didn’t know how to back those out and it was a mess. Finally we agreed on an amount and pulled up to the next window to get our order. No sauce for the chicken nuggets, the wrong sandwich, and they ended up giving Jim and I small Frosty’s instead of the junior size. Todd ran back in to get sauce and we just gave up and went home.

After eating we all headed straight for bed. More fun tomorrow.