Dealing with Uncertainty While Traveling

Backroads Information - The problem of being male.

This posting is really about Bugaboo and his trials and tribulations during the month of January.  It has not been a very good year for him.  He is our first male dog and it has been a learning experience for all of us.  My first German Longhair Pointer Yoho was so mild mannered that I only had to raise my voice to get her to mind.  With Buggy he quickly earned the "good citizenship collar" and really does not mind it since it means he gets to run and hunt. 


We were planning on being somewhere in the Mohave Desert by this time, but delayed at departure from Black Butte Lake due to the wonderful weather.

Then we had to take Bugaboo to the emergency vet.  His troubles started last month while skiing up at our  cabin at Camas Meadows.  Bugaboo ran into one of the aspen groves, broke through the crusty snow and crawled out with a stick in his mouth.  He was unable to close his month and was in pain.  I quickly assessed the situation and pulled the stick straight out of his mouth.  He seemed fine about that, but a bit touchy.


Afterwards he started growling at us whenever we approached him.  Susie thought is was the terrible two's and the fact he was not neutered.  So off he went to the vet to be neutered.  This led to the infamous Snoot Full Intensifier.

After a few days Susie noticed a lump on his throat and took him into the vet.  Our vet thought it might be the trach tube or the teeth cleaning that caused an infection and gave him some antibiotics.  All was fine until the 14 days of antibiotics ran out and then the lump was back!!  So off we went to Chico to find a vet.  All day Saturday and 624 dollars later we came back to the campsite.  The vet did find a piece of stick in the abscess.

Our thanks to Doris, the registered nurse, from Chico that removed Bugaboo's drain and stiches at the campground.

He has a high pain tolerance so was acting just fine throughout the entire month except for the growling.  

So just for being male and hurt he ended up with three vet visits and being neutered.  It has not been a good month for him. 

The trials and tribulations of being male extend even to dogs.

Throughout this episode we have been keeping an eye on the fog formation in the southern San Joaquin Valley.  Towing in snow is matched by driving in tule fog.  We used our Wilson Antenna antenna to connect to the internet and the National Weather Service.

Now here is trick for getting a better weather forecast.  Click on the weather forecast for the area you are interested.  Here is the link to Sacramento Weather.  Below current conditions is a section labeled Radar and Satellite Images.  Below that section is Additional Forecasts and Information.  And in this section is a tab called Forecast Discussion.  Click on this.

This will give additional forecast information.  Much more detail than in the regular forecast.  In many cases, there will be a discussion on what will happen if the forecast is WRONG.  More information than you will need in most cases, but then again when your trying to avoid bad weather well worth reading.

The plan is to leave tomorrow morning for Los Banos and then Bakersfield the following day.