Down the Road: November 2021

Placerville, California

Ponderosa RV Resort

Thought I'd start out with a couple of cute photos of our Meatball out on a hike with his parents in the Redwoods.

Our November started off with a trip to the Emergency Room.

At least Steve had a nice view from his room in the ICU.

Steve hadn't been feeling too well by late Friday (of course it's always a Friday, right?) He rested over the weekend but still wasn't feeling any better. By time we moved to Coloma, next to my brother and our friends John & Tina, he was feeling very weak and actually passed out. I took him straight to the Emergency Room in Placerville with a GI bleed. After many tests he spent the week in the ICU with even more tests. Poor guy also had 9 blood transfusions. Yep, NINE. It was pretty scary for a while. Of course there was too much bleeding at first to find where the bleed was occurring so he was later transferred to a bigger hospital down in Sacramento with a better GI Dept. Unfortunately, due to Covid cases, staff and bed shortages he couldn't get transferred right away. By time he was transferred and tested more, there wasn't enough bleeding so he was sent home after a couple days once he was stable. Turns out this can happen again or maybe never.

Hurley was in very good hands.

Between my brother & sister-in-law and John & Tina they set up the trailer for us and took care of Hurley the next week and made me a couple delicious meals. I only came back to sleep.

Poor guy couldn't eat or drink the first 5 days. He was so happy to finally get some Jello! He's doing much better but since he left the hospital with only 1/2 his blood, we had to wean him back on food slowly and his exercise is a little at a time until his blood levels come back up.

We relaxed much of the second week and did small walks along the river at camp.

A small road trip brought us through town and to one of our wineries for a pick up of some more Port.

We discovered one of those Tiny Outdoor Libraries on the backroads by a goat pen.

There's a small 1 mile loop hike down the road where we could get Steve hiking a bit. It's flat.

This funky rock reminds me of the Lips on the Rolling Stone's album without the tongue.

It's unusual for the Madrone tree to get so large like this one. It's been called the Octopus Tree. The Native Americans would use the peeling bark to make medicinal tea.

These rock walls and other areas were made by the Chinese 150 years ago to channel water from the river to the mining areas.

Holes left behind by Woodpeckers hiding acorns for later meal.

It was nice to get back out in nature and Steve is getting his strength back slowly.

Next thing we knew it was Thanksgiving. What was going to be only my parents and us turned into 16 people. Everyone was there except my niece and her husband as they now live in Florida.