8-13-08 Wednesday (Poor dog, buy this!)

Today was bring the dog to the vet and get whacked $170.00 day. I'm sure it's an official holiday somewhere, check your calendar. He has some scabs on his ear tips, and dry balding spot on his head. After walks he rolls around on the carpet and couch. I figured no-seeums and such were bothering him. I have some stuff to put on him that is heartworm and flea/tick all in one that the vet prescribed last visit. I haven't used it yet because he wasn't ready for heartworm meds yet and I didn't want to OD him. The vet took some scab scrapings, went to a microscope and said it wasn't mange or mites and he's probably hyper-sensitive to bugs. So she pulls out meds. 1 for topical to heal the raw spots, 1 to spray before a walk that's all natural and repels bugs and the 3rd is a pill to give him when he's itchy. Of course it all totalled $170.00.

I'm not sure why doctors and vets can get away with pushing drugs and procedures on someone with the end surprise cost factor. Is it because we'd feel bad to skimp out on medical care for our pets and feel guilty? Do the vets do this knowing most people won't say no? When I have asked for the price prior to treatment they say, "I don't know, I think it's around xxx, I can go ask at the desk and let you know." Being in the automotive service industry, I've had customer's flip out if it was ANYTHING over the price you gave. I think I was in the wrong business. Pricing menu at a Vet's office:

Heartgard = Surprise
Exam = You're not gonna let your pet suffer are you?
Meds = If you have to ask, you're very selfish.
Flea spray = You'd be able to afford it if you didn't buy a motorhome.

I was thinking the other day of how the older folks were retired and would always say, "I'm on a fixed income." Well for 99% of the population, income doesn't fluctuate unless you're on commission so therefore they too are on a FIXED income. Hello. So I was wondering if on my travels, I could say, "I'm retired and on a fixed income." Will people feel bad for me and throw discounts at my feet?

OK, OK so anyways my Mom and Dad came over, we went to La Casita while Jim finished up on more of his mom's projects. Amazing, I didn't have much to blog about but managed to make your eyes dry and tired. Get over it.

Oh, I talked about watching the blackwater draining and thought of something humorous. The other day we bought a clear connector for the sewer hose. It's just a 5" pipe section. It's so you can see when the line is showing clear waste but off course a by-product is watching a turd float through the tubing. I was like, "great we can watch crap float by. Oh look, a piece of undigested corn." Ewwwwwwwwwwww.



We've been having a lot of power problems. The 30amp plug melted and the park receptacle fried. The 50amp (with an adapter to 30amp) has been marginal. The voltage meter in the coach is always low and borderline red zone. The park personell repaired the 30amp but we stayed on the 50amp. Today I bought a $500 autoformer: It slices, it dices, it... oh, well not all that but here's what it does per the ad: Avoid brownout damage by boosting the park voltage to your RV. Autoformers have increased capacity, with a fully automatic 10% boost when needed. Internal transformer increases volts and lowers amps, while sophisticated circuitry monitors power levels and boosts if power is less than 117 volts. Includes park power diagnostic light, as well as boost indicater lights for both lines, spike and surge protection and polarity and ground test functions.



It works! Voltage is much better! It's well into the green. It also told us that even though they repaired the 30amp side, it isn't good to use so we're using the 50amp side.