Favorite

Chincoteague is our favorite vacation spot. We used to spend a week here every summer, but lately we've started spending two weeks. It takes about 4 or 5 days to settle in, so two weeks seems a lot better. Less of that "What? We just got here!" feeling.

Today our favorite activities - going to the beach in the morning; walking around in town in the afternoon - got completely messed up by discovering that Swee'pea seems to have a UTI or some such thing. So - it being Labor Day, and thus a day when no ordinary veterinary offices are open - we located an emergency vet about an hour's drive away in Salisbury Maryland. We were there for about three hours and it began to feel like we were part of some cable TV show about an animal ER. There was a tiny little waiting room jam packed with pet owners and we all pretty quickly bonded and learned the names of all the dogs and cats. We were there to cry when Gracie the aged Basset Hound was brought in to be euthanized, and cry again with Fred's family when he was also euthanized. We wished Maggie the diabetic doggie well when she was hospitalized by her caretakers (her parents being away). Sadie's mother and I bonded over the fact that both Sadie and Swee'pea seemed to have bladder infections or whatever it turns out to be. Neither was a very conclusive diagnosis, but both went home with antibiotics to await the outcome of lab tests. Swee'pea doesn't have any stones, so that's good! Cooper the Chocolate Lab had swollen eyes. Casper the cat went home with meds to take, I don't really know for what. And so on, and so forth. We were one of two vacationing couples who hadn't exactly planned to spend Labor Day at the vet's office. Well, no one had. The extra is a quick shot I snuck of the people across from me in the waiting room. The dog on the lap is the sibling of the one that was at the vet because of violent itching... Fred's mother is to our right; Maggie's caretaker is on the left; the couple in the middle is the other vacationing couple - the ones with the itchy MinPin whose name I never learned. Looking at the thumbnail before publishing, the extra is on its side. I trust it won't be when I'm finished... We'll see!

We finally got back to our house at about 1:30 and after a bit of a nap we all set off to go to the ice cream parlor to make ourselves feel better. On the way I saw this old wooden swordfish (?) on the wall of a garage and it felt like a MonoMonday shot to me! In fact - I didn't make it black & white - this is full color. Dead vines and old weathered wood.