We had to take Tal-y to get her lime disease booster shot today and the closest Banfield to us is about an hour away so we took of from the campground around 10.30 this morning. This is how far in the middle of nowhere this campsite is, even Nell can’t load her maps and calculate our route until she is out on the main highway. She has only one bar highlghted and it’s red instead of the usual green; we have to turn her off and reboot her when we leave the gate – no wonder the only perfect TV channel Mike can get is the Christian station!
So we drove to Rocky Mount, NC, to Petsmart where we had an appointment at 2.30. The drive down was an eye opener, I can’t believe people live like they do. I should be used to it now as this isn’t the first time we’ve seen this but it’s still shocking; there is definitely something to be said for HOA’s. The gardens we drove past were exactly like scrap yards, there were broken down cars and junk everywhere. And the houses themselves were in a terrible state of repair, we passed one houses that had its sides being held up with planks of wood wedged into the ground. How do people let their property get into such a state? I can see one or two houses where someone has passed away but here it was rampant, almost every other property. I feel bad for the people who make the effort to keep their houses and gardens looking nice and then have to drive past others that look like they should be condemned. Sad, sad, sad.
We got to Rocky Mount early and so I got to do some Christmas shopping, and I think I’m just about finished; now all I have to do is pack it and mail it. After lunch we got to Petsmart and only had to wait about 15 minutes to see the vet. Tal-y got her booster and her butt checked, and her tick bite site was declared to be healing nicely. The vet wanted to give her another shot for something to protect her from some bacteria found in standing water; she told us it’s a standard vaccine for North Carolina but it only protects her from 4 of the 12 strains of bacteria. We decided not to get it, I don’t want her looking like a pin cushion, and if I’d done some research on the Lyme disease vaccine before going to the vet I probably wouldn’t have gotten that one either. It’s a sad case of affairs when you’re not sure whether to listen to what the ‘professional’ is telling you.
After that we headed home and ate left over Thanksgiving food with luscious mash potato; I’ve never seen Tal-y eat her food so fast as she did tonight when it was covered in mashed potato. Now I’m off to bed to try to get to sleep before the storm comes; we are supposed to have severe thunder and lightening, wind and rain tonight. I’m definitely going to wake Mike if it gets too scary.

Mike: Not unlike the typical family physician!