December 15

There is no vet in this city that works with 'exotic' animals, so if you have one that needs medical attention, you have to go to a fairly small town south of here, between 2 cities. I don't know if the other city has an exotic vet or not. Anyway, that is where I spent the better part of my day today. I phoned Cyndi to see if she had an 'exotic' vet and this is the one she told me about. I already figured I'd have to go there as they are the only ones that take care of birds, and sure enough, same for chinchillas.

I phoned down there and was told to bring her right in and they'd fit her in. Since Cherry Chinchilla hasn't eaten/drank/pooped/peed since some time last week, it is reaching 'critical'.

I drove into town and bought 800 sq.ft. of underlay for laminate floors. I need this in order to use the laminate I bought a few weeks ago, and work is scheduled to start on the floors tomorrow. I need 720 sq.ft., but they only sell it in rolls of 200, so I had to take 4 rolls, paying for 80 sq.ft. of the shit stuff that I will never get to use.

With that in the back of the truck, I headed down to the vet. I got in there and they took my little Cherry away from me, wouldn't let me go in with her... something about there being other animals there that were emergency. Anyway, so the vet took Cherry into the back and examined her, then said Cherry needed x-rays to be sure there was not blockage. The x-ray shows there is a lot of gas in the gut which could be due to a blockage, yet the blockage, if there is one, doesn't show. The vet looked at Cherry's teeth and said she could have tooth problems, but will have to put her out to get a proper look at them, and couldn't do it today as Cherry isn't well enough for that. So, they gave fluids and force fed her a bit as well as gave her pain meds. Now she's spending the night at the vet office and will have her teeth checked in the morning. If it's not the teeth it could mean surgery. Already the bill is over $300, and surgery would be a lot more. For that matter, what they do tomorrow about the teeth will likely add to the bill too. I don't have a clue just now how in the world I'll get that all paid off, but had to do it. I so hope surgery is not needed or I may have to have her put down instead, and get this huge bill and still have a dead pet. I so don't like this kind of thing.

It was after 6pm when I left the vet. The truck was not working right again. The emergency brake keeps freezing, even though I'm not using it. I can't drive forward when this happens, so drive backwards and slam on the brakes. So far it breaks it loose, though the truck is still feeling like it's working overtime to drive down the road.

Got home to find the stove had run out of pellets and gone out. The furnace was running which only happens when the temp in the house gets down to about 60°F. I had to clean the stove, put a bag of pellets in it, and relight. It's on full blast now and has been for awhile now. I just have to wait until the heat gets built up in that room and circulates around to the rest of the house. My feet and nose are cold!! I don't like that.

I'm exhausted. I want to crawl into bed and warm up as well as sleep, but know if I do that I'll be awake in a few hours and stay awake all night. I need to clean the living room and be ready for installing laminate flooring tomorrow as well as maybe drive down to get my Cherry back. Guess I better bring a roll or two of underlay in from the truck too and have it warm up for morning.

More later.