The leaves here in Asheville are literally tourism worthy, it’s actually the driving force behind tourism – that and the Smokey Mountains nearby, but that tourism mainly belongs to Gatlingburg. Having been here all fall and seeing the leaves change, it’s surprising to me how fleeting it really is. I always think I have more time with the fall colors but there really is only a couple weeks of ever changing leaf stages before they’re gone. We had a cold snap last week and that always ruins everything – same thing happened in Colorado last spring. It snowed and stormed for a weekend and all the trees decided to hurry on up and jump ship. In Colorado there were mostly Aspen trees, here there’s a much larger variety so not all trees were affected the same way. The brighter colors are mostly gone though, replaced by dark wine colored tones and yellows. Unfortunately, the trees that were so kindly blocking our view of the freeway from our winter RV spot have started to strip bare and reveal semi trucks and traffic, but I still think we have the nicest spot in the park. There’s a river and an impossibly steep hillside between us and the noisy raging motorway, so we got that going for us.
I really need to get out and take some serious leaf photos before they’re gone for good – I wish I hadn’t sprained my ankle during one of the most colorful weeks of the change!
Day 4: “I can’t live without…” – Nature
I would usually do these a day late because I spend all day looking for the right opportunity, however I have day 5 all ready to go because of a terrible 8am vet appointment Sherlock had this morning. We adopted her in March and she’s always had terrible breath. We fed her good food, I brushed her teeth every week and bathed her often, however it never got better. On a routine visit for a cough she had, and her terrible skin, it was discovered (3 vets later) that she had a broken molar way in the back of her mouth where she would never let me look. It had to be removed so after a blood test and waiting on the results, I had to take her in today to be put under anesthetic and get it pulled. I’m terrified of anesthetic, part of me assumes people and pets just won’t wake up, so it was not a fun morning. However, I went back to bed when I got home and awaited a phone call or status update. Luckily, they called around noon to let me know she was doing well but that she had actually had 2 molars that needed removing and an incisor. How does a 2 year old dog have such dental issues? Apparently she “must have hit her head really hard” – hard enough to break her teeth?! It makes me wonder even more where she came from, what kind of background she had and how she was treated. At least she won’t have infected rotting teeth in her mouth – now for 2 weeks of wet food and pain pills!
Day 5: 8 o’clock – The Terrible VET VISIT
DON’T LEAVE ME HERE!
