Last evening while Ed was cleaning Zaph's ears he noticed that the right ear was fat .... a hematoma. Last summer, Zaph's left ear had a hematoma and that was one of the signs of his low platelet count. We decided that a trip to the vet was in order. There is one veterinarian in La Paz County and luckily he is in Quartzsite. A phone call to the office indicated that it was a first come first service practice and patients were accepted till 11:15 am.

Have you ever read or seen any of the James Herriot stories? As soon as we walked into the veterinary office I felt like I had walked into a James Herriot story. Just about every chair in the waiting room was filled. There were big dogs, little dogs, dogs and cats in carriers and few larger dogs waiting their turn outside. The telephone kept ringing, people came in with interesting requests --- one woman came in with a stray she had picked up in Yuma wanting to know how to find the stray's owners (Quartzsite is 70 miles from Yuma .... don't thing anyone from down there is going to be looking for the dog in Quartzsite.) Ed and Zaph waited outside and chatted with a couple of other golden retriever owners while I sat inside and joined in the "inside" conversation. After waiting for two hours, the waiting room was finally emptying out and it was our turn. The vet quickly and efficiently took a blood sample (fastest yet) and sent us out of the room to wait while the sample was being run. A couple minutes later we were called back into the room .... ooops the vet had put the blood into the incorrect tube and he needed another sample. Took a couple of pokes this time.

Good news, Zaph's platelet count was fine and the rest of the blood work came back normal. Just a hematoma in his ear .... nothing to worry about.

Meanwhile, back at the trailer John had put a brisket on the smoker. Brisket for dinner tomorrow ... six hours of smoking, followed by 12 hours in the roaster at 200F, followed by eight hours resting. Better be tasty.