Sidney, BC

Our plan today was to see if Chris could fix the outboard engine for the dinghy. He arrived about 11:00 AM while Fred was over on the Golden Dawn helping Bob to clean the bottom and change zincs. Apparently the coil was bad and needed replacement. The Honda sounded great when Chris was done. Fred & I were getting ready to do a Safeway run for some last minute items that weren’t carried in Costco. I filled up another shopping basket (it is so easy to do). We had to go to the hardware store for a new vacuum sealer. They had a $30 one, an $89 one and a $275 one. Being the big spenders we are, we bought the $30 one. I brought it back to the boat and it is a nicely packaged piece of junk. I keep forgetting you get what you pay for. In a careless moment we left a baggie of chocolate chips where Merlin could reach them. Being the very “oral” boy that he is, he ate some around 3:00 PM. We knew they were toxic to dogs and I called the Poison Control Center for animals to see what we should do. They said to take away fluids because they would make the vomiting worse. Merlin started vomiting chocolate around 5:00 PM. He vomited almost continuously until 6:30 when we located the Victoria Animal Hospital . The poor baby was really suffering and we were terrified. I called and got directions to the hospital. We had two beach towels to try and minimize the collateral damage in the rental car. Merlin vomited chocolate on the car and in the car and on us. God knows how we are going to clean the car before we return it… The folks at the hospital were great. They rushed Merlin in to be examined and showed us where the coffee and cocoa were. The veterinarian was a lovely young woman who appears about 16 years of age (am I getting old?). They are going to keep Merlin overnight and put him on the heart monitor and give him some I.V. hydration. We are assured that he will be fine and hopefully come home tomorrow morning. I just needed some comfort food since we missed dinner. Fred took me to the Dairy Queen and I had a Blizzard. For those of you who do not know what this is, you should really find out.