Grenada -- Drop Shipment

Poor Boris. Yesterday afternoon I noticed him obsessively cleaning the area around his tail. On closer inspection I could see some blood and signs of infection, classic signs of an abscess. Lucky for us we had our Grenada cell phone and we were able to call around to get an appointment to see a veterinarian. The GSPCA didn't have one on duty yesterday but there is a teaching hospital at St. George's University and they had an appointment open so we brought him in. Sure enough, he did have an abscess and the doctor on duty was able to clean it and give us the proper medications, all the while explaining every step to the veterinary student who was also in the room with us. We also bought him an Elizabethan Collar which will prevent him from licking the wound until it heals properly so now he is stumbling around the boat like a cat with a lampshade on his head. I feel sad for him but sometimes can't help laughing when he walks straight into the wall. Like I said, poor Boris.

So we are still having power woes; the voltage is too low for Kevin's liking so a week ago he ordered a high-tech transformer from the US to help regulate the power to the correct voltage. He's been eagerly awaiting its arrival and spent all afternoon today getting the paperwork in order: he had to pick up forms at Fedex, then make two trips to the customs agent before finally going back to Fedex to pick up the box. Only to discover a huge tear down the side of the box -- not a good sign on a shipment containing a piece of highly sensitive and expensive electrical equipment. After noting the damage, and making the Fedex guy document it with photos, he took the box back to the boat and plugged it in. Nothing. Not a whirr, not a click, not a hum. After taking the housing off, he noted that the thing was broken in half-a-dozen different ways, it basically looked like the thing had been dropped (or thrown). So we are foiled once again in our attempt to get the power working correctly. We're still using the air conditioning even with the low voltage, but we'd prefer to run it with the correct voltage specified in the owner's manual. He's not ready to give up yet; maybe he can tinker with the thing to get it working MacGyver fashion.