Home Again
I have returned from Brazil to a gorgeous fall. I find my family crazy busy trailing sheep and cattle from our forest permits, where the livestock spend their summer months, to our private land and leases. My husband met me at Denver International Airport, and we headed home. On the forest road, we met my daughter, granddaughter, grandson and my father, who were moving sheep camps, one after another, along the trail.
Siobhan in Autumn
Routt National Forest
photo by Pat O'Toole
I parted ways with my traveling companion, Lexie, in Atlanta, as she returned to her home in Arizona. I acquired a new companion however. I brought my sister’s dog, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, which looks sort of like a smaller red and white Cocker Spaniel. Lexie and I had done a lot of research online and by telephone and went to the Rio airport with the required vet’s health certificate and the vaccine record. We were soon overwhelmed by a demand for the dog’s “passport” signed by a vet from the Brazilian Department of Health. We were sent on a wild goose chase looking for such a vet in the airport (on a Saturday night). We were told that Tiggy would be euthanized and BURNED (the official’s English was not inclusive of subtler words) if she were allowed to go to Atlanta without the proper papers. Finally, Lexie was raging and I was weeping (long day) and our fellow passengers were cheering Tiggy on.
I have learned in my travels through South America that often bureaucratic problems can be solved by paying more money or waiting more time, but I had finally given up and called my nephew to ask him to make the long trek to airport to pick up Tiggy. Just then, a top dog (so to speak) supervisor showed up and said “Perhaps we can solve this problem.” He checked the internet, confirmed the requirements, and said “Let the ladies take their dog. I think it will be OK.”
I wonder if this wasn’t generally the same experience we had had in persisting with the Brazilian consulate in order to get the expedited visas. They probably just wanted to get us out of there!
I was concerned that Tiggy, a Carioca (native of Rio de Janeiro) and an apartment dweller, would have a difficult adjustment to ranch life. Soon after arriving home, I went to look for her and found her hanging out on the deck with three Border collies and an Australian cattle dog. Looks like she’ll fit in.
You can guess that since I returned with my sister’s dog that she is not doing well. You’d be right.
