Fun day, meeting a fellow blogger

What a fun day yesterday was!

 I am still in Pa, Sunny of Changing Lanes recently moved back to Pa. We wanted to get together. She only lives around 34 miles from where my Mom lives. So she made the trek over to visit! Yay! She also brought her cute little Izzy along. Wow, what an angel Izzy is! My dogs would not have been nearly as well behaved as Izzy is. Sunny even put half of a fish sandwich in the back of her car...now, had I done that with ANY of mine, it would have been stolen. No question about that! But not the case with Izzy. Again, what a good girl!

Sunny & the adorable Izzy

Sunny & I instantly knew each other on sight. We walked over when she got here & I introduced her to my mother. They had a nice conversation, but Mom was working. So we went on. Since Sunny paints, Sunny's studio, we went around & took pictures for inspiration of future paintings. We took pics of the pond here at the campgrounds. They have a 9 acre pond..it might be 14 acres? Says 9 on the site, but folks say it's 14. Who knows, it's just a BIG pond! ;-)  With ducks & geese. The ducks come running expecting one to feed them. Too cute! I didn't take my camera to the pond, but Sunny did. Maybe she'll put up some of those pics.

We also drove around the campgrounds here. There are a lot of seasonal sites that folks keep for years. They have cute little RV's or Park Model type of homes on them. Some adorable, some well...not so adorable...but a nice retreat regardless if we approve of your home or not. Ha!

Then we drove off to find other places to shoot. What a fun day it was, just driving & appreciating the country side. Pa sure has beautiful landscape, rich in history.

Then we drove to Clarion to get some lunch. Sunny got a fish sandwich, I got an open face pot roast sandwich. Her sandwich looked really good though!

Then we drove on after lunch & passed over the Clarion River. So beautiful! But I remember the day of the old bridges & easier access to the boats & docks. I guess progress does have to make things safer eventually though. Even IF we could have gotten crushed under car wheels crossing the road. OK, so that could have happened with the old bridge too, but hey, we need some drama here.

Two photos of the Clarion River.

Then we decided to go to Cooks Forest. A really nice state park that's a beautiful drive to get to.

But.

On the way to Cooks Forest.

We passed this!

We had to stop.

Well, we actually had to turn around to stop.

But we got there & this was a real gem!

   Inside Helen Furnace, looking up. It was nice & cool inside of there too. But we didn't think to do a spiderman & climb the walls. Darn.

Loved the way this dandelion was growing on the outside wall of Helen Furnace.

Then we continued on.

We went to Cooks Forest.

I could spend DAYS there! And they have RV camping there too. Will have to check that out sometime.

I only took pics of the water there.

This was so beautiful. You could hear the water rushing down stream.

You can rent canoes here & go canoeing! Or you can drift along on tubes. Or just go swimming. I didn't test the water to see how cool it was though. I forgot to. The camera probably would not like to have tested it though.

They also have cabin rentals there. Sunny noticed that outside of one of the cabins, sitting at a picnic table was an amish family. I thought about taking a picture, but quickly decided that would be disrespectful of the Amish since they do not like that. Sunny agreed.

Then when we got back, Sunny dropped me off. The moment she did, my brother drove up. He wanted to go out to dinner with me & my Mom. So I walked the dogs, got ready, then we left. After dinner, we drove all around the area. He followed our old school bus trail, it was fun.

Then.

We went to...

Crybaby graveyard!

They say you can hear a baby cry there at night.

Um, my Mom & her friends took my sister in law there several years ago. Blind folded her before they got there & left her!! It was part of her bachorlette party.

I think I'm glad I got married in Texas!!!

Today is nice & cool. I'm just chillin' out today, doing NOTHING of importance. Other than posting this blog.

Hope everyone is having a great day!

~As always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor~

RVing with pets

Today's post is about RVing with pets. In my case, cats & dogs.

Although I'm a fulltimer, I've been fortunate that my dogs & cats have been able to live outside of the RV. The dogs in a kennel situation, although I'd prefer to have them in the RV with me, when I'm in Texas, they are safer in the kennel & have access to a big dog yard to use several times a day. Why is that? Because they are in better air conditioning because I do not have 30amp service at my friends house in Texas & we have a lot of power surges. Which causes the power to go out often. Not safe in an RV which can heat up much too quickly.

In Texas, the kitties get the comfort of a cat room.

When traveling, all my babies are with me in the RV. The day we get a bigger RV will be a much better day for us all! However, they are all happy to be with me & they all love to travel! And we have 30amp power where we are, so in the heat of the day, they have the air conditioning going.
Well actually, I turn it on for them. They don't actually control it themselves. ;-)

So we take several walks a day. The downside of where I am, there are no dog parks, no fences anywhere. So they can't run free. Bummer. So we take nice long walks instead. I'm thinking of buying a new bike so I can train some of them to trot along side the bike so they can get some sort of exercise. But this is all temporary. We'll be heading back to Texas in a few weeks. Back to the heat. Ugh!

Now comes the side of responsibility. Of course, the cats are easier. They can come out & hang out on the bed. They don't go outside. Ever. None of my cats have ever been outdoor cats. Plus the campgrounds here don't allow loose pets. One thing I learned though is choosing your cat litter wisely! Wow, I do mean wisely!! I made the mistake of running out of the feline pine type of litter that I use. I had to choose a regular type of kitty litter. So I chose one of those clumping brands. I didn't think it would be a bad alternative....until...I could barely stand to be inside of the RV! The dogs could barely stand it either!! It contained soooo much perfume that the dogs started coughing & sneezing! I thought they had a case of kennel cough. Seriously, I did! But my nose & eyes burned as well. As soon as I possibly could, I got the pine type of litter. Changed out all boxes & viola! No more smell! No more sneezing from the dogs!! Yay! I could sleep in comfort again without that terrible odor. But I will admit that the kitties thought that their litter boxes magically became great sand boxes with that gritty smelly kitty litter! Yes, at 5am, Tribbles is doing a dance in the litter. Flipping in the air. Spreading litter far & wide. He was in glee, sheer glee. He was sooo happy. But I wasn't. So that stopped with the pine litter - whew. Sure am glad I brought my Shark Vaccuum along! Whew! Upside of the cats, no one really knows I have cats with me. They don't bark. They don't sing & howl. Well, they kinda do, but no one outside of the RV can hear it when they like to talk.

Now for the dogs & responsibility. They DO have to come out of the RV several times a day. Unfortunately, I can't set up their expens in this campground. So they can't come out & lounge around in the pens like they can do at some places. That's a hinderance for us, thus it means more walking for them & more exercise for them...and me. My right pocket is always full of baggies. You MUST clean up after them! No one else should EVER have to step into their business! The campgrounds must NEVER have to deal with doggie waste. It totally irritates me when folks do NOT clean up after their pets! It's just rude & lazy.

The kind of dogs I have never can be let loose to walk by your side or run free. They have zero road sense. They were bred by Nomads over 2000 years ago to hunt game. That is deeply bred into them, so if they see bunnies, birds, etc, they will take off after them. They will not hesitate to run in front of any kind of moving vehicle, so it's not safe for them to run or walk freely by your side. But that's ok. I realize that, so we go for walks. Nice long walks.

Now when I walk them, I keep off of other people's sites. I strongly believe in respecting other's privacy & not interfering with other campers. But since my dogs are a bit unusual, in order for them to benefit from a nice long walk, I walk them where others generally don't go. I walk them around the big buildings here, along side the edges of the parking lots, etc. There's lots of grass & trees here, so no need to walk them anywhere near the other campers anyhow. I will walk one of them on one of the roads here where the other campers drive their golf carts on. They really like seeing the dogs, asking questions about them & visiting with them. My dogs really love people, but it would take me hours to walk them if I did walk  most of them around people. They really can draw attention. And people like to guess what they are. What breed of dog they are that is ;-)

At night, before we all go to bed, we all get one more walk. I take along a small flashlight with me so when they do their business, I can bag it & see what I'm bagging. I've even cleaned up after other people's dogs here so mine don't suffer any blame. On that subject, I carry baggies & take them back to my RV. I drop them outside of course, then I go inside & get one of those grocery store bags & put them all inside of that. Then all that goes to the dumpster. I walk over to the dumpster on the property so they don't get placed in any trash cans where the campers might be. Nice, neat & clean.

Below are some pics that I took at Purina Farms in Missouri. They had a wonderful dog yard that I did take advantage of. They loved it!

This is one of the RV areas at Purina Farms. I liked the little no poop puppies!

Birdie & Roper at play in the wonderful dog play area!

~As always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor~

Happy 100th!

Wow, can you imagine? Yes, we went to a birthday party today. Happy 100th Birthday to Dorothy Bashline!! I did not take a photo of her, but I did take one of her cake. It's wonderful. A photo of her around 8 years old. Pretty cool huh?
And she still lives alone in a 2nd story apartment. She is still independent & gets along very well. What an inspiration!! A reminder to embrace life itself!

~As always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor~

Pennsylvania

Welcome to Sandy F.   Sandy, if you have a blog, please share the url & I'll be happy to post it. I don't see anything on you, but am glad to have you along!

So I'm really behind -- again. But I AM in Pa & am getting some down time that I much needed here. My family has been slowly dropping in. I've seen my sisters Deb & Linda so far. I have two other sisters, but one (Barb) lives in Fla, the other (Bev) in Tx. I've seen my 3 brothers too, Sonny, Tom & David. Saw one of my nieces (Elizabeth) today. So it's nice seeing them. My sister, Linda has organized a family reunion, so we'll all be seeing other relatives very soon!

The dogs have been getting many walks by me & I always have those baggies in my pockets!! So my right pocket is always lumped up with empty baggies. Once full, they do NOT go back into my pocket! Ha! So get that thought right out of your head...right now. Really. Yuck.

I'll post more about the campgrounds I'm in later. Just thought I'd drop a quick post today as I've really been lacking on posting lately. I'm at Wolf's Campground in Knox, Pa.
http://wolfscampingresort.com/

I arrived here on June 12, 2012. But I've been too tired to get on the internet, I'm getting better now though. Have been doing a tiny bit of hiking here as well. I have good hiking boots that really help with my bad foot, they really stablilze it. In fact, I sometimes walk the dogs in them too. And I got a hiking pole to that aids me a little bit. But the trails I've walked on are small & easy trails. They are in the woods behind the campgrounds. Not all that big & no dangerous wildlife exists in the tiny wooded area where I am. Thank goodness! ;-)

Entering the Pa state line from Ohio

Pa skies are getting darker...and it's not night time.

Rain...rain...rain...then a torrential downpour. Of course, the downpour happened when I pulled over for gas! I like to keep a full tank when camping. I did not do that in Ark, didn't want to make that mistake again. Plus after passing station after station that was selling gas for $3.75per gallon, it was nice to finally see it at $3.49 per gallon. Then when I get to my destination, it was offered at $3.44 per gallon & the price is coming down now. Go figure. But hey, I'm here now!

Ellie in my Mom's driveway. Pssst, don't tell her about this picture. The yard has since been weedeated. heehee

The best thing about this place is the 30amp plug in -- YAY!! Which is a good thing as it's in the 90's again today.

OK, I now have to go climb up on my roof  ::sigh::   The etrnabond is lifting away on the front of my overhead cab roof line! ARGH!!! So I have silver duct tape that is weather proof to put over it for now. It's a better than nothing fix for now. But I am not happy about this because it's a reflection of the work previously done on it by um...professionals...uh huh. And the overhead window that they resealed with the rubber gasket. Well, they caulked the daylights out of it, so it's lifting! I can do a better job. I'm 1400 miles away from them now, so I'll have to fix it myself. Grrrr & grrrrumble.

But I'm taking pictures for proof!

I hope ya'll are having great days! Thanks for stopping by :-)

~As always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor~

Trip Travel - Part 2 (DeGray Lake, Caddo Valley, Ark)

OK, so after my last post of staying at a convience store/gas station on the night of May 25th, I moved on into Marshall, TX. Bad luck there. One incident happened on what I wish not to go into again...the other incident happened just a few blocks after getting gas. I hear a funny sound, then I hear thumping under the hood. OK, that's not right! So I pull over in a strip mall. Open the hood, strings? Huh? Oh crap, sepertine belt is disengrating!! That's not good. Can't drive anymore. So I go into a store for help, it's a holiday (of course), the girl at the store calls her mechanic. No luck. He doesn't answer, he's not working that weekend. And it's a Saturday to boot.

So my next decision is to talk to people in the parking lot..

Me:"Hi, are you from here" (yea, really dumb question coming from me as if someone asked me that, I'd run!).

A couple of folks, "yes, we do".

Me: Can you refer me to a mechanic?

Them: "No, no one is working this weekend, due to the holiday."

Me:  OK, thanks.

Finally, someone else pulls into the parking lot. He's stopping at the store for a new phone card. I ask him, he says, "Oh yes, I'll be right back! I'll go to the mechanic & talk to him!"  Do I trust this? What choice do I have otherwise? I can call my roadside service, but they'd have the same problems I'd have finding a mechanic on a holiday too. So I decide to trust that this guy will be back.

About 45 mins later, he returns! Yay! With a phone # for the mechanic. We call the mechanic, I get an answering machine, with an incomplete message. Kind of actually sounds like a bad fax machine. Bummer. So I hang up. Then mechanic calls  back! Good! We're in business. He comes out with his son. Sends his son to get a new serpetine belt AND a new power steering belt as well! Cool. Life isn't so bad after all. AND the man that was helping me stayed with me the entire time! We visited & spoke of family, he spoke of his wife & children. A really nice guy. He works for the commissioners office. Fortunately, I have bottles of water in my fridge, which I hand out to the mechanics & him.

So we get that job done. All in all, they only charge me $85, which includes both belts. Good & great that there are still really good people in this world! So I get back on the road, back on my way.

I've lost time, but I am once again, stupidly DETERMINED to make it to the Iron Mountain State Park at DeGray Lake, in Caddo Valley, ARK. And I make it there! Fortunately before the office closes too. No spaces!! NOOOO, that can't be!! I'm an idiot! I don't even take it into consideration that it IS a holiday weekend. DUH! They tell me that I can go to one of the boondocking sites & pay $10 a night for that. They only use those for emergencies & with the way I look, I guess I qualified for an emergency. I have less than a quarter tank of gas...not good for boondocking & needing to run the generator to keep the dogs cool! So I pull over & cry at one of the sites. I decide to move on because why pay for boondocking when I can find a WalMart after it cools down for free. But bummer. As I'm leaving the park, the lady runs out of the building & tells me I'm in luck! A cancellation! So I grab it for 3 nights! Yay! Now I can finally relax, take the dogs for walks & run the a/c!
Things are going well. Then on Monday, I hear a terrible noise! I'm thinking wow, someone is really doing something LOUD! I"m outside working under my awning. Then I realize that it's coming from INSIDE my RV! Uh oh...not good. A/C is making a horrific sound! So I shut it off. Turn on fans, wet the dogs down & climb up on the roof. Take the shroud off the a/c to see if there's any frost on anything. The fins are badly damaged from hail storms, so I sit up there & straighten every single one out with my hands. Clean up the unit, put the shroud back on. Climb down the ladder, turn the a/c back on. Sounds good for about 3 mins, then the horrible noise starts again! Crap! So now I can't use the a/c. But I have to stay there because it's early in the day & I need to keep the dogs cool with electricity, fans & water. (wait, that sounds a bit lethal huh?) BTW, it's 95 outside, no breezes. It's 95 inside, the only breezes are from fans...
So the next day, I leave early in the morning. So we can all benefit from the cooler outside air when I pull over to RV shops. NO ONE CAN HELP ME!!! I have very little, if at all, phone service there! So I get friends to call around for me. NOPE, no one can help me!! So I drive to Little Rock. Camping World. They'll take a look at it, if it's my fan motor, they can order me one & have it delivered to Missouri. Um, no thanks. They were $129 & it would have cost me another service fee at a different RV shop in Missouri. So I decided to drive straight to Missouri. Made it about an hour or so outside my destination, but it's now night. So I pull over for the night. Get to Beyerle's RV in some town in Missouri. I beg, plead, offer my first born (which I've not had yet & at this point in my life, it ain't gonna happen), so they say, OK, we'll take a look. I flip on the genny, I turn on the a/c. It's quiet. No horrific noises. So I tell them it'll take a few mins, I'll come get them. Nope, no more noise! So then I tell them it's like taking a sick dog to the vet -- you get there & the dog is fine! So we all figure that a mud dauber nest was probably in the squirrel cage & got dislodged on those rough roads getting there. As did the top panel of my fridge! Found it on the floor....but no biggie. It just popped back into place. But those roads were horrid!

So then I move onto Purina Farms, where the dog shows are. I'm finally glad to be settled somewhere for the next several days!!

Below are some pics of Ellie at DeGray Lake...er at the campgrounds. $14 a night. Good deal! You get electricity, but you have to fill up with water when you get in if your tanks are empty. And you dump on the way out...or on the way in...or both like I had to do. I like to camp at the Iron Mountain section:

http://www.iron-mountain.com/

 Our campsite, site #54 I believe. Thanks soo much to the lady at the front & good timing for a change!

I didn't have any ground covers with me. I now have them, but didn't have any with me then. The ground did have weeds on it, but fortunately, they didn't seem to stick.

Views of the lake. I could walk down a short trail to the water to sit & watch the boats. There were boats everywhere. I took some pics, but haven't edited them yet.

Wildflowers everywhere.

My workstation. Day one, I finished up on some beading projects. The man of the family on the neighboring site kept staring at me, watching me. He was curious over what I was dragging outside in those black bags. It almost made me wish I had guns to clean or something just to see his look change! But I guess beads aren't very threatening huh?

My workstation day 2. Where I got on the internet just long enough to leave a post, then get dumped before I could post it! Could not get online again after that. Nor did I have any cell phone service here. A friend later asked me where I was as she hadn't heard from me. I told her I was in the woods on top of a mountain! And I was ;-)

From the lake looking up...can you find Ellie?

 Some of the other campsites.

 The view out my back window. BTW, I took the bike off my rack yesterday...totally flat tire. Bummer! The tube is not holding air. Bummer!

It's high time that Murphy go away now -- forever!!

~As always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor~

Trip - part 1

Thank you to all who commented on my unfortunate news of my last post. I am getting better, but it's a really difficult thing to come to terms with. I never forget to treasure & value life...

So I decided to do kind of a trip journal, will start this page with the beginning  5-22-12:

This I call Darth Vader. DV wakes me up sometimes. A neighbor I believe does this & it sounds very much like DV when it wakes you in the weeee hours of the morning!

So I move on:

I get up, get dressed, take my last items to storage. This is what my van that I just had worked on did to me! I took it by Aamco & they did a reading. It's electrical, it's still drivable though. Soooo...

Awe, screw it. This is what I did for myself later that day! That is, after I had a doc appointment.

I only had one, but it was quite good!

5-23-12

Ellie goes to the mechanic for a tune up & oil change.

Ellie is shameless. She spills her guts for all the world to see. But she's ready for the big trip now!

5-25-12

YAY, we're finally on the road!!!

We drive, & drive, & drive, & drive....I'm on I-59 heading north out of Texas. I want to get out of Texas on that day, but I left late (8:30pm). It wasn't possible to make it that far for myself & my foot. In fact, I had to drive a lot before I could simply find a place to pull over for the night! But I found a place to pull over in a small town outside of Marshall, TX for the night, so we're relieved. Although it's 2:30am! I walk the dogs & we all go to bed.

More to follow on my next post.

I hope everyone here is doing well. I'll try to catch up as soon as I can. I've been pretty fatigued since I arrived here. I'm in Pa now. Weather has been great! Although folks here are complaining about the heat?!? HA!!! They'd die in our heat at the bayou city of Houston, TX! They'd simply die! It's been around 84 here, but low humidity. Ahhh, to me, that's a real vacation alone!

~As always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor~

I'm here, I'm sad -- Recap

I'm here, but I must say that this trip has not been a good one. Thank you to everyone for your concerns. Today is the first day I've turned on the computer since I left my campsite in Arkansas. I tried to post from there, but didn't have very good internet. Lost it midpost & wasn't able to get it back. So I gave up. So here's a recap of my events..I've been very saddened & will explain.

May 25, I was DETERMINED to leave that day! And I did. It was a very long day of stuffing preparing items & such for my trip. Around 8:30pm, I finally pulled out of the driveway for my long awaited trip! Yay! I drive, I drive, I drive...I'm tired. No where to pull over. I'm on 59 heading north to Arkansas. Finally, I found a place to pull over around 2:30am. I pull over & go to sleep for the night. Next morning, I get up, take care of the dogs & head on. I pull over at a gas station in Marshall, TX, I get gas. I pull out of the station & head down the road, a kitten darts out in front of me!! I hit it. I cry. I've NEVER hit anything other than a rabbit & a possum in my life!! It devastated me. Poor beautiful little kitten - gone forever. Damn. I cried for days over that. But I get a few blocks from that unfortunate incident AND my Serpetine belt breaks! I hear this noise under my hood. I pull over in a strip mall, cut off the engine, open the hood & see shreds of what looks like thread. Then I realize it's a belt, I look & yep, it's shredded alright. Oh goodie, it's Saturday & a holiday weekend! Thank you to a very kind man that works for the commisioners office in Marshall, he was able to get a mechanic to me. The mechanic changes out my s-belt & my power steering belt as well. So I get back on the road & am on my way to the State Park I like to stay at in Arkansas. After several hours of driving, I arrive to the Iron Mountain State Park in Caddo Valley, ARK. At DeGrey Lake. Nice place. No spots. Oh crap. It never occurred to me that they'd be full. I don't know why it never occurred to me, but it didn't. They offered me a boondocking spot for $10 a night. I have a quarter tank of gas, can't run my genny. Of course, I could leave the park & go get gas, but if I have to pay to run my genny & can't run it after 10pm, I might as well move on & boondock at a Walmart or somewhere. But  go check out the spot anyhow. I pull in & cry more. I'm still very upset over the kitten. And I'm exhausted. The thought of driving on didn't appeal to me, so I debate on whether to take the spot or not. I drive back to the rangers station & the lady meets me at the door. Good news! They just got a cancellation & I got that spot! Man was I thankful! $14 a night. Yipee. I pay for 3 nights. Sat, Sun & Mon. Cool. First day, we just chill, I walk the dogs a lot & try to mentally detox. We're enjoying the sights of the boats on the lake, etc. Monday, I hear this really loud noise. I'm thinking, wow, someone is doing something really loud. Then I realize that the noise is coming from inside of my motorhome!! Uh oh. Not what I planned on. So I rush inside, it's my roof air. I cut it off quickly. Other campers come to help me with advice. We're all thinking the fan motor is going out. And it's a holiday. No places open. One camper gives me a number for an a/c place. I call. They can't do motorhomes or RV's. They only service houses & businesses. So I have no choice but to open windows & put fans on the dogs. It's 95 outside, very still, very hot. Dogs are better kept inside with fans & getting spritzed with water. But I worry. Finally, night falls & it's a little more comfortable for us all. The next morning, we head out. I call SEVERAL RV places, I get friends to help me call as I barely had any cell phone service. NO internet service at all. I drive to a few RV places, nope, all they can tell me is to leave my RV with them & they'd get to it in a few days. Um, not possible. So I decide to keep driving, hitting RV places along the way. Camping World offers to look at it, (Little Rock), they declined on the phone, but when I showed up in person, they said they'd take a look. BUT if it was a motor, then they'd have to order one & have it shipped to me. Cost of looking $129. But I'd still have to pay someone else to install. So I thought maybe it would be better if I moved on, using the dash air to keep us all cool & just keep heading to my destination in Missouri. I get into Mo, I think, OK, I'll stop & walk the dogs at the state forest. I could relax & they can stretch their legs. We're enjoying our walks, until I discover that hoards of ticks are attacking us!!! EEEKS! We're outta there!!!
I drive till I find a convience store & pull over for the night. Head back out the next morning & drive to Beyerle's RV in something Mo, which is not far from where the dog show is. I beg, plead, etc for them to come out & look at my roof air. They come out. I crank on the genny, I turn on the a/c. It's running fine. I told them in a few mins that it will act up & I'll come get them when it does. well, it behaves. So it's like taking a sick dog to the vet. You get there & the dog is fine! As was my a/c. So we decide that a mud dauber nest or something had gotten in the squirrel cage & got dislodged with the rough roads. So far, so good on the a/c! So I'm pleased with that.

Get to the dog shows, we have 4 all breed shows before our saluki nationals starts. We do the all breed shows & I share a booth with a friend of mine. She writes books & has a booth for her books, but wants me to share the booth for my jewelry, so I do. She has 3 of her salukis with her in a pen at the booth. They are really sweet well behaved dogs. I enjoyed being around them. Then finally, our saluki nationals begin. We go down, set up for it. We go to the grocery store & stock up on supplies. We are soooo looking forward to camping out & cooking each evening. Then something horrific happens. My friend decides to take her one year old puppy up to the puppy play area, which is fenced off to play with one of her littermates that comes to the show. So I stay at the campsite & they take off to the play area. Problem, her puppy spooks when they get up there, bolts & gets away!! She's GONE!! She took off totally! We get a sighting on her, but we don't personally see her. So my friend sets up camp where she was last spotted. I went up every day & spent the days with her after I take care of my dogs. Then I come back & take care of my dogs again & go back till the end of the day each day. Finally 4 days after she's gone, she's sighted again. We jump on it & she sees her puppy, eye to eye. Puppy takes off again!! She's scared & has gone feral. Salukis tend to do this when they get spooked. Poor puppy is scared living in the woods days on end, but she keeps moving around so no one can see her. Day 5, my friend calls me & thinks she's going to come to her any minute now. Then we get the devastating news that she's been hit by a car. A really, really super nice married couple are also helping that live on the property near where the puppy had been hiding out. They allow the puppy to be buried on their land. So sad, so very, very sad. We are all still very devastated over all this. And my poor friend had a break down when she went home & entered her home without her puppy, seeing all her toys & things around the house. It's going to take us all a very long time to heal over this, if ever.

So I am now at my Mom's in Pa & am trying to mentally heal. Please take the time to appreciate life today. Hold onto loved ones, let them know you love them.

Sorry that this post was so long. As you can tell, I'm not ready to go back to my daily blogging, but I'll be back to my old self soon.

Loves & hugs to all -- TexCyn