What Dogs See

I am now a happy person that shares her home with two dogs. Miss Sophie has moved in with us full time. She is a Miniature Pinscher, 6 years old and just a delight to have around. Zuni seems to be happy with her but she does have moments of jealousy. We took our first trip in the van with our puppies and it was great. Miss Sophie has a calming effect on Zuni so when the furnace kicked on Zuni stayed on the bed and didn’t try hiding under the passenger seat. Mom and I went to Phoenix for the weekend. This week we are planning a trip to southern Arizona.

The only trouble I had was sharing my little itty bitty bed. I put Miss Sophie’s bed between mom and me. Then I put Zuni in bed with me. It was a cold night and Miss Sophie decided that it would be much warmer under the covers with me. I don’t know how it all came to be but I ended up laying half on the dog bed with Miss Sophie curled up next to me. So I threw the dog bed toward the front of the van and pulled my pillow over. That night I slept in a question mark position to accommodate the two dogs in bed with me. The next night I was able to put the dogs in positions that would allow me to sleep like a normal human. I am curious to see what will happen on our next trip.

I have had a few unusual occurrences. I mentioned it once and the reaction from the folks who read this blog was interesting, so much so that I never mentioned it again. I have had long discussions with someone who knows and understands. Someone who knows what to say when I call and say I see the color brown. She recommends that I find someone who deals with dogs and what they see. Dogs see or sense things that humans cannot. I have a dog that watches something that I don’t see. She can stare for minutes at something or she will move her head like she is watching something moving. Tonight she came running into the house after her walk only to stop suddenly and give a low growl. Then she stood still for over a minute watching something that I couldn’t see. So what does she see?

Is this something I can google?

Life is interesting.

Wild Burro Trail

	Heading Home
	My little Sophie Girl

Song Of The Day

"I Wanna Get Married"

I wanna get married
Yes, I need a spouse
I want a nice Leave it to Beaverish
Golden retriever and a little white house
I wanna get married
I need to cook meals
I wanna pack you cute little lunches
For my Brady bunches
Then read Danielle Steele
I wanna escape
This rat race I've created
I'm feelin' enervated
I don't care if I make it
I just want to bake a sugar cake for you
To take to work in the morn
And I'll stay home cleaning the dishes
And keeping your wishes all warm
I wanna get married
That's why I was born

Life Is Good

Dinner with the family.

Top 10 Absolutely Do Nots!

Top 10 List Of Absolutely Do Nots For Zuni.

10.)  Do not take the shoes by the front door and hide them. 

9.)  Do not chew on the trash bag. 

8.)  Do not eat beetles they have a tendency to bite back.

7.)  Don't eat my socks.

6.)  While we are on the subject, don’t drag my underwear or bras throughout the apartment.

5.) Don’t grab my nose.

4.)  Don’t chew on my feet at 3:00 a.m.

3.)  As much as I love gifts, please don’t pick up anymore dead mice.

2.)  Don’t chase lizards, birds, or anything else that moves.  I haven’t ran that fast since 2nd grade.

1.)  THE CARPET IS NOT A CHEW TOY!

Fortunately, there are more thank yous than do nots.  The number one “thank you Zuni” is for showing me that butterflies do fly at night.

A Day In The Life…

I have not lived closed by my oldest son, James, in over 10 years and during that time he has gone from being a teenager to a grown man.  He is five minutes away now and it is fantastic to have him near. You could say we are getting to know each other again.  There is one quirk in my personality he has forgotten and that is my ability to have unusual people approach me without my encouragement.  The first time it happened with James was a couple weeks ago when we were ordering ice cream and this man walked in and singled me out to ask what I ordered.  I told him Dark Chocolate and Coffee.  That started an interesting conversation between light and dark, in that order.  He was explaining it to me not in the sense that dark is evil and light is good but how nature marches in light and dark.  I had to disagree with him on that and he pointed out my choice in ice cream.  Then he explained how the ground was light and the sky dark.  You know it made sense.  The whole time I was talking to this gentleman my son kept trying to push his way between us and then he tried to pull me away.  I tried to explain to him that this is what happens to me and I have had only a handful of scary experiences that I was able to deal with.

The one thing that hasn’t happened to me was having someone approach me in my vehicle when it is in drive.  There is always the first time though.

A few days ago I had to slow down to avoid hitting a lady.  She then ran over to the van before I could hit the accelerator and knocked on driver’s side door.  I rolled down the window and the aroma of a alcohol wafted in.  She said “can I have a ride?”  I asked her for her purse and she gave it to me and I told her…  get in.

I decided that if she is carrying a weapon it would be in her purse and what she was wearing left very little to the imagination, button up shirt with one button buttoned and shorts that would make Daisy Duke blush in shame.  She explained she needed to get to Frys to pick up her meds.  Such a sad lady.   No I will not pick up anymore strangers because that did make me feel uncomfortable.  It really surprised me that she was so quick to hand me her purse through the window.  The power of drink.

I tried to be constant just like a star I tried to be steady and yar But the storms keep breaking over my head I'm aching for blue skies instead 'Cause I'm a zephyr on the inside And it's a hard ride when you feel your heart tied down Hide-and-earth bound But there's no tether I'm a zephyr ~Mary Chapin Carpenter~

What Shall We Do With A Drunken Sailor?

That is the mood I am in. The Blaggard’s versus is a little risqué, to say the least.  If you want to hear it just go to you tube or download Dropbox and let me know that you did and I will send it to you.

We are wintering in Tucson and rented an apartment.  Renting an apartment is a lot different than 30 years ago.  We were shown an apartment with furniture and pictures on the wall.  Freshly painted and professionally decorated, we liked the price, and it was cute.  Then we found out that this isn’t the apartment that we will be renting.  WTH  I was taught never buy anything until you take a look at it.  When I insisted to see the apartments that were available I was told I could only look at the one I was shown.  So we rented one sight unseen.   We did get to pick it out from a map and we are pleased with it.   We have beautiful views of the mountains and we live next door to dog people, which in my opinion are the best people in the world.

After hanging around my grandpuppy, Sophie, mom and I decided to adopt an older dog.  That way we will know if there are any medical issues and psychological issues.    We found a mix breed, about 7 pounds, and we were told she was  a year old.  Perfect.  In the beginning she was quiet and she acted like a dog.  Then the  honeymoon period ended about a week later  with a high pitch yelp.  She loves to start off in the bedroom and run lickety split to the living room squealing.  So I looked into her mouth and discovered baby teeth.  She is a puppy.  Truthfully I just didn’t want to deal with chewing and housebreaking.  She has wormed her way into our hearts as all puppies do.  She is doing great with housebreaking and she seems to be fairly well adjusted.  She is getting over her fear of loud noises and she has found her voice.  She is not quiet but she knows hush.   Mom changed her name from Tweeter to Zuni. 

My life was tragic and sad
Yeah I was the archetypal loser
I was a pageant gone bad
Then there was you on time
And wagging your tail
In the cutest mime
And you was in jail
I said woof, be mine
And you gave a wail
And then I was no longer alone

“The Dog Song” Nellie Mckay

 

Mom and I are well and adjusting to this new lifestyle.  We are looking forward to taking off for a week though. 

Yes kids I will blog about “What Do You Do With A Drunken Lady” tomorrow.

Lazydays RV Park Formerly Beaudry RV Park

Sir:

My mother and I were thrilled to learn that Beaudry RV Park was purchased because it was very convenient to our needs when we were visiting Tucson. We were customers of Beaudry RV Park and had stayed there quite a few times.

My mother and I live in a 2009 Roadtrek Van and that seemed to confuse the guards during our stay in October. We planned to stay the entire month but left early. We were asked by the guards on a few occasions if we had a tow vehicle or if this was the only vehicle we owned. The guards also seemed to be very confused on what questions to ask and what gate to let us in. One time we actually thought we were going to have to get a motel room for the night. Fortunately I was given two identical passes, one to place on my dash and one I could hold up so the guards could see it coming and going. That stopped the guards from stopping me on several occasions when leaving the park. I decided I could put up the aggravation until we left at the end of the month. Around the 15^th I was trying to leave your RV Park. I had my pass on my dash and I was holding up a pass…. I was stopped and told I could not exit unless I had another pass, a day pass. I was told that every time I wanted to exit the park I had to stop at the office and pick up a day pass. I told the guard to let me out and I will not be returning. He was kind enough to let me go and I went in search of another park. I will never stay at your park again. It was a horrible experience and one I will not repeat.

The service department: *** was wonderful the service on my newly replaced air conditioner was not. It is still acting up and I have another company working with me on that issue.

My experience with your company was horrible. I told the person who called me that and now I responding to your letter. Please do not contact me again.

Sincerely

Elizabeth M Richardson

I Am Still Alive

I was a bird that loved to fly
Catching the wind as it went south
And I could touch every inch of sky
And the sweetest songs trilled from my mouth
But I'm no bird anyone can see
And there's no wind waiting for me
It's just a dream, it's just a dream
To be a bird flying free
I was a cloud that loved to drift
Offering shade to lay upon
And the greenest grass was my gift
And a summer day was my song
But I'm no cloud anyone can see
And there's just dust instead of green
It's just a dream, it's just a dream
To be a cloud drifting free
I was a light that loved to dance
Without a care of who might see
I tempted fate and welcomed chance
And I held the world inside of me
The clouds have fled, and the birds have flown
And the light that was is all but gone
It's just a dream, it's just a dream
To be a light
To be a cloud
To be a bird
Flying free

Mary Chapin Carpenter Lyrics

Changes

We have been in Tucson most of the summer. We took a few weeks off to travel north but other than we have been staying in Tucson. When we first arrived we had every intention to leave as soon as mom’s doctor visit was through. Unfortunately he found some problems with her blood work and referred her to a kidney/hypertension specialist.

The first doctor mom saw, she called him Dr. Dum Dum, was not very good at communicating. He wouldn’t return calls, took mom off her blood pressure meds substituted it with another drug that didn’t work. She asked for another referral from her primary doctor and we finally have one that we like. Her blood test is fine but her blood pressure isn’t. She checks her blood pressure twice a day. We are on top of it. Due to this we decided to winter in Tucson. We plan to hit the road again as soon as mom’s blood pressure is stabilized.

Our decision was made easier because of having family here. My son and his girlfriend have moved here from Washington. Mom and I have even baby-sat. I know I have said that I am not a kid friendly person but it is easy to be one when it comes to Malachi. He is a neat person and mom and I enjoy him.

The question came up if I was going to maintain my blog since we are not traveling like we use to. We are planning to take side trips here and there. I also have a lot of hiking I want to do so yes I am going to blog but it will be on a weekly basis. So I will sit down every Friday and type. I will blog more when we take our side trips.

We also decided to rent an apartment, short term lease, instead of staying in the van. This way we can focus more on diets and have a little more room. The joke between mom and I is the dog has a bed but we don’t. We are going to have a BYOC (bring your own chair) party after we moved in. Mom and I just look at this like another chapter in our lives.

Anna's Cakes

Another wonderful cake by Anna.

Shhhhh

Blooger For Iphone

This is done using my IPhone.

Girl’s Weekend

My son, James arrived Friday pulling a trailer with the rest of their belongings.  We all jumped in to help unload the trailer and as soon as we were finished, Anna gave James a kiss good-bye and we left for our weekend in Phoenix.  As an employee of a certain hotel chain she receives free nights at an expensive hotel.  So mom and I were treated to a $300 a night hotel.  It was awesome.  It was a beautiful hotel and we enjoyed our stay immensely.  We arrived Friday night and decided to go the the Botanical Gardens on Saturday.  As usual I took to many pictures.  Enjoy.

We (Mom and I) are currently heading to Wickenburg and will be there tomorrow.

To learn more about the Desert Botanical Garden, Click Here.