The Plans are in Process...

We are Over the Moon Excited!!

We get to go back and visit one of our most favorite places!! You all know how much we love traveling in the RV...mama told us today that we are going to go on a vacation to the BEACH!!! Oh Wow! We have so much to do to get ready!! Here's a few pics so you can see what it looks like!!

Holidays & Pets: The Perfect Match?? NOT.

With the holiday season upon us, many pet parents are planning to gather friends and family for fun festive parties.  Keep in mind that although you might be ready to ‘Deck the Halls’, your four-legged friend may not be.   Jingle Bells, Figgy Pudding and Tannenbaum create the perfect recipe for misbehavior.  The family pooch probably isn’t accustomed to lots of guests and merriment so they might be tempted to act out, if you’re not prepared.  So, if you’re stressing about how to manage Fido so he doesn’t steal from the table, raid the trash, beg, jump, and whine, then ‘Rest, Ye Merry Gentlemen (and Ladies)’; Santa isn’t the only one with a list this year.

Check out the following simple ways to help ensure your dog is on his best behavior and is the pawfect host this holiday season.

1. Tire Him Out
   A tired dog is a good dog.  In all the preparation for your holiday party, it’s easy to forget how important it is to exercise your dog.  Remember, a bored and restless pooch can get ‘bad to the bone’.  Make it a high priority to take your dog out for a long walk or run him around in the yard.  With all the preparation and attention to detail you’re doing to make your party perfect, having a wound up dog with pent up energy could mess up the whole works.  The day of your party (before the guests arrive) exercise your dog so he can get it all out of his system. Dogs that are taken for regular walks, runs or hikes won’t need to release pent-up energy by chewing, begging or barking.  This means he’ll be better behaved and more relaxed, so you can be, too.
   
2. Keep Him Occupied
   Be sure that you have an ample supply of your dogs’ favorite toys, treats, or bones – that you KNOW will keep him busy.  Toys that stimulate your dog mentally will not only keep him occupied but the mental stimulation will help tire him out.  If your dog is a Kong lover, try stuffing a Kong or two with peanut butter and them putting in the freezer – this will keep your pooch busy for a while!  Food dispensing toys are also excellent options.
   
3. Practice Good Behaviors
   It’s never too late to reinforce and practice good behaviors.  Start your dog on a refresher course of the basic commands (sit, lay down, stay, wait, leave it, etc.) today!  As always, make sure you have high reward treats on hand.  Also, be prepared on the day of your party or gathering with a good supply of those high reward treats so that you can continue to reward your dog for his good behavior.
   
4. Have a Back-Up Plan
   Even the most well behaved dogs can forget their manners with all of the excitement and distractions of holiday festivities so it’s important to have a plan B.   If your pooch just can’t curb his enthusiasm, place him in his crate, behind a baby gate, or perhaps on a tether.  If you do have to separate your pooch, give him something really special to keep him occupied.  If your dog normally gets hard biscuits in a Kong, stuffing it instead with a mixture of high-quality dog food and some mashed sweet potatoes will be especially exciting.
   
5. Assign Doggie Duty
   In the hustle and bustle of the holiday, it’s important that your pooch is attended to appropriately.  Recruit and assign a family member or friend to help you keep on eye on your little four-legged host.  They can help keep him in line, curtail any overly generous food-giving guests, and take your dog out for potty breaks and little walks. 

So, don’t worry.  With a little preparation and practice and a lot of consistency, your dog's good manners will so impress your guests (and Santa, too), that you both are sure to earn your spot on the “GOOD LIST” this holiday season.
Thanks to TWP for this informative description!!

There are Some Days...

There are times when I could just S C R E A M!!!

One would think that the girlz would know the routine by now. They see bags being packed and set by the door.

They see THEIR things being put in THEIR bag and placed INTO the vehicle.

Their carseats are already installed in the back of the Jeep.

The cooler with the food is the last thing to be packed. When the mama walks out to the car carrying THEIR leashes...they KNOW it is time to go!!

Now we do this a couple of times a week.

One would THINK they would GET it.

Today.

Not so much.

Drives Ben and I totally NUTS!!

We get in the car which is fourteen thousand seven hundred degrees because it is HOT out and the car has been sitting out in the sun.

The A/C does not seem to be working AT ALL.

The girlz were told to go to the bathroom BEFORE entering the vehicle.

One did. Chloe.

LadyBug did not.

We aren't one half mile down the road when the panting starts.

Another half mile down the road and we are in FULL FLEDGED PANTING ERUPTION mode.

Seriously?

GRRRRRR!!

So. Exactly ONE mile down the road, we pull over into the public boat launch area.

Ben gets out and loads another can of freon into the A/C.

I let the girlz out to "take care of business".

Chloe goes AGAIN. This time...POOP.

More poop than can comfortably come out of a small Bichon.

The problem....it doesn't come all the way out.

So...now I have to go back to the Jeep and get out my trusty WIPES. Of course, I do not have anymore babywipes left, so I have to use the Clorox Orange Scented...fortunately bleach free...wipes. To be more specific, it actually took me EIGHT wipes to clean up this mess.

By this time, LadyBug has gone and we are now ready to re-enter the vehicle.

All loaded up and back into the vehicle.

Chloe's panting has not yet subsided. In fact, her heart-rate is increasing by the second. We make it approximately ten miles down the road and we have to stop for gas before getting on the highway. I decide to simplify this little endeavor by taking the girlz out AGAIN while Ben gets gas...and we also have to grab something at the drive through because we are both starving.

By the time both girlz have gone AGAIN and re-entered the vehicle, I jump out and head in to order our food. This was not supposed to take very long. It was intended to be a very quick stop.

As I'm inside waiting for the order to be ready, the girlz are driving Ben totally Up The Wall. By the time I arrive back in the vehicle, the girlz are hyper-ventilating and are in desperate need of water. Lots and Lots and Lots of water!! Fortunately, I had thought ahead and put a little dish and container of water under my seat. The girlz decide that they both MUST fit their tongues into this little dish at the EXACT same time as they are both entitled to drink FIRST.

The panting continues.

Ben is threatening to pull over at a nearby animal shelter.

We wolf down our food and I end up giving them MORE water as Chloe is still just hyper-ventilating.

Finally we get on the interstate and head home. We are fortunate that the girlz have decided that they now need a nap.

Ben and I are freakin' exhausted. There's a tractor trailer off to the side of the road and emergency vehicles all over the place and FIRE! So, we wait for a few minutes....that seemed like hours.

Then, we made it the rest of the way home.

We open the mail and discover that we earned a free Pizza! The coupon expires in an hour.

One quick phone call and a drive back and forth to the pizza place...I now have my free pizza AND an order of cheese breadsticks!

YAY!

Was it worth it?

I am just too tired to even think right now.

We are all going to sleep.

Hope you all had a better day than we did!!

(Next time we should just take the RV. We NEVER have to stop for anything then!!)

Aces High RV Resort in E. Lyme CT

We absolutely LOVED the Resort we stayed at in CT. I had a whole collage prepared to show you....however; due to technical difficulties .... GRRRRRR!!!

This is what I have for today...hopefully collage will be available tomorrow!!

The colors were amazing!!! This is the view from our bedroom window!

Pennsylvania Dutch Country

Here are a few scenes from our recent trip to Kutztown, Pennsylvania. We stayed at the Pine Hill RV Resort. I would highly recommend it!! The girlz loved it and were very well behaved on our trip.

I felt like MISbehavin' due to the tremendous heat and humidity!! I kept thinking....I am in Pennsylvania...not the Caribbean!! It was especially bad on our last day because we had to attend a picnic which was held outside for many hours. Due to my illness, my body does not tolerate heat or humidity. I was miserable.

On the flipside, it was a good trip and nice to see Ben's daughter and her children as we hadn't seen them since South Dakota last September.

We will be heading North again soon and I am so very glad!!! Cooler temps....yay!!

Summer Memories

The summer of 2009 was a whirlwind for us!!

We were all over the place it seems...

Do you have good memories of last summer?

Anything special???

Tell me what you did Last Summer!!

Wasn't that a movie title?? ha!

More of the Tennessee Trip...

Here's a few miscellaneous pics of the trip...it was so nice just to see the sunshine and not to have to wear a coat!! I realize I should have waited a bit til the flowers were out, but with opening the cottage, this is the best time of year for me to go visit!

Since my sister and I used to go to Movie Night every Tuesday night, the timing was perfect for us to watch the Academy Awards together and we celebrated with an Oscar party...lots of snacks!

The Tennessee Trip Begins...

I 'm Back...Sort Of

Had a wonderful visit with my sister but learned that anyone with an autoimmune disease should not travel on airplanes.

I have been in bed and feeling just awful since I stepped in the door.

Lots of pictures to show, but will take some time to get them uploaded and sorted out.

Just up taking meds and heading back to sleep....

Hope all's well with you guys!

Leavin' on a Jet Plane!

I'm on my way to visit my sister...will be online when I can!!

Edited to say: I'll be in Tennessee!!!

Image Courtesy of Business Week

We Did Deadwood!

Now....this is NOT good...
BUTTE-CUSTER CO PLAINS-FALL RIVER- HARDING-HERMOSA FOOT HILLS- NORTHERN FOOT HILLS-RAPID CITY-SHANNON-SOUTHERN FOOT HILLS- STURGIS/PIEDMONT FOOT HILLS- 358 AM MDT WED SEP 2 2009
...VERY HIGH FIRE DANGER...

THE GRASSLAND FIRE DANGER INDEX WILL BE IN THE VERY HIGH CATEGORY TODAY.

Elkhart, Indiana - Day Two

I didn't get to upload any last night...WIFI is spotty at best here in Elkhart! The one of the sunset was actually taken yesterday at Geneva On The Lake in Ohio...what a beautiful resort that was!

We are hanging in there and up early and on the road again!!

Weekend Commuting...

For the past ten years I've spent summers at the cottage from July through October. This year....with our strange travel schedule, we are commuting back and forth on weekends. It's been a long time since I've done this! I find it to be alot of work...between packing and unpacking, laundry, grocery shopping for both places...etc. How on earth did I ever find the time to do it all when I worked full time? I haven't a clue! At least the weather is supposed to be good this weekend! The girlz and Zip are enjoying the trips and have gotten quite used to going back and forth...thankfully!! Have a great weekend!

Missin' Vegas...

When I met my husband I was in my early thirties and we did ALOT of travelling...and I mean ALOT!! Since I had never done much prior to meeting him, it was a whole new world for me! One of our trips was to Las Vegas. It was one of the highlights of my life! I felt like I had been living under some sort of rock for my entire lifetime.

Vegas is very hard to describe! It's like "excitement in a can" or something!! If you have never been....GO!!! There is so much to see and do!! We didn't even get a car...we spent every waking moment just looking and laughing and pointing and EXPERIENCING everything!! Of course, it was much more exciting to me than it was to my husband.

Well....my daughter, now 23, is visiting Vegas for HER very first time and so.....I get to experience it again in a way...through all of her excited phone calls and texts! She loves it just as much as I did!!!

Isn't it wonderful to have such terrific memories of a particular place??

St. Simons Island

Every now and then I have to throw in a random post from our last Big Road Trip....these are some shots I took on St. Simons Island....check out the white bunny! Never saw an albino bunny before....these two were there every single morning....and they would come right up to us and eat carrots out of our hands! St. Simons was beautiful and I'd really love to spend some more time there!!

On another topic....thank you all for your help with the decision on my glasses. I haven't made a final decision yet, but I'm thinking I'm going to just keep them all! Then I'll have a bit of variety...you know...some days I might be a librarian :) Thanks Joy - Ha!