My First Guest Post

A few days ago, I was invited to do a guest blog for a site called RVparking.com.  The site is basically a place where fellow rver's can post reviews and photos of the different campgrounds and rv parks around the county.  In addition to the reviews, they also have a blog.  Topics for blogs are varied, but generally are educational and about the rv lifestyle.  Of course, I chose to inject a bit of humor with my contribution....you can check it out here, Holiday Plans?
I do find these types of site useful......I like to hear what other rvers have to say about campgrounds and rv parks that they have visited.  I do like the fact that RVParking allows you to upload photos as well.  Many times I have visited an rv park or campground web site and found "select" photos which somehow never seem to truly represent the site we find ourselves in that evening.  So, check it out if you have the time.
Lastly, I want to say a big Thank you for all the comments and support on the adoption of Mesha.  She truly is a joy and such a sweet girl.  Mesha is doing well....eating lots of food now and feeling comfortable enough to show us her "stubborn" side....LOL!  She also seems to think she is a "lap dog" and as soon as I sit down she is right there determined to fit as much of herself as she can on Grandmama's lap.....I love it!

So it is Mesha not Meeska

OOPS!  I have been corrected......my son's husky is called, "Mesha".  Somehow, I saw a "k" where there was none.  As you recall, we were planning on bringing Mesha home Saturday.  Well, she did so well at the vet's on Friday (being spayed) that they called to let my son know he could pick her up by 2pm.  Sam and I quickly made a trip to the pet store to buy a few doggie supplies.  Then he borrowed our x-pen and set it up in the house.  We have no idea if Mesha is housebroke and no idea if she still has that puppy tendency to chew!  Plus we thought a more confined space might make her feel a little more comfortable until she adapts to her new surroundings.  Unfortunately, my son had to go into work at 4pm.  So...it was Grandmama Debbie to the rescue.  Mesha was pretty out of it, but did seem to enjoy the security of the x-pen.  We never actually "shut the door", but she seemed quite content to lay on the pad we made for her there.  We never had that first accident....so I think she had been house broke by the previous owners.  She did have trouble keeping anything down, but I was not surprised by that.....she has been through so much these last few days.  My son was home by 10pm and took over her care.  They both had a good night and in the morning she was defiantly looking and feeling better.

Here you can see how thin she is....look at those ribs....but still a beautiful dog!

And it didn't take her long to make herself at home here on the couch....LOL!  Look at that sweet face....so loving and such a good girl.  I hope she knows that she is finally home!  Sam made her some scramble egg for breakfast.....it took her awhile, but she finally did eat.  I think she is going to be an amazing dog and give my son years of enjoyment and love!  Of course.....you know that sweet face will find it's way to my easel.....LOL!

Meeting Meeska

My son has decided he wants to adopt a dog.  He shares my love of animals and has been around dogs pretty much his entire life.  So, I was not surprised that he wanted one of his own.  Even though he is 28, we had the "responsibility" talk.  Yes there are many joys to owning a pet, but also many responsibilities.  My husband says it is like living with "toddlers", they always need something.  Once I was convinced he understood and was ready for all that comes with doggie ownership.....I gave my blessing and suggested we check the local shelter. 
Once at the shelter, we were allowed to go back to where the adoptable dogs were kept.  This is very hard for me.....because I want to take each and everyone of them home.  It was also little overwhelming.....lots of barking...the noise was deafening.  We went through one room and then down a hall to another and it was there we found "Meeska".  Meeska is a Siberian Husky.......she has beautiful blue eyes.  She was quiet and quickly came to stick her nose through the cage and lick our hands....tail waging.  I kinda knew we had found "the" dog.  We went back out to the desk to ask about her and much to our surprise....no one seemed to have much information.  Apparently we had wondered into an area we were not to be in and they were not even sure if Meeska was available for adoption at this point.  She had just come in a few days ago.....found wondering the streets.  I knew she was a stray.....she was very thin.....you could easily see her ribs.  They told us to call back later in the day and they would be able to tell us if and when she would be available....so we waited.  Later that day, the phone call was made.  Meeska was available....she had passed her temperament test and was up to date on all but her rabies vaccine.  I told Sam the next step was to go spend sometime with Meeska and make sure she was the one.  The next day we found ourselves back at the shelter.....where we were formally introduced to Meeska.  We found her to be very sweet and loving and oh so excited to see us again.  I looked her over.....she is thin, very dirty, and in heat.  I took her through some basic commands and was pleasantly surprised that she knows....sit and lay down.  She also stayed right by my side as I walked her around the room.  Her only bad habit was jumping up, but she is a smart dog and she will respond well to more training.  I told Sam this was a good choice....and he felt the same.  Back at the front desk, Sam completed the adoption papers and arrangements were made for her to be spayed.  We also asked that they give her a bath before she goes for the surgery.....otherwise she won't be able to be bathed til after the stitches are removed.  She really needs a bath and a good brushing.  If all goes according to plan, Sam will pick Meeska up from the vet Saturday.  Then the fun really begins!  I will be writing all about it and I will have some photos to share as well.  One last note....I know times are tough for a lot folks, but if you can give anything at all.....your money.....your time.....a bag of food....I'm sure your local shelter would really appreciate it.  Even the smallest kindness can make a difference in an animal's life.  Think about it!

Early Morning Alarm

Early this am I was awakened to a very high pitched alarm.  I sat up in bed, trying to determine where the sound was coming from.  Of course, both my furballs were up and panting....knowing something was not right.  We made our way into the living room and I found it was the propane detector.  So, here I am, down on my hands and knees with a flashlight in one hand and two crazy furballs...one on each side...panting away and trying to be as close to me as they can possibly get.  Where is Billy, you might ask?  Billy is sleeping peacefully in the bedroom.  Yeah....he doesn't hear a thing...it is just me and the dogs.  I finally found the reset button and got the thing to shut off.  Now, I'm trying to figure out....why.  Back in the bedroom I go...with my entourage of furballs.  I wake Billy and inform him of the situation...his response...."Is the furnace on?".... Me, "Is the furnace on?  We have been running the ac for the past 3 days.  No dear, the furnace is not on".  Billy, "the batteries probably need to be changed".  Me, "No dear, the detector is hard wired".  Billy, "OK".  End of conversation....alright, I'll just wait and see if it goes off again....it did.  Me and the dogs are down on the floor once again.  This time I have a screwdriver in hand.....I removed the face plate and pulled out the wires.  At this point, Billy appears...I think he must have opened his eyes long enough to see me with a screwdriver...scary stuff! We decide to cut the wires.  I then made Billy get out the little hand held propane detector that he uses when he refills and replaces our tanks.  We check out the fiver and it did not detect any propane anywhere.  So, we are both guessing that the hard wired detector is now defective.....another item for our repair list.  All is well and back to bed we go......of course, my furballs are not convinced.  Cosmo, who sleeps with us, continued to stand watch over me.....panting away, hot doggie breath on my face.......while Billy peacefully drifts back off to dreamland!  Life is good....right?

Repairs

As most of you know, we have quite a list of repairs for our fifth wheel this year.  I think we have decided to wait until early fall to make our trip up to Elkhart.  It will give us a chance to do a little "saving" for the bill.  With any luck, the diesel prices may also come down after summer is over.....but I'm not holding my breath on that one.  We are comfortable here at the AOK and being in town is a definite plus.  The only thing I'm a little concerned about is our ac unit.  If it should decide to "give it up" in the middle of an Indiana hot and humid heat wave, then we will be forced to head to Elkhart sooner rather than later.....LOL! 

AOK

Thought you might like to see where we will be spending the summer......

As you can see, we have some nice green grass and a fairly good size site.  Our pull through is gravel, but fairly level side to side.  We have been here a little over two weeks now and so far, so good.  The park is fairly quiet, but there is a fair amount of traffic in/out of the park.  I think that is due to the folks that live here full time.   Most of the more permanent and "unsightly" units are to the far back of the park.  We took a walk around and were happy to be up front away from all the trash.  The units back there are very old, unkept, and surrounded with years of "junk".  It really is too bad.  I think this park has potential if they would force people to clean up their areas and do some maintenance on their trailers.  It certainly has a prime location here in Lafayette.  You are close to all the shopping and dining and only an hour away from Indianapolis.  It will be interesting to see if we get any race fans over the race weekend.
Yesterday the sun finally shown and I think today we will again see those bright rays of sunlight......been a loooonnnggg time in coming.  Unfortunately, the rain and clouds will be returning late Saturday.  It seems like this is the exact pattern we had last summer.  A very cool and wet spring and then summer was dry, very hot, and very humid.  Saturday is Triston's (our grandson) birthday party.  I'll be making the cupcakes today.  

Missing Comments and Firefox 4 and Repairs

Woke up this morning and fired up the computer as usual.....checked to see what all you kind folks had to say about my latest blog and "WHAT!!"  O Comments!  I had comments when I went to bed last night, "What the hey is a going on!"  I quickly went to my Gmail and found all the comments were still in my inbox, but they all should have been automatically posted to my blog.  After a little noodling around, I found out that blogger had apparently done some type of maintenance during the "dark of night" and put in some bad code....screwed everything up.  To restore the system they had to go back to an earlier time....before the bad code....and so a lot of us lost comments.  Apparently they are working on fixing all this mess, we shall see.
My other issue this am is getting used to the new look of FireFox.  I have been using FireFox as my web browser for awhile and I really like it.  I know where all the little buttons are.....ya know, the little house for your home page, the little swirly arrow for refresh.  I did the upgrade to FireFox 4 yesterday and now everything is in a different place.....the whole top of my web page looks askew to me now.  I know I will get used to it, but I guess at this point I just don't understand how moving things around made FireFox any better.  I have yet to explore all the new supposed "bells and whistles", but I doubt I will be impressed.  Has not anyone ever heard the phrase, "If it ain't broke don't fix it!".  LOL!
Which reminds me, we have a kitchenaid mixer that is about 30+ years old.  A real work horse.  One year I bought Billy a "new and improved" model....supposed to be bigger and better.  It was a piece of crap!  Right outta the box it had problems and after much debate, we finally did get the manufacturer to send us a new one.  Still the new just couldn't stand up to our old one.  So we kept the old one and gave the new one to our son.  Sadly our old kitchenaid bit the dust a few days ago...we were both really upset because we didn't know what to go to for a replacement.  But it was Billy to the rescue.....he got online and found replacement parts were still available.  He took it apart and found we had a couple of broken gears.  The new parts came yesterday and he made the repair and she is good as new!!!  YEAH! 

Weather...really

Really?  Are we all still talking about the weather?  Seems the weather is still a "hot topic" around blog land.  I know here in Indiana the temps have jumped up into the high 80's and low 90's with very high humidity.  So unusual for the month of May.  I hate having to run the ac, but we just don't have a choice.  Knocking on wood that the ac continues to perform, it has one of those "come and go" noises.  Occasionally it develops a "rattle" sound....most folks we talk to think it is the fan out of balance.  We have added it to our repair list for Elkhart in June.  Unfortunately, we seem to be building quite a repair list.  I'm sure you remember the trouble with our furnace, then there is the recall on one of the frigs, the low water pressure at the bedroom facet, the damage repair from the blown tire, and yes it is time for new tires all round.  To top that off, we would like to replace our 7000lb axles with 8000lb axles.  I'm still waiting on my washer and dryer and then.....well....you get the idea.  I remember explaining to my son once that "money doesn't grow on trees" and one had to be patient and save for all those toys he wanted.  His reply, "I know money doesn't grow on trees, mom.  You just need to go to the bank and push the buttons on the money machine (ATM)."  I then had to explain to him that we had to have money to put into the machine before we could take it out......a concept he still struggles with I think!  LOL!  
I'll leave you with one more thought.....my husband commented the other day that I was an "energy star" wife.  I turned and gave him that "what the heck does that mean" look and his reply, "after a few minutes of inactivity my brain goes to sleep".  I think his complaint is that sometimes it (my brain) is difficult to "wake" back up!

A Great Mother's Day

One of the best Mother's Days I have seen in a very long time.  We spent the day with our son, grandson, and his mom.  After church, Billy and I made the kids dinner.  Billy did his world famous mashed potatoes and I took care of the  chicken with home made noodles and fresh green beans.  Saturday,  I spent most of the day making a pumpkin pie and a coconut cream pie for our dessert.  We also went bowling Saturday evening.  I have not been bowling for probably 20 years.  It should have remained that way.  I managed to slip and fall out there on the lanes.....falling hard on my right knee.  I can't even describe the pain I felt, but it was intense.  I was really afraid I had broken or cracked my knee cap, but thanks I'm sure to all the great milk I like to drink the old bones held up!  I'm sore, but everything seems to be in working order....LOL!   Hope everyone had a super Mother's Day Weekend!

Lafayette

We made it into Lafayette, late yesterday afternoon.  The campground here is called the AOK and used to be a KOA.  Unfortunately, it has seen some hard times.  Amazingly, the place has a ton of rvs here....in fact all the 50 amp sites were all spoken for and we had to settle for a 30.  I really can't imagine what all these folks do here, but it is the only rv park for miles so I guess it is "location, location, location".  The folks that run the place are very nice and at least we do have plenty of grass around for the furballs.  You can tell they have had a ton of rain here and more is on the way.  I just hope we don't get back into that pattern of severe weather.  I am going to miss being at the river property, but the drive back and forth to Lafayette was killing us in both time and diesel money. 
We went over and surprised the kids......our grandson, his mom, and our son....they were not expecting us til Friday.  Took them out for dinner at one of our favorite pizza places and really enjoyed seeing them interact as a family.
Today we have a little shopping to do, but I think most of our time will be spent here at the fiver with our "butts" in our easy chairs.  We are both tired from the last few days of travel.  

Good Morning, Dad

Good Morning, Dad.  As I sit, watching the sunrise across Tuttle Creek Lake, I just can't help but think of you.  I think I get that "early riser" gene from you....LOL!  I can just see you sitting out on your deck this am, sipping your coffee, and contemplating your day.  Know this....Sam is home.  You'd love this COE park we are in....and we have an awesome site.

 This is a large pull through overlooking the lake....not bad...ay!

 Here is a shot of the front of the site.  We have water and electric all for $9.00 a night thanks to Billy's Senior Parks Pass.  You can check it out at this link, Tuttle Creek Cove Park.  The park is almost empty, most folks were pulling out as we came in yesterday.  We will be spending two nights here, so we will be back on the road tomorrow (Tuesday).  Have a good day, Dad....and give everyone there a big old hug from us!