Out and About For a Couple of Days

Hello blog Peeps!  The boys and I took off for a couple of days for, possibly, our last run of the season.  Hoping to still get one more in, but it all depends on work, the weather, the moon and the stars.  You get the idea.  If everything aligns we're golden.  Speaking of the moon, the harvest moon is coming up this weekend. The Super Moon here. 

A dental appointment took up my Tuesday morning, and as I sat in the chair I kept thinking Miss Freedom wants to go somewhere.  Yes, yes she does.  Where would she like to go?  Oh I know, somewhere EAST because that is what comes to mind first.  OK, east it is. 

When I arrive home on this perfectly lovely, kind-of-on-the-hot-side late morning I grab my California Benchmark Atlas and choose Upper Rush Creek Campground just outside of the tiny little town of Adin, population 230 something.  I throw some things together, load up the waiting Miss Freedom and off we go.

The campground is a few miles east of Adin and two miles off Highway 299.  Once you get back there it's heavily wooded with pines and cedars and true to its name Rush Creek tumbles and gurgles along one side of the loop of 10 campsites, 'rushing' to it's unknown--to me--destination.

We choose site number 3 on the creek side, and I set up camp.  This consists of pulling out the backpacker stove, my anti-gravity chair, and the tie outs for the boys.  A pig-headed wire hair fox terrier and two rambunctious minds-of-their-own chiweenies can't be trusted to stick around.  Oh they would come back, I am sure, but I am not into the stress and worry so they must stay prisoners of the camp.  Poor things.


I notice vault toilets and water spigots.  Glad to see they have water, but I am kind of a water snob and used to drinking the best dang water ever out of my own tap at home so I brought some.  The boys aren't quite that discerning so they get creek water, and I take their bowl over to fill it up.  No water.  What the heck?  Well, it is getting on in the year, perhaps they have already shut it off for winter.  Glad I brought a couple of gallons; I'll have to share my treasure with Burger, Fries, and Charlie. 

We are the only ones in this campground!  How nice!

The boys and I take a fast paced walk consisting of them pulling me along as fast as they possibly can; have to sniff and hike and pee on everything they possibly can.  It might disappear, you know! And we take a short siesta.  Short because I hear something skittering around outside the back side window.  The boys are sound asleep which is a good thing, because I want to see what it is.  Something catches my eye on the small pine just outside the window and I wait.  Just a few seconds later a sweet little furry face peeks around the tree staring at the van as if to say what the heck are YOU doing here?  It's a Douglas squirrel, also known as the pine squirrel or chickaree, and he keeps circling the tree, hesitating every few inches on his way down the trunk until he reaches the ground.  When he gets there he just stares at the tire for a time and cautiously digs around on the ground before leaping about two feet up and onto the trunk and he is gone.  These are gorgeous little creatures with darker fur than a grey squirrel and smaller by half, and rusty red-to-orange fur on their bellies. 

I read several chapters in my book, the second in a three-book historical fiction series by Jane Kirkpatrick.  Excellent reads if you like that kind of novel. 

It's time for dinner and I gather some twigs and pine needles and build a tiny fire in the backpacker stove to cook a veggie burger (doctor's orders, no more meat.  Dang!) .

 It's pretty darn good, actually, and I like that I can eat all the starches I want.  Starch, veggies, and fruit and this girl is already losing weight.  :) 

The view from our table

 

The boys and I enjoy the rest of the dying light in our little slice of heaven by taking another walk.  It's the last one of the day beside a quick before-bed pee run, then prepare to head inside our Vome where we settle in for the evening.  And guess what shows up?  Another van!  They park two spaces up in camp number 5.  It's white, a cargo type vehicle, and has a pop up top!  Nice.  There's a bicycle attached to the back bumper.  I am going to go say hi and be nosy in the morning.  I'd love to know if they are living in it, or just on vacation.  Something tells me this is their lifestyle. 

Goodnight all.  Hope you sleep as well as I know we will.  See you tomorrow with "the rest of the story". 

Thanks for stopping by! If you enjoy my blog, please follow and comment below by clicking on the little comment  link that is below every post.  Email addresses are never published, nor are they ever shared.  Hugs, Shawna

 

A Dog Day Afternoon

Hi there!  Thanks for stopping by today.  Yesterday I spent a dog day afternoon.  Yes, it was quite warm outside, but I am not referring to the weather.  I spent the afternoon making dog beds!  The days are getting shorter and even though the afternoons are very warm, the mornings are very cool. 

The Chiweenie Brothers -- and I think most small dogs --- do not like to be cold.  I jokingly call Fries "The Heatalator" because his body temperature is high and having him snuggle up to me is like having a small electric heater against my skin.  Yes, he is a warm one and he likes to stay that way.  Charlie isn't quite as warm blooded but he, too, likes to snuggle and be warm.  And winter is coming! 

So while cruising the internet looking for something completely unrelated I ran across a site called Craftsy and they were offering a wad of free patterns for all kinds of things.  This little envelope bed was one of them.  You can whip one up really fast. I made two envelope beds and a sleep pillow (Burger had to have something, too!) in just a couple of hours.  You can find the directions HERE. 

After a few rounds of musical dog beds, they chose which one they wanted and curled up for a little siesta. Just look at Fries' sweet little face.  Doesn't he look content?  And Charlie is already in doggie dreamland.  The Chiweenie Brothers will be warm and cozy always. 

 Burger doesn't look too pleased with his.  He would rather have one of the Chiweenie Brothers' beds!!   I think he knows I used some fleece I cut up for dog blankets many moons ago and he is having none of that!  We'll work it out..................

So we have two warm, content chiweenies and an upset wire hair.  BUT,  these beds cost me a fraction of what one has to pay for a dog bed in the stores or on-line.  I chose the fleece from Joanns.com (it was on sale for half off and I love the cute paw print pattern) a bag of poly fill-- also on sale--and had a coupon for free shipping.  I made the beds a bit smaller than the designer's thus using less fleece, so that was a savings, too.  You can make the beds any size you need; just remember, fleece is 54" wide.

Thank for stopping by Two Dogs.  Hugs, Shawna 

Meet my kids..............

I am one of those people who thinks everyone should

have a dog. Or two. Since I am just starting out with this personal blog adventure, I wanted you to meet my family. Now this isn't my human family. I have 2 wonderful sons, 3 fabulous grandchildren, and 5 wonderful step grands, and I love them dearly. The family I am talking about is the family that I have now. The ones who live with me on a daily basis. My two dogs, AKA my "kids". My Bostahuahua, Toonie Mae Hound Princess Dog of Burney and Charlie, my wire hair fox terrier. I made up that breed name, the Bostahuahua. You see, Tooners is a Boston terrier and chihuahua cross. I am pretty sure she isn't one of those deliberate "designer dogs", more the product of a one night stand, but if this isn't a legit breed, it should be. Wonderful little dog. She's the mascot for my nail salon and most of my clients say hello to her before they do me. And they notice if I leave her home. Which hardly ever happened until I got Charlie. Charlie doesn't like the smell of acrylic so I only bring him with me to the salon for a half day on occasion, when acrylics aren't on the menu. I sometimes leave The Princess home to keep him company. She is not fond of this treatment and lets me know her displeasure, but she gets over it fast enough. But I digress. I am fostering Charlie in hopes of adopting him sometime down the line. He is the casualty of divorce, the father of the family leaving and then the mother ending up leaving a few months later abandoning this sweetheart in the backyard to whatever fate handed him. Not sure how long he had been in that backyard but when he came to live with me, he was extremely thin and fearful. But he holds no grudge and has not let that horrible treatment interfere with his chance at a new life. Dogs are so resilient! The heartless cruelty that some people can impose on helpless creatures is something I will never understand. There is NO excuse for this. None. But I won't get on my soapbox on that subject. At least not now. So here are my two "kids" in all their sweetness. I am sure you will get to know them a lot better as we head further down the path of our new life.

I do not intend to let life's circumstances deter me from marching on into a new life either. Yes, times are tough, but I am tougher. The dogs and I will be fine and everyday has something to be thankful for. Well, maybe a snowy day when it is almost spring could bring a setback :-), but we are nothing if not resilient. This too shall pass. I thank you for stopping by and please do so again. Have a wonderful, week, and please.........count your blessings! Adios from the Three Amigos.