Lizards, Lizards, Everywhere

One thing Florida isn't short on is critters.

Yesterday or the day before, I told you about all the little bugs flying inside the RV that Mike tried to vacuum up in the air. Well I had told him they had been biting me. Of course he thought I was just being silly. Then last night I began complaining about it again. He blew me off until he saw one above me and he clapped at it to kill it. When he looked at his hand to see if he got it he saw blood on his hands. Then he believed that the bugs were indeed biting me. His first comment was that he sure hoped the tick we found on me didn't have a disease as now he had my blood all over his hands! Men.

Today after the dogs got back from their morning hike, we ventured out to DeSoto National Park. The main reason for going there is it is on a beach that dogs are allowed on if they are on leash. And since it is so warm here - upper 80's today - we really wanted Slugger to have a chance to swim.

It turns out this is some really historical place. I didn't read any of the signs so I can't really tell you about the historical aspect of it. But there was a nice little trail through the "forest" along the beach. However, it took us quite a long time just to get from the parking lot to the trail as the place was just covered with lizards. I'm truly not kidding when I say everywhere you looked there was a lizard. And since lizard hunting is Slugger's favorite pastime he saw no reason to even leave the parking lot.



Finally after much pulling and tugging we got to the trail. This too was slow going as there were just hundreds of lizards. I was busy watching Slugger do his little lizard punching (just the cutest thing you've ever seen) when I noticed Wazzu suddenly perk way up at something to the right and slightly behind me. I turned to look and just about jumped out of my pants. It took me a minute or two to be able to breath normally again. There were two guys in the forest staring at me that I had not seen at all.



Oh my goodness, they looked so real. There were probably 10 or 15 places along the trail where different guys were hiding in the forest. They looked so real it was unbelievable.

Anyway, we finally found the beach. Problem was the water was only up to your ankles for probably 40-50 yards out. So even with the long line Slugger couldn't do anything but wade. Good thing Mike wore his shorts as he had to walk out quite a long way so that it was deep enough for Slugger to swim. Slugger had a great time chasing his toy - until he noticed the girls were chasing lizards.

We continued the walk and came across an area where there were really fancy homes that each had at least one fancy boat anchored near their house in a beautiful little cove.



The kids didn't want to leave but once again we were meanies and told them it was time to head home. On the way back to the car I heard a loud noise out in the water and noticed what I call an Alligator Catching Boat. I know that's really not what they are called but it seems like that's when I've seen them on TV. Oh, I know I remember seeing them on Flipper. Well here's a picture - you decide.




Debbie
11/29/06

Thanks...but NO THANKS!

This morning Mike found a nice place to take the dogs on a hike. It was quite a ways out but that was good because no one else was there. That meant that the girls got to be off leash the whole time. They had a great time but had to rest now and then as they aren't used to this 80+ degree weather. Since they had run into ticks in recent weeks, Mike checked them over very well before they came home to make sure they weren't bringing any ticks back. He was very relieved not to find any ticks on any of the dogs.

After lunch Mike took us on a tour around the Sarasota area. We sure saw some beautiful sites. We drove from the mainland over to a long narrow island. We could see the Gulf on both sides. As we drove we saw a place where they are having a sand castle building contest. These sand castle displays were huge and very intricate. Unfortunately we couldn't find any place to pull over so I could take a picture but it really was spectacular.

Further down the road we found numerous beach access parking areas. So we thought the dogs would love being on the beach in this weather. But as it turns out, dogs aren't allowed on the beach even on leash. So Mike walked around the parking lot while I went to take a few pictures on the beach. I felt so out of place. I had jeans and a t-shirt on and felt so overdressed. People weren't just wearing shorts they were all wearing bathing suits. They were listening to their music, laying on their cots, and drinking their cool drinks.



We continued on our drive and found a very small little park where dogs were allowed. It really wasn't even so much as a park but just a small little grassy area in front of a parking lot. But it was right on the beach. Little did we know that this would be Wazzu's favorite place on earth.

There were probably 30-40 squirrels in this little grassy area. In addition, people must come here to feed the squirrels as they were extremely tame and would come toward you and sit up waiting to be fed.



Well, what could be better than tame squirrels. All three dogs were very excited. The problem was that two of them went ballistic. So Mike had to take Sparkie and Slugger over to the water. Wazzu however just wanted to make friends with the squirrels. Wazzu can be a statue and move slower than a snail when trying to befriend an animal. Of course, at this speed things take a LONG time. So we spent a long time stalking squirrels.

Unfortunately, ever since I got my compact camera it has times when the lens only opens about 1/3 of the way. But on those cameras you don't actually look through the lens so you don't know it didn't open all the way until you look at your pictures later. So I thought I got a perfect picture of Wazzu touching noses with a squirrel. But the camera did cooperate. So here is the best one I got.




Since I wanted to see the rest of the scenery Wazzu had to stop playing with the squirrels, much to her dismay. When I turned to join the others I found them peacefully enjoying their day.




The view from there really was beautiful.




There must have been a lot of fish in the waters here as there were many pelicans hanging around. And every 20 seconds or so they would dive into the water to catch a fish.



It was non-stop action and really fun to watch. I could have watched that for hours. Now I guess I understand how Wazzu could do the squirrel thing for hours.

As we continued our drive we came across a touristy part of town. It was kind of like a "build it and they will come" place, as suddenly there were lots of people. We hadn't planned on stopping but I noticed a unique pet gifts store so needless to say we stopped.

The shop owner welcomed the dogs with open arms....or to be more exact, hands full of treats and a nice big bowl of fresh water. The dogs had a great time in there. Slugger was so cute. Since it was so hot he had his big smile face on. He would stretch as tall as he could to put his front feet up on the counter and look over to ask for a treat. I tried to take a picture as he was so adorable. But the camera did its darn lens trick again so I didn't get the shot. That did it. The camera got returned and now I'm searching for a new camera!

The dogs were now tired so we could relax and watch TV a bit. Suddenly I unconsciously felt something on the top of my head. I went to scratch it and noticed it wasn't just an itch, I could actually feel something. I had Mike look and sure enough it was a TICK!! We got it out and noticed it didn't look like the ticks the dogs get.

So we got on the internet to do some research and found a picture of one that looked like the one on me. Interestingly enough it is called a female American Dog Tick. We've never seen one of those on the dogs...just on me. We did research and found that it is very uncommon for those to have Lyme Disease. Phew. Gosh, do they make Frontline for people?

I told the dogs thanks for bringing me a gift from their hike but if that's what they are going to bring me then NO THANKS. I normally wash my hair pretty thoroughly but tonight I washed my hair for probably 30 minutes! Boy, it really hurts. Now I really feel for Wazzu! She gets ticks often. In fact, we found one on her this evening too. But hers was a Brown Dog Tick - the same kind we've always found on her.

Well, I guess Wazzu and I are going to have to start eating lots of garlic!

Debbie
11/28/06

Moving....across town

Much to Sparkie's dismay, when she woke up, all the people and all the agility equipment was gone. Since we were just moving about 10 miles away we stayed at the fairgrounds until mid-day.

I had decided to walk around for a while and wanted to take one of the dogs with me. Slugger normally just stops in one place to look around for 10-15 minutes at a time. Sparkie goes this way and that a hundred miles an hour. So Wazzu was the obvious choice.

Wrong. Wazzu got to the trees and saw squirrels. Now she didn't want to move! I tried to be patient for a few minutes but she showed no sign of moving on and I really needed to move. So I left her and walked the field around and around. Even though she was only a dot from that distance I could see that she hadn't moved. She was like a little statue. Forty five minutes later she was still there. She didn't want to come when we finally called her to come in.

We moved to a place a called Winter Quarters Manatee. It is just on the outskirts of the Tampa area. It is a huge community on a very large lake. There are over 450 spots. I'd say at least half of them are permanent "mobile" homes. They are fixed up so beautifully. There is an extremely large clubhouse that seems very active. This is a park where they come around and pick up your garbage each day. And riding in the cart that pulls the garbage trailer is a sweet, tan, and very happy pit bull. He sure seems to love riding around in that cart. You couldn't get Slugger in that thing in a million years! After all it looks almost like that puppy eating machine we tried to get him to ride in when he was little. (It was a small John Deere tractor pulling a little garden trailer.)

Anyway, since it's in the mid 80's, we thought it would be a perfect place for Slugger to go swimming. That is, until they told us there were alligators in the lake! I'm afraid to even let him sit in the nice little yard Mike made the dogs! So no swimming, but it is very beautiful here and the people here are all very friendly. Since this is one of the only parks to not have age or dog restrictions there are lots of dogs here. And as we all would expect, there is lots of love here and lots of very friendly people.

Being warm and next to a lake we are getting swarmed with these tiny little bugs…like gnats. They are so little you can just barely see them. But being so little it’s hard to kill them. They are swarming me – how bothersome. And they bite! I keep feeling all these little bites. When I try to kill them I just end up hitting myself and the bugs get away. So Mike got out the vacuum and tried to suck a bunch of them up. He got a lot but certainly not all. So even though it’s warm I think we’re going to have to keep most of the windows shut as they are so small they come right through the screens. Oh, such troubles we have!


Debbie
11/27/06

The Travelin' Trio - Perfect

Today was the third day of a three day agility trial. And I'd say the day belonged to the Masons.

Wazzu went 5/5 and was extremely fast and happy all day. More on that later.

Sparkie went 5/5 and blew everyone out of the water getting 1st in every run by a very large margin.

Slugger went 1/1 and got 1st place! In addition, he got his Elite Tunnelers title. What a boy!

This trial overall was a great one for all of us. Wazzu ended up 14/15 and surpassed 7,500 lifetime points. Sparkie went 12/15 and got NATCH-7. And Slugger went 1/2. Good thing we don't take ribbons as we earned 60 ribbons total. We saved the club a lot of money by letting them keep their ribbons - we did take the NATCH ribbon.

This was the perfect place for a trial. Here is a picture of about 1/3 of one side of the arena.



One side of the arena was all bleacher. The other side totally open (under cover) for crating and vendors. There was probably 30' between the rings - very nice and open. The judges brought probably the most fun sets of courses we've ever run. They were challenging but doable and very wide open. Lots of flow. Other than the first jumpers run of the trial the courses were very motivating for the dogs.

Back to Wazzu's happiness. It was obvious she was feeling well healthwise this weekend. In addition, Mike made homemade bread for her treats. Numm, what could be better than that?! Well we actually found something. Squirrels.

Behind the arena were some oak trees. A perfect place for squirrels - and Wazzu knows that. There was a very active family of squirrels living there. They would run back and forth between a couple trees and then chase each other around and around the tree trunks. Wazzu found this fascinating. So right after each run, instead of dragging me to her treats, she would drag me to the watch the squirrels.

After our first run on Sunday she once again drug me to the trees. The trees were on the other side of a chain link fence so she could only watch the squirrels. But there was one tree on our side of the fence. We hadn't see any squirrels in that tree before this time back there.

This time there was a squirrel about 10' up on the tree trunk on our side of the fence. Of course Wazzu saw it immediately. She very slowly walked to the base of the tree. Both the squirrel and Wazzu stood perfectly still. After a couple minutes the squirrel started slowly inching its way down the tree. It finally made it to the ground and was only inches from Wazzu. Again both Wazzu and squirrel were totally still. Then slowly they each stretched their noses out a bit and touched noses. The squirrel then turned abruptly and went about three feet up on the trunk of the tree and just started making really loud squirrel noises. It just talked and talked and Wazzu stood still except now she was wagging her tail.

It was the cutest thing. I don't think there is an animal in the world that Wazzu couldn't make friends with. I so wish I'd have had my camera but we had just come off the course so needless to say I didn't have it with me. Shucks.

The food vendor at this trial was so inexpensive and was the food ever good! They had a huge variety of menu items. All the burgers (chicken, hamburger, sloppy joe, chicken salad, etc.) were all just $2.00. All drinks only a buck and probably the very best deal (and definitely the most popular) was the huge brownies for only a dollar. Oh my goodness, these were definitely the best brownies ever. Workers got free lunches. Mike should have gotten eight or nine lunches a day as he worked almost every class each day! But he enjoyed helping and they sure needed the help. I would think with brownies like that everyone would want to help!

After everything was finished and most people were gone we took the dogs out to the field (probably 40-50 acres) to play. We let all three off leash to play. They did the staring thing then Slugger took of just as fast as he could. The girls flank him on either side so no matter which way he turns he's in trouble. Sure enough Wazzu caught him and slammed him to the ground. While she was laying on top of him, Sparkie grabbed his collar and started yanking for all she was worth. We got them to leave him alone just long enough for him to take off again. But they caught him right away and proceeded to beat him up once again. Mike finally got them off him and he came over to me with his tired little baby face asking for protection. And they say pit bulls are mean! Poor little guy.

This evening we're watching football and savoring the awesome weekend we all had. Actually I'm watching football and savoring the weekend. Mike and the dogs are all sound asleep and one of them is snoring loudly! I won't say which one. The hard part is going to be trying to break the news to Sparkie that we don't have another agility trial for over a month. I think I'll let Mike be the bad guy on this one!

Debbie and the perfect Travelin' Trio
11/26/06

Happy Birthday

Today turned out to be a great day. It started out a little chilly (at least for me) but warmed up nicely to be a t-shirt day. It wasn't hot at all just perfectly pleasant.

As best we can tell, today is Slugger's birthday. Our sweet little baby is six! He acts much more like six months than six years. Unfortunately, we were busy with agility and he didn't get to participate today so it wasn't really that exciting of a day for him. Although we did take him out of the RV this afternoon so he could chase lizards. If we were more patient he could do that for hours! Second to swimming, I think it is his favorite activity.

Not of overshadow Slugger's day, Wazzu had quite the day herself. She was feeling good and showed it with a big smile all day. Of course, what's not to smile about when there is fresh homemade bread to eat and squirrels to watch! And of course agility to play with mom!

Wazzu went 6/6 today with many 1st's. She was a speedy and accurate girl today. And best of all, she did every run with a huge smile. I just love the days when she is happy and smiling. To top it off, Wazzu went over the 7,500 point mark in NADAC today. That's no small feat and has been a goal of ours for quite some time.

Wazzu and I have officially now reached every goal we have set for ourselves in agility. We have no more pressure on ourselves to reach any goals. We have some things we will concentrate on but truly the only thing that matters anymore is being out there together. I imagine we will accomplish some other milestones along the way but we will not set any other goals other than to just enjoy each moment together.

Sparkie had a great time today. She loves it when there are six runs a day. She went 3/6 today and got to do some bonus obstacles too! What could be better than that!

The trial this weekend is put on by a club called Cool Critters. I think they are mainly an AKC club but I don't know that for sure. I just know that the software they have has no clue how to do a NADAC trial. All the scores are incorrect - for all classes! You basically have to look at what's posted and refigure everything out manually. Wazzu and I aren't even in the correct height many times even though I try to explain it to them. They have us in 16 for the special skills classes when we should be in 20+. So I just figure out whether I Q'd or not manually.

And the PNW sure has it hands down compared to here as far as workers. They have a lot of trouble finding workers. The judge will be on the course ready and dogs will be at the line and they'll announce over the loudspeaker that the class can't start until they get workers. And they aren't just needing a leash runner or bar setter. They need timer/scribe/gate steward and more. I heard this announced numerous times and saw rings at a standstill just waiting for workers. Mike worked a lot of classes. I don't know what everyone was doing. I will say that I think there were a lot of conflicts due to the running order but nothing that we haven't seen other places.

This trial has a lot of vendors with a variety of articles. That is always nice to see. And of course, I always try to support them all. TeeHee. Oh, the lunch supplier makes the most awesome brownies. That was my lunch today - a little better for me than yesterday's Krispie Kreams. This is a great place for a trial.

Well, gotta go hug my dogs.

Debbie
11/25/06

NATCH-7 Sparkie

Sparkie is so happy today as she got to do agility again...after all it's been a whole week! She was perfect today Q'ing easily in every run - and getting 1st place in each. Mike and Sparkie really worked as a team very nicely today. They achieved NATCH-7 on a beautiful Regular run. Then the important part....Sparkie got cheese!!

Wazzu was so happy today. I just love seeing her with such a happy face. She got three out of four Q's. The one she didn't get was a perfect clean run and she was very happy so I'm totally happy with it. Wazzu got both a Chances and a Weavers Q in one day so that made our day. Plus her Weavers run was the fastest she has ever done Weavers. It was perfect.

Little Slugger got to do Weavers today for the first time in a long time. He made time easily (yippee) but missed one pole in the set of 12. That is a huge improvement and we are so happy for him. He really seems to be enjoying agility now.

The people here in Florida are so nice! I can tell they don't do a whole lot of NADAC as people at check-in were asking for their armbands, wanted to know where the weaves were in jumpers, and carrying dogs in and out of the ring without a leash. But you couldn't ask for nicer people. So many of them are introducing themselves and talking with us.

And best of all, it's t-shirt weather! It's cold in the mornings and cools down very quickly in the evening but the actual daytime is very nice. Not hot at all - just right. The arena is VERY large and covered and stays cool enough that the dogs don't seem hot at all. I'd say it is in the mid-70's during the day.

Time to go climb trees and catch those squirrels. This afternoon Sparkie probably went 10-12 feet up a tree after a squirrel. She's so amazing....and crazy!

Debbie
11/24/06

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a day to give thanks....and eat and watch football with loved ones. So I'd like to start off by thanking God for all the wonderful blessings he has given me. But I can't begin to list them all as it would go on for many pages. However, I'd like to list a few of them. I'm thankful for:
1) Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior
2) My caring and loving husband
3) My tremendously close and loving human family
4) Each day I have with Wazzu - the most amazing dog I've ever known
5) Three tremendous dogs that keep us filled with laughter, pride, and love
6) Loving, compassionate, and fun friends that truly are the best and who brighten my days more than they know!

We spent Thanksgiving day driving across Florida to get to our next agility trial. It was a wonderful drive and the fairgrounds here is very nice. Nice hookups for RV's close to the arena, lots of room for the dogs to run off-leash, squirrels to watch/chase, great running surface....and not near an airport!

Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Love and hugs,
Debbie and co.
11/23/06

Angry Ocean

Before taking the dogs on the "tick" hike again today Mike offered to take me on a short sightseeing ride around Jacksonville.

During the drive he took me to Hanna Beach to look at the ocean. Man, that was one angry ocean.



The waves were very large and really crashed loud and hard. It was so different than I've seen an ocean look like. I've seen large waves in the Pacific but they didn't look like these.



The most amazing thing we saw were the many pelicans. The would fly along just above the waves just before they would break. Then they would zoom up in the air and find the next wave to soar along. It's really hard to describe but was amazing to watch.



On the way home we stopped at a specialty bread shop and bought a holiday bread for Thanksgiving.

After dropping me back at home they all went on the tick hike. And sure enough came home with bunches of ticks. Yuck! During the hike Mike heard Sparkie start to scream....non-stop. He called and called but she just kept screaming.

Mike was petrified and was sure something was eating Sparkie. He and Slugger (who was on leash) ran back down the trail and called but just more screaming. So Mike and Slugger left the trail and went crashing through the many vines. Slugger led Mike right to Sparkie who was digging like crazy screaming the whole time. Sparkie does that when she can actually see what she is chasing....ie when is she hot on the trail. Mike was so relieved as he truly was scared to death.

Although Sparkie was safe, Mike and Slugger didn't fare quite as well. Mike has scratches all over his forehead and Slugger has scrapes on his nose and under his eyes from crashing through the vines to try and find Sparkie.

Mike is just so happy that Sparkie is fine that he isn't at all concerned about the scratches and scrapes.

Debbie
11/22/06

DUCK!!!!

No, not the quacking kind. Duck as in lower your head!

We pulled in to Tickville...oh, I mean Jacksonville, FL and checked into Pecan Park RV Resort. I expected to see Pecan trees but no such luck. We hadn't been here more than two minutes before it was clear that we were near the air force base. And my, a busy air force base it must be. With this many planes going over there must be none left overseas.

Turns out we are exactly in the path of the airport. I timed it. Every 40 seconds or so an airplane comes in - right over our RV. Here is a picture taken with NO zoom.



In the front of the RV if you turn the RV up really loud you can hear the TV. But in the bedroom the insulation isn't very good and I truly felt the need to duck my head. It totally sounded like the runway was right through the middle of the bed.

After getting set up, Mike took the dogs out for a hike. They found a great place and hiked for a couple hours. When they got back I noticed several black spots on Slugger's face. I asked Mike what that was and he said that the dogs stuck their heads in a bunch of bushes. Sounds plausible.

But a minute later I noticed there weren't as many spots. I called Slugger over and took a closer look to find the black spots were ticks. Mike checked the dogs out and found at least 25 ticks. Guess it wasn't such a great hike afterall.

I'm pretty sure sleep with be hard to come by tonight. Maybe I could hop next door to the airport and get those earplug things the workers wear!

Debbie
11/21/06

Pictures

Here are a few pictures that I was unable to post earlier. These were taken on Virginia Beach.

Slugger vs the Atlantic Ocean

Finally, I was able to get SOME pictures to load. Below you will see a sequence of Slugger and one stick chase. Hold your breath and enjoy! PS. Go back a few posts and check out the post titled "Boardwalk." I was able to add a couple pictures to that post.

Three Stars

Actually I don’t recall seeing any stars. But the only time I was outside in the dark I was so busy trying to see where I was walking that I didn’t have a chance to look up in the sky. But agility stars I did see!

This weekend was Sluggers first time in Elite. Did you ever think you’d see the day when Slugger would be in Elite?! We sure didn’t. But the little guy earned it by getting both his Novice and Open Superior titles in Tunnelers.

He ran once each day this weekend and did he ever show us. On Saturday he ran the perfect course and had plenty of time to spare. Yup, that’s right, he got an Elite Q and 1st place. On Sunday he once again ran very well but missed time by .30 seconds. There was one tunnel that led to the crowd and the next tunnel was a 180 degree turn back. Well it wouldn’t be polite not to stop and look at the crowd – after all they were all looking at him. And just maybe some of them were wanting to come pet him. He’s doing better ignoring the crowd but this was just way too tempting.

Sparkie ran like a true star all weekend. Just a couple minor things here and there kept her from a perfect weekend. But she really did run pretty every run. She had a number of 1st’s and even came super duper close to getting their first Weavers box! Actually they did all the obstacles with Mike in the box but Sparkie skipped one pole on the last set of weaves. She ended the weekend 9/12. And of course she was the talk of the weekend. But what else is new for our cute little Sparkie.

Wazzu was a bit conflicted this weekend. She actually felt really good but could tell I wasn’t doing well. I didn’t run very many runs with her but on most of the ones I did with her she went slowly as she was so concerned. And for the first time, even on the runs I did with her I didn’t even walk the course. I just glanced at it on paper a time or two and then off we went. She ran very well with Mike and Q’d in every run they did together. With me she missed time as she was just too worried. What a loyal girl I have. So she ended up 8/12. Guess I should have let Mike run her in all the runs and she’d have been perfect. Of course, I think she is perfect anyway.

The trial was held at Teamworks Training Center in Youngsville, NC and was a totally perfect site for an agility trial. They had two rings set up for the trial. Both were totally fenced and were very safe for beginner dogs as there was even a gate at the entrance to the run and the exit. We didn’t run at night so the lights weren’t on but the rings were lighted for night time use. There were a couple very large enclosed potty areas and separate large enclosed practice/warm up areas. In addition, there were a lot of flat crating areas.

They had a large covered area for lunch and raffle items as well as for posting the scores. And they had an indoor area for the computer scoring area. They had different bins full of various toys for 1st – 4th place. So depending on your placement you could choose toys/treats/supplies from the appropriate bin. Slugger leaned that very quickly and would sit in front of the bins and do a sweet little bark. A number of people seemed to think that was very cute. I’m sure it was! Lunch was provided to all workers that worked two or more classes a day. Oh, and there was lots of parking for both cars and RV’s right there in the agility area. In fact, we parked parallel right next to one of the rings. Talk about convenient! And right on site were some woods with trails and a little spot Slugger could play in the water. I think if you were to design the ideal outdoor agility site this would probably be it. And to top it off the weather was great. Cool enough for the dogs (even for Wazzu) and warm enough for the people (even for me.)

We met a lot of very nice people. In fact, Sarah Fix even invited us to her RV for a wonderful dinner with about eight or ten other folks on Saturday evening. It was very nice of her to think of us and we truly enjoyed both the food and the wonderful folks we met. I’m not sure what she thought of me taking up all her floor space though!

Time to watch some football.

Debbie
11/18-19/06

On The Move

Mike had wanted to see some museums and sights around Charleston. The weather had calmed down but there was a tornado watch in effect until three that afternoon. I told Mike to go do his tour but he said he couldn’t leave us with the possibility of tornados in the area. I told him to go ahead – we’d either be just fine or dead so either way he might as well go. But I couldn’t convince him.

So, since there was nothing to do and we couldn’t get TV or internet, we decided to go towards our Friday destination and at least stay someplace that had free WiFi. So we went 100 miles or so north.

The park had room for walking the dogs and we were able to get satellite. So it was a fine place to hang out while waiting for the storm to pass. The news was pretty scary showing all the devastation less than 15 miles from where we had been only a day before the tornado hit.

Hope all of you in the PNW are doing okay. We’ve heard about the nasty wind and rains you’ve been having there as well. Stay high and dry.

Debbie
11/16/06

Charleston, Charleston

**Pictures to come.

Wasn’t that the name of a snazzy dance song back in the 20’s? Well anyway, we went to Charleston but unfortunately there was certainly no dancing for us.

When we drive, Wazzu always lays on the couch opposite me and just lays there staring at me the entire time. But when we left on our drive this morning Wazzu wouldn’t lie down. She just stood next to me with very wide concerned eyes. She panted the whole time and was very nervous. The drive was our most difficult one on me due to all the starting, stopping and turning. But I knew Mike was doing his very best to drive as smoothly as possible. It just wasn’t possible. Wazzu seemed to be trying to tell us to stop. As it turns out she knew much more than we did what a problem this was going to cause. I’ve never seen her so uneasy.

We got to the RV park we intended to stay at and it was full. What! Six hundred spots in off-season and it’s full? We couldn’t believe it. They send us down the road a short ways to another park. This one was full too but they had just had one cancellation for two nights. We wanted to stay three but took the spot and waitlisted the third night.

Turns out this place is really popular for its Christmas Light display. And well they should be!! This was truly amazing and quite a sight to stumble upon. There was a three mile driving tour of lights in the park. The lights were plentiful and spectacular. The majority of the displays were moving even. As an example, over the lake they had a dolphin that jumped out of the water doing a big arc, landing back in the water probably 40’ away and then a big splash. Then there was the golfer who swung his club and you could then see the ball going in the air and down the fairway, landing on the green and rolling into the hole. There were hundreds of displays like this.

Each display was sponsored by some sort of business. This first one I thought was particularly funny. I don’t know if you can see the picture well enough to see that Santa has his finger to his face wondering how someone as big as he is going to fit down this tiny little chimney. This display is sponsored by Weight Watchers.



There were many “lands.” This particular one is Candyland.








After the entrance to each land is a quite elaborate section of lights for that theme. There were probably 15 different themes: Toyland, Outer Space, Dinosaur, Sea World, etc. This next picture is from the U.S. section.

We came across one display that was sponsored by JDM Productions. The sign read like this:
JDM
(Just Debbie & Mike)
Productions

In addition to the driving tour, they also had a passenger train ride that went on another light route that you couldn’t drive on. Mike walked the route and said it was quite spectacular. There were some Christmas shops, Santa Clause sittings, marshmallow roasting, musical events, etc. This looked like a lot of fun. I always love roasting marshmallows and shopping so I was really exited for this!

We arrived before dark so we took the dogs for a walk. This park has three different trails – each one close to two miles long. One trail leads to an off leash dog area. It is an extremely large field next to a lake. It was really warm so there were many dogs there enjoying the open space and the lake. Slugger enjoyed swimming after his stick while Sparkie found dogs to play chase. Wazzu was the park police making sure no one was too unruly. My only concern was that there was a sign next to the lake saying that it was unlawful to feed or aggravate the alligators! Mike tried to convince me that Slugger wasn’t going to get eaten by an alligator. He said he was sure all the other dogs had scared the alligators away. I guess he was right as Slugger went swimming four different times during our stay and he didn’t get eaten by an alligator. Phew.

Suddenly on the way back from the lake my leg totally gave out. Wazzu was right – the jerky driving was too much for me. Mike and the two kids went back to our RV to get the car while Wazzu and I waited for them to come get us. We were waiting on a bench by the lake. But it was close to dusk and we where both getting eaten alive by hundreds of mosquitoes. Poor Wazzu was shaking her head and scratching everywhere. We were very happy to see our ride come! But I was very disappointed to miss the opportunity for some evening Christmas shopping and marshmallow roasting.

The next day Mike took us for a driving tour of Charleston. Unfortunately, I couldn’t enjoy it at all. I was in way too much pain to even concentrate on the scenery. So we cut the drive short and went back. The little bit I could see looked very interesting. Mostly I just noticed that one of the parts of town we went to had huge houses and it smelled exactly like the Caribbean. I really felt like I was in the Caribbean. Funny how smells can transport you somewhere else so quickly.

When we returned to the park the wind had started to blow and branches were getting in the way of the satellite so we couldn’t get TV or internet reception. So we put up the antenna so we could at least watch TV. By doing this we get the local stations – which we don’t get when watching satellite. The local stations were all telling of a tornado watch. They were telling us what to do to be safe during a tornado. Being in an RV was not where you were supposed to be! The tornados were supposed to hit between midnight and four AM. This was a bit concerning to us as we’ve never been anywhere near a tornado but knew from TV that they are very dangerous.

Mike stayed up until two AM to keep watch for a tornado then fell asleep. Slugger woke us up at five as he was sick and needed to go out. We had made it – no tornado hit us (although there were tornados only a few miles from where we stayed only yesterday and a few people were killed) – but Mike didn’t get much sleep. We thought we were in the clear but at 8AM they announced another tornado watch until 3PM.

RV’s were pulling out one after another. I’m guessing there would be plenty of room for us to stay our third night if we wanted to. But we decided to join the mass exodus and get out of there. Unfortunately this was the day Mike was going to get to do the museums and other sightseeing around Charleston. Poor Mike. Something always happens and he misses seeing what he really wants to see. I’m afraid our east coast swing has been very disappointing for him.

Holding on…….

Debbie
11/14-15/06

Boardwalk

On our way to South Carolina we stopped in Willmington, NC. The park we stayed at gave us doggy bones when we checked in! And they had a fenced in off leash area almost the size of an agility field.

We took a driving tour during which time we came across a public beach access. Never ones to pass up a beach we stopped to check it out. I think this is the prettiest beach we’ve seen so far. As will all beaches in NC (that we’ve seen anyway) there were quite a few fishermen. I don’t know if you can see it but this picture shows the big “things” I was telling you that al the fishermen stick in the beach to hold their poles. This lady just happened to catch a fish while I was watching. You probably can’t see it well in this small picture but it looked like a very nice fish.




But what made this beach so pretty was the color of the water. It was the bluest blue and when the waves came crashing to the beach, which they did with great vigor, the water turned the whitest white. The pictures show it fairly well but as with most things it was even prettier in person.



There was a big battleship there that Mike really wanted to tour but unfortunately we didn’t get there in time. So instead we took a walk on the boardwalk across the water from the ship. Slugger was such a hit on the boardwalk. Everyone wanted to pet him. The other two dogs were totally ignored but everyone was smiling at Slugger. I guess he didn’t look scary as everyone just reached down to pet him without even asking. Of course he loved every second of it!!



Willmington advertises itself as the Seafood Capital of the World. I wonder how many cities bill themselves as that? But since they did, we decided we’d better have some seafood. So we stopped at one of restaurants on the boardwalk and placed a To Go order. The food was really good – but the best in the world….I don’t know about that.

Debbie
11/13/06

C2P2

This weekend we did an agility trial in Chapel Hill, NC. While there was room enough for our RV at the trial site they wouldn’t allow us to stay there as large rigs have gotten stuck there before. Been there done that – and don’t want to do it again. So we found an RV park about 15 minutes from the trial site that would take us. This park was very pretty in the fact that it had a lot of trees with changing colors. But trees and satellites don’t mix well so we had a bit of trouble with our internet.

Saturday the weather was absolutely perfect for agility. Warm enough for the people yet still cool enough for most dogs. The setting was pretty as well with fields all around and surrounded by many different colored tree leaves. The field however was on quite a slope. The running uphill was a little tough but running downhill was quite fun.

I don’t know if it’s everywhere or just back here in the east but the courses seem to be getting harder all the time. The Chances course was extremely tough. I pretty much needed binoculars to see the distance obstacles. I’m not kidding either. You had to do a switch to the right but the dog then had to go out left to a jump before then going out another 30 feet to the right and then enter the dogwalk. I can’t explain it well but I’ll tell you it was HARD. And the discrimination portion was really hard as well. In all classes combined (Elite, Open, and Novice) only four dogs Q’d. I’m very proud to say that Sparkie was one of those dogs!

Even the other courses were hard as well. Only four dogs Q’d in Jumpers. And how many times have you seen only two dogs Q in Touch N Go. And only two dogs Q’ing in both Tunnelers and Weavers. The Weavers course was actually really easy – but course times were just too tight. And the other course Q rates were almost as low.

Even so, Sparkie was awesome. She did her best to keep the Q rate high. She ended up going 9/12 which is always good but was especially impressive on these courses. She got first place in every run but one (a 2nd place in Weavers)– including the runs she didn’t Q.


Do you think she took off early enough?

I’m sure Wazzu could have come close to that had she run. Unfortunately, Wazzu once again didn’t want to jump. Every course that had jumps she would walk and barely jump over or just go around the jumps. Needless to say, I didn’t make her even try all the runs with jumps. She did get a few Q’s in the non-jump classes but wasn’t really eager to do a lot of those even. I do very clearly remember looking down at her in the middle of the Weavers class and she glanced at me at the same time and she had the biggest smile on her face. She really was happy to be out there playing with me – her body just couldn’t do it. Even though the body didn’t cooperate she didn’t want to miss her turn.

Slugger got a chance to run one Tunnelers run each day as the ring was securely enclosed. Saturday he ran so fast. It is so fun to watch him try to go fast – his little head bops up and down and his little legs go every which way. It’s just so cute. But there was one tunnel that led to nowhere and the dogs had to do a sharp right to a tunnel they couldn’t see from the previous one. The tunnel that led to nowhere faced the corner of the ring so when the dogs came out they just saw the corner of the field where they kept junk. In addition to the junk there were plastic bags hanging from the fence post. These bags were blowing around in the breeze. Slugger stopped dead in his tracks and stared at all the scary stuff in the corner. He wasn’t going to turn his back on those scary bags blowing in the wind. Those things can come attack puppies you know! Other than that he ran really fast and was only two seconds over time.

Sunday he ran very well again. He even did some 180 degree turns by voice. He was running fast but actually turning to Mike’s voice instead of just taking whatever was straight in front of him. He made time easily! That gave him his Superior Open Tunnelers title. Can you believe that our little Slugger – who never gets to practice and only competes in a run here or there every couple months is now in Elite Tunnelers. It’s only take close to five years but he made it. It will be a real challenge for him to get an Elite Q. But I’m sure he’ll try his best.

Oh, as nice as the weather was Saturday that’s how bad it was on Sunday. It was cold, windy, and rainy. Not just rainy – it poured! The field was muddy and full of puddles. Actually I think it was more a pond. But the day went faster as a lot of people didn’t bother coming. It had poured all night as well so many people didn’t even show up. One funny thing was that the ground was so thick with mud that the teeter would get stuck in the mud and wouldn't go back down. This was during Touch N Go and we had to do the teeter twice. So you'd come back around and the teeter wouldn't be back down. So during every run the judge had to push the teeter back down after the dog went across so that when they came back around (only four obstacles later) the teeter would be correct. Now that shows you how muddy it really was!

But the people that were there either day were super nice. If you want to attend a trial with friendly people this would be it for sure! The trial secretary really befriended us and couldn’t have been nicer. We met some people that I know from the BaggageAgility list I’m on and they were just the nicest as well. Once of them even had a dog named Oscar that is a rescue and looked like an exact duplicate of Wazzu but smaller.

And I’ve never seen so many mixed breed dogs anywhere. What cuties!! It was very hard to find a purebred at this trial. I did find one – I thought it was a mix but when I asked the lady about it she told me it was a Dutch Shepherd. It looks like a very large brindle German Shepherd. Turns out it is a cross between a German Shepherd, a Terv, and something else big (which I’ve forgotten.)

We had one scary incident on Sunday. Mike and Sparkie were awaiting their turn and Sparkie was sitting looking up at Mike. Behind her about five or six feet away was a lady with her very large dog – the Dutch Shepherd. Totally unprovoked this dog just suddenly lunged at Sparkie with lips up and teeth bared – it meant business. Sparkie screamed (okay it doesn’t take a lot to make Sparkie scream but this time she was justified!) and just in the nick of time the lady pulled her dog away. Sparkie was only about ¼ inch from getting badly hurt. The lady didn’t say much and didn’t reprimand the dog – just gave it some treats. Mike said he would have turned this person in but she was the owner of the place so he felt he couldn’t do anything about it. I later noticed a sign in one of the barns that said “Beware of Guard Dogs” and it had two dogs names on it – one of which was the one that lunged at Sparkie.

This club gave out a toy for every ribbon (Q or not.) So we got a lot of toys! Sparkie got a ribbon in all 12 classes, Slugger in both his runs, and Wazzu in a handful of runs so we got really stocked up on toys! Slugger is so happy about that. Actually Wazzu has decided she likes the really big stuffed orange (you know – the fruit) and she carries it all around the RV. She won’t let the other dogs have it as they’ll tear it up and she is trying to take very gentle care of it. Leave it to Wazzu.

Oh, one last notable thing about the weekend. On Saturday a lady was walking around with two really cute little Whippet puppies. Mike seemed to fall in love with them instantly. Unbeknownst to me he went and talked to the lady at length. Turns out she was keeping those two but had two more that were for sale. She got them out and brought them over to Mike. He spend a couple hours walking and playing with one of the pups and talking to the lady. He then wanted to meet the mommy dog (I know there is a special name for that but to me it’s just mommy dog) and also got to meet two dogs from a little she had three years ago.

The lady had bred these for performance not show. And boy did it show! Oh, that’s confusing isn’t it. These dogs were the most muscley dogs I’ve ever seen (besides a pit of course.) Mike wanted to get one! And who am I to turn down a puppy! But I knew there was no way we could bet one without talking to the Whippet expert, Shari. Fortunately I was able to get a hold of Shari and she told me a lot of things to think about. I passed along Shari’s comments and Mike rightly decided that a Whippet puppy really wasn’t for us at this time. We were both disappointed but can’t thank Shari enough for getting us to look at reality. As a funny aside – it wasn’t minutes after our decision that our friend Pat told us about a Border Collie we just had to have! Pat keeps us laughing as she tells us weekly about a BC that would be just perfect for us.

Doggy friends are just the best! Thanks Shari and Pat for helping us get through the weekend.

Debbie
11/11-12/06

Heaven.....On Earth

After leaving the Outer Banks we headed up to Virginia Beach. Mike found a really cool State Campground there. It’s kind of on the end of a piece of land sticking out. On the very end is a State park and then the campground. Since it is winter most of the campground was closed but a couple sections were open. Most of the spots are too small for us but we found one that we could just squeeze into.

The big problem was that there were huge stickers EVERYWHERE except right down the middle of the pavement. The dogs couldn’t even take one step out of the RV with getting their feet full of stickers. So Mike had to put down a large 6’x9’ piece of matting outside the door so the dogs could get out. Fortunately the beach was void of stickers so we’d walk down the center of the road to the beach. It wasn’t very far and there was a boardwalk from the road to the beach which was really handy.

The beach wasn’t accessible except through the campground. And since most of the campground was closed and the open part was fairly empty, we pretty much had the beach to ourselves. We’d see a couple other people way down the beach once in a while but that was really it. I’d say the beach was at least a couple miles long.



I remember that I did a scrapping page once titled “Happiness is a deserted beach.” And it is still true. We took the girls off leash and within seconds they were down the beach and out of sight. Sparkie just loves having room to run. There is nothing better than seeing a dog run just to be running. And just like the old days Wazzu chased Sparkie all the way down the beach. A little while later Sparkie would come running back just as fast as she had left. Wazzu on the hand took her time coming back.

Sluggers eyes got as big as baseballs when he saw the water. This was a perfect spot for him – and the weather was in the upper 70’s and lower 80’s. Even at night it was so warm we didn’t need coats on the beach. How perfect.

When Slugger swims he doesn’t want to go anywhere so he is pretty safe off leash. But what he does like to do is get the stick out of the water and then rush off to some bushes to kill the stick. The problem is there are miles of bushes here. So just to be safe we decided to attach him to a long line so that he could swim way out in the ocean and we could keep him from running too far away to kill the stick.

He was in heaven. I think the reason we like to watch him swim is that it truly is the only time that his inhibitions are completely gone. It’s so nice to see him be able to spend some time not being afraid. He can just relax and not worry about a thing.

We find it interesting for a dog that is afraid of just about everything, he has absolutely no fear of the water. This wasn’t a smooth lake! This is an ocean with large waves. He’d rush out to get his stick, waves would come and literally crash down over his head. He’d disappear for a couple seconds – sometimes we’d see just legs stick up out of the water – and then he’d reappear and continue on his journey to get the stick. He didn’t want to stop. He wanted to do it again and again.









We found it interesting that after just a few times he learned the wave patterns and would actually try to push himself up out of the water to “jump” over the waves so he wouldn’t get tumbled about in the waves. He got really good at it.

Wazzu’s big joy on the beach was to dig – hmm, a familiar pattern do you notice. Up where the sand kind of meets the grasses there were holes in the sand. I don’t know what kind of animal made those holes but there were hundreds of them. Wazzu would stick her nose in the holes and dig and dig and dig. We never had to wonder where Wazzu was while we were playing with Slugger.



Wazzu did manage to go in the water a couple times to cool off after all her digging.




Sparkie like to dig in the holes as well. But she is multi-talented when it comes to beaches. She runs the length of the beach fast as she can. Then she wants to chase tennis balls on the sand and in the water. Then of course you have to check the entire beach for any food someone may have dropped! And just in case Wazzu is finding anything in the holes you have to go back to digging with Wazzu.



I love the beach. And there is only one thing better than a nice secluded beach – and that’s a WARM nice secluded beach! And this was it. And this one had additional perks. There was some kind of Navy station (is that what you call it?) nearby and we could see all sort of different Navy boats in the water not too far off shore. It reminded me of when I used to play the game Battleship. You could see all the kinds of boats we had in that game. We also saw a couple hovercraft zooming around and a large cargo ship with a full load. It was so interesting.





After getting the dogs tired in the morning we took off for a driving tour of some famous historical places. This isn’t my forte (as you well know) but I think we saw Yorktown, Jamestown, and the outskirts of Williamsburg. We were short on time (since there are so few hours of daylight this time of year – what’s up with that!) and my legs were bad so we didn’t get out of the car much. There were so many interesting looking places. And it was quite beautiful. Some of it was beautiful more than once! Mike got lost and we ended up going down some streets three or four times! I tried to give him a fun bad time about it but he didn’t seem too amused!

Anyway, even I thought it was interesting and was a little sad that we couldn’t get out and explore things more. Mike was very irritated that he didn’t really get to see anything. Too bad we didn’t have more time. He has now vowed that we won’t spend just a day in a place again and that we’ll come back here some day so he can really explore the area.

In light of this, he’s changed our travel plans for next week so that we’ll see one area in more depth and skip others altogether. Totally fine with me….remember, I’m just cargo.

It was time to leave to head to our next trial but we just had to get in one last romp on the beach before we went. And what a glorious time it was. None of us wanted to leave. We’ll definitely come back here some day.

Debbie
11/8-9 /06.