Katie and Jagger

Tom and Trish and the grandkids have a new puppy.  He's a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, 10 months old, and they are in the process of training him.  He is super high energy right now, and was so curious about Katie.  What fun, a new toy!  When we first put them together, Jagger was all over Katie, sniffing every inch of her and I was watching carefully to make sure Katie was okay with this and didn't try to be aggressive with him.  This is what she did:

She didn't try to run away, but went into turtle mode - tucking in as much as she could and just lay there with her ears back and her tail tucked in.

She tried to adjust to keep away from him, but still stayed very calm.

Little Jagger was jumping around, sniffing her here, sniffing her there, and finally decided to go a little too far, and Katie, insulted, growled and jumped up. We finally had to separate them.

Poor Katie, she was really good, and poor Jagger, too.  He was just being a curious, playful male puppy. They have a few crates around the house, and I got a larger one to put Katie in some of the time - a safe place where Jagger couldn't try to play with her.  Katie's such a great dog, but I don't think she knows how to play with other dogs. 

Jagger has a bed in the corner of the family room, and he's pretty good about going to his bed and staying there, his training is new and on-going right now, but having Katie roaming around was too much sometimes, and of course he'd soon be out of his bed.  We kind of rotated dogs in crates.

Then little Jagger went to the vet on Thursday for his appointment to be altered.  He came home drugged and with a "cone" around his neck to keep him away from the stitches, and he was super calm that afternoon.  The next day he was back to his old self and doing fine.  Here's a photo from last night, poor pup.  He was sent to his bed but kept his eyes on everything that was going on.  Look at that darling face:

Gavin and I took the dogs for a walk yesterday, and Jagger just prances and dances and wags his tail the whole time.  He's got long legs and is a little bigger than Katie, but she's much more solid.  He's light as a feather.  So cute!  :)

That's it for today - a Katie and Jagger post.

From me and Katie, have a great Saturday, everybody!  :)

Happy Valentines Day from San Diego

Katie and I have been in San Diego since Monday.  We're here visiting my son and daughter-in-law and grandkids, and also I'm getting my annual medical, vision and dental appointments out of the way.

We're having a perfect visit - their house is so comfortable and Katie loves being here.  (Me, too, of course!)  Katie can run around without a leash, and go outside and walk on the wet grass or lay in the sun on the patio.  I think her preference would be a stick house to a home on wheels.  But she's not the boss, so... for now it's the home on wheels for us.

We are able to park across the street from Tom and Trish's house in Carlsbad.  They're on a cul-d-sac so it doesn't work for us to park in front of their house.  The street opposite them, though, has a long area that is the side of a neighbor's house, so we're not actually in their front yard, and it feels okay for a few days. 

None of the neighbors have said a word about us being here.  RVs aren't allowed to park on the street in this city without a permit, but they live in a gated community and so I guess we're okay unless there's a complaint.

I got to see Graydin's baseball practice - he's four:

And Kennedy's swim lessons - she's 11:

Practicing free style:

Practicing the butterfly, that's the stroke she's working on now:

She is taking lessons in a place that has three small heated pools with a wave type machine at one end.  It's a really neat setup; I would have loved to have swim lessons in a facility like this when I was learning how to swim.  Kennedy knows how to swim, but is learning new strokes and upping her game because she wants to be on a swim team.

And Gavin practicing catch with his dad during Graydin's baseball practice - he's 9 and a great baseball player:

Gavin had his own practice yesterday, but I missed it because I wanted to see Kennedy's practice.  The boys both have baseball practice on Saturday, so I'll make sure to be at Gavins.  During Gav's practice yesterday they had a hitting contest, and although Gav is the youngest kid on the team, he won the contest.  All my grandkids are good at sports. I wasn't into sports as a kid so I really appreciate their efforts and achievements in all the sports they participate in.

The schedule in this family is pretty intense and Trish and Tom compare notes all the time to make sure each child is getting to their daily practice, appointment or whatever destination they have - sometimes in the same direction, sometimes at opposite ends of town.  And they each have their own schedules to keep up with and compare with each other.  They do it with ease, of course - they've grown into this kind of craziness as each child got older and became involved in sports and other activities and as their own businesses and interests grew. 

I'm having a blast catching up with the whole family, and Saturday night is the "Grammys' motor home night."  The kids remembered last year when they came over and watched a movie, they each got popcorn, counted out some jelly beans.  It's so weird, they are happy with - like - 4 or 6 or 8, whatever number I pick.  They pick out their colors and are happy with that amount.  I used to want the whole bowl!  And then we laid out the sleeping bags and pillows and they spent the night.  They've asked if we can do that again, and of course we can!  And will!  So Saturday night it is.  Kennedy wants to sleep in her own bed, but she's going to be here for the movie/treats, and will come back in the morning for cereal and fruit. :)

I'll be posting more about Kennedy in a future post.  She's starting her own Internet business, and is continuing the entrepreneurial spirit of her Grammy, Dad and Mom.  She's going to be a dynamo as an adult!

I have some new Followers to welcome, but I'm going to do that in the next post - I'm rushing to get ready to go to the movies.  Much busier lifestyle in San Diego than in the Arizona desert or New Mexico State Parks and I've got a schedule to keep!!

From me and Katie, Happy Valentines Day, everybody!  :)

Wordless Wednesday - animal stuff

Wordless Wednesday is a little late - I lost my phone yesterday - OMG! It's how I connect to the Internet - and we had been so many places I couldn't even think of where I might have left it.  My last thought before going to sleep last night was trying to think where it might be.  I woke up at 6 am (very early for ME) with a visual of placing it on the bar-b-que in my son/daughter-in-law's backyard.  I rushed over early this morning, and thank God, there it was.  I'm so glad San Diego has temperate weather and it wasn't rained, hailed, or snowed on overnight.  Whew!  So, a quick, late Wordless Wednesday:

Armadillo going into it's safe place.  Click on this link to see how an armadillo "hides."

Photos from the web:

 

And of course, the best of all ...

Katie and I are in San Diego, so far the doctor visits are going well, and I'll write a post soon updating you on our trip here.

From me and Katie, have a great Thursday, everyone! :)

Hello Hot Springs!

Katie and I took a long walk the other day down to the Hot Springs area and beyond. 

This is the oasis area next to the actual Hot Springs bathing area. It's so pretty inside all the large palm trees, truly an oasis.

There are a lot of dry fronds around the edge of the water this year, it looks like they are trimming the lower dead fronds.  (I think that's what they are called.) Probably not very good for swimming this year.


Click here to see more photos of the oasis and bathing area from last year.  I took quite a few, and liked them better.  Remember there was a man swimming in this oasis?

We continued our walk - I wanted to see the camping area on the other side of the freeway so we headed off down that road.  We walked for a while along the canal - it's so pretty.

Then a car with a Class A motor home following it came toward us.  I waved down the woman driving the car and asked her how much further down the road the camping area was.  She said about another mile.  Well, that was it for me.  We turned around and wandered back toward our campsite.   The woman said the camping area was like the one we're in, but probably not as nice.  One of these days I'll drive over there and see it for myself, but if there's no dumpster on that side, and I don't think there is, I'll continue camping on this side.  BTW, I later saw the car and Class A driving past my site, so they were checking out the other side, too, and decided on this side.   


As we were walking along I noticed all the little sea shells in the dirt.  Obviously the water has been as high as the road in the past.

The next day I looked out the window, and guess who was driving by?  Bea and Peter - they made it to Hot Springs!  For all the people who follow their blogs, you know the problems they have had getting here.  I'm happy to report they made it, safe and sound and full of smiles.

Katie and I took a walk and spied their campsite (a really nice pull-through site with lots of room) and stopped to say hello.

Molly came sauntering over and I wasn't sure how Katie would react, but she liked Molly and wasn't afraid of her.  Molly got in a few sniffs for greetings, and then wandered back to their campsite.  What a great dog!  Here's Bea watching over them.  Click here for Bea's blog.

Then this morning Peter came walking by and stopped to chat, and Katie went right up to him and gave him lots of love - Peter had on a cowboy hat, and since Katie is still a bit cautious of men, and especially men wearing hats, I was really surprised that she had no fear of him at all.  I didn't have my camera with me, but wish I did, it would have made a great photo. Click here for Peter's blog.

There are lizards here that dart from bush to bush, and Katie is very interested in all the bushes.  Walking is a real pain - these bushes are everywhere, so I'm having to be firm with her that we stay on the road!  Once in a while I'll let her stop and get her fill, like the photo below, and when I tell her the critters are all gone, she gives up and walks away. 

Below is one of the entrances to the Yuma Proving Ground on the road that leads to Imperial Dam LTVA.  I always love driving past this area, it makes me feel so patriotic.

While staying at Hot Springs, I often see these helicopters flying overhead.   Very cool looking.  American military personnel hard at work.  I always send up a silent "Thank You!" to them when they are flying by.


By the way, these are the dates on my tire:

I'm not sure if that means they were manufactured the 4th week of 2010 or the 47th week of 2010.  Obviously I'd rather it means the 47th.  Do any of you know if that left slanting 7 is a "7" or a slash?

From me and Katie, have a great Saturday, everyone!  :)

Goodbye Quartzsite!

I need to be in San Diego for medical/dental/vision appointments in a week, so on Sunday, February 2, Katie and I said goodbye to Quartzsite.  We had a great time this year and I'm already looking forward to the next season, which means we'll be heading back that way in October.

Before we left we visited Denise and Bennie.  Denise had some solar panel riser knobs she wanted to give me and we changed out the nuts on mine for the knobs.  Thanks, Denise!

The dogs got a chance to wander around together a little before we reigned them in.  Bennie is such a quiet, non-aggressive little guy that Katie has no problems with him.  She's good with most dogs now, but is still not crazy about the dogs who are straining at their leashes to visit with her.  She's really not into that kind attention.

Bennie is very low key and doesn't scare her.

Then we went inside and visited while the dogs wandered around the motor home - and of course Katie found Bennie's chew toy.  Denise gave Katie one - and in minutes it was chewed up and gone.  Katie demolishes those things.   

Can I have this one??

Katie gets a chew toy of her own.  Look at those gorgeous floors.

Finally Katie and I said our goodbyes and went back to our site.  I was slowly getting ready to leave, I had already gotten water, dumped, and topped off the gas and propane tanks.  I had done laundry, too, and food shopped, so we were good to go. I called Brian and he came over and lowered my solar panels for me and showed me how he does it. 

The final thing was I wanted to have dinner with Hazel before we left so we went to the restaurant attached to the laundromat on Saturday evening and had prime rib.  It was pretty good, and I brought home enough meat to make a french dip sandwich the next day, and another dinner the following night.

Our last sunset photo from Quartzsite:

Super Bowl Sunday we got up early and headed out.  As we've done previous years, we're hanging out in the California Hot Springs LTVA.  It's an easy drive here from Quartzsite, and we stopped along the way to check out a couple of campgrounds at Imperial Dam LTVA to see if there were any good sites available, or if there were any burros wandering around where we could see them.  We would have stayed there for a week if either was found, but I didn't see a great campsite, and there were no burros around, so we kept going.

After being in the desert for four months, it was nice to see green fields along the way and especially the fields that were being watered.

We have a good, large site here that will be home for a week.  We're right off the road in a wide area that would be large enough for any size rig. It's way big enough for The Palms.  If we were going to be here for weeks, I'd probably be scoping out a new site, but I'll be back after my San Diego trip and hopefully get a more secluded site then.

And finally, another sunset.  This one was from our first night here at Hot Springs.  Beautiful!

Thank you for heading to Amazon.com through the links on Me and My Dog ...and My RV!  Katie and I sure appreciate it!

From me and Katie, have a great Thursday, everybody!  :)