Dog Stuff
All kinds of information about dogs, especially our Bernese Mountain Dogs.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Day Fourteen, Wednesday
This morning we skipped breakfast and drove into Laramie to meet with a great friend, Sally. We met at a local cafe called the Prairie Rose (and if you ever get there, order the Breakfast Burrito!). It is on Second Street in the old-town part of Laramie—an area we should explore more sometime. There are a lot of quaint looking shops and the old Western architecture is great.
We got home around 1:00 p.m. and I did a couple of small chores including fixing some of the mortar on the fireplace chimney that was chipped away by the pack rat. I also replaced the air filter in the heater system and went on the roof to inspect the solar panels and rack. I sure don’t want anything loose up there given we are likely to get more wind now that the wind break created by the pine trees is disappearing.
It was a warm day. We took the dogs for a short walk, then took it easy around the cabin. We had “Chicken in a Pot” for dinner with a plan to use leftovers to make Chicken Pot Pie on Thursday.
We watched Survivor on TV and then headed to bed to read. A simple day.
Here is a photo of the cabin through some trees and you can see the PV panels on the roof:
A couple of views from our short walk, looking up Sand Creek Pass:
And, finally, what dogs with cabin fever do:
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Sunday, September 06, 2009
The Dogs Remember
It is very clear that the animals remember the cabin. They immediately fall into old habits and behaviors. They remember the daily “routine”. (Except their internal clocks are still on Eastern time, so they wake us up at 4:00 a.m.) They remember where we set their food bowls. They remember that we take a long walk each morning after breakfast and a shorter walk in the evening before dinner—and they remind us if we forget. They remember the trails in the woods and all the places we normally stop to gather everyone together and give them a treat. (A way of keeping them close on walks that we train into them from pups.)
What about Bella? Well, she “owns” this place—at least in her mind. She shows no fear. She leads us down every trail. Today, she went swimming in the pond. She is really good at following the game trails—which we also use for our walks. She runs and jumps and swims—not having any problem with the adjustment. See Lynne’s blog for photos.
The cats have settled into their routine also and seem very much at home.
So, the animals are all well and happy. As are we!
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Wednesday, August 26, 2009
One Week and Counting
One week from today we leave on our 3-week vacation to our remote cabin in Colorado. There is so much to be done!
We will leave NJ on Wednesday morning, as early as possible and drive with 3 dogs and 2 cats as far as the Mississippi. That is our strategy—MIssissippi, Missouri, then Cabin! Our goal each day is to make a major river—with the last one being Bart’s Creek on our land. The cabin is about 20-odd miles directly south of Laramie, Wyoming, but in Colorado. No electricity, no post-office, no phone service, just a log cabin in the woods, 3 dogs and 2 cats—assuming we all make it across the two major rivers.
We’ve been working on “security” given some surprising discoveries about how our house and property is used in our absence. So, the web cams are running, the alarm system is tested. House sitters are lined up, the pool guy will be here every day to add toxic chemicals to the water, and the police will be doing a “house check”, assuming we get the forms back to them soon. Should keep all but the most tenacious or most stupid away from the house.
But, there is so much more to do! We need to work on our first week’s meal plan because as we drive through Laramie on our way to the cabin (the 3rd day on the road), we’ll stop in Safeway and stock up on food (and wine) for a week. So, we are negotiating meal plans, picking recipes and creating detailed shopping lists. You do not want to end up at the cabin and not have a key ingredient because it is a minimum 40 minute drive to the first 7-11.
The dogs are getting groomed so they don’t smell too bad in the truck on the way there. And, to minimize the dog hair. We just know that Bella will come into season on the day we leave and be in season the entire trip. Oh well, we’ve done it before, we can do it again.
I need to wash the truck. I like to start the trip with a clean truck. We’ll do an oil change in Laramie. It is about 1700 miles and very uncomplicated. Just drive about 10 mile south to I80, then about 1670 miles West to Laramie, then 20 miles South to “home”.
We have our favorite motels along the way—the ones that will take a dog. LIttle do they know that we don’t really walk our dog 3 times each evening and that each walk is a different dog! The cats like to sit in the window and watch the other people walk their dogs too.
I hope to post each day along the way and maybe even while we are there. Yes, we are “off the grid’ but thanks to solar panels, inverters, satellite dishes, and laptop computers, we’ll try to stay in touch.
After all, we need to check out the web cams often and watch the time-lapse movies of the pool activity, and ...
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Saturday, January 06, 2007
Lazy Daisy
Daisy has a favorite place to nap—a love seat in the office. Here are few pictures taken over the Christmas Holidays.
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Sunday, October 22, 2006
Millenia is Gone
Today we put Millenia to sleep. She was almost 7 years old. She had wobblers disease and had been on prednisone for a year. But, she got around great. However, starting a few days ago she began to fail. She become weak, could not get around well, stopped eating and drinking, and was incontinent. We took her to the vet today and blood tests and X-rays pointed to a very high probability of a tumor on her spleen, causing bleeding into her abdomen. She could not have lived more than a few hours without surgery. And, the probability of a successful surgery was low due to her overall health, being on the pred for so long, and high likelihood that even if the tumor was successfully removed, she would not live more than a few months.
Click here to see Millenia as we remember her.
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