More Camping Pics

Sunday morning - Caitlin and Jodeo taking a nap after all their exertions!
Tobey taking a hike on the logging road.
Caitlin giving treats to Tobey & Jodeo.
Jodeo taking a hike on the logging road.

Almost Heaven, West Virginia....

These are pictures I took early Sunday morning. The top one I have now made my desktop background! When I first got up, the morning mist/fog extended more than what you see here. The next two were taken to the left and right of the first one, and the last one is way around over my right shoulder, from the perspective that the first three were taken, showing the morning sun rising.

Camping

Last weekend Caitlin and I went camping up on our land in West Virginia. This was kind of a "dry run" for future camping, which will hopefully be of longer duration.
Weather was great, and a good time was had by all, especially the dogs. We only had Tobey and Jodeo with us; they had a great time running around and exploring, and were very good about not wandering off too far. I had brought leashes, and a cinder block to tie them to, if necessary, but never needed it. They only real problem I had with the dogs was that they woofed at every little noise during the night, which woke me up every time. Caitlin pretty much slept through them woofing!
It was a very relaxing, albeit short trip to the outdoors. The most exciting thing that happened was that when we were clearing the fire pit, we found three snakes hiding under the rocks!! Little ones, and upon researching on-line back home, I think they were brown snakes, which are non-venomous. Neither of us thought to take pictures of them; will have to remember next time as it will make identification easier. Those were really the only critters we ran into, other than lots and lots of butterflies. And we saw signs of deer and bear tracks and scat).
The only disappointing thing was that it was overcast, which meant we didn't get to stargaze, and so we also missed out on the peak weekend of the annual Pleiades meteor shower. Oh, well, maybe next year.
Sunday morning we went into Snowshoe and had lunch before hitting the road. Since it's summer, most of the restaurants have outside seating and we could take the dogs. As we walked through the village, some guy left his table at one of the restaurants and made a bee-line towards us. Big JRT fan, and he spent a few minutes talking with us and playing with the dogs. He actually like Jodeo better, because he could tell that she had much more of terrier spunk than Tobey, who was a little too sweet and laid back for him. Never did get his name. He has three JRTs at home (130 acres somewhere nearby); used to have four, but one was killed by a black bear. Not that it has kept him from keeping his other JRTs away from bears, as he described what they did when they encountered one. Seemed kind of odd to Caitlin and I, although I know of plenty of people in JRTCA who hunt their dogs, and sometimes lose one to raccoons or groundhogs. But JRTs really aren't designed or bred for bear hunting.
Stopped at a local park along the river on the way back, because I've always wanted to stop there, and I wanted to see what the dogs would do around the water. Neat spot, obviously popularlots of people. Next time, though, need to bring shoes suitable for wading in the river! The dogs weren't excited about going in, and I think they would have if I had waded in. The water was certainly warm enough, and it was plenty warm enough outside, as the river bank was directly in the sun at the time.
I'd post a few pictures, but blogger isn't cooperating...it says my pictures are uploaded but then nothing is there when I post. I'll keep trying. Not that I have a lot, since both Caitlin and I forgot to recharge our cameras before we left home.

Timing

Amb Bob's timing is an impeccable as ever. ;-)

This is kind of a running joke between myself, him and our neighbor, Garrick. It has to do with Amb Bob lucking out in being out-of-town, at work, sick or otherwise indisposed when something goes wrong around the house. Most often, it seems whenever we have a really big snowstorm (you know, the type that shuts down the Federal Government for a day or two), he's out-of-town, leaving me to shovel the sidewalks, driveway and kennel area by myself, although there have been other things (power outages, trees down, etc.).

So while he's gone adventuring in Sturgis....today was unexpected really hot & humid again. At 1:30pm, according to the local weather guys, it was 98 F, with a heat index of 106F. Much hotter than it was supposed to be today. So, of course, now that Amb Bob is out of town (he was here last week during the 3 days of 100+ weather), the air conditioner goes on the fritz. I put in an emergency call, and the guy came this evening, but the system is frozen/iced over inside, and there's nothing they can do until it thaws out overnight. So I get to be in a sweltering hot house until they can come back sometime tomorrow and fix it. At 10pm tonight it was 84F on the first floor, and much, much hotter here upstairs.

Ah, well, such is life. At least I can go downstairs to the family room, in the basement, where it is nice and cool, and sleep on the couch tonight. After I take a long, cold shower.

Dogs Days

The first Saturday of every month, downtown Frederick has "First Saturday Gallery Walk" from 5-9pm, where all the stores ( a wide variety, but a noticeable preponderance of "arty" shops) in the historic shopping district stay open until 9pm, a lot of them with specials, or things out on tables on the sidewalk. The First Saturday of August, though, is special: it's the Dog Days of Frederick. A large number of stores allow dogs on this night, some restaurants set up "puppy patios", lots of stores have doggy treats and water bowls on the sidewalks, and there are various contests (e.g., best costume or look-a-like)

I spent two hours there tonight, walking around with Tobey. He wore his little red backpack (E, remember me getting that at REI?) and was a big hit with lots of people because of it (some of whom asked if he was an assistance dog, or one in training). There were people - couples, families, singles, teens - and dogs everywhere, and I passed at least four street musicians or groups. Tobey & I were having such a good time, and the weather was so terrific (although it was a clear blue sunny day today, the humidity was low), that we stayed much longer than I thought we would, and the main reason I headed back when I did was because I needed to get back home to feed the pack. I'm looking forward to going back on a "regular" First Saturday, when it'll be easier to shop and eat at one of the restaurants (waiting time was too long at those places that allowed dogs).

Sturgis Envy

So, yesterday Amb Bob left with a pack of friends for a 2-week motorcycle ride to the annual Sturgis motorcycle rally and other points West. And I am feeling...well, envious (a lot!) and a little left-out. I was doing really well with it until yesterday morning, when they all met Amb Bob at an IHOP here in Frederick, and I went to breakfast, too, to say goodbye before they all hit the road. That was, in a way, a mistake, because seeing all our friends there on their motorcycles, everyone loaded up and hyped up for the big trip, made me really, really, REALLY wish I was going with them. I would have been better off just saying goodbye to him at home and going back to bed. Before I go any further into a pity-party, let me say that I am perfectly fine with Amb Bob going on this trip without me. It's something he has always really wanted to do, it's not his fault I couldn't go with him, and I am perfectly fine staying home alone (unlike Amb Bob, I enjoy having days to myself alone at home). I am not the type of spouse who thinks he shouldn't have gone just because I couldn't.

So why didn't I go? Well, one day last Fall Amb Bob told me he had made hotel reservations for us somewhere about an hour's ride from Sturgis. I had to gently remind him that I probably couldn't go, as I expected to have just started in a new civilian job (post-Army retirement) at the beginning of August, and didn't think I could leave for 1-2 weeks at the very beginning of a new job. He eventually got linked up with the friends he's riding with. And now, even though I don't have a job lined up yet, and so am not working at the moment, I still couldn't go, because I need to be home actively working on finding a job.

The trick would have been if I had lined up a job, but it wasn't starting until after the Sturgis trip. That would have been interesting....Without going into any soap-opera details, let's just say that this was supposed to be a small, select group of people who could ride fast and all-day on their motorcycles, and who all got along well. It grew to 7 people, and not everyone was happy about that, nor about some of the Johnny-come-lately's. Lodging will also now be trickier and cramped. I'm glad, in an odd way, that we didn't have to cross that bridge, because it had the potential for being rather awkward, and could have caused problems.

On the other hand...this is gives me a great excuse to go guilt-free adventuring later, doing something Amb Bob isn't interested in doing (or doesn't have enough vacation time for), but that I would like to do. Like a week-long horseback riding trip in Scotland or somewhere. Or a Windjammer cruise. I haven't gone on any big adventures while I've been on TL, for several reasons, but two of which were related to Amb Bob: he couldn't have gone with me, because he wouldn't have had enough vacation time to do both Sturgis and something with me, and because I know how much of a pain it would be for him to take care of the dogs while I was gone. Hah!! Well, I'm not going to worry about that anymore...he'll just have to deal with it when it's my turn to go somewhere.

Probably the big difference between us in all of this is that Amb Bob wouldn't have gone if he hadn't linked up with friends (which isn't a problem for Sturgis, as thousands of people go every year, including lots of people we know); he doesn't like traveling (for fun/vacation) by himself. I, on the other hand, frequently go adventuring on my own, and am quite happy to do so if it's the only way I can get to do/see something. Time to start making some plans....

Knight Life (Reading Log)

Back in 1987, Peter David published his first book, Knight Life. It's a whimsical tale bringing King Arthur, Merlin (now a boy, since he ages backwards), Morgan Le Fay, Gwenevere and other characters from Camelot to modern times, either through magic or reincarnation, and where Arthur Penn (as in Pendragon) runs for Mayor of New York City, and all sorts of funny and poignant things happen along the way. Loved the book, and have read several other books by the author in the intervening years, but always wondered about what happened next to Arthur, Merlin, Gwen and crew. Well, not only did Peter David continue the story (according to the book jackets, book 2 tells the tale of Arthur running for President, and book 3 involves the Holy Grail and the forming of a religious cult around Arthur (he's forced to use the Grail to save Gwen from an assasin's bullet and the miracle leaks out)), but he also revised the first book! Half again as long, and brought up to the twenty-first century (computers vs typewriters, cell phones, etc.). It was funny to read the author's foreword, though, where he talked about one of the reasons for revising the first book was that fans who didn't discover him until his later work could not find his first one, either in bookstores, used bookstores or on-line. I, of course, have the original edition sitting on my library shelves, in very good condition.