Retirement Travel and a Weird Mix of Other Stuff
Right now, it’s snowing pretty hard. And my hairy toddlers are loving it.
Meg may not look happy here, but she is. Trust me. My dogs LOVE the snow.
Belle’s loving it, too. It’s snowing so hard, the birds don’t notice Belle hiding under a nearby tree watching them.
It’s snowing too hard to get really good pictures, so I’ll have to take a break from work later, after it stops, to catch my hairy toddlers in action.
Always, we wait all year for this weekend to roll around and it passes by in a flash. We’ve had four days of peace, catching up, shopping, eating, drinking and just being girls. Now it’s time to go back to reality. Of course, I have a very nice reality. A wonderful hubby, a family that loves me, dogs who have missed their Mama…
I’m ready to go home.
That’s not why today is special though. Today is special ’cause it’s Amy’s birthday.
Happy Birthday, Amy!
My youngest daughter, the mother of my grandchildren, turned 28 today. Twenty-eight! Wow, time really does pass quickly.
Amy, I hope you have a fabulous day. I love you!
This year it was VERY crowded. So we just got what we needed to get, ate the customary hot dogs and got out of there.
That’s Tracey and Carol, from left to right, shown above.
We’re enjoying shopping and relaxing and catching up with each other. I haven’t taken nearly enough pictures yet. I’ll try to do better tomorrow.
It was a crazy week leading up to the trip. Which is why I haven’t posted anything since last Friday. Last weekend was pretty much consumed by my foster dog adventure. Monday through Wednesday I was busy working and getting ready for the trip. Thursday (yesterday) I was finally able to leave for my escape.
Now I’m here. I’ll try to take some pictures today and post more later. Right now, I need to go get some coffee. We’re getting ready to head to The Green Dragon. I’ll explain that one later.
It’s been an interesting week at the ToadMama abode, there just hasn’t been a whole lot to blog about.
Monday night, Shannon, Amy and I celebrated Thirsty Third Thursday. Amy had obligations on Thursday, so we moved the gathering up a couple of days.
Tuesday was mostly uneventful.
Wednesday morning started early — 5:00 AM — with a call from Mom saying, “Can you come and get me? Dad just went to the hospital in an ambulance.” To make a long story short, he has a kidney stone. Poor guy. It could be worse. He’ll be fine. He’s just got to make it through a painful few days.
Speaking of painful, around noon on Thursday I had to go get Dad a new prescription for pain meds. The stuff they prescribed at the hospital wasn’t working well enough. Luckily, Mom has wireless Internet, so I got to work from her house that afternoon and into the early evening.
Hopefully Friday will be calm. A repairman is coming to replace a recalled piece of equipment in our dishwasher. And I’ll be working.
Saturday should be exciting. We’re getting a foster dog! I am an American Brittany Rescue volunteer. That’s where all my dogs have come from. We’ll be fostering a young, male Brittany for a while. More on that in the next few days.
Wondering how the picture is applicable? Well, I’ll tell you. Hubby and I decided on this year’s vacation destination. We’re taking a week-long motorcycle trip to Maine. Maybe this time I’ll get to see some barns and stuff. I loved the coast of Maine, but I am looking forward to seeing the interior of New England, too. I am not sure when we’re going yet; planning is still in the very early stages. More on that eventually, too.
After what seemed like a very long absence, we went to our WV place this past weekend. I’m not sure who likes it there more, Hubby and me or our doggie girls. One thing is for sure, we were all happy to be back.
We’ve been working with Belle on recall over the past few weeks. So when she’s off-leash, if we say “come” that’s what she does. She performed beautifully. She stays close to me when we’re out and about. And when I call her back, she comes running. The girl loves to run even more than Meg. Of course, one could attribute that to the 8-year age difference between the two of them.
Here, Belle’s waiting with me for Meg to return.
I couldn’t resist snapping some nature images while I waited. Even in the winter, when everything is all brown and depressing, there’s interesting stuff to see if you just take the time to look.
Meg wasn’t gone too long. And when she came back, we all walked down the driveway to retrieve Belle’s duck, which was left there because Belle is convinced “come” also means “drop everything.”
As we headed back up the driveway, Meg and Belle were happy to see our neighbor Buddy had come for a visit. Buddy loves to play with the girls. And they love to play with him, too.
Buddy has the coolest yard. It is not only several acres in size, but there’s lots of flat space and there’s a CREEK. They had a blast. They both need baths now for sure, but it was worth it.
I have more fun images of the dogs at play, but it’s Monday and I have to get to work.
Reality sucks.
