The Doggy Wash

The furry kids needed a bath badly before the trip to Utah. So rather than penning them up in our bathroom, we took them to a doggy wash.

They were so excited to be riding in the car and had no idea what was about to happen.

All in all it was a relatively painless experience for animals and humans alike.

Playing With The Dogs

The kids called Thursday to let us know that they were going to make a surprise visit to us Friday afternoon. Though we'd only seen them a couple of weeks ago, anytime we can spend time with them is a blessing.

Saturday morning the dogs were allowed to come into the house so that the kids would have the chance to visit with Blaze and Derek could see the dogs.

Cats and Dogs

B.J. the Dog decided to go "country" during our visit to Utah. He has NEVER voluntarily jumped into the back of Corey's truck, but he did this time. While waiting for a possible ride in the truck, I spotted a couple of kittens wandering around in the yard. Then the furry kids spotted them and began watching them. But, they never got out of the truck. I think they were afraid they'd miss their ride.
The next three pictures show a happy B.J. hanging out in the bed of the truck. Can you see the smile on his face?!!?!

Life In the Back Seat

The furry kids were very good during the cross country trip while taking up the back seat. B.J. spent most of his time looking out the side window just as a small child would do. Occasionally I would lower the window, weather permitting, and he would hang out sniffing the air. He took several "cat" naps when he wasn't being run over by Blaze.

Blaze hung out most of the trip with her head stuck between Joe and I. Her eyes would be glued forward as though she was a backseat driver, but when she spotted an 18 wheeler coming down the road, she would lunge into the backseat and snarl at the truck. (Hence the interruptions in B.J.'s naps). Blaze NEVER took a nap for the first two days of travel! She was so pumped up about the trip the first day that we had to stop and buy some Benedryl and give it to her. It only lasted 5 hours per pill though.

They both loved getting out at the rest areas and trying their best to "water" every shrub, tree and bush they could reach.

Our Independence Day Weekend

Since gas is so high (I filled my car up for $57.00 on Friday at $3.93 a gallon) and we had a crazy week with Joe getting out of the hospital, we didn't go anywhere out of town even though I didn't have to work for three whole days. Oops, I lied, we went from Omega to Tifton but that's as far as we went out of town. We didn't go to the beach, we didn't hang an American flag, we didn't go to a parade and we didn't go to a fireworks display. Does that mean we could be deported to a non-American country? I say no, since I did grill a couple of chicken breasts outside.

During the weekend, I did something strange - I got to take a couple of naps and loved that, Joe got his "store bought" haircut (see pictures below on Smilebox), I did a little (very little) yard work cause I cut the hedge trimmer cord, it was getting hot and it was time to shower and take Joe to town for his haircut. I have already developed swollen spots from embedded stickers from blackberry bushes growing in amongst my gardenia bushes (darn pooping birds), mosquito bites and scratches. Now, we'll see if I break out with poison ivy rash in about four days.

Joe watched his NASCAR races (his main man, Tony Stewart, was sick on Saturday and didn't drive - shucky darn) and Omega has a fireworks display that I saw through the bushes outside our front door. We had to bring the dogs in because the sound of the fireworks was scaring them to death. Boring, huh?, but I don't care I loved it!

This afternoon after church, Joe and I took the furry kids for a ride to James and Jerry Walker's house. They are B.J.'s grandparents and they hadn't seen how big he's gotten in a while. And the furry kids LOVE to go for a ride. They would go for more rides if I let them. However, I don't want my car smelling like some new car fragrance named "Dirty, Nasty, Smelly Dog".

B.J. (bottom three pictures) doesn't hang out the window like Blaze does. He just likes to stick his head out and do some major smelling with his jowl flapping in the breeze. Maybe it's because he didn't grow up riding around in the back of a pickup truck like Blaze.

Blaze (top two pictures) HANGS out the window and goes back and forth between the left and the right hand windows. Every time a truck passes by, she lunges at the back window at the truck goes by. The larger the truck, the louder and longer the growl. 18 wheelers really drive her crazy. Cars and people don't seem to bother her at all.

I got B.J. for Joe's Christmas present a couple of years ago from Jerry and James Walker. (Jerry was one of my former directors while at the Child Care Resource and Referral Agency. Jerry is a very multi-talented person and one of the things she does is paint. One of her paintings is of Bryson, her grandson, with four puppies. B.J. is the black puppy being petted by Bryson in the painting.

One of the reasons I enjoy visiting with Jerry and James is their bee box. It's a large rectangular box that sits in their den and is built so that bees can come in and out of the box at will through a PVC pipe front the outside of the house into the bee box. It rotates so that you can also see bees busy at work making honey through the Plexiglas cover like the two pictures below. It's fantastic to watch - even better than an aquarium.

Make a Smilebox postcard

Go West Young Girl!!!

Well, it's the last night before the exodus out west begins with Joe, Mom and me. It's after 11:00 when I should be in bed. Afterall, I still have to work a full day tomorrow before we take off to spend the night in Jacksonville. So, why am I still up??? You look at the picture and maybe that will begin to explain why I'm not counting sheep. The bed is covered with a large suitcase for Joe, a large suitcase for Mom and two smaller ones for me. They're still on the bed since I'm still waiting for needed clothes to dry. (It's the last load, thank goodness)! You try packing suitcases for three people who are leaving 70-80 degree weather and arriving in a place where you found out it was snowing today. I figure between the three of us there are: 24 pairs of underwear, countless sweaters, 2 dresses, 1 suit, 2 ties, a couple of slips, a half dozen shoes, lots of socks, 2 large cans of boiled peanuts, presents for Derek, enough medicine to open up a family pharmacy, hot rollers, Joe's special hairbrush, pants, jeans, blouses, shirts, etc., etc., etc. And, remember no suitcase can weigh over 50 lbs.

The dogs, BJ the Dog and Blaze, were bathed by Joe today and delivered to Granddaddy tonight. He figured it was a fair trade to swap Grandmother for the dogs. The neighbors have been told to be on the lookout for persons who might want to invade our homestead while we're gone, the money taken out of the savings account, the post office is holding our mail, and I've remembered to collect all the airline, hotel and car rental confirmation paperwork.

I'm sure this will be a memorable flight for everyone involved. Hopefully, Mother Nature will cooperate, hopefully flights will run on time so we can make our connections, hopefully luggage won't get lost, hopefully we can manage to flag down one of those beeping stretched out golf carts to move us from one gate or terminal to another, hopefully the bathroom lines won't be too long, etc., etc., etc.

I could go on and on, but thank goodness for everyone that the dryer just buzzed!!! :) That means maybe I can go to bed by midnight and get up in six hours.