Fun Friday: Home, Tina, Art and Tapas

We spent the morning making calls, doing marketing for our new business, catching up on emails, and otherwise taking care of business. I also did some yard work for a neighbor who recently had surgery, and got some laundry done.

Lucky for Tina, we didn't drag her anywhere today (unlike yesterday when I took both her and Mary to work with me!), and she got to rest to her heart's content and have small walks around The Commons. As she rested in her bed, we couldn't resist a photo shoot since she's so photogenic!

For our Fun Friday activity, we went on a date to an opening at one of our favorite art galleries, then had tapas at El Farol, a famous Spanish tapas restaurant on the equally famous Canyon Road.

It was another local Fun Friday, and we look forward to many more over the coming winter.

Next Friday's destination: Boston, Massachusetts!

Tina in Repose

Here are some recent photos of Tina in repose. Note her front legs sweetly stretched out in front of her. Can't you just picture her wearing a cape like "Super Dog"? Or maybe not!

Tina Sleeps

Our poor aging Tina has a shoulder injury that's necessitating additional anti-inflammatories, restricted activity, and a whole lot of rest. Next step: x-rays and more drugs to keep her comfy.

Happy Ending!

A very scared and wet yellow lab came to our window during this evening's thunder and lightning storm. He was persistently panting and pleading for shelter from the storm so, of course, I let him in. I knew right away he was not our resident yellow lab and the tag on his collar read "Samson". I left the owners a phone message and also Googled their last name. I came up with owners of Santa Fe Cafe. I called there to learn that the cafe is in South Carolina and the owners had just lost their dog! Different dog, but isn't that weird?

The storm blew in a scared, shaking Samson to be in our safe space with a terrified, trembling Tina. How misery indeed loves company! And lucky me, I had two panting, drooling, pacing, silly, scared dogs by my side, in my lap and like old friends together. It was such a gift, and felt to me like some kind of divine intervention.

The owner was beside herself when she called, telling me the dog was far from home, that the door blew open while she was away and that he took off in the storm. She was worried sick and immediately left to come pick up her baby of 13 years.

Funny how things work out and that this dog arrived to our doorstep, of all places. As many of you know, we used to have a yellow lab named Sparkey, our beloved boy, who grew up with Tina.

The moral of the story is...when opportunity knocks at your door, open the door and let it in!

Here is a fine reward for me doing so tonight:

"Dear Mary, Keith and Tina:

"Thank you, thank you, thank you. Samson and I are sending you a big hug and a lick for watching out for us during this very scary storm.  Please find me on Facebook and keep in touch so we can have you over to our place to properly thank you for saving Samson’s life.

"Much love and appreciation"




---Mary

Tina as a Tamale

Tina and A Distant Cousin.....

Tina met another Heeler today at the dog park on the edge of town. They didn't interact too much, but they sure were cute together!

A Tina Video Update

Here's a video update of Tina's recent adventures from the road.

Tina had to undergo a veterinary appointment today, complete with two vaccines and some other undignified poking and prodding. It's been confirmed that she does indeed have liver disease of some kind, something that we'll certainly need to follow up on once we're more settled. Until then, we need to switch to special food and decrease her protein intake so her liver doesn't have to work so hard. She's a real trooper and we love our old gal.......Enjoy!

Happy Tina

Happy 15th Birthday to Tina!

Our beloved Tina is now 15 years old on this April Fools Day. To clarify, Tina's birthday is categorically unknown, so April Fools Day was the date that we assigned to her in order to have a day to celebrate her birth.

The following is a sweet video of Tina munching on some almonds atop the mesa above our campground after a fairly strenuous hike for the old girl.

We love our Tina, and thank her for allowing us to be her family for almost fifteen years, and for agreeing (sort of) to be dragged along this journey of a lifetime.

A Tina Update From the Road

Tina, our intrepid Australian Cattle Dog, will turn fifteen on April Fool's Day, and we want to pause to reflect on what a good traveler she truly is.

Tina has been with us since Mary found her on the streets of Holyoke, Massachusetts more than fourteen years ago, and despite two knee surgeries, her gradual loss of hearing and her diminishing eyesight, Tina still shows an enormous amount of joie de vivre and desire for adventure (and Olympic-length naps!).

Supremely adaptable, Tina has (relatively successfully) cohabited during our nineteen weeks of travel with many dogs, a number of cats, goats, horses and chickens, as well as a flurry of new human friends. We frequently find ourselves in new environments, and Tina seems to have a knack for finding interesting smells and comfy places to snooze.

Tina always wants to know what's going on, and she has become keenly attuned to the sounds of our vehicle and our patterns of behavior and movement within it. When we get in the cab and turn on the engine, Tina knows well that it's time to be moving on, and she readily assumes her position between our bucket seats (and more likely than not, is usually asleep within a few minutes of lift-off). Interestingly, due to her understanding that the rumble of the engine is equated with movement, Tina reacts similarly to the sound of our generator, and when we switch it on for any period of time, she will often move to the cab, mistaking the vibration of the generator for the engine.

While we have tried to help Tina to see our rig as both our vehicle and our home, she still is not terribly comfortable being left alone for any length of time, and wails and yelps of furious abandonment frequently emanate from the rig on the rare occasions that we do indeed leave her alone. This is somewhat inconvenient for us and gives us pause when we arrive at a destination that's not canine-friendly, and we do our best to assuage her fears with lots of treats and a few Benadryls to calm her frantic nerves. However, sometimes even if we both simply get out to pump gas or check the tire pressure, she is known to have a mini-freak out.

Over all, Tina continues to be a great travel companion despite her fears of abandonment, and it's her adaptability and consistently affectionate nature that make her such a wonderful animal companion. Despite her adaptability, we observe that Tina is most content when we are staying in a house, reminding us that it will eventually be in her best interest (and ours) to land ourselves in a situation where she can have the comforts of home and enter into her retirement years with grace and ease.

For those of you new to this blog or who just want to do a "Tina travel review", simply click here to see all of our blog posts labeled "Tina", and you will delight in photos, stories and videos, all of which focus on the lovable and sleek grey-blue dog that has come along---willingly or unwillingly---for our excellent adventure.

Palo Duro Canyon

Today we spent half a day at Palo Duro Canyon near the town of Canyon, Texas. Mary lived in Canyon when she was ten years old, and she will hopefully share some thoughts and a few videos and photos from that walk down Memory Lane here on our blog soon.

Palo Duro Canyon is a wild and beautiful place, the second largest canyon in the United States, and is often called “The Grand Canyon of Texas”. It is approximately 75 miles long and 6 miles wide, and 800 feet deep. It was carved into the Texan earth by an ancient river many millennia ago, and the layers of rock and sediment visible in the canyon walls is impressive and breathtaking.

Here are a few photos, videos, and impressions from our hike: 

We had a wonderful drive through the canyon, and a great hiking experience with Tina, who simply came to life with all of the smells and tracks and scat that we found along the red clay hiking trails.

It was a long haul from Georgetown to Canyon---about 450 miles---but it was worth the effort, providing us with a peak hike experience despite the cold, cloudy weather that ended with a blue sunny sky as we exited the park and drove west towards New Mexico!

Tina Meets Some Special Friends

Here's a video of Tina meeting two special goats at Echowood who were previously injured and badly neglected. The kind souls at Echowood, who treat their animals with such tender loving care, took them in and offered them a loving home.

Tina and Mary Frolick on the Beach

Here's Tina and Mary frolicking on the beach at the end of a beautiful sunset somewhere in Alabama. Enjoy! 

Mary and Tina Biking Through Paradise

Tina Drinking Her Fill

Here's a sweet little video of our old girl getting some water after a strenuous two-hour hike.....

Canine Cousins

Here's a photo of Tina and her canine cousin, Scottie, who lives a relaxing life here in the Atlanta area. Although Scottie teases Tina about her New England accent (she was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, after all), they tolerate each other well enough, especially considering that Tina is almost as deaf as a doornail and Scottie is nearly legaly blind.

For Tina's part, she likes to sleep in Scottie's little beds, steal his food, and otherwise take advantage of the little guy's southern hospitality. For Scottie's part, he's polite but inconvenienced---like a true southern gentledog---and an aloofly generous and indifferent host. (Please note their cleverly distinguished disguises).

This post was co-written by, co-produced, co-directed and brought to you by the Christmas crew at Norcross, Georgia. My name is Mary Rives and with Scottie and Tina's prior agreement,

I approve this message.

Tina on the Road

Tina the Traveler

Tina in Lake Ariel, PA

Well, Tina has been adapting to the RV lifestyle for several months, and now she is actively adapting to life on the road. In Bozrah, CT, she interacted with cats (not always elegantly, I may add), and here in Lake Ariel, PA, she's sharing space with goats, chickens, another dog, guinea hens, sheep, and ducks (not to mention our human hosts!).

Over all, I should say that Tina is doing very well for a 14-year-old canine who loves her creature comforts, but I do have some qualms about her ability to continue to roll with the many changes to come. She is not yet comfortable hanging out in the rig alone, although we are continuing to force her to do so for short intervals, hoping to increase those intervals over time.

Tina is a remarkable dog, and she is loved by most anyone who comes to know her. She is indeed getting on in years, and although she has moments of playfulness and spunk, she also likes a good snooze. To her credit, we have taken her on some pretty substantial walks on the land here in Lake Ariel, and she has impressively held her own and apparently enjoyed the fresh country air.

If you are so inclined, feel free to send Tina some positive canine love through the ethers, and encourage her to relax, roll with the changes, and learn to spend time in the rig without freaking out and standing on the table in a panic (her newest trick). All of our stuff is in the rig, including her bed, her toys and familiar smells, so there should be no reason that she can't become accustomed to time alone while she waits for us to shop, eat a meal, or do errands.

Tina is our canine pride and joy, and although traveling with a dog does pose some specific challenges, we hope that she can enjoy the ride and relax into her own little RV sabbatical.

---Keith

Tina at the Beach

An Exhausted Tina Sleeps Under the Table