White Shepherd Stories

Late at Night Something Scurries

Last night I was up late and about ready to go to bed.  I heard the horn on my car beep. Just once and no more.  It was curious, as my car was safely in the garage.   I went to the laundry room and opened the door to the garage.  I turned the lights on and waited for a couple minutes.  I did not let the dogs out, although they were anxious to investigate for me.  The door from the garage leading to the pool house was open.  I turned on the light in the pool house and thought I heard something scurrying.  I did not see anything.  I shut that door and concentrated on my car.  There was no further honking and I decided to open the garage door in hopes that if there was something in the garage - it might go out into the night, instead of making my horn honk.  I stood at the door for as long as the cold would allow.  Nothing..... I finally closed the garage door.  I checked the alarm on the car and all was normal, with the alarm engaged and the red light blinking periodically, on the dash.  

I rechecked the pool house, but saw nothing and heard no further scurrying.  I decided it could wait until morning to check it out.  

This morning I opened the garage and the dogs hurried outside to run.  It is what they do in the mornings, no matter how cold, or wet it may be.  It actually had warmed up this morning and was almost 40 degrees.  I did not see or hear anything in the garage and the dogs did not seem the slightest bit interested in smelling around the car.

I went into the pool house and while I was taking care of a few chores in there, I once again heard scurrying.  So did Journey and he was hot in pursuit, at the far end of the pool.  He cornered the scurryier on a window sill when it fluttered to a resting place.  I could not see it very well, but it was tiny and it had wings.  I commanded Journey to "leave it", which he immediately did.  "Good boy Journey"!  He practically had it in his mouth - but he stood back.  I went into the house for a towel to be certain I could catch it.  If it got away I was afraid it might land in the pool, which is very cold at this time of year.  

The frightened little guy did not move and I carefully picked him up and took him outside.  I placed him on the edge of a planter so he could catch his breath.  He was soooo tiny and breathing hard.  I went inside to get my camera.  

Next I placed a small dish of seed, and a small dish of water on the picnic table near him.  Another bird seemed to be frantically calling to him and swooping nearby.  I watched him from the doorway and in a minute or two he took off and headed to the area where the other bird was moving about from branch to branch of various trees and bushes.  

My gentlemanly dogs watched the whole scenario.  I was very pleased with them.  They did not go near him, even while I was inside getting my camera and the food.  

His mate probably wondered where he had been all night.

I don't think he was the cause of my car horn honking, but maybe if he really thunked down on it .... well, who knows.  Anyway, he is not hurt and he is back with his mate. Hopefully he will not fly into the pool house again when the door is open - or if he does, hopefully he will fly out before I close the door.  I don't know what kind of bird he is.  He is very tiny, and a little puff ball.  I am so glad he is okay.   He is a tough little bird and come spring he or she will most likely parent some strong babies.  

On The Road to Florence for Thanksgiving 2013

 

I decided to go visit my aunt Zelma and my cousin, Dolores.  They invited me to have Thanksgiving dinner with them, at the clubhouse in the park where they live.  We go to visit every few months.  Aunt Zelma is now 101 years old and is doing well.  I love visiting with her and her daughter Dolores.  The park where they live is very pretty. There is a small RV parking area, but we usually end up parking in their driveway to be closer to them.  It is a little scary at night as there are often reports of bear in the park.  We have been lucky enough to miss any confrontations so far.  The bear have not hurt anyone, but I prefer not to test them.  I walk the dogs a lot when I am there and I keep a good lookout for bear.  I have no idea what the dogs would do if we should come face to face with one.  

I would prefer to have left the day before, but Journey's agility class is on Tuesday, so we had to leave on Wednesday.  I suspected that the highway would be crowded on the day before the holiday.  There are several routes we could take to get to Florence, Oregon, from our home in Kelso, Washington.  My favorite is the coast route, (highway 101).  I usually go to Florence on the Interstate Highway 5, then we go home via the coast route and take a couple days to get home.  It is much too pretty to drive right through.  The weather has been pretty cold, lately.  I prefer to just travel with the dogs, but I am not comfortable leaving our parakeet alone for that many days.  So I loaded everyone into the RV and we headed south on the Interstate on what would normally be a 4-1/2 to 5 hour drive.  We were expected to arrive around "Happy Hour".  It did not take long to realize that was not going to happen.  I called Dolores and told her not to wait up for us. We would just pull in and go to sleep as it would probably be late when we arrived.  It took us about four hours just to get to Oregon and drive through the Portland area.  The traffic was stop and go, at about 2-3 mph until we got south of Portland. at Wilsonville.  Then the rest of the I-5 travel was stop and go,  any where from 15  to 40 mph.  We got to Eugene, Oregon at about 8:45 pm.  From Eugene we headed toward the coast, where Florence is located.  It is a good road, but it is two lane with many, many turns. That leg of the trip always takes about two hours to get to Florence.  By this time the traffic was not bad, but we still did not arrive in Florence until  close to 11:00 pm.  I was so tired.  Almost 9 hours on the road in horrible traffic.  I had a terrible head ache, a sore neck, I had leg cramps from sitting and having my foot poised from brake to gas to brake to gas for all those hours.  I stopped once to walk the dogs and then again to walk them and feed them.  I was actually too tired to eat.  When we pulled into the park it was absolutely silent.  I could see millions of stars while I was walking the dogs, and the Christmas lights were so pretty.  We were just crossing the road in front of my aunts place when all three dogs started barking and scared me to death.  Fortunately it was a decorated, life size snowman, not the bear I expected to see.  It felt so good to get in bed, however, after nearly nine hours of driving I kept dreaming I was still driving. Journey likes to sleep with me.  He occasionally cuddles up, but mostly he just sleeps next to me. During this trip he was apparently feeling a little cooler and he was also worried about Pirate taking his place, so he crowded next to me as close as possible.  It did not bother me, as it was pretty chilly at night.  A double bed can be a little crowded though, with two or three 90 lb. dogs sharing it with me.  

" Isn't it time for our walk?"  This is what my bed looks like when Journey and Pirate finish with a wrestling match on it. 

My cousin, Dolores, trying to untangle the dogs so we could go for our walk. 

Carol and her dog, Fargo, accompanied us on the walk.  Quest likes to walk with Dolores.

On Thursday morning we had a nice walk and then we all went to the clubhouse for a lovely Thanksgiving dinner.  They really did it exceptionally well, for such a large crowd. There were around 150 people there and they served the dinner, instead of having a buffet as in the past.  It was wonderful.

My aunt Zelma is seated on the right.  It is hard to believe she is 101,

After dinner we walked home.  Everyone was tired and I sure did not last long after dinner.  I slept much better Thursday night.  Friday we enjoyed our walks and visiting with friends of my aunts, and dog walkers in the park.  

 Pirate and Journey caught the scent of a bear in the front yard of a home down the road from my aunt's place.

Florence is a beautiful little town on the Oregon Coast.  I had considered possibly living there before I found my home in Kelso.  It would have been nice to be close to my aunt and my cousin, but a little too far from my daughter, who lives in Portland.  Where I live now, I am only about a 45 minute drive from Laura & Kevin.  I am also much closer to the dog events and activities I enjoy.

The clubhouse has two swimming pools, a large hot tub spa and a sauna.  They have pool tables, tennis courts, a comfortable clubhouse and many other things to do.  I enjoy all the birds, and especially the wild turkeys that wander around the park.  There are beautiful places to walk, by the Siuslaw River or even just around in the park.  It does not look like the mobile home parks I  was used to seeing.  It has winding roads and many of the residences look more like houses than mobile homes.  It is a very nice place, except maybe for the bears.  They are interesting, but I am nervous about them, especially at night when I would not be able to spot them as easily.   The little town of Florence is full of cute little shops, typical of the little coastal towns.  There are docks and a marina on the river, near the beaufiful old bridge that  allows the 101 highway to cross the river.

Quest in front, Journey and Pirate on the bench.

On Friday night it was a little colder than normal and I realized, at about 2:00 am, the furnace was not working.  The dogs and I were fine, but I was worried about the bird. The next morning I put the bird inside aunt Zelma's house for the rest of our visit.  I set out to figure why the furnace, and a couple electric recepticles were not working.  After reading the trouble-shooting section of the RV manual It seemed that it must be the coach battery.  (Not the vehicle battery,)  I drove to Schwab's and sure enough, they tested it and it said "replace battery" - the old one was installed in 2005.  The operation of replacing the battery was exciting for the mechanic.  He was, unfortunately, afraid of dogs.  Since there was no where I could leave them, they were in the RV.  I leashed them and put all three in the cab of the RV, tied to the seat and the steering wheel. When Vern came around the corner of the RV and looked inside, he startled the dogs and they all barked.  I quickly told him they were securely tied.  He looked a little skeptical, but his eyes gradually returned to normal size and he worked efficiently to remove the old battery and replace it with the new one.  My cousin knew an RV mechanic, (who makes house calls, YES!) and we had lined him up just in case replacing the battery did not do it.  He told me to test everything when I got back and to be sure everything worked. When we got back to my aunt's place I did that, and was delighted to find that everything worked just fine, including the parakeet's heat lamp.  

Pirate and Quest

Pirate ready to play with Quest

Quest being silly.

Journey has a very long tail ... this time he is sharing part of Pirate's tail though, and it looks even longer.

A few more walks to see all the Christmas decorations ...

"We don't think this is right, the reindeer are all going the other direction and why don't we have lights too".

Back at the gazebo.

 After one more walk, I packed up and we were ready to head north on Highway 101.  First I went inside to visit with Zelma and Dolores a few minutes more.

Hope to get back in a month or two.  I really enjoy our visits.

Our trip home began by driving up the coast past the Sea Lion Caves; the tiny town of Yachats (yaw-hots); Waldsport; and on to Newport, where I always stop for fish & chips, or scallops, fish & chips.  

 Scallops, halibut & fries with a side of salad.  Then I bought some smoked salmon, a piece of fresh, wild salmon and some fresh scallops to take home. 

Our drive was rainy and a little windy, but nothing that made handling the RV difficult. The coast can be very windy.  Sometimes bridges swing so much the warning lights go on and you are better off not trying to cross them.  I crossed once when the lights were just yellow.  It was very frightening and I cannot imagine what it would feel like if the lights were red.  

After my early dinner I continued driving until we arrived in Lincoln City.  It was getting dark and still raining.  I decided to stay at the State Park at Devil's Lake.  I found a camping spot that did not have too many puddles.  We took a short walk, then I got ready for bed and caught up with some email and Words With Friends.  It was cozy inside and nice to listen to the rain all night.  In the morning the sun kept peeking out and the blue sky kept showing through.    

Bear Creek Artichoke Farm was open when we got to it.   They have so many wonderful goodies there and lots of samples.  I love to stop.  I always get a hot apple dumpling with cinnamon sauce over it.  What a treat!  I also bought a couple of berry scones, for another day.  They make the best scones, they are never dry, just right.  I bought some of their home made Pesto and then,, best of all, the most wonderful Artichoke dip that they make right there.  I had some fresh vegetable snacks to dip in it later, if I got hungry while I was driving.  I usually get a larger flat of the artichoke dip, but I made myself settle for a small one this time.  I was sure looking forward to it.

 

Artichoke farm with a few left over pumpkins in the soggy field.

One more stop, at the Tillimook Cheese factory where I got a couple Christmas gifts in the gift shop and an ice cream cone for me and a dish with two scoops, for the dogs. I split the ice cream in the dish for the dogs and they loved it!  The rest of the trip was good -  sometimes a little stormy, but still pretty and I was enjoying a recorded book on the radio.

Nice to get home.  As I opened our gate, the UPS man arrived with a package.  I replaced the little dish of artichoke dip, that I had been enjoying, on the shelf on the dash in the RV (not on top of the dash).   I had to get out to receive the package he was delivering.  When I got back into the RV I found a very clean plastic cup, without a smidgen of artichoke dip left.  I was so disappointed and mad at someone.  I don't know who did it but they all got a lecture.  I also enlightened them about the possibility of not taking them on future trips.  They didn't believe me and I knew I would never leave them. They are the best travel partners I could ever want.  I can get more artichoke dip on the next trip.  I cannot imagine an RV trip without my best buddies, even if one of them did have a momentary memory lapse about not stealing.  I decided my lecture was sounding pretty silly, although they all seemed to be taking it seriously.  There had only been about 1/4 cup left, but well, it would be hard for you to imagine how wonderful that artichoke dip is.  I searched their faces to see if I could determine who took it.  They were all pretty much poker faced.  

Nice to be home.  The dogs set about marking their territory and setting things straight with the dogs across the road.  Rocky growled, barked and postured but I think he was happy to see them.  Rocky is an "only dog", so he directs most of his comments to Quest (our alpha dog).  Sometimes he tells Pirate about it, but if they are all outside he normally ignores Journey (the kid).  

Journey really tickles me.  He charges out when I give him access to his doggy door. He runs down to the fence at the road, full speed!  He comes to a stiff legged bouncing stop uttering grand "WOOFS", which are dramatically increased in power by the bouncing stops.  If Rocky ignores him, Journey usually goes back up the hill and tries his dramatic display again, sort of like - "maybe you didn't hear me the first time".   If Pirate and Quest are not busy they occasionally join forces with Journey, to encourage him and emphasize the drama.  That really gets Rocky's attention.   It is nice to have good neighbors to guard your property while you are gone.   Between Rocky (German Shepherd), Kona (German Shepherd) and Cody ( a large yellow Labrador), our property is under surveillance even when my three big guys are on a trip.