We've arrived!

After weeks of maintenance/repairs of the Freightliner and RV plus all the prepping of inside, we finally left the house on Christmas Day. We spent Christmas Eve in the RV while it was parked in the driveway, letting the #2doods get used to new surroundings as well as allowing me to wash and wax all the floors in the house. Always nice to come home to a clean home (yes, we spent a major part of the day cleaning...lol).

The #2doods did pretty well adapting, we set up one crate in the living room area and extra bed pad beside it.



They made themselves at home quick easily...and the evening passed quickly.



Next morning we got up early and did all the last minute things, including pulling in all the slides so Stu could air up all the tires. Then the two crates were stored in the garage beside the motorcycle. Then it was time to load the #2doods. Initially we planned on Cooper riding in the Freightliner with Stu and Murphy riding in the Jeep with me. First snafu, Cooper wouldn't get into the Freightliner without a LOT of help in addition to the ramp. Phew, both in their respective spots, we were ready to go. We had hoped to be out by 9am and managed at around 10am (which was actually 11am Eastern Time). Just in time to see some snow flakes!



We took I-40 over to I-75 and the traffic was as light as expected. Our first rest stop and the dogs had to be rearranged with both of them in the back of the Jeep. Cooper slept and traveled just fine, but getting out was worst then getting him in. Oh my! Not an issue for them though, they were doing wonderfully on the leash, behaving much better than we anticipated.



Due to the late hour, we planned to stop at the Flying J south of Atlanta and decide if we would boondock there or try to make it south of Macon and stay in a campground that night. We stopped and I got fuel but two issues. Stu was having some electrical problems with low voltage in the Freightliner. He was concerned we might have to replace the alternator before continuing. Second problem, there was no parking available at the Flying J so we headed over to the TA. Nope, full there, too. Fortunately there are two more truck stops there - Love's & Pilot. We found a perfect spot right next to a curb with a good grass area to walk the dogs behind us. With the rig backed all the way in, there was room for the car in front of it. Then came our next surprise. We had to use the side back door to get the dogs out. Murphy jumped right out! Cooper took a little persuasion.

The next day went well. The Freightliner batteries were recharged (we ran the generator all night to help charge them) and although it was showing only 10 volts when we headed out, it soon was up to 12 volts where it belonged. He thinks there might be a loose cable and we made it to the RV park around 1pm without further incident. Phew!

The park has nice wide spots on grass with a small concrete patio. We got the RV lined up and settled in quickly. The #2doods have lots of walking space with a very quiet road behind us and a huge field beside us. Initially we planned to board Murphy (who adapts quickly to most anything and anyone) so I would only have Cooper to deal with while Stu flew to Maryland for the funeral of a former coworker. But dealing with walking them both at the same time was much easier than anticipated. Oh, and another HUGE surprise. After using the ramp to get the dogs in and out at the truck stop and the first couple of times, as soon as we used the back steps into the garage both dogs quickly adapted to using the steps. No ramp! Then they did the same with the front door. SOOOOO much easier. Yay for smart pups!

Their crates are now set up in the garage, side by side. Their wet weather towels are stored on top and their toy box is available, too. We have A/C back there when it gets warm but for now we are more apt to be running heat. If the weather is bad, we can take them in and out back there and use the towels to dry and de-mud them. (Ignore the flattened boxes and paper piled on top...LOL)





This morning we crated the #2doods and headed out for the 45 minute drive to the Jacksonville airport. You do go through some small towns but the drive was easy, most of it on US Rt1. Back home and I got to open several boxes that already arrived from Amazon.

We originally planned to carry our older B&W laser printer in the RV but it was just too big since we took out the old wooden file cabinet, my computer card and rearranged the dining table into it's original position. After a little research I found and All-in-One HP inkjet printer for $20 on Amazon. Yes, you read that right. $20!! And the print cartridges are $15. Much smaller footprint and we will just pull the cartridges when we park the RV for summer. Since we no longer have a WiFi router in the RV, we will use it with a USB connection. It's been tested and works fine as did the scan function. Happy camper here! I'm sure this is an older model but for the price, it's hard to go wrong.

So the #2doods and I are settled in for some alone time until Stu flies back on Sunday. He arrives so late, he booked a hotel room and I will pick him up on Monday morning. The weather forecast for next week is COOL but we have plenty to do. I still have a lot of computer/office stuff to get settled. Stu has a lot of repair/maintenance chores on his list. We also need to take the pups over to meet their eventual boarding spot where the will meet the lady who runs the facility and her Boxer. We also plan to have lunch with the sister of a fellow firefighter friend. Then there are several interesting sounding spots to try for breakfast &/or lunch. We will take the bike out and explore when the weather permits.

Ahhhh, life is good!

PS. Need a last minute gift? Book One in the Klondike Mystery series, Not a Whisper, is on sale for a limited time. Only $1.99 until 12/31. Grab your copy or share as a gift!


Ciao for now!

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Ciao for now!

AHHHH, October!

It's October and I've decided to end my Celebrate the Small Things posts.  I'm returning to posting when 1) I have something to say/share, 2) I have cute puppy photos [shout-out to Cooper & Murphy], 3) we travel, 4) we do anything of interest and/or 4) it's been too long since my last post.

I've fallen into the habit of sharing things on Facebook and Instagram and forgetting to share them here. As of this month, I am backing way off posting on both of those. Not stopping, just trying to not visit/post as often.

So first off, I'm going to tell you about my last week. As you may or may not know, Stu is in Maryland attending several Firefighter functions and visiting family. I'm at home with Cooper - and now Murphy.

I will say it - I've been spoiled. Stu gets up early with Cooper and lets me sleep. No more, for the last twelve days, I've had to get up early - first with Cooper and now with him and Murphy. I already posted about Murphy's first night/morning. Oops!

But since then, we haven't had ONE accident - not one! Now the chewing is something else...he has such needle-teeth and he chews on everything. I divert as much as I can and use a lot of Apple Bitter spray. The two of them now sleep together in the newly purchased XL crate (the old was a M).

Old Crate - which Cooper was quickly outgrowing.

New crate, plenty of room for the two of them.

We have a routine. We get up, I go out with them for their morning duties. While I'm out, I gather up the toys that were carted outside the day before and pick up the poop I find. Back in and they eat - well Murphy does. Cooper isn't a big morning food person whereas Murphy is a gobbler. He eats in the utility room (door shut or baby gate up) and Cooper eats in the kitchen/dining area as usual. Murphy is eating off a large cookie sheet to spread the food around to slow him down. I also toss in a couple of ice cubes that slide around.

Fed, they may play for 20-30 minute, then they nap for an hour or so. Back outside, if the weather is nice, I close the gate at the top of the deck for an hour or so. That lets me get some things done - like vacuuming, sweeping, showering, etc. Lunch is usually between 12-1 with more outside play afterward, then dinner around 5pm. More play and by 8-8:30, they crash until 10-11pm for their last out before bedtime.

They love playing tug-of-war and Cooper's toys are showing the wear. We also have two nice young neighbor boys that like to come over in the afternoon for 20-30 minutes of play with the pups. We head to bed between 11pm and midnight and get ready for the next day. Here's the results from the last week of play. One grunting hedgehog with a split seam. One flat fox with a hole (and two other flatties not in the photo, the same) - favorite tug toy. One crab with stuffing coming out. One ball, deflated.

Has it all been fun? No, Cooper is almost 37# now and Murphy is 18#. Cooper is tall, Murphy is short. While most of the time Murphy can stand up for himself, sometimes Cooper has to go into a time-out till the excitement settles down.

They do travel well in the back of the pickup, fortunately. Murphy did well at his first vet visit. The big surprise was finding out his weight under Cooper's by less than 2# (Murphy was 12 weeks and Cooper was 16 weeks). Yup, we're going to have TWO BIG DOGS.

The other excitement was the neighbor coming over to tell me BOTH DOGS WERE OUT OF THE BACK YARD! Yikes! We were sure Stu had fixed the spot where Cooper had escaped and looking at it, he had. While we were trying to corral them, they scooted under the shed and back into the backyard. Ey-yi-yi!

Long story short, I suspect Murphy scooted under the shed to get away from Cooper for a bit but Cooper discovered he could fit and out they went. Thank goodness for wonderful neighbors who put up more fence wire around the shed to keep them in the backyard. Not thirty minutes later I look out and Cooper is standing on storage box - which means he could easily get over the fence if he tried. So I run out, scold him and do this. LOL!

So now it's day two and no escapes. Phew!

Yesterday they went to doggy daycare, played and had baths. Kept them a little quieter last night. It let me get a much-needed haircut and pick up groceries at Walmart. I still need to get fuel in the pickup, that's on the agenda tomorrow along with a dump run (yes, we take our trash to the local transfer station).

Stu should be home around October 19-20th (I hope, I hope, I hope). We have RVing friends coming to look at the property we have for sale. We'd love to sell it soon! Not much else new. I did luck into finding a great guy to mow the yard for us. He did a nice job and will be back in another 7-10 days to do it again. Oh, and we now have TWO calves in the pasture. At least Cooper has stopped barking at them. LOL!

I admit it's nice to FINALLY have book three of my Klondike mysteries done, now working on the paperback. Sales have been pretty slow, but I just hope those who do buy it, enjoy it. I think the series will end here. I do plan on writing the third in my Lei Crime Kindle World series, as time permits. I'm not sure I will write any more books...if I do, it will be shorter books (novella length) in the Lia Rules series I had planned to do. But nothing is final....

Click to Buy

Ciao for now!

9/29/2017: Celebrate the Small Things

It's Friday and time to post my Celebrate the Small Things on this blog.

If you'd like to join in the fun or check out some other participating blogs, click the image to the right or the link at the bottom of the page.

It's been an interesting week, my first taking care of Cooper 24/7. Well, except for Monday when he went to doggy day care and I was FREE for a day. LOL!

So, here are my celebrations for this past week...

We have a new friend in the pasture. The previous ones, Brownie & Blackie, went on to feed someone. Now we have a much smaller Blackie, or BB for Baby Blackie. Cooper is not a fan!

Cooper has gone into a MASSIVE chewing phase while his adult teeth are coming through. After two months of play with his favorite vinegar bottle, it was finally thrown in the trash. But not until after I got this hysterical picture of him laying on his back, playing with it - inside his crate!

Yes, he has out-grown it. When Stu gets home, he's converting a used crib into a wooden crate. Should be interesting. LOL!

For those who don't subscribe to my newsletter (and you really should), the first book in my Klondike (PA) Mystery series, Not a Whisper is currently FREE! If you've already read it, then tell your friends! If you haven't read it yet, you should. Why? Because I finally finished the third book, Almost a Touch, and it's available on PRE-ORDER.

But the biggest news is the addition of a second puppy to the house. On Monday I picked up a 12-week old puppy, Murphy. He's a Collie/Goldendoodle pup and will hopefully stay a little smaller than Cooper. They are doing wonderfully, no accidents in the house except the very first morning. Of course, it helps that the weather is nice enough to leave the back door to the deck open. LOL!

They are sleeping in the same crate - no more puppy cries all night like the first night. If I thought it was cramped for Cooper, you should see the two of them. LOL! So today an XL crate and pad will be delivered and set up. Phew!

Murphy has his first vet visit today...hoping all checks out. He is a snuggler, something that Cooper isn't. I'm loving that! Oh, you can see a TON of photos in their SmugMug Album. Here's a sample...

Yes, there are two dogs in that last photo.

Hoping you had something to celebrate this week!

Ciao for now!

9/22/2017: Celebrate the Small Things

It's Friday and time to post my Celebrate the Small Things on this blog.

If you'd like to join in the fun or check out some other participating blogs, click the image to the right or the link at the bottom of the page.

My small things for this past week, some not so small, but all great!

Late this week (but dating it yesterday). Been BUSY!!!

Stu spent the week getting ready to head out on the motorcycle for three weeks. He has several firefighter events to attend and since he hadn't done a long motorcycle ride, I encouraged him to go enjoy! We might have both gone but I have an author event the same day as one of his events. Oops! Besides getting his gear ready, he also did a lot of little things around the house so I didn't have to deal with them - just the dog (that's enough). Cooper helped him prepare on the morning he left!

I've had a lot of busy time, too. First was getting my long awaited wedding ring tattoo. While I absolutely LOVE our gold Celtic wedding rings, mine has gotten too small. Due to the pattern, it can't be enlarged (it was stretched once already. Last summer, we camped with motorcycle friends from Canada and they both had ring tattoos, each different to represent their spouse. I had considered getting one more tattoo, a double heart on the inside of my write, but never got around to it. So, that is my wedding ring tattoo! It's still healing but I love it.

But had that's not all, I just put Almost a Touch, the long awaited third book in my Klondike mystery series. Yippee!! I still have some edits to do in the next couple of days, but on October first, it will be LIVE! Hoping for a lot of pre-orders....[hint, hint]

GREAT week, hope yours was the same.

Ciao for now!

9/15/2017: Celebrate the Small Things

It's Friday and time to post my Celebrate the Small Things on this blog.

If you'd like to join in the fun or check out some other participating blogs, click the image to the right or the link at the bottom of the page.

My small things for this past week, some not so small, but all great!

Missed last week and still busy, so this will be short and sweet!

Cooper has had an adventurous week. First up - he discovered he could slip under one of the gates and turned up at our front door, asking in. Stu fixed that as soon as we found where he was getting out. Then on Wednesday, he was neutered and forced to wear the inner tube of shame. (LOL)



Stu has been busy with chores, like the above mentioned fence issue, plus installing new locks on all our west facing windows. The original ones were sun-rotted plastic and now they are metal and will outlast us! We also finally got rid of the HORRIBLE fake wood blinds in the office and put in bamboo Roman shades. I love them. They look so much better than the drooping mini-blinds and will keep out as much light as those did since they never closed up the way they should have.



We've also been working on cleaning up the RV inside, getting it ready for a dog crate (which will become my end table). We reinstalled the dining room chairs, removed the file cabinet and rolling computer cart and sorted through a ton of office supply stuff that is now inside. I have two overhead cabinets and a small tote that will store what we think we will need for office supplies. The lamp that was on the dining table, which was wedged into the corner and became Stu's desk, will go on top of the dog crate as well as our laser printer. Lots of organization going on! We also snagged two nice used chairs for $20 each, they go with our current dining room mish-mash and are quite comfortable.



Me? I finally got Almost a Touch out to my four beta readers. I hope to have everyone's feedback this weekend so I can edit. Then back out to 4-6 proofreaders and hopefully, on to publication at Amazon by the end of the month. Phew!

Other than that, I've been prepping for the book signing/author event on October 7th. I have 24 copies of Not a Whisper, 18 copies of Barely a Spark, signs, postcards, business cards, pens, guest book pages for newsletter sign-up and prizes! Five tote bags (like the one I'm using to carry stuff), one coffee mug, a Dead Fred pen holder, Crime Scene sandwich bags and Crime Scene bandaids. All in good fun! Hope to see some old friends and make some new ones!



Ciao for now!

Home Again, Jiggity Jig

We enjoyed our ten days on our Southern Caribbean cruise. This was our first Royal Caribbean cruise together, second for Stu and first for me. Many folks have asked us to compare it to our Carnival cruises and I will do a roundup at the end of this post.

We had five ports and had been to all the islands but one on a previous Carnival cruise. I stuck to my guns and WROTE. Stu did two dives and ventured out a bit at the other ports. Not many photos, more of the ship and ship views than land photos. You can see them all in our SmugMug album.

We were thirty minutes out when we had to do an about face and return to the terminal in Ft Lauderdale for a medical emergency. During the cruise we had two more emergencies at ports. Guess we're all getting older. Sad....

We wandered the ship on the first day, marveling at the pretty decor and the amount of public space. We never felt crowded. There were two theaters, one for movies and comedians/performers and one for the production shows (I could be wrong but that's what I remember...lol). Several bars, open at various hours, an unusual shop layout (with pretty much the same merchandise as Carnival), and a nice adult solarium pool area.

Our cabin....


Our balcony....


The atrium (named the Centrum)


On the way to the Schooner Bar


The solarium (and bar) - adults only area


The shopping area


Sunset at sea


Tortola, B.V.I.


Basseterre, St. Kitts


House band on 50's-60's night in the atrium (there are several more short videos in the album)


Roseau, Dominica

Local street drummer

Fun local transportation


St. Johns, Antigua

Lots of boats, this was one interesting one

Definite party boat, they were dancing away!

A beautiful sunset from our balcony


Philipsburg, St Maarten

Better color, taken outside (not through a window)


Our favorite musician was a Scotsman, Kevin Philip.
Video

In full regalia


Yup, we added another musician friend to our Facebook list (and yes, he's also young enough to be a grandson).


We did both formal dinners.


I actually saw the sunrise in Fort Lauderdale...eeek!


Our overall impression of RCCL was, nice but not for us. Please remember, this was ONE CRUISE on ONE SHIP that we are comparing to over TEN CRUISES on SEVEN SHIPS.

We enjoyed ourselves but felt it was a bit too sedate. We loved the decor, very different from Carnival's more gaudy look. We liked the large public areas meaning we never felt crowded but that comes from taking away from other areas. The hallways for the cabins are narrow and our cabin was definitely smaller. Yes, that means the bathroom was smaller. The counter space was horrible. Smaller drawers, less storage place. Still had a safe and a mini-fridge (empty). The bed was fair, and for me, the pillows were horrible. Flat and hard. But I have to say the A/C was superior!

Things got very quiet after 10pm other than one or two bars and the casino. No late night comedians or shows. The timing was very different for us. Gone were the fresh burgers and hot dogs in the afternoon, replaced with buffet steam table burgers and dogs. Just not the same. Ice cream was only available when the Windjammer buffet was open. And yes, there were times it was closed. Doors closed and locked closed.  And don't get me started on the chocolate chip cookies. If we were comparing just that one thing, it'd be Carnival - hands down (freshly baked, still warm cookies as compared to dry, tasteless, worse than store bought cookies).

The staff treated us very well, several even interested in my writing. I did most of my writing in the Windjammer buffet. Spending a lot of time there, I was shocked at the amount of loud talking between staff members. But even worse was listening to someone be dressed down, loudly, in front of guests. This happened more than once.

We also felt the cleanliness wasn't as good as Carnival. We rarely saw anyone out cleaning, the Windjammer floor was nasty - food under tables all day long was just one thing. The last two days I couldn't sit on one side near the beverage counter because the smell of rotting garbage was terrible.

Oh, when in the lido buffet area, you don't serve yourself your own drinks. Not coffee, not water, not lemonade, not tea...that was different. They did have a non-smoking night in the casino but we noticed very few people smoking the entire cruise. They also gave us each $5 to gamble with - neither of us took advantage of that. We also loved that the photographers weren't hounding you to take your picture.

Would we cruise them again? Maybe - if it were a great deal and a destination we wanted. For now, we'll stick with Carnival and enjoy the rowdy crowds and cheerful noise!

Ciao for now!