Showing posts with label Savannah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Savannah. Show all posts

Monday, December 21, 2015

Life is Ruff! The dogs of the van life

Even though I already have two of the BEST dogs in the world...I could take on one, two or twelve more! haha
My Chili Moon is a Deer Chihuahua with the sweetest temperament you'll ever see in a Chi. She loves to sit with you and feel the warmth of your love...and your lap. If you're ever in our camp, she'll be greeting you with a wagging tail and sandy paw prints on your pants...don't say I didn't warn ya!


My Savannah Butterscotch is a Doxle; Dachshund/Beagle mix and thee most beautiful dog I've ever had. She is super smart, a big weirdo and loves the boys! The love of her life is Jamie, she melts like butter when she's with him. 


In this life, we are always surrounded by dogs, most are just awesome and amazing and then, of course there are a couple that I could never be around again and be just fine...but let's get back to those other ones!

We always joke around about "stealing" our friends' dogs! 
"If you can't find your dog and our rig is gone...we probably have them." 
Of course this would never happen but it's still fun to joke around and to let our friends know their furry lil' animal spirits are safe with us.
It's also fun to see what kind of dog we like and could have in our rig without the "investment"...and we can always give them back! 
This year it's a toss-up between a few and this post is about them. Anyone who knows me, knows I love my girls like my own children, well... because they are, so I'm always posting pics of them and talking about them. This post is about the dogs that run the van-life, plus, it's always fun to look at pictures of cute dogs!
Enjoy looking at and reading about some of the coolest dogs we have around camp!

Our first beautiful girl is Miss Rain Barrels, a 1/2 Australian Cattle Dog/ 1/2 Border Collie mix. The first time I met her was in 2012 and I fell instantly in love, she reminded me sooo much of my beloved Roxy Love, that I lost unexpectedly a couple of years prior.


We try to camp with Rain and her family a couple of times a year but you know how it goes out here. Rain is probably one of the smartest dogs I've ever met and also one of the most emphatic when it comes to sticks, you could throw a stick for her all day and she would chase it...all...day...long!!


  She watches over my girls, as if she is their mother...another thing I love about her.
She loves long walks and is a much better hiker and climber than I am!


She definitely lives her life to the fullest!



Next up, we have Rain's 'brodder' Snowden.


Handsome. Smart. Cuddly. Playful.
And the perfect size to sleep right in my arms every night...haha
His color and markings are amazing, he is an Australian Cattle Dog.


Every time Jamie gears up for a ride, it's like he knows he can get rough and for Snowden, it's Go Time...they will play rough for a few minutes, he gets so into it. He loves to chase balls, sticks, frisbees and he can do these small little flips, it's the cutest thing.
Snowden is much harder to get pictures of because he's always on the move, although I manage to snap a couple here and there. He and Rain have the greatest lives, they get to live freely and are very loved.



The next dog we're going to kidnap...I mean love on 😉
is Cody, Bob Wells dog.
I don't have many pictures of Cody because he, too is always on the move.
I believe Cody is an Australian Shepherd and pint size! 
He is one of the sweetest, lovable dogs in the community.
When we camp with Bob, Cody makes a point to come over and say, Hello, every morning. We hug and have a small cuddle session and sometimes, if I'm cooking, he'll get a piece of chicken or sausage. Some mornings I wake up and he's laying on our mat waiting for us and the girls to get up...he's a lover! He is always keeping us company.


Cody and Snowden are new besties and love to play!


These two babies are the newest, sweetest and probably oldest of the group. They belong to my darling friend, Debra. You can read her blog here:

Miss Nonni, a ten year old Rhodesian Ridgeback. She loves her momma and is a really well-mannered dog. Food can be a little bit of a tease for her but she's just 'so hungry'...haha


and Bentley, the softest, sweetest, cutest, 13 year old Wheatable~ a soft-coated Wheaten Terrier mix!
He doesn't hear or see too good but he LOVES to swim, be with his momma and lay around being cute! I snuggle with him every single chance I get. Debra knows I would take him in a heartbeat if she needed me to.


The 3 Amigos. Nonni, Bentley & Bear

I'm sure I'm missing some amazing dogs, but these are the dogs that have stolen my heart over the past 3 1/2 years.
The last one, that I have for sure not forgotten, is our dear Bear. Bear left us way too early but was able to live an amazing last part of his life out here on the road; meeting new fluff-friends, taking long walks with his daddy, Roger every morning and getting chicken surprises in the mornings from me. Bear was so soft and fluffy, it was hard not to hug and hold him for as long as possible when you saw him. His heart was pure gold and he loved everyone that came into his camp. Bear you are very missed but not forgotten. I hope my Roxy girl is showing you the ropes and you're getting to play to your hearts content. 
We love you.


These dogs live the best life possible. They are never stuck in a house, crate or small space for hours upon hours of the day. They get to spend all day with the people that love them most as well as other fur-babies. They get all kinds of treats, cookies, biscuits, what have you, from all of our friends, even the ones without dogs. I couldn't imagine any better life for my girls than the ones they're living right now.

We hope to meet you and your dogs some day.
I'd love to see pics of your fur-babies in the comments.
Maybe I'll fall in love with your dog next!


PEACE

(**Dang it...as soon as I posted this I remembered many others...guess there's going to have to be another post!
Miss Cheri and Tony, you're the first ones!
We need to camp together more often! Love you**)




Saturday, July 26, 2014

It's that time again! Time to Celebrate!!

Been "home" a week already. Now the celebration starts here.


July is our month; to celebrate, have fun, really let loose, get jiggy with it, love each other, laugh together to relive moments and make new ones...it's a great month for us!


Birthdays galore & a couple of Anniversaries.


We start out with our "1st date anniversary" on the 4th, this year we celebrate 9 years! The dogs birthdays are on the 7th (easier to celebrate on one day for them!) Jamies' birthday is on the 11th, our wedding anniversary on the 14th, my birthday is the 25th and lil hoot is the 28th!


Lots of celebrations! I call it Christmas in July (especially my birthday)!


Take a walk through some old memories and new moments with us...


...

...

2014 birthday

...

Happy 5th birthday to our Naner Nut


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Happy 5th, 6th or 7th Birthday to Chili Moon...??


...

And a Happy Birthday to yours truly!


...

...

...

 With our numbers in alignment with this year of 7, we believe we are already off to a great start of OUR new year.


We wish we could be with our lil hoot as she starts to celebrate her 22nd year on this Earth, but we know she knows we love her and are always with her in spirit. Hoooooot!


Here's to a great year not just to us but to all of you. Happy Birthday, Happy Anniversary, Happy....whatever!


Make it great and memorable. Here's to many more years of having an awesome life together and on this Earth.


Much love to all of you, from us to you!


...

PEACE

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Off like a Herd of Turtles

We've been boppin' around so much lately that I don't even have time to keep up with myself these days! I'm going to have one heck of a time backtracking sooo I'll do a quick "Wedgie" to catch everyone up so I can write some posts about other things...other than our dailies!


One morning, I was sitting in our camp gazing at our awesome view, looked over and I saw the cactus next to me had a perfect heart "paddle". It indeed made my day and made me realize you can find love anywhere...even in some "dangerous" places...i.e. my cactus!




[caption id="attachment_4886" align="aligncenter" width="350"]Perfect. Perfect.[/caption]

We (my tribe and Camp Mellow, Bryce) left Sedona and headed toward the Flagstaff area. It had just turned too hot all of a sudden, sitting anywhere but in A.C. was exhausting...and that rarely happens. We had heard that Bob and some others were out toward Williams so we headed that direction.


Camp Willy 500 Wind Block 500We ended up on some really nice, quiet public land and only about 3 miles from town. Williams has Historic Route 66 going through it so there's tons of cute shops, restaurants and things to look at!


While we were so close to town, Bryce was a sweetheart and let me borrow his bike so J' & I could ride into town together...but not before J' tried it on his own...and then made a basket for the Nana Bug to come too! Did I mention our dog is spoiled rotten?


Bikin' Bug 500 Milk Crate 500J' took one of our milk crates with some nuts & bolts and bolted down the milk crate onto the bike rack, then Savannah has a carabiner connecting to her harness to keep her inside the crate. The first attempt was a little wobbly because she didn't know what was going on and she wasn't locked in tight enough, but after getting used to the bumpy roads, she rode like a champ! Now we all get to ride into town as a family.....awwwwwwww.




[caption id="attachment_4896" align="aligncenter" width="350"]The beautiful town The beautiful town[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4893" align="aligncenter" width="224"]Savannah is so chill...think she likes bike rides? Savannah is so chill...think she likes bike rides?[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4894" align="aligncenter" width="350"]Making History! Making History![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4895" align="aligncenter" width="350"]Riding home...such a good girl! Riding home...such a good girl![/caption]

We had a ton of fun riding in and around town together. It was nice doing something like that with all of us...one bike doesn't do much for a family of three! Thanks to the B-man for letting me take his cool new bike, it was hella fun...I felt like a kid again!


Weeeeeeeeeeeee......


Bikin' Mama 500


When was your last play date?


PEACE


 

Monday, May 27, 2013

The Weekend Wedge

Here's a little wedge of our weekend for ya...


Just about every morning, especially on the weekends, we get woken up by the "ssshhhhhhhhhhhhh" of hot air balloons over the van. I think we may be part of their fly over tour now!


Coming our way 500


New morning alarm 500


Close balloon 500


Savannah is finally chewing on the bone we bought for her almost a year ago! Well, she carries it around more than she chews on it but she's paying attention to it and that makes me happy. See, I found it in the depths of her crate the other day and saw it had not even one single bite mark on it, so I put it in a ziploc bag, poured a little bit of bbq sauce, some bacon molasses seasoning and a few squirts of water in and let it marinade for two days. Needless to say, she carries it everywhere with her now...silly girl...but it does make me happy!


Bonin' Bug 500


Miss Cheri popped in for a little lunch date. It was a nice surprise...and she brought these amazing rolls from Fry's. Oh.My.Goodness...these rolls (or whatever they were). They are considered gourmet bread, J' calls them bagels, I call them rolls, Miss Cheri calls them amazing bread...and we all call them scrumpdiddlyumptious! The bread almost looks like a big croissant and has cheese and green chiles baked into it. They are to die for, we are definitely going to have to throw these into the mix!


Cheesy Bread Babes 500


It was nice to see her and she was able to see Mikey again as well.


Hug-a-round 500


Even though most of our weekends are just like any other part of the week, it's always nice to be able to take a load off, sit down, enjoy good food, good conversation, have a few laughs and bask in the ambiance of knowing how good we have it out here. Some people think we are just wandering aimlessly through the desert and for those people, I feel sad that they don't get to experience the amazing life we have made for ourselves out here or get to meet the totally awesome people that have become like family to us. If this is wandering aimlessly through, well...anywhere...We'll take it!


PEACE

Friday, May 24, 2013

Logged. Another Great Day in the Books!

Woke up this morning to Savannah going a little buck wild looking out of my side window, when I finally saw what she had 'window hunted' all I could do was giggle and get my camera!




[caption id="attachment_4756" align="aligncenter" width="221"]Be careful! Be careful![/caption]

What started out as two little mice at the top of this bush ended up with one in the bush and one on the ground. We watched & giggled in amazement that one- the bush could hold the fat lil thing and two- he/she was putting themselves in an open invitation position (not hiding from predators). We were also surprised the food we did have outside had not been gone through or chewed through by the little critters. They were so stinkin' cute! A good way to start this busy busy day of ours...today would be laundry day, among other things. Now, for the average Joe, or Josephine, this would not really be a daunting task and usually, even for me, it is something I thrive on and like to do...but today...oh today would be so different! With the weather always changing, meaning not having to wear the same Summer/Winter clothes, and now having an extra set of sheets and pillow cases there hasn't been a major need to go to the laundromat...so we haven't... for two months! We have been soaking and washing the essentials in the 3 1/2 gallon bucket and line drying them to get us by until "The Big Wash". I definitely had my work cut out for me today, BUT we found a great, very clean laundromat right next to Safeway and there was only one other person there...score! J' helped pull all of our stuff out, bags inside, bags up-top, every single little thing was going to get washed today, even our canvas tarp was going to get a full cycle! I started sorting and mushing clothes into the front load dryers, which are really great because they hold way more and use less soap. The front loaders are a little bit more expensive but they do a really nice job and get everything really clean. As I did all of the inside work on the laundry, J' started the stuff in the van: fresh water, fresh ice, empty the cooler, clean the cooler (another one of those pizza crusts exploded in the cooler and was stopping up the plug, ewww), refill the cooler...lots of cooler time! Even though there was a ton of stuff to wash, dry and then fold and put away it went pretty fast, I'd say the whole process took us a little over two hours. Team work at its best baby! J' brought in our duffle bags, as well as our backpacks, so the clothes would be put away on site, (he knows me too well, I do not like doing this later). Everything smells so good and feels so soft....awww, the little things!! The other great thing about this place and the front loaders is, with all of our laundry we only spent about 17-18 bucks! Just to give you an idea, I did roughly 6 small loads of laundry in Lake Havasu for $35.00...not a ganga! Today I did, (hard to say with the front loaders but...) anywhere from 10-13 loads. I had 6 machines to wash and about the same to dry all for about $18.00...now that's a ganga!!




[caption id="attachment_4761" align="aligncenter" width="224"]Laundry is done man Laundry is done man[/caption]

All wrapped up at the laundromat and Safeway we hit up a couple more places: Dollar Tree, O'Reilly Auto Parts, Wal-mart, gas station, and Little Caesars. 


We feel like millionaires of life right now! Everything got done in one day, everything went super smooth and it was still light when we got home to re-set camp. What a great day! My babaa' even got me a surprise...this is how you know your hubby really listens and that I'm not like every other girl...




[caption id="attachment_4760" align="aligncenter" width="303"]Er.mer.gaw..YESSSS!! Er.mer.gaw..YESSSS!![/caption]

 I'm always clipping things and trying to tack down stuff... and I make a lot of forts but never have the "clip power" to keep what I make together, especially in this wind. When he came out of O'Reilly he said, "I got you a surprise." I said, "From the automotive store...stickers??" He handed me a bag and as I peeked inside I shrieked with excitement and tons and tons of giggles. What a sweetie! And now what do I yearn for...yep, MORE clips! haha


It's great being so close to town because even though it took most of our day, we didn't have to stay overnight in a Wal-mart parking lot to finish up our stuff the next day (like we did going to Fresno from Shaver Lake). We got everything done and now back at camp and ready to take on whatever comes our way. Even Savannah is completely satisfied, her bedding (from her gifted bed from Mikey), her blankies and her "babies" all got washed AND we found her favorite food at the store...spoiled yes, but oh so content!!




[caption id="attachment_4762" align="aligncenter" width="350"]C'mon everyone .....awwww! C'mon everyone
.....awwww![/caption]

 PEACE

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Days like this = Priceless

I don't know if we're just getting used to it or if it's just not as bad...but the wind doesn't seem to really bother us that much anymore. Now, it's definitely still blowing... believe me, but instead of taking the tarp (awning) down with every little whip of air, we just let it do its thing and it passes. Some days are much better than others but when the big gusts come, we just pull the door closed until it passes and then re-open for business! Today has been a gorgeous day though, we have a slight breeze, blue skies, the sunshine is out warming all of the nature...it just feels like one of those exceptionally perfect days. I love days like this, nothing seems wrong or out of place...and the lighting is great for beautiful photos!!


Vortex 500


Growing Yucca 500


Yucca in the Sky 500


Busy Bee 500


And then to top it all off, the moon came out to play a little early tonight...almost full!


Almost Full 500


There is talk of getting some major things done tomorrow, so I'm off to Snoozeville...I hope you had a beautiful day!


PEACE


***Pictures are up on Shutterfly***


http://2completespirits.shutterfly.com/


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