This year has been a roller coaster ride for us. We’ll just hit the highlights, or it will be a book instead of a letter.
Last year at this time, we knew we would be saying goodbye to our dog Rocky soon. He was 18 1/2 years old, virtually blind and very hard of hearing. When the day came, we threw him a party. The dogs had some birthday cake from the freezer from Rocky’s 18th birthday in August. Afterwards, we bundled him up and put him in the stroller for a last walk along the trail.
The vet came to our home that evening with an assistant. It was all very peaceful but still sad. Well, we were now down to one dog and thought that would be it. However, by the next day, both of us had come up with the idea of seeing if the breeder had any miniature poodles that would be ready to come live with us in the Spring. (We were planning to take the trailer to Arizona in March to visit Charlie’s brother, who has a small winter home there.) We decided to have a look and found this.
These puppies would be ready to leave their mother by the middle of March, about the time we expected to be coming home from Arizona, and the breeder was on our way home. Clearly, it was meant to be.
We had planned to go to Beaverton in February for the Rose City Yarn Crawl, but some serious winter weather made that impossible, so it was rather a quiet month. March 1st, though, saw us pull out with the trailer on our way to Arizona! Our trip went well until the next day, when our old Silverado pickup truck and tow vehicle broke down. We were about halfway between Burns, OR, and Winnemucca, NV.
It took a few hours for the Auto Club to find someone who could take both the pickup and the trailer. While we waited, the three of us covered up with the down comforter to stay warm. (We could have run the heater, but the vents are covered when the slide-out is in.) Fortunately, the tow truck took us to Winnemucca instead of going backwards. He dropped the trailer off at the RV campground where we had made arrangements and then took our pickup to a place that does repairs. Little did we know that Silver State RV Campground was to be our home for the next three weeks. The mechanic discovered that one of the pipes that goes from the catalytic converter to the manifold had broken off, and the other one was clogged. Finding parts for a 23-year-old vehicle was the problem. It was an interesting three weeks, while we waited. Most of the people in the campground were full-time residents. They had skirts around their trailers and heat tape around the hoses. Some had huge tanks of propane. They had vehicles they could use to go to the store.
It didn’t take too long before we realized we weren’t going to Arizona after all. We would pick up the puppy when we could and go home. While we waited, we started talking about trading our 5th wheel in for something smaller and easier to tow.
We did eventually get to Pahrump to pick up the puppy, about a week past when we expected to get him. He was able to get his next puppy shots before we picked him up. We decided that since we missed out on an Arizona vacation, we would give him a name that would represent hiking in Arizona. When we met him, he looked like this. (Do you see that snarky attitude?) Presenting Ash’s Mystical Coconino Sandstone Trekker, or “Sandy” for short.
Sandy has entertained and exasperated all three of us. He’s a great playmate for Dusty.
He’s a thief who likes to steal things and finds ways to reach the things he wants (glasses, remote controls, slippers, newsletters, wallets). He learned to use the dog door very early and takes things out to the yard.
Unlike Dusty, he’s definitely a water dog.
He’s a great traveler. We’ve been out to the coast with him a couple of times already.
We think he may be slightly taller than Dusty when he finishes growing. He’s so much like Rocky, it’s spooky. The first time I heard him bark his special bark out in the backyard, I thought it was Rocky.
During the Spring months we continued to talk about getting a smaller trailer. We did some research and learned about the R-Pods, which are more aerodynamic than our old 5th wheel. We picked out a floor plan we thought would work for us, the 171, which has the bed at one end and the dinette at the other, so where the ceiling slopes down, you aren’t standing up anyway. We found a dealer in Eugene that had one, so when we took a trip out to the coast in June, we decided to stop there and have a look. We decided it was the one for us. We just had to move all our stuff out of the old 5th wheel, which they were willing to take as a trade-in. We ended up selling our old rig to someone who came to our door wanting to buy it, but it took them some time to come and pick it up. The end of July, we loaded our trailer equipment (linens, cooking supplies and groceries) in the truck and headed back to Eugene.
We camped nearby the first night, so we could go back for help if we needed. We did, but it was little stuff. We went back out to the coast to camp again. We managed to get in three more camping trips, including two with Peter’s family.
They had a tent, but when we had rain, everyone came into the RPod for lunch. (Next time we’ll take the awning that goes over the picnic table.)
Now the RPod is covered with a tarp for the winter, dreaming of all the places we will get to go next year.
Somehow, in spite of all the changes going on, we managed to get another book out. This one is made up of poems from The Doll’s Storybook. (I say “we,” because, while I write the stories and take the photos, I have a little team of editor/proofreaders.) Like the other books, this one is available from bookstores or from Book Baby’s bookstore. Royalties go directly to St. Jude.
In November, disaster struck. I was knocked over by a very large, exuberant puppy and had a skull fracture, from which I’m still recovering. Hearing problems and balance have been affected, but I’m getting help with those things. It could have been worse. As of this writing, I’m still not allowed to drive, which is a nuisance, but life is otherwise getting back to normal.
We’ll get to see Karen’s family over Christmas. She and both of her children performed in the ballet “The Little Mermaid” with Ballet LaCrosse this year. They had a lot of fun, so I suspect there will be more of this kind of activity in the future.
Also visiting over Christmas will be Peter’s family, Charlie’s brother, and our niece and her husband. Not everyone will be staying overnight in our home, though.
Best wishes for a happy holiday season and a fantastic 2024!
Charlie and Peggy Stuart
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