Thankful Thursday: Urrrreeeeebbbbbaaaaa

Most of the month of June, I stayed at home in East Texas (while hubs worked eight hours away). We had church clean-up for the month, so I go to stay and help my mom and daughter. Good thing I did, because when we came home from our long road trip in the first of June, I found our old basset, my hero, and hubs' bestie, in sad sad shape.

Mellow was 17 years old, and had been our baby for a LONG time. His 'mellow' approach to life inspires me. This blog is named after my Mellow's attitude. He raised many a child, mine, foster kids, kids I babysat, and lastly the grands.
He was (almost) always very very mellow.
Dear Mellow Yellow, Mellywelly, Smellywelly, Mell, Mellownatar, Melly and on and on. 

Very camera shy Mellow, and Reba 12/10

Melly had quit eating, and drinking, and could barely move.
No AAARRRRRRRROOOOOOOOing.
None at all.  
I decided it was time to honor our (his and my) agreement.
He would go with dignity. (he couldn't even get up to pee)
My very sweet daughter took him in to the vet and held his paw while he passed. 
She sang "Mellow Yellow" to him, and brought his sweet lovingly wrapped body back to me, so that I could bury him in mom's yard.
I'm glad I was there, I'm glad everything went so smoothly.
I'm glad my hubs didn't have to make this choice, or see how bad our boy was.
I'm SO glad my sweet daughter did what I don't think I could have.

Rest In Peace, 
Run Free Our Dear Mellow Jo Santana. 

Your memory will live on.

Forever.

Reba 1/2012

This left his widow alone.  Reba, at seven, has never been alone.  Her whole life, she has always been right by Melly's side.  During the last month of his life, she lay by him, washing his head, and cried.  And cried and cried.  When my daughter took Mell to the vet, she stopped crying, and hasn't since. 
We didn't want to leave her alone, so we decided to try her on the 'road tripping' we are doing, with LadyBelle and LilDog.
Of course, she is not a FULL house dog, and a BAD traveller, but what the hey!

Reba, LadyBelle, LilDog 7/12

We drove eight hours here, and she barfed very little.
As you can see she caught on to the 'guest house' life fast. 

Camper hounds, Reba, LadyBelle, LilDog 7/12

Then we drove five hours to the 'camper' and she did even better.
Ms. Reba has never been to the camper before, but, here too, she caught on quick.
(Middle picture are basset eyes in the dark)

Sunset 7/12

The sunset at the lake our camper is at was AWESOME!!
And there was much romping on the part of the pooches.
Gonna have to try taking the girls to the actual water and see what they do.

In the actual camper, I saw this mess, what the hey?
Further inspection showed it to be a
SNAKE SKIN!!!!!!
EEEEEEEKKKKKKKK!!!!!
Hopefully hubs is right, that it's a rat snake, and it woke up, shed, realized there is no more mice in the camper (thanks to hubs poisoning:) and it moved on.  Oh, I hope it moved on...*shudder*

West Texas Critters 7/12

Then we drove five hours back to West Texas.
I actually remembered my camera on our weekly drive around the ranch.
These are regular sights, axis (orange) deer, white tail deer, jack rabbits.
Not pictured (yet) are antelope, porcupine, rattle snakes, skunk, fox, and more.
Then we made the drive eight hours back home.  East Texas. 

Grandboy Kale 7/12

We picked up this fella, granddarling Kale, and brought him, hubs, myself, son DJ, AND the three dogs back. 
Reba didn't barf once.  Go Reba!!

Brown nosier...LilDog 7/12

LilDog is always entertaining, and one loves to find scraps and bury them. 
This time in the sand.  Silly dog. 
Thanks to LilDog being SO house trained, she has set the potty schedule for first Lady and now Reba.  Thank you my little dog.

Reba, LadyBelle 7/12

Reba is looking shinier, and hasn't been such a food hog.
 I think we have figured out the carsickness issue.

Reba, LadyBelle, LilDog 7/12

Reba & LadyBelle 7/12

Gangster Reba 7/12

 She is actually playing some.  She has done real well with the house breaking, and is very tolerant of Kale. How thankful I am she was there for our Mellow. And the joy she brings hubby. What a wonderful dog family we have. I am thankful for the 'doggy' people hubs is working for. And, of course, I'm very thankful I got to go home for the weekend, see three of my kiddos, two of my kid-in-laws, and four of my awesome grandkiddos:).


Reba says: enjoy the moment.


Dear Reba has always lived 'in the moment'.

Camper Tales: 5/19/12

Last weekend the hubs had a dentist appt over by our in-laws, so we went and spent the weekend at our camper. Of course we had our 'travel pups' with us.

Ladybelle helping me cook in the camper

The pooches and I mainly chilled at the camper...

Sweet Ladybelle...all ears

I took the opportunity to plan out some menus.

Ladybelle and Lil'dog helping me plan the menu...

Pregnant Onion, ZZ Plant

So nice to be able to check in on my 'camper' plants,  Donut, the camper mascot, is doing great.
I picked sedum because of their low needs (and super coolness) and I can say they are really proving me right. 

Goat plant holder, Donut

Sedum

More sedums

More sedums, small day lily, mini rose

I may bring my planter to west Texas with us, we'll see.

 The view right out our camper is a wonderful large garden, which I really enjoyed harvesting:).

And the lake.  This was taken in the heat of the day, it really is greener. 

Look at them ears!!

Two years of basset awesomeness!!

 Both dogs, basset Ladybelle, and chimix Lil'dog LOVE to travel with us and really keep us company.  

I'm very impressed with how good they behave. 

hot Lil'Dog

We came to the camper, five hours from where the hubs is working, on Thursday, and came back to west Texas on Sunday, I saw a lot of people pulling over and noticed the sun was weird...

I looked it up on the hub's phone and saw it was an annular eclipse going on! 
This is where the moon is too far from the sun to block it out all the way so it makes a ring of fire. 

We had so much fun trying to get a picture of it. 

In this one you can't see how much is covered, I missed that shot, but its in my memory:).

It set before it got to the ring part, according to the web WAY west of us should have got the best view.  Too cool. 

Donut

Once upon a time we had just the right property for goats.
I love goats.
I would much rather have goats eat tall grass down, than mow it.
Also their manure is very mild, and you don't have to wait til it ages to use it.

We loaded up the (teen) kids and went to the sale-barn.
I don't remember how many we bought,
but I do remember most were mini-sized,
and one was a long-legged, long-eared Nubian. 
The plan was to buy a lot cheap, and weed out the ones we didn't want.

We named them alphabetically,
and the soft brown, doe-eyed,
long eared Nubian was named "Chocolate Donut".

Later it was shortened  to "Donut".
Donut was the bottom of the pecking order,
even the smallest goat would stand on her and butt her in the head. 
Very funny, and very sad.
We eventually sold all the goats but our Donut.

Donut wasn't like the other goats.
She didn't run in a pack.
She didn't cry if she was left alone.
Actually she didn't hardly cry at all.
Maybe soft a "naa" if  you approached her.

She didn't butt you, or try to escape her pen or lead.
She like to have the kids lay on her and pet her.  
One day our Donut disappeared.
Our guess was the mountain lion took her.
Hopefully she didn't suffer.
What a gentle soul.

When we moved from that house,
restrictions didn't allow for goats.
Hubby and I found this metal planter,
and I thought of her.
My Donut.
I figure she could be our camper mascot.
Right now she is my front porch mascot.

"See  Donut?" I said to my (adult) kids when they came over,
as I pointed to my new planter.
They knew just what I meant.

Donut is planted with easy, hardy, low water plants.
Sedums, Small Happy Day Daylily, and a mini-Rose. 

It is filling in great.

I will probably be taking it to the camper in June.
And I think I will tie a pretty colored ribbon or rope around my Donut's neck:)

Fertilizer Friday

23 Indian Paintbrushes

I arrived at the camper, on our 23rd wedding anniversary, to this treat:

23 Indian Paintbrushes.

(bamboo, Indian Paintbrushes, ZZ plant)

Every April 11th, for 23 years, my sweetie has scoured the local fields and ditches for this beautiful wildflower, the Indian Paintbrush (my most favorite flower).
He looks for the fullest, brightest blooms, and each year adds one more bloom...

Nothing could be sweeter...

LadyBelle, our camper mascot, hard at work...

Except, maybe, a sweet white basset tummy:).
~Thanks Babe~

FEMA Entertaining

Oh this entertaining is hard on a pooch...

With the spaying, all the traveling,

And the company,

Staying on top of everything is hard work for a baby basset...

Tiring, but worth it!

Son, DJ, joined us at the camper.  What a wonderful evening.  We listened to music (no TV;).  We had a nice dinner, hubby and DJ played dominoes, I read a flower magazine, while the puppy snoozed-loudly.  Wonderful!!

FEMA (Camper) Upgrades as of 04/11

Part of the fun of this camper has been searching high and low for the 'perfect' (cheap) camper furnishings:
I'm usually down there Monday-Wednesday, and I know every thrift/dollar/clearance store between here and there:

(before we changed bed placement in bedroom)

I found this cool tiger blanket for hubby for $5.00.
He loves it, and I like it on top of the bed to hide the basset hair Lady provides.:)

(After we moved the bed sideways)

I got this neat blue and red comforter for $3.00. 
I was hoping it would fit my bed at home, but its too small. 
This bed is a regular size and it fits perfectly.

We have an extra faucet hook up in back and I brought along this from home, I'm hoping our next trip down will lead to some roof/siding cleaning;).

Got a long flow-thru brush for that planned cleaning too. 
Also some foam to go in the window where hubby has the dish cable run. 

While at Goodwill with my daughter, she pointed out these A&M pillows. 
Hubby loves A&M. 
I love maroon and my daughter commented I could do the whole camper in Aggie colors and BOTH hubby and I would be happy. 
He agreed,
I'm not so sure...

At the DollarTree (everything is a dollar store) I found this small dish drain rack and matching wash tub. 
I love how it fits on this corner and still leaves so much of the kitchen space open. 
I'd like to find a way to make a little ledge or something to make it more stable. 
(I also LOVE my solar lantern-it needs a better place too.)

LOVE these DollarTree hooks!!!
 I bought quite a few and plan on having them in every room of the camper.

So far so good in the kitchen area;). I want to do more organizing with shelves and hooks, but haven't decided exactly what I want yet...

I bought this cast iron griddle, and these measuring scoops.

I want to figure out a way to put the scoops on the wall for easy access. 

I saw some one pulling one of these and had to ask where they got it. 
Walmart of course. 
Small, with wheels this is just the right size for transporting food back and forth.

And, because I couldn't stand NO greenery, I found the perfect solution, that bamboo stuff that lives in water.
 I put pretty glass marbles in it, and fake orchid type flowers. 

THEN I decided my ZZ plant would do well too...

Added some fake red poppies (which hubby decided the poppies were a good choice for him because the grands call him Poppy;) and it is well on its way.